World Of Warcraft Expansion Rumour And BlizzCon Details

It’s just a few days until Blizzard host their yearly games show and there’s plenty to be looking forward to. The schedule for both days is on the main BlizzCon page which you can find here. We have Hearthstone, Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls, StarCraft 2 and of course, World of Warcraft.

We already know about the Diablo 3 expansion, and I’m sure a great many of you will have been following Hearthstone’s beta. If you want to know how it plays, check out my beta impressions here.

It seems we have reached an ending point in the Mists of Pandaria expansion in World of Warcraft, and there was the rumour that the next instalment might be entitled “Warlords of Draenor”, as revealed by MMO Champion here. This is still rumour at this juncture of course, but there seems to be a fair amount of evidence to back up the claims. Namely in the shape of domain names being registered.

If you check the schedule, you will notice there is a large segment for WoW called, “What’s next?”. At the very least, it seems like we will find out the direction it’s going in. The supposed title could mean it’s centred around Outland and its inhabitants. That’s if it turns out to be true.

Blizzard’s flagship MMO has come an incredibly long way since its birth, which is now the better part of a decade ago. With subscriptions still sliding to the lowest point in years, it’s possible Blizz may need to come up with something special to keep fans coming back. Could BlizzCon be revealing a new expansion? Or maybe just the next big content patch? My bet is on the former at the moment.

Diablo 3 is also up for a refit. The upcoming expansion, Reaper of Souls, looks to overhaul a major part of what was wrong with the game. That being the Real Money Auction House and how the game was based around it. I think we can all agree that the launch of D3 was one of the worst game launches in recent memory, second only to SimCity, so any help to steer the game back to greatness would be welcome.

It’s been said that all the current classes will be given ten new skills each, along with the level cap being raised to 70. There is a huge amount of content coming (as we now expect from Blizz) so check it out for yourself and see what you think.

Hearthstone is nearing (I would assume) the end of its beta. The recent patches have been minor tweaks to balance and reward based issues. With the numbers of invites going up every day, I don’t think it will be too long until it gets an official release. However, Blizz are known for their “when it’s ready” stance with their games, so don’t be surprised if we are made to wait longer.

BlizzCon (word lost all meaning yet?) will also feature the usual gaming related treats. Their now famous cosplay competitions will once again be held along with a panel to give some helpful tips to those wanting to join in. There are a bunch of other contests for you to check out, not to mention that Blink 182 will be closing the show this year.

 

For those of you unable to attend, you can always buy the Virtual Ticket from the website which will allow you to watch the whole thing in HD, as well as bagging you some virtual goodies that can be used in their respective games.

So there’s tons to be looking forward to if you’re a Blizzard fan. Personally I’m most interested in hearing about the future of WoW, a new expansion would already be very welcome and I think there are some things that need addressing very quickly *cough* Warrior balance *cough*.

Will any of you be watching this coming Friday? What are you looking forward to? Let us know in the comments.