BlizzCon is set to return this year on 1 and 2 November. The annual event, held since 2005, also revealed that tickets for the event are set to go on sale in two waves, one on 4 May 2019 and the next on 8 May 2019.
In addition to the standard BlizzCon Pass and premium BlizzCon Benefit Dinner Pass from last year’s BlizzCon, a new mid-tier BlizzCon Portal Pass has been introduced. The BlizzCon Portal Pass includes additional convenience-related perks as well as access to Darkmoon Faire during a new “Night at the Faire” event on the eve of BlizzCon compared to the standard pass.
For the 25th anniversary of Warcraft, Blizzard announced that a Commemorative Collectible statue will be given to convention attendees, a choice of either a mighty Orc Grunt or bold Human Footman. These statues will take the place of the “goody bags” from previous years, which had become a staple of BlizzCon.
BlizzCon features in-depth developer panels, live esports competition and social mingling with fans of Blizzard properties, but the main attraction of the convention is, of course, the major reveals.
Last year, BlizzCon’s biggest announcement was the reveal of Warcraft III: Reforged, a remaster of 2002’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne, which came out a year later.
Along with that, new character reveals, Ashe and Orphea, Heir of Raven Court, for Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm respectively, were shown to convention attendees for the first time. A new expansion for Hearthstone, Rastakhan’s Brawl, was also shown.
However, there was a low point with the announcement of Diablo: Immortal, a new mobile game based on the Diablo franchise. The combination of it being not being developed in-house (co-developed with Chinese developer NetEase), as well as the expectation of a bigger Diablo announcement, left many fans with a bad taste.
BlizzCon 2019 is set to reveal major announcements for their properties again, but what is there for us to expect?
New WoW expansion
Blizzard has a penchant for revealing new expansions for their famed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft, every other year.
World of Warcraft’s last expansion, Battle for Azeroth, was announced back in the 2017 edition of BlizzCon before being released in August 2018. This makes 2019 a prime occasion to announce a new expansion if Blizzard were to continue the tradition.
New Diablo game
The bitter taste of the Diablo: Immoral still lingers for some people, and Blizzard will no doubt be eager to wash it off.
To quell the negative reaction surrounding the announcement, Blizzard did confirm that they were working on multiple Diablo projects. People have been waiting around 7 years since the release of Diablo III for a new Diablo game, BlizzCon 2019 would represent an opportune time to finally show those projects.
New IP
This is probably an out of left field prediction, but it isn’t something they have not done before. In BlizzCon 2014, Blizzard shocked the world by announcing Overwatch, a then-new team-based multiplayer first-person shooter. Overwatch was so different from its previous fantasy-based properties, and people loved it.
Now five years on, could Blizzard be looking to once again surprise us? It certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Visuals courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc
