Blizzcon Schedule Reveals the Focus of the Convention & It Seems to Be Diablo - MMORPG.com

SBFord

Blizzcon Schedule Reveals the Focus of the Convention & It Seems to Be Diablo - MMORPG.com

Blizzard has published the Blizzcon schedule about a month ahead of the annual convention in Anaheim, California. In years past, the "focus" of the event is usually the panel that comes immediately following the keynote address. The opening remarks peek at what's happening in all of Blizzard's games, usually with the biggest announcement made last and then immediately followed by the first big panel. This year, that panel's space is occupied by Diablo.

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SBFord

The optimist in me: a multi-platform online ARPG of the Destiny 2 type

The pessimist in me: a mobile game

The neutral me: the Netflix series

HeelerKY

I want it to be World of Diablo, but that would scalp the WoW population, so I dunno.

BillMurphy

I really hope it's something big, but we'll see, I guess.

kitarad

If it is a new MMORPG it will sink the prospects of any other MMORPG that is going to be released in the same time fame.

The other developers with no blizzard in their name better go pray to the MMORPG deity for salvation.

JeroKane

HeelerKY said:

I want it to be World of Diablo, but that would scalp the WoW population, so I dunno.

How much is left to scalp from in all honesty. WoW was around 10 mil subs at it's peak many moons ago and now they stopped publishing the numbers, but it's not far fetched to say they sit below the 3 mil subs mark again now the BfA launch hype has died off. Especially how terrible the expansion is.

Blizzard won't do an MMO anymore, so no worries. But if they somehow still had some courage left to try, now would actually be the moment to announce it, seeing the mess the BfA expansion brought to WoW right now.

I personally think the focus will be around the upcoming Diablo Netlfix series and further milking the Diablo 3 cow, with it releasing on the Nintendo Switch at the time of Blizzcon.


Seeing the mess with BfA, I think WoW will take a backseat this Blizzcon, with focus on Diablo, Overwatch and Heartstone (new cards expansion is a no-brainer).
Throw in some e-Sport stuff around StarCraft and Heroes of the Storm and that will be Blizzcon 2018.

Scellow

HeelerKY said:

I want it to be World of Diablo, but that would scalp the WoW population, so I dunno.

I disagree, both are different in term of gameplay and story, i hate WoW and i don't play it, but i love Diablo and would love to play an online arpg

Arawulf

Diablo Royale, calling it now.
In other words, Blizzard hasn't proven that they've figured out what they want to do with Diablo. I'm in 'wait and see' mode.

fs23otm

I am hoping for World of Diablo....

I would settle for a Diablo 4....

I cringe at a mobile game...

sgel

JeroKane said:

HeelerKY said:

I want it to be World of Diablo, but that would scalp the WoW population, so I dunno.

How much is left to scalp from in all honesty.

Well BFA was their best selling expansion to date (even though it's turned out to be disappointing).

I think they're doing ok for a 10+ year old game and are still in the No1 spot.

Xarko

I think its going to be something big. The fact they invest time and money into Netflix series(hype generator) could mean they plan to be "serious" with Diablo.

Wolfyseyes

SBFord said:

The optimist in me: a multi-platform online ARPG of the Destiny 2 type



The pessimist in me: a mobile game



The neutral me: the Netflix series

....yea, that pretty much sums up my feelings, too. But hoo boy wouldn't the optimist option be freakin' amazing??

Aeander

Diablo is my favorite Blizzard franchise. It's also spent the last few years as Blizzard's red-headed step child. 

Here's hoping for Diablo 4. 

KalebGrayson

When was the last time you were NOT disappointed with Diablo news? It's been a long time. Expect the worst and you'll be pleasantly surprised no matter what they announce.

Galadourn

World of Diablo implementing all lessons learned from WoW would be the second coming in MMOs - but I guess that's wishful thinking on my part.

Banerjee

Diablo 1 remake, for sure.

JeffSpicoli

I still don't understand why its taken so long for Diablo 4 , Sure Diablo 3 had a ton of criticism at launch but didnt it smash all kinds of sales records ? With a dedicated fanbase to this franchise what gives ?

Aeander

thunderC said:

I still don't understand why its taken so long for Diablo 4 , Sure Diablo 3 had a ton of criticism at launch but didnt it smash all kinds of sales records ? With a dedicated fanbase to this franchise what gives ?

If I had to guess, Blizzard has been looking at the evolution of the genre to see which direction it's headed. It wouldn't have done much good to one-up Path of Exile only for one of the many MMO ARPG hybrids to smash it. As it happens, that didn't happen and the traditional formula of PoE/D2 is still the overwhelming direction for this genre.

cesmode8

SBFord said:

The optimist in me: a multi-platform online ARPG of the Destiny 2 type

The pessimist in me: a mobile game

The neutral me: the Netflix series

I think this is a very fair assessment.  Although the optimist in me would want either the ARPG destiny 2-like game, or an MMO style, or something of the sorts.  I honestly dont know if I want another dungeon grinder arpg like d1,d2,d3  / path of exile / grim dawn / etc.  Kind of over that genre.  I want to be first person or third person, camera in the action (not a mile above), with heavy lore, creepy zones, etc.  I want to immerse myself in the diablo lore/world of sanctuary a bit more instead of just hacking and slashnig.

jgDuffay

Please dont let this leek! Please! Blizzard is good at keeping secrets tho

Scellow

If they go FPS or TPS, then it'll flop, just like D3

Pemmin

Aeander said:

thunderC said:

I still don't understand why its taken so long for Diablo 4 , Sure Diablo 3 had a ton of criticism at launch but didnt it smash all kinds of sales records ? With a dedicated fanbase to this franchise what gives ?

If I had to guess, Blizzard has been looking at the evolution of the genre to see which direction it's headed. It wouldn't have done much good to one-up Path of Exile only for one of the many MMO ARPG hybrids to smash it. As it happens, that didn't happen and the traditional formula of PoE/D2 is still the overwhelming direction for this genre.

my worry is they are still going to continue to try and chase the Chinese cash cow by skewing the game even more towards being an Asian HacknSlash with a diablo skin.

Aeander

Aeander said:

thunderC said:

I still don't understand why its taken so long for Diablo 4 , Sure Diablo 3 had a ton of criticism at launch but didnt it smash all kinds of sales records ? With a dedicated fanbase to this franchise what gives ?

If I had to guess, Blizzard has been looking at the evolution of the genre to see which direction it's headed. It wouldn't have done much good to one-up Path of Exile only for one of the many MMO ARPG hybrids to smash it. As it happens, that didn't happen and the traditional formula of PoE/D2 is still the overwhelming direction for this genre.

To clarify further, I think that Blizzard has specifically been looking at Lost Ark and Lineage Eternal to decide when and how to make Diablo 4. Both of these games looked to be impressive, potentially market shifting competitors. I suspect that development on Diablo 4 probably left pre-production after Lost Ark met with bad reception and Lineage Eternal failed and was rebooted. As for design direction, I suspect that Diablo 4 is likely being developed either as a traditional ARPG or as a MMO ARPG hybrid with lessons taken from the failings of Lost Ark and Lineage Eternal; it just depends on how ambitious Blizzard is and which they feel will better futureproof the game. I strongly believe it will go more in the former direction, as Blizzard is typically more conservative in its design and tends to innovate in small, effective ways.

Allerleirauh

Scellow said:

HeelerKY said:

I want it to be World of Diablo, but that would scalp the WoW population, so I dunno.

I disagree, both are different in term of gameplay and story, i hate WoW and i don't play it, but i love Diablo and would love to play an online arpg

Exactly! Appreciate Diablo for what it is, don't change it. I personally love ARPGs!

Robbgobb

I enjoyed D3 and the expansion made it lots of fun for brief chunks of time. I appreciate the complexity PoE has in nodes (though seems too much since so many just use same thing most times) and remember that runes were suppose to offer a lot of customization in D3. That didn't happen and so hope to see something that has more depth with options of how to play a class.

Aeander

Robbgobb said:

I enjoyed D3 and the expansion made it lots of fun for brief chunks of time. I appreciate the complexity PoE has in nodes (though seems too much since so many just use same thing most times) and remember that runes were suppose to offer a lot of customization in D3. That didn't happen and so hope to see something that has more depth with options of how to play a class.

I'm hoping that we get both. Runes for large, immediately-tangible playstyle choices and a skill tree for smaller longterm customization.