If you’re a World of Warcraft player, there is no time more exciting than right now. The fifth expansion is days away from going live and Blizzcon is happening even sooner. If you haven’t played in a while or have been on the fence about giving it a go, there is no better time than now.
Blizzcon Imminent
Blizzcon is just days away. Soon I’ll be leaving Los Angeles for Anaheim along with thousands of other fans who will be zerging their way in from all parts of the world for two days of celebrating what we all love, Blizzards epic games. One of the greatest things about Blizzcon is getting to meet all these fans who often have much more in common with one another. What takes place under the roof of the Anaheim convention center is just the beginning - in the surrounding neighborhood in hotels, bars and resteraunts fans meet and stay up into the late hours of the night partying and sharing stories - even board and card games break out. The chances are also very high that you’ll be able to meet with Blizzard developers and staff in these after hour events and meetups as well. If you happen to live close by and weren’t able to get tickets, come by the area after the con has wrapped for the day as you’ll surely find fans everywhere to hang out with. A great way to find these activities is on the official Blizzcon message boards and the fan site MRGL! MRGL has a listing of several events as well as an interactive map of the surrounding area and a cool social feed to see what people are saying and posting relating to Blizzcon.
If you’re attending in person or via the virtual ticket, you may want to check out and download the Blizzcon mobile app for Android and iOS to keep up to speed on all that’s going on. The app allows you to watch live streams at the event in case you have to miss a panel or two and also features a social feed for Twitter, Instagram and a special feed from official Blizzard accounts. For more information and download links, head here.
Man, I can’t wait to see what’s in store. Make sure you follow me on Twitter @rezalackey for potential squealing.
Come to Pandaria
As of October 14 if you purchase World of Warcraft it will now include Mists of Pandaria for no extra cost. This means you’ll have access to all existing content for a $20 entry fee - not bad at all. In addition all existing World of Warcraft subscribers that did not upgrade to Mists of Pandaria will now have access to all of the content in that expansion.
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New Australian Servers
New Australian servers are spinning up for the first time to facilitate those playing on Oceanic realms in Australia and New Zealand. Players in these regions should notice substantial improvements in latency just in time for the release of Warlords of Draenor. Perhaps these servers are late to the party but I’m glad they’ve finally arrived. If you’re on those realms, here’s a high-five.
LTP
With the all of the class changes that came about with the last patch, Blizzard has updated their class crash course videos to reflect all of the changes. These videos demonstrate a basic rotation of one specialization for each class and serve as a good primer for those boosting a new class or returning after a long hiatus. You can check them out here.
Warlords Commercials
With the expansion right around the corner the marketing for Warlords of Draenor is in full swing. Commercials have already begun to air and you can watch them here right now. Blizzard has released two 30 second spots and two 15 second spots. While three of the spots are cut from the Draenor opening cinematic, the first 15 second spot below is all original footage that has some awesome lighting. Check out all four spots below:
November Card Back
Here is a look at Novembers Hearthstone card back for those that reach rank 20 or higher:
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I think this card back looks great and I’m really interested to see how much of it is animated. What’s very interesting is that last week several members of the Hearthstone community received blueprints of mechanical themed cards that are already in the game with a note reading “Making plans for Blizzcon - I hope you like my invention!” As Hearthpwn points out, the next expansion could very well have a mechanical theme. We’ll know very soon as I suspect an unveiling of what’s next at Blizzcon.
Lastly
It looks like we may be seeing some footage of the Warcraft film at Blizzcon as the films director, Duncan Jones, recently tweeted about working on a sound mix. Given that film doesn’t hit theaters until March 16, 2016, it’s very early on in the process to be working on a sound mix for the feature unless it’s for footage being readied for display much sooner than that.
Working on the sound mix for Warcraft. You do NOT want to get punched by an orc! #owwwww
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 28, 2014
When sound editors talk to me about moving something less than a frame, it takes me a moment to click what the hell that even means!
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 28, 2014
10 days to go till BlizzCon! :)
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) October 29, 2014
We’ll see soon enough!
What are you hoping will be announced at Blizzcon? Are you attending? Let us know in the comments below!
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