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Here's Everything Announced At The BlizzConline Opening Ceremony

World of Warcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone All Getting Content

Joseph Bradford Posted:
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BlizzConline 2021 kicked off today and quite a few of the franchises that make up Blizzard's library got some announcements today. Here's everything major Blizzard officially unveiled today during its keynote.

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands - Chains of Domination

Blizzard officially unveiled the next installment in the Shadowlands story, with the first major content update Chains of Domination. The upcoming content update continues the story of Shadowlands, seeing what happens to Anduin after the last time we saw him in Shadowlands. Made a thrall of the Jailer, the leader of the Alliance takes on a grim transformation in the trailer itself, one that leaves a lot of questions which will surely be answered in the upcoming story. 

Chains of Domination also brings a new 10-boss raid, as well as new 8-boss dungeon, as well as improvements being made to the Covenenant system. 

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic will be coming this year to the Classic version of the MMORPG, bringing players to the Outlands to combat the Burning Legion. This expansion will rollout much the same way Classic has done since its inception, meaning we'll see staggered releases of the content over time instead of everything at once.

Draenei and Blood Elves are coming to Classic, but if you and your group aren't ready to move onto to Burning Crusade just yet, Blizzard will be providing Classic Era servers specifically to allow groups to keep on the adventure in Classic Azeroth. In an interview with PCGamer as well it was revealed that Burning Crusade Classic will use it's pre-nerf raid bosses, bringing back the challenge from the original roots of the expansion when it first released back in 2007.

Blizzard Arcade Brings Classic Games To PC, Consoles

Blizzard is celebrating 30 years this year, and one of the ways they are doing so is bringng a collection of retro classic Blizzard games to the year 2021. The Blizzard Arcade Collection sees games like The Lost VikingsRock N Roll Racing, and Blackthorne, with extra features such as Watch Mode and the ability to save progress anywhere (excluding Rock N Roll Racing). The Arcade is available for $19.99 on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch as well as the PS5 and Xbox Series Consoles in backwards compatibility mode.

HearthStone Announces Year of the Gryphon, Classic Format, More

Lots of Hearthstone announcements were made at this year's BlizzConline, with the team announcing that 2021 is the Year of the Gryphon. This new year will begin with a new expansion, as well as a Core Set release and finally a Classic Format for those looking for Hearthstone's past.

The new expansion is called Forged in the Barrens and is inspired directly from Horde location in World of Warcraft. The expansion brings with it 135 new cards, 10 Legendary Mercenary minions and more. Hearthstone is also seeing a new single-player game mode hit the game, a Core Set with a total of 235 total new and classic cards. Finally, a Classic format was announced, bringing players back to how Hearthstone was when it originally released, allowing players to relive the original experience.

Diablo IV Unveils Rogue Class While Diablo II Resurrected Officially Announced

Big day for Diablo fans as the game franchise got two announcements, including the much rumored remaster of Diablo II. Titled Diablo II Resurrected, the ARPG sees a complete remaster of its original graphics from a 2D deign to modern 3D. Additionally, the cinematics have also been modernized, though with the intent to preserve the look of the originals.

Resurrected will feature cross-progression with PC and its upcoming console versions.

Diablo IV got a reveal today too, with the Rogue class being shown off for the first time. The flexible class sees the Rogue using bows, daggers and speed to bring ruin to her enemies. The trailer shows off the class in aall her glory, complete with some ear-gathering goodness.


Stay tuned for more BlizzConlne coverage throughout the weekend.


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Joseph Bradford

Joseph has been writing or podcasting about games in some form since about 2012. Having written for multiple major outlets such as IGN, Playboy, and more, Joseph started writing for MMORPG in 2015. When he's not writing or talking about games, you can typically find him hanging out with his 15-year old or playing Magic: The Gathering with his family. Also, don't get him started on why Balrogs *don't* have wings. You can find him on Twitter @LotrLore