I'm at BlizzCon 2010. It's not fun. Ask me anything.

[Arcanoix]

The DirectTV live stream had a good 60 second delay, so for those of you who were confused as to why Jay Mohr had a co-host on stage - it's because he practically called for war between South Korea and North Korea, angering the primary press-pass holders who happen to be from South Korea.



These fucking people sit around in a trance as if in awe not realizing that WAR isn't pretty. Nobody takes anything serious. If I were a war veteran at BlizzCon, I'd had kicked Jay Mohr's ass then and there. Lucky none of my friends have been killed overseas. I swear, I look at these people in a collective trance and they just eat this shit right up.

Bullet points:

-Diablo 3 will be streamlined grimdark gritty big numbers numbers AWSUM COOL FLAMING TOADS OF DEWM yet still super casual horseshit.

-Nothing on the new franchise. ActiVision probably said no. Or Vivendi.

-Metzen, Knaak, and a few others apparently had huge talks with Sam Raimi, but none of the major studios have green lit the project.

-Kalecgos is the new Aspect of Magic while Thrall is epected to become the new Aspect of Earth.

-There will only be two patches. 4.1 will feature the Firelands, and the Abyssal Maw, which is only a dungeon, not a raid. The second patch wasn't talked about. Deathwing, of course.

-Cataclysm female worgen still looks like a male after character creation.

-65% of the people wearing staff shirts were oriental. Actual Blizzard employees were also oriental and/or overweight caucasians.

OH and before BlizzCon I toured Obsidian, which honestly, I found much more fun than BlizzCon has been thus far. I even hugged Chris Avellone. :D But no questions on that, as this is the MMORPG Discussion forum.

Ask me your BlizzCon 2010 questions now and we'll go from there.

 

[Xor]

Thrall is epected to become the new Aspect of Earth.

I was seriously hoping he was joking when I read that earlier.

-There will only be two patches. 4.1 will feature the Firelands, and the Abyssal Maw, which is only a dungeon, not a raid. The second patch wasn't talked about. Deathwing, of course.

All the raids this xpac better be Ulduar-quality or I'm gonna get bored really fast.

I even hugged Chris Avellone.

Fuck you.

 

[Shannow]

An Evil Dead MMO by Blizzard, I shudder at the thought...

 

[Arcanoix]

All the raids this xpac better be Ulduar-quality or I'm gonna get bored really fast.

Nope. They're all small. Less bosses = More fun. I have the footage to prove. I was hoping they'd say the word 'streamlined' ONE TIME. I intend to rip GC a new one tomorrow. Wait for it.

EDIT: And to quote a staff member who was off-stage, we will never see Ulduar-length ever again. They want AWSUM ENCOUNTERZ! TEH BEST ENCOUNTERZ TO DATE! But, quote unquote, by far not the longest.

 

[Zed]

Congratulations on wasting money on attending. Myself I sit at home comfortably watching HQ re-streams.

Ulduar was a shitty raid instance so I really hope they don't do bosses like that again. Vehicles is the worst thing that has happened to WoW since Arena and resilience items.

The Obsidian visit sounds interesting though. You got pictures and shit?

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

-Diablo 3 will be streamlined grimdark gritty big numbers numbers AWSUM COOL FLAMING TOADS OF DEWM yet still super casual horseshit.

No surprise there, well I never liked diablo so no loss there.

-Metzen, Knaak, and a few others apparently had huge talks with Sam Raimi, but none of the major studios have green lit the project.

Oh god they really are making a shitty wow movie aren't they?

-There will only be two patches. 4.1 will feature the Firelands, and the Abyssal Maw, which is only a dungeon, not a raid. The second patch wasn't talked about. Deathwing, of course.

Major wasn't there like six or seven major patches for the original games? And at least 4 for each of the expansions, two patches?! Where is all the content? I doubt it is in at launch.
So is that 2 patches in total through the entire expansion? If so I guess they are finally gonna end wow, or well at least drop development of new content. Bout time they put an end to it it hasn't been decent for years.

OH and before BlizzCon I toured Obsidian, which honestly, I found much more fun than BlizzCon has been thus far. I even hugged Chris Avellone. :D But no questions on that, as this is the MMORPG Discussion forum.

I'm sure it was in a very manly and non homo manner.

 

[Arcanoix]

DAY TWO RECAP:

I started the day off by getting there late with the lady. We dashed to the Q&A main stage and landed some decent seats. During the transition from Class Q&A to Open Q&A, I found us some front and center seats. My question regarded the Emerald Dream. I originally wanted to call Greg Street out on why 4.0.1 is to WoW what the NGE was to SW:G, and also point out for everyone there that he had the exact same look as John Smedley. They knew me despite me using my mains name, and not my retired warlocks name. My question was audited and I was told that if I showed a hint of changing it up that the Blizzard Staff member (who stood behind me like some sort of tough guy) would usher me away.

So I kept it short, sweet, and simple.

I did inform a few people that in the second issue of the WoW magazine it was confirmed there were NO women on the design team. I made sure those listening were overweight females who looked liberal enough to feel passionate about that sort of thing. One girl was going to change her question to question what I told her about. She was asked to leave. She decided to just change her question to why all the female characters clothing made them look like they were from Victoria's Secret. Good enough.

The evening went well. When Tenacious Drunkards took the stage, we managed to test some Diablo 3. The Blizzad Employee let me play 5-10 minutes longer so that I could finish the final quest, but then the Anaheim Center employee decided to be an oriental cock and said I had to go, even though the Blizzard Employee said, "No, this guys good."

And good I fucking was. I zerg raged that shit, only died once and that was by mistake. I had a crowd going. I'm not even into Diablo at all and yet I managed to dominate. I guess when the Barbarian does a berserker rage thing he is invincible and replenished fully for about 60 seconds, and I managed to down the main boss, destroy the fuck out of a horde of undead, then get burned to a crisp because I rushed through the lava grating that spews liquid hot magma out of the floor, incinerating me.

Oh well, instant warp back to the start where I took a turn to the left and went on to finish the second half of the gauntlet.

To finish the night, we leave, having given up getting Metzen to sign our BlizzCon 2010 books. Lo-and-behold, he's outside. We bumrush to him, and he realizes my second lastname is Ball. He instantly says that not only is it sexy, but it's epic. He even emphasizes the BALL part after autographing the books. I'm too giddy to say much, but having been picked on mercilessly most of my life, I feel that this whole trip has redeemed me.

He didn't get a picture with the lady though, but she didn't mind, as he favors Horde and she favors Alliance.

Oh and he leaned on my shoulder. Like, homo-style leaning. It's because I was still laughing about him making fun of my name. So he leans in like BAM - his gotiqe touched my right cheek, and He said, "Just kidding!" , I said, "Oh hell no give me some BROMANCE!" and hugged him. Yes. I've hugged two CCO's in one trip.

This newfound confidence has made me realize something. I won't share with you Codex-chan folk, but I will say this much - Soon. Very soon.

Oh and yes, Daniel broke his leg. But I did see him in a wheel chair and he thanked me very much for giving up my spot. For those at home, *ahem*, watching from the comfort of their rooms - it's just not the fucking same. You have to be here. I know this now. And I intend to return, perhaps permanently.

Until then Codex, keep an eye out. I will post some stuff when I have the rest of the footage edited sometime tomorrow. If I don't die from Jet Lag. PST -> EST = The Suck.

 

[Kane]

Ask me your BlizzCon 2010 questions now and we'll go from there.

WHAT ABOUT STARCRAFT??!?!?!?

 

[Metro]

DAY TWO RECAP:

I started the day off by getting there late with the lady. We dashed to the Q&A main stage and landed some decent seats. During the transition from Class Q&A to Open Q&A, I found us some front and center seats. My question regarded the Emerald Dream. I originally wanted to call Greg Street out on why 4.0.1 is to WoW what the NGE was to SW:G, and also point out for everyone there that he had the exact same look as John Smedley. They knew me despite me using my mains name, and not my retired warlocks name. My question was audited and I was told that if I showed a hint of changing it up that the Blizzard Staff member (who stood behind me like some sort of tough guy) would usher me away.

So I kept it short, sweet, and simple.

I did inform a few people that in the second issue of the WoW magazine it was confirmed there were NO women on the design team. I made sure those listening were overweight females who looked liberal enough to feel passionate about that sort of thing. One girl was going to change her question to question what I told her about. She was asked to leave. She decided to just change her question to why all the female characters clothing made them look like they were from Victoria's Secret. Good enough.

The evening went well. When Tenacious Drunkards took the stage, we managed to test some Diablo 3. The Blizzad Employee let me play 5-10 minutes longer so that I could finish the final quest, but then the Anaheim Center employee decided to be an oriental cock and said I had to go, even though the Blizzard Employee said, "No, this guys good."

And good I fucking was. I zerg raged that shit, only died once and that was by mistake. I had a crowd going. I'm not even into Diablo at all and yet I managed to dominate. I guess when the Barbarian does a berserker rage thing he is invincible and replenished fully for about 60 seconds, and I managed to down the main boss, destroy the fuck out of a horde of undead, then get burned to a crisp because I rushed through the lava grating that spews liquid hot magma out of the floor, incinerating me.

Oh well, instant warp back to the start where I took a turn to the left and went on to finish the second half of the gauntlet.

To finish the night, we leave, having given up getting Metzen to sign our BlizzCon 2010 books. Lo-and-behold, he's outside. We bumrush to him, and he realizes my second lastname is Ball. He instantly says that not only is it sexy, but it's epic. He even emphasizes the BALL part after autographing the books. I'm too giddy to say much, but having been picked on mercilessly most of my life, I feel that this whole trip has redeemed me.

He didn't get a picture with the lady though, but she didn't mind, as he favors Horde and she favors Alliance.

Oh and he leaned on my shoulder. Like, homo-style leaning. It's because I was still laughing about him making fun of my name. So he leans in like BAM - his gotiqe touched my right cheek, and He said, "Just kidding!" , I said, "Oh hell no give me some BROMANCE!" and hugged him. Yes. I've hugged two CCO's in one trip.

This newfound confidence has made me realize something. I won't share with you Codex-chan folk, but I will say this much - Soon. Very soon.

Oh and yes, Daniel broke his leg. But I did see him in a wheel chair and he thanked me very much for giving up my spot. For those at home, *ahem*, watching from the comfort of their rooms - it's just not the fucking same. You have to be here. I know this now. And I intend to return, perhaps permanently.

Until then Codex, keep an eye out. I will post some stuff when I have the rest of the footage edited sometime tomorrow. If I don't die from Jet Lag. PST -> EST = The Suck.

What?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

You have just gazed into the Eye of Terror, Metro. Comrade commissar will be by soon to execute you on grounds of chaos taint.

 

[Data4]

And not one fucking sliver of a peep about their new MMO or the new IP it's based on? If I was dumb enough to drop dough for Blizzcon and not get any info on something that everyone knows exists and wants info about, I'd be raging.

I'm saturated in WoW info, between the updates at MMO Champion and Massively, and I've never been into Diablo. I was really hoping they'd drop some details-- hell, concept art, pre-pre-pre-alpha screenshot, something! Sony hasn't even officially announced EQ3, and there's already development screenshots of it.

 

[made]

I suppose OP is one of these fine gentlemen:

 

[Arcanoix]

'made', you wish. I'm not into the cosplay thing. I'm not a Hordie. And I'm not a mainstream nubcake. I'm just a guy who is sick of seeing everything streamlined to look like fucking WoW. I take it none of you really understood my post, as English isn't your first fucking language.

Let me make this very clear - I play WoW, debating rather or not to retire. I went to BlizzCon to see what all the herpderp was about. It is an awesome, energetic experience - but you can tell that it is being undermined by Kosher Kotick & Krew, Inc.

One more thing I want to report - not once did they clarify just why they emphasized 'buying into' the Demon Hunter class. Nor did they stop bringing up 'what sells' the Demon Hunter class. Several parts of my footage zoom in and out (purposefully) the words "AWSUM", "NUMBERZ", "SEXY", "DARK", and "MYZTERIUS". And then I decided to show everyone there, hey, total Diablo 3 noob - think I'll zerg and pew pew that shit.

And I beat everybody in that row.

It's sad, Blizzard games were easy to learn, hard to master. Now they're just too fucking easy overall. It's not even fun. It's like playing Mario Bros. over and over again...

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Or tired.

And ARCO gas fucking sucks, for the record.

 

[Arcanoix]

And not one fucking sliver of a peep about their new MMO or the new IP it's based on? If I was dumb enough to drop dough for Blizzcon and not get any info on something that everyone knows exists and wants info about, I'd be raging.

I'm saturated in WoW info, between the updates at MMO Champion and Massively, and I've never been into Diablo. I was really hoping they'd drop some details-- hell, concept art, pre-pre-pre-alpha screenshot, something! Sony hasn't even officially announced EQ3, and there's already development screenshots of it.

I can say that Metzen did a comic a while back. *hint* *hint*

 

[Data4]

And not one fucking sliver of a peep about their new MMO or the new IP it's based on? If I was dumb enough to drop dough for Blizzcon and not get any info on something that everyone knows exists and wants info about, I'd be raging.

I'm saturated in WoW info, between the updates at MMO Champion and Massively, and I've never been into Diablo. I was really hoping they'd drop some details-- hell, concept art, pre-pre-pre-alpha screenshot, something! Sony hasn't even officially announced EQ3, and there's already development screenshots of it.

I can say that Metzen did a comic a while back. *hint* *hint*

Ah hell, not another superhero MMO. CoH/V, DC Online, Champions Online... We're reaching saturation point here. While the same could be said for fantasy, at least the very concept of RPGs (MMO and otherwise) was born out of fantasy. MMOs needs more cyberpunk or steampunk.

...or am I off base here?

 

[Zed]

Oh and yes, Daniel broke his leg. But I did see him in a wheel chair and he thanked me very much for giving up my spot. For those at home, *ahem*, watching from the comfort of their rooms - it's just not the fucking same. You have to be here. I know this now. And I intend to return, perhaps permanently.

Wait what.

The fat kid who broke his leg by jumping a couple of times? You knew him?

You were in line for the dance contest?

What.

 

[pocahaunted]

Say what you will, Diablo 3 is gonna be fun. Did you really expect that an ARPG created in 2010 wouldn't be streamlined? Meh, the originals were pretty much the epitome of streamlining as well, with additional retarded mechanics in place.

 

[Xor]

And not one fucking sliver of a peep about their new MMO or the new IP it's based on? If I was dumb enough to drop dough for Blizzcon and not get any info on something that everyone knows exists and wants info about, I'd be raging.

I'm saturated in WoW info, between the updates at MMO Champion and Massively, and I've never been into Diablo. I was really hoping they'd drop some details-- hell, concept art, pre-pre-pre-alpha screenshot, something! Sony hasn't even officially announced EQ3, and there's already development screenshots of it.

I can say that Metzen did a comic a while back. *hint* *hint*

Ah hell, not another superhero MMO. CoH/V, DC Online, Champions Online... We're reaching saturation point here. While the same could be said for fantasy, at least the very concept of RPGs (MMO and otherwise) was born out of fantasy. MMOs needs more cyberpunk or steampunk.

...or am I off base here?

The hell, I would gladly pay money for a well done superhero MMO. Or an well done superhero crpg, but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[Metro]

And not one fucking sliver of a peep about their new MMO or the new IP it's based on? If I was dumb enough to drop dough for Blizzcon and not get any info on something that everyone knows exists and wants info about, I'd be raging.

I'm saturated in WoW info, between the updates at MMO Champion and Massively, and I've never been into Diablo. I was really hoping they'd drop some details-- hell, concept art, pre-pre-pre-alpha screenshot, something! Sony hasn't even officially announced EQ3, and there's already development screenshots of it.

That's the funniest part about Blizzcon -- there really wasn't any new information released that people didn't already know about. It's basically just one big over produced commercial where the developers can act like rock stars amongst their fans.

 

[zeitgeist]

Or an well done superhero crpg, but I doubt that will ever happen.

 

[Angthoron]

I play WoW myself, and up til now I've been pretty underwhelmed with Cataclysm developments, such as scrapping of Path of the Titans, flip-flopping on dungeon difficulty and totally screwing up the "your build won't be cookie-cutter, we promise". How the hell is Ret paladin not a cookie cutter build? There isn't even any variation to it, all 85 Rets will either have the same build or be laughed at for being morons. Funny, too, because the 2nd build they posted had choice & consequence and the player would actually have to think about what talents to pick. Same goes for locks, rogues, priests and a bunch of other stuff. Plus the 31-point spec lock, wtf? Awesome for solo levelling no doubt.

I guess I'll buy it and play it, but it's not exactly a "siren's call" or anything. Funny how they managed to kill the golden egg-laying goose.



What's that about war though? I totally missed that, could you elaborate a bit?

 

[Metro]

All builds were basically cookie cutter before with only slight variations for PvE and PvP. Give the number crunching players a week and they'll post the best build for X, Y, or Z situation and everyone will follow it.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

...or am I off base here?

According to wikipedia, his comic project is set during a contemporary Second American Civil War, with stuff like terrorism, social chaos, and federal vs. local governments. Could be cool. Very different from anything Blizzard has ever done if true though.

 

[Xor]

All builds were basically cookie cutter before with only slight variations for PvE and PvP. Give the number crunching players a week and they'll post the best build for X, Y, or Z situation and everyone will follow it.

Actually, I like what they did with the talent tree for fire mages. We have several talents that are basically optional. They don't directly increase DPS, but they add some utility, like boosting AOE or helping survivability. For the first time I have interesting choices in my spec. Yeah, they didn't get that right on many of the other specs (my prot pally had no interesting choices), but I like the direction they're going.

 

[Angthoron]

All builds were basically cookie cutter before with only slight variations for PvE and PvP. Give the number crunching players a week and they'll post the best build for X, Y, or Z situation and everyone will follow it.

There's no numbers to crunch in this: http://wowtal.com/#k=3wVVhAK.a6d.paladin.

None. It wasn't rocket science before, but now it's absolutely ridiculous. At 85, you get the rest of the VERY OBVIOUS TALENTS and voila. This is beyond cookie cutter - this is the only way to go. Alright, if you solo or PvP, it is a little different here or there - but PvE/raid - this is it. Painfully obvious, and no tempting talents to take from Ret tree other than what's picked. It's retarded dumbed-down popamole - even compared to previous trees, cause hey, at least you had to crunch numbers in those for a second.