Blizzcon is in full swing and news is flying out at such speed it can be difficult to keep up, but never fear: Pixelated Geek is here to help. This will be a collection of news stories focused on Blizzcon updated throughout the convention.
First up: the addition and removal of units from Starcraft 2 for the upcoming Heart of the Swarm.
Terrans are gaining access to some brand-new units. These include Shredders (a robot that cannot attack in motion, but once set up does damage to both air and ground units) and Warhounds (a mechanical unit which attacks both air and ground but with a bonus against other mechanical ground units like Siege Tanks).
Terrans also face some major changes to some of their existing units. With the addition of Warhounds, Thors are being shifted to a singular super-heavy unit. Only one Thor can be active at a time, and it no longer has anti-air weapons. Their trademark bombardment attack now takes some time to set up so cannot be instantly activated anymore. Battlecruisers will be gaining a speed boost ability, and Hellions can transform to boost their close-quarters combat ability.
Protoss are welcoming the Tempest (an air to air unit that attacks with area of effect damage) and the Oracle to their arsenal. The Oracle is a pretty unique air unit with a lot of utility. It harvest of mineral areas for a short time and use an ability called Preordain, allowing the player to see what their opponent is researching or making in one particular structure. The Oracle also boasts the Phase Shift ability; this essentially freezes a particular building preventing any production or any incoming damage.
The ‘Toss are also gaining a unit called the Replicant which can transform into any non-massive unit from your enemy’s forces. In non-unit related news the Nexus can now deploy Arc Shields to other Protoss buildings, acting as short-term protection and enabling an attack similar to the Photon Cannon.The Nexus can also now use Mass Recall to bring your army back to your base.
The Protoss lose the Mothership and Carrier units – but their abilities are being shifted to other units.
Appropriately for their expansion, the Zerg are not left out from the changes. They’re gaining some boosts to their siege capability. The new Swarm Host unit doesn’t actually do anything while above ground – but once burrowed, it begins to churn out units called Locusts until the Swarm Host is destroyed. The other new unit for the Zerg is the Viper, an aerial unit that can use a Blinding Cloud ability to limit the range of all enemies under it, an ability called Abduct which drags the targeted unit towards the Viper (particularly useful against any unit using a cliff as protection), and Ocular Parasite which grants any non-massive unit the ability to detect cloaked enemies.
Banelings will now be able to train the ability to move while burrowed and Ultralisks can charge while burrowed. The Overseer will be disappearing from the Zerg army, only to see its abilities moved to other units.
With no announced release date players can expect a beta before the actual release of Heart of the Swarm.
Shifting gears now to Diablo III, Blizzard released the official box art for the game along with details about the Collector’s Edition. Customers who buy the collector’s edition will receive a Diablo II artbook, the official soundtrack for the game, a Diablo skull and a 4GB Touchstone USB drive (containing full versions of Diablo I & II), a 2 disc (Blu Ray/DVD Combo) behind-the-scenes set. Aside from these real-world bonuses, the Collector’s Edition offers Diablo III aesthetic artifacts, a World of Warcraft pet (Fetish Shaman), and Starcraft II Battle.net portraits.
No release date has been announced for this eagerly awaited title from Blizzard.
Finally to World of Warcraft announcements, Blizzard officially named the next expansion World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.
This expansion will bring to the game to the new continent of Pandaria and focuses on the continuing war between the Alliance and the Horde. Pushing the level cap up to 90, a reorganization of the talent tree system, offering a new “Challenge Mode” for dungeons and even a “Pet Battle” system may all seem minor compared to the introduction of a new race from Warcraft III the Pandaren, and a new playable class called the Monk.
The new talent system no longer has separate trees, but is customized by specialization abilities granted as you level. Speaking of leveling, forget having to travel back to your trainer to learn your new spells as you gain levels, they are now granted automatically wherever you are.
The Monk class will become available to all races, save for the goblin and worgen races, and features a resource system that seems to be a hybrid of the energy of rogues with the holy power system of paladins. Monks will have three specializations: Brewmaster (acting as the Tank), Mistwalker (a Healer), and Winderwalker (Melee DPS).
A new instance-like system called PVE Scenarios will be unveiled which appear to be something along the lines of a PVE Battleground and can be queued for using the same Dungeon Finder feature. Challenge Mode is as simple as it sounds: groups will have to race through dungeons to meet Gold, Silver, and Bronze times and are rewarded with guild and realm high scores along with gear for Transmogrification and Valor points.
One of the most radical additions coming in Mists of Pandaria is the “Pet Battle” system. Simply put, it’s Pokemon…but in WoW. Players can battle against other players through their pets who gain a variety of attacks and gain experience and levels. The actual combat is turn-based and your battles will involve teams of three pets each. Your pets will also be able to equip items, and can be taught special abilities by NPCs called “Masters” who are spread across the world.
The expansion will bring a total of 9 new dungeons to the game and 3 new PVP Battlegrounds. There was even mention of a Murderball PvP game mode where players will fend for themselves and receive points for holding on to a particular item for the longest time. Achievements will sometimes be shared across an entire account instead of being locked into each character.
Some more detailed changes are coming to the individual classes of World of Warcraft.
- All secondary weapons are being removed from the game. Hunters will now only wield bows but no longer have range restrictions for their attacks. Rogues and Warriors will now throw their melee weapons for ranged damage and casters will have wands for their main hand weapon.
- All three specializations of Warlocks are gaining a unique resource for each specialization, Demonology Warlocks will have Demonic Fury and if the player maxes the resource they turn into a demon. Destruction Warlocks get Infernal Embers which empower the Conflagrate spell and are charged by casting fire spells.
- Shamans are losing buff totems but gaining new utility totems like the Bulwark totem (which absorbs damage) and the Repulsion totem (which, oddly enough, repels enemies).
- Druids will now have 4 different specializations, Feral will become entirely cat focused and the new Guardian spec will be bear tanking. Just like before Guardian and Feral will have some minor crossover and Restoration and Balance druids will not be changed.
In the first of a pair of surprise moves, Blizzard has announced that all of their Annual Subscribers to World of Warcraft will receive a free digital copy of Diablo III with an exclusive mount (Mount? Mounts in Diablo III?): Tyrael’s Charger. Don’t have an annual pass? You can sign up at the Blizzard website and simultaneously secure yourself guaranteed entry into the Mists of Pandaria beta.
The second major surprise was that Blizzard is currently in development of a DOTA project, creatively titled: Blizzard DOTA.
All this information is conditional and subject to change in the way that only Blizzard is allowed to get away with as they develop these massive new titles. We will keep you posted on any changes or any new announcements.