BlizzCon 2009 Round-Up

Well, BlizzCon weekend is over, and as many of the attendees and fans slowly make their way back to their respective homes, all of us are a little happier, feel more excited for the future, and have a little more swag in our luggage. As far as news goes, there was a ton of information that was dealt out at BlizzCon, and luckily Den Den Boy, Sgt. SausagePants, and I (from right to left in the picture) were there to try and report all that our nimble typing fingers could afford us. All that said, you may have missed an article or two amidst all the excitement, so he's a round-up of all the juicy tidbits:

• The event started off with two trailers being shown, one revealing the new playable hero in Diablo 3, the Monk. The other trailer confirmed that the next expansion for World of Warcraft is Cataclysm, much to the delight of MMO players everywhere.
• With Cataclysm announced, Den Den Boy brought us up to date with the slew of information as to what will be coming with the expansion. Some of the big points were the announcement of the two new races, Worgen for the Alliance and Goblins for the Horde, the raising of the level cap to 85, a new secondary profession of Archeology, and the inclusion of new systems of advancement in the Mastery system, the Path of the Titans, as well as the Guild Advancement system.
• In one of the panels, we got to see the new Diablo 3 Monk class in action, and see just how the combo system makes this hero a fast but fragile fighter that can deliver a deadly assortment of blows.
• Next up, Blizzard hit us with details of the 'always connected' Battle.Net system that will be launching with Starcraft II. It looks like they are definitely making some great advancements on the interface and innerworkings of the Battle.Net system to ensure that going forward, you'll be easily able to play with your friends and find a variety of ways to enjoy Blizzard's games online. I'd even venture to say that it's basically a Blizzard Facebook.
• In the World of Warcraft class discussion, we found out that Blizzard is giving us more class/race options, and going back to basics when it comes to stats on items. It looks like Reforging will play a part in helping you differentiate your stats, and that Blizzard has some neat racial coming our way too.
• The next day, Blizzard announced that in the PvP sector, rated battlegrounds will be launching with the expansion. Along with that, a number of new BGs are expected with the expansion, as well as a new world PvP area called Tol Barad.
• At the same panel, we also got a batter understanding of how the guild progression system will work in the expansion, and all the great goodies that will come along with it. Through boss kills, level gains, achievements, and reputations, guilds will be able to advance through twenty ranks, allotting them guild currency and talent points, which they can use to gain heirloom recipes, talents, and bragging rights.
• We also got an initial sneak peek into the Mastery and Path of the Titans systems Blizzard will be putting in place for character progression in the expansion. Mastery is being setup to help move passive talent tree buffs out of the trees and into your gear, whereas the Path of the Titans is designed to allow players a form of max level progression that is truely in the hands of the players.
• Den Den Boy then informed us on what we can expect in the future of WoW's dungeons and raids. Plenty of info was given as to how we'll be playing through the four levels of Icecrown Citadel, and the upcoming dungeons and raids of Cataclysm are already making us foam at the mouth.
• Near the end of the convention, we got to hear some exciting news about Starcraft II, in that they recently got Tricia Heifer to play the voice of Kerrigan, as well as some info on the new character of Gabriel Tosh in the Terran campaign. Along with that there was a lengthy panel that extolled upon the high-quality of the Starcraft II map-editor, encouraging developers everywhere to try and make new custom games for the community.

That's most of the major highlights from the event, but be sure to stay tuned, since we'll be having some hands-on impressions and previews going up on the site during the week.