Activision Blizzard
As many opportunities in 2020, BlizzCon canceled due to the Covid19 pandemic. This year, publisher Blizzard will take its fan event and game show digitally with BlizzConline. The two-day show will reveal new content for the company’s popular franchises and fans will hear more from the developers who make the games.
BlizzConline launches Friday, and it will focus on Blizzard’s franchises, including Diablo, Overwatch and World of Warcraft. The event will also serve as a celebration of the developer’s 30th anniversary.
Here’s what you need to know about the program and what can be announced.
When does BlizzConline start?
The opening ceremony of the program begins on Friday, February 19 at 5:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM PT. It is in this first hour that Blizzard will announce its biggest announcements. The rest of the two-day event features panels focusing on Blizzard’s various franchises: Diablo, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone and Starcraft.
A schedule for BlizzCon is available on the program’s website.
Where can I watch BlizzConline?
In previous years, fans would need a virtual ticket to watch the stream of the event. Fortunately, Blizzard made the entire event free, as there is no one-on-one event. The live stream will be available on Blizzard’s YouTube channel and on the BlizzCon website.
What is being unveiled at BlizzConline?
Blizzard has yet to announce what games it will show during the event, but there were some leaks on social media indicating what can be shown.
Diablo: The big revelation for the show could be the release of a Diablo 2 remake called Diablo II Resurrected. The church crawler remained incredibly popular years after its release in 2000 and is a favorite with fans of the franchise. There are few details on what might be different in the rumor remake, along with a likely graphical update.
As for the next game in the franchise, Diablo 4, the developer has already shown the game and has been doing an alpha test since it was announced BlizzCon 2019. Expect more details on the game classes this year and maybe a release date.
Diablo Immortal is the mobile game for the franchise, which also had a public test. Blizzard will likely announce the release date for Immortal during the show.
World of Warcraft: Since World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, Shadowlands, appeared in October, it’s unlikely that Blizzard will have another expansion to show for it. A major content update called Chains in Domination will be revealed according to a leak reported by WoWHead on Thursday. Players will have more dungeons, equipment and a new raid to look forward to.
On the other side, WoW Classic – a re-creation of the MMORPG around 2006 – will receive a “new” extension. Burning Crusade first appeared in 2007, and WoW Classic will offer the same content. These include the Blood Elf and Draenei races, the area named Outland and more content according to leaked information.
Overwatch 2: The sequel to the popular Overwatch was also announced at the last BlizzCon. Viewers should expect Blizzard to show more about the game, but do not expect a release date.
Hearthstone: As with every show, new information about the upcoming expansion for the collectible card game will be shown.