What secrets does the BlizzCon 2016 schedule have in store?
The packed weekend includes panels looking at the future of Hearthstone, and the history of Diablo.
Blizzard has posted the schedule for BlizzCon 2016, which will kick off with an opening ceremony at 11 am PT on November 4 and then roll into a veritable cornucopia of Blizzard esports, panels, and Things You Need to Know.
Highlights of this year's event include the "Hearthstone – What's Next" and "StarCraft 2 – Foundation for the Future" panels, each of which takes place at 12:30 pm on opening day. A "World of Warcraft: Legion – What's Next" panel is set for 2:45 pm, followed by "Heroes of the Storm – State of the Game" at 4 pm. Then at 5 comes the "Diablo 20th Anniversary" panel, which will feature an overview of the game's long history as well as a "first look at our plans to celebrate the occasion."
VentureBeat believes it's "likely" that Blizzard will unveil the next Hearthstone expansion during the "What's Next" panel, reasoning that the timing—Expansions and Adventures are usually spaced out by 4-5 months, and the last adventure came out in August—makes it a good bet. That sounds likely to us, and would peg the next set as coming out in early December based on previous timelines.
I've never been one for freighting my wagers with too much thought, so I'll put my money on a remastered Diablo release of some sort being unveiled during the anniversary panel. (The Diablo 2 HD countdown site may have been a fake, but we dare to dream.)
BlizzCon 2016 runs over the weekend of November 4-5. Tickets to the event are sold out, but "virtual tickets" providing access to streams of the entire event are available at the BlizzCon website for $40.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
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