Image: Blizzard Entertainment
Here’s every big trailer and announcement Blizzard dropped at BlizzCon 2023, from Diablo 4’s first expansion to World of Warcraft's ambitious Worldsoul Saga.
Blizzard Entertainment is holding its first in-person BlizzCon event in years this weekend, beginning with a reveal-packed Opening Ceremony. The show began with company boss Mike Ybarra coming out on stage to deliver a speech about Blizzard’s history and how much the publisher appreciates its fans, before handing things over to the developers to show off its upcoming slate of content.
Blizzard showed off an expansion for Diablo 4, Overwatch 2’s new hero Mauga and more at BlizzCon 2023 today. In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap of every big announcement and trailer revealed today:
Overwatch 2’s new Tank hero Mauga
Overwatch 2 revealed its new unhinged Tank hero Mauga, a character who’s been the subject of multiple theories since his introduction to in-game lore as an old friend of Baptiste. The seemingly happy-go-lucky Talon operative is in fact a cunning tactician with the ability to pelt enemies with incendiary fire and trap them in battle while buffing his allies. Mauga is Samoan and his arrival in the game was first teased in the game’s latest map Samoa, where his clothes could be found in a hut.
Overwatch 2’s new PvP mode Clash and 2024 content
Hanamura returns to Overwatch! Now renamed Hanaoka, the map will return with a brand-new redesign to fit the game’s shift away from the Assault mode. The development team is also working on a new PvP mode called Clash with a tentative release date of 2024.
Competitive Mode is getting a rework as well, with all-new rewards beyond the simple Competitive Points and stickers we’ve gotten for years. Eldritch horror, witches, a mirror universe and Egyptian Mythology are among the themes being worked on for upcoming seasons through 2024. The game’s next two heroes are a Damage and Support hero, codenamed ‘Venture’ and ‘Space Ranger’. Another hero is in the works for 2024, but the team wasn’t ready to show that one off just yet.
Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred
Diablo 4 has revealed its first expansion Vessel of Hatred, introducing a campaign that ropes in big bad Mephisto and a mysterious new region that follows up on the base game’s story. The expansion will also introduce an all-new character class, “never before seen in the Diablo universe,” along with new ways to play the game. We didn’t get a release date for the expansion, but more details will roll out over the weekend.
There’s some Season 2 stuff too: Malignant Rings are returning to bring some Season of the Malignant magic to this season, and an endgame event called Abbatoir of Zir is coming up in December with the intention of being a ‘highly replayable’ activity that, “starts difficult, and only gets harder.” In Season 3, a leaderboard is coming to the game that will allow players to seal their names in digital glory depending on their performance.
Hearthstone: Showdown in the Badlands and new mode
Hearthstone is getting a Wild West-themed expansion, which sees Reno Jackson and Elise Starseeker team up to save a small town from danger. As with all Hearthstone expansions, this one brings a new batch of collectible cards when it launches on November 14. The game is also introducing Catch-Up Packs, which lets players attain up to 50 cards from the last two years, with a few being gifted by Blizzard for everyone soon. Pre-purchase bundles for Showdown in the Badlands will include a few of these packs.
Hearthstone is also getting a new mode that lets players team up with one another called Battlegrounds Duos. Cards will be sent back and forth among teammates in this new version of Battlegrounds, with a planned launch set for early 2024.
Warcraft Rumble
Blizzard’s new mobile RTS Warcraft Rumble launched with its first season this weekend, introducing its first seasonal Mini Sylvanas. New Minis will drop every season, along with Raids and more content to keep players occupied for the long-term.
World of Warcraft Classic: Cataclysm and Season of Discovery
World of Warcraft Classic is getting another expansion from way, way back: Cataclysm! After testing the waters with players via surveys and whatnot, it looks like Blizzard is going full steam ahead with multiple familiar expansions for World of Warcraft: Classic, but with a few changes in tow. The expansion will arrive in the first half of 2024 with a faster gameplay cadence, improved levelling and more.
Season of Discovery is also coming to World of Warcraft: Classic, giving players new reasons to explore the Realm that give them new ways to change up their Classes with new items for progression. The Level Cap for the season will be 25, with a new endgame available for Level 25 players. There will be new activities for players to partake in during the upcoming season, which launches on November 30 with no public testing.
World of Warcraft: the Worldsoul Saga and next three expansions
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight will soon get new content that serves as an epilogue for the expansion and a bridge to the MMO’s next storyline: the Worldsoul Saga. This new plotline will play out over multiple expansions taking place throughout the next few years, with plans to be delivered to players, “a little faster than you are used to.” Blizzard claims that the last 20 years of Warcraft have led to this, so the stakes are high! The storyline is being hyped up as being huge in scale, going back to old characters and mysteries for a culmination of the game’s story so far.
The first of World of Warcraft’s next three expansions is called The War Within (launching in 2024). In this expansion, players will descend into the heart of Azeroth in subterranean regions, engaging with new cultures. The second expansion is called Midnight, bringing players back to The Old World where the forces of the Void have invaded Azeroth to plunge the realm in fear. Players will stand with the forces of the light to banish the shadows forever, but, “things may not go to plan.”
The third and possibly not final part of the Worldsoul Saga is titled The Last Titan. In this expansion, players journey to Northrend where they will witness Titans return to Azeroth and uncover a vast conspiracy that stretches across the history of the world, challenging what players know about the Titans and their true intentions. Executive creative director Chris Metzen claims that Blizzard, “isn’t screwing around,” with this new arc.
