Polygon - BlizzCon 2013: The latest on WoW, Diablo, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Stormhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/42931/favicon.ico2013-11-11T18:30:03-05:00http://www.polygon.com/rss/stream/48454752013-11-11T18:30:03-05:002013-11-11T18:30:03-05:00World of Warcraft expansions coming on 'a faster cadence,' next already in the works
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<p>Blizzard Entertainment plans to release expansions to <i>World of Warcraft</i> more frequently than it has in the past, co-founder and president Mike Morhaime told Polygon, and is already developing an unannounced add-on for the online game.</p>
<p>In an interview, Morhaime said expansions like the <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/8/5081560/world-of-warcraft-warlords-of-draenor-expansion">recently unveiled <i>Warlords of Draenor</i></a> are important to keeping players engaged (and subscribed).</p>
<p><span>"It's going to be on us and our development team to continually look at ways to evolve the game and keep it relevant," Morhaime said, "and look for new ways of </span><span>maintaining engagement within the game. </span><span>We view expansions as a huge opportunity to do that. </span></p>
<p><span>"We recognize that we need to release them on a faster cadence than we have in the past. So we're investing...</span></p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/11/5092854/world-of-warcraft-expansions-coming-on-a-faster-cadence-next-alreadyMichael McWhertor2013-11-10T14:00:05-05:002013-11-10T14:00:05-05:00Blizzard working to get Warcraft and Warcraft 2 on modern PCs
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<p>A small team within Blizzard Entertainment is working to bring the original Warcraft real-time strategy games — <i>Warcraft: Orcs & Humans</i> and <i>Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness</i> — to modern PCs, according to <i>World of Warcraft</i> production director J. Allen Brack.</p>
<p>At the <i>World of Warcraft</i> question and answer panel at <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/8/5081434/blizzcon-2013-the-latest-on-wow-diablo-hearthstone-and-heroes-of-the">BlizzCon 2013</a>, Brack revealed the "side project" to a fan who asked if Blizzard would consider making the older Warcraft games compatible with modern computers.</p>
<p><span>"So, we actually have a guy on our team — actually several guys on our team — who are actually working on a side project to do something like that in some form or fashion," Brack said. "We're fans of <i>Warcraft 1</i>, <i>Warcraft 2</i>, <i>Warcraft 3</i>, and we'd love to replay those games for...</span></p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/10/5087768/blizzard-warcraft-and-warcraft-2-working-on-modern-pcsMichael McWhertor2013-11-09T17:37:00-05:002013-11-09T17:37:00-05:00Blizzard president Mike Morhaime on razing Diablo 3's auction house, rebuilding Titan
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<p>Next year, Blizzard Entertainment will <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/17/4741452/blizzard-removing-gold-and-real-money-auction-houses-from-diablo-3">terminate</a> one of its most controversial services, <i><a href="/game/diablo-3/2579" class="sbn-auto-link">Diablo 3</a></i>'s gold and real-money auction houses. The auction house let players safely and easily buy and sell in-game items, but Blizzard believes the feature "ultimately undermines Diablo's core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot."</p>
<p>Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime said the decision to end <i>Diablo 3</i>'s auction house came about as result of a number of factors.</p>
<p>"It was a very complex feature that required a lot of planning, a lot of resources, but ultimately I don't think it helped the game," Morhaime told Polygon in an interview at BlizzCon. "I think our players recognized that. We were really looking to see what would happen with...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/9/5085172/blizzard-mike-morhaime-diablo-3-auction-house-titan-rebootMichael McWhertor2013-11-09T17:04:30-05:002013-11-09T17:04:30-05:00Warcraft movie to focus on Orcs versus Humans origin story
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<p>At BlizzCon 2013, Blizzard executives Christ Metzen and Rob Pardo, joined by director Duncan Jones, showed the first concept art and revealed new details for <em>Warcraft</em>, the movie adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment's 19 year old franchise.</p>
<p>The <i>Warcraft</i> movie adaptation will follow the origins of the orc versus human war, placing an emphasis on its orc heroes and villains as much as it does its human characters. The creators behind the film said at BlizzCon today that the balance between the races is a shift away from an earlier version of the film that focused mainly on humans.</p>
<p><i>Warcraft</i> director Duncan Jones, a longtime fan of the franchise, said he wanted to give orcs greater prominence and make audiences empathetic to the race...</p>
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<a href="https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/9/5085184/warcraft-movie-blizzcon-2013-news">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/9/5085184/warcraft-movie-blizzcon-2013-newsMichael McWhertor2013-11-09T15:00:04-05:002013-11-09T15:00:04-05:00World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Garrisons detailed
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<p><i>Warlords of Draenor</i>, the upcoming fifth expansion to massively multiplayer online game<i> <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="/game/world-of-warcraft/2735">World of Warcraft</a>,</i> will allow players to leave a "permanent impact on the world" with a Garrison, Blizzard <a href="http://us.battle.net//wow/en/blog/11502044">announced</a>.</p>
<p>A Garrison will act as the player's personal fortress. In addition to controlling its layout and appearance, players will also recruit and manage its staff. Followers, or recruitable characters, can be sent on missions to improve the Garrison and earn loot. Each follower has a character level and traits that will affect how he or she performs on missions. Players will pull in followers by completing missions or paying enough gold.</p>
<p>A player's Garrison will be built out of individual pieces, or buildings, such as stables, farms or...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/9/5084634/world-of-warcraft-warlords-of-draenor-garrisons-detailedMegan Farokhmanesh2013-11-08T22:30:50-05:002013-11-08T22:30:50-05:00See World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor's revamped orcs, dwarves and gnomes
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<p><em>World of Warcraft</em>'s original races will get a visual overhaul with the game's next expansion, <em>Warlords of Draenor</em>, Blizzard announced at BlizzCon today. Some of the first remodeled characters shown were the male versions of the orc, dwarf and gnome, which you can see in the gallery above.</p>
<p>According to Blizzard, the visual upgrade for character models is an effort to bring the original races up to the fidelity of the Pandaren, which were introduced as a playable race in <em>World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria</em>. The developer said it is striving to "keep the soul of the original characters" and "make sure [they] still look like what you know, just better."</p>
<p>In addition to a higher polygon count and improved textures, character models will get...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/8/5083066/world-of-warcraft-warlords-of-draenor-new-character-modelsMichael McWhertor2013-11-08T21:25:38-05:002013-11-08T21:25:38-05:00Diablo 3 for PS4 has exclusive features not available on PC, PS3 character transfers
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<p>The "Ultimate Evil" edition of <em>Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls</em> for PlayStation 4 will have a handful of features exclusive to the console version of the game, Blizzard says, including an intriguing new social feature called Avenger Kills.</p>
<p>The PS4 version, which runs at 60 frames per second and 1080p resolution natively, said senior level designer Matthew Berger, is adding a handful of gameplay additions built around shared experiences for players, even if they're not playing at the same time.</p>
<p>One of those is player gifts. In the console version, players who get a Legendary item from a loot drop will also get a second bonus item that can be gifted to a friend through the PS4 game's player mail system. Berger explained how that will work.</p>
<p>"I'm...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/8/5082890/diablo-3-for-ps4-has-exclusive-features-not-available-on-pc-ps3Michael McWhertor2013-11-08T20:33:47-05:002013-11-08T20:33:47-05:00Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls biggest changes explained at BlizzCon
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<p>At BlizzCon today, the Diablo development team revealed new details about how <em>Diablo 3</em>'s first expansion, <em>Reaper of Souls</em>, will change Blizzard's action role-playing game. Noteworthy are the addition of bounties in the new Adventure Mode, monster mash-ups called Nephalem Rifts and an expanded, even tougher bestiary.</p>
<p><em>Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls</em>' Adventure Mode lets players "go anywhere, slay anything" by giving them access to all of the game's waypoints, allowing them to hop around maps and acts to kill what they choose. In Adventure Mode, players can take on bounties, which the dev team described as your tour guide, offering destinations and events for player to see.</p>
<p>Stephen Wong, senior software engineer, called Adventure Mode an open...</p>
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https://www.polygon.com/2013/11/8/5081654/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-blizzcon-2013Michael McWhertor