Blizzard normally gets by at BlizzCon with a World of Warcraft expansion trailer, maybe an Overwatch hero, and the usual assortment of live-service updates. This time, though, it went absolutely buck wild. We got a new StarCraft game, Diablo 5, World of Warcraft Forever, and a completely unexpected Warcraft III campaign expansion.
After years of Blizzard feeling weirdly complacent, this is the first time in a long time that its future actually feels exciting. Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard clearly came with some pressure to get things moving, because the studio suddenly has major projects cooking across nearly every big franchise.
Key Takeaways
- StarCraft is returning as a narrative-driven open-world shooter targeted for 2030.
- Diablo 5 is planned for spring 2029, with procedural environments, new classes, and Diablo II-style design influences.
- World of Warcraft Forever expands the vanilla-era game with new zones, over 1,000 quests, dungeons, raids, and the Skyborne race.
- Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom delivers a new, hero-focused campaign despite controversial online-only and visual-upgrade limitations.
Table of Contents
- StarCraft Is Returning, but Not as an RTS
- Diablo 5 Looks Like a Course Correction
- World of Warcraft Forever Is Vanilla Plus, Not WoW Classic Again
- The Rest of Blizzard’s BlizzCon Updates
- Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom Is the Surprise Nobody Saw Coming
- Blizzard Is Finally Giving Me Something to Be Excited About
StarCraft Is Returning, but Not as an RTS
The biggest reveal is a new StarCraft game scheduled for an estimated 2030 release. Yes, 2030. That is an absurdly far-off date, but it is still a big deal to see Blizzard acknowledge that StarCraft has a future.
The more surprising bit is that this is not another real-time strategy game, a hero shooter, or a live-service thing designed to hang around forever. Blizzard has described it as an open-world shooter made by veterans of the Far Cry franchise. The pitch is apparently “Deadwood in space,” which is one hell of a sentence.
Most importantly, this is meant to be a story-driven game with a dedicated ending. I am very happy to hear that. The StarCraft universe has always had a ridiculous amount of potential outside the RTS format, and the idea of exploring it from ground level is hard not to get excited about.
Imagine being able to pilot a siege tank, call in a nuclear strike, or stumble into a full-scale Terran, Zerg, and Protoss conflict from the perspective of somebody actually stuck in the mud. Done right, it could fill the sort of chaotic, systemic action-game space that has been painfully empty since Mercenaries disappeared.
There is obvious baggage here. I am still a little salty about StarCraft: Ghost getting cancelled, and “huge potential” is also another way of saying “huge room to screw this up.” Blizzard has not shown enough to declare victory yet. Still, this is a drastic and genuinely interesting direction for StarCraft, not another safe nostalgia play.
Diablo 5 Looks Like a Course Correction
Then Blizzard followed that up with Diablo 5, currently planned for spring 2029. That is a much faster sequel turnaround than the wait between Diablo III and Diablo IV, especially considering Diablo IV was supposed to be positioned as a long-running, expansion-heavy forever game.
Honestly, moving on is probably for the best. Diablo IV ended its Lord of Hatred storyline strongly enough, and there is something to be said for letting a game conclude instead of stretching it until everybody is sick of it.
A Post-Apocalyptic Sanctuary and a More Classic Structure
Diablo 5 takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of Sanctuary. The basic premise is that the world has gone completely wrong and the player character has to set things right. You know, the usual murder-hobo hero business, but on an even more catastrophic scale.
The interesting design change is Blizzard’s emphasis on a procedural landscape. Points of interest, enemies, and rewards can change when you revisit areas. That strongly suggests the Diablo IV-style open world is being scaled back or abandoned in favour of a more replayable, classic Diablo structure.
That would be a welcome move. I do not hate Diablo IV’s open world, but it never quite clicked for me. It felt like an experimental layer that did not add much to the core loop of diving into dangerous places, killing demons, finding weird loot, and doing it all again because a different build might work better.
More Classes and Diablo II-Inspired Loot
Blizzard has already revealed several classes, including the new Plague Knight and the returning Demon Hunter and Monk. Diablo 5 is also expected to launch with more starting classes than any previous Diablo game.
The loot system appears to be taking inspiration from Diablo II as well, rather than the more standardised inventory approach used by Diablo III and Diablo IV. Given how good Diablo II: Resurrected turned out, this is not a bad source of inspiration at all.
If Blizzard is serious about making Diablo 5 feel closer to the qualities that made Diablo II work, while still moving the series forward, that is reason for cautious optimism. Diablo IV absolutely has its fans, and fair enough. It is just not the version of Diablo that grabbed me personally.
World of Warcraft Forever Is Vanilla Plus, Not WoW Classic Again
World of Warcraft Forever is the announcement that initially made me go, “Wait, what?” WoW Classic already exists, so at first this sounded like another reset of the same game. It is not.
Forever is essentially Vanilla Plus. Blizzard is returning Azeroth to its 1.0-era foundation while layering a substantial amount of new content on top. The goal seems to be preserving the original World of Warcraft experience rather than turning it into the continuously expanding modern game.
The announced additions include:
- Three new zones
- More than 1,000 new quests
- Nine new dungeons
- Two new raids
- A new playable race called the Skyborne
So now there are effectively three flavours of Warcraft. There is modern World of Warcraft, which keeps moving forward with its current expansion model. There is WoW Classic, which continues cycling through legacy content. Then there is Forever, which is meant to keep the old-school core intact while giving it more stuff to do.
It is a slightly confusing pitch, but I get the appeal. For people who miss old WoW, or for newcomers who find modern WoW too convoluted, a more focused and enhanced version of original Azeroth could be a great middle ground.
The Rest of Blizzard’s BlizzCon Updates
The giant announcements were not the only things Blizzard rolled out. Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, and Diablo IV are all receiving notable updates as well.
Hearthstone Gets a New Class and New Systems
Hearthstone is getting an updated journal, a new Old Gods-themed card set, new Aberration minion types, and a keyword called Assemble. Assemble allows cards and minions to be combined into a stronger result.
Most significantly, the Monk is being added as a new class. That is a meaningful addition for a card game that has been around as long as Hearthstone, and it should freshen up the game’s class identity when the update arrives in March.
Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and Diablo IV Keep Moving
Overwatch is getting a vampire-themed support hero called Doctrine, another round of Sombra and Roadhog reworks, and a new map. At this point, Roadhog reworks are basically their own recurring Blizzard holiday.
Heroes of the Storm is receiving a new hero, which is a nice surprise for anyone who assumed that game had been quietly abandoned in a cupboard somewhere.
Diablo IV is getting a new season that finally brings Diablo himself into the game. It is kind of wild that the actual Diablo was absent from the main game, but a seasonal event is at least fixing that. The Amazon is also slated to arrive in the first half of next year, while a Complete Edition is launching for Nintendo Switch 2.
Warcraft III: Forsaken Kingdom Is the Surprise Nobody Saw Coming
The most unexpected reveal might be the new Warcraft III expansion, Forsaken Kingdom. Only 23 years in the making, right?
This is not some tiny nostalgia update. It is a new campaign centred on the rise of the Forsaken, making it a substantial chunk of Warcraft lore presented through the RTS format that helped establish so much of that universe in the first place.
The campaign is more hero-focused than a typical Warcraft III story, closer in spirit to the bonus Orc campaign from The Frozen Throne, but much longer and more ambitious. It uses pretty much every trick the engine can pull off.
There are some catches. The $30 price tag feels steep, the new update makes the game online-only, and the Definitive Edition visual upgrades only apply to the new campaign. Those improved visuals have not been ported back to the original Warcraft III content, which is a baffling decision.
Still, the campaign itself looks good. And if this is a sign that Blizzard might actually make more Warcraft III campaigns, I am completely here for it.
Blizzard Is Finally Giving Me Something to Be Excited About
There is plenty of time for disappointment. StarCraft is years away. Diablo 5 is even further out. World of Warcraft Forever is a fascinating but slightly odd experiment. Blizzard has absolutely earned some scepticism over the years.
But this BlizzCon feels different. A single-player StarCraft shooter with a proper ending is a swing. Diablo 5 seems to be taking feedback on board. WoW Forever could be a solid home for people who want an expanded vanilla-style experience without modern WoW’s complexity. And a full Warcraft III campaign expansion was nowhere near my bingo card.
I do not know what is in the water at Blizzard right now, but it looks like the studio is actually trying again. Whether all this effort pays off depends on the games themselves, obviously. For now, though, it is finally exciting to care about Blizzard’s future.
