blizzard Potential BlizzCon 2019 Leaks: WoW: Shadowlands, Diablo 4, Overwatch 2

[Stan 5,240]

BlizzCon is just around the corner and we've seen many new rumors emerge and while they should be taken with a grain of salt, some are really interesting and worth looking into.

WoW: Shadowlands

The number of leaks related to the next WoW expansion is crazy this year. Ercarp has created a spreadsheet, where he lists 66 leaks for Patch 9.0 and the list is growing.

The most interesting ones stem from MMO-Champion and other sources, but they've all been posted on Twitter by WeekAuras. The first image mentions Shadowlands.

The second image depicts a shirt and fine art print of Bolvar as the Lich King. No idea why his eyes aren't red.

Overwatch 2

Here is a purported leak of the Overwatch 2 logo, also posted by WeekAuras.

Based on recent rumors, it seems Kotaku's James Schreier was right when he predicted PvE elements in Overwatch 2 four months ago, comparing it to Left 4 Dead.

Diablo 4

The highly-anticipated Diablo title comes with the most leaks this year. We've seen a leaked GameStar ad from an upcoming book mentioning Diablo 4, and now, here we have an image of Lilith, a character that will be part of the story in the game, also taken from The Art of Diablo. The image was posted on WeekAuras' Twitter.

 

This one has even been confirmed by an ex-Blizzard employee who stated it was his unreleased concept art of Lilith that received a paintover by someone else at Blizzard. The tweet has been obviously deleted since then.

[Dejo93 1,023]

Why didn't you show the Dark Ranger leak for WoW Shadowlands?

[Hypersonic 119]

I skipped BFA but really excited about next WoW expansion. 

[xendrius 9]

39 minutes ago, Hypersonic said:

I skipped BFA but really excited about next WoW expansion. 

Yea the features for the next expansion are really good.

 

Wait, we don't even know anything about the expansion, so why excited about it? Remember how excited we were for BFA? What makes you think the new one will feel any different? It will most likely be a new coat of paint, no game systems will change.

[Dejo93 1,023]

4 minutes ago, xendrius said:

Yea the features for the next expansion are really good.

 

Wait, we don't even know anything about the expansion, so why excited about it? Remember how excited we were for BFA? What makes you think the new one will feel any different? It will most likely be a new coat of paint, no game systems will change.

eh, my guess is that every second expansion is good. The trend checks out.

WoD : sucked

Legion: awesome

BfA: sucked (though it desperately tries to improve lol)

New exp: ??

It makes sense considering that there are two WoW dev teams working simultaneously. Plus, if the leaks about the Paragon classes turn true, it makes even more sense

[Alkasar 55]

The Overwatch 2 thing is getting out of hand.
This rumor came up when a Story Mode was mentioned. Since then this story has converted into Overwatch 2. 

The current game is still highly supported and played and I cannot see a reason for a new seperate game. If Blizzard really wants to bank on Overwatch they might release the Story Mode or any other kind of huge expansion for a certain price.

Edited October 27, 2019 by Alkasar

[Migol 433]

Just hoping it's not "return to Northrend" (and all our recycled art assets).    We need new stories, not some nonsense about Bolvar suddenly going evil for no good reason, or randomly resurrecting Tirion/Varian/Nomi into a Deathknight

[Arcling 898]

1 hour ago, Alkasar said:

The Overwatch 2 thing is getting out of hand.
This rumor came up when a Story Mode was mentioned. Since then this story has converted into Overwatch 2. 

The current game is still highly supported and played and I cannot see a reason for a new seperate game. If Blizzard really wants to bank on Overwatch they might release the Story Mode or any other kind of huge expansion for a certain price.

Makes me wonder what happens to OW1, after all they have so much invested into e-sports. There is also a matter of skins, whether they would transfer into new game? Because people would be pissed, especially those who had time limited skins like Pink Mercy and All-stars. Personally, I would prefer it to be a content update for OW. Also, that picture of Tracer might be fake or unfinished, her hair looks weird, also many lines on that picture don't align, including logo (some people have pointed this out, when you zoom it in).

Diablo 4, it's interesting if Lilith returns. Possibly more references to Sin War books?

There have been many WoW "leaks" either about Shadowlands or Dragon Isles, which mostly looked like someone just gathered wish lists from forums. Bolvar looks rather strange on that picture, his eyes have orange-yellow glow, like the rest of his body (due to being subjected to effects of Alexstrasza's flame). 

[albabe 33]

Lilith looks an awful lot like Jack Kirby's Hela...  Maybe Blizzzz should send his family a couple clams.

[albabe 33]

Concept art for the Movie version of Hela...

 

[Morcalivan 86]

Nah, multiple horns is not franchise specific.

Lilith was one of those characters made for the backstory before Diablo series rights? Like the birth of the Nephilem or something?

[Aegrotat 80]

2 hours ago, Alkasar said:

The Overwatch 2 thing is getting out of hand.
This rumor came up when a Story Mode was mentioned. Since then this story has converted into Overwatch 2. 

The current game is still highly supported and played and I cannot see a reason for a new seperate game. If Blizzard really wants to bank on Overwatch they might release the Story Mode or any other kind of huge expansion for a certain price.

I think the question is how hard would it be to make a full story mode just an expansion. I can't speak for them, but I've seen a few games where their code is absolute spaghetti and they'd have to start from the ground up to implement medium changes, let alone a full campaign. We also don't know if they would be changing any core mechanics in the game itself. So aside from "we're just going to bank on another game" (which it absolutely could be. CoD does it yearly) it could just be easier to realize new stuff they want opposed to just putting it in the first game.

The game has been out for 3.5 years, so it's not completely out of the question that a new game would be possible. Especially if it may take another few years to come out even.

[Rhondis 148]

5 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

eh, my guess is that every second expansion is good. The trend checks out.

WoD : sucked

Legion: awesome

BfA: sucked (though it desperately tries to improve lol)

New exp: ??

It makes sense considering that there are two WoW dev teams working simultaneously. Plus, if the leaks about the Paragon classes turn true, it makes even more sense

God I miss Legion so bad lol

[Arcling 898]

1 hour ago, Morcalivan said:

Nah, multiple horns is not franchise specific.

Lilith was one of those characters made for the backstory before Diablo series rights? Like the birth of the Nephilem or something?

Yes, and her appearance has been known for years now. There is some official artwork, it can be found on wiki .

Edited October 28, 2019 by Arcling

[Thankmar 0]

7 hours ago, Aegrotat said:

The game has been out for 3.5 years, so it's not completely out of the question that a new game would be possible. Especially if it may take another few years to come out even

 

That would have been nothing for old Blizzard, let alone games as a service Blizzard. I have no clue about Overwatch, but a sequel would be a major change of strategy.

[Borgoff33 101]

i read that the Bolvar shirt was a fake edit (main reason being Bolvar eyes are blue but have always been red)

Edited October 28, 2019 by Borgoff33

[CaperfinWoW 21]

So it seems we're going back to Northrend?

[OxO 24]

I wouldn't get up your hopes for anything really good, Blizzard are so out of touch with their fan base and have been for a long time.

They're lazy and uninspired, with an awful design team being directed by Activision and an ignorant leadership.

...but shall wait and see.

[Kuarinofu 78]

The one plausible thing we can all hope to get from Blizzcon 2019 is at least one out of season April fools joke.

[Arcling 898]

1 hour ago, Kuarinofu said:

The one plausible thing we can all hope to get from Blizzcon 2019 is at least one out of season April fools joke.

This seems unlikely, as there might not be a live Q&A this time, if this image is to be believed (probably same goes for other panels). Selected person will read chosen questions, so there won't be another "out of season April Fools joke" guy this year.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Arcling

[Pandabuffel 184]

20 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

eh, my guess is that every second expansion is good. The trend checks out.

WoD : sucked

Legion: awesome

BfA: sucked (though it desperately tries to improve lol)

New exp: ??

It makes sense considering that there are two WoW dev teams working simultaneously. Plus, if the leaks about the Paragon classes turn true, it makes even more sense

I'm happy I'm not the only person who actually saw this trend. I personally played since Cataclysm, so I wouldn't dare to speak about the earlier expansions. But so far I also noticed that most people say Cataclysm sucked and Pandaria was really good (personally MoP is my favourite so far) and that actually continues the chain even a bit more back. At the announcement of BfA I was already a bit biased with the thought 'What a shame, this is the expansion that is supposed to fail again' and to me it actually did. So the next one is supposed to be good again (unless they break the chain).

Interesting enough my personal favourite raids were in the bad expansions: Firelands, Blackrock Foundry and Siege of Dazar'alor.

[Thankmar 0]

13 minutes ago, Pandabuffel said:

I'm happy I'm not the only person who actually saw this trend. I personally played since Cataclysm, so I wouldn't dare to speak about the earlier expansions. But so far I also noticed that most people say Cataclysm sucked and Pandaria was really good (personally MoP is my favourite so far) and that actually continues the chain even a bit more back. At the announcement of BfA I was already a bit biased with the thought 'What a shame, this is the expansion that is supposed to fail again' and to me it actually did. So the next one is supposed to be good again (unless they break the chain).

Interesting enough my personal favourite raids were in the bad expansions: Firelands, Blackrock Foundry and Siege of Dazar'alor.

The chain does hold from my experience as a causal solo player (who did like the garrisons of WoD because of that, but not the rest): WotLK was really good, BC was not bad per se, with some some really cool, freaky environments, on par with vanilla, but not as good as Wrath.

[SidonisAntares 290]

21 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

eh, my guess is that every second expansion is good. The trend checks out.

WoD : sucked

Legion: awesome

BfA: sucked (though it desperately tries to improve lol)

New exp: ??

It makes sense considering that there are two WoW dev teams working simultaneously. Plus, if the leaks about the Paragon classes turn true, it makes even more sense

Ah, the Windows release paradigm.

[Migol 433]

Ehh, Vanilla, TBC and WotLK were all good to great.    Cata was awful, I know most people say WoD was worst but Cata has my vote.    MoP was Ok.    Not good, not bad, just Ok.     WoD was pretty bad, Legion was pretty good.   BFA has been pretty bad, waiting to see 8.3 but it's looking grim.

To go a bit more in depth though, each expansion has had it's ups and downs.    TBC's launch had _all kinds_ of issues.   Constant server problems, completely imbalanced itemization (Naxx 40 gear and quest greens were better than kara epics); great story and all kinds of content though.     WotLK had Ulduar, the best raid they've ever released.   However it was followed by Trial of the Crusader, by far the worst raid they've ever released.     Mists was stupid obvious in pandaring for marketing reasons, they didn't do bad though in design for the most part...some very uninspired raids though and having to sit through Garrosh Derping it all up.    WoD, for all it's flaws, had a decent setup on launch and Blackrock foundry was a surprisingly good raid.   Legion was good except for the %$@*%ing broken shore map design, stop throwing random bad pathing at us and calling it art!. 

[Kuarinofu 78]

52 minutes ago, Arcling said:

This seems unlikely, as there might not be a live Q&A this time, if this image is to be believed (probably same goes for other panels). Selected person will read chosen questions, so there won't be another "out of season April Fools joke" guy this year.

Damn, this sucks. I always enjoyed Q&A session interactions and the memes they produce (like the WoW Red Shirt Guy).