BlizzCon 2013: World Of Warcraft Extension Details Explained By Blizzard

BlizzCon 2013 brought the announcement of a new World of Warcraft extension that allows players to explore the world of Draenor and introduces new characters.

It has been a year since Blizzard Entertainment held its annual conference at the Anaheim Convention Center, and the seventh annual fan event opened to large crowds.

At the convention’s keynote address, Blizzard announced a new expansion for World of Warcraft that raises the level cap to 100. The extension, called Warlords of Draenor, doesn’t yet have a release date.

This would be the fifth extension for World of Warcraft, following The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), and Mists of Pandaria (2012).

After the announcement, Blizzard released the full details of the extension, including:

• Explore a Savage World: Explore the hostile world of Draenor, home of the orc and draenei races, as it once existed, and adventure in all-new zones alongside characters central to Warcraft history.
• Build Your Garrison: Construct, command, and expand your own customizable stronghold on Draenor, and gather NPC followers to collect resources and embark on missions on your orders.
• Instantly Upgrade to Level 90: Boost one character of your choosing to be ready to adventure on Draenor, making it easier than ever to enjoy the latest content alongside your friends.
• New Player Character Art: Character models and animations for many of World of Warcraft‘s existing playable races are being fully revamped in keeping with the game’s iconically epic style.
• Adventure to Level 100: Reach new heights of power and unlock bonuses to further enhance your abilities on your way to the new level cap of 100.”

The company also announced Blizzard DOTA/Blizzard All-Stars/Heroes of the Storm is, the long-anticipated multiplayer online battle area game. The game is intended to compete with Valve’s DOTA 2 and Riot’s League of Legends.

“When we had the chance to make one of these games our own, we just couldn’t resist,” said game director Dustin Browder.

Another new game announced at BlizzCon 2013 was Hearthstone, the company’s online card game that is free to play.

“Hearthstone is a first for Blizzard in a lot of ways,” said Rob Pardo, Blizzard’s Chief Creative Officer. “It’s our first free-to-play game, our first tablet game, and the first game we’ve announced and made playable in the same year.”

The BlizzCon 2013 event wasn’t all good news for Blizzard. The company issued fans a sort of apology for the Diablo III auction house feature, which allowed people to sell rare loot for real money.

Fans said it ruined the fun of finding loot, and led to the controversial “always-online” status.

“Two months ago we announced we were getting rid of the auction house,” Blizzard President Michael Morhaime said to a burst of applause from the BlizzCon 2013 crowd.