Blizzard is wearing me thin
BlizzCon 2021 is no more, or, better yet, never was. There was no Blizzcon 2020 either, being blamed on the pandemic and turned into what they called BizzConline 2021. And you know what? I’m ok with it. I didn’t miss it last year, and I’m not going to miss it this year. Blizzard has fallen from grace, a shell of its former glory. I just don’t care anymore.
I’ve been an avid fan of all things Blizzard for most of my life. I played StarCraft 64 on the Nintendo 64. If you know anything about that then you know what a horrible port of an excellent game it was. I loved StarCraft so much anyway that it got me to buy the game on PC. From then on I was a fanboy for all things Blizzard. The first game I played online was Diablo 2. Heck, I even got to interview David Brevik, the creator of Diablo, on a podcast I was a part of. I made him apologize to my mom for having terrible grades in school because of that game. I was the sucker who would buy the digital version of the BlizzCon ticket because I played every single game that had a digital goodie for buying a ticket.
Last year BlizzConline had so little to show me. Diablo II Resurrected has been worried about Blizzard destroying another beloved franchise remake for me. I thought They did just fine with StarCraft: Remastered, but they found a way to butcher Warcraft II: Reforged. The bugs, load times, being unable to find a match, finding a match and being stuck on the match found screen until you had to force close the game.
The big release this year looks to be Diablo Immortal. Reports say it is still on track to come out in 2021, but a mobile game as the big release this year for Blizzard just leaves a funky taste in my mouth. We all know what a debacle the announcement of the game was, yes we all have phones. Due to the publicity it received when being announced I have no doubt extra scrutiny will come from the community when it is finally released.
I tried to get back into World of WarCraft when the latest expansion hit. I had raided full time in Legion, and the first quarter of Battle for Azeroth’s (BFA) initial release. But BFA stunk quickly for me. The raids were mediocre, and the best part of Legion, Mythic Keystones, didn’t hold the same glow that it had in the Legion expansion for me. When World of WarCraft Classic was rolled out to help stop the bleeding of subscriptions my friends and I jumped on board. Who doesn’t love a good trip down memory lane? I wasn’t even able to hit the level cap before I had my fill. World of WarCraft Burning Crusade Classic is right around the corner on June 1st. Do I have the energy for it? I’ve spent the last month debating if I should jump on the bandwagon. I have no doubt that I will, Burning Crusade was my favorite expansion (Wrath of the Lich King a very close second). So going back to it feels like a safe move. Do I have the time to level up a Blood Elf from level one? I just can’t say I don’t care about this one, yet. Ask me in July.
I don’t care because Blizzard doesn’t seem to care. The last new IP they had was Overwatch and that was in 2016. Since then it’s been sequels, spin offs, remakes, and expansions, most of which seem to fall flat on players. They’ve been so coy about everything, and they have to know it’s affecting them. Articles everywhere talk about how many people are jumping ship to other games.
I think there is a reason why so many senior staff at Blizzard have left for smaller, indie companies.
Kill your idols, if you love something let it free, you either die the hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Take your pick. Thank you for the great memories Blizzard,
Blizzard is planning on another BlizzConline sometime this upcoming spring. I am hopeful this will give them time to give fans some real information about Diablo III, Overwatch 2, and the next World of WarCraft expansion. But I don’t really care anymore, I’ll wait for the reviews, like everyone else before I give them more of my money. I’m more excited to see what Dreamhaven, the game company Blizzard cofounder Mike Morhaime recently started, comes up with.
