BlizzCon 2017 Pre-Show videos intensify the hype

How can you go wrong with Ben Brode? The answer is you can’t. As we get closer and closer to BlizzCon, we’ve gotten a series of videos — some free, some requiring the Virtual Ticket — to whet your appetite for the massive game explosion coming when the convention finally arrives in two weeks. Yes, two weeks. You may panic now.

First off, this time it’s Hearthstone’s turn to get the Year in Review treatment, with Bens Thompson and Ben Brode. In the video, they sit down and chat about the year that just was. Well, Thompson chats. Brode is more like a hurricane that lands in your house and is very excited to talk Hearthstone with you. Near as I can tell, anyway. They discuss Mean Streets of Gadgetzan and the Year of the Mammoth.

They also talk about the fact that there will be three expansions for the year. Two we’ve seen already — Journey to Un’Goro, and Knights of the Frozen Throne. There’s also an as-yet unannounced third expansion we’ll likely hear about at BlizzCon itself. Along with expansions, they talk about Fireside Gatherings and the Fireside Brawls, new this year. Hearthstone has had a lot of surprises this year and BlizzCon is going to be more of that.

Next up is The Artist’s Journey with Anh Dang. The video gives us a behind the scenes on how she came to work at Blizzard and on Overwatch. It’s a quiet video and you get to watch her do a Zenyatta sketch, which is pretty awesome in my opinion. It’s a short video — but how often do you get to watch a professional artist on one of your favorite games sketch and ink a drawing of a character? If you said all the time, thank you for reading this article, Samwise.

Next up are a couple of Virtual Ticket exclusives. Intermediate Cosplay has Monika Lee take a look at Tracer and how to make a leather bomber jacket. Meanwhile, Steven Dwyer puts together a set of those goggles she wears. Advanced Cosplay has Jordan Duncan working on painting up his Necromancer cosplay and getting it exactly right.

Guys, BlizzCon is almost here. Sixteen days! So if you’re going, you better start packing (you can probably wait but heck, if you want to go for it). If you’re going to watch it via the Virtual Ticket, it’s probably getting close to time you should sign up. We’ve got a lot happening this year and it’s not over yet.