Michael Mitchell

During BlizzCon 2018, Dan O'Halloran and I had the opportunity to sit down and talk Warcraft 3: Reforged with Systems Game Designer Michael "Skip" Scipione and Production Director Tim Morten.

“BlizzCon is over, and everything is worse now.” – Unknown Horse Prophet

That’s as clever an intro as I can think of right now. Let’s Queue.

After what I can genuinely only describe as a "hype roller coaster" surrounding what would or would not be revealed at BlizzCon for the Diablo franchise, we finally got our answer today.

In just over 24 hours, BlizzCon 2018 will kick off in earnest -- and that all starts with the opening ceremony, which is where all the big announcements are made.

By this time tomorrow, I will be in (or at least very close to) California. Even if the sum total of BlizzCon announcements this year are shrug-worthy, this is still the trip I look forward to every year — from the moment it ends right up until the next one. For those of you watching at home, I encourage you to make A Thing out of it with your fellow Queuemans. Grab popcorn/unhealthy food, drink of choice, and just spend the whole time chatting and enjoying the fact that you can nerd out with friends. For those of you attending in person… I hope to see you soon!

Now, let’s Queue.

Hang on, hang on -- put the pitchforks away and let me talk at you for a second.

We're officially in the same week as BlizzCon, and while that fact in itself seems boggling, I still find it less boggling than the roller coaster of hype Blizzard has put Diablo fans through over the past few weeks.

I’m absolutely biased — because Halloween is the best holiday ever — but I think this may have been my favorite Splatfest so far. It was Team Trick versus Team Treat in an extra-long, 48-hour fight for domination. Naturally, I chose Team Trick because, well… have you met me?! On top of a fun theme and awesome ink colors (orange vs. purple), Nintendo also recently allowed players to download spooky masks. Totally free, and you got four of ’em to make this Splatfest even spookier than it already was.

All of the above said, Team Treat won (barely), and the Shifty Station this time was cool but the gimmick made for some frustrating choke points, so… Ah, who am I kidding? It was still awesome. I love October!

Oh, right. Queue time.

Do you remember a couple weeks back, when Blizzard released a video specifically designed to drive up hype for their upcoming Diablo projects?

Happy Tuesday! I hope the world is treating you all well and the Old Gods are smiling at you with at least one of their mouths.

Let’s Queue.