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Blizzcon 2016 recap

by Lucas Miller and Graham Taylor This past weekend, Blizzard hosted it's annual Blizzcon, celebrating the company's 25th anniversary. While there were no huge announcements, Blizzard fans still relished the multitude of reveals they had to offer over the course of the convention. Blizzard revealed the newest character in its competitive shooter, Overwatch. The character is none other than the hacker Sombra, who had been the subject of multiple leaks and a controversial ARG. The Overwatch animated short, “Infiltration” gives us our first glimpse of the hacker in action, showing of her in-game abilities, including invisibility, a device that allow her to warp between two points instantaneously, and, unsurprisingly, hacking into enemies to disrupt their abilities. You can see for yourself in the trailer below.

  Overwatch and eSports fans alike could also enjoy the announcement of the Overwatch League, a "professional eSports economy" for the game. Though no specific dates have been announced, a preseaon and full season should be here in the near future. Overwatch news aside, Blizzard announced for Diablo III that the necromancer, a fan-favorite class from Diablo II, will be making its triumphant return to the franchise. The necromancer character pack will drop early next year, allowing players to take on the mantle of the fearsome magic-wielders. Players will be able to make corpses explode, summon creatures like blood golems and skeletons, and cast curses on their enemies.
  However, fans won’t have to wait quite as long for the other new additions announced at the convention. Blizzard also revealed that they will be implementing a remake of the original Diablo into the newest iteration, with the release of the Darkening of Tristram content patch. The patch drops this week, so players looking for a bit of nostalgia to go with their demon slaying are in luck. Players of the developer's MOBA Heroes of the Storm also received some good news over the weekend. Two new heroes from the popular Warcraft series will soon be playable: Varian Wrynn and Ragnaros. Varian Wrynn also promises to be the first multi-class hero, either a sheild-bearing tank, or a damage dealing swordsman, which the player can select from before the match begins.
  It was also announced that StarCraft II would be receiving it's third and final Nova Mission pack on November 22. Aside from that, a new map is being released, and Alexi Stukov would be making an appearance in the game's co-op missions.
  Finally, a new expansion was announced for the popular collectible card game Hearthstone. "Mean Streets of Gadgetzan" as it's called, will be adding 132 new cards to the game, as well as introducing special multi-class cards.
  Even despite the lack of show-stopping announcements, this year's Blizzcon can probably be deemed successful, and will no doubt have many fans excited for next year's.
Sources: BlizzardGame Informer, Overwatch League Image: Blizzard

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