So it’s now been a week since Blizzcon, and I’ve had a chance to mull over what I was able to see and hear while in Anaheim. It was quite the event for World of Warcraft and Diablo, but rather quiet for Starcraft. We were treated to the new Diablo III class, the Monk, which as I said in my first look was exciting to watch, but once I got hands on I wasn’t too impressed with. The one bit of news I wanted to hear more about was a possible release date for Diablo III, but there still has been no word.

Sadly, there was no new news for Starcraft II except that we were able to get hands on with the single player campaign mode. As this was my first hands on with Starcraft II I was excited to play both multiplayer as well as the campaign. SC II definitely looks promising and I cannot wait for it to be released next year, though now I have to decide whether to buy the three parts as they’re released or wait until I can buy all three at the same time.

The biggest title at Blizzcon though had to be the new WoW expansion: Cataclysm. There were plenty of rumblings before the convention that we were going to hear about a new expansion and what exactly we should expect from MMO Champion, and I was surprised that much of what they predicted proved to be true. Someone must have leaked something, but this did not detract from how exciting it was. Seeing how the zones that I’ve come to know and love (and hate) were going to be changed once Deathwing returns was very interesting. I am also very happy that Worgen and Goblins are going to be the new races and that this wasn’t a rumor as I had initially thought. The revamping of some of the classic dungeons, and finally hearing about Icecrown was great as well. If you’ve been keeping up with my coverage, you should have a good idea of what’s coming up in the World… of Warcraft.

I was also able to make it to some of the fun panels at Blizzcon, like The Guild’s. Being able to see the first episode of the new Guild season early was pretty cool, and I enjoyed listening to the cast talk about some behind the scenes hijinx that goes on. I also made a quick stop at their booth to say hi and get my program autographed, and it was great to hear that Robin Thorsen still had a Gaming Angels pin that we had given her before! I was also able to check out the last half of the live WoW raid and watch a top notch raiding guild get wiped by a stronger, better and faster Hogger.

The one panel I wish I had a chance to make it to was regarding Battle.net and the upcoming changes that Blizzard plans to implement in the future. One of the biggest ones is being able to message your other friends while logged into and playing a different game. It looks like from what I’ve read that Blizzard is trying to make Battle.net also function like a social networking site, which could be an improvement if implemented well.

Murky was great helping me write coverage

Luckily I was also able to visit some of the booths on the floor, such as Jinx, Razer, Figure Prints, and UpperDeck. It was fun to finally see the Figure Prints models in person, and it really made me want to get one. Also, they will soon be making hunter pets to go with their masters, as well as the vanity pets! I snagged a snazzy hunter shirt and Alliance beanie from the Jinx booth (I wish they had this hoodie there..), and snagged a baby murloc from the Blizzard store.

All in all I had an amazing time at Blizzcon 2009, and I hope that next year we can have more interviews for you so that we can release more than one video for you all to enjoy. Maybe we can also have a Gaming Angels meetup for all of us who adore the games that Blizzard puts out!