Every year, Blizzard throws a massive event focused on their games and community. Lovingly dubbed BlizzCon, the event serves as a mecca for some of Blizzard’s most dedicated fans. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to travel to the event, as it can get prohibitively expensive and is notoriously difficult to get tickets to. Luckily, Blizzard also sells access to a Virtual Ticket, which gives fans at home access live feeds from the event as well as some digital goodies. This year, the digital bonuses are particularly cool.
Highlighting the virtual extras are World of Warcraft-themed Overwatch skins for Genji and Symmetra. The skins will transform the characters into Illidan and Tyrande respectively, two major characters from WoW. The two skins are wonderfully detailed, and will almost certainly be fan-favorite skins for quite some time. Last year, Overwatch fans got a Demon Hunter Diablo 3 skin for Sombra with the 2018 Virtual Ticket.
Also included with the digital ticket are rewards for Blizzard’s other games. WoW players will gain access to two Murloc companions, Finduin and Gillvanas - Murloc versions of Anduin Wryn and Sylvanas, the current leaders of the Alliance and The Horde. There’s a new card back for Hearthstone players, three new carrier skins for Starcraft, and a Celestial Deepcrawler mount for Heroes of the Storm, which Blizzard insists isn’t dead. Blizzard is also working on some other virtual goods, like a set of wings for Diablo 3, but isn’t quite ready to show those off. Of course, those that actually travel to the event will also receive the content.
All in all, its a pretty good offering of digital incentives for players that opt into the Virtual Ticket. It may not be as cool as an actual trip to BlizzCon, but it’s the next best thing. After last year’s disastrous announcement of the Diablo Immortal mobile game, there are likely some players that have opted to stay home rather than journey to Los Angeles for the event.
But, the convention is now nearly upon us. Rumors of Diablo 4 being in the works have once again begun to circulate, which will hopefully turn out to be true. After last year’s fiasco, Blizzard will have a lot of work to do to win back fans that felt burned. There are quite a few different announcements they could make, but fans will just have to wait and see.
