Confirmation of new content to be played at BlizzCon
by Amanda Rivera 
Jul 28th 2007 at 9:02AM
So I opened up my email Friday evening to an interesting message from the BlizzCon people. The majority of the email was on information I already knew, where to pick up badges, etc. And then I hit the bombshell. They let me know that I will be able to copy my own character over to a test server in order to test new World of Warcraft content. This to me is the first major confirmation of what we already know: that a new expansion will be announced next Friday. Unless, of course, the only new content will be Zul'Aman, in which case Amanda will cry bitter, salty tears into her flat convention soda.
The last time we played new content (specifically Ahn'Quiraj) at BlizzCon 2005, we were able to select from a set of pre-made characters, and these will also be available at the convention next week. But I do like the idea of being able to play with my own character, to explore new content as my own magey self. What do you think? Those of you with PTR experience, are there any disadvantages to playing your own characters with new content?
Filed under: BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
overneathe Jul 28th 2007 9:55AM
It says characters from 68 to 70. Therefore - new expansion.
Glemnar Jul 28th 2007 10:15AM
Not true.
Level 68's can go to Kara. I'm sure they have the capability of Zul'Aman
OutlandishTrendz Jul 28th 2007 11:04AM
"Level 68's can go to Kara. I'm sure they have the capability of Zul'Aman"
A druid can, but every other class has to be 70 to get into Arc for Kara key frag.
Sheldrake Jul 28th 2007 12:27PM
The playable content will just be Zul Aman. I doubt they will have significant info regarding the next retail expansion much less anything playable from it. This is Blizzard we're talking about here. Experience shows us that the expansion wont be out until January 2009 so they can "polish it" or some crap like that.
nobbie Jul 28th 2007 12:38PM
If they want to show off Zul'Aman, do you really believe that they let people wipe countless hours during BlizzCon in a rather difficult level 70 instance with thier own characters? All we'll most likely see from Zul'Aman is a gameplay video.
nirikun Jul 28th 2007 12:45PM
Considering absolutely nobody besides Blizzard has any real, concrete information on what the 'new content' will be, let's stop pronouncing doom and see what happens. It avoids hype, yet allows for anticipation.
On the side, it's nice to know some posters have absolutely no business sense. These are the same people who said you'd never see anything besides World of Warcraft from Blizzard from now on.
Right, it's soooooo smart to keep all your capital in one single franchise. Good grief. People could use some patience around here instead of arrogantly denouncing Blizzard for being 'lazy' or 'slow.' They said it would take a much shorter time to release the next expansion than this one, due to a lot of features being ironed out with BC and the hard work they did pre-BC, and I believe them. They have far more authority to say such a thing than Master Sheldrake over here.
I'm expecting Blizzard to announce the next expansion at BlizzCon, but there's no guarantee of that. And even if they don't, there's plenty of content to hold me over until they do.
Amanda Rivera Jul 28th 2007 12:47PM
Nobbie:
Actually, I do think we will be playing new content at BlizzCon, specifically because the email Blizzard sent the attendees detailed character transfers to their special test realms so that we can play new content at the convention. Whether that content is Zul'Aman (which is likely because we were able to run Ahn'Quiraj 20-man at BlizzCon 2005) or new expansion content (which we were also able to preview at the last convention), the ability to play new content is confirmed by Blizzard. The question merely remains *which* content will we be able to get our hands on?
nobbie Jul 28th 2007 1:02PM
I do think that the big announcement at BlizzCon will be the next expansion, no matter if the PTR's are for testing some early "Northrend" content or Zul'Aman, or both. As 'nirikun' said, Blizzard is now able to release new expansions quicker, plus, with competitor Warhammer Online due next spring/summer, Blizzard definitely wants to have the 2nd expansion on the shelves, too.
honkhonk Jul 28th 2007 2:00PM
It took them until mid 07 to patch in the content they advertised BC with (Illidan, Black Temple). I very much doubt that they have content ready for a next expansion by now. I also doubt the playerbase will give it a very warm reception as I don't see the majority of players progressing beyond Karazhan much if at all until the end of the year.
Tim Jul 28th 2007 6:31PM
There is NO WAY they will have playable content from the expansion. They are no where near done and they will get enough hype from the announcement alone, not showing off half-ready bits and pieces. Expect the playable content to be Zul Aman.
PS: My dream is that they start adding mid-level content, independent of any expansions. I hope they realize that a lot of people love to reroll and play single-player content, instead of raids and what have you. It would be relatively easy to do. Just add new quests, change things up, refresh areas etc.
nobbie Jul 28th 2007 1:50PM
Here's the excerpt from the Blizzard mail. Note the "level 68" - 'nuff said.
"If you are a World of Warcraft player, you have an exclusive opportunity to use a pre-made character OR your own level 68-70 characters to try out new World of Warcraft content at BlizzCon. You have the option to copy up to four level 68-70 characters to a special event realm to experience this content, which has not yet been seen on test realms."
rick gregory Jul 28th 2007 2:36PM
well... you can copy your toon, but the Blizzcon realm does not appear in gthe realm list after downloading (and patching) the PTR client. So for all the excitement, Blizz boofed this. My only realm choices are the standard PTR realms, one PvE, one PvP
Frank Smith Jul 28th 2007 3:00PM
Ahn'Qiraj :D
This Ol' Druid Jul 28th 2007 6:41PM
>>are there any disadvantages to playing your own characters with new content?
This Ol' Druid Jul 28th 2007 6:46PM
"are there any disadvantages to playing your own characters with new content?"
On the whole of things I'd say no. Blizzard likely wants the content to be easily accessible for people attending the con. So don't expect the usual attunement this key that if it turns out to be some new instance content.
The only real disadvantages of bringing your own character vs. rolling a premade may come down to how well your character is geared up. The premades I've rolled in PTR are full on epic geared with nearly every ability on tap so they stand a far better chance of dealing with new content.
Then there's pvp. I've noticed just about everyone rolling on the PTR is going for the premades. Again if your regular character is all geared up no worries if not be ready for the beating should you copy to a pvp server or try to fight on a pve server. Currently on the pve PTR (at least for Alliance since my Horde hasn't gone up yet) premades are dropped on Amani Pass when first logging in and they're pvp flagged. There's typically Horde players just waiting to gank the first thing to appear. Not that I expect Blizz to have such a fate awaiting con attendees but you never know.