Posts with tag pax

If you're attending PAX Prime this year, you're in luck -- Blizzard will be there once again, rocking booth #352 of the expo hall. PAX Prime runs from August 29 through September 1 in Seattle, WA. Blizzard's offerings this year include:

• Warlords of Draenor hands-on
• What's coming next for Hearthstone
• Three new heroes in Heroes of the Storm
• Chat with developers and community managers
• Giveaways and prizes

Attendees, download the PAX guidebook app (for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry) and check out the schedule to make sure you don't miss anything.

---

This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post.

Massively took on the wilds of PAX East 2014 this weekend. Here's what we've seen so far:

	PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel was all about the endgame
	PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor
	PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts
	PAX East 2014: The Repopulation's Josh Hall on the future of the game
	PAX East 2014: Hands-on with Infinite Crisis
	PAX East 2014: State of Decay eyes multiplayer, stays offline
	PAX East 2014: Guns of Icarus Online's expanding environment
	PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Matt Higby on weekly updates
	PAX East 2014: Hearthstone reveals Naxxramas single-player adventure
	PAX East 2014: Star Citizen and the DFM are 'more than just PvP'

There's more to come over the next few days. Read on for the rest of this week's top stories!

If you're heading to PAX East in Boston this weekend, you'll want to download the PAX guidebook app (for iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry) and check out the schedule to make sure you don't miss anything. But con-goers, whatever their schedule, will be glad to know that Blizzard will out in full force at Booth #848. Lucky attendees will be able to check out demos of:

• Hearthstone for iPad
• Warlords of Draenor with updated character models as well as the intro experience
• Diablo 3's still-in-development Ultimate Evil Edition for PlayStation 4
• Heroes of the Storm featuring brand new heroes

There will also be Blizzard developers on hand, plenty of prizes given away, and a panel on Heroes of the Storm on Friday April 11 at 10:30 a.m. EDT. For everyone staying home this weekend, the panel will be streaming live on PAX's Twitch channel, so if you're itching for new Heroes info, be sure to check it out.

---

Want to know more about Blizzard's new digital card game, Hearthstone? During PAX East 2013, we spoke with Hearthstone Lead Designer Eric Dodds and Production Director Jason Chayes to learn some additional information about the game.

During the 20-minute interview, I asked the developers several questions, some on behalf of the lore nerds, others for the collectors among us. We discussed some of the game features planned for launch, as well as the possibility of implementing e-sports capabilities later. Also touched upon were the game's visual aspects, like the art work and animated game boards.

And for those of you with a history playing other strategy card games like Magic: The Gathering, I learned a bit more about Hearthstone gameplay and how the Forge works.

Yesterday at PAX East 2013, Blizzard unveiled their first free-to-play game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. The upcoming title is a digital, collectible card game akin to Magic: The Gathering Online, but designed to be easy to learn and accessible to a larger audience. The game is currently being demonstrated on the showroom floor at PAX, and I was able to play it a couple of times.

When starting my first game, I expected to find Hearthstone confusing because I've never played Magic: The Gathering or any other strategy card game (e.g. Pokémon TCG, Yu-Gi-Oh!) before. I am familiar with some of the terminology of MTG, having spent most of my life around hardcore players, but I don't really know the rules or how the game is played. This unfamiliarity didn't seem to get in the way of Hearthstone, though. Within two turns I understood my resource system, and how to play and use cards. By the fifth turn I felt like I understood all the basic mechanics of combat. Then, by the time my seventh turn came around, I was cursing paladins for being overpowered and itching to play another game.

We don't have any idea what it's going to be (besides something new), but Blizzard is going to be announcing it at PAX East today. We'll keep run a live blog of the announcement right here! Expect more throughout the day.

The live blog will begin in your timezone at:

• 10:00 a.m. EDT
• 9:00 a.m. CDT
• 8:00 a.m. MDT
• 7:00 a.m. PDT
• 2:00 p.m. London

No, Blizzard doesn't have a booth of its own at PAX Prime in Seattle, but that doesn't mean you can't catch up with some of our favorite CMs there. There will be four -- count them, four -- Blizzard CMs making an appearance at the con. Nethaera and Vaeflare will be at the NVIDIA booth, and Zarhym and Bashiok are hanging out at the Intel booth.

So if you're at the con, there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't head over and say hi. Just check out the testimonials. You don't get that kind of floating skull satisfaction without doing something right, people. With there being no BlizzCon this year, how many chances are you going to have to meet cool folks who work on the game?

---

It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

---

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!

I don't care if it's slated to be 72 degrees and sunny tomorrow here in Boston -- this weekend is going to be terrible. Why, you ask? Because this weekend isn't a PAX East weekend. Mat McCurley isn't crashing on my couch, eating pizza and doing nerd stuff. And the staff of WoW Insider isn't entertaining a crowd of people during a live show. That's the real downer.

Mat worked feverishly to entertain the hell out of an estimated 300 PAX convention-goers last Saturday. Thankfully, he had the foresight to video record the whole thing. You can only watch 10 minutes of it, but they're the only visually important minutes anyway. You should watch it, even if only for the fact that the stunningly handsome Fox Van Allen is in the mix. (Check out the full audio podcast.)

Anyway, though this weekend is sure to be less interesting than the last, we still need to WRUP. Today's bonus question: What's your favorite independent video game?

If you can find Alex, Mat, or Fox walking around the convention floor at PAX East this weekend, be sure to say hi, and you could get a code for an in-game companion pet. All you need to do is tell them you want it -- maybe sweeten the deal by saying how cool WoW Insider is -- and it's yours!

Alex, Mat, and Fox will be giving these out on Friday and Saturday, so the sooner you find them, the better chance you'll have at some sweet loot. Supplies are limited.

Oh, and there's this WoW Insider Panel on Saturday at 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Wyvern Theater, where we're giving away just about everything under the sun. Actually, including the sun. Yup.

The above picture is of Fox and Michelle Morrow after Fox was denied several hugs at a taping of The Price is Right. I'm not sure if he'll be wearing his Price is Right name tag or not at PAX East, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is. Hit the break for pictures of what Mat looks like. I've also thrown in a picture of Sacco for good measure, even though he doesn't have any codes to give away. (/chuckle)

• What: The WoW Insider Show Live! Podcast
• Where: Wyvern Theater, PAX East Boston 2012
• When: Saturday, April 7, 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

The WoW Insider podcast comes to life as hosts Michael Sacco and Mathew McCurley, along with special guests, create a home away from Azeroth at PAX East. Join with the most popular World of Warcraft fansite for an hour of WoW news, views, laughter, and lots of WoW talk. There are more World of Warcraft fans at PAX than we can count, so come on down to talk all things WoW!

---

It seems that every new MMORPG wants to bill itself as a "WoW killer." From Lord of the Rings Online to Age of Conan to (most recently) RIFT, everyone wants a piece of the most popular subscription-based MMORPG of all time.

To date, World of Warcraft has weathered the competition. Its subscriber numbers have reached an all-time high (now over 12 million), with its latest Cataclysm expansion selling nearly 5 million copies in the first month alone. The game should remain popular and successful for years to come. Still, even Blizzard admits: It can't stay on top forever.

So what happens when the game starts losing a significant amount of its subscriber base? If what happened to Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online is any clue, World of Warcraft might move to a free-to-play model. Since switching to free-to-play, both of Turbine's games added subscribers and increased revenues.

This past weekend, I sat in on the free-to-play MMO panel held at the PAX East 2011 conference in Boston. Afterward, I caught up with Robert Ferrari, VP of Publishing and Business Development for Sanrio Digital (Hello Kitty Online), to discuss WoW. We discussed the free-to-play industry and whether or not World of Warcraft could eventually find a place in it.

"WoW has to be looking at a free-to-play model currently," Ferrari theorized.

PAX East is home to all sorts of panels and discussion, ranging from sexism in video games to mechanics and motivations in the games we play. Legal issues are present in all things, and video games -- even World of Warcraft -- are no exception. Two of the biggest topics at the panel, hosted by prominent legal minds in the video game industry, were End User License Agreements and damages in game as part of tort law. All in all, it was a very interesting panel of Q&A from some of gaming's smartest minds.

World of Warcraft has transcended the traditional mores of gaming culture, injecting itself into every genre, most conversations, and almost every discussion. After one day of PAX East, I've talked about World of Warcraft for a longer period of time and with more people since BlizzCon. This is because WoW is not just a game to a majority of the people attending this show, participating in this industry, and fans -- it is now a lifestyle. When I walk the halls, I always find myself caught up in listening to multiple conversations that have their roots in a WoW discussion or eventually make it to WoW.

Our game of choice has become a punctuation mark. When standing in line to see The Old Republic, WoW was on everybody's mind. While moving from booth to booth, learning about the MMO components of games like Firefall and Brink, images and fanciful thoughts of WoW's success danced in the minds of developers. When people ask developers questions, WoW is always there as an example, accompanying every "this game AND WoW..." And the accessibility features of such a widely accepted game is on every game maker's mind as to how to breach new markets and bring new players into the fold.

It is cliché to say that WoW is the elephant in the room, but I hate the connotation of said elephant. WoW represents a set of ideals and rules that a good number of gamers relate to. The number of WoW shirts and hoodies, guild names added to their badges, and cries of faction pride shocked me. Here at PAX, after one day, it is readily apparent that Blizzard doesn't have to have a formal presence to make its presence known. WoW exists, in some way, in almost every game we play. Whether for good or for bad, our vocabulary is one of the most mainstream undercurrents in the history of gaming.

What do you think about WoW's presence in gaming's vocabulary? Are you at PAX and talking to people about WoW, even though WoW is almost nowhere to be seen?

---

The webcomics community seems like a pretty cool bunch, specially when they all pitch in and help each other out. One of my favorite webcomics, PvP Online, often features guest artists to fill in for creator Scott Kurtz when he's away at some convention or just down with some bad bug. Just recently, he coralled the immensely talented Ramón Pérez, the genius behind Kukuburi, to do a guest strip while he was down with the flu.

That's nice, you say, but what's this got to do with World of Warcraft? Well, see, Gabe from Penny Arcade (aka creator Mike Krahulik's alter ego) apparently picked up some kind of bad bug during their PAX or Penny Arcade Expo, and some well-known comic folks such as Bill Amend and Kris Straub stepped in to help. The highlight is that World of Warcraft's art director, Samwise Didier, the man largely responsible for the look and feel of many of Blizzard's games also pitched in his contribution.

It has nothing to do with our favorite game, but it's freaking Samwise doing a freaking Penny Arcade strip! I mean, I don't really have to explain why I'm posting this, right? One of our favorite WoW icons doing a guest strip on one of our favorite webcomics (that occasionally tackles WoW) is so full of win it almost makes Saurfang cry. These sort of crossovers are so cool, you almost wish these webcomic creators would get sick more often. Ok, not really, but you know what I mean.