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November 2, 2009 6:00 AM

Blizzard Entertainment has released the eleventh BlizzCast, a series of podcasts created by Blizzard's Community Team and focusing on the company's current and future game offerings. Number eleven focuses exclusively on this year's BlizzCon event, with commentary from Bashiok (Diablo Community Manager), Karune (RTS and StarCraft Community Manager), Nethaera (World of Warcraft Community Manager).

Rob: Lets start with you, Bashiok. We kicked off BlizzCon almost straight-away with an announcement of Diablo IIIs newest playable class, the Monk. Will you talk a bit about the information we released and reflect upon the reaction you saw from the fans at the convention?
Bashiok: We announced the Monk, as you said, it is our fourth playable class. We still have one class we havent announced yet. The Monk is sort of this East-meets-West, hes got a lot of kung-fu moves but he also looks very Western. He has this big, red, bushy beard and a shaved head. Hes primarily a hand-to-hand fighter, he does use weapons but a lot of his weapons, it does look like he is using hand-to-hand combat. Hes kind of weak as far as his armor and health goes, but he gets in there fast, kicks the crap out of dudes, and gets out of there.
The reaction from the fans was overwhelming. We had stations where people could fill out feedback on the demos while they were playing them and the Monk was overwhelmingly the favorite at the show, which was just announced, so it wasnt too surprising, but it is still a very fun class to play.

Rob: You also moderated a lot of panels where a great deal of information was shared about Cataclysm. How did the audience receive the outpouring of new content previews, and were you surprised by any of the questions during the Q&A portions of each panel?
Nethaera: I think everybody was just really excited to get so much information and find out more about what we have in mind for the future. Thats always one of the things that people talk the most about on the forums. What does the future hold for them in the game, how are things going to progress, how are things going to change. A lot of people worry about what changes are coming, some people, thats what they look forward to the most, is when things change. I think it was really well-received. I dont think I was really surprised by any of the questions, although there was one kid that I thought he had the best poise when he came up to the microphone. Hes standing there and hes probably 11 or 12 years-old at the most, and he comes up with no fear of the cameras, the microphone, or anything else and he asks one of the best Hunter questions. Everybody just started cheering, because heres this kid, that just really asked this hard-hitting, poignant question right there in front of everybody, with no fear what-so-ever. It was a great moment because it shows how widespread our audience is and how people just really get into it.

Rob: Karune, BlizzCon attendees had, for the first time ever, a chance to progress through a piece of the single-player StarCraft II campaign. What aspects of the campaign were they given to try out, and what has the feedback been like there?
Karune: The community and the fans were really just able to jump straight into single player. We threw them into a mission where Tychus and Raynor are defending an outpost while the Zerg are invading and stuff so it was really fun just seeing people be really excited right from the first mission. They were able to choose, go through all of the different functions between missions, choosing what they want to equip their army with for the next mission, where they want to spend their resources and so-forth. There was a bunch of excitement around how single player has changed compared to the original StarCraft.
Its a lot more than the talking heads now, theres a whole bunch of cinematics in between, theres a lot of options for you to explore and really immerse yourself to the world of StarCraft. I think the fan reaction was really big.

Visit the page below for the podcast and a full transcript.

BlizzCast Episode 11
Blizzard Entertainment




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