The biggest reveal at BlizzCon 2018 was Diablo Immortal. In this blog, I want to cover my opinions on it and what we can kind of expect from the Diablo team in the future. My basic summary is this: The handling of the announcement was very bad but I am excited for this game to come out and keeping my expectations for this game very low. I did try the demo at BlizzCon and I had an awesome time playing it. Some of my thoughts here won't be the same as others so please keep an open mind about this game.
The Announcement of Diablo Immortal
Well the announcement of this game couldn't have gone worse. I don't know what Blizzard expected when they decided to announce the game here. People attending (and watching) BlizzCon is mostly comprised of the die-hard, PC user fan base. Most of the Diablo fans (me included) were expecting something big this year, maybe not Diablo 4 since there was a blog post several weeks back saying that it would be announced later. I think many of us Diablo fans were expecting something like a Diablo 1 or 2 remaster or some updates to Diablo 3 (like the Druid). The very last thing that many of us were expecting was a new Diablo mobile game. Many people suggested that if Blizzard wanted to announce Diablo Immortal here at BlizzCon, they should have announced something else along with it to take the "sting" out of just a mobile game (although I think they kind of tried with the Nintendo Switch Diablo 3 game). Like many people said on the internet, this was the wrong place and the wrong time to announce this game.
The Demo of Diablo Immortal
I tried the demo at BlizzCon and I was very impressed with the demo. Although I only tried the demo once, I had a real good feel of what the game could be when it comes out. The demo involved going through an area of gameplay and then finally fighting a boss at the end. The graphics were very detailed, even though it was on a phone. The gameplay and the movement of the characters felt really smooth and the enemies were pretty well detailed as well. The controls of this demo felt "weird" at first. It was kind of tough to move your character with only using your thumbs. Once you get the handle of the controls after a few minutes, you quickly understand your limitations and your ability to move the character in an efficient manner. The skills also looked very polished although there were only a couple of skills that you could use. I think in a fully developed game, there could be more choices as to which skills you can use. Overall, I give this demo a solid B rating.
Questions about Diablo Immortal
I have heard many concerns about this game so I will try to answer some of those questions here. Although it is just my opinion and not Blizzard's, I think these answers might prove to be more right than wrong.
1. Will Diablo Immortal have microtransactions?
I most definitely think that this game will have some sort of microtransaction. The question is whether these microtransactions will be pay-to-win or not. In the past, Blizzard has maintained that their games will never be pay-to-win. The reason why Blizzard never wants a pay-to-win model is that they don't want the players to feel 'cheated' when playing with other players who used their own money to gain an advantage. I think one of those situations occurred with the real money auction house in Diablo 3. Players were able to buy the best gear in the game with their credit card and Blizzard realized this and shut the auction house down. I can see Diablo Immortal having microtransactions mainly for cosmetic purposes (for things such as character space, stash tab, armor skins, etc).
2. How viable is it to have a Diablo game on a phone?
I think one of the main reasons why people don't like a mobile game is that it takes up too much battery life so that you would need to constantly recharge your phone battery. I don't see this game as something that you could play for 8 hours straight. Also, another concern is whether this game would be playable on your phone or not. I personally don't own a mobile phone (well I do but it definitely won't run Diablo Immortal) so I may have to spend a lot of money on a new cell phone (not to mention the data charges to play this game). Another complaint that I hear a lot is that the controls of this game is pretty tricky on a phone. The solution to this could be to try this game on a tablet. A tablet might be the better way to play this game since it usually has a bigger screen and is capable of holding more memory.
3. What is the end game content of Diablo Immortal?
Well we don't have any clue as to what the end game content will be as for now. I think Leviathan tried to ask this question at BlizzCon but the devs didn't have any answers for him. Some end game content that I can see is a dungeon loot system like they have in World of Warcraft or even the same greater rift system in Diablo 3. It will be interesting to see what the Diablo devs will come up with concerning the end game.
Well that is my review of Diablo Immortal. I think there are legitimate concerns about this game but I think that once people try this game out, they might end up liking this game. I think it is way too early to speculate as to whether this game will be a success or not. I am willing to try this game out but I am also keeping my expectations very low because it is just a mobile game. Although having said that, I am excited about learning the stories of Diablo Immortal and what it could mean for the future PC Diablo game (because we all know that Blizzard is indeed working on a new Diablo game for the PC). I hope everyone had a great 2018. My next blog will probably cover season 15 of Diablo 3 and what I did in 2018.
Friday, December 28, 2018
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
BlizzCon 2018 Review
I just came back from BlizzCon and I had an amazing time there. My plan was to leave on Tuesday October 30th and then leave on November 4th. BlizzCon was held in Anaheim again on Friday and Saturday. I had a lot of free time so I wanted to do a lot of stuff while I was in California. On Tuesday, I went to a hockey game at the Honda Center. The Anaheim Ducks were taking on the Philadelphia Flyers. It was a pretty good game. Although the score was close (it was 3-2 for Philly), the game kind of wasn't. Even before the game started, I knew that the Ducks coming in were being badly out-shot by their opponents. This game was similar to those previous Ducks game. The Ducks were really badly out-shot by Philly, it almost felt like the rink was tilted in Philly's favour. The Ducks tied up the game late in the 3rd on the PP, but they quickly gave up the winner to Philly a few seconds later. One player on the Ducks who really impressed me was Rickard Rakell. He made some real sweet passes (one to Pontus Aberg was really impressive). His line (Rakell, Aberg and Getzlaf) was the only Ducks line that did anything remotely offensive. The other Ducks weren't good at all (Kesler was nearly invisible - he was only good on the faceoffs). Ryan Miller was in net and he looked ok (not spectacular, just solid). On the Philly side, Sean Couturier had a good game (so did Claude Giroux but you kind of expect that out of him). Brian Elliot was in net for Philly, he looked solid as well but he didn't have much to do this game.
On Wednesday, I went to the California Adventure Park, which is the park opposite of Disneyland. It was my second time going there and I don't think much has changed since the last time I visited there. I think I managed to go on all the rides there. My favorite rides were the Soarin' Around the World, the Incredicoaster (which is the largest roller coaster there), and Radiator Springs Racers. I also went on the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout, which is by far the most scariest ride there. This ride is real scary because it just goes up and straight down several times. I think this one was called something different the last time I went. After going on all the rides, I went to the Downtown Disney area. Much had changed since last year, the ESPN zone and the Rainforest Café wasn't there anymore. I wanted to eat my dinner there but then I went down Harbour Blvd over to Oggi's restaurant to eat my dinner (even Clancy's restaurant is closed too). On Thursday, I went to get my BlizzCon badge. I went there pretty early because there were going to be bag checks and security that made things go slower this year. After picking up my badge, I went to the BlizzCon store. I picked up 4 items: the Key Art magnet (which I always buy every year), the Key Art t-shirt, the Book of Adria (which I had to have this year) and a mini Gold Pachimari plushie. I had already bought some items from the Blizzard gear store so I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff. After the BlizzCon store, I went over to the Outlets at Orange. They have a lot of shop there selling lots of cheap things. I managed to pick up 2 t-shirts there (one was at the Adidas store and it only cost me $6, which is incredible). I so badly wanted to buy some shoes there but I didn't think I would have enough room in luggage to carry it back so I didn't buy any. There were some nice shoes at the Nike store selling for $50. I could have spent all day here shopping for stuff but eventually I went to dinner.
On Friday, BlizzCon was starting. I was real excited this year because I knew something about Diablo was going to happen. I went to the convention center pretty early again because of the extra security. The lines were already backed up when I arrived at about 8:00 am. I felt really bad for the people who came in later because a lot of them were behind the security area and they probably had to wait even longer than I did. I really think all the extra security was a bit too much but I guess it is better safe than sorry. Even though I was further back in line (I think there were groups of people, I was in group 3 or so), I managed to get pretty good seats for the opening ceremony. On my way to the Mythic Stage, I noticed that the demo station at the Diablo area was covered up so I knew that they were going to announce something new. The opening ceremony was pretty cool, They announce a new hero for Heroes of the Storm, the new expansion for Hearthstone, a new hero for Overwatch, Warcraft 3 remaster and some news about WoW classic. Last but not least Diablo announced their new game Diablo Immortal, which is a mobile game. I want to go over this game in more detail so I will probably make another blog post about it later. After the opening ceremony, I stuck around to listen to the Diablo Immortal panel. Even though this is a mobile game, it looks very cool to me. Although there were many people in crowd (and probably many people on the internet) that really, really didn't like this game (again more on this later). After the Diablo Immortal panel, I went over to the Overwatch Arena to see the Overwatch World Cup. The first game had already started and the USA were taking on the UK. The score was tied 1-1 when I got there and the match was finished the UK won 3-1, which was the biggest upset in Overwatch World Cup history. Next up, Team Canada was taking on France and they did a good job. Even though the match was close, Team Canada came out on top 3-0. One neat thing that the Overwatch Arena did was that there were cheering sections for each country. So if you were cheering for Canada, there were certain sections of the arena that you could sit with your other country mates. After the Team Canada game, I went over to the Heartstone area. I played the demo for Hearthstone and got to play with some of the new cards there (although I wasn't too impressed by them). After the demo, I watched the Hearthstone Streamer showdown, which featured people like Kripp, Trump and Kibbler. After that, I went over to the Overwatch demo area and played a round of that, then I did the Warcraft Classic demo with a Paladin and finally I did the Diablo Immortal demo (again I will write more on this later). The next to last thing that I did was that I went over to the Darkmoon Faire area and they had Overwatch Nerf weapons that shot some rubber balls. After all that, I went over to try Diablo on the Nintendo Switch and got my Diablo poster signed by the devs. I was really hungry now and I ate some quesadilla and some spicy fries over by the food trucks for dinner and that was the end of Day 1.
On Saturday, the main thing that I wanted to do was watch Overwatch World Cup again. I arrived pretty early again and I managed to sit with the Team Canada section area, so I was surrounded by all the Team Canada supporters. The first match was between South Korea and UK. This was a very intense match, UK had forced South Korea to 2 ties but they ended up losing 2-0. UK's main tank Fusions and their off-tank Kyb were playing really well. Next up was Team Canada and they were facing off against China. Team Canada didn't do so well this match and lost 3-0. I guess they weren't very prepared to face China and China kind of rolled Team Canada up. China's Leave was playing really well for them. Even though Canada lost, they next played UK for the Bronze medal. This match was pretty close as well but Canada came out on top 3-2. I saw a lot people wearing Team Canada jerseys (although the 2018 version wasn't as good as the 2017 version that I have). I was going to stick around for the gold medal game between South Korea and China but I knew that South Korea was probably going to win (they had won the previous 2 World Cups). "Aside" After watching some of the clips of the Overwatch World Cup, I did see myself cheering on Team Canada (I think just right after Sideshow "drank" a whole bottle of maple syrup - I'll try to find that clip on the YouTube or something, haha found it is at the 2:30:00 mark).
When I left the Overewatch Arena, I literally ran into Dreadscythe, Nite and SVR. They said that Neinball and Leviathan were at the StarCraft arena so I followed them. We watched the semi-finals between Serral and Rogue (Serral won 3-1). After that we hung around the Horadric Diablo area and then went over to the Mythic stage to watch the Diablo Q&A panel. After the panel, I ate dinner by the food trucks (I got some loaded fries and they were very yummy). Then me, Dreadscythe, and Nite played the Warcraft demo again. Wyatt Cheng was having his "bedtime story" talk at 9:00pm at the Horadric retreat area and so I stayed for that. It was really hard to listen to Wyatt because it was very noisy in that area so I only got to hear a little bit of what he said. After the talk, we all went over to the Mariott and hung around for bit before I went back to my hotel at about 11:00pm. And that was all for BlizzCon. I had an amazing time there again and I can't wait to go back next year.
On Wednesday, I went to the California Adventure Park, which is the park opposite of Disneyland. It was my second time going there and I don't think much has changed since the last time I visited there. I think I managed to go on all the rides there. My favorite rides were the Soarin' Around the World, the Incredicoaster (which is the largest roller coaster there), and Radiator Springs Racers. I also went on the Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout, which is by far the most scariest ride there. This ride is real scary because it just goes up and straight down several times. I think this one was called something different the last time I went. After going on all the rides, I went to the Downtown Disney area. Much had changed since last year, the ESPN zone and the Rainforest Café wasn't there anymore. I wanted to eat my dinner there but then I went down Harbour Blvd over to Oggi's restaurant to eat my dinner (even Clancy's restaurant is closed too). On Thursday, I went to get my BlizzCon badge. I went there pretty early because there were going to be bag checks and security that made things go slower this year. After picking up my badge, I went to the BlizzCon store. I picked up 4 items: the Key Art magnet (which I always buy every year), the Key Art t-shirt, the Book of Adria (which I had to have this year) and a mini Gold Pachimari plushie. I had already bought some items from the Blizzard gear store so I didn't need to buy a lot of stuff. After the BlizzCon store, I went over to the Outlets at Orange. They have a lot of shop there selling lots of cheap things. I managed to pick up 2 t-shirts there (one was at the Adidas store and it only cost me $6, which is incredible). I so badly wanted to buy some shoes there but I didn't think I would have enough room in luggage to carry it back so I didn't buy any. There were some nice shoes at the Nike store selling for $50. I could have spent all day here shopping for stuff but eventually I went to dinner.
On Friday, BlizzCon was starting. I was real excited this year because I knew something about Diablo was going to happen. I went to the convention center pretty early again because of the extra security. The lines were already backed up when I arrived at about 8:00 am. I felt really bad for the people who came in later because a lot of them were behind the security area and they probably had to wait even longer than I did. I really think all the extra security was a bit too much but I guess it is better safe than sorry. Even though I was further back in line (I think there were groups of people, I was in group 3 or so), I managed to get pretty good seats for the opening ceremony. On my way to the Mythic Stage, I noticed that the demo station at the Diablo area was covered up so I knew that they were going to announce something new. The opening ceremony was pretty cool, They announce a new hero for Heroes of the Storm, the new expansion for Hearthstone, a new hero for Overwatch, Warcraft 3 remaster and some news about WoW classic. Last but not least Diablo announced their new game Diablo Immortal, which is a mobile game. I want to go over this game in more detail so I will probably make another blog post about it later. After the opening ceremony, I stuck around to listen to the Diablo Immortal panel. Even though this is a mobile game, it looks very cool to me. Although there were many people in crowd (and probably many people on the internet) that really, really didn't like this game (again more on this later). After the Diablo Immortal panel, I went over to the Overwatch Arena to see the Overwatch World Cup. The first game had already started and the USA were taking on the UK. The score was tied 1-1 when I got there and the match was finished the UK won 3-1, which was the biggest upset in Overwatch World Cup history. Next up, Team Canada was taking on France and they did a good job. Even though the match was close, Team Canada came out on top 3-0. One neat thing that the Overwatch Arena did was that there were cheering sections for each country. So if you were cheering for Canada, there were certain sections of the arena that you could sit with your other country mates. After the Team Canada game, I went over to the Heartstone area. I played the demo for Hearthstone and got to play with some of the new cards there (although I wasn't too impressed by them). After the demo, I watched the Hearthstone Streamer showdown, which featured people like Kripp, Trump and Kibbler. After that, I went over to the Overwatch demo area and played a round of that, then I did the Warcraft Classic demo with a Paladin and finally I did the Diablo Immortal demo (again I will write more on this later). The next to last thing that I did was that I went over to the Darkmoon Faire area and they had Overwatch Nerf weapons that shot some rubber balls. After all that, I went over to try Diablo on the Nintendo Switch and got my Diablo poster signed by the devs. I was really hungry now and I ate some quesadilla and some spicy fries over by the food trucks for dinner and that was the end of Day 1.
On Saturday, the main thing that I wanted to do was watch Overwatch World Cup again. I arrived pretty early again and I managed to sit with the Team Canada section area, so I was surrounded by all the Team Canada supporters. The first match was between South Korea and UK. This was a very intense match, UK had forced South Korea to 2 ties but they ended up losing 2-0. UK's main tank Fusions and their off-tank Kyb were playing really well. Next up was Team Canada and they were facing off against China. Team Canada didn't do so well this match and lost 3-0. I guess they weren't very prepared to face China and China kind of rolled Team Canada up. China's Leave was playing really well for them. Even though Canada lost, they next played UK for the Bronze medal. This match was pretty close as well but Canada came out on top 3-2. I saw a lot people wearing Team Canada jerseys (although the 2018 version wasn't as good as the 2017 version that I have). I was going to stick around for the gold medal game between South Korea and China but I knew that South Korea was probably going to win (they had won the previous 2 World Cups). "Aside" After watching some of the clips of the Overwatch World Cup, I did see myself cheering on Team Canada (I think just right after Sideshow "drank" a whole bottle of maple syrup - I'll try to find that clip on the YouTube or something, haha found it is at the 2:30:00 mark).
When I left the Overewatch Arena, I literally ran into Dreadscythe, Nite and SVR. They said that Neinball and Leviathan were at the StarCraft arena so I followed them. We watched the semi-finals between Serral and Rogue (Serral won 3-1). After that we hung around the Horadric Diablo area and then went over to the Mythic stage to watch the Diablo Q&A panel. After the panel, I ate dinner by the food trucks (I got some loaded fries and they were very yummy). Then me, Dreadscythe, and Nite played the Warcraft demo again. Wyatt Cheng was having his "bedtime story" talk at 9:00pm at the Horadric retreat area and so I stayed for that. It was really hard to listen to Wyatt because it was very noisy in that area so I only got to hear a little bit of what he said. After the talk, we all went over to the Mariott and hung around for bit before I went back to my hotel at about 11:00pm. And that was all for BlizzCon. I had an amazing time there again and I can't wait to go back next year.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Pre BlizzCon 2018
BlizzCon 2018 is almost here. Today I wanted to go over what I think will happen at BlizzCon 2018. There have been just a little bit of news regarding BlizzCon, not much yet but I think we will get more in the next couple of weeks. The schedule for BlizzCon has been released but not the floor plan. They have also announced some of the virtual goodies for Overwatch, WoW, HotS, and Hearthstone when you buy a BlizzCon ticket or a virtual ticket. They also haven't announced what the closing ceremony will be (it is usually some rock band). I think what will happen is that they will announce some updates on WoW classic, a new character for Overwatch, new character for HotS and the next expansion for Hearthstone. I am also really looking forward to the Overwatch World Cup this year.
But the most exciting news (probably) is going to be about Diablo. In the schedule right after the opening ceremony is the main Diablo panel. This usually means that something big will happen to the Diablo franchise. I don't think anyone knows what that will be but I think it will be a new Diablo game. There have been many job postings about a new Diablo game and there wasn't any news about Diablo in the last BlizzCon so this year might be right time to announce a new game. I don't think Diablo 3 will be getting a new expansion because there haven't been any updates for this game in a very long while. There is a slim possibility that there could be an expansion (maybe there might be a new class like the druid) but I don't think that will be the case. I am guessing that the next Diablo game will probably be another action role playing game (arpg) but I am also guessing that it could be a massive multiplayer online game (mmo) as well. I hope there will be a demo station for this new Diablo game at BlizzCon. I always try to play as many games when I am at BlizzCon because it is usually a once in a lifetime opportunity to try a new game or a new mode.
I am planning to go to Anaheim on a Tuesday so I will have plenty of time to explore California. The last time that I went to BlizzCon, I left on a Thursday and I didn't feel too good about it because I had to do so much on Thursday that I kind of felt a bit rushed. I am hoping by going a bit earlier that I will have plenty of time to rest and plan my schedule. I might go to a hockey game on Tuesday night, go maybe to Disneyland on Wednesday and get my badge on Thursday. As for Diablo 3 Season 15, I had a bit of a rocky start. I am playing the Wizard this season and I already died twice this season. My first death happened at level 20 something so it wasn't too bad. My next death was when I tried to do a greater rift 40. This one hurt a lot because I was levelling up my Gem of Ease but I wasn't able to get it to level 25 so I couldn't use it on a level 70 weapon yet. So levelling back up to level 70 took a while. Right now, I am doing okay. I have managed to reach greater rift 70 so my primals have unlocked (even though I haven't found one yet). I got all my pieces for the Tal Rasha set but I don't have any ancient gear. I am at paragon 500 or so but it is quite easy to level up fast so far. I am hoping by the season end that I will reach paragon 900 and be at greater rift 90 or higher.
But the most exciting news (probably) is going to be about Diablo. In the schedule right after the opening ceremony is the main Diablo panel. This usually means that something big will happen to the Diablo franchise. I don't think anyone knows what that will be but I think it will be a new Diablo game. There have been many job postings about a new Diablo game and there wasn't any news about Diablo in the last BlizzCon so this year might be right time to announce a new game. I don't think Diablo 3 will be getting a new expansion because there haven't been any updates for this game in a very long while. There is a slim possibility that there could be an expansion (maybe there might be a new class like the druid) but I don't think that will be the case. I am guessing that the next Diablo game will probably be another action role playing game (arpg) but I am also guessing that it could be a massive multiplayer online game (mmo) as well. I hope there will be a demo station for this new Diablo game at BlizzCon. I always try to play as many games when I am at BlizzCon because it is usually a once in a lifetime opportunity to try a new game or a new mode.
I am planning to go to Anaheim on a Tuesday so I will have plenty of time to explore California. The last time that I went to BlizzCon, I left on a Thursday and I didn't feel too good about it because I had to do so much on Thursday that I kind of felt a bit rushed. I am hoping by going a bit earlier that I will have plenty of time to rest and plan my schedule. I might go to a hockey game on Tuesday night, go maybe to Disneyland on Wednesday and get my badge on Thursday. As for Diablo 3 Season 15, I had a bit of a rocky start. I am playing the Wizard this season and I already died twice this season. My first death happened at level 20 something so it wasn't too bad. My next death was when I tried to do a greater rift 40. This one hurt a lot because I was levelling up my Gem of Ease but I wasn't able to get it to level 25 so I couldn't use it on a level 70 weapon yet. So levelling back up to level 70 took a while. Right now, I am doing okay. I have managed to reach greater rift 70 so my primals have unlocked (even though I haven't found one yet). I got all my pieces for the Tal Rasha set but I don't have any ancient gear. I am at paragon 500 or so but it is quite easy to level up fast so far. I am hoping by the season end that I will reach paragon 900 and be at greater rift 90 or higher.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Diablo 3 Season 14 Review
Well Diablo 3 season 14 just ended and I ended up doing pretty good. I decided to play with the Witch Doctor again this season and I wanted to do a bit better than season 13. I started off pretty strong. I had one unfortunate death but overall I was pleased with my season. My Witch Doctor ended doing a greater rift 98, which was the same greater rift that I was able to do in season 13. My greater rift 98 put on rank 36 for the NA hardcore Witch Doctor (which was 2 ranks higher than season 13 - my rank in season 13 was 38). I tried several times to a greater rift 99 but I didn't think it was possible (I think I needed more dps somewhere on my gear or more paragon points). I was running in the solo self found league and I ended up being 3rd out of the Witch Doctors. I was also able to reach paragon 1132, which is the highest I was able to do for one season. My overall paragon level now sits at 1777. I also managed to finish up the seasonal journey, which was pretty easy to do this season.
For the most of season, I was playing with the Helltooth set again. I love this set because it is so easy to use and the gearing for it isn't too demanding. It is so easy to run greater rifts over and over again because this set is so consistent. You never really feel in danger of dying because most of the damage you take is off-loaded to your pets. I had a silly death early on because of I didn't think some of the arcane beams would hit me when I did a boss fight against Eskandiel.
For the most of season, I was playing with the Helltooth set again. I love this set because it is so easy to use and the gearing for it isn't too demanding. It is so easy to run greater rifts over and over again because this set is so consistent. You never really feel in danger of dying because most of the damage you take is off-loaded to your pets. I had a silly death early on because of I didn't think some of the arcane beams would hit me when I did a boss fight against Eskandiel.
Although my second Witch Doctor didn't die, I really didn't find any great Helltooth gear. I think my Witch Doctor in season 13 had way better gear. I tried really hard to push greater rifts and I was hoping to reach greater rift 100 but I don't think it is possible without a lot of paragon points.
For season 15, I am going to change my class to the Wizard because I haven't played with that class for the longest time. My last Wizard that I did play was way back in season 2. I think overall my least geared class is the Wizard because I am able to reach greater rift 65 with the other classes. In Season 15, there is another theme and this time it is going to be double bounty bags. I think this will mean that I will going to do a lot of bounties this season . I am hoping to play a Tal Rasha or a Firebird Wizard this season. I can't wait until BlizzCon later this year because I am hoping they will announce a new Diablo game there. I hope everyone had a great season 14 and I look forward to season 15, which will be starting tomorrow.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Vancouver E-sport is coming!
Just announced today (from a report by ESPN), Vancouver (as well as Toronto) will be getting an Overwatch team for season 2 of the Overwatch League. This is a very big deal since the Vancouver franchise will be one of 20 cities that are represented in the Overwatch League. Even though Vancouver (population wise) is one of the smaller cities, it is big enough that I think it can be very profitable and have a very large fan base. I am really excited about getting an Overwatch team in Vancouver because I do love supporting my local sport teams. The Vancouver Overwatch team is owned by the Aquilini ownership group, which is the same ownership group that owns the Vancouver Canucks. Although Vancouver may not host any Overwatch games for season 2, I think there is a possibility that it might in season 3. There are reports that a 200 seat e-sport arena will be built in Richmond by 2019 (although Rodgers Arena could also be another potential place for the Overwatch games).
Not only is getting an Overwatch team a big step for e-sports in Canada but also there was the Dota 2 championship "The International 2018" (TI8) being hosted at the Rodgers Arena in Vancouver a couple weeks back. The TI8 is the largest championship e-sport tournament with a prize pool of 25 million dollars. I may have wrote about the International a few years ago and the prize pool has gone significantly up. The International is traditionally been hosted in Seattle, where the Dota 2 company is. I think one of the reasons why this International was hosted in Vancouver was that the Key Arena in Seattle is being re-fitted for a hockey arena for the new Seattle team in the NHL. In any case, Vancouver did a fantastic job of hosting the International. Even though I didn't go down to Rodgers Arena to check out the games, I did manage to watch some of the games on Twitch.tv. There was a decent crowd during the bracket stage and for the final, there was a huge crowd watching in Rodgers Arena. I think with the amount of support for e-sports in Vancouver allowed them to own a franchise in the Overwatch League.
Although nothing official has come out yet from the Overwatch League, I am very excited about cheering on the new Vancouver team. We still don't know what the Vancouver team will be called or what colour scheme they will use. I am hoping that they use the same colour scheme as the Vancouver Canucks (blue and green). Although I might be slightly biased but I hope somehow Johnny Canuck will be represented by the team. I will be definitely buying a Vancouver team jersey when it comes out (as well as the Overwatch team skins) and I hope to watch them when they play any of their games in Vancouver.
Not only is getting an Overwatch team a big step for e-sports in Canada but also there was the Dota 2 championship "The International 2018" (TI8) being hosted at the Rodgers Arena in Vancouver a couple weeks back. The TI8 is the largest championship e-sport tournament with a prize pool of 25 million dollars. I may have wrote about the International a few years ago and the prize pool has gone significantly up. The International is traditionally been hosted in Seattle, where the Dota 2 company is. I think one of the reasons why this International was hosted in Vancouver was that the Key Arena in Seattle is being re-fitted for a hockey arena for the new Seattle team in the NHL. In any case, Vancouver did a fantastic job of hosting the International. Even though I didn't go down to Rodgers Arena to check out the games, I did manage to watch some of the games on Twitch.tv. There was a decent crowd during the bracket stage and for the final, there was a huge crowd watching in Rodgers Arena. I think with the amount of support for e-sports in Vancouver allowed them to own a franchise in the Overwatch League.
Although nothing official has come out yet from the Overwatch League, I am very excited about cheering on the new Vancouver team. We still don't know what the Vancouver team will be called or what colour scheme they will use. I am hoping that they use the same colour scheme as the Vancouver Canucks (blue and green). Although I might be slightly biased but I hope somehow Johnny Canuck will be represented by the team. I will be definitely buying a Vancouver team jersey when it comes out (as well as the Overwatch team skins) and I hope to watch them when they play any of their games in Vancouver.
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