Blizzard’s Annual BlizzzCon convention kicked of Yesterday and fans from around the world tuned in to get a look at everything Blizzard is announcing for its massive line-up of games. It pains us not to be there, but we were kept up to date with the live stream, and always-up-to-date twitter feeds. Here’s everything Blizzard announced in our BlizzCon Day 1 Recap.From Cosplay competitions to, the StarCraft 2 Word Championship esPorts Finals, to the much anticipated Diablo3, WoW and Heroes of the Storm announcements:

1. Heroes of the Storm

Blizzard released a teaser trailer for it’s upcoming MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) back in October. The game is officially called “Heroes of the Storm”. “Heroes of the Storm” will be Blizzards official “remake” of it’s insanely popular DOTA (Defence of the Ancients) game. The remake/sequel was originally called “Defence of the Ancients : All Stars”. The original “Defence of the Ancients: All-Stars” was a mod for WarCraft III, with Half-Life maker Valve now behind its sequel, Dota 2. Blizzard renamed DOTA in 2011, after settling a legal dispute with Valve over the rights to the DOTA trademark.

Today Blizzard revealed this awesome trailer in typical  Blizzard style. Can anybody do game trailers better than Blizzard? Heroes of the Storm is being called “Blizzard … the game”. You will be able to play with ANY of the heroes from all of Blizzards games. This includes Diablo, Star Craft and Warcraft. Can You imagine Raynor facing off against Diablo?

Here’s a list of heroes that we know are currently available, and will definitely get bigger:

Heroes of the Storm Character Line-up

• Falstad (World of Warcraft)
• Illidan (World of Warcraft)
• Kerrigan (StarCraft)
• Nova (StarCraft)
• Valla
• Naziba
• Raynor (StarCraft)
• Gazlowe (World of Warcraft)
• Uther (WarCraft)
• Malfurion (WarCraft)
• Tassadar (StarCraft)
• Arthas (WarCraft)
• Sonya (Diablo)
• Diablo (Diablo)
• Tyrael (Diablo)
• Stitches (WarCraft)

You can sign up for BETA access now on the official site. We just did and simply cannot wait for this!

Heroes of the Storm Beta sign-up

2. World of Warcraft Expansion called “Warlords of Draenor”

Nobody predicted this one, we knew an expansion was coming, but the name is not one we’ve heard speculated anywhere prior to Blizzard announcing it. The video below which was shown at BlizzCon reveals new character models and gives us a glimpse of Draenor, the expansion’s new area which consists of seven zones. Newcomers can boost one of their characters to level 90 immediately, explore six new 5-player dungeons and hit up new raids (two are planned for launch), join a new “seamlessly instanced” PvP zone, fight new world bosses, and find new rewards on their way to the new level cap of 100. Characters from Warcraft’s past, including Grommash Hellscream, Blackhand, and Ner’zhul, will be encountered throughout.

Amid hundreds of new quests, players will be able to build and upgrade their own customizable Garrison, as well as recruit NPC followers who can be used to collect resources and complete quests. Among the possible upgrades for the Garrison are a barracks (allows more followers to be sent on missions at the same time), an infirmary (heals followers more quickly between missions), an inn (attracts new followers), and a blacksmith (who researches new plans and crafts resources). Friends can visit each others’ Garrisons, where they’ll then be able to trade resources with each other.

With the expansion comes a lot of updates to the graphics engine and character design tweaks, here’s the reveal trailer and an in-game look:

3. Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls brings new Adventure mode and Bounties

Diablo 3 has had quite a few big announcements already in the last couple of months. With the new expansion called “Reaper of Souls” and the removal of the Auction Houses, now comes a completely new game mode called Adventure mode, Bounties and Nephalem Rifts:

In Adventure Mode, the majority of these story-driven elements have been removed and all waypoints have been unlocked, allowing players the freedom to explore and play the game however they like. The world itself is your battlefield. Go anywhere, slay anything! These modes can be accessed at any time, and you’re welcome to switch between them whenever you please. In addition, we’ve unlocked all difficulty levels, giving you even more control over your in-game experience. Don’t want to play through the story four times on each of your characters? Done. Looking to farm in Adventure Mode at one difficulty, then switch over to Campaign Mode at a different difficulty? You’ve got it.

Bounties are optional, randomized objectives available only in Adventure Mode. In addition to providing players with a guided experience within a specific Act, Bounties are also intended to showcase all the different content Diablo III has to offer. Some example of Bounties you can pick up include slaying a unique monster (like Mira Eamon), killing a boss (like Queen Aranae), clearing a dungeon (like the Khazra Den), and completing an event (like Last Stand of the Ancients).

Nephalem Rifts (previously called “Loot Runs”) are randomized dungeons that are designed to be completed within 10-15 minutes. The goal of Nephalem Rifts is to provide players with a rewarding, endlessly replayable experience, one that continually offers new and exciting moment-to-moment gameplay. . .as well as heaps of loot. They’re also what senior level designer Jesse McCree likes to describe as an opportunity to “break all the rules.”

Here’s the reveal trailer that also shows the new Mystic Artisan with its weapon Transmogrification system, as well as the addition of clans and groups (Yah!).

Catch all the details on the official Diablo 3 site.

4. HearthStone

The biggest announcement so far on the HearthStone front, is that it will be moving to mobile devices, which is something we already knew. HearthStone is our latest addiction in Gaming. Check-out more here. Apart from the going to mobile news, there’s information on the latest patch, game balance fixes, card tweaks and possible single player missions. Read more here. IGN sat down with Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime and discussed some of the new announcements:

“If you look at everything, I think Hearthstone is probably the most accessible game that we’ve ever made,” he continued, “which is really exciting. And then if you think about iPhone, Android, tablets, we’ll be able to draw in a lot of people who don’t currently play these types of games.”

With Hearthstone expanding from PC to mobile, we asked Morhaime if we might ever see World of Warcraft finally follow suit.

“It’s something we talk about,” he admitted. “There’s probably an opportunity to have some type of connection to the world from mobile devices. I don’t think we’ve figured out exactly what that should look like. I don’t think consoles are necessarily our best opportunity for World of Warcraft. In terms of gameplay, our focus is going to stay on the PC, and then we’ll continue looking at ways you might be able to interact with the world from other devices.”

Stay tuned for our update on Day 2 and the rest of Day 1. So far its been a pretty intense day 1.We look forward to the SC2 Finals, possible Warcraft Movie details, more HearthStone news, and yup… we’re gonna say it: Titanfall news.

[Source, Official Blizzard Recap for Day 1]