It was believed that the Diablo 3 Expansion announcement would appear at 
Blizzcon in November. But since the beginning of the week various emails have been dispatched from Blizzard in the run up to Gamescom next month that suggest otherwise.
There’s speculation that we’ll get a new Diablo cinematic also, as teased by Nick Carpenter of the Blizzard cinematic department:
You wouldn’t hold a press conference for general press to announce some new game systems such as Ladders and itemisation changes. The conference is also scheduled to take place on the first day which means there is plenty of time to squeeze in the many individual interviews in the following days. The press conference is also in addition to the usual panels and Q&A sessions spread over the event. Again, if the announcement was system changes these would be discussed at the appropriate panels rather than convening a press conference for all press.
I expect the announcement and showing of the new cinematic at Gamescom and the first hands-on opportunity taking place at BlizzCon in a few months.
Thanks to nobbie.
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I am excite! Flux isn’t gamecom taking place in germany? are you guys sending ppl to cover the announcement? pls say yes. Those other fansites just ask generic and lame questions. You guys need to go!
Hope so.
Now thinking about it i don’t want to get my hopes up. Cuz they could just announce new systems and stuff [mystic…etc]. it seems kinda risky for me that they finish the trailer 4 weeks before gamecom but i could be wrong.
On the other hand they said in one of the interviews to expect news before blizzcon. Anwyas, Worst case scenario we are getting some new info about the game and that makes me happy.
PS: wtb edit button. shoulda read who wrote the article first.
I’m not going since on the US West Coast and it’s a long and expensive flight to Germany for a “maybe” D3X reveal, and Blizzard’s not paying for my ticket. Elly and Rush are located in the UK though, so attendance by one of them is a much better possibility…
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I’m excited as well, but just so she gets credit, Elly authored this post.
This is exciting!
If the work on the expansion has advanced far enough to announce it before Blizzcon that could mean they’re actually trying to get it out as soon as possible.
Mid 2014 might be too optimistic, but late 2014 could be right.
The sooner the better!
Well, it’s possible. They could announce the expansion at Gamescom to hype people up and then reveal a lot of cool stuff (and real info) at Blizzcon:)
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Sooner is better but in Blizz world, anything pre-2015 will be too soon to hope for, I expect. The lower your expectations, the better!
I would expect D3X1 not later than summer 2014.
Not a chance man. Sorry.
I’m thinking this is going to be more on the lines of one last final PR/marketing push for D3 PS3+Xbox 360 before its September 3rd release.
A “special announcement that’s sure to capture the attention of the Heavens, Burning Hells and all the shadowed places that lie between” with recpect to the D3 console release? What would that be which has not already been announced in-depth and discussed for hours on end at PAX East 2013 and later?
An expensive cinematic trailer for the console release? Not in Blizzard’s current financial situation.
buy the console version of D3,
get one year of WoW for free
What is wrong with Blizzards current financial situation? 😀
Maybe they announce RMAH is back for console? And online only. Grats everyone.
‘The game is now officially out of alpha stage. At Blizzcon we will announce how we will trick you to spend another 60$/€ to participate in the betatest.’
This.
Maybe they could fix the original freaking game instead of trying to trick stupid people out of another $50. Sadly the sheep will probably be wowed over by the new cinematic and vague promises. Some people just never learn, that’s how companies like Blizzard stay in business.
You got it. Big companies like blizzard only sell hype and you get the template of a game. Indi games are taking over.
I have to say I’m a little exicited.. actually a lot.. almost bouncing in my seat… but also a little warey of getting my hopes up.
A Expansion Cinematic that introduces the new class(es) for the Xpac would be sweet!
Sorry for the off topic but if neither Flux or Elly are in a relationship I would love to see them getting married :3 . All of the podcast you are in you sound so adorable!
A new cinematic on the making of the New WALLPAPER to be released at gamescom
Rather!
The thing is, can we believe the information they feed us? Remember the game we were supposed to get, and the one that was fobbed off on us.
Blizzard has a very good reason NOT to announce both the new WoW and the D3 expansion at BlizzCon 2013. WoW subs pay the bills, but they are declining fast (7.7 mio. currently). The best business strategy would be to announce the D3 expansion and the 6th hero class at gamescom (the world’s largest trade fair and event highlight for interactive games and entertainment btw), and then have full focus on WoW 6 at BlizzCon.
Sign of beta?
I completely forgot that we will have to have a beta test for the expansion pack.
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F*** yeah I’ve been waiting all along for a new wallpaper holy shiztz
On a serious note… I am excited to see what they show. Most likely the intro cinematic, maaaybe the new class but that would be a huge reveal that I think would be better saved for blizzcon… I mean announcing the new class is a pretty big deal I think they’ll at most give us a hint at what the new class “is”. I’d hope they add in 2 new classes like D2X but that is being a bit optimistic these days. My guess is the new class will be a shaman class that has shapeshifting, uses wards that do things such as stun,heal,special damage effects and then he’ll have elemental spells I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a shaman class, my other guess is it will be a death knight class which would appease to the necromancer fans and be a mix of melee and necro magic.
You US guys might not want to hear that, but gamescom > BlizzCon. 😉
What if this is just a big push and new cinematic for the console version and unannounced console exclusive features?
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I’m sure in the grand scheme of things but when Blizzard games were the be all and end all of games until recently Blizzcon was/is when we get all the sweet info.
Times have changed, and Blizzard has to consider carefully what to announce when in order to keep inhouse competition as low as possible.
They still have titan to announce for 2014 or 2015 so they’ll be ok for next year. I would bet a Warcraft4 will be announced by 2015/2016
Paladin reveal cinematic.
The thing I am amazed at is every time Blizzard is going to announce something “BIG”, 9.9/10 out 10, it’s a complete let down.. With the sole focus on console releases, it only makes sense it’s console related..
It’s not going to be a console related reveal. The console release is already announced, long time ago. It even has a street date. There’s nothing new to say about the console version.
This is Diablo 3 Expansion 1. We’ll get an opening cinematic. This is how Blizzard ALWAYS reveals their games. A cinematic and then a preview of whats new.
Let’s hope it’s not an announcement of D3 on Xbox One (it’s the one that hasn’t been confirmed yet, right?).
Yeah cuse they went and spent a crap ton of money to make a NEW opening cinematic JUST for a Xbox 1 announcement.
Good lord people…
Yeah “cuse” they said they will release that cinematic at gamescom… Just because these two things appear in the same news item (written by a third party) doesn’t mean they are related.
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Hey, considering Blizzard’s track record, and especially as of late and ESPECIALLY after all the DIII letdowns, can you blame people for being a bit hesitant on jumping on the excitement bandwagon?
I’m a bit cynical about this. They’d save an expansion announcement for Blizzcon for sure. As to “special announcement” at GamesCon it will be Console related.
Very sure it’s console or platform related. Such as releasing on Xbox 360, Xbox “One”, iPad, Android (tablets), or a Linux version. Nothing really of importance.
Hype train, alll abooooooard! 😀
True, after the last few years with Blizzard and their announcements, it’s easy and perhaps even natural, for us to feel hesitatnt on getting excited a bit too early, but I do believe all the signs are pointing at an expansion pack announcement at Gamescon!
To be 100% honest, I care quite little about which extra class or two we might get, that has played 0% part in the excitement I felt for LoD, and I never really played the Druid nor the Assassin much anywy.
What REALLY matters here is the new act, and more than that, of course, is the long-awaited overhaul to the major game systems in the game.
What runewords, jewels, charms, new item tiers and such did for Diablo 2, I hope the expansion does for Diablo 3.
Either way, let me call a Borat and announce: ME VERY EXCITE!
interesting, out of the 10 people from blizzard attending,2 from wow and 5 of them are diablo team leads including the game director and the production director. :
http://eu.blizzard.com/en-gb/company/events/gamescom-2013-information.html
New Diablo TCG, with the rarest cards giving you legendary items in Diablo 3!
If its indeed the D3 xpac:
http://fanboygaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpeg
It has a good chance of being the D3 expansion due to their wording but I still feel quite lukewarm about it since for me its at least so far away to have an approval. After the huge dissapointment that was D3 I am still on the defensive about having any hype on anything related to D3. I would have to wait for the expansion to be released and gather at least one-two months of player feedback to see if blizzard actually did right this time.
I am certainly curious about the expansion info but I am not feeling excited about it.
Expansion haha no no they will show us new Cinmatic for Consol version thats for sure.
Expansion shows up first blizzacon in November
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This is the dilemma right now, do “they” think it “needs” fixing??? The recent interviews have not given much hope for any type of major overhauls. They talk about “improving thorns” and share-agon …. those are not exciting “fixes” so I hope they’re really holding back on some major announcements for blizzcon and come out swinging otherwise I feel like they’re going to get “boo’d” by the crowd.
On a side note: Diablo 3 was also first announced at the WWI 2008 and not at BlizzCon 2008, and until today there were never two major game or game expansion announcements at BlizzCon (which would theoretically be D3X1 and WOWX5 at BlizzCon 2013).
Im pretty happy with the game atm. so the only thing i really want to see out of an expansion is MORE THAN ONE ACT. PLZ make 2 more actes. The game is sooooo short and repetative
As much as I would be ecstatic if it was D3X, I just can’t see why Bliz would make an announcement on August 22 (first day of gamecon according to the gamescom website) right before the console version gets released on September 3. I mean, if Bliz is trying to get people to buy this great new console version, why would they make a big deal pointing out that the PC version is going to be so much cooler because of the expansion? Sure, the expansion could be rapidly ported over to the console, but the point is that Bliz is trying to build inertia for the Sept 3 release date, not take away inertia. I mean, this is basic marketing 101 stuff. You focus on one thing at a time and you don’t give consumers a reason not to buy your new product. Activision-Blizzard has been very good about keeping on message. They try to promote one major release at a time and they don’t discourage people from buying their games. If it is D3X, they’re really shooting themselves in the foot for the console version from a marketing pov. I still wish it was D3X, but with the timing of the two events, I just can’t why they would announce D3X now
And what if they say: Buy D3 on console now, and get D3X1 for console for free (or very cheap) upon release?
They could certainly do that, but why? I mean, that’s basically addressing the symptoms, not the actual problem. I think it’s all about messaging, and once you get people talking about the next big thing, they’re no longer talking about the big console release. I mean, there is a ton of positive news buzz about how many reviewers think the beta console version was a quite good and an improvement on the PC version. Why would you want any game news site talking about anything except that? And if the expansion is going to be the ‘superior’ version of D3, then why even play the base version of the game?
Of course, expansions are a completely different beast on consoles, as would it be delivered in the form of DLC or a new disk or a patch? More discussion that would take away from the core message (buy the console version right now!!! =)
Again, it’s not that they couldn’t say what you just said, but it’s about keeping momentum for one thing at a time.
Also, don’t forget that D3 is actually an “old” game, so an expansion premiere along with the D3 console release is a pretty good move imo.
Well, it could be the expansion for D3. Announce it now and release it Soon
Im actually reading it as…
Gamescon -> Announcement of patch for pre- expansion, and new features/systems including itemisation… so it won’t steal the thunder/create confusion plus give people some time to digest it.
Later at Blizzcon -> Announcement of expansion with classes, spells, deeper changes to map randomness, changes in mechanics of 1-2 old bosses, new areas in old zones, new zones, mystic, etc.
…Wich should be another 2 years down the pipeline.
Come on guys it’s Blizzard!!! 😀
They don’t create a entire CGI cinematic to announce a pre expansion patch. This is a major reveal.
It’s like this for every major announcement from Blizzard. Are most of you following them for the first time with D3 or what?
The announcement of an expansion would simply feel peculiar at this point of time, as the game itself isn’t even near a point which could justify anything else than major core system overhauls, let alone an expansion. That being said, I have no doubt they have the audacity to announce one.
Its a new diablo themed card game. The cinematic is being patched in and is unlocked when you make a purchase on the rmah. Old purchases excluded.
They’re going to announce Diablo IV.
They’ll say that they know Diablo III is completly messed up and can’t fixed it. They announce a num engine, a retcon in the story and many (MANY) aspects (like butterflies in a a land of demons or characters that lost the original “appeal”, like Adria).
if only
Calm down people.
I dont believe it will be Expansion announcement. Maybe in a year or two ;p
Hope it will be something with Heartstone!!!!
Can’t wait! 🙂
I love you guys who think an expansion takes 3 years from the original games release date to produce. Keep somkin’ the good stuff.
All you guys talking about how it can’t be the expansion because it would detract from the console release: you seem to have forgotten about pre-sales. Some people are already locked in to getting D3 on the console, so those sales are guaranteed for Blizzard already. Also, announcing an expansion that’s going to be about a year away (I’m assuming a release about Summer 2014 although I’m sure Blizzard would have no problem announcing an expansion and maintaining hype for two years as well) shouldn’t prevent people from wanting to try D3 on the console; if anything, it would make them want to get in now so they can be ready for the expansion, which most likely will be DLC content so that the console players don’t feel like they’re having to buy an additional game when the expansion releases.
Just speculation, of course, but expansion announcement seems pretty likely.
I can’t speak to how big pre-sales of console D3 are, but I think there will be a lot of people who will wait for the reviews of the console version. I mean, if they really want to play D3 right now, why not just buy the PC version?
Also, as far as ‘getting ready for the expansion’, that’s something that I would argue would encourage someone to not buy the core game at release, specifically because they do not know how the expansion will affect their game and characters. I worry that our paragon levels could go away when the expansion comes out or that they will be replaced with something else (sharagons or whatever). That may not be true at all, but it’s enough that I’m a bit hesitant to put too much time into the core D3 game. I mean, as everyone has pointed out on this site, the paragon levels were tacked on and it may not be the best long term end-game solution, especially if the designers are changing core game systems. I keep looking for someone at Bliz to say “paragon levels are here to stay and your progress will not be lost”, but I have not seen anything definitive. I can think of a lot of reasons for paragon levels to be wiped out (redoing the MF/GF system, replacing it with ‘sharagons’, eliminating the stat bonuses, ensuring all expansion players are on the same page at day 1).
Anyway, that is why I would not buy a core version when I knew an expansion was going to come out. My point isn’t that the expansion wouldn’t get me excited about D3, but it wouldn’t get me excited to buy the newly released core version on the console. And if I’m playing on the console and I’ve never read much about the PC version, then that must seem very strange to hear about an expansion for a game that hasn’t even come out.
This is just a way to take away the attention from the jacked up 50 million stack “hofix” they made. Who know what the f is going to be the announcement. What we do know is that it will be D3 related cuz of the wording in the email, most likely expansion info because of new cinematic, and we wont know till the time comes.
I believe they noticed how angry people got with the BS hotfix from July that they are using this opportunity to calm the masses cuz they know they need to divert attention.
And why are we definitively linking Nick Carpenter’s tweet to D3? From looking at his twitter account, I see more references to SC in the last week than anything else. I would certainly expect a new cinematic for Hearthstone..
Anyway, Bliz has made it clear that there will be a D3 related announcement at Gamescom, and since I seem to one of few D3X deniers, I guess I need to come up with an alternative. The Gamescom website states that the “mega trend” of 2013 is a “new generation of consoles, more intensive gaming experiences, cross-platform (PlayStation 4, Wii U and Xbox One playable for consumers at gamescom.” Given that, I’m thinking this sounds more and more like an xbox1 or PS4 announcement. That would seem to make sense since it’s the season of new consoles and it’s something that Bliz PR would think is exciting. Of course, if Flux or Elly or Xanth got invited to the event, that would seem to strongly imply that it is D3X. From Elly’s post, I can’t tell if this is an email she received or something that a contact of her’s received. My D3X criteria is that if Flux does not post anything right before Gamescom or if he posts something from France, we’ll know it’s D3X; otherwise, it’s going to be a boring month for us pc gamers.
It’s not going to be a new CGI video JUST to announce the same game on a different system! We already know they are planning on releasing D3 on PS4 and Xbox1, thats not worth the excessive cost of a CGI cinematic.
We know that they won’t release the itemization patch till sometime after Blizzcon. One of the reasons is it’s part of a much larger overall change to the game (the expansion). They’ve also told us we will be getting more info on whats going to be changing now till the end of the year.
It’s the official Diablo III Expansion announcement. It doesn’t tkae a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
Based on what? I don’t disagree that a new video will be part of D3X, but who’s saying the Nick Carpenter tweet has anything to do with D3 or D3X? The CGI could be for just about anything Blizzard related (WoW, D3, Titan, Hearthstone). Nick Carpenter is the Vice President of Art & Cinematic Development for Blizzard, not the art lead for Diablo 3.
I certainly hope it’s the D3X announcement, but I just don’t see the evidence for it and it doesn’t make sense to me from a marketing point of view. So please, explain your point of view to me.
The more I think about this, the more i think the D3 expansion will be announced at Gamescom. Most people believe a WoW expansion and a Titan announcement will be saved for Blizzcon (which are also their franchise titles, and big money makers) so leaving D3X for Gamescom makes sense.
I think Diablo is also at a point right now were the active community has been waiting for months to hear anything new and the majority of players just left a long time ago and simply don’t care. So i think the sooner they announce this expansion the better because it hypes the game back up and will allow the dev’s to talk about the expansion features/changes with the community.
And they admit they’re flapping in the wind on Titan. Blizzard seems aimless these days. Iteration still follows a direction, but now they’re wandering around. Diablo 3’s big problems came from a lack of conviction; they wanted to change stuff, but didn’t have the guts to go far enough. Guess we’ll never get rid of magic find or repetitive grinding, binary difficulty, robot friendly combat, or leveling for the sake of leveling.
This just in from Mike Morhaime himself:
“We’ll be sharing Diablo 3 related news at Gamescom this month.”
You can be almost 100% sure that this is D3X1.
pretty crazy post including almost every thing I like it keep up the good work looking forward to it……!!!!Thanks…!!!Also go to the link below to know new application for construction management named app.intellobuild
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That’s what release is for!