BlizzCon 2019 is now live, watch it here – PC Gamer, Pcgamer.com

Blizzcon 2019 is live now. You can watch the YouTube stream above.

The BlizzCon Opening Ceremony is now over, and as expected it included a few big announcements. Overwatch 2 is official, bringing co-op missions and a pile of new multiplayer stuff (including new heroes!) Along with it. Diablo 4 has also finally made its debut, and it did so with enough blood and grime to show Blizzard is trying to differentiate it from Diablo 3.

At the start of the Opening Ceremony, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack briefly addressed last month’s controversy over Hearthstone player Blitzchung’s Hong Kong statement and his suspension.Brack apologized, but didn’t get into specifics, change the suspension, or speak to how Blizzard would treat such issues differently in the future.

That controversy hasn’t completely blown over. Protesters have gathered outside the Anaheim, California convention center sporting “Free Hong Kong” signs while giving away free t-shirts.Check out our liveblog for ongoing coverage of the protests.

We’re at BlizzCon watching this all play out, and you can watch along online to catch the deep dives into Blizzard’s individual games throughout Friday and Saturday.

Here’s everything that’s happened so far, and how to watch

biggest BlizzCon 2019 Announcements

Overwatch 2 confirmed.It’s a full-on sequel, with a focus on co-op and new PvE modes. There are Story Missions and Hero Missions, in which you’ll be able to level up your heroes. And Overwatch 2’s PvP additions, like new maps and heroes, will be coming to Overwatch 1, as well, for a “shared multiplayer environment.”Read the details here.

Just as everyone hoped,Diablo 4 is officially in developmentand it looks absolutely profane — a true sequel to Diablo 4. Blizzard opened BlizzCon 2019 with an extended CG trailer setting up the story and then followed that up with a few minutes of gameplay footage.Check out both here.

World of Warcraft’s next expansion is called Shadowlands.It releases next year and will take players to an alternate realm of death and decay where they must choose one of several factions to align with to fight against Sylvanas.Check out the trailer here.

Hearthstone’s next expansion is Descent of Dragons, and yes, it’s got a bunch more dragons in it. The surprise:Hearthstone is getting a new mode, called Battlegrounds,inspired by the autobattle genre. It’s in beta soon.Read more about it here.

How to watch BlizzCon 2019

BlizzCon 2019 starts at 11 am PT on Friday , November 1, 2019, and continues through to Saturday.

Like every year, the fullBlizzCon 2019 livestream is only available to those whopurchase a Virtual Ticketfor $ 50. It’s a steep price, but it does include unrestricted access to the entire show, including tournaments, a dozen developer panels for different games, and a host of in-game goodies for all of Blizzard’s games.

The opening ceremony, where the biggest announcements will likely be teased, is free to watch for everyone and will be broadcast onBlizzard’s Twitch channelas well asYouTube. The opening ceremony starts at 11 am PT on Friday, November 1.

The opening ceremony will be followed by several panels that are expected to go in-depth on Blizzard’s newly announced games, like Diablo 4, and others like Hearthstone and World of Warcraft .According to Wowhead, these panels will also be free to watch for everyone.

You can findthe full schedule here.

What panels should I watch at BlizzCon 2019?

Here are the big events that you probably won’t want to miss.

Friday:

• Opening ceremony (11 am PT) –should have all the biggest announcements and new trailers.
• Four back-to-back unannounced panels ((************************************************************: 30 PM – 4: 15 pm PT) –These unannounced main -stage panels will likely be focused on Blizzard’s unannounced games like Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2.
• Hearthstone update (5: (pm – 6pm PT) –Likely a deeper dive into Hearthstone’s next expansion.

(Saturday:

• (World of Warcraft Update) 11: (am -) pm PT) -A closer look at World of Warcraft’s next ex pansion (and hopefully an update on WoW Classic too).
• (Unannounced panel) 12: 15 am – 1pm PT) -Likely another deeper look at an unannounced game (probably Diablo Immortal or another mobile game).
• (Overwatch Update) 1: 15 pm – 2pm PT) -An update on the future of Overwatch.
• Unannounced panel (2: 15 pm – 3pm PT) –Another unannounced panel for what is likely an unannounced game.
• (Warcraft 3: Reforged Update) 3: 15 pm – 4pm PT) -A deeper look at Warcraft 3: Reforg ed.

Steven enjoys nothing more than a long grind, which is precisely why his specialty is on investigative feature reporting on China’s PC games scene, weird stories that upset his parents, and MMOs. He’s Canadian but can’t ice skate. Embarrassing.