In light of yesterdays' news that BlizzCon 2012 would not be taking place, Blizzard did drop one golden drop of hope: the world famous BlizzCon eSports scene would not suffer as a result. To prove this, Blizzard jointly announced with their sad BlizzCon news that they would be hosting the 2012 Battle.net World Championship Event later this year in Asia. With a large prize pool and the high-quality shindigs Blizzard is known for hosting, this could be an important stepping stone in the eSports industry.

Just yesterday, TeamLiquid sat down with Ilja Rotelli, Global Director of Community & eSports at Blizzard, where they got to discussing some of the big plans Blizzard had with their 2012 Battle.net World Championship. Of particular interest was the fact that Blizzard doesn't want the tournament to revolve around an immense prize pool; instead, they want to focus on delivering a high quality competition that players will want to participate in for prestige and recognition. This doesn't mean, of course, that Blizzard is taking a step back in its cash rewards, but it does indicate a shift of focus toward creating a more serious industry.

Ilja Rotelli also had some choice words for eSports competitors Riot Games and Valve, both of which have placed a large amount of prize money into their tournaments. When asked if Blizzard's eSports philosophy differed from Riot or Valve, he noted that their approach to eSports relies on what he calls "stunts," where he notes that they are "trying to achieve . . . a lot of media attention while asserting yourself in the industry." Meanwhile, Ilja argues that Blizzard is taking a more grassroots approach to building eSports as an industry, and he's hoping to not tarnish that vision by making the entire focus on big cash prizes.

It's a great read and Ilja Rotelli is very honest in the interview, so head over to TeamLiquid and take a read!

Blizzard finally has set a date for it annual fan convention. Mark your calendar for Oct. 22-23 and be prepared for updates and panels on StarCraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft. They probably have a new biombshell announcement planned as well.

Since 2005, tens of thousands of gamer fans have flocked to southern California each year (with the exception of 2006) to take part in BlizzCon; Blizzard's celebration of its complete IP lineup. The first convention took place on October 28, 2005 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA, and it's remained there ever since. About 8000 people were in attendance; a fairly substantial turn-out when you consider that no one knew exactly what to expect.

By the end of the weekend though, fans were thrilled with what they had finally found: a convention for gamers, by gamers. Technically, BlizzCon is similar to a trade expo in some functions, but Blizzard knew from the get-go that it wanted to offer its fans something other than the stuffy, industry-only direction in which tradeshows were headed. One weekend out of the year, Blizzard wanted to throw a massive party disguised as an expo, where its fans could gather and celebrate the entire array of the Blizzard franchise—including the Warcraft RTS series, StarCraft, Diablo…and of course, World of Warcraft.

For those of you lucky enough to score tickets to this year's convention (Aug. 21 and 22), ZAM has you covered, in this preview guide to BlizzCon 2009. You'll find a round-up of this year's highlights, along with some sage advice gleaned from attendees of years past. And if you weren't able to purchase tickets this year (along with seemingly everyone else who tried), don't worry! We'll give you all the info you need to consider the live "virtual pay-per-view" service being offered this year—which also entitles you to receive the same "Grunty the Murloc Marine" in-game vanity pet in this year's swag bags.

With BlizzCon coverage popping up across the net, it was excited to see the video taken by StarCraft Wire which has a few mentions of Blizzard's unannounced "4th project" which is the unnamed MMO.

The interview covers just about every project Blizzard has going on, and is worth the watch!

BlizzCon 2008 may have come to a close, but our extended coverage of the event is just beginning. Our BlizzCon wiki is already full of exclusive panel recaps, interviews and photos for you to enjoy, but that's not all! The intrepid ZAM Network staff, including our tireless Allakazham employees, went without much sleep all weekend to make sure that you get as much in-depth information as possible, and new content will be added to the wiki daily. So bookmark the page and refresh it regularly for your BlizzCon fix.

By now you've probably checked out Wordaen's class panel review and found out that the Wizard is the new Diablo III class, but there are now full articles posted on PvP, dungeons, and a free-for-all Q&A session with Blizzard. One of the best news tidbits is that mounts will no longer dismount in water outdoors!

As for interviews, our team realizes that the community aspect of WoW is incredibly important. That's why even though our wiki is full of official news from Blizzard, there's also interviews with regular players. In fact, there's even an exclusive interview with costume contest winner Amanda Hosler!

I have also heard from Tamat that he got a chance to speak personally with the cast of The Guild. Keep checking the wiki for that. In the meantime, talk about BlizzCon in our WoW general forum and keep reading below for a summary of some of the panel articles.

Our very own Wordaen is currently at BlizzCon absorbing all the information the event has to offer. For his first panel, Wordaen attended a discussion regarding Blizzard's intentions for each class in World of Warcraft.

Check out our BlizzCon wiki to read Wordaen's article on the class discussion. He covers everything from a complete overhaul of the hunter pet system to the changes in all three talent trees for warriors. Of course, Wordaen outlines the death knight class in depth, as well.

Classes weren't the only topic of conversation at the panel. Blizzard also discussed major changes in buffs/debuffs in groups and raids. While they didn't talk much about dual specs, they did have this to say:

Dual Specs are going to be designed more for flexibility and "on the fly" swapping (such as in a raid setting) but they are not going to be something as viable for a hardcore raider as they will for a more casual playstyle.

Once you've read Wordaen's article, discuss it in our forum.

This morning at the BlizzCon 2008 opening ceremony, the third class for Diablo III was announced -- the Wizard! These ranged casters are "all about channeling the powers of the universe ". Blizzard has given us access to the initial gameplay video that was shown during the ceremony; check it out!

Also make sure to view all of our new Diablo III screenshots from BlizzCon, they make it pretty clear that the team is making some forward progress on the game.

Casey "Malgayne" Monroe from our sister site Wowhead has been chatting with Jeff Kaplan, one of the lead designers for WoW, and he's got a lot of great stuff about what Blizzard is thinking about doing in the future.

While everything here brings exciting possibilities and encompasses a wonderful future, let's keep in mind all of it is still in the design phase and it could be modified or further progress to the project(s) could come to a halt at any moment. Even if development on said project(s) continue, then it certainly isn't going to be in the game anytime soon!

That said, on to the good stuff!

Blizzard is looking at an internal way to rate guilds in both a PvP and PvE respect. Obviously this is a huge undertaking with so many variables to consider! Progression, killing percentages, group makeup, and player moving guilds are just a few of the things that need to be looked at!

If you haven't heard yet, The Guild is attending BlizzCon!

The whole cast of The Guild will be attending Blizzcon Friday and Saturday! There will be a Guild panel from 1:30 - 2:30pm on Saturday where we will preview Season 2 as well as answer questions about Season 1 and anything else the audience would like to hear!

Also, thanks to the kindness of Blizzard, we will have a booth set up where we will be selling DVDs and an Official Cast Photo, debuting at the con! All 6 main cast members will be hanging out, but will be specifically signing DVDs and Photos at the following times in the booth:
Friday 11am-1pm
Saturday 3-5pm

Please stop by and say hi, or catch us around Blizzcon!

Our faithful Tamat, wandering the halls of BlizzCon apparently caught up with some of the folks from The Guild, (pics or it didn't happen! ) inspiring our resident wiki guru, Bludwyng, to cry! But while others were discussing the awesome WoW inspired show in IRC it turns out two of our resident WoW admins are unaware of the greatnes of The Guild! Tyrandor and fewyn are hearby banned to the depths of Darqflame's dungeon until they've watched at least season one! Which is on sale now in DvD format for only $20, or can be viewed online!

If you're sitting at home mashing your refresh button on our coverage wiki instead of attending BlizzCon '08, here's a chance to get in on the action!  The official BlizzCon page has this offer :

Here's your chance to participate in BlizzCon even if you aren't able to be there in person. We're now asking folks to submit their burning questions related to the Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo game universes. We'll sort through them all and pick the best questions to be answered live during DIRECTV's pay-per-view broadcast of BlizzCon 2008. If your question is selected, you'll also receive an ATI graphics card and some exclusive BlizzCon merchandise. For submission information, contest rules, and a list of prizes, visit our contest page.

Good luck!  And let's hope we hear something regarding Duel Speccing soon!