April Fools at Blizzard this year is either less ambitious or more subtle than before.
Or I am missing something.
On the World of Warcraft site, there is the return of Crabby, who was part of the 2011 April Fools.
He’s been done before…
He has some new and amusing dialog and I guess is part of the tradition now. And if you go down the right conversational path, the one where you talk about sports, you can watch him try on various hats.
Crab hat!
But I have to wonder, how many people even remember Clippy, of which Crabby is a parody.
But other than that, all I could spot was some disagreement as to when the Noblegarden event was taking place, with it either being March 31 through April 6 or April 24 through May 1. That must be funny in some way I am not getting.
The Diablo III site seems to be completely free of April Foolery, unless that thread asking Is This Game Good Yet? is some sort wry commentary. But if it wry commentary you want, there is better to be had, pointed at juicier targets. And then there is the great Diablo III non-joke from GDC.
And over at the StarCraft II site there is a somewhat predictable April Fools joke.
Warhound revived
The Warhound was a unit slated to be part of the Terran forces in the Heart of the Swarm expansion for StarCraft II. However, it was found to be too powerful and was removed during beta.
But today’s announcement says it is back, but they have a plan to cure the balance issue.
- The Warhound has been added for Terran because robots are cool and the art is amazing
- The Warhound has been added for Zerg to remain competitive with Terran.
- The Warhound has been added for Protoss to keep Protoss players from whining about them on the forums.
There is also a Dev Q&A page about the Warhound that answers questions like why their isn’t a female Warhound as well as linking to its background story page. But at least they did something. Almost as much fun as a space cockroach.
A check of the European versions of the sites showed similar entries all around.
So did I miss something? Are they holding out for a mid-day US/evening EU reveal? Is this a year of subtle humor? Or did a busy 2012, in which they did not even have time for BlizzCon, keep Blizzard from going as far with April Fools as they have in the past?
The following links will bring you to past coverage of Blizzard April Foolery as a comparison:
Addendum – April Fools in some other online games:
- Guild Wars 2 and the Super Adventure Box
- EverQuest II and the pricey pink mount
- World of Tanks has zombies, a moon map, and a new suspicious vehicle
- Dungeons and Dragons Online has special cash shop items
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
Or it’s only 9 AM on the west coast and the content publishers are just rolling into work. Maybe? Hoping? I love Blizzard’s April Fool’s jokes!
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IMHO, you need look what Anet is doing at GW2 for April Fool. Everyone need knows what Moto, the asura genius done…
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@João Carlos – If you read yesterday’s post, you might not consider me the best person to cover that. I think Bhagpuss has that under control in any case.
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Actually, if you watch the crabby guy, he plugs a “new game” and the link takes you here http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/supplydepot/
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@Six – Supply Depot 2 was actually part of last year’s April Fools, but that page does have a nice link to the 2010 mobile app page.
At least Blizz keeps these pages alive over the years. You can spend time just finding all the old ones.
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World of Tanks claims they are adding zombies.
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All of the in-game SC2 workers have Warhound skins and animations.
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I think the ‘too busy’ explanation is the best, I remember correctly they just rehashed (without even changing the letter) the Anniversary gift from 2011 for 2012.
The crab thing (or some other reason, but the issues started then) is also giving me hard time accessing the EU Forum so while they might be up to something, I think it’s the MoP-associated bugapolooza again (other sites work swimmingly).
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http://www.warcraftpets.com/news/summoning-multiple-pets-but-with-a-catch/
<3 the last example! :)
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And then there is SOE out there with its over-price pink cow mount thing. Not that ugly mounts are anything new to SOE, but the pricing seems to have hit a nerve. Maybe SOE took my question about what to spend Station Cash on seriously.
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The DDO offering is my favorite this year. Invisible stalker pet bundle – buy all three and save!
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@Whilhelm Arcturus
Well, you don’t hate GW2… but too not loves it. So, maybe you can have a balanced opinion. I just advice go look what Anet made as April Fool event, that will stay until the end of April.
Just go look, It is HOW a MMO April Fool need be done for be well done.
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Seems Blizzard’s April fools effort is in line with their current game production effort.
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They got taken over by Activision. Kotick is driving herd. All spirit is gone there, now.
If you get to meet Mike Morhaime, look him in the eyes, dude’s dead inside.
RIP Blizzard.
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