by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

Although BlizzCon 2015 now seems like it was years ago, there is still plenty of information continuing to flow from the convention. One of the most popular features for Diablo fans that were in attendance was the Slaughtered Calf Inn, which was a part of the Darkmoon Faire on the show floor. This Inn housed benches, tables, and a working bar for patrons to imbibe while meeting up with friends, new and old. This area was also home to a small bank of playtest stations for what was, at the time, brand new gampelay in the form of Patch 2.4 changes. (All of this and more is currently available for testing on the Patch Test Realm or PTR for short.) The Inn also played host to a small stage where many developers throughout the course of the two-day event would get up to deliver short presentations on coming features in Patch 2.4. These presentations were dubbed Lightning Talks and show attendees raved about how cool it was to get behind-the-scenes glimpses into the minds of the developers in this very informal setting.

One of the stinging points for those watching along at home was that they actually couldn’t watch along during this portion. None of these talks were being simulcast or officially recorded. We managed to get our hands on a couple of “shaky-cam” recordings, which have made their rounds at this point:

Travis Day’s Lightning Talk

John Yang’s Lightning Talk

However, the kind folks at Blizzard have fully appreciated how popular and well-received these talks were and have now taken up the task of re-recording in-office versions of these talks. While not capturing the exact same flair as the ones on the show floor, background noise and all, these newly recorded talks help to give an idea of the format and showcase how the presentations led to further conversations as the developers milled about the Inn both before and after their talks.

Brian Kindregan and Leonard Boyarsky – Greyhollow Lore

Wyatt Cheng – Buffing The Buff UI

Matthew Berger – Greyhollow Island

We will continue to update this post with the newly recorded Lightning Talks as Blizzard makes them available, so favorite this page and keep checking back in the coming weeks.