The World Is Watching

The Blizzard animation team is top notch, no doubt about it. I struggle to think of any animators that come close to matching the same quality as some of the cinematics I've seen. I'm sure that one of the main reason people played Diablo III was because of the sweet trailers Blizzard made (and maybe that live auction house thing).

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Ghosts of the Past Trailer

The official trailer posted by Blizzard comes in at around 6.5 million views at this time. The impressive thing about that is this trailer is not release cinematic, this trailer was an unlockable reward for the fans who took the Dominion army entrance exam.

Everything about this trailer makes me want to play Starcraft from the use of the backstory, the score, the slight hint at the new characters. Wings of Liberty was Starcraft returning to the public new for the first time in over a decade and this trailer tied together the old and new very well. This is the best Blizzard trailer they put out for Starcraft. The swirling mass of Zerg encroaching on Kerrigan was only an imagination when the original Starcraft was all we had. This trailer shows the heartlessness of a haggard Arcturus choosing to leave behind Kerrigan who would end up coming back to haunt him as The Queen of Blades.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Cinematic Trailer 

When I originally heard that they were bringing pandas to the World of Warcraft universe I thought that Blizzard was officially jumping the shark on the game. I knew a bit of the history of the Warcraft universe and that the Pandaren were a part of the lore. Adding them into the more serious tenancies of World of Warcraft seemed like a pandering grab to a younger audience, especially with movies like Kung-Fu Panda gaining popularity.

The trailer shows a bit of pandering, I did not turn a blind eye to the slight comedic scenes and some of the cartoonish elements. The thing that made this trailer one of the best Blizzard trailers was the fact that Blizzard wasn't trying to reshape the universe. Blizzard was out to expand the very western leaning story to a slightly Asian themed culture which has the meta goal of cultural acceptance beyond the Pandas in the game.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Cinematic Trailer 

I can still remember when this trailer came out it promised to change the World of Warcraft forever. The trailer shows Deathwing emerging from the crust of the Earth and destroying many famous landmarks within the world. This expansion wasn't just going to be a few extra missions, a new instance, and a higher level cap. Just as Blizzard promised the whole world was changing and as soon as you logged in the entire world was significantly changed.

This is the best Blizzard trailer so far not only by view count but just sheer follow-through on Blizzard's part. Plenty of hardcore WoW fans can argue over what got nerfed and things they dislike about certain aspects but if you look at what Blizzard promised and then what you got then they not only match up but Blizzard continued to improve.