Mike's final BlizzCon impressions
Well, these aren't really final, of course, as we're going to be discussing and responding to what we saw at BlizzCon all the way up until Wrath of the Lich King releases. But BlizzCon was definitely a crazy experience, so each of us WoW Insider staffers there are going to write up our own personal impressions for you, both about what we saw and what we didn't see there. And please share yours in the comments below.
Most Enjoyable: I really enjoyed the L70ETC concert, actually-- I wasn't quite sure what they would be, but in terms of the live entertainment, Samwise and his band were the best thing going. Yelling "for the Horde" and booing Rogues (who "do it from behind," of course) was great fun. In terms of the events, all the Blizzard guys were entertaining, but Jeff Kaplan was my favorite-- every event he showed up at, he really proved he'd been reading the forums and knew what players were interested in. The Molten Core (as designed by you and 8,999,999 others) was terrific, and while Metzen definitely has a clue, too ("im the lich king lol" is an instant classic), Kaplan was on top of his game all weekend. Oh, and of course the WoW Insider meetup was a big highlight as well-- every single reader I met was awesome.
Least Enjoyable: Waiting in line for passes on Thursday evening was really the only waiting I did all weekend. It was horribly designed-- there were about 30 lines split up by last name, but those lines all got mixed up, and you couldn't see where one started, so you had to cut across lines if you were in the wrong one. They were also mind-numbingly slow, so that definitely could have been done better. Also, we said Jay Mohr was a strange choice, and we were right-- while he did as good a job as he could (he was funnier than I expected), his time on stage alone was mostly just awkward, as the forum trolls ripped him apart. Next time, let's get a comedian who's at least played Warcraft, rather than just seen the South Park episode.
What I was most excited about and most disappointed about at BlizzCon after the jump...
Most Excited About: Well, a new expansion is pretty exciting! Very excited to see more Warcraft III faces and places, including Arthas (duh), Northrend, Azjol-Nerub, siege weapons, and Tuskarr (which are just one step away from Pandaren). Looking forward to seeing what the non-instanced PvP in Lake Wintergrasp and elsewhere is going to be like. Love the news that new 5mans are coming, and especially happy to hear that Shaman CC is closer than ever. And while I wasn't excited about Starcraft II before I went to Anaheim, I'm actually planning to buy it after messing around with the single player campaign. May still wait to see what the Zerg look like, though.
Most Disappointed About: We got every indication that Blizzard doesn't think midlevel content is a priority, and that saddens me a lot. There are a ton of players, I think, who want that, and yet Blizz is content to say things like the old instances and the old world have "had it's time, it's fun, and now we're moving on to new stuff." Boo to that. New stuff is fine, and I'll keep playing, but to let 1-60 rot away is a mistake, and simply "making it faster" is not what I mean. Also, while I was excited to see a hero class, I was disappointed to hear that the Death Knight is the only Hero class in this expansion-- of all the hero classes in Warcraft III, I think the Death Knight was the one I'd least want to play (well, except for the Paladin, but we already know how much I hate those). Let me know when I can play as a Mountain King or a Blademaster, and then we'll be talking.
