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BlizzCon 2010: Day 1 round-up
This is going to be a slightly quieter BlizzCon than last year, folks. There aren't any major announcements on the scene for World of Warcraft and we already know that Cataclysm is coming this December. Apart from that, the directives this year can be summarized as: Relax, have fun and try to find that bartender at the seafood place who makes the really strong drinks. WoW Insider reader meetup This year's bash drew record attendance (we may have gotten as many as 3,000 people over the course of the evening), drew guests from all over and featured some interesting shirts. We'll have more specific coverage on guests and events once our bloggers recover. The agony of the lines Well, it's a convention -- you're gonna be in line for a while. Fortunately, we found the first people in line, some things to keep life interesting and costumed fans and scenes from the crowd. Alex Ziebart flagged down one of his guildies emerging from registration to get pictures of the 2010 goody bag. Liveblogs We liveblogged the opening ceremonies for our sister site Joystiq, then trotted back to WoW Insider to liveblog the Dungeons and Raids and Quests and Lore panels. Digital downloads Turns out we'll be able to play Cataclysm even earlier than we thought; Blizzard's offering the expansion as a prepaid digital download, so players will be able to enjoy a shattered Azeroth the moment the game goes live. Cataclysm news and patch 4.1 There may not be any major announcements for the moment, but we did get a few tidbits on upcoming features. We got a peek at the Firelands raid and Abyssal Maw dungeon available in patch 4.1, changes being made to classic dungeons to (as Scott Mercer, lead encounter designer, referred to it) "cut out the suck," and upcoming enhanced dungeon maps. Outland and Northrend revamps being planned Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi have confirmed that Blizzard's planning to update Outland and Northrend to keep them current with the Cataclysm storyline. Fun trivia Mike Morhaime shed some light on how many times our buddy Arthas has fallen to the might and magic of Azeroth's champions, and Blizzard's releasing another pet (the moonkin hatchling) during the holiday season to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. %Gallery-105820% %Gallery-105831% %Gallery-105834% BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
WoW Insider's BlizzCon reader meetup update
A few weeks ago, we announced the time and place of our 2010 BlizzCon Reader Meetup. In case you missed it: Where: The patio near the poolside of the Anabella hotel When: Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. What: Mingling, toasts, guest stars, joy Why: It's, uh, BlizzCon 2010. Wear: Shirts and shoes required Today, we wanted to let you in on some of the exciting guests and giveaways we have planned this year's meetup. Last year's big surprise was the cast of the The Guild arriving on the scene. Though Felicia Day is unable to attend BlizzCon this year due to her current shooting schedule in Canada, she will be joining us via Skype! Scheduled to appear, in person no less, are a number of other WoW enthusiasts we have profiled on our site, including actress Michele Morrow, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Aron Eisenberg, Frag Doll Amy "Valkyrie" Brady and many more. Also, the husband and wife team behind the creation of Lego Booty Bay will be there with their creation. No WoW Insider event would be complete without phat loot. Cryptozoic, the company behind the WoW Trading Card Game, will be handing out a booster pack of the current Icecrown TCG expansion to the first 1,200 attendees at the door. In addition, during the meetup, we will be running a number of contests that night to unload the following prizes: Icecrown Epic Collection TCG boxes from Cryptozoic -- plus, they will be giving away highly prized, rare loot cards, including the new mounts the Blazing Hippogryph and Wooly Rhino. Steelseries WoW gaming mice, keyboards, headsets and mousepads Razer Naga MMO gaming mice A 1-year subscription for a 50-person Mumble server from MMO-Mumble And a Know Your Lore written by the WoW Insider staff about your character and published on our site! Giveaways presented by the ladies of the Apotheosis Agency, aka women in WoW costumes who actually play the game. Don't miss out on the fun. Come by, say hello to the WoW Insider staff and enjoy an exciting evening sure to be one of the highlights of BlizzCon 2010! %Gallery-104434%
WoW Insider Reader Meetup at BlizzCon 2010
This year's reader's meetup will once again be held at the beautiful Anabella poolside, just a few blocks away from the location of BlizzCon itself. You're welcome to join us at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21. We'll be running until 11 p.m, with food and drinks available from the stunning Tangerine Grill & Patio. You'll be able to tell the WoW Insider staff on sight by more than just our dazzling personalities; we'll be sporting new WoW Insider shirts designed by Kelly Aarons. Drop by and say hello. We'll have giveaways, surprise guests and more! Where: The patio near the poolside of the Anabella hotel When: Thursday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. What: Mingling, toasts, guest stars, joy Why: It's, uh, BlizzCon 2010. Wear: Shirts and shoes required While you're making your plans to join us, check out the awesome great time we had last year. Hope to see you there! %Gallery-70630%
U.K. Times covers BlizzCon
One of the Technology writers, Murad Ahmed, from the U.K. Times went to BlizzCon this past week and apparently had a pretty good time. I'm positive he doesn't actually play the game, and he admits to being a little lost, especially when it comes to the frenetic action of the professional arena tournament (although, truthfully, I often have a hard time following it too). But he did seem to hit upon the major draw of the convention -- namely, getting to hang with your fellow gamers, and hopefully guildies if you're lucky, and enjoying a giant get-together where the person next to you is virtually certain to get a WoW-related joke. As a bonus, Mr. Ahmed got to interview James Taplin, one of our readers (BlizzCon attendees will know him as one of the people at the WoW Insider meet-up, and later the 3rd place winner in the /silly competition), who confirmed that the social aspect of both the game and convention are really the big attraction. I think it's precisely that aspect that has a tendency to be somewhat overlooked by the mainstream media (although let's face it; it's probably not something you'll pick up on unless you've played the game with people you genuinely like), but the Times also covered the WorldWide Invitational here, so they're no strangers to Blizzard events. While there's no information in the article that's really new, it's an interesting and generally positive perspective on the convention.Thanks to James and Rhys for writing in!
Announcing the second annual WoW Insider BlizzCon meetup
Yes, folks, it's almost October, and that means it's time to start making those big plans for BlizzCon. And when you do, don't forget to include us -- just like last year, we're having a blowout reader meetup right near the Convention Center in Anaheim. Save the date for the second annual WoW Insider BlizzCon Meetup: Thursday night, October 9, at 8pm PST in The Lost Bar near the Disneyland Hotel (1150 W. Magic Way, same place as last year). If Blizzard does things the same way they did last year, badges will be pick-up-able that Thursday, so we'll all be awash in our goodie bags and passes already, and excited about what the rest of the 'con holds.Just like last time, we'll bring lots of prizes (and you may even get another round of trivia questions from me), plus you'll get the chance to meet and greet all your favorite WoW Insider bloggers (and commenters). And as you know if you were there last time, The Lost Bar has lots of great food and drink. And little boats to race!So if you're headed out to BlizzCon and will be in town on Thursday night, October 9th, at 8pm (or are in town anyway and want to come say hi), definitely come by our second annual reader meetup. And stay tuned for more -- we're planning on having at least one more live event at BlizzCon (we have to record the WoW Insider Show sometime that weekend, right?), so we'll let you know more about our schedule there soon.
Kungaloosh drink honors Disney's Adventurers Club
This one's just for the Disney World fans out there -- down in the Orlando resort, there's apparently a club on "Pleasure Island" called the Adventurers Club that offers shows and drinks every night for Disney's adult visitors. Just like most of the stuff at Disney's theme parks, the club has quite a following, and apparently Blizzard devs are part of it. One of the Club's signature drinks, the Kungaloosh, has made its way into the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. This unofficial Disney newsletter has more -- apparently the drink is a cooking recipe that's similar to the real-world recipe. Definitely a fun little Easter egg for Disney and Adventurers Club fans (and a nod to the sad closing of the club -- Disney announced in July that they plan to close it later this month).Unfortunately, there is no Adventurers Club at Disneyland (located in Anaheim, where Blizzard is and where BlizzCon will be held), which is too bad, because we here at WoW Insider are in the middle of looking for a location for our BlizzCon meetup. Last year, we held it at The Lost Bar, and that worked pretty well, but if anyone knows of a better location around the Anaheim Convention Center (or even better, if anyone works at Disneyland and wants to offer up a great location for us to bring a bunch of WoW Insider readers), definitely drop us a tip. It would be great to find a place where we could actually drink Kungalooshes (or any other drink, really, we're not too picky) while meeting up with all of our favorite readers during BlizzCon.
