Elizabeth's final BlizzCon impressions
Nearly a week after the big event and I think we've managed to run out of photos and information to post about it. (Okay... I admit, I still have a pile of photos, but haven't had the time to resize them all yet.) So what's left to say about BlizzCon 2007? Just our final impressions of the event (you can also read up on Mike's final impressions), so here I go:
Most enjoyable: Playing the WoW TCG in a beginner's tournament! Even though I had to leave after two rounds of play to make the L70ETC concert, I had a blast, and have spent time since BlizzCon tinkering with different deck setups and talking friends into playing with me. And besides the game being just fun, the tournament was a very social event. We were all seated at long tables, and before rounds and between rounds we all got to chat about our favorite classes and what realms we played on. BlizzCon overall was a bit anti-social, with many events being held in dark rooms where the focus is purely on the Blizzard folks who are hosting the presentation -- there wasn't much opportunity or encouragement to meet or socialize with people you played with. For this same reason, I also really enjoyed our Meet and Greet on Thursday night, where we got to hang out and chat with some of our readers. Of the official Blizzard events (the panels were incredibly interesting, but I'm not sure about fun), I've got to say that my favorite was the L70ETC concert. It's not every day that you get to sit with a crowd of 8,000 of your fellow players cheering on a World of Warcraft-themed rock band singing nothing but in-jokes for the gamers in the audience.
More after the jump!
Least enjoyable: Everything you might have wanted to do at BlizzCon, including give Blizzard your money for Blizzard-branded gear, had massive lines. Plenty of the conference was a game of hurry-up-and-wait where you went from waiting in one long queue to another. And possibly making the top of my "least enjoyable" list is Jay Mohr. Yes, he had his moments -- and I have to praise him on his ability to adapt and pick up on concepts the gamers in the audience found funny. (His act seemed to improve through the course of the first night and was quite good on the second.) But on Friday night during the contests when he was ad-libbing while the judges picked winners? Owwie. Kevin over at Joystiq managed to get audio of his performance on Saturday night, for the WoW fans out there who are also Mohr fans. (Though, admittedly, he was an incredible improvement over some of the entertainment at this year's E3.)
Most excited about: Even though I wasn't entirely thrilled about the new World of Warcraft expansion, I'm (obviously) a big World of Warcraft player and an expansion is going to have a big impact on my gameplay. And, though we didn't get to try it out at BlizzCon, the gameplay for the Death Knight sounds fascinating. Though details are still lacking, I look forward to hearing more details on the new class, the new profession, the new talents, and the new zones!
Most disappointed about: No Diablo news? Not even a teensy bit? You guys couldn't even spring for just one Diablo-themed poster so the Diablo fans in the audience could keep the dream alive? Though I suppose having three major games at BlizzCon would have been overkill... Also, while I consider the expansion to be the most exciting thing on display at BlizzCon, I'm also disappointed by the announcement. Only one hero class? (You know this means that the game is going to be absolutely swarmed with Death Knights, don't you, Blizzard?) No details on the new talents to level 80? Obviously the game is still in its early stages, but I'm disappointed to see it when there was relatively little to show.
