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.

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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!