WoW Insider's favorite BlizzCon memories
With another BlizzCon on the horizon, the WoW community has been abuzz with excitement -- and the WoW Insider team is no exception. But what are we to do with all of this excitement and still 9 months to BlizzCon? Why, relive BlizzCons past, of course! There have been a lot of great moments at BlizzCon over the years -- from expansion announcements to the costume contests to the open Q&A sessions with the developers -- but when I asked the WoW Insider staff what their favorite memories of BlizzCons past, it was almost entirely about the people rather than the event itself.
So just what were the WoW Insider crew's favorite BlizzCon moments? Read on to find out.
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The panels! The events! The interviews! The Blizzard!
It wouldn't be a BlizzCon without Blizzard staff and events.
Daniel Whitcomb: I really enjoyed interviewing Richard Knaak a few years back. He was a really friendly guy with a real passion for his writing.
Joe Perez: Meeting Ghostcrawler for the first time, and instead of asking about any pressing class issues I immediately asked him where he got his awesome shirt.
Matt Low: BlizzCon itself is great because there's the chance you'll run into random developers or prominent players in the community. Everyone tends to be so down to earth. Also, Zarhym stroked my hair once when I was taking a picture with him. He may have been drinking at the time.
Sarah Pine: My favorite moment would be from 2012, when I basically pushed one of my friends on stage to compete in the lore quiz competition. She was so shy she wasn't going to try, but then she won the art book! I was disqualified; they wouldn't let me compete. But I honestly wouldn't have done as well as her anyway, because they had some question about which arakkoa veils were located where on the maps in Terokkar, and my friend has an amazing ability to remember maps. Though Russell Brower did once ask me if I would keep him on my list of potential boyfriends. (In an amusing way, not a creepy way.) That was pretty great too!
Robin Torres: Other than the WoW Insider parties, which have always been too much fun, I'd have to say my favorite actual BlizzCon memory was watching Video Games Live perform the Lament of the Highborne. So astonishingly beautiful. I was moved.
Meeting friends and guildmates
We may talk online every day, but we see each other in person rarely... if at all. That's why one of the best parts of BlizzCon is meeting friends.
Joe Perez: Meeting my original guild, Unpossible, for the very first time at BlizzCon 08 after having played with them for many years. It was like a family reunion of sorts.
Matt Low: For me it's always a huge thrill to meet up with my guild and the rest of the WoW Insider staff. I raid with my guys and work with an awesome team on a near-daily basis. The chance to see each other in person for a few days out of a year is worth it. Meeting our awesome fans and readers is a massive plus. Despite the different backgrounds and interests, we're all united in how much we care about the universes that Blizzard has created.
Alex Ziebart: Sitting with various community members in some hotel lobby, schmoozing over drinks is always really enjoyable. In my opinion, what happens inside the convention hall isn't the draw of BlizzCon. It's being in the same physical space as people you normally only interact with on the internet. Our lovely team here, for example.
Anne Stickney: I'm a fan of the Anabella at breakfast time, too -- honestly I loved being able to hang out with everyone in person, instead of in the newsroom. Both years have been awesome!
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WoW Insider's BlizzCon bash
We've been holding parties at BlizzCon for a while now, and everyone seems to have a lot of fun at them -- us included!
Alex Ziebart: BlizzCon's value is not in its own entertainment offerings, but rather it's a useful opportunity to get a bunch of people you rarely see in person in one place. It's a little cliche around these parts, but my favorite part of BlizzCon is always the WoW Insider party. It's great to see our personal community in real life. It's a ton of work putting it together, but it's always worth it. Collaborating with Wowhead and Gamebreaker last year made it even better.
Fox Van Allen: When Cutaia's wife wandered into the WoW Insider livestream area to smell Sacco's hair.
Daniel Whitcomb: Last BlizzCon, I played bodyguard for Felicia Day at the WoW Insider BlizzCon party and she read my palm. That was pretty cool!
Joe Perez: Meeting Orkchop and his wife for the first time at the reader meet up and both of them exclaiming how short I am. Dancing with Mat McCurley to entertain the crowds at the reader meetup while we were waiting for a guest to come up to the "stage." Having my palm read by Felica Day.
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The last night of the con
While we all start out at BlizzCon full of energy and excitement, by the time the con is over, we're all tired and usually more than a bit loopy. But for some of us, that's the best part: unwinding with friends after the excitement has died down.
Daniel Whitcomb: Also, spending the last night of last BlizzCon with friends drinking and talking in a relatively uncrowded hotel bar was pretty fun. Actually, the last night of BlizzCon does generally turn out pretty fun for me, ending up drinking at a bar somewhere with people and just winding down.
Michael Gray: My BlizzCons have tended to be "Oh god, that's done, I'll pass out over here with Adam."
Anne Stickney: There are way too many favorite memories, but the one that sticks out is the first BlizzCon I attended, after it was all said and done. We all piled into one of the hotel rooms to record a podcast, and it was just a nice relaxing sort of cooldown after what was a really chaotic joyful weekend of running around like mad.
Elizabeth Harper: Post-BlizzCon Disneyland!
While it's too early to start packing our bags, we're all looking forward to more fun at BlizzCon 2013. And what about you, readers? Are you reminiscing of BlizzCons past -- and making hotel reservations?
