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BlizzCon ticket sale time for Saturday announced
Just a day before the first batch of ticket sales for BlizzCon happens, Blizzard has announced the time the ticket sale will begin:10:00 a.m. PDT tomorrow.As we've mentioned before, BlizzCon tickets this year will be handed out in a queue system. That means first come first served. If you haven't done so already, follow our pro tip and get your Battle.net account setup today.We'll be here with updates throughout the day tomorrow on the ticket sales, and hopefully it will all be smooth. However in the event that sales falter again like they did last year, expect to see that news as well.Good luck!
BlizzCon Pro Tip: Setup your Battle.net account now
You want tickets to BlizzCon 2009?You want to enter the queue to purchase them tomorrow?You've heard the horror stories about how it all went haywire last year?Well, here's the pro tip of all pro tips, even better than Turpster's Tips: make your Battle.net account now and make sure your credit card / check card has enough money to cover the $125 cost of the ticket. While Blizzard has done a lot to make sure that the system will be smoother than last year, if you've already bought a plane ticket out to LA and have the hotels booked, etc., you'll want to be 100% sure you do everything you can do get these elusive tickets easily.The whole process takes just a couple of minutes, and you don't have to tie your World of Warcraft account to the Battle.net account unless you want to. They can remain entirely separate. Head over to the Battle.net account creation page and do this now!
WoW Insider's BlizzCon coverage this Saturday
BlizzCon tickets will be going on sale tomorrow, Saturday May 16th. While no specific time has been announced when they go on sale, there has been some conjecture. But it should be taken with a very small grain of salt.WoW Insider will be up and running from 8am EDT onwards tomorrow, bringing you everything as it happens. This includes posting and twittering the moment the ticket sales go up. For additional BlizzCon information, check out our recently released Guide to BlizzCon 2009. All the latest information will be kept there, and of course, right here on the main site when the news breaks.And if there are any ticketing problems... well, we'll be covering that too. Here's hoping for the best.
Blizz doesn't know what time BlizzCon tickets will go on sale
BlizzCon tickets go on sale in two days, this Saturday, May 16th. One question we at WoW Insider have received several times is: "when on Saturday do the tickets go on sale?" So far, Blizzard has been silent on this issue. Turns out there's a good reason for that - they don't know themselves. Bornakk puts it as follows: "we don't have an exact time on when they will be up but our web engineers will need to be here to properly start and monitor the system when it goes live so we don't plan to be doing that in the middle of the night." In response to a poster's conjecture that since the billing department is going to be open from 9 AM to 6 PM this Saturday (they're not usually open on weekends), tickets will be sold during that time as well, Bornakk calls it a "solid line of thought." So that's the best information we have so far: not in the middle of the night, and probably sometime between 9 AM and 6 PM PDT. If we hear any more, we'll keep you posted. BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.
The Daily Quest: Monkeeing around
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.Sometimes Monkeeing around is not the right thing to do. Obvious things you should not do while applying to a new guild at Diaries of a Marksman Hunter Rawrbitchrawr goes Backpacking around Azeroth World of Ming asks is there a reason to raid anymore for arenas? BlizzPlanet will be having a BlizzCon ticket give-away next week Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Make a costume, win a trip to BlizzCon from the EU
Blizzard EU has a pretty sweet offer to you European players out there: If you like cosplay (and you're good at it) you could win a chance to go to BlizzCon for free. The official contest page states, "All you have to do is create a costume inspired by one of our game universes, pose in it, snap a photo, and send it to us!"Of course, certain rules apply, contests are never that simple, as I'm sure you've noticed with some of the contests right here on WoW Insider. The contest will begin on May 20th, 2009. It will end on June 22nd, 2009. Submissions sent early (or late) will be discarded. Entries are also limited to individuals 18 or older residing in the following countries: France Belgium United Kingdom Luxembourg Germany Austria Sweden Finland Denmark Norway Ireland Spain Check out the official contest page for the rules in their entirety and the full range of prizes, including the free trip to BlizzCon as well as products from SteelSeries, UpperDeck and Panini.%Gallery-34205%
Blizzard confirms Grunty, the Marine Murloc, as BlizzCon giveaway
Blizzard recently mrguggugguggled that Grunty, the Space Marine Murloc, will be one of the giveaways in the BlizzCon 2009 goody bag. Those who purchase the DirecTV pay-per-view will also receive a redemption code for the little gurgler with a gun. So, if you aren't looking to go down the DirecTV route, you'd best be prepared to get your golden ticket when the rapid fire purchasing begins May 16.Four days, Charlie. Only four days till Willy "Morhaime" Wonka gives you a chance to enter the factory.[Via WoW Insider]
BlizzCon badges are back
Danielle "Shyka" Brown is back again, and making custom art badges of your character to put in your BlizzCon lanyard. We covered her last year before the convention, and so if you're headed to BlizzCon and want to put a little custom memento of what your character looks like, now's the time to order them. She's starting a little earlier, so they're a bit cheaper, only $30 per badge, but any orders after June 16th will go up to $40 because presumably she'll be in crunch time. The good news is that since the last set of BlizzCon ticket sales are on May 30th, you should know for sure by then whether you're going or not.And as you can see from the pictures at left, the quality of her work is pretty darn good -- there's a whole collection of her work from last year over on the blog, and it would be neat to have any of those hanging from your neck at BlizzCon.If past years are any indication, Blizzard will definitely put your character's name somewhere on your ID badge for the convention (and they've also asked for your faction affiliation and/or class in the past, so those may make an appearance as well). But this is something a little extra, especially if you're planning to meet up with in-game friends or guildies (or attend the sure-to-be-awesome WoW Insider bash, which we'll be having on Thursday night yet again), to identify yourself on the convention floor.
Grunty, the Murloc Marine appears on the PTR
We've had WoW and Diablo 3-themed BlizzCon/Worldwide Invitational in-game pets already, so you might say "hell, it's about time" when we tell you that Grunty, a murloc in Space Marine power armor, is on its way. MMO-Champion's Boubouille, head of the Romulan Data Miners Guild, discovered the pet's model while performing routine excavation on the newly-updated 3.1.2 patch files. If I were a betting man, I'd say that all signs point to this being part of the BlizzCon goody bag as opposed to TCG loot, meaning there's even less of a chance for you to get it. Hope you're prepared to beat the queue to get one. Heck, I'm even considering trying to go after seeing this -- I can't wait to see the idle animations he gets. According to the screenshots, it looks like he even blasts the air with his flamethrower. For once, the fish will do the frying. *puts on sunglasses, plays "Won't Get Fooled Again"*
Blizzard cinematic team appears at Chapman University
Nick Markham is a student at Chapman University , and he recently dropped us a tip about something special that happened there. Chapman University is fairly close to Blizzard's Irvine headquarters, which could be why they were able to take the time to drop by. One of their film classes had a treat when six members of the Blizzard cinematic team came by to give a three hour presentation about what they do, how they do it, and other miscellaneous film-related issues. So what's the news?The most crushing news is another confirmation that we shouldn't expect to ever see a gnome in an official World of Warcraft cinematic. The quote from Jeff Chamberlain, the director of the cinematic team, is "Not if I can help it!" Apparently, while gnomes are arguably one of the coolest races in WoW, the director doesn't feel that they're "epic" enough. I can see that viewpoint, I guess, but that just means we'll have to rely on Baron Soosdon to brings us the gnome love.The Wrathgate animation, of course, was a significant topic. According to Nick's report, the cinematic team and Blizzard both consider Wrathgate to be a complete success. We should expect to see a new, similar animated event with each significant content patch, though it's going to take a little bit to get that going.
BlizzCon ticket FAQ
For those of you worried about the return of Failoc, or just interested in how the BlizzCon ticket process is going to work this time around, Blizzard has posted a FAQ on buying tickets on their BlizzCon site. Interesting information includes: You should make a Battle.net account ahead of time, and make sure the payment information on it is up-to-date. If there are enough people on the site trying to buy tickets (and trust me, there will be), there will be a queue to join. Once in the queue, you'll get an ETA for how long until you can get your tickets. Do not close or refresh the window. If tickets sell out before you get to the front of the line, they'll let you know. When you get to the front of the queue, you have 15 minutes to buy your tickets before you get booted and have to join the queue again. You don't need to give attendee information until after finishing the ticket purchase. They also note that this queue system will remain in place for future Blizzard items "whenever a certain number of people are making purchases simultaneously," so get used to it - you'll almost certainly be seeing it when StarCraft II and Diablo III come out.
BlizzCon 09 tickets on sale May 16, event streamed online for first time
Blizzard announced to its children today that they may pay for their return to the warm bosom of BlizzCon on May 16. The cost for the "Tickets of Comradery" will set back the faitful's coin purses by $125 -- that's a 25 percent increase from the previous year. Blizzard apparently has a new system in place to prevent last year's ticket fiasco. Come May 16, attendee hopefuls go to the ticketing website and sit their actual butts in a virtual queue -- this will not guarantee a ticket, just that you'll be in a line for a golden ticket.For those who can't get to the Anaheim Convention Center on August 21 and 22, there's always the option of the pay-per-view package from DirecTV for $40. There will also be a live stream of the event online, also available for $40, for non-DirecTV customers. So, Blizzard horde, hopefully this year's ticketing process won't be visited by the "Failoc."[Via WoW Insider]
BlizzCon 2009 tickets go on sale May 16, first time streamed live via web
Tickets for BlizzCon 2009 will go on sale May 16th, Blizzard announced today on the event's official site. BlizzCon 2009 will be held on August 21st and 22nd in Anaheim, California, and the first block of tickets going on sale on May 16th will sell for $125 each through the official BlizzCon site. A second block of tickets will be sold beginning Saturday, May 30th. Blizzard has made upgrades to the Blizzard Store to deal with the impending ticket rush. Their press release states they'll have a "first-come, first-served queue system and a fixed time limit for completing purchases. Also, those interested in attending BlizzCon can simplify the purchase process by registering a Battle.net account at www.battle.net before ticket sales begin."
BlizzCon 2009 tickets on sale May 16 for $125
Blizzard just announced that tickets for BlizzCon 2009, the third fourth installment of their phenomenally successful Blizzard-themed convention, will go on sale on Saturday, May 16, for $125 each. That's a week from this Saturday, friends. Additional tickets will be sold on Saturday, May 30. Edit: You'll be able to buy tickets at blizzcon.com at the appointed times. BlizzCon 2009 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center on August 21 and 22. For those unable to make it, DirecTV is once again selling a pay-per-view package of the event for $40, which seems a bit steep for a two-day video feed, but will include exclusive video and this year's in-game item. This will also be available as an internet stream, presumably for those not subscribed to DirecTV. Last year's BlizzCon ticket sales were marked by a figure affectionately known as the Failoc, which was displayed when Blizzard servers utterly failed to respond to crushing demand. This year, they think they're prepared: "the company has made upgrades to the Blizzard Store, including a first-come, first-served queue system and a fixed time limit for completing purchases," according to their press release. Check out Blizzard's FAQ for details on the new queue system.
BlizzCon 2008 beta codes now being accepted
Our sister site Joystiq pointed out last night to their readers that the BlizzCon 2008 beta codes were now being accepted, and we thought it prudent to pass the news along to you.You can enter the code over at http://www.blizzcon.com/beta and enjoy the satisfaction that you'll get knowing in a few months (or less?) you'll be playing the beta of StarCraft II.The code took me a few others on staff a couple tries to enter. 'B' looks like '8', and 'S' looks like '8'. You'll probably need to try a few different permutations of the code until you get it right. When you enter the right code, you'll get an email 'confirmation' that really just tells you that you've entered the key successfully. You don't have to do anything further. The email is a little oddly worded though, and doesn't look like your typical Blizzard email. So we've posted a copy of it after the break for folks.BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd of this year. We'll be there in force again. Should be a blast!
Where next in the World of Warcraft?
Michael Sacco over at our sister site WoW Insider has been looking into his crystal ball. He's written a fascinating post on why we should expect a new World of Warcraft expansion announcement at this year's BlizzCon. But he doesn't stop there, oh no. Using his powers of deduction he also hypothesizes where said expansion will see us going. So will it be the Maelstrom? Will it be the Emerald Dream? Will it be somewhere else? We don't know for sure but guessing is certainly a lot of fun. Blizzard have already started dropping hints and we will know something this year, it's just a matter of time.Click here and see if you can figure where in the World of Warcraft we'll be visiting next.
Zarhym promises BlizzCon ticket sales will be better
BlizzCon 2009 tickets will likely go on sale soon, and before then, Zarhym is here to reassure you: Blizzard is doing what they can to make sure things will not go the way they did last year. Unfortunately, he doesn't go into detail on exactly what that means. We'd have to think that they wouldn't just open up the floodgates on a site that wasn't ready again, but while most thought that the lottery that ended last year's ticket sales worked pretty well, it looks like that may not be the plan just yet. Whatever they plan to do, we hope it works out in a fair way and with a minimum of fuss for those who do try to go. Anything without the Failoc or the FailSCV is a plus in our book.Zarhym also says that they will be giving us advance notice before the tickets actually start selling, so people will have time to make travel arrangements if necessary (and/or ask the wife or parents for the money to go if need be). And he says that a pay-per-view type of event, as they did last year, or even a live stream of some of the events online, is not beyond the realm of possibility.Of course, even if you don't make it for whatever reason, you can be sure that WoW Insider will be there and covering everything that happens, from the awesome costumes to the possibly blogger-threatening danger. Stay tuned for more info soon.
The Queue: Meow now
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. The above picture took me all of five minutes to put together. Super Troopers is a great movie, and I encourage you all to go watch it today. But finish reading WoW Insider first, and in particular finish reading The Queue to understand the reference. How many times can Alex say Mountain Dew? The answer is a lot. Update: Go and read Massively's take on the coming Mountain Dew. It's quite good.037 asked..."Now that you can queue for battlegrounds from anywhere, are we looking at the new ghetto hearth?"
The Queue: Good morning Azeroth!
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today. Welcome to this edition of The Queue. It's 11:00 a.m. Do you know where your children are? Hopefully they're firmly planted in some sort of edumacation. I am so smart, S. M. R. T., I mean S. M. A. R. T.AlexW573 asked..."How many reasonably geared (entry 80 raiding) people does it take for TBC 25man raids?"
Blizzard in August: BlizzCon 2009 announced
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/BlizzCon_2009_announced_2'; Blizzard Entertainment has announced details of this year's BlizzCon event, the celebration of all things Blizzard and the most convincing reason for WoW players to leave the house. This year's event will take place Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22 at the Anaheim Convention Center, in four convention halls (last year's event was contained in a mere three).The event will feature panel discussions from Blizzard staff, tournaments, contests, playable demos of upcoming Blizzard games, an auction, and, of course, merch. Blizzard has yet to offer information about price, availability, or method of purchase for tickets. Keep rapid-firing F5 on www.blizzcon.com for more information. Actually, don't do that -- if Blizzard's servers crash, they'll just have to buy more, and the cost might show up in ticket prices.%Gallery-34238%[Via WoW Insider]
