shindig
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The Road to Mordor: Party planning committee, assemble!
Considering that Fellowship of the Ring begins with a huge party -- thrown in honor of Bilbo Baggins' eleventy-first birthday -- I think it's appropriate that Lord of the Rings Online is conducive to parties. I'm not just talking about dev-designed festivals, although those are great; I'm referring to parties that the community whips up from time to time. Part of the appeal of LotRO to me is that it isn't just all about killing and leveling; it's also about exploring and living in this virtual Middle-earth. Life for the Free Peoples means celebrating even in the midst of oppressive evil, and it's in keeping with the spirit of the enterprise to throw a shindig now and then. Turbine's given us quite a few tools and resources to use when assembling a party, and I thought that today we'd take an unusual detour from the Road to Mordor and go through the steps of throwing a memorable and enjoyable soirée. Ready to cut loose? Footloose? Good! Let's tear up the dance floor!
Hang out with Massively (and Joystiq) at the E3 2011 reader meetup
So E3 is coming up, and you what that means: games booze! If you've done the convention circuit before, you know that listening to PR reps and watching multiple presentations on the greatest-game-in-the-history-of-games pales in comparison to the opportunity to indulge in a bit of pub-crawling with industry types. If you're over 21 and a fan of Massively, Joystiq, or WoW Insider, you'll want to mark Friday, June 10th on your party-going calendar. The Joystiq crew will be taking over the La Cita bar in downtown Los Angeles for a swag-filled shindig sure to please the most discriminating gamer. And if not, hey, you can always drink with us. Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 6-9, bringing you all the best news from E3 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
Second wave of BlizzCon tickets goes on sale tonight
If you missed out on picking up a ticket to one of the hottest events of the year, then your last chance is coming up tonight. A second batch of BlizzCon tickets is set to go on sale at 10:00 p.m. EDT (7:00 p.m. PDT) later today for the high, high price of $175 a pop. Each ticket not only gets you into the two-day convention (October 21-22, 2011 in Anaheim, CA) but includes a goody bag and the option to purchase limited-time BlizzCon merchandise before the show. Once the tickets go on sale tonight, you'll have minutes -- an hour at most -- to head over to the BlizzCon website and place your order. Blizzard is limiting you to only four per household, so if you have a group of friends who want to come, they'll need to coordinate their purchases as well! This is the sixth BlizzCon since the event started in 2005. Last year's BlizzCon admitted over 27,000 fans to the shindig.
The Road to Mordor: Do-over! Do-over!
This past week I took a break from kowtowing to the haughty elves of Lothlórien and their super-secret elf club to start up a couple alts. It was ultimately a good decision, as I ended up both digging my new lore-master and getting to sample first-hand the many changes that Turbine made to the new player experience. In mega-patches like this recent one, revamping the starter experience tends to be overlooked by all. Unless they're itching to roll an alt -- like I am -- current players won't be on hand to witness the changes, and completely new players to the game lack the knowledge of how it used to be in order to appreciate how it's been improved. But unsung improvements or no, Turbine's done an excellent job of smoothing out an already-engaging lowbie journey with a startling number of tweaks. I certainly didn't expect there to be so many, but since I have done the 1-20 run umpteen times in the past few years, it felt like a breath of fresh air to me. So what's all sparkly and different? Is the road to Mordor paved with good decisions (see what I did there)? Reroll a baby-faced adventurer with me and hit the jump!
Nvidia offering up a chance to go to BlizzCon
The chances to head off to BlizzCon are coming fast nowadays -- Nvidia is the latest company in on the race, as they're offering up an all expenses paid trip to Anaheim in August for the winner and a guest to experience Blizzard's big show. To enter, they say you have to buy a qualifying Nvidia card, and then use the promo code inside the package to enter. Which might make you think, as we did, that it's a pretty lousy deal -- you have to buy a new graphics card just for a chance to win? But their official rules say "no purchase necessary," So we did the work for you: if you want to enter without buying a card, you have to send a letter or postcard to "NVIDIA "BlizzCon 2009" Sweepstakes – Entries by Mail (USA & Canada), NVIDIA Corporation, 2701 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95050, U.S.A," and include your full name, your email address, mailing addresses, your telephone number, and "a short paragraph (100 to 250 words), written or typed in English, stating why you like or have an interest in the 'World of Warcraft' game or Nvidia or its products."Not exactly a lot of fun, but then again, it's cheaper than buying a new graphics card, and their rules say that mail-in entries have the same chance at winning that the coupon codes do. We're behind you, readers -- we hope you win.And if you do make it to BlizzCon, keep an eye out for WoW.com -- we're gonna have a nice big shindig on Thursday night (location still TBA, but soon!), and we'd love for you to be there.
