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WoW Archivist: Controversies of BlizzCon
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? BlizzCon has been no stranger to controversy. As the premier Blizzard event, the stakes are high. Players are heavily invested in both the weekend and the games, and sometimes emotions run hot. We've already got a potential controversy brewing for 2013's event. Players have expressed strong feelings both for and against a possible "Warlords of Draenor" concept for the next expansion, and we know little at this point aside from the name and what it could imply. In light of Blink 182's presence at the convention, Blizzard also asked attendees to wear clothes. It could be a truly wild BlizzCon this year! Let's look back at other controversies from the past six BlizzCons. The first BlizzCon In October 2005, BlizzCon made its debut to enthusiastic crowds. However, it was hardly the massively anticipated event, with tickets selling out in seconds, that it is today. Tickets were $125, and the total attendance was a mere 8000. To put this in perspective, BlizzCon 2010 had 27,000 fans. Because so few tickets were available and "virtual tickets" did not yet exist, Murky, the pet given out to attendees, is still one of the rarest pets in the game. (Lurky isn't the same.) The big reveal in 2005 was WoW's first expansion, The Burning Crusade. With that announcement came several big changes to the game. Outland, flying mounts, jewelcrafting, Karazhan, the Caverns of Time, linked auction houses (rather than each city having its own) -- players embraced all of these. Blood elves had their detractors, for both lore and aesthetic reasons, but most were sold on the idea. Glaringly omitted, however, was any specific word on the new Alliance race.
First round of BlizzCon tickets sold out
As has been the case in years prior, if you didn't get into tonight's ticket queue within the first half of the first second of availability, you were out of luck. BlizzCon tickets have already sold out. If you didn't get lucky today, don't panic quite yet -- there's another round of ticket sales on Saturday, April 27 at 10 a.m. PDT.
PSA: BlizzCon tickets on sale right about ... now [Update: Gone!]
Just a heads up: Tickets for this year's BlizzCon event in Anaheim, California, are going on sale in just a few minutes at 7pm Pacific. The tickets – which will likely sell out quickly – are priced at $175, and include a swag bag and admittance to the two day event beginning November 8.Tickets are on sale on from the official BlizzCon site.If you don't get tickets today, there's two more chances to do so. This Saturday, April 27, a second round of ticket sales will begin at 10am Pacific, and when that's done, all of the regular admission tickets will be gone. Your last chance, then, will be on May 1 at 7pm Pacific, when Blizzard will sell 200 tickets at $500 a piece for the Blizzcon Benefit Dinner, which includes full admission to the show and a charity event.Update: 29 minutes later, the first round of tickets is sold out. If you didn't get yours, you'll have to try again Saturday.
Avengers also wins big on mobile sales with Fandango
The Avengers movie did quite well last weekend, hitting number one at the US box office easily, and picking up the biggest domestic opening weekend ever. But it also hit another important record. Fandango reports that The Avengers beat its record for tickets sold via a mobile device. That's an important figure for Fandango, Marvel, and even Apple, or anyone making mobile devices or apps. It shows, according to Fandango general manager Rick Butler, that "mobile has clearly transitioned from just an alternative way to buy tickets to a primary choice for many weekend moviegoers." On Sunday, mobile represented a whopping 42% of total ticket sales for Fandango overall, so a very large amount of people are looking up movies on their mobile devices, and then buying them right then and there. Which creates a very large (and growing) market for ticket sales on mobile devices. The last film to hold this record was The Hunger Games, so I don't think this is the last we'll hear about higher mobile ticket sales. Fandango's sales on mobile will probably continue growing, and we'll probably see even more movie marketing users of mobile devices like the iPhone.
Eventbrite unveils At The Door Card reader, turns iPads into ticketing terminals
Square may see the iPad to as an excellent retail tool, but Eventbrite thinks Apple's tablet a box office boon, which is why it created the At The Door app and card reader solution. Eventbrite's a self-service ticketing platform and its new dongle, which connects via Apple's 30-pin connector, lets indie event promoters take reader-encrypted credit card payments with any iPad. Meanwhile, the app lets you see on-site and online ticket sales, keep track of customer contact info and balance the books as well. Plus, any payments taken through the app are service fee-free, meaning users only pay for credit card processing. Not only that, you can wirelessly print tickets and receipts via a compatible printer (should you be willing to buy one), too. But before you go planning your personal Woodstock, perhaps you'd like to know how much this ticketing bonanza costs? Well, the app's free and the reader's 10 bucks, with Eventbrite handing out 10 dollar account credits in return for those who jump on the bandwagon. If that sounds like something you're into, hit the PR after the break for more info, or buy a card reader at the source below.
Reminder: Final round of BlizzCon 2011 tickets on sale tonight
The second round of BlizzCon 2011 tickets are going on sale this evening in just a few hours at 10pm EDT / 7pm PDT. The first round went down last Saturday morning as planned, and tickets sold out in just a matter of minutes (technically, the queue for ticket sales was filled in less than a second). This demand is extra surprising, especially considering that ticket prices to the annual Irvine, CA-based fan convention went up this year to $175 a piece. Still, if you want to try your hand at Blizzard Entertainment's least fun game ever and attempt to buy some tickets of your own, you can join the party on the Blizzard store website later on this evening. Good luck to everyone; may your F5 skills be strong.
BlizzCon Ticket Status: Sold Out
Today's Saturday, June 5th, and that means it's day two of BlizzCon ticket sales! If you have some way of increasing your Luck stat in the next hour, I'd go ahead and do it. Consumables are allowed. The basic facts: Tickets go on sale for the second and final time at 1:00 p.m. EDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT sharp. Tickets are $150/each. You can purchase a max of 5 per household. Buy your tickets at the Blizzard store. Tips for buying your tickets. Complain about how expensive tickets are, how rogues are overpowered, and how Ghostcrawler has no choice but to walk out on a horse swinging a sword like a general over in our open thread. We'll update this post with queue lengths and ticket status information as warranted. Update: 1:00 PM EST - Tickets are on sale. Update: 1:01 PM EST - Within 60 seconds, the queue is at 20000. Update: 1:20 PM EST - 30% stock remaining. Update: 1:28 PM EST - BlizzCon 2010 is sold out.
BlizzCon ticket sales open thread
We will be tracking ticket status throughout the ticket sales process this evening, once they start up roughly an hour from now. That will get a status post all for itself here on our front page, which we will update throughout the evening. This post is not that post. This post is WoW.com's ticket sales open thread! What's an open thread, you ask? Wikipedia says, "An open thread refers to a blog post where readers may comment and discuss any topic that they choose." Looking for entertainment while waiting in the ticket sales queue tonight? This is the place to be. I'll kick things off with a link in the comments below. Join me and jump right in! Oh, and while you're here? If you haven't entered our Ethereal Soul-Trader contest yet today, you really should.
Tips for purchasing your BlizzCon '10 tickets
Zarhym hit the forums this evening, just a few short hours before the kickoff of BlizzCon ticket sales, to drop a number of tips to help increase your chances of getting tickets of your own. Some highlights include: Making sure your Battle.net account is set up properly Making sure your bank (or other financial institution) will accept large transactions from the Blizzard store Enabling cookies in your browser Check out the thread for the full details on these tips and many more. They're all great tips and I can say from past experience that it is incredibly good advice.
BlizzCon tickets on sale for a few seconds on June 2 and June 5
Blizzard has just announced when it will open up the rattling floodgates for BlizzCon 2010 ticket sales. Passes to the event will be sold in two separate chunks on Wednesday, June 2 at 7 p.m. PST and Saturday, June 5 at 10 a.m. PST. Folks interested in attending the Anaheim-based event will have to pony up a $150 entry fee. Given their proclivity for purchasing imaginary horses, we don't think diehard Blizzard fans have any qualms about parting with their hard-earned cash. Remember, these things have a tendency to sell out moments after they go on sale, so we suggest you start tightening up your F5 finger's reflexes.
BlizzCon 2009 ticket sales are done
BlizzCon 2009 tickets went on sale for the last time on Saturday at 10am PST, and were reported as sold out less than 30 minutes later. As expected, there were lots of disappointed Blizzard fans, but compared to the way things worked last year, this year's system was much more fair and much less frustrating. Unfortunately, you had to be quick -- while the sellout time was actually around 10:24, tickets really sold out in a matter of seconds, because if you clicked the buy button even 30 seconds to a minute after it went live, you were too far back in the queue to buy tickets at all. But even though it was a very small window of chance, it was at least a fair chance -- Blizzard's meter for tickets left on Saturday started at around 50%, which indicates that they split the two days of sales right down the middle. As long as you showed up and clicked at the right time, you had as much chance as anyone else. At least we got a great game out of it.If you have tickets, enjoy the show (and don't forget: our meetup will be on Thursday night!). But if you don't, what now? The DirecTV stream will be available both via their service and on the Internet. And even if you don't jump in on that deal, we'll of course have plenty of up-to-date coverage, as will lots of folks in the community. And if you want to go a little black market, tickets will probably be available online in a few different places. We've already heard that Blizzard is starting to crack down on eBay, but certainly there are other places tickets will appear for sale. And as time goes on, we're sure people who were planning to go won't be able to make it, contests will be held in various places, and a few more tickets will free up.So all hope may not be lost. But unless you want to call in a favor or pay a premium, BlizzCon tickets are sold. We say: the fourth weekend in August can't come soon enough.
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!
What's in the BlizzCon bag? You won't know until they're gone
This seems like a strange deal, but in fact it's business as usual -- Blizzard says they won't tell you what's in the BlizzCon bags this year until all of the tickets are sold out. Seems weird, right? Wouldn't knowing what you'll get with the bag encourage you to buy tickets? But apparently not -- they've always announced the goodies post ticket sales and pre-event, so we'll just have to wait and see what comes up this year.That won't stop us from guessing what's in it it. Our guess: a lot of stuff. Last year's bag was huge, as you can see in the gallery below, and this year's will probably be even bigger. There will definitely be some silly items, like the QQ noob tissues and the Diablo III mints from last year. There'll be promotional stuff for sure, maybe a pack of TCG cards, a few licensing partner ads, and/or a sample mini (last year they gave out Voidwalkers). And of course there'll be an ingame item card, maybe a sweet mount or a vehicle. Personally, I'd love to see a special edition novel, either a reprint of something like War of the Ancients or even a special collection of short stories just for the event.Whatever's in the bag, you can rest assured that we'll be one of the first few folks sifting through the goodies again. And it's not outside the realm of possibility that, yet again, you'll have a chance to win one. Stay tuned.%Gallery-34142%
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.
Last remaning BlizzCon tickets go on sale at 8:00 p.m. PDT tonight
If you want to go to BlizzCon in October, you have one last window to buy your tickets: 8:00 p.m. PDT tonight. That's 11:00 p.m. Eastern, and 10:00 p.m. Central. This news comes from an announcement on the main page of the WoW website. The announcement further tells us that all the available tickets were sold out within minutes of the Blizzard Store coming on-line this afternoon.Considering there will be a third hall open this year, we believe around 12,000 tickets have been made available (this number has also been reportedly confirmed by phone sales reps), which is 50% more than the 8,000 that were sold last year. The World Wide Invitational that took place in June also sold out very quickly.In the case of the WWI, additional tickets were made available after the primary batch had sold out. However, and this is important, there is no indication Blizzard will do this again.We'll update with any further information when we have it.
BlizzCon tickets still not on sale
With the Worldwide Invitational fast fading into memory, everyone's thoughts are starting to turn in earnest to the upcoming BlizzCon 2008, happening October 10th and 11th in Anaheim. One of the number one questions: Where can I get tickets? So far, Netheara can only tell us that they'll let us know, but there's no ETA as of yet. Still, if we're looking at last year's BlizzCon, Blizzard actually has another month before they need to put tickets out to keep pace. In 2007, BlizzCon was held during the first week of August, and tickets went on sale June 12th. That means there was a little under 2 months between the time the first tickets went on sale and the time the event happened. If they follow the same basic timeline this year, we can expect tickets sometime in mid-August. Then again, tickets for the Worldwide Invitational Paris went on sale on March 20th, around 3 months before the Invitational itself. In that case, Blizzard would need to start selling tickets within the next few days to keep pace. In that case, perhaps it's a bit futile to try to predict the exact date that we can expect BlizzCon ticket sales. Either way, keep your browser tuned here, we'll be sure to let you know the minute tickets are available.
