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Blizzcon 2011 – Day Two
I have to get some sleep, since I have to leave for the airport in two hours and I’ve got a long day of driving in front of me.
– Watched the Live Raid – Blood Legion vs Vodka. Blood Legion won when Vodka wiped on Ragnaros at less than ten percent. Blood Legion had Rag at 4% when Vodka wiped.
– Watched the 3V3 arena matches: Skillcapped pulled out from a 0-2 to win 3-2 and go to the finals, where they lost 3-2 to OMG.
– Missed the Open Q&A, but you can find it [HERE]
– Apologies for the poor update, but the arena matches really hooked me this year. Also, I had to go shopping for a birthday present, then ship it home via UPS along with some of my swag.
Blizzcon 2011 – Day Zero
A rough day, and Blizzcon 2011 hasn’t even officially started yet.
This is my second Blizzcon, so I had a strategy in my head before I’d even set foot on the first jet. But as is often the case, Mr. Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame) had a strategy of his own.
– Flight to Minneapolis was smooth enough. I was running on only a few hours of sleep and hoped to get some on the plane, but that wasn’t happening. So be it.
– Minneapolis / St Paul airport is big. Big enough that by the time I got to the gate for my L.A. flight, it was time to board. Fack.
– Landed at LAX, caught my shuttle with no problems. It was filled with Blizzcon attendees. I knew this because we were all staying in hotels close to the Anaheim Convention Center, and when the driver asked if there was a convention going on he was answered with an awkward “yes.” The uncomfortable silence on the way to the hotels was tangible. I used that time to try and squeeze in a few minutes of sleep.
– After arriving at the hotel, I needed a shower, food, and a nap. It was almost 4 (local time), I’d been up for over twelve hours, I was tired and hungry, and I felt worn out. I was going to get my pass later in the evening to avoid the huge lineups I dealt with last year, so I had some time to kill.
– Food was first. Ran to 7-11, picked up some grub and snacks, took it back to the room, and gorged. One need taken care of.
– Went to turn on the shower. No go. There was no water. Tried the sink & toilet. Nothing. Called the front desk and was told a pipe had burst. Wonderful. Decided I might as well go to the Convention Center to get my pass.
– Practically no lineup when I arrived at the Convention Center at around 6pm. It took me longer to get to the line than it did to go through it.
– On my way out of the Convention Center, I was stopped by a young lady who wanted to buy my Murloc card pet. Probably should have sold it, but didn’t. Maybe I’ll use it as a prize on the blog here. Stay tuned!
– Got back to the room. Water had returned! The shower was delightful and much needed.
– Considered a nap, but ended up in more of a vegetative state while I watched Slither. Curse your awesomeness, Nathan Fillion.
– I was bagged but didn’t dare nap. I knew that if I closed my eyes, that was going to be it for hours, maybe the evening. An unacceptable option; I had two meetups that needed to be attended – the WoW Insider meetup, and the AIE Guild Hall.
– Drastic times called for drastic measures.
– Invigorated, I attended the WoW Insider meetup. I saw Felicia Day and Robin Thorsen, not to mention the WoW Insider crew. Most of my time was spent in bar lines though – 45 minutes just to get a beer is stupid. Hopefully I’ll get to visit with more folks tomorrow.
– Didn’t even get to make it to the guild hall. Stupid beer lines.
– Got back to my room and found out I’d been locked out. The front desk claimed to have been “trying to get ahold of me” somehow, to tell me they’d put someone else in my room. I got my keys reactivated, was let back into my room, and found an extra rollaway bed waiting for me. No roommates for me though!
– My Flatliner creation is still keeping me up, and it’s well after midnight local. I’ve almost been up for twenty-four hours. I may throw on some shorts and go for a walk to Denny’s or something.
Despite all of these events, I’m still pretty stoked about Blizzcon 2011. Can’t wait to see what the big announcement is going to be tomorrow.
Packing For Blizzcon 2011
Blizzcon 2011 is only a few days away, and if you’re like me you are stoked to be going!
Also, if you’re like me you haven’t given any thought to what you’re going to pack.
Usually in situations like this, I will procrastinate until the night before I leave and just shove everything into a bag. But not this year. This year I am thinking ahead. My master plan involves:
- A Paper Trail – Printout of the Blizzcon barcode, a copy of my passport, not to mention plane, hotel, and shuttle reservations. While it might be easy to keep these things on my smartphone, I don’t want to be the victim of Murphy’s Law and have my phone fail when I’m trying to catch a flight.
- Toiletries – I will get the small travel sizes if I insist on bringing my own toothpaste and mouthwash, since many hotels provide these items. I am bringing deodorant, because GAMER FUNK IS REAL YOU GUYS. Also hand sanitizer, because nobody wants to get a Con Flu from one of the thousands of people attending Blizzcon. Seriously. I don’t know where some of you people have been.
- Cash – Traveller’s Cheques or dollah dollah bills yo. Everything is on my poor, poor plastic so money will only be used for food, drink, or swag. I suspect there will be many opportunities for drink.
- Clothes – With temps from 76-80F (24-26C) and plenty of sun, I plan to dress accordingly. I might bring a spring jacket or sweatshirt, but I’m coming from temps hovering just above freezing so I’m looking at shorts for the most part. There’s also a laundry service at the hotel, so I can wear one change of clothes there and wash them once I get to the hotel.
- Comfy Shoes – Wear these or pack a pair. I can’t tell you how important it is that you have good footwear, because You Will Be On Your Feet. The lines are legendary, and there’s plenty of square footage inside the Convention Center, not to mention from your hotel to the Convention Center, that will be covered.
- Daypack – I will bring one in case I buy swag, or to carry some inexpensive snacks and water. By that I mean snacks and water not purchased using kidneys and prayers at the ‘Con itself. There’s a number of stores nearby to pick up munchies. Take advantage.
- Earplugs – The concerts are generally LOUD, and Foo Fighters won’t be any different this year.
- Camera – There will be no shortage of photo ops.
Just Saying.
Can you think of anything I might have missed? Leave me a comment with any suggestions you might have.
I Am Psychic
I really have a knack for these things I guess.
A few articles ago, I wrote a Shared Topic post regarding what I thought Blizzard would announce this year at Blizzcon 2011. I thought my ideas were based on (what I felt) was pretty obvious observations and conclusions. But hey, I’m just a guy. Human, some might say. I have flaws, and maybe my ability to read the future is one of them.
Turns out I just might have been right after all. Read the rest of this entry
Shared Topic – Blizzcon 2011 Announcement
- Getty
Blizzcon – where men are men and women are an endangered species.
The shared topic over at Blog Azeroth posed the question: what will be the big announcement at Blizzcon this year? That’s a good question. I was wondering that myself, so I thought back to what they announced last year:
1) Cataclysm Cinematic… again.
Maybe they wanted some mainstream coverage. Maybe they got the dates mixed up on their calendar. Whatever the case, Blizzard thought it’d be a great idea to launch their Cataclysm cinematic during a NFL game a full week before Blizzcon. Then, assuming that gamers would be too busy puffing on their asthma inhalers at the mere thought of watching a sporting event of any kind, they aired the same promo again at Blizzcon.
Then again, if they’d waited and only showed the cinematic at Blizzcon, the excitement might have been too much and could have detracted from the other “major” announcement…
2) The Final Diablo 3 Class – The Demon Hunter – is done.
This clip was followed by a resounding feeling of “… AND?” Blizzard had announced that all the classes were done, the gameplay kicked ass, and players were really going to enjoy multiplayer. Between the cinematic and the game footage, Diablo 3 looked very much like a completed game. All that was left was for them to announce the release date. They didn’t do that, but they did let us in on a little secret.
3) What is a Geek?
When Chris Metzen came out, the feeling of blue balls was intense. The crowd had been disappointed after seeing the Cataclysm trailer (again), and teased that Diablo 3 may or may not be done. So far, the announcement part of the show hadn’t really announced anything. It was more of a “progress update” rather than giving people something to look forward to. Naturally when Metzen the Rock Star took to the stage and the big screen flickered behind him, people were jacked. Was a future WoW expansion about to be mentioned? Maybe a release date for Diablo 3? Or maybe, just maybe, he was going to drop some knowledge about the new super secret MMO code named Titan.
Instead, Metzen went through a fifteen minute video montage sharing why the cool kids spat gum and threw bottles at the socially unacceptable.
There’s disappointment, and then there was the cock-tease that was Blizzcon 2010. Lots of showy showy, but not telly telly.
That was then, and this is now. A new year, new developments, new progress. Are they going to actually reveal anything this year at Blizzcon 2011? I have a few ideas, and by that I mean I read the leaked Blizzard Product Slate and put two and two together.
1) A Diablo 3 release date.
Finally! By the time Blizzcon rolls around, D3 will probably have entered some level of beta testing. There should be an official announcement of the release date, which looks like it will be sometime in the fourth quarter of 2011. Just in time for Christmas!
2) New Starcraft 2 “expansions”.
The next round of milking of the Starcraft 2 franchise should be announced with the “Heart of the Swarm” expansion as well as something called Starcraft 2 – Phoenix.
Hooray for Bugs!
3) The next World of Warcraft expansion.
Out of all of the potential ideas, this is the only one that has me the most interested. While there has been more talk about Titan than another expansion, the slate shows another expansion being released around the second quarter of 2012. Blizzcon would be a great time to let people know what’s coming so they can get those pre-orders in before Christmas.
What do you think they’re going to announce?
Rokk Talk 