Blizzcon, My Boring First Day, and Today

Liz and I are currently standing in the middle of the Apple Store in South Coast Plaza, fresh off of taking our leave from Blizzcon 2007, which is still going down just 20 or so minutes away. After two days of missing the meat of the show, there's really not much to update you guys about, but here are my experiences just in case you're interested.

Yesterday, after closing out casual Friday at the University and rushing away from a bunch of eager students that knew where I would be heading, I got into my car and made the trek out to Anaheim for Blizzcon '07.

I arrived at the Convention Center just minutes after 3:00 p.m. (traffic was bad), at which point the show was very well under way and I had already missed a good portion of the day's festivities. Walking through the atrium to pick-up my passes, I noticed two things. One, the main theme of the setup screamed Wrath of the Lich King. Even with Starcraft II on the horizon, the WoW Expansion seemed to be the main attraction. Odd, but understandable. Second, there were hardly any cosplayers walking the floor! I thought for sure I would be surrounded by poorly-made costumes and the like, but alas, there were only a few. Although, those few did live up to my expectations... nothing like an extremely heavy-set female BE wearing skimpy clothing. So hawt.

I waited in one of the incredibly packed lines for a good half hour or so, with other people who were apparently uber late getting to the center. I sat quiet, mostly listening to the many conversations that were going on all around me (apparently no one talks to almost-30-somethings at parties like this!). There was this one guy in a Wrath of the Lich King shirt talking with a few people just up the line from me, discussing the Mage as a primary AoE class vs. a primary DPS class. I wonder if that's Blizzard's official position on the Mage class these days. Definitely interesting.

Another conversation taking place just one line over and a few people down was about the newly introduced Death Knights, of which the participants seemed about as confused as I was about the class. I had only just heard about them for the first time ever, being that I never played WC2 (or any other WC for that matter). After hearing what others had to say, I'm thinking that the confusion is definitely widespread. So, instead of "WTF DEATH KNIGHT," Zy, maybe a "WTH? DEATH KNIGHTS?" would be more appropriate? =P

Being surrounded by so many WoW players in itself was kinda surreal. I usually find myself only interacting with players in-game, not IRL, so yeah, kinda strange to have people introduce themselves IRL as their WoW toon. But, I must say that having something in common with everyone in that hall of which we were all so passionate about made for a very positive and reinforcing feeling. I'm not sure what it was, exactly, but it was kinda grand. It just felt like being in a very familiar element, I guess.

Anyway, after what seemed like a very long time, I finally got to the front of the line and picked up my pass and goodies, but was not allowed to pick up the gear for my wife (some B.S. about her needing to be there with I.D.). I rummaged through it all, finding a t-shirt, lots of ads, soap (wtf?) and the Murloc key, among other things. There was actually a lot more in the bag than I had expected there to be, and the bag itself, which was adorned with Blizzard artwork, seemed like it'd make for a good collectors item. And I wasn't the only person to think so either.

Not even 5 minutes after I received my bag and still standing in the atrium, I was approached by a young gentlemen that was probably not much younger than myself, who offered me cash for my bag and it's schwag. Four hundred dollars. On the spot.

Sold.

He walked away with the stuff and approached someone else, probably making a similar offer. I stood there, kinda in shock, but with a smile on my face. I had planned on selling the stuff on eBay when I got home later that evening, so this offer, well, it was just a very pleasant surprise. No worry about payment methods, mailing the stuff out, and I wouldn't worry about being tempted to use the card on one of my own toons once home and at my desk, WoW open, and Murloc card in-hand.

Bagless but happy, I walked around the show floor for a bit. There was a line stretching off endlessly in almost every direction. The show was PACKED with people walking, talking, living WoW. I even heard there was a beer vendor somewhere, but I didn't go looking for it. Beer ftl. Now if there was a martini vendor somewhere...

Walking around, there really wasn't much for me to do, especially being all by myself. That theory I had about shows sucking when going solo? It totally and unfortunately held very true. I would have rather been leveling my Warlock, I realized. So, after a quick walk around, I ended up leaving only about an hour and a half after first showing up. After getting home, I realized I should have stayed a tad longer!!!





So upset I missed that!!! Oh, and holy hell, BE Female FTW!

Anyways, today was more of the same nonsense. The wife and I arrived early, got her stuff early (we somehow managed to get a bag of goodies after hearing there weren't any left to give out, damn liars), and left early after a fairly quick and painless $300 sale of the schwag. Good enough imo.

And now we're here, enjoying the weather and about ready to head to Houston's for a late lunch. Good times.

I honestly wish I had more to offer you guys. Next time, maybe we should get the locals to meet up and roll the floor together? It'd make it so much more worthwhile and enjoyable! And indeed, rarely did I see anyone by themselves. WoW is a social game, afterall, so going at it or this show alone is just not ideal.

Anyways, I'm off to lunch. If you guys have questions, you know where to find me. ;)

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