I then fixed my glasses, and hurried on out to meet Strio13, Logan1275, Morynne, and EntropiaWoW (All on Twitter), at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney. I got lost, then I had to go find Strio and then we met up and tada, found it. Just in time too. I learned about hockey and baseball during the dinner, and it was hella fun. I can't even remember what time I got back to the hotel, but I know I ended up going to sleep a tad early, for DISNEYLAND was in my schedule for Thursday.
Disneyland had been planned way in advance, and was a server thing. There wasn't many of us, about 8-12 at any one given time. Thanks to Jennifer's friend, we all got in free, working for Disney for 10+ years most definitely has its perks. Fun was had by all, though I was disappointed in the Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion. Other things included the Matterhorn, Space Mountain (awesomeness!), Splash Mountain (I stupidly volunteered to sit in the front and therefore walked around with my jeans plastered to my ass all day.), Pirates of the Caribbean, and much more! We left Disney around 7, as to not fall into hitting the Parade Crowd leaving. We went and got our Blizzcon badges, and it was quick. Took us about 15 minutes all together. After we retrieved our badges, a few of us who still had energy left, headed over to the WoW Insider meetup!
I really didn't feel like taking my camera with me, so no pictures from that, sadly. Though I know Strio13 took quite a bit, so you might wanna check his twitter feed for a pictures post incoming soon. The Insider meet up was much better this year, with a larger space and more alcohol to be had, even if I had to wait 30 minutes in line to get to the non-cash bar. I proceeded to get my drinks, and then headed back to the group of guys I was hanging with, all from my server. We met an Asian guy named "Serb", who I deathly already miss, as he was a pretty amazing guy for being a random meet. Also, if anyone was at the meet up, and saw/heard a guy getting thrown in the pool, that was from my server, and the story behind that was, well, drunkenness. All of them were drunk, and they thought it'd be a good idea to throw Celarius into the pool. So after removing his shoes, taking his wallet and cell phone, off he went! And then Dhalaryn bought a round for them in reward. Quests are good I hear. ;-) There was more socializing, I met VariantAvatar who was pretty cool, and ran into Vince Caso and his girlfriend (Bladezz from "The Guild"), and saw Felicia Day on her way out. Also saw Clara sometime or another, though I can't remember if it was actually at the WoW Insider party. Dhalaryn and I ended up leaving just a bit after 11:00PM, cause, well, we were starving. Ordered Hilton food, ate, and then slept for the next day. Blizzcon Day 1.
Well, I remember last year, I got up around 9:00 and was so far back in line it was horrible. I figured I would just wait til after the Opening Ceremony and then get in line, but things didn't go as planned. I had two friends get up earlyish and got in line, and I went to join them. We weren't close, but not all the way around the building to the parking lot beside Anabelle this year. I should also mention at this point, thanks to Strio13, for letting me borrow his girlfriend's badge (who sadly couldn't attend this year), so a friend of mine could attend. Anyways, so we stood in line, and got decent seats for the Opening Ceremony. As by now you should've heard the news. Nothing majorly WoW related, sadly, but the final Diablo 3 class (Demon Hunter), and PVP in Diablo 3. They also showed the Cataclysm Cinematic in high definition with some amazing sound effects. It was quite awesome. We were then released to do as we wished. I wandered with friends and saw many, many cosplay costumes.
Megduck as the Spirit Healer. Not sure who the paladin (?) is.
A huge party of cosplayers. The priest with the Ulduar mace was also from last year, and I think came in 3rd? Or 2nd maybe? (Last year, not this year.) The female Witch Doctor came in the top 5, and IMO, should've really came in 2nd or 3rd.
This is Ysera, she came in 3rd in the Costume Contest this year.
This was a server friend, Rosie (or Emily as she is thus called in real life), dressed I believe she said in the Ebonweave Robe set? I have a horrible memory, sorry Em!
And last but not least, a picture with me and a tree!
We waited in line at the Blizzcon store for 2 hours on day one. Only a little after noon they had already sold out of the Plushlings, the Horde Towel, the Water Bottle, and the Vinyl CD thing. By Day 2, they'd sold out of mostly everything. I ended up playing the Demon Hunter class in Diablo 3 which was a little underpowered, but nonetheless probably my favorite class so far. Jinx store was next, ended up just getting 3 Legendary Shirts: Paladin, Hunter and Druid.
The day soon came to an end with the Costume and Dance contests. A small, quick recap:
Jay Mohr was given a babysitter by the name of Kat Hunter who was a horrible addition to the Contest. Jay Mohr had to read his jokes, some of which were VERY HILARIOUS, but I heard this was due to concerns/comments/idiots who were offended at some of Jay's jokes last year. There was a really good band that people LOVED, but no one knows the name of. The machinimas, IMO, were sadly weak this year. The costumes were extravagant and some even unnecessary. I see a rule being added that if you can't walk by yourself in your own costume, you can't enter, cause that was just ridiculous! The Monk from D3 won, Illidan (complete with Warglaives and wings that worked), came in 2nd (I dunno how, I think Blizzard is smoking something), and Ysera (photo'ed above), came in 3rd. The Witch Doctor female (also photoed above), and one other came in 5th. (Sorry, I can't remember the full top 5!). I do remember thinking that one of the Spirit Healers should've came in the top 5, as well as the male Witch Doctor.
The Dance Contest was quite crazy, with males stripping unnecessarily (-cough- Ogre male, -cough.). The Dwarfs won again this year though! The Male Dwarf came in 1st, The Goblin Female, complete with Beyonce-looking outfit, came in 2nd, and the Female Dwarf came in 3rd. The guy who won doing the Female Dwarf last year, sadly slipped on the floor (which I heard was quite horrible to walk/dance on). The Ninjas were back this year again, though it wasn't as good as it was last year, cause the surprise was mostly off. And they don't really do a specific dance... they just do their own dance. Also, if you hadn't heard it yet.... the guy doing the Undead Male Dance broke his leg. I dunno if he was just drunk... or..what.. but he was getting major lift, and fell once, then got up, was limping a bit, then did it again and fell on his ass, breaking his leg. That will be remembered for times to come... I guess that wasn't as small and quick as I thought it'd be. Oh well.
And so day one was brought to a close, with me winning a Deathwing Mouse Pad from the Steel Series chest! (Yes, it is -not- fixed, people can actually win!) I ended up trying to get to the Twisting Nether meet up, but it was so crowded that me and my friend just ate and left. I got to bed earlier then I imagined I would, and prepared for Day 2.
Day 2 started with us getting immediately in line at the Store again, in hopes to get somethings that had been sold out the day prior. I only was able to purchase the Stormrage book (bought the Shattering on day one), but Emily was able to finally get her water bottle, and she was quite excited! I then decided to go check out the Worgen starting area cause the line was very short, so I left my friends and went on a quest. Worgen starting area had been greatly increased since last Blizzcon, and I was happy to see it, it looks fantastically amazing. I also saw a bit of the Goblin starting area from the people sitting next to me.
The day continued on. Q&A panels were amusing, but nothing really "huge" was discussed. (BOOMKINS WILL GET CURVES AND BOOBS /sarcasmoff), and some sorta hot older chick wanted the female models to look like they didn't step out of a Victoria's Secret model. I think they should screen Q&A sometimes, so the people with GOOD QUESTIONS, get through. At 2:00 I went over to the Realm Meetup and as per usual, our server meet up was extravagant (with a later party at my hotel room with pizza!. Thanks for the CCers who donated money so I wouldn't have to pay for it all!). Then I went up to visit this "Community Chat" thing that was partaking upstairs, and was new for this year. The topic was "Roleplaying" which I do, and so I sat in and it was awesome. Got to meet some really cool people and chat about some cool things from each RP Server. I think I may even roll on Wyrmrest Accord sometime soon. Matticus (From "World of Matticus"), was then nice enough to meet up with me upstairs and we chatted quite a bit about a topic of things. He was amazing and I'm glad I got the opportunity to chat with him.
A server meet up picture, don't we all look adorable!!!
I went and watched a bit of the Final 3v3 Arena for Warcraft. Saw one 20 minute match, and then left. I ended up going to the Closing Ceremony for enough time to see whoever the hell was up there make stupid jokes and then finally announce that Blizzcon goers were gonna get DIABLO THREE BETA KEYS! Well I was very excited, until I learned that only 1,000 random people are getting them. My luck is just not that good folks, but if I do get in, you'll be the first to know. Then I headed back to the hotel, had a few drinks, waited for my server people to show up, and then bam! Partied hard.
Thanks to Strio13 for hanging out with me on our quest for Blizzcon employees. We met Samwise, Ghostcrawler, Zarhym, and a very, very wasted Metzen. We sadly couldn't find the Candle or Morheim. I got pictures with Sam, GC and Zarhym, waiting for Strio to upload them and then I'll update this blog with them later. :-)
The Hilton Afterparty, if you don't go to it, is way, way worth it. The Hilton also learned this year, and instead of just having the bar, they had FOUR cash bars open as well. The only sad thing was they actually had security posted at the pool, and you needed a Hilton card to get in. Thankfully I did have one, but from what I heard they would't let Morheim or Metzen in. Of course, all they had to do was go around and knock on rooms that had patios out onto the pool, which they of course did.
Overall, the Con was much easier this year around, it seems in everything, from the restaurants/bars being prepared, to the hotels being prepared, to even the Convention center being easier to navigate and it appeared less crowded there. Also more seats in the Main Hall was a great idea. So the Hilton Afterparty always signals the end of a wonderful weekend. And so it was.
We gotta do it again next year guys.
For the Horde!!!
