What's in the BlizzCon bag? You won't know until they're gone
by Mike Schramm 
May 8th 2009 at 9:00AM
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.
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ray May 8th 2009 9:14AM
Makes me think the Goodiebag is gonna suck this year, otherwise why not tell us?
wordsofivory May 8th 2009 9:23AM
Because (at least until the internet became mainstream) people used to enjoy the whole idea of being surprised about something.
Koompje May 8th 2009 9:29AM
Not likely..
''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.''
read before posting please
Yeng May 8th 2009 9:51AM
Yeah, they never reveal whats in the bag post-sale. Though MMO-champion usually datamines the Blizzard in-game item pretty quickly.
Muse May 8th 2009 10:04AM
So that people wont buy the goodie bag to get one specific item. It's what caused problems with ebay trading last time.
chinasky May 8th 2009 12:26PM
Last year people were selling the bags on Ebay before tickets went on sale, that's why. This had a definite impact on the overselling of Blizzcon 2008
Angry Joe May 8th 2009 9:16AM
Just hope that this time there are some hot chicks holding the goodies.
offday May 8th 2009 9:18AM
I'll tell you what it's full of. Pure awesomeness.
Cheese Rations May 8th 2009 9:21AM
Any word on what time tickets go on sale next weekend?
skreeran May 8th 2009 9:32AM
I hope it contains a life-sized High Overlord Saurfang model.
Because his awesome cannot be contained in a mini.
Alizar May 8th 2009 9:58AM
ROFL, this comment made my day!
Rylia May 8th 2009 9:38AM
And, for those who don't have DIRECTV and can't attend BlizzCon, apparently if you buy the $40 streaming package, you still get, if not the whole swag bag, at least the in-game item!
http://www.blizzard.com/us/press/090505.html
Remen May 8th 2009 10:39AM
That is awesome. I can never make it down for blizzcon sadly however I can still get a stream and the in game item. Sweet deal for $40. I would do this just for the item.
Xanwryn May 8th 2009 10:40AM
I have a question.
How the fuck do they fit all that shit into a bag lol? How big are the bags? Or boxes... or some sort of large container-like object.
Tzi May 8th 2009 10:59AM
"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's not entirely true... they always have announced the one "big" item (murky, murloc suit, bear mount) before the tickets went on sale. The rest of the goodie bag info came later, but we have always known the in-game item first.
vexis58 May 8th 2009 4:14PM
I was thinking this too. I specifically remember last year that maybe the tickets sold out faster than they otherwise would have, because they told us we would get a polar bear mount + beta key in the bag and everybody wanted to sell it (a minipet is one thing, but a mount? plus a Starcraft 2 beta key?).
We didn't know any of the other stuff yet, but we did know that one before the tickets went on sale. Maybe it's for the best that they don't tell us what we're getting this year -- maybe it will slow down ticket sales a bit.
Kerberos May 8th 2009 11:07AM
I almost did this just for the in-game mount last year. Need to see how tempting this years is.
"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."
Wonder if they will start selling a collection of the short stories people sent in for the contest last month? You did sign away all rights to your story and Blizzard owns them now
WickedGoddess May 8th 2009 11:33AM
Good! I think that last year was the only year they announced the contents, specifically the mount, before tickets went on sale, and I am sure that directly contributed to the madness that followed.
Let people who want to attend get the tickets not the people who just want to buy up the goodie bags to sell them on eBay.
Tzi May 8th 2009 11:43AM
They also announced the murloc suit before tickets went on sale (although that year's blizzcon was pretty low key; it didn't seem to cause craziness).
I am honestly not sure if Murky was a surprise to ticketholders, though. I have timeline-esque blogs on the other years, I do not for that one.
Wither May 8th 2009 4:20PM
Totally agree, this is a good decision. I don't think many true fans will decide whether to go or not based on the contents of the bag. I've only been to the Paris Invitational, which was great fun, but there were stories of people just turning up for the bag then leaving straight away. Assuming the event will be sold out as usual, then the tickets should go to those who want to watch and hear the talks, the competitions, play on the latest demos and hang out with similarly minded people.
The goodie bag is like one of the those party bags little kids get at the end of the birthday party that has cake in it. A parting gift, that for logistical reasons has to be given at the opening.