Blizz doesn't know what time BlizzCon tickets will go on sale
by Eliah Hecht 
May 14th 2009 at 8:00PM
BlizzCon tickets go on sale in two days, this Saturday, May 16th. One question we at WoW Insider have received several times is: "when on Saturday do the tickets go on sale?" So far, Blizzard has been silent on this issue.
Turns out there's a good reason for that - they don't know themselves. Bornakk puts it as follows: "we don't have an exact time on when they will be up but our web engineers will need to be here to properly start and monitor the system when it goes live so we don't plan to be doing that in the middle of the night."
In response to a poster's conjecture that since the billing department is going to be open from 9 AM to 6 PM this Saturday (they're not usually open on weekends), tickets will be sold during that time as well, Bornakk calls it a "solid line of thought." So that's the best information we have so far: not in the middle of the night, and probably sometime between 9 AM and 6 PM PDT. If we hear any more, we'll keep you posted.
BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.Filed under: Events
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jfofla May 14th 2009 8:09PM
Blizzard Logic:
If we take away all incentive to go to Wintergrasp the lag problem will end.
If we don't announce WHEN Blizzcon tickets go on sale they won't crash our server.
Doxa May 15th 2009 9:08AM
"If we don't announce WHEN Blizzcon tickets go on sale they won't crash our server."
This
soatari May 14th 2009 8:12PM
This has been a major concern for me. I work nights and sleep during the day, so obviously I'm concerned about what time the tickets go on sale.
Creid May 14th 2009 8:11PM
Tickets on sale "soon™"
Amaxe May 14th 2009 9:33PM
"When it's ready..."
McRaider May 15th 2009 7:53AM
Exactly
FantomRedux May 15th 2009 9:42AM
"Tickets on sale "soon™""
This.
Zeplar May 14th 2009 8:49PM
I'm thought I'd buy 3 tickets, for myself and 2 friends; but I have a new job starting in July and it's looking less and less likely that I'll be able to go. I am intending to get the tickets anyway and if I can't go, ebay them off for $150 or so (wouldn't price gouge my favorite company, although if tickets sell this year as badly as last, it may not be my favorite anymore).
My question is, after all the scalping last year, will Bliz try to stop us from doing that (by asking for I.D. at the convention, etc...)? I'd hate to be locked into $375 of tickets and not be able to go, much as we all hate the scalpers who resell them for triple the price.
Tzi May 14th 2009 10:53PM
Blizzard has always required you to have the credit card the tickets were purchased with in order to retrieve your ticket.
Any scalping would have required someone to pick up the tickets and THEN sell them on grounds.
Yes, there were a lot of ebay sales last year, but those people probably were unable to get tickets.
Zeplar May 14th 2009 11:24PM
Would like confirmation on that, as I don't think I'll be buying them if I don't have a way to get rid of them.
Tzi May 14th 2009 11:42PM
Check the Blizzcon ticket-buying FAQ, it'll probably say... but I've gone every prior year, and you always needed your credit card to get your badges and goodie bag, so I think it's reasonable to assume this year will be the same.
Tzi May 14th 2009 11:46PM
I should add, you can probably try to sell them anyway. It's kind of a jerk thing to do, but you could probably find someone who would buy them regardless.
I was surprised at how many people did that, either unknowing they couldn't pick up the badges without the buyer's CC, or just because it was worth the risk.
Zeplar May 14th 2009 11:48PM
Meh I'm not using this to get rich, I have no quarrel with the customers. Guess I'm not going this year. I'll get the direct TV package maybe.
Engerz May 14th 2009 8:55PM
Well, good luck to those who will be online to buy them! I can try the second go, but first go is a no go for me.
Task May 14th 2009 9:08PM
I was planning to go last year but I didn't have $$ to go and they were sold out day or week of. I have no plans to go this year either due to the same issue of a stable budget, but it would be nice to go sometime in forthcoming Blizzcons.
Amaxe May 14th 2009 9:34PM
The way I see it, it *HAS* to be an improvement over last year... in that it's hard to imagine how they could screw it up any worse.
Hoggersbud May 14th 2009 10:43PM
I'm not going. It's just too much of a hassle. And I'll even be close enough for it to be a reasonable trip when it happens.
Cheese Rations May 14th 2009 11:44PM
Wow, thanks Blizzard. This just goes to show how completely unorganized and non-sympathetic they can be sometimes.
People, surprisingly, do have lives and not giving everyone a solid time for tickets to go on sale is in incredibly poor taste. Every other company on the planet has some accountability for their own employees and set scheduled times and dates for rollouts or new products to go on sale. Ticketmaster does this, and schedules a time that tickets will go on sale.
Why can't Blizzard commit to 9AM ticket sales and just make sure that their employees are there to make it happen? If they're uncertain as to the stability and reliability of their store, why not hold their developers accountable and make sure they design and maintain a reliable product? Ticketmaster seems to be able to do this, and I know Blizzard can too.
Sometimes Blizzard is just a little too laid back for its own good. Someone needs to light a fire under them and get everyone motivated to committing to a time and making sure it happens. It's totally possible for this to happen, they're just choosing not to.
I just wish that Blizzard would realize how eager people are to throw ridiculous amounts of money at them with ticket prices, merchandise, etc... at BlizzCon and treat us with the love and respect that we deserve. All I want to do is give them hundreds of dollars so I can go to a convention again where I can spend many hundreds more on alcohol and Blizzard merchandise. You'd think that they'd make this an easy process.
In short, Blizzard *can* commit to a ticket sales time but they're just choosing not to. It's entirely possible for them to plan ahead, show up in the office around 6am or before to stress test and double check everything and then launch ticket sales at 9am sharp. I've done and do participate in product/service rollouts on a regular basis and understand the technical and logistical issues for something like this. Blizzard's scale may be larger, but the process and procedures scale up with that as well. I think the issue is that Blizzard doesn't want to make bosses be bosses and ensure that certain people are doing certain things at a certain time.
While I always hate to see this happen with a smaller company (and have seen it happen with my company to a certain degree), it may be time for Blizzard to "grow up" and start acting like as big of a company as it is.
soatari May 15th 2009 9:44AM
I lacked the eloquence to say exactly this.
Their announcement stank of ineptitude.
jsei May 15th 2009 11:49AM
Ticket master sells tickets that are in a isolated geographical area. People from Taiwan and Chili are not likely to purchase tickets for a 90 minutes musical concert the minute they go on sale for Chicago for a one night event.
However, People from all over the world can and will make plans for a 3 day event. As they have the previous times they've done Blizzcon.
It is not a good comparison to compare Blizzard to Ticketmaster. And you are just showing that you have no idea of the scope of the matter.