Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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by Adam Holisky 
May 16th 2009 at 1:00PM
1:28 p.m. EDT: Sold out until May 30th. I'd really love to know how many tickets they released. We had people on staff in position 5000 in the queue not get a ticket.
Older updates after the break.
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.1:18 p.m. EDT: Queue is now over 21,000. 43% of the tickets are left for today.
1:12 p.m. EDT: Half the tickets are gone for today. Good luck to the ~20,000 of you in the queue!
1:10 p.m. EDT: Queue is now over 17,000. People are getting tickets, however.
1:09 p.m. EDT: It appears that the ticket queue is based on cookies, so if you leave it and rejoin you'll end up back in your original position. Do not try this though unless you're insane.
1:02 p.m. EDT: Queue is now over 12,000.
1:00 p.m. EDT: Tickets are on sale. Matticus is in position 840 after placing an order seconds after the order site allowed him to.
12:47 p.m. EDT: DirecTV and Web Streaming are not purchasable at this time. Nethaera posted as much in the forums a bit ago.
12:42 p.m. EDT: BlizzCon Store ticket page is located at http://www.blizzard.com/store/blizzcon09-tickets.xml
12:30 p.m. EDT: Half hour until BlizzCon tickets go on sale. Blizzard has taken down the armory to lighten server load, so it appears they're being proactive about things. This is good!
We'll post any news we get on the ticket selling here, including communication from blues via the forums or through other mediums. You can always find this post via the big banner at the top of WoW Insider that says "Click here for the latest ticket status."
Filed under: BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 9)
Perish May 17th 2009 12:41AM
I got mine within 5 minutes of tickets going on sale. I was originally 729 in line. Haha, I beat out Matticus :P
Ryan May 16th 2009 1:51PM
Started spamming refresh at 9:55, at 9:58 page let me select 2 tickets to buy, then immediately dumped me back to the main Blizzard Store screen. Went back to BlizzCon tickets page, said tickets were unavailable. Started hitting f5 again, let me select 2 tickets to buy at 9:59, and i was in position 6000 something in the queue. Didn't get tickets obviously.
Chuck May 16th 2009 1:57PM
I had the same phenomenon. I suspect that we were milliseconds off on our timing.
BigB May 16th 2009 1:41PM
from my understanding you have to show your credit card when you get to the con to get your badges.
So how are the people buying the scalpers tickets gonna get in?
Tzi May 16th 2009 2:06PM
They're not, just like prior years. They get to spend lots of money and then get stuck outside, they just don't realise it.
Kendall213 May 16th 2009 1:45PM
At least this year it wasn't failcon. the queue system seemed to work well.
Mayhew May 16th 2009 1:43PM
Man, that was nerve-wracking! I decided to check the page early, at maybe 9:59:40 PDT, and the tickets were on sale! I got in a little over 3300 in the queue. I think I got my one ticket by the skin of my teeth! I was watching my queue position and the remaining stock percentage drop at about the same rate, and it was like a race! I kept comparing numbers to see which was dropping more quickly. For awhile I thought I wouldn't make it, but then at around 1600 the queue position started dropping at a rate faster than the remaining stock percentage, and I got to place an order when there was 12 percent or less stock remaining.
I had my payment information already set up in advance, so the purchasing process was incredibly simple.
I have to say, Blizzard did an amazing job this year. Last year I spent over 13 hours trying to get tickets, and this year the whole process, queue and all, happened flawlessly in 30 minutes.
Way to go Blizz! You handled this beautifully.
Kudos to those who managed to snag tickets, and condolences to those who'll have to wait til the 30th to try again.
Amythys of Sisters of Elune May 16th 2009 2:22PM
Huzzah! I had two friends in line trying for tickets (mine included)- The one at 5333 did not get them, but the one (who clicked at the same time as the other) at 3321 got them! I'm very happy as I was a victim of the Failloc last year. Good luck to everyone who will be trying on the 30th as well! :D
Staump May 16th 2009 1:45PM
This was total BS. I had my browser refreshing every half a second, clicked qty 2 and hit checkout all within a second of the ticket page loading, and I was 9000 something in line. What more could I have done? People should be invited to go like a beta test. I'm sure there were entire cyber cafes in china filled with people buying tickets to sell on ebay. Such BS.
Matazuma May 16th 2009 1:56PM
Thats my plan on the 30th get like 5 pcs mad spamming F5
damonskye May 16th 2009 1:46PM
There are already a ton of murloc pets and even 2009 tickets on say on eBay already. Because Blizzard can sell up to 5 tickets and they don't need a final name on them until June, it's easy for scalpers to sell them right now.
Blizzard learned technical things from last year, but didn't learn *anything* else. A lot of people want to make money off the beta key and the exclusive pet. I think it would be hilarious if half of the people who buy tickets don't show up, and instead eBay is flooded with swag for sale. Blizzard would then lose all the promo marketing it sets up for the people who don't show up, not to mention all of the sales of items in its on-site store.
They should sell TWO tickets at a time, and require a final name on each, like when you buy an airline ticket.
Kavir May 16th 2009 1:46PM
I was refreshing the screen from "Not Yet Available" till the very second they were available and was still 2100 in Queue.
I managed to get my ticket. When I was sent to checkout, they were down to about 39% stock though that figure my not have been accurate. My advice, have a battle.net account with a credit card on file ready ahead of time. It will make the entire process less time consuming and simple.
I was lucky, good luck to the rest of you on the 30th.
Fangorus May 16th 2009 1:46PM
The Good:
Blizz has a much, much better ticketing system this year! I expected Battle.net to implode, but it went really well. That went smoothly without a single hiccup . . .but -
The Bad:
I still have no ticket. I hit the buy button within seconds of loading and was over 9k in que to begin with. That leaves a sour taste in one's mouth, no? Only having 16 thousand tickets (only half available today) when you have 11.5 million subscribers IS FREAKING INSANE. Time to expand Blizzcon, Blizz! You've got the ticketing system down, now expand the convention already so those who want to go . . . can go!
I say, bring the player, not DirectTV!
bill dunn May 16th 2009 3:03PM
I clicked 1 sec at 10am (1pm est). I was #150 in the que and in seconds had my tickets. The process was smooth compared to last year.
Bryan May 16th 2009 1:52PM
I was 3657 in line when I got in and completed by transaction just as they sold out. I wish I knew how many they released
The E May 19th 2009 11:46AM
I think they released more than enough tickets (probably 10-20k in fact). But the main problem was that they let everyone purchase up to 5 tickets. Now, if you're buying a ticket for something like Blizzcon, then you most likely have extra cash lying around. Thus, you will just buy 5 and make double the amount you spent on the extra 4 tickets/goody bags. I guarantee that 75%+ of the people who got tickets, bought 5. Just because they could and because of the resale value. Check eBay now, it's already littered with Blizzcon tickets/goody bags within minutes of the tickets going on sale.
Chuck May 16th 2009 1:57PM
2 tix $850 on Ebay already . Yea. I agree the queue system worked better this year I agree, but seriously - Blizz needs to figure out how to run an event better. It's not like Con's are a new thing and all. Longer event, or larger location.
Devin May 16th 2009 1:55PM
Garbage.
I logged in to the store at 9:57 a.m., position 4381, they sold out around ~650 or so in queue. The problem as was mentioned before is sheer lack of availability.
However, the method in which they handled the process was incredible, I have to say.
Westin May 17th 2009 4:16AM
We had a few people from my guild in line, some of whom got tickets. One started in the queue at 3698 and another was 3700 (two spaces apart). The 3698 guy got tickets, and the 3700 guy didn't. I guess it depends how tickets each person bought, but at least you know there were 3698 or 3699 people who were able to buy.
Arsyn May 16th 2009 2:04PM
Didn't even have to wait in the queue AND I got my order confirmation e-mail at 9:59 a.m. PDT (according to yahoo's time). So stoked. Can't wait to see everyone there!!!