BlizzCon 2009: The treasure-fishing quest
by Robin Torres 
Aug 26th 2009 at 11:00AM
Just in case there weren't enough to do at BlizzCon this year, our goody bags included a quest:
Marcia Chase seeks your help. She has left instructions with a local merchant -- Brady Mercantile. She needs heroes to collect a set of 5 mysterious treasure-fishing lures. Brady Mercantile can be found in the Merchant's Quarter.Brady Games provided a "Lure Bag" and a map of the locations of the lures, which were other vendors located in all of the halls. Obtaining the lures involved standing in line with your map and bag at the various vendor booths and then being handed a slimy lure. The sliminess did lend an authenticity to the procedure, while being mildly unpleasant.
In order to receive your quest reward, you needed to return with your completed map to the Brady Games booth between 4PM and 7PM on the second day of the con. A designated person was assigned to "feel your sack", another stamping the map as completed and another with a bag of stones from which to choose. The stones were green, blue and purple -- representing loot quality. Green included a poster, Blue was a Blizzard keychain or the WoW Manga and Purple included the WoW mouse.
The lines moved quickly and participants got to keep all of the quest pieces as well as the reward. Even though it is an obvious ploy to get attendees to visit vendor booths, it was a fun activity that I will do again if offered at the next BlizzCon.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Todd Aug 26th 2009 11:06AM
Very cool idea.
kozom Aug 26th 2009 11:06AM
What a creative and unique idea! Man, now i really wish i was able to head down to blizzcon!
Skem Aug 26th 2009 11:07AM
lol
Thats great.
Mep Aug 26th 2009 11:10AM
it was a pain in the butt :(
The lines were so long, I ended up waiting in one for about 45 minutes only to reach the front of the line and find out that they only gave them out from 10a.m. - 1p.m.
made me a sad panda :(
Mr Angry Aug 26th 2009 11:22AM
Hahaha just like the real fishing quest then, except you weren't running around frantically and then an 80 Deathknight with a lvl 19 rogue in tow, one shots you!!
This really is an awesome promo, one of the best I've seen, I'd actually even buy this on Ebay, just to have it!
Phantom1219 Aug 26th 2009 12:50PM
I guess you haven't heard the early bird always gets the worm.
Mep Aug 26th 2009 12:53PM
lol, nice pun
Actually after I got the first worm I saw the "Elemental Loot" booth and was like 5th in line for it...
I totally won a Spectral Tiger ;)
http://www.wow-achievements.com/Blizzcon/2009/Images/Misc/WinningSpectralTiger.JPG
Storm Eagle [Resident Capcom Megafan] Aug 26th 2009 11:13AM
Wow! A quest that you gave you sweet loot and (a) good experience? Aren't those just the best kinds?
Speedmonkay Aug 26th 2009 11:27AM
The fishing daily was pretty fun.
I was expecting a chain of quests or to go to more vendors but it was still pretty fun.
I got in the line to turn it in at 4pm and it took a little over an hour to actually turn it in and got a pretty cool 3.1 Ulduar poster.
vexis58 Aug 26th 2009 11:31AM
You forgot the best prizes of all -- the gold-colored stones, which rewarded your choice between a stein and a free figureprint.
And the purple stone didn't reward a WoW mouse, it was your choice between a Lich King mousePAD and a customized t-shirt from the Swagdog booth. I should know, that's the one I got.
Everybody got a poster. I'm pretty sure green also got two trading card booster packs.
Harbl Aug 26th 2009 3:44PM
Green got you two WoW Comic Books. Two WoW Comic Books I already own...
Biggest waste of time at Blizzcon!
Dukah Aug 27th 2009 2:40AM
Nothing like Agi and Spirit Plate gear?
Barinthos Aug 26th 2009 11:35AM
That's awesome lol.
Man, I gotta save up money for the next BlizzCon.
dukrous Aug 26th 2009 11:43AM
This was the biggest waste of time in Blizzcon. The prizes sucked for the amount of time I had to stand in a line...time I shouldve spent in a panel or getting better seats for Ozzt. Next year, I know what booth won't get a minute of my time.
JPN Aug 26th 2009 11:55AM
Spoken like a true person who got screwed by the RNG :)
dukrous Aug 26th 2009 12:23PM
RNG nothing. I got out of line after 20 minutes when my brother called to tell me the prizes.
mirilene Aug 26th 2009 12:06PM
@Dukrous
You're right on the money about that. It was a fun concept to be sure, but i was positively shocked at how many people chose to stand in line for that instead of try for seats in the main hall, or wait for a game station. There were more people in line sunday @ 3pm for the stone drawing than were in line for D3 or SC2.
It just didnt seem like a very efficient use of time is all.
Having said that, we actually banged that out on friday and got in line @ about 6 when there happened to be less people. Only had to wait about 20 minutes (after 5 minutes, everyone else had the same idea as us, so the line behind us got crazy again)
Barinthos Aug 26th 2009 12:11PM
I doubt Blizzard realized it would be THAT popular. Maybe next year they'll think of something that won't take hours upon hours away from peoples lives and other areas of the Con.
mirilene Aug 26th 2009 12:28PM
Not sure what they can really do about it. It's simply a consequence of having such a tightly focused show and a population increase of 10000. Everything becomes a huge line because there's nowhere else to focus 26000 people's attention like at another con where you would have different games, or genres or something else entirely to draw everyone away. If you're at blizzcon, chances are you're very interested in anything blizzard related, so you try and do it all, which just means lines all day for everything.
i've been all 4 times and my friends and I have had to really alter our game plan each year to account for the increase in size, people attending and one thing i think a lot of people dont think about (thank god!) is that the panels are exhaustively covered online these days, so with the exception of a panel where you want to really hear people speak (like the SC2 voice talent panel) you're better off watching it on one of the big screens while you do something else or turning to wow.com's liveblogging or whatever later that day.
We focused on playing the games a lot more than ever before, no matter what was being presented. It turned out to be the right decision, especially factoring in the innane Q&A part of each panel. Sometimes people ask good questions, but lets be honest, most of the time its a mouth breathing dude who's so tightly focused on their individual scenario that its hardly worth anyone else's time to hear the question. When you read it online however, it at least can be phrases coherently or marginalized entirely.
Kemikalkadet Aug 26th 2009 12:41PM
They'll change it to a weekly rather than a daily quest and limit the amount of people that can take part to 120.