Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzCon 2010: Closing ceremonies
by Gregg Reece 
Oct 23rd 2010 at 10:45PM
Blizzard used this opportunity to bring out the tournament winners. Warcraft 3 winner Remind (night elf) from South Korea and StarCraft 2 winner NEXGenius (protoss), also from South Korea, were presented with $25,000 for being grand prize winners. They will also be getting an eSports ring customized to their game that's the size of Superbowl rings. The WoW Arena tournament was still going on at this point (*aAa* vs compLexity.Red), so there was no winner to announce for it yet.
Some faux-hype was built up as Paul started to hint that he was going to announce the secret next-gen MMO that Blizzard has had in development only to reveal a series of joke slides such as World of Jersey Shorecraft, Glee-ablo, and Booty Baywatch. So, still no news on that front. Based on interviews throughout the weekend we might not hear anything about it in 2011, but things should be announced by BlizzCon 2012.
The one big thing that did come out of the closing ceremonies was the announcement that 1,000 of the attendees will be receiving beta keys for Diablo 3. That's about 5% of the crowd that was at the convention. If you want to know how much of a chance this is, get a 20-sided die and take one attempt at rolling a 20. However, this does mean that the Diablo 3 beta is getting really close to being ready for testing.
All in all, I really feel that the closing ceremonies were phoned in. There were some cool moments and interesting features announced for all three major Blizzard properties this weekend, but the closing ceremony itself really left the convention feeling much more lackluster than it was.
On the bright side, Tenacious D is about to rock our socks off.
BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
LB Oct 24th 2010 1:21PM
You know, I kinda wished they had waited with the Cataclysm cinematic. Would make it a much more awesome experience for everyone.
Dezaris Oct 23rd 2010 11:09PM
So when do the closing ceremonies end in eastern time? I'd like to know about what time I can go to sleep (just don't want to miss anything!)
Enodis Oct 23rd 2010 11:28PM
here in Europe it ended at 05:20 am, so i guess -6 will do
aand about that sleep thingy, what is it?
Dankie Oct 23rd 2010 11:09PM
ROFL I rolled my d20 and guess what... I rolled a natural 20. LMFAO. Why can't I do that when I tabletop?
NighttimeApparition Oct 24th 2010 3:07AM
It all has to do with this guy named Murphy.
tehgoatboi Oct 23rd 2010 11:10PM
SOUTH KOREA
WHO KNEW
Caz Oct 23rd 2010 11:15PM
^ THIS 100% SMH!
rcwills Oct 23rd 2010 11:21PM
I know this is a Wow Blog, but damn I wish you hadn't spoiled the winners of the RTS events in the picture. :(
Gregg Reece Oct 24th 2010 12:52AM
Sorry about that, but they were the most interesting thing in the closing ceremonies. I'm sure you can read my disappointment in the post above, but I've really got to reiterate that. It just wasn't a good closing to the convention.
ozreece77 Oct 23rd 2010 11:32PM
Dave Grohl on drums was a bonus for the concert.
MrJackSauce Oct 24th 2010 12:12AM
That
Is
Awesome.
Craig R Oct 23rd 2010 11:38PM
I hate to say it, but overall I found this year's Blizzcon somewhat disappointing, at least in terms of surprises.
On the Diablo front, the Demon Hunter is a great 5th class, but a LOT of people were pretty close to guessing what the class would be anyways. (still, I think the Diablo series has always wanted a badass Van Helsing type hero such as this)
More importantly, on the Warcraft front. Some neat art panels, a bunch of B-roll footage, the login screen, and a lot of questions answered with "we're thinking about X, we'll get back to you on that one."
am I being unfair? I feel like the hype greatly overshadowed the product.
Iirdan Oct 23rd 2010 11:42PM
Frankly, this was a poorly posited year. Cataclysm is at a stage where we know everything we will know. StarCraft II just came out, so it's in between the release buzz and the expansion. Diablo 3 is not quite at a level where they can announce big things for it such as a release date or beta date or something along those lines.
And apparently their new MMO is nowhere near ready.
They put on a great show as usual - it's just that at this time, there is nothing to surprise us with.
justin Oct 23rd 2010 11:43PM
I don't know. With how open they are these days with GC on the forums it's tough for them to be like, "LOOK HERE AT THIS NEW SHINY!" The only reason last year was cool was due to the Cata announcement. Next year will be the same when they pre-announce the next expansion.
S.O. Oct 24th 2010 1:45AM
I think we're used to Blizzcon's like last years with big annoucements and cool stuff. Which this year had none, I heard Metzen Talking to Cat Hunter and whats-his-face, and they asked if Blizzard had thought about no BlizzCon because of the lack of stuff. He basically said yeah they did
Morrogoth Oct 24th 2010 3:14AM
They were pretty clear in the interviews that Blizzcon is a community event and not a PR tool. Stop expecting big project reveals and enjoy the games.
Iirdan Oct 24th 2010 10:47AM
I don't think anyone is suggesting that it was a terrible year or that BlizzCon sucks. I'm almost positive that even with the lack of huge things, most people - myself included - would have done almost anything to actually go there.
But, it can't be denied that they were short on announcements this year, which makes it fall a bit towards the back as far as memorable BlizzCons go. It's not necessarily indicative of a bad convention - just no shattering surprises.
Maccabeus Oct 23rd 2010 11:43PM
I wanna see the World of Jersey Shorecraft slide
Wrynn will star as Mike "The Situation"
SaintStryfe Oct 24th 2010 12:01AM
I gotta say, I marked out for the announcement, and got slammed down appropriately. My non-WoW-playing-but-D-loving sibling had a very good and justified laugh at my complete fanboygasm.
Spiritfire Oct 24th 2010 12:18AM
No. Elite. Tauren. Chieftans.
I left early. Tenacious D is cool and all, but honestly, I wanted to see ETC first.