BlizzCon virtual ticket now on sale
by Alex Ziebart 
Aug 2nd 2011 at 10:30PM
If you've purchased the virtual ticket before and weren't happy with the product, fear not: The online offerings of the virtual ticket have been much improved over the years. In 2009, the DirecTV coverage was shoddy all around, leaving viewers in the dark about half of the panels of the convention. In 2010, the multichannel coverage of all of the panels, the ability to go back and rewatch panels later or fill in gaps you missed earlier in the weekend, as well as the interviews with Blizzard that you can't see anywhere else really made your $39.99 worth it. It wasn't unusual for BlizzCon attendees in Anaheim to watch the panels from the comfort of their hotel rooms via online stream, only venturing out for evening parties and meetups (such as our own!). If you can't physically attend BlizzCon 2011 (or even if you can), it's money well spent. Give it another chance.
For the full details of the virtual ticket, head over to Blizzard's official blog post on Battle.net.
Filed under: BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
SmokeTheBear Aug 2nd 2011 10:49PM
Buy the stream only and not a convention ticket, then go down there to have fun with everyone and still not miss the panels? Genius!
Egen Aug 2nd 2011 10:54PM
Ordered.
They streamlined the pets. It says it will be automatically added to my account on Oct 20th. That's handy.
Arrohon Aug 2nd 2011 10:56PM
As much as I'd like to do this I can't financially say that it's worth it. I'll hear the news whether I watch the panels or not. The panels will also be on Youtube eventually if I want actually watch them a few months afterwords. The $40 is basically to hear the news live, the pet, and the ability to spend more money on Blizzcon only stuff. I'm not against it at all but I'm kinda sad that I can't find a way to make it worth the money. I guess that's why I need to get a job ;)
Leviathon Aug 2nd 2011 11:17PM
And the fact that there are....other means to watch the streams for free.
Bill Aug 3rd 2011 2:29PM
@Leviathon Yeah, there are, but only no-good disfigured gold farmers who consume murloc feces ever try to watch Blizzcon like that.
Leviathon Aug 3rd 2011 2:56PM
Or people who don't feel they should pay 40 dollars for something that should be free like it originally was.
Leviathon Aug 3rd 2011 2:57PM
Or maybe people who don't feel they should have to pay for something that should and originally was free. Then again Blizzard has shown that their community is fine being milked.
SlavedHeart Aug 3rd 2011 4:34PM
Attending a football game used to be free as well. Go waste your breath yelling at them. Times change, and if there is a buck to be turned, good for them. Hopefully it goes to paying some poor schmoe to haul around the all the equiptment, cuz ya know that right now it's only one guy, and he works free on weekdays (he does free heart surgery on the weekend so if we need him, it costs a little bit, like Canada). Anyone who's complaint is that something once was free fails to understand how the world works in general.
Bill Aug 3rd 2011 9:45PM
^this
And to add on to it, people are constantly complaining that Blizzard is milking them and they're a multi-billion dollar industry which can obviously support themself by making games like WoW cheaper, additional services free, etc. When in reality, Blizzard pays its employees slightly less than the average software developer should make in each of their positions. The CEOs aren't pocketing huge chunks of income either, the reality is that to pay thousands of employees, to fund Blizzcon, shit isn't cheap. Leviathon, I guarentee you that if your mommy or daddy both worked for Blizzard, you would be saying otherwise, because they need to eat too.
red2me Aug 2nd 2011 11:01PM
I ordered the Virtual Ticket last year - it was awesome and well worth the $40. The broadcasts stay up for quite a while after BlizzCon is over, which comes in handy when I needs to hear me some sexy Chris Metzen voice /swoon
zomby_wc3 Aug 2nd 2011 11:07PM
Does any1 know what the animations for Murkablo are or whether they're just re-using the Deathy animations?
Butts Aug 3rd 2011 12:48PM
Murkablo seems to have an added animations (he jumps through his own ring of smoke), which leads me to believe this is final. Even this is not enough to differentiate the two pets for me, and at a glance they appear identical. I shall not be purchasing a virtual ticket this year for this reason.
Joseph Smith Aug 2nd 2011 11:34PM
I've watched the online stream the last 2 years running. both years I've had something else going on the same weekend that has cut into my watching time. This year, I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to watch more of it live, hopefully with my best friend who has enjoyed the closing ceremonies with me both years.
Gossamer Aug 3rd 2011 9:21AM
Last year I had a doctor's appointment I had to go to partway through and to top it off my car had recently been stolen so I had to walk to the appointment. I had recently gotten my Droid phone and decided to try playing the live stream on it.. and it worked! It was choppy and I had to wait for it to load sometimes, but it worked!
I also realized later that I was being silly and could just go back watch the panels I had missed. But it was fun to wander my geeky way down the street huddled over my phone listening to Metzen talk about Thrall.
Dreyja Aug 3rd 2011 12:04AM
YAY! Right when the Canadian dollar is nice and high. :) I'm going to save some moola this year. :D
Joseph Smith Aug 3rd 2011 12:23AM
Shhhhh! Don't tell them, they'll raise the price to $39.99 Canadian for us! ;)
Grendalsh Aug 3rd 2011 3:12AM
Hosting a BlizzCon Pity Party for all my guildies at my house. Big screen tv and surround sound, streaming BlizzCon coverage, WoW themed food and drinks, and lots of airbeds. Best seats at the Con, and no wanting to amputate my feet afterwards. Oh yeaaaahhh..
Saeadame Aug 3rd 2011 4:18AM
Ngl, I buy this for the pet. Not that the livestream isn't fun, but the pet is the clincher.
A little sad? Maybe...
Kay Aug 3rd 2011 7:53AM
I still think it's way overpriced for what you get, personally. If it was 20 bucks, it'd be within the impulse buy threshold, and hey, there's a free pet. For that price i'll just read the highlights on this fair website, and watch the good videos on youtube after the fact.
I'm sure it's a quality service and all, but I think it'd be in their interests to offer it for far less.
Gossamer Aug 3rd 2011 9:23AM
$40 for what's basically a two day, multi channel pay-per-view event seems pretty reasonable to me. I've seen people spend more than that for a couple hours of wrestling. >.