Posts with tag entry

It's official, BlizzCon 2014's costume contest has opened up its sign-ups. Just like the earlier opening of sign-ups for the Art and Movie contests, there are some interesting prizes here - the top prize is $3500, or $2500 and a 'tribute' in an upcoming Blizzard product. What does that mean?

A tribute could include taking the form of having an NPC, weapon, etc. named after the first place winner.

In addition to that there's $2250 for second place finish, $1500 for third place, $1000 for fourth, and a $250 for secondary winners. Considering how much time and effort people put into their costumes, it's nice to see the possibility of a few people at least getting a little compensation for that. If you're interested in entering this year, head to the official site now.

Don't forget -- we're just a few days away from the end of the month, which means we're going to be wrapping up the first month of our new Guild of the Month contest. If you think your guild is overly exceptional, really original, or just generally awesome, let us know about it: we're asking for 200-word entries, which you can send along to guildofthemonth@gmail.com (remember also that you need to be in the US or Canada excluding Quebec -- official rules are here), and next week we'll be choosing our first winner.

They'll be profiled right here on WoW Insider, and they'll even pick up a raid pack from our friends over at Swagdog. Even if you don't win, you can go over to Warcraft.Swagdog.com and pick up customized guild gear, both shirts and hats with your guild's logo and name on them. Very cool.

If you haven't entered the contest yet and think your guild can be chosen as the best of the month, please do enter. And stay tuned -- after the first of the month, we'll reveal the winner for March, and then the contest starts all over again.

Have you entered our BlizzCon badge contest yet? There's just about two days left to enter your comment on our contest post (leave a comment on that post, not this post, as entering your comment on this post earns you nothing but some snarky comments from readers making fun of you for posting on the wrong post), so if you haven't yet, head over there and do so right now.

Remember, we're not giving away an official BlizzCon ticket (yet), but we are giving away some custom-made art of the character of your choice, conveniently laminated in badge form for wearing around BlizzCon. The art is made just for you by Shyka, who is a great artist and who kindly offered us a badge to give away. Tomorrow night at midnight we'll choose one lucky commenter to win the badge, and if you do win it, make sure to come see us at BlizzCon so we can check out how awesome it is.

Official rules and other information are over on the contest post -- leave a comment over there to make sure you're entered for the random drawing tomorrow night. Good luck!

Shyka, who we posted last week was making and selling custom-made BlizzCon badges to show off your character at Blizzard's big event, was thrilled to see her work on WoW Insider, and in return, kindly offered to make us a custom badge of our own (since we'll be there live at BlizzCon all weekend long). But due to the warmth of our hearts (and the fact that Weblogs, Inc. policy clearly states that we can't accept swag like that), we're passing the badge on to you -- Shyka has agreed to make one custom BlizzCon badge for one of you lucky readers.

To enter, just put a comment on this post sometime before midnight Eastern on Friday, September 12th -- you can say anything you want, but we'll ask you: what will be the most awesome thing you could see at Blizzard's big event? You may only enter once, and one winner will be chosen in a random drawing to pick up one of Shyka's badges (valued at $40). Make sure to use an email you check often, so we can get in touch with you if you win. Please note: you must be a resident of the United States (sorry EU and Canada folks), and 18 or older to win. Official contest rules are right here.

Please also note that this is not an official BlizzCon ticket -- this is just a custom art badge to show off your character at Blizzard's big show in October. If you want to go to BlizzCon, you'll need to have already purchased a ticket, although you can definitely win the badge even if you aren't going to BlizzCon. But then, how else will you show off the cool character art Shyka will custom make for you if you win? Good luck!

A few of Blizzard's partners (including Jinx, Upper Deck, and SteelSeries) have all teamed up to offer you what for many, Blizzard couldn't: two tickets to BlizzCon in October. Yes, in the first of what we're sure will be many contests and sweepstakes for BlizzCon tickets, these guys have set up a giveaway to hook up one lucky winner with passes for two to the event that's a Blizzard fan's dream.

All you've got to do to enter is put your info in over on their site -- the Grand Prize winner will pick up an all expenses paid trip to BlizzCon, and ten other winners will get some WoW-related gear from the contest's sponsors (SteelSeries makes the Zboard, and apparently they're releasing one for Wrath, so you might get one of those as well). There is a checklist that you can leave unchecked to supposedly keep the sponsors from contacting you, so even if you don't want your info opt-ed in, it looks like you're in the clear.

If you do enter, good luck! (And if you win, we'll see you at BlizzCon!) There are bound to be a few more of these contests showing up before the big event, so even if you don't walk away with a trip from this one, stay tuned.

Malkavius of Korialstrasz posed an interesting question in the General Forums. Is it too late in WoW's life for new players? She told a tale of how a friend got frustrated soon after purchasing the game because of inflation and an inability to find groups. The responses were split.

Vylaria of Ch'gall believes that it's not too late for a rookie to get their start. Gathering skills help to boost the personal pocketbook, and even veteran players that reroll face the same problems with finding a group. Cptobvious of Bonechewer believes that it is easier for folks that have played other MMOs than it is for online gaming virgins.

MMO Champion's got the rest of the details on that PC Zone interview we heard about yesterday-- Jeff Kaplan sat down with the French magazine and gave out some new hints about what we'll see up in Northrend in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

• As we heard at BlizzCon, Northrend isn't all a snow-covered wasteland-- there are forests (including one full of Furbolgs) and other terrain types to find up there.
• We've also heard this before, but it's worth repeating again: Arthas will play a much bigger part in the day-to-day Northrend than Illidan did-- lots of people, both raiders and casuals, will have a chance to "interact" with him.
• Here's something new-- there will be two entry points, and previously we'd assumed that one would be for Horde and another would be for Alliance. But that's not the case-- instead, each of the zones (the Borean Tundra and the Howling Fjord) will have an entry point for each faction. So there will actually be four ways into the expansion.
• Alliance get to choose a battle in the Howling Fjord or a massive stronghold (complete with a brand new faction leader) and a giant steamship
• And Horde either go into the Forsaken's new lands (with new architecture-- we saw it at BlizzCon), or into Garrosh Hellscream's (son of Grom) Warsong Fortress.

Very exciting. Hearing about four entry points instead of two definitely makes me think that we will be able to avoid the whole Hellfire Peninsula lag problem that plagued BC's release. Keep the WotLK info coming, Blizzard!