Posts with tag saturday

BlizzCon 2009 tickets went on sale for the last time on Saturday at 10am PST, and were reported as sold out less than 30 minutes later. As expected, there were lots of disappointed Blizzard fans, but compared to the way things worked last year, this year's system was much more fair and much less frustrating. Unfortunately, you had to be quick -- while the sellout time was actually around 10:24, tickets really sold out in a matter of seconds, because if you clicked the buy button even 30 seconds to a minute after it went live, you were too far back in the queue to buy tickets at all. But even though it was a very small window of chance, it was at least a fair chance -- Blizzard's meter for tickets left on Saturday started at around 50%, which indicates that they split the two days of sales right down the middle. As long as you showed up and clicked at the right time, you had as much chance as anyone else. At least we got a great game out of it.

If you have tickets, enjoy the show (and don't forget: our meetup will be on Thursday night!). But if you don't, what now? The DirecTV stream will be available both via their service and on the Internet. And even if you don't jump in on that deal, we'll of course have plenty of up-to-date coverage, as will lots of folks in the community. And if you want to go a little black market, tickets will probably be available online in a few different places. We've already heard that Blizzard is starting to crack down on eBay, but certainly there are other places tickets will appear for sale. And as time goes on, we're sure people who were planning to go won't be able to make it, contests will be held in various places, and a few more tickets will free up.

So all hope may not be lost. But unless you want to call in a favor or pay a premium, BlizzCon tickets are sold. We say: the fourth weekend in August can't come soon enough.

Yes, if you were around on Saturday, you know that the first round of BlizzCon tickets sold out, and sold out fast. Tickets went on sale right around 10am PST (which was 1pm EST), and sold out just about 28 minutes later. If the queue numbers are trustworthy, over 21,000 people (we've heard as high as 25,000 at a time) logged in to buy tickets that day, and from unconfirmed reports around the web, it seems like about 5,000 to 8,000 tickets were sold: most people who got in line around number 5,000 were able to pick a ticket up, and that was a few minutes in already. Some of those people are already selling tickets on eBay as well.

We believe (though aren't sure) that they'll be selling more than 15,000 tickets this year, since that's what they sold last year and they're using even more of the convention space. If that's true, then Blizzard probably went through only about half of the tickets, and will sell the rest during the second session on the 30th. But that's probably not much of a consolation -- given the frenzy around this last Saturday, there'll probably be more people trying for tickets, and given the prices on eBay, possibly more scalpers clogging up the queue. We'll see.

Update: Lots of people point out, rightly so, that I missed something in my guesstimates of how many tickets were sold: you could purchase up to five. My personal guess is that the majority of people bought only one or two, but even if you go with three as the average, 5,000-8,000 people in the queue is actually 15,000-24,000 tickets. Blizzard probably did sell the majority of tickets on Saturday then, not just half. So the process on May 30th will presumably go even faster.

---

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.

I love this idea a whole lot. A group of folks on Steamwheedle are holding an RP even (which they've done before), but it's a different kind of event than the usual party or dueling tournament. Instead, it's going to be completely peaceful -- they're having a Saturday morning crafting bazaar. Down in the empty vendor stalls of Undercity, they'll have crafters of all types and levels, some with their mats, some where you'll have to bring your own mats, making items aplenty for players. On January 24th, they're holding a "Black Market", where you'll be able to get almost anything crafted that you want (providing you've got the goods). They're also having a raffle, and they'll be serving food and drink as well. What a great idea.

In fact, I'd love to see something like this come to the game at large -- maybe Blizzard could provide a bonus to crafting when it's done at a certain time in a certain place, like create a "crafter's market" weekly on Saturday mornings (scheduled just like the Sunday fishing tournament), where crafters can make sure to be in a certain area ready to craft for any players who might need it, and can get bonus items or currency or mats for their trouble.

For such a social game, combat seems to always end up being the only way for players to connect regularly (not that there's anything wrong with that, but the only way to bond in game seems to be killing things). It would be nice to see more of this type of connection encouraged by Blizzard, with players using the skills they've earned to help each other and both sides getting a nice reward for it.

It's the weekend after Thanksgiving, the family has all left, there's nothing but turkey leftovers to eat, and you hit level 80 last week, and you're just waiting for your guild to level up so you can start the endgame. What is there to do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon? Find all of the Well Read books -- WoWWiki has the guide I've been looking for ever since I first got excited about this achievement. I count 43 in total, and they've got a list of all the books you need and where you can find them for reading.

The vast majority of the books can be found in Scholomance and the Scarlet Monastery, so a run through both of those instances (you can easily solo both at 80) will get you many of the books you need. From there it's time to travel the world -- Brill, Southshore, the Eastvale Logging Camp, Duskwood, and Booty Bay, and a few other places, depending on your faction (Alliance seems to have a little bit of an advantage there, as Stormwind and Orgrimmar have nice libraries. There are a few good books in Undercity, but the Orcs and Tauren aren't much for book learning, apparently).

Seems totally doable in a quick afternoon, and while you won't really get anything but the 10 achievement points (and probably a nice chance to pick up some more of the old Azeroth explorer achievement), why else would you do this, other than to brag about it. Whenever anyone argues that you don't know your Azeroth lore, you can just point them to your Armory page, and tell them to check the part about you being Well Read.

Saturday once again, and that means it's time to round up all of the great weekly action here at WoW Insider over the past seven days. Our columnists work hard to bring you great content, and every Saturday afternoon, we wrangle it all up on one post for your weekly reading enjoyment.

All the World's a Stage: Turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones
David smooths out the roleplaying road.

Officers' Quarters: Why we lead
Why do guildleaders put up with all the progression angst and drama? I have no idea-- read Scott's column to find out.

Addon Spotlight: Whodrop
As in, who dropped this?

The Art of War(craft): Warsong Gulch, the broken battleground
Zach covers not only what's wrong with WSG, but what you should be doing while there.

Two Bosses Enter: Sapphiron vs. Bloodlord Mandokir
Our gigantic boss throwdown enters its second round.

Guildwatch: Inspiring action in all the wrong places
If only players put as much effort into making the world a better place as they did fighting about drama.

Build Shop: Hunter 41/20/0
Chris breaks out my favorite Hunter build: Beast Mastery.

Shifting Perspectives: The forgotten feral form
He probably means the little-known Druid anteater form. Oh, that doesn't exist? It's something I just dreamed up? Oh. Excuse me.

WoW Insider Show Episode 14: A podcast of PvP
Zach woke up at 4:30 in the morning just to record this podcast for you. The least you could do is listen, right?

Blood Pact: Let's lock and roll to 60!
Vims covers the penultimate stretch of leveling a 'lock.

The Light and How to Swing It: Heal me! for dummies
Scared of healing? Don't be.

Know Your Lore: Aszhara
KYL covers the queen of mean.

Totem Talk: Gearing up Elemental 60-65
The best Shatner-spec gear in Outland.

WoW, Casually: December 7-13 activities and making cash
Robin's guide to what you can do with just a few hours of playtime this week.

The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Making life easier for your healer
They spend their whole lives making sure you stay alive. Should you help them out a bit, too?

Insider Trader: Gatherers behaving badly
Back off that Black Lotus or so help me God I will flag PvP and chain lighting you where you stand!

Phat Loot Phriday: Precisely Calibrated Boomstick
This... is my boomstick!

It's Saturday again, and that means it's time for WoW Insider Weekly, our weekly look at all of our great weekly and bi-weekly features here at WoW Insider. Our columnists work hard all to create great weekly content, and every Saturday we put it all in one post and serve it up to you on a big silver platter*.

*Silver platter not included.

Azeroth Interrupted: How to tell it's time to take a WoW break
Because sometimes, you need to just say no.

Spiritual Guidance: Threat and you
If you priests don't want monsters running at you, you shouldn't insult their mothers!

Officers' Quarters: 2.3 -- an officer's perspective
What do you guild officers need to know about what's coming in the next big content patch?

All the World's a Stage: It's not just about sexy butts
I see David's point, but he forgot one thing: what if you're Sir Mix-a-lot?

/silly: Shadow of the colossal mistake
Our weekly cartoon shows a city raid gone wrong.

Build Shop: Shaman 15/5/41
Eliah's gone this week, so I showed off my Resto-with-a-side-of-DPS build.

Shifting Perspectives: Online Druid resources
If you're a Druid, get out your bookmarks window-- you'll want to keep these.

Reader WoWSpace of the Week: 2.3 WoWspaces!
Featuring WoW on a television. That's crazy talk!

Guildwatch: The most important thing
"Guild drama is a lot like falling in love..."

The Light and How to Swing It: PvP Healing Build
Chris tells you how to win both friends and fights in PvP.

BRK: Karazhan for Hunter-Dummies
A Hunter guide for Blizzard's most popular raid.

Know Your Lore: The Titans
They're old, they're Norse, and they created the world. Find out more about Azeroth's enigmatic god-beings.

The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Why we war
How much war could a warrior war if a warrior were wared for war?

Ask WoW Insider: Best way to find a new server?
Help this guy figure out where to reroll.

Phat Loot Phriday: Black Bow of the Betrayer
It's black, it's pointy, and it gets you mana. What's not to love?