EPTNOTE: This blog is going to be updated a couple of times throughout the week. I don't expect anyone to check back but just posting it here for a log
. Also, this blog jumps around a lot, you've been warned!In this blog I am going to share a few moments from Blizzcon in both text and video. Sadly I wasn't able to get any pictures at Blizzcon
.![[image loading]](http://sc2pod.com/img/news/blizzcon.jpg)
The 2009 Blizzcon was my first, and possibly my only, Blizzcon that I was able to attend. From where I am living now (Eugene, Or) it was about a 16 hour drive (including stops, food, gas, etc) which I stupidly chose to drive all at once. While this was possible it resulted in near exhaustion for the entire Blizzcon event. I learned my lesson and am definitely never driving that much at one time again.
That aside, Blizzcon is only a mediocre event if you are a Starcraft only fan and an outstanding event if you are a WoW fan. It was painfully obvious that the main focus of Blizzcon is World of Warcraft, with Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 taking sort of a back seat. This was first apparent when the goodie bag contained no Beta key as well as their major announcement being another WoW expansion (enjoy leveling up again!)
However, for me personally, the main reason I went was to see a professional Starcraft tournament before the release of Starcraft 2. I was able to meet Savior, Nada, Zero, SkyHigh, Effort, Ret, Incontrol and IdrA. And of course Tasteless, Artosis, and other names in the Starcraft community.
(More video of them to come)
I really enjoyed meeting the players as well as getting to see all of them play up close and in person. I was even able to watch Ma Jae Yoon play Starcraft 2 while Effort and SkyHigh watched.
On stage most of the games ended up being Zero vs EffOrt. I have footage of almost all those games which I'm slowly getting uploaded. Sadly, I missed the Savior vs Nada matches as it was at 10 am right when the doors opened on day 2.
One of the biggest highlights of the entire trip was the Team Liquid OSL party. It was nice to actually get together with a group of crazy SC fans and watch an important match, with none other than Jaedong and Yellow[arnc]. This made for a great time, especially considering nearly all the pro-gamers there were a bit tipsy.
+ Show Spoiler +
BONUS: Savior giving in to peer pressure
+ Show Spoiler +
The CJ Entus trivia was really fun, I knew a couple of the answers but sadly was not able to get one of the absolutely amazing CJ Entus shirts. (Video of this to come in the future).
The games themselves were fairly lack-luster but Day[9]'s commentary more than made up for it, even as half the audience was falling asleep due to the fact that it was almost 4 in the morning.
+ Show Spoiler +
Speaking of Day[9], on day 2 of the event I was able to play him 1v1 on these awful computers they had set up in an area designated to their old games. Much thanks to him for agreeing to play a casual game with me.
+ Show Spoiler +
Aside from the TL party, the most awesome thing about Blizzcon was the Starcraft 2 matches. Finally being able to see a broadcast game with players who actually know what they were doing was amazing. David Kim is actually really good at SC2 and I hope to see more of him (and other gamers) in the future.
In the end I had an amazing time. There are some things that I couldnt help but be annoyed by (No SC2 beta key, no announcement of SC2, primary focus on new WoW expansion) but it was a great experience none the less. Getting to meet all the pro gamers (English speaking ones as well), the Team Liquid staff, as well as all the people who came up to talk to me was a lot of fun.
Thanks to everyone who made Blizzcon 2009 as fun as it was! Not sure if I'll go next year or not... will have to wait and see.
(Lots more videos will be added to this thread as the week goes on, if you like that kind of thing).
PS: I want to give a huge thanks to whoever was responsible for getting the CJ Entus guys to come to the party and whoever it was with the team who spoke both amazing English and Korean. It was sweet being able to interact with the players like that.
UPDATES 8/27: (More are uploading right now)
If I'm not mistaken both players were more drunk than the previous videos for these games. I might be wrong, but I point to the blistering APM seen across both keyboards throughout this video as proof.
Ret loses to 1 hatch lurker from Savior at Blizzcon + his reaction at the after party.
Chill vs Ret.
CJ Entus Trivia:
5/5
