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The second Blizzcon I attended was the year following my first one. However, instead of being in October, it was held in August! Now my college doesn't start until the beginning of September, so getting down to California two and a half weeks early was a bit difficult. Luckily, one of my guildies (and college buddies) lives in the area and let me (and my boyfriend of the time) crash at his house. After the convention, we waited out the next two weeks by sitting around playing WoW all day and begging for a breeze in the 100+ degree heat.
Before I left for Blizzcon, I decided I would make myself something to wear. Since the skimpy druid outfit went over so poorly, I opted for a handpainted shirt expressing my duel feral/feral spec.
+ Show Spoiler +
One of our other guildies (who is also a friend of mine from home) was going to Blizzcon and already had a hotel, so, instead of making the hour drive twice a day, we crash in his hotel room.
We got our passes the night before and woke up for Blizzcon just around an half an hour before the doors opened. If anyone plans on going to Blizzcon, I highly recommend you get there WELL before the doors open, an hour is not enough. The line (which is 10 people across in the first 400 meters) stretched all of the way around the convention center back into the parking lot where it swirled into a mass of people. It was hot, muggy and everyone was dying out there. However, I did get a number of compliments on my shirt! Yay! People talked to me without me talking to them first!
![[image loading]](http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6493_1086525814941_1580280053_30200358_4651_n.jpg)
After fighting through the line inside, I spotted something amazing: The Loot Elemental. It was the first Blizzcon they had it at and no one really knew what it was. I'm a sucker for free things, so I dragged my guildies to check out the swirling box of tickets. It turned out that they were giving away trading card game loot cards, including the Spectral Tiger (which was selling on ebay at the time for $600+). My friends and I hopped into line, waiting for our turn.
Since only a few of the tickets are winners and it's hard to see in that damn box, I called out to the people in the box that were in line ahead of me and pointed to winning tickets, helping them get loot cards. While I was in line, I was struggling to decide if I should try to get a Spectral Tiger or an Etheral Trader (an in game pet, which I'm a huge sucker for). When I got to the front, I got in the box and the tickets started swirling around me. I groped around, but couldn't find any winning tickets. Just as the time was running out, I heard the crowd screaming at me "ABOVE YOU! ABOVE YOU!" and pointing over my head. I looked up to see a Spectral Tiger ticket stuck to the ceiling just as the engine turned off. I reached up and snatched it just as it started falling in a flutter with the other tickets that had been stuck to the top.
![[image loading]](http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6493_1086526014946_1580280053_30200363_5287142_n.jpg)
When my friends finished their attempts, one had also got a spectral tiger, and one got the soul trader. Knowing my love of pets and being a very sweet guy, he gave it to me, expressing that he rarely played anymore and that he know it'd make me happy (thank you, Canti, it really is my favorite pet even today).
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/7417_1109653273113_1580280053_30250886_5728699_n.jpg) The coolest thing about the Etheral Soul Trader is that he sucks out the "soul" of anything you kill with purple lightening and then gives you a token which you can use to buy additional items from him with. ![[image loading]](http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/8923_1109659433267_1580280053_30250896_994593_n.jpg)
I ran around the convention with my friends, visiting the different booths. My favorite sales booth was the Nvidia booth because they had systems set up with their 3D glasses and screens. The best part was that you could log onto your WoW account at these stations! I must have spent a good three minutes making Riku jump "out of" the screen while giggling like a 5 year old given too much candy.
Of course, when it came to actually playing the games, I had a blast, especially checking out Diablo 3 game play and note the additions/changes since the previous Blizzcon. As with most people, I was super excited to play the monk class. I think the part I enjoy most about Blizzcon is when they announce something new and you get to watch everyone freak out about it, so when they announced worgens and goblins as the two new races, I got to hoot and holler and cheer with everyone else.
The art corner was really fun to look through, so i highly recommend checking it out if you're ever at Blizzcon. The art there is amazing and you get to see some really awesome work up close. I was also highly amused by the painted figurines on display, here are a few of my favorites:
+ Show Spoiler +
Of course, the costumes were awesome, too! However, the best costume by far is every raider's best friend...
![[image loading]](http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/6493_1086526854967_1580280053_30200384_477259_n.jpg)
moar later... tired...
  
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I remember seeing the summoning stone costume on the live stream and laughing out loud
Nice poses, who were you summoning? Hopefully a raid member unable to pay for a trip to blizzcon amirite?
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Wait, what? Your mount gives you an unfair advantage as far as gameplay goes?
I thought Blizzard didn't do that.
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MrHoon
10183 Posts
you should've played an undead male instead of a female nelf
it would've made your summoning picture 100x funnier
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You should do what a friend and I do when we go to blizzcon...
a game invented simply for the large amount of times spent in lines/waiting.
Also a fun game while trying to push your way through the overly crowded halls
Something that will distract you from the ridiculous amount of sweaty smelly people all around you...
Unicorn Spotting. (not to be confused with Unicorn Hunting... we only spot... we dont kill them)
Unicorn- Beautiful girl at Blizzcon. (unicorns are super rare blah blah blah, something everyone wants to see blah blah blah, it makes sense and it was a quite amusing process)
There is also a points system (that we created in year 2 of blizzcon)
1 Point- Girl
2 Points- Beautiful girl .
3 Points- Beautiful girl who is cosplaying
4 Points- Beautiful cosplaying girl who is so beautiful she deserves at least 4 points.
(there are more points that scale along with ZOMG epicness)
Strangely tho, in the last couple there have been a LOT more female convention attendees. Number seems to grow every year, kinda interesting
Obviously, you are a female, so this might not be nearly as entertaining for you, but its still worth a chuckle for myself and my friend.
(and no this isnt a creepy gross nerdy thing just something we found slightly amusing, I am not some anti-social computer nerd who cant meet/talk to girls I have had multiple long-term relationships with girls completely out of my league,, this is nothing but an amusing game)
We also count black people at blizzcon... cause we find it interesting how few black people there are that are into Blizzard products. We aren't racist, just another one of those things we noticed and were like "hmm i have only seend 3 black people all day"
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On July 02 2011 17:24 travis wrote:
Wait, what? Your mount gives you an unfair advantage as far as gameplay goes?
I thought Blizzard didn't do that.
Are you talking about the Etheral Soul Trader that gives you credits from killing things? The credits can only be used to buy silly things like clothing and alcoholic drinks. At least that is what I gather from wowhead, I haven't played WoW in years
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You are so good looking in the last picture =], maybe it's because I am automatically attracted to anyone doing a hadouken (although you're probably doing some WoW thing)...thanks for le interesting blog Riku, striking another point for gender balance on the forums. Even if you are a WoW nerd, WoW being a virus of video gaming equitable to the black death or AIDS.
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On July 02 2011 18:11 sc4k wrote:
You are so good looking in the last picture =], maybe it's because I am automatically attracted to anyone doing a hadouken (although you're probably doing some WoW thing)...thanks for le interesting blog Riku, striking another point for gender balance on the forums. Even if you are a WoW nerd, WoW being a virus of video gaming equitable to the black death or AIDS.
lol i read this and automatically thought of a tshirt "WoW players are like AIDS"
lololol. so funny
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how is WoW these days anyways?
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The summoning stone is priceless, all you're missing is the other 23 members of the raid afk because they're too lazy to actually help summon or to accept their summons..
edit~ called it a summoning stone portal... lol what?
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Fun read!!1 I watched like every minute of last years blizzcon, was amazing. Wish i could have been there!
The spectral tiger is amazing, i should've bought one when they only went for $100-200, nowadays they're a small fortune. Though in the end happy i didnt get one because i rarely play anymore. Cataclysm kinda ruined it.
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What is Slasher doing in that last picture?
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Papua New Guinea1054 Posts
I don't think I will ever understand cosplay. It's like the higher level of nerdism I did not achieve yet.
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Hyrule18937 Posts
On July 02 2011 17:15 -orb- wrote:
I remember seeing the summoning stone costume on the live stream and laughing out loud
Nice poses, who were you summoning? Hopefully a raid member unable to pay for a trip to blizzcon amirite?
She's clearly summoning kamehameha.
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I read this blog in TLO's voice. Thanks Roffles.
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On July 02 2011 17:15 -orb- wrote:
I remember seeing the summoning stone costume on the live stream and laughing out loud
Nice poses, who were you summoning? Hopefully a raid member unable to pay for a trip to blizzcon amirite?
Our mage friend, he gets lost a lot...
On July 02 2011 17:24 travis wrote:
Wait, what? Your mount gives you an unfair advantage as far as gameplay goes?
I thought Blizzard didn't do that.
Ah, no, it's just a costume item, same with the pet.
On July 02 2011 17:50 MaestroSC wrote:
You should do what a friend and I do when we go to blizzcon...
a game invented simply for the large amount of times spent in lines/waiting.
Also a fun game while trying to push your way through the overly crowded halls
Something that will distract you from the ridiculous amount of sweaty smelly people all around you...
Unicorn Spotting. (not to be confused with Unicorn Hunting... we only spot... we dont kill them)
Unicorn- Beautiful girl at Blizzcon. (unicorns are super rare blah blah blah, something everyone wants to see blah blah blah, it makes sense and it was a quite amusing process)
There is also a points system (that we created in year 2 of blizzcon)
1 Point- Girl
2 Points- Beautiful girl .
3 Points- Beautiful girl who is cosplaying
4 Points- Beautiful cosplaying girl who is so beautiful she deserves at least 4 points.
(there are more points that scale along with ZOMG epicness)
Strangely tho, in the last couple there have been a LOT more female convention attendees. Number seems to grow every year, kinda interesting
Obviously, you are a female, so this might not be nearly as entertaining for you, but its still worth a chuckle for myself and my friend.
(and no this isnt a creepy gross nerdy thing just something we found slightly amusing, I am not some anti-social computer nerd who cant meet/talk to girls I have had multiple long-term relationships with girls completely out of my league,, this is nothing but an amusing game)
We also count black people at blizzcon... cause we find it interesting how few black people there are that are into Blizzard products. We aren't racist, just another one of those things we noticed and were like "hmm i have only seend 3 black people all day"
Haha, I don't think it's a "creepy gross nerd thing." Remember, in the end, I'm just one of you guys... albeit, probably worse at SC, but still one of you!
On July 02 2011 18:29 Roe wrote:
how is WoW these days anyways?
Terrible. I want to kick Blizzard in the teeth for killing 25 mans, they really shot themselves in the foot.
On July 02 2011 23:48 Senj wrote:
I read this blog in TLO's voice. Thanks Roffles.
>.>
Do I really look like TLO?
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Dont look like TLO to me imo.
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I have shaken TLO's hand and sat right next to him during blizzcon... you do not look like TLO
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the Dagon Knight4000 Posts
On July 03 2011 00:59 Riku wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2011 23:48 Senj wrote:
I read this blog in TLO's voice. Thanks Roffles. >.> Do I really look like TLO?
Artist's Impression:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/QES2H.jpg)
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