I was pretty excited to attend my fourth BlizzCon event. It's not so much that it's Blizzard games - though those are certainly exciting and fun - but the whole panoply of social events and personal connections that surround the event that make the experience so wonderful. BlizzCon is one of the few chances I have to see and hang out with a worldwide network of friends and a chance to spend time in the City of Angels where so many of my formative years were spent. And now, a week after the event, when I've mostly recovered I'm going to relate my BlizzCon 2013 experience. Buckle up, the ride might get bumpy!
BlizzCon was November 8th and 9th, 2013. I departed from my home in lovely northern California the previous Wednesday so I could visit with friends and enjoy early social gatherings before the event itself.
It's a long drive, usually 7.5 hours; I knew I was going to hit rush hour in multiple places, so I got an early start. I'd packed my luggage, some special packages for friends, laptop, and tablet into the car the night before so off I went. I was on the freeway by 8am. I hit a friend's house just before 10am to deliver one of the packages - three bottles of wine from my employer's winery - and set off again for Los Angeles.
Interstate 5 is the faster route, and I ate up miles, making good time - so good in fact that I thought I might be too early for my friend Brian to be home from work - but LA rush hour cured that problem. I spent 45 minutes going less that 4 miles, but spent most of that time right behind a little jeep with a horde emblem on its rear cover. Lok'tar, friend.
Wednesday night was spent eating delicious Indian food with my friends Brian and Michelle Hauer (@BrianHauer and @MichelleCHauer on Twitter) and talking late into the night. It was fantastic to catch up with them, play with their cats, and then follow up with a nice breakfast on Thursday morning. Then it was time to rush off to Anaheim.
I made it to Anaheim, checked into my hotel and met up with a few people from the #wowuidev channel on freenode.net. Met some new faces, met some faces I had talked to in IRC often but had never met, and then had to rush to Irvine to get a special tour of the Blizzard campus. I got to see the WoW development team's work area, the common areas, and more, but most of it I can't really talk about. Though I do have a nice shot of me with the orc wolf-rider to share with you.
Then rush back to Anaheim to go get my passes to the event. This involved standing in line for about two hours to get into Hall E of the Convention Center. I'm ill-suited to standing on my feet that long, so I was really, really glad to finally get out of the line. Sadly, that meant I had to miss the Zam party, and had to rush over to PF Chang's to attend the UI Dev Dinner hosted by WowInterface.com and Curse.com. Conversation, drinks, new faces, old faces, and a great time. We wrapped up at nearly 11pm! Thanks to the ever-patient wait staff at PF Chang's!
Then drinks in the Marriott bar with the UI crowd until 1am when I finally stumbled off to bed at my hotel a few blocks away. I was pretty beat by this time, so I slept like a rock until it was time for the doors to open!
Opening Ceremonies
I am not, as a general rule, a morning person so I managed to miss breakfast at the hotel and stumble over to the Convention Center just as it was opening up. I hit up a food truck (a new addition this time around) and got delicious burger to start my day.
The opening ceremonies included speeches by Blizzard founders and leaders of various efforts but I was mostly wanting to hear the big news - what games could I expect to see from Blizzard in 2014? You've been patient with me, so I'll quit dragging it out, here they are.
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
A fast paced, fun, free-to-play digital card game based on the Warcraft franchise. The game has been previously announced at PAX, but they announced that the game would go from closed beta to open beta in December - possibly January. Initial release looks to be on Windows and Mac OS, and should be rapidly followed by iOS (for iPad and iPhone) and Android (again, phones and tablets) Soon<tm>. I've played it because I'm in the beta, and I like it. I can easily see it being a great way to fill waiting time anywhere, and playing it against friends and matchmade opponents often. Games are fast, and last at the most 15 minutes so it's perfect for casual game play. You can find tons of people streaming ganes of Hearthstone on Twitch.tv and lots of videos on YouTube.
- Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
I liked Diablo III a lot, especially considering that I never played any of the earlier Diablo games. It's good, monster-cutting, barrel-smashing, dungeon grinding fun with beautiful graphics and I more than got my money's worth when I bought my collector's edition. And I expect I'll play the heck out of the expansion too. I played the teaser missions on the demo stations, trying out the new Crusader character type. And it feels very much like Diablo III - thematic elements are perfectly in tune with what has been played before. I don't think you can go wrong with this game. If you're like me, you'll play it like crazy for a few weeks, then return to it when you need some mindless monster smashing fun.
- World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
Oh World of Warcraft - Just when I think I'm about done, you pull me back in. Fight against the Orc Warlords of Draenor? Base my Draenei shaman out of Karabor? Upgraded character models? Build my own garrison and stock it with NPC followers? Oh yes. Oh yes indeed.
And as a nice bonus, if you buy the expansion pack, boost a character to level 90 right away and dive in! Perfect for those returning players or someone who's guild has asked them to switch to a new role.
- Heroes of the Storm
Here's why:
1. Play the panoply of Blizzard universes heroes and villains. <strong>BE</strong> Diablo, Kerrigan, the Lich King, Thrall, Garrosh, Tyrael, and more. I will teach you the meaning of fear as the Lich King. Bring it.
2. Limited time commitment. Here's a game where you can play the entire game in 15-20 minutes. Login, with or without a cohort of friends and rock the game on Battle.net. Perfect for lunchtime or evening games to wind down. It makes me think back to 2000 - 2003 when friends and I would fire up Quake for a little lunchtime smack-talk and fragging.
3. It's beautiful. No, seriously. BEAUTIFUL.
The line to play this game at BlizzCon was never under an hour long at any point after the demo stations opened, and I'm not a patient man, so we stood and watched people play. All the effects and the UI for the game were sleek, sexy and reminded me of SCII and Warcraft II.
Friday night was spent in Los Angeles, visiting my friend Eric Heisserer and his lovely wife Christine Boylan, truly some of the most humble and wonderful people I've ever had the pleasure to know. Dinner at a lovely place called Duplex on Third followed by an evening of conversation and drinking of many glasses of wine. It was my first chance to meet Christine, and I was charmed instantly. This visit made the trip especially great.
- E-Sports
My friend Eric doesn't have much time for games lately. He's busier than the single rooster in a giant hen house. But he loves e-sports, especially for games he doesn't/hasn't played. Day 2 of BlizzCon was his day, so I let him pick all the events and he chose the WCS Starcraft II finals. Man, I'm glad he did.
First, let me specify that while I was in the beta for SCII, I got in late and my time was compressed due to moving. By the time things settled down enough to give me time to play the beta was almost over. I probably cleared the tutorial and a single match, so really, I have never seriously played SCII. But let me tell you... I was on the edge of my seat for every nail-biting moment of the finals.
This happens to me every time I sit to watch professional gamers do their thing. I go in thinking 'I don't want to watch people play a videogame, I want to play video games.' And when the dust settles and someone is kissing a trophy, I think 'This is how football fans must feel.'
Journey's End
Driving up I-5 from Los Angeles to San Francisco isn't taking the scenic route. If you want a beautiful, albeit slightly slower drive, you take 101, but I was interested more in saving an hour. So I was really surprised to pull into a rest stop about halfway through the drive to see a McLaren F1 in a glossy black paint scheme pull in behind me. It was a thing of beauty lads, let me tell you. I highly recommend picking one up if you have the means. It's so choice.
You'll have to settle for pictures from their website though, 'cause I was so awestruck I forgot to take a picture of the actual car.
The Maclaren F1
It was a great trip. I look forward to the next one.
