The Week Before
I grew up in Los Angeles, and I have a staggering number of friends who are still there or have moved there for professional reasons, so I like to bracket BlizzCon with some time to visit them. Realizing I had even more free time than originally planned, I left beautiful wine country in northern California and headed down south.
First up, the awesome and delightful Hauers (@BrianHauerTSO & @MichelleCHauer), who made me welcome in their home for Halloween and several days after. Many hours were spent in conversation, watching great films like ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘Hours’ and catching up on the new Constantine TV show, playing Family Business and Munchkin, and introducing them to my old friend Eric Heisserer (@HIGHzurrer), who can really work Munchkin’s “Charity” phase. I’m just saying. Staff of Napalm, sheesh!
Two Days ‘till BlizzCon
Then it was suddenly Wednesday morning, and time to hit Anaheim. I drove out to John Wayne Airport and met with @arrowmaster (WoW AddOn Author/Maintainer) and @kaelten (Director of IT at Curse.com) and off to the convention center. There we checked into hotels, and started looking for friends who were already in town or arriving – most of them from the #wowuidev channel on freenode – and off to the Hilton bar.
If you have never been to the Anaheim Hilton then I have to explain, the lobby bar is enormous. And by enormous, I mean you can probably play a rousing game of football (American or that other one) in here. The staff puts up with 25,000 video game fans and a host of journalists descending on them with aplomb.
It wasn't long before drinks were had and Cards Against Humanity was being played. Sadly, I had to skip both, because I had more friends to retrieve from the airport, specifically @RessyM. By the time we returned, there was time for a single quick drink, then I had to haul my aging butt to bed.
The ticket line opened at 9 am – this is a huge departure from previous years. Normally, Blizzard employees and some temp hires staff the lines and things open at 5 pm and take forever. But Blizzard did a very smart thing this year, partnering with EventBrite and letting them handle the ticketing and logistics. I didn't get there at 9, but I did get there at 10:30 and instead of standing in line for hours and hours, I simply walked in, got my tickets scanned, and was handed my badges and goodie bags. Entire process lasted less than ten minutes. If you've never stood in line for a name change on a badge at BlizzCon before, heck, even the regular badge line, then this miracle is lost on you. I suddenly had hours left over and that meant a lot more time to socialize, root through my goodie bag, and geek out with more awesome attendees. I hope this partnership is repeated.
If you want a full detailing of the Goodie Bag contents, the folks over at WoWHead did it extremely well, so I won’t repeat it. I will note that I got the rare “Nova” gold pin, and no, I’m not trading it.
UI AddOn Author Dinner
WoWInterface.com and Curse.com sponsor a dinner for WoW AddOn authors, the WoW UI team at Blizzard and a few select guests. It’s a chance to joke with friends you rarely get to see in person, to share stories, a meal, drinks, and have some laughs. As a lead-in event to BlizzCon itself, I can think of nothing finer. Crowded around with people who love WoW so much they strive to improve it, who dedicate hours to figuring out the API, and writing code for days or weeks, then maintaining , updating and improving that code is a humbling experience. Yes, I’m one of them, but some of these guys are forces of nature, and they humble me. Looking at you, Foxlit.
In case the narrative going forward doesn't make it clear, there’s a lot of drinking at BlizzCon. Normally after the UI Author dinner, there’s a gathering – and this night was no exception, based on when my roomies got back to the hotel, I know that a great deal of liquor and Cards Against Humanity was had. I bowed out to spend the evening with an old friend instead.
BlizzCon 2014 – Opening Day
I’d been hearing at dinner the night before about how “you really don’t want to miss the opening ceremony” so I was pretty psyched. Several friends and I had breakfast, and talked about how it was odd that we were getting this ‘buzz’ but that we didn't really know what it could be. I mean, after all the Warlords of Draenor expansion was due to drop the next week, and Titan had been cancelled. Everything else – like Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm were well covered as both release games and an alpha respectively, so what was going to fill that huge blank spot?
Eric and I grabbed seats in a hall so crowded you couldn't hear yourself think, and then things got underway…
But First A Word From Our Conscience
Before I get into the awesomeness that was all the games, let me touch on a dark, evil, rank sub-culture in our gaming midst, those 'Ethics is Games Journalism' liars, otherwise known as Gamergate. It pains me to have to even acknowledge the existence of these folk, but it makes what happens at the opening ceremony important.
A small, vocal, angry, bitter group of people hiding out in some unsavory places on the 'net seem to think that feminists are somehow subverting gaming news outlets and exerting some undue control over video games. That's a smokescreen for their real agenda; drive out of the games business any woman who dares to make a critique that some games are decidedly not friendly to women and that misogyny has such deep roots in our culture that we miss it when it’s expressed in games. Pointing out simple things like not having female characters to play in games, women in stories should be more than just sexual eye candy or rewards to the hero, or female characters getting to have agency. And that maybe we could get more interesting games if we included women.
Those guys have repeatedly, relentlessly attacked the four most prominent women in the games field, and then attacked geek extraordinaire Felicia Day, for daring to blog about how now she feels fear where she used to feel community. It’s repulsive on every level. I spent a lot of my life being the weird kid, getting beaten up, ostracized, picked on and belittled. Games – Board games, Role-Playing Games, and when the tech caught up, video games were a place that didn't happen to me. But now, video games are mainstream, and some of the formerly oppressed are using evil against women in our community. I hate it.
So when Mike Morhaime of Blizzard said on stage to 25,000 people in the auditorium and thousands more watching via streaming that Blizzard stood against such actions, my heart was lifted. He was mild, which is his entire manner, but he spoke directly and with emotion. Here’s a company that took a stance, and got it mostly right. Thank you.
Then They Unleashed the AWESOME!
Watch the cinematic before proceeding.
Holy Bleep! Blizzard made a SHOOTER? Even better than that, a shooter I want to play?
This… does not compute! But it does!
WANT IT! GIVE IT TO ME NOW, PUNY HUMANS, AND I WILL SPARE YOUR PATHETIC PLANET THE DESTRUCTION IT SO RIGHTFULLY DESERVES!
… Ahem. Sorry, Got a little carried away there.
I've played shooters. And I’m terrible at them. Got started with Wolfenstien, then Doom, Quake, a little Call of Duty. I've tried to love this genre, but it boils down to I’m older, more broken, and terrible at twitch gaming. After spending most of an afternoon on a Quake II server mostly waiting to respawn, I gave up on the entire category.
Which meant that most console games didn't appeal to me either. The 'awesome' games for them are, well, shooters. Aside from playing Neverwinter on the PS2, I've almost never been tempted to buy a console because most of the games are some sort of shooter or fighting game that left me cold. I've stuck to PC/Mac games for things like MMOs and turn-based-strategy games like the Civ franchise.
Now along comes a game like Overwatch – a shooter at its very core, but drenched in Superheroes, action, stories, and character? I’m sold. I want in. I'm pleading for a beta slot, and I'll suffer dying at the hands of better players as often as it takes for gain a high level of skill.
That’s the magic, right there, isn't it? Take a thing I strongly dislike, and make it into a thing I covet. An experience I crave. Blizzard does that like no one else in the business.
Of course they announced an expansion for Hearthstone Goblins vs Gnomes – I’ll be playing that too. I like Hearthstone. It plays amazingly well on the PC or my Mac Book, but its true home is my iPad mini where playing it feels most natural. Now Android tablets will bet to play it that way too!
There's more … Heroes of the Storm is in Technical Alpha and already has a strong following – enough that a game which isn't even out yet has e-sports competitions. This game still looks amazing and I still want to play it. My enthusiasm for it it undimmed a year later.
Did I mention the teaser for Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void?
The Cinematic Team at Blizzard is top notch.
That looks AWESOME. I don’t play RTS games for reasons of physical pain. The amount of time I spend griping a mouse exacerbates my RSI pain to crippling levels. That said, I would watch a Zerg vs Protoss movie on the big screen. I’d buy the DVD. Blizzard? Make this happen. The Cinematic Team at Blizzard is top notch.
All of this happened and loaded into my brain before lunch. I might have exploded in my chair.
I spent the rest of the day wandering the halls of the show, checking out art, taking pictures of things, and grabbing a quick nap so I could watch the talent show and costume contests, the results of which are all over the web, so I chose the WoWhead blog.
Here's a bunch of art and other shots from my wandering around.
Here's a bunch of art and other shots from my wandering around.
Then there was drinking. And more Cards Against Humanity – until 3am. Good thing I don’t get hangovers!
Day 2 – The Reckoning!
All the big news is out, so today is all about panels and e-sports. Eric and I watched a lot of battles. WoW Arena Semi Finals, Heroes of the Storm Semi Finals, StarCraft Semi Finals.
Those games were intense. INTENSE. I'm sorry, but you weren't there and there's no way I can recount them for you in a way that does the experience justice. Let's just say that WoW Arena Team Bleached Bones converted me to fandom.
The best for last.
METALLICA!
Suddenly I'm 21, thin, and have my pony-tail back. Music transports you. Thank you #Metallica and #Blizzard for giving me youth again!
— Matt Converse (@anothershoe) November 9, 2014
© 2014 Matt Converse - All rights reserved.
