BlizzCon 2009
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Blizzard Entertainment BlizzCon 2009 past event
Blizzard Entertainment Press Release: BlizzCon® 2009 Announced
| BlizzCon 2009 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Key art | |||
| Announced | February 17 | ||
| Dates | August 21 - 22 | ||
| Attended | 20,000+[1] | ||
| Performer(s) | Ozzy Osbourne, Jay Mohr, [1], TAFKAL80ETC | ||
| Website | BlizzCon.com | ||
| Floor map | |||
 | |||
|
| |||
BlizzCon 2009 was the fourth BlizzCon convention hosted by Blizzard Entertainment, announced on 17 February 2009 and held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, from 21 to 22 August 2009. In response to continued growth, the event expanded its footprint from three to four convention halls, accommodating over 20,000 attendees.[1]
The convention featured major announcements, including the reveal of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion and updates on StarCraft II and Diablo III. Attendees experienced hands-on demos, developer panels, community contests, and competitive tournaments. The BlizzCon Invitational returned with both Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and StarCraft: Brood War. Entertainment highlights included performances by The Artists Formerly Known as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain and Ozzy Osbourne, alongside appearances by Jay Mohr.
Swag bags included an in-game World of Warcraft murloc marine pet named Grunty and other Blizzard-themed merchandise.
Summary
- World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the next expansion.
- Reveal trailer
- Level cap raised to 85.
- Talent trees redesigned.
- Glyph system revamped.
- Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms overhauled.
- Flying in the old world.
- New high-level zones: Uldum, Deepholm, Twilight Highlands, Mount Hyjal, and Vashj'ir.
- New races: Worgen (Alliance) and Goblin (Horde)
- New profession: Archaeology
[WoW's 5th Anniversary] in November
- Commemorate the anniversary with Onyxia's Lair revamp (patch 3.2.2)
- Warcraft film details
- Reiterated that Legendary Pictures was producing a live-action film
- Story focus: Alliance point of view, particularly the human experience with the orcs as antagonists.
- Tone: Described as "gritty, dark, and violent" war film rather than light fantasy adventure.
- Director still Sam Raimi at this time, as announced earlier in July 2009.
Diablo III
- Fourth playable class revealed: Monk.
- Playable demo with all four classes on show floor.
- Expanded lore and itemization discussed in panels.
StarCraft II
- Single-player campaign demo available on the show floor.
- Battle.net 2.0 previewed, showcasing new matchmaking, achievements, and social features.
Activities
- Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games
- Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
- Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
- Community contests with great prizes
- The contests and rules were announced on via a forum announcement on 30 June 2009 Blue Post - Bashiok. The direct link page is here.
- Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment’s game universes
- A silent auction
- Detailed information about Battle.net 2.0
- More exciting activities and attractions to be announced
- Experience 20 minutes of:
- the Goblin and Worgen starting areas of the new Cataclysm expansion
- Diablo 3, including the new Monk class
- StarCraft 2 Single Player Campaign
- Closing Ceremony headlined by Ozzy Osbourne! Blue Post - Nethaera
Tickets
- $125.00 USD per ticket (up from BlizzCon 2008, was $100.00 USD)
- This year introduced a new ticket purchasing system via a queue. Rather than allow users to flood the server with one massive purchase period, the servers placed customers in a virtual line, checking each one out in order.
- Sold in two batches:
- Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 10:00am Pacific Time (California) (Sold out in 30 minutes)
- Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 10:00am Pacific Time (California) (Sold out in 30 minutes)
- Barcodes for tickets began being delivered via e-mail on 30 July 2009
- Several community websites have had contests to win tickets.
- On a different note, a drawing was to be held to allow 200 people to purchase a ticket to the Laguna Art Museum's Blizzard exhibit. Included with the purchase of the ticket was a BlizzCon ticket
Swag/Goodie Bag
Images and information can be found here.
- Grunty, the Murloc Space Marine (video)
- StarCraft II Jim Raynor vinyl noobz
- World of Warcraft Magazine promotional booklet
- Algalon bookmark
- BlizzCon themed Authenticator
- BlizzCon Souvenir Program Ticket (Redeem After Opening Ceremony)
- a two-for-one admission coupon to the Laguna Art Museum's World of Warcraft: Emergent Media Phenomenon exhibit
- BlizzCon Instant Hand Sanitizer (2.0 fl. oz.)
- Brady Games Bookmark/Quest Catch Me If You Can
- Find Brady Mercantile, use map to find five (5) treasures, and return to Brady.
- BlizzCon Schedule/Map Foldout
- Promos for Nvidia, Intel, Laguna Art Museum, Zipzoomfly, SteelSeries, Razer, Jinx, and 3point.
Coverage
- DirectTV covered BlizzCon via a Pay-Per-View event as well as a streaming internet video of the same feed. Price is $39.95 USD, and includes code for Grunty.
- The streaming internet video was provided in HD Blue Post - Eyonix, including the following coverage items:
- Exclusive interviews and commentary
- Main stage presentations including opening ceremony
- Tournament coverage and team highlights
- Rebroadcasting of coverage directly following the live stream (so if you miss out on the first couple hours, don't stress!)
- The Warcraft III and Starcraft tournaments were available for free. However, in order to get the highlights, the panels, and the full coverage, the DirectTV stream is the only option. Blue Post Europe - Slorkuz
- You can also find coverage of the event on several websites:
- Read the full BlizzCon 2009 Day 1 summary.
Movie Contest
Gallery
Warcraft key art
Diablo key art
StarCraft key art
References
- ^ a b c The BlizzCon Book: A Celebration of Our Community, pg. 26
External links
Blizzard Entertainment BlizzCon 2009 past event Blizzard Entertainment Press Release: BlizzCon® 2009 Announced
| ||||||||||||||||||||||