Filed under: BlizzCon

For those of you planning to attend BlizzCon 2013, Blizzard has posted a friendly reminder on its community sites that ticket information needs to be finalized by Tuesday, May 14 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. That's tomorrow night, so get to it if you haven't already done so.

BlizzCon Ticket Reminder: Attendee Information Deadline-May 14

If you purchased BlizzCon 2013 tickets for family or friends, just a reminder you have until next Tuesday, May 14 to enter or edit attendee information, including:

• The names to be printed on the badges.
• Battle.net account names for the pre-show online merchandise sale for BlizzCon ticket holders-more details to come. (Please note that only registered accounts will be able to access this pre-show sale.)
• Optional game information such as World of Warcraft character, realm, clan, and BattleTag.

If this information hasn't been entered by May 14, all badges will default to the name on the purchaser's Battle.net account. Don't miss the opportunity to customize your badges!

For more info, check out the Badge Information page.

Head to your Order History within Battle.net account management to edit attendee information before it's too late!

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This information is particularly important if you're getting your ticket through a friend or family member. If the name on your ticket does not match the name on your photo ID, you will not be able to pick up your badge on your own. That, and if you don't select your franchise preferences, you might end up with a Diablo III badge instead of a World of Warcraft one. You wouldn't want that, would you?

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Today's Activision-Blizzard financial reports states World of Warcraft took a subscriber hit this quarter, losing 1.3 million players since February.

The loss brings the total number of WoW players down to 8.3 million, its lowest level since the launch of the Burning Crusade expansion in 2007. Subscriber levels have fallen by about a third since WoW's post-Cataclysm peak of 12 million subscribers. The loss is hardly unusual -- you have to remember that WoW is a 9-year-old game, and we're at a pretty uninteresting time in the expansion cycle.

Have we mentioned yet that we're really excited to see if Blizzard is announcing a new MMO at BlizzCon?

If you're still on the lookout for BlizzCon tickets -- and have deep pockets -- tonight's your last chance to get them from Blizzard. Tonight at 7 pm Pacific (10 pm Eastern), Benefit Dinner tickets go on sale for $500 each. Though they're costly, these tickets not only get you entry to BlizzCon, you also get to attend dinner with the Blizzard staff on Thursday before BlizzCon kicks off, giving you, as Blizzard puts it, "an opportunity to meet and chat with game developers, artists, executives and other folks from Blizzard Entertainment." You'll also get a signed piece of Blizzard artwork in addition to the usual BlizzCon swag. And it's for a good cause: all proceeds from the event go to the Children's Hospital of Orange County.

If you're looking for a chance to nab a ticket of your own, be online and ready before 7 pm Pacific (10 pm Eastern) and check out our ticket purchasing tips to get an edge on the competition. There are only 200 tickets available and, even at $500 each, they're certain to sell out quickly. But even if you don't get a ticket, remember that virtual tickets will be available later and you can still enjoy BlizzCon even without a ticket.

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As you probably know, tickets for this year's BlizzCon are now sold out. If you weren't lucky enough to nab a ticket of your own, there are still a few ways to enjoy this year's convention -- and they don't even have to cost an arm and a leg.

The bargain basement option: Stay home and follow the blogs.
Total cost: Nothing
No ticket costs, no travel costs, and no need to interrupt your regular weekend schedule. You'll still get the news, as well as commentary, photos, and video from your favorite blog (which we hope is us, but don't judge if it isn't).

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Need another reason to be excited about BlizzCon? For the creative types out there (or those who just enjoy admiring the work of creative types), Blizzard has released a preview of the contest lineup for BlizzCon this November. And, though full details are to follow (including complete rules, guidelines, eligibility information, and submission details), you can start planning work now.

BlizzCon 2013 Contests

BlizzCon 2013 Art Contest
The Art Contest is coming back! We can't wait to see your always impressive original Blizzard-based artwork. Carpe diem-there's no time like now to dream up your next masterpiece in the hope of having it displayed at BlizzCon (and winning some great prizes).

BlizzCon 2013 Original Movie Contest
We're looking forward to screening another brilliant selection of original films based on Blizzard games. Whether it's live action, animated, wholly digital, or a combination, we can't wait to see what you come up with.

BlizzCon 2013 Costume Contest
The Costume Contest makes a triumphant return! Every BlizzCon, you keep upping the ante for amazing costumes, and we're sure this show will be no exception. As you're contemplating what you'd like to create, keep in mind that your safety is of paramount importance-that means that any costume you plan to wear should be something that you can easily see out of and safely maneuver in without assistance. In addition, no real weapons, dangerous materials, or large motorized costumes will be allowed.

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And, while the costume contest is definitely something you need to be at the convention for -- remember, there's another round of ticket sales on Saturday and we have some buying tips for hopeful attendees -- the art and movie contests are online contests.

As has been the case in years prior, if you didn't get into tonight's ticket queue within the first half of the first second of availability, you were out of luck. BlizzCon tickets have already sold out. If you didn't get lucky today, don't panic quite yet -- there's another round of ticket sales on Saturday, April 27 at 10 a.m. PDT.

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I've been thinking a lot lately about the future of WoW and how a game company will need to adapt to continue to grow an eight-year old game. This is entirely new territory for a blockbuster franchise, and Blizzard needs to be its stewards. A large part of this stewardship is how the game's major updates will get rolled out. Now I'm not talking about the pomp and circumstance that comes with a BlizzCon, but the actual content of the updates and how it relates to the event of BlizzCon.

A good example of a lot of pageantry but little (end-game, at least) content was what happened with Cataclysm. There was gigantic roll out of the expansion -- probably Blizzard's best. Designers had their ideas lined up, artists had the major artwork done, and the story was known from the outset. There wasn't much to be left to the imagination after BlizzCon, and that's okay. But then the title released and the end game didn't live up to expectations. So while BlizzCon was epic, the good feelings didn't last.

What's important for Blizzard at this year's BlizzCon is to make those good feeling last. The community needs to be reinvigorated about the game. There needs to be substantial reasons why we should continue stomping around Azeroth, fighting and working our way towards the end goal (whatever that is in an MMO). A new expansion will do this, of course, but it can't just be another run of the mill expansion. It needs to be something cataclysmic (little c).

So what does Blizzard need to do to make this expansion and the announcement happen? What do they need to do to translate the excitement and the interest of BlizzCon to the game's long term stewardship? How will Blizzard make BlizzCon epic?

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• Create a Battle.net account. You probably have one of these already, but don't hold on until April 24 at 6.59pm to make one if you don't. Get ahead of the game!
• Add a payment method to your account. You'll need to pay for the tickets somehow, so adding one, or even several payment methods is a very good idea. Just in case your preferred one doesn't work, it's also a good idea to have a backup method available. If you've had your battle.net account all set up for a while, check that your payment methods are still valid and correct.
• Blizzard also recommend that you contact your bank, or financial institution, so that they don't assume a $175 payment to someone you usually give $14.99 is fraudulent. If they think it's fraud, they may block the transaction.
• Set up your cookies! If your browser is not set up to allow and automatically refresh cookies, you will be unable to move forward in the queue for tickets and may even lose your place within it. There are several guides linked in Roraks' post after the break.
• Keep an eye on your email! A confirmation will be sent there, if it doesn't show up you'll need to go back to the store to confirm it.

And good luck! Hit the break for the full post.

• Wednesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. PDT
• Saturday, April 27 at 10 a.m. PDT

BlizzCon takes place November 8 and 9 this year at the same place it's always been: the Anaheim Convention Center outside of LA. For those that cannot attend in person, a virtual ticket will be made available. And of course, we'll also have around the clock coverage on WoW Insider.

Tickets to BlizzCon have normally sold out in seconds (literally), so you'll need to be at your computer at the times above, be very quick, and have a lot of luck in order to get one.

Good luck! The full announcement is after the break.

It's like someone announced some big giant party. Oh? You mean BlizzCon in November? Yeah, that might be what we're thinking of. So it's time for your intrepid team of WoW Insider journalists to break out our crystal balls... and tell you what we think will go down.

Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) I'm going to be helping my dad - he's remodeling the atrium. It is a messy task but loads of fun! And also I have raiding on Sunday, which has returned to being loads of fun, too. Bonus answer: Expansion announcement, I'm hoping outer space because draenei, maybe new character models, maybe also a hint or two about Titan. So many possibilities this year for cool information, really!

With another BlizzCon on the horizon, the WoW community has been abuzz with excitement -- and the WoW Insider team is no exception. But what are we to do with all of this excitement and still 9 months to BlizzCon? Why, relive BlizzCons past, of course! There have been a lot of great moments at BlizzCon over the years -- from expansion announcements to the costume contests to the open Q&A sessions with the developers -- but when I asked the WoW Insider staff what their favorite memories of BlizzCons past, it was almost entirely about the people rather than the event itself.

So just what were the WoW Insider crew's favorite BlizzCon moments? Read on to find out.

TradeChat's Panser returns with this week's WoW Insider news recap, where we look back at the hottest news from the past week and whatever other kickin' rad things may have come our way. This week's topics include:

• BlizzCon dates announced
• Diablo 3 lands on PlayStation
• ... with offline play
• But, hey, we can see Azeroth from space
• So we'll get moggy with it
• Predicting the WoW movie story

If you enjoyed the show, make sure to subscribe to TradeChat, leave a comment, and come back next week for the next episode!

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Blizzard has just announced that BlizzCon is coming back to the Anaheim Convention Center on Friday, November 8th and Saturday, November 9th, 2013. BlizzCon is a (somewhat) annual convention celebrating all of Blizzard's games and the gigantic community that surrounds them. Ever want to meet up with 25,000 other WoW players in real life? Now's your chance!

The highlights are the same as years past, including panel discussions on the games, lots of rare merchandise, great entertainment, and demos of the latest games (hopefully including the next expansion, although we don't know anything, so we're just hoping).

Tickets tend to be expensive, well over $100, and are very hard to come by. The date the tickets go on sale has not been announced yet, but when those dates come (usually tickets are on sale two times, one on a week day and one on a weekend), you'll want to be sure to be sitting at your computer clicking like crazy to get in the virtual line. Tickets sell out within a second or two. For those of you looking to book hotels already, check out Blizzard's hotel info page.

On our front, we don't have anything to announce yet about the reader meetup we've thrown every year. In 2011 we teamed up with Wowhead and Gamebreaker.TV to put on what many considered to be the opening act of BlizzCon. It was a great time had by all, and when we know more about what'll go down, we'll let you know.

Blizzard

BLIZZCON!!!!!! The seventh BlizzCon is coming to the Anaheim Convention Center Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2013. Those who join us for this epic community gathering will experience two solid days of hands-on time with the latest Blizzard games, in-depth developer discussion panels, intense eSports action featuring some of the top players in the world, and a variety of other exciting activities and events. Further details on the show, including ticket pricing and availability, will be posted here on BlizzCon.com at a later date. In the meantime, check out the press release for more info and prepare to help us blow Anaheim's mind.

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You can read the full press release on Blizzard's site.

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Earlier today, the European Battle.net community site announced the release of both the latest set of collectible World of Warcraft action figures and a brand new collection of Alliance- and Horde-themed coins. ... Wait a second, haven't we seen those coins before?

Oh. Yeah. We did. We saw them at Comic-Con in 2009. I'm going to cut Blizzard a break on this one and assume it doesn't control DC Direct's production and distribution facilities. So ... DC, this one's for you. Holy crap, guys. Almost three years ago! Three!

Well, anyway, if you're looking to spend your hard-earned coins on different coins that aren't worth as much as the ones you started with, you can purchase them on the North American Blizzard Store for $49.99 USD per set or on the European Blizzard Store for £56.95.

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