We began our day by heading into the convention center early. Iriel and I met at the front of the entrance to the main hall so that we could procure spots for the rest of our party. We spent some time chatting together as well as with a couple of people in line with us. We were joined shortly by Esamyn and MentalPower.
Once the doors opened it was a mad rush to the booths and surrounding attractions. Massive lines formed at the two demo spots for Starcraft 2 and the next World of Warcraft Expansion. I slipped into the multiplayer line at the Starcraft 2 demo first while others of our groups went to various other areas.
The opening ceremony introduced the president and co-founder of Blizzard who shared with us the success of Blizzcon and their gratitude for our participation in the games and communities that have formed around their games. Since the first Blizzcon they have seen the population of ‘World of Warcraft’ double to 9 million active subscribers. South Park dedicated an entire episode to the game and has since been nominated for an Emmy award for that episode. Their first expansion broke the record for the fastest selling PC Game of all time, selling 2.4 million copies in the first 24 hours. This is more than most games sell in a month. And this Blizzcon saw tickets being sold out in 3 days.
Obviously as most of you well know by now, the biggest announcement to come during the opening ceremony was the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Oriented around the continent of Northrend and the story of Arthas becoming the new Lich King, this news was met with HUGE applause from the audience. Features include:
- Level cap will be raised to 80
- New customizations for your character such as changing hairstyles
- More 10 and 25 man raid instances
- New "Inscriptions" profession that can attach bonuses to your skills and spells
- New Hero Class, the "Death Knight"
- More content and areas then the Burning Crusade
Link to the YouTube video can be found here.