Here is some words from the guys at WoW Insider

2:57pm: Despite our repeated clicking, the Failoc still isn’t letting us past. The farthest we’ve gotten so far is C. At this rate, looks like Mike Morhaime and Jay Mohr will be the only two people at BlizzCon ‘08. (Note: That was a joke. Jay Mohr probably won’t be hosting again.)”

1:51pm: The good news is that Blizzard confirms that no tickets have been sold yet. So you’re not the only one frustrated and angry that you can’t secure your spot at BlizzCon. We await further updates from them — the sites are going up and down now, with people seeing all kinds of things, from Failocs to regular error messages, from XML errors to even 404 Apache server pages. But as Blizzard has said, no tickets have been sold yet at all, so nobody panic.  

 

And the encouraging words from our own Blizzard Entertainment

We are well aware of an issue preventing players from purchasing Blizzcon tickets. Our Web Administrators are working as quickly as possible to remedy the issue, but I’m afraid there is no ETA at this time.

**Please be aware that Billing and Account Services and the In-Game Support Department will be unable to provide assistance with ticket purchasing until this issue has been resolved.**  

Noteworthy Points: 

• No tickets have been sold as of 11:30 AM PDT
• Blizzard Account Creation and Login issues appear to be directly related to this issue

by Angie Quidim

So I was one of the people who logged in 12:01 am to get tickets for this event.  And I was greeted by a post from a Blizzard employee that tickets will not be on sale till 8am.  I retreated to a restless sleep with deams of a Blizzcon filled future.  At 5 am i couldn’t wait and started spamming the site again..

No luck.. So I got ready for work and left hoping to make it early and start spamming the site from there.  I recieved a text at 7:41 am that tickets were on sale.  I ran to my desk and started spamming.

No luck .. Finally a ray of light… Got into the site.. Logged in .. accepted terms.. hit to confirm

ERROR!!.. I got an ugly murloc with a flag saying error and a back button.  Little did I know that this would be the beginning of my day.  So now at 12:41 I am still trying.  Blizzard has their store site down and Im still spamming.  We will chronicle where we go from here.  Some good sites to check are the blizzard FAQ site, and the blizzcon forums.  We wish you all good luck in getting tickets!!!

Let us know if you are going to be there!!!

THE BLIZZCON SITE IS UP HURRAH and tickets will be on sale starting midnight on August 11th

The site can be found here.  Also you can peruse what will await us on that fateful day

Click Here for the Blizzcon official site

For everyone contemplating a trip this year’s BlizzCon (October 10-11 in Anaheim, California), we’d like to give you a glimpse of just a few items you might find in your goody bag when you arrive at the show. Click here is the main news from the Blizzard site

If you’ve ever been on the verge of finishing off a paladin, only to be foiled at the last second, you’ll appreciate the 16″ inflatable divine shield ball, complete with a paladin inside in the midst of hearthing away. Half of the goody bags handed out will contain the bubble-hearth ball, while the other half will have…

Frostmourne. The very name of Arthas’s runeblade strikes terror into hearts across Azeroth. Now it comes to you in a more convenient package, and you don’t even have to travel to Icecrown Glacier to get it. As you go about your daily activities, whether they be raising legions of the undead or just brooding on your throne, carrying this 48” inflatable Frostmourne will grant you an extra touch of sinister majesty.

That’s just the beginning, though, as both the goody bags and the on-site store will be stuffed with sample products from our licensed partners and plenty more fun and unique Blizzard-themed trinkets, such as Diablo health and mana stress balls, pandaren brewmaster bottle openers, zerg creep, and much more.

And of course, a new BlizzCon brings with it a lovable murloc to welcome into your heart–but murlocs don’t always come alone. This one has developed a taste for speed, and sits astride an exclusive polar bear mount, waving a BlizzCon flag. It’s the perfect way to cruise Northrend in style.

	BLIZZCON™ 2008 TICKETS ON SALE AUGUST 11     Unprecedented event coverage also available exclusively on DIRECTV   IRVINE, Calif. – July 29, 2008 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that tickets for its third BlizzCon™ gaming convention will go on sale August 11 and that live coverage of the event will be available as an exclusive DIRECTV pay per view event. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment®’s Warcraft®, Diablo®, and StarCraft® game universes. The event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. “Meeting and interacting with our players at BlizzCon is always a great experience for us,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re also pleased to be working with DIRECTV this year to bring the show, for the first time, to those players who are unable to attend.” In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer an array of activities, including discussion panels, hands-on playtime with upcoming games, tournaments, contests, and more. Tickets to the convention will be priced at $100 USD each, and will be available for purchase directly from the official BlizzCon website at www.blizzcon.com. The pay per view event will deliver a minimum of eight hours of live HD coverage from the show floor on each day of the convention, including exclusive interviews, demos, and more. Beginning in August, DIRECTV will run a promotion offering the BlizzCon pay per view event free to new DIRECTV subscribers. Pricing for existing DIRECTV customers and programming details will be available in the coming weeks from Blizzard Entertainment and DIRECTV. “BlizzCon is one of the most highly anticipated gaming conventions of the year, and we are excited to partner with Blizzard Entertainment to deliver coverage of the show to gamers nationwide,” said Steven Roberts, senior vice president, new media and business development, DIRECTV. “With our BlizzCon pay per view package, members of Blizzard’s gaming communities who are not attending the event can now experience it in crystal-clear HD.” As the event draws closer, further details will be announced at www.blizzcon.com.

By Angie Quidim

Thanks to  WoW Insider and Worldofwar.net we got some insight as to how the new class works and to see what to expect when fans go to Blizzcon to get more than just a run though of the new class.

Creation and initial play:

• Death Knights will start in a floating citadel similar to Naxxramas at level 55, and go through a series of quests that will establish their story and background in the Eastern Plaguelands.
• All Indications are that Blizzard still plans to allow all races to be Death Knights, as Worldofwar.net’s reporter saw Tauren, Dwarf, Gnome, and Orc Death Knights.
• You must have an existing character of level 55 or higher to create a Death Knight.
• You can create one Death Knight per realm per account.
• You will not need to do any unlocking quests or sacrifice a character before you can create a Death Knight.
• The Death Knight will start with a wide range of abilities, as it is assumed that someone with a level 55 character has the experience to handle them right off the bat.
• They will start with a 60% speed summoned Death Charger as a land mount, which be upgradable via quest much like Warlock and Paladin mounts.

The Rune system:

• The Death Knights’ Rune meter will appear below the Health Bar.
• You will be able to place up to 6 runes in any combination of Unholy, Blood, and Frost on the meter.
• The Runes will be consumed by use of abilities, but will refresh like a Rogue’s energy Meter.
• There will be a secondary bar called Runic Power, which will be filled on the use of Runic abilities, but will decay over time much like Warrior rage.
• Runic Power will be used with moves that drain all Runic power and have powers and effects that are stronger depending on how much Runic Power was used. In this way it will be much like the Warrior’s Execute ability or the Rogue’s finishing moves.
• According to Gamespy, Blood runes will mostly cover the tank abilities (which clashes with previous information saying Blood runes were DPS, as well as with the function of the Blood Presence blow), while Frost will deal with Crowd Control.

Death Knight Abilities:

• Presences: Much like Paladin Auras or Warrior stances, Presences will be powerful one-at-a-time self-buffs that will probably determine whether the Death Knight is taking on a Tank or DPS role in the group. Worldofwar.net reported on 3 presences, as follows:
• Blood Presence will increase the Death Knight’s DPS and provide a small healing effect when the Death Knight is hit.
• Frost Presence will increase the Armor and Threat of the Death Knight.
• Unholy Presence will provide increased attack speed and decreased global cooldown, and is being billed as the PvP presence.
• Death Coil: It will not fear like the Warlock version, but will act like the WC3 version also used by Death Knights in that game, damaging enemies or healing friendly undead targets.
• Army of the Dead: This ability will temporarily summon a small army of Undead that will fight for you. It will apparently be channeled, which makes me think it will be closer to an AE attack like a Druid’s Hurricane than an actual pet ability.
• Raise Dead: This will raise an actual nearby corpse, including one of a fallen ally (even in Arenas) to fight for you as a Ghoul. An ally so resurrected will have the option to control their character as a Ghoul. Ghouls will get abilities to cause diseases, stun, and fear among other things, but it seems like they will be temporary pets all the same – at least, I assume PCs will eventually be allowed to resurrect rather than stay slaves of the Death Knight.
• Grip of Death: Pulls the enemy toward you and forces it to attack you (Probably a taunt effect, though It’d be great if the pulling effect works in PvP).
• Blade Strike: Attacks the target and applies a disease.
• Blood Strike: Deals Damage based on how many diseases are on the target.
• Chains of Ice: Roots a target, then applies a snare that lifts gradually until the target regains full mobility

Death Knight Role:

As expected, Death Knights will be DPS/Tank Hybrids. As previously known, they will not use shields, but will rely on a high parry rating and the proper presence (likely the Frost one from worldofwar.net’s report) to mitigate damage. As DPS, they will not do as much damage as a pure DPS class, but will bring extra flavor and utility to the table in the form of some minor crowd control, ghoul pets, and the use of diseases to deal extra damage and cause debuffs. Worldofwar.net also mentions that Tom Chilton, in his Death Knight presentation, told them that they are leaning toward letting all tank types do more DPS while tanking.

This promises to make new mains and interesting PVP combinations but does that mean the death of the warrior class?

 

SO the sepculation is that Wrath of the Lich King will be released in November and Starcraft2 will be released in Decmber but what about Diablo 3.  Usually Blizzard will run an event everytime they have something they want to introduce to the world.  The problem is that they have been promising a Diablo 3 since the very first Blizzcon.  The press release states that they have rented an extra hall to show off all their titles.  We will have to wait to see if that is truly the case.

One of the things you will expect at Blizzcon are fans… tons and tons of fans….

Check out last years coverage Blizzcon 2007

 

Blizzard Entertaaheim– May 12, 2008 – – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for its third BlizzCon™ gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. BlizzCon is a celebration of the global player communities surrounding Blizzard Entertainment^®’s Warcraft^®, StarCraft^®, and Diablo^® franchises. In response to the demand to accommodate more attendees, this year’s event has expanded from two convention halls to three.

“Whenever we’ve been able to meet and interact with Blizzard gamers from around the world, it’s been a great experience for us,” stated Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to seeing even more of our players at this year’s BlizzCon and delivering another entertaining and informative event for them.”

BlizzCon will offer a wide variety of activities to help all attendees get the most out of the two-day event. In addition to serving as a gathering place for the different Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, attendees will be able to enjoy:

• Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment releases
• Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
• Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
• Areas and activities devoted to licensed products such as the World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game
• Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
• Commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard Entertainment franchises
• A silent auction
• More exciting activities to be announced

Tickets for BlizzCon will go on sale in the next few weeks at a price of $100 USD per person. As the event draws closer, further details will be announced on the official BlizzCon website: www.blizzcon.com