Have you gone to Blizzcon before?

[GreenJesus]

I have never gone to it, but I have heard it is a lot of fun by some friends/guildies. Is there a benefit to going versus watching online? Why did you go there if you went? Was it worth the cost of admission and dealing with the huge crowds? Would it be fun enough to go there alone? Share your experiences!

[Nihilist74]

The only thing i would like about it is watching the women in costumes. Otherwise i would be pretty bored. I hate crowds and there is not anything at blizzcon i would really want to see.

[Bareno]

You gotta really enjoy crowds to enjoy it imo, i went to blizzcon 2015 and it was a once of a lifetime experience, the energy during the announcements by the crowds was amazing. Going to be heading there again this year too.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Nope, never really had the time or opportunity especially, the tickers have always been hard to get and unless you want to pay some over inflated scalped price or something it really seemed kind of pointless, over all I have seen their streaming of the event, and I really can't say I felt I missed all that much.

Been to a Star Trek conventions though, and outside of asking questions of some of my favorite actors on the show, much of it kind of seems pretentious and obnoxious, as opposed to actual fun and everybody laying their hair down and enjoying a common appreciation.

[Alvito]

A few years ago I might have enjoyed it. Now there are too many features there I don't care about at all. Prior to Hearthstone, Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm and SC being included or the big chunk of things they are now it would have been much more fun. I also have a lot of friends and family in that area. If I am going there it isn't going to be for a video game thing.

[Deletedaccount1]

I went in 2013. I would've rather gone in 2012 but they didn't have one that year. I stayed at the Hilton right in front of the convention center so I got to meet a lot of "e-celebrities" (pro players, youtubers, etc) and a few Blizzard employees like Chris Metzen. I even got a picture with Conan O'Brien who was there for some reason. A lot of the panels, tournaments (SC2 in particular) and the opening ceremony were really cool. The WoD and HoTS announcement trailers were awesome to watch in person (even though they both ended up being huge disappointments imo).

The worst thing was the crowds and the lines. Nowadays, I can't possibly imagine waiting in line to play an alpha demo of a Blizzard game that I can play a year later anyway. One trick I used to bypass all the lines was to do things during the closing ceremony. The price was high because I had to travel there from the east coast. If you live in the area, it isn't that bad as far as tickets go unless you are poor or something. So overall, I enjoyed it but I wouldn't go again. The best time to go was probably 2007-2011 unless you are really into Blizzard's newer stuff (which I'm not).

Edit: I forgot to mention that I met up with old guild members while I was there which was half the reason I went. I probably would not have gone alone.

[GreenJesus]

It seems like Blizzcon used to be a more community centric thing and now it is a corporate event for advertising and selling toys.

[Deletedaccount1]

It seems like Blizzcon used to be a more community centric thing and now it is a corporate event for advertising and selling toys.

That's because Blizzard's games in general are more corporate (micro transactions) and less community centered now. SC2, Diablo 3 and late Cataclysm was when Blizzard stopped caring about giving you ways of meeting other players.

[Tziva]

I go every year and I enjoy it a lot. It's very crowded and very tiring, but definitely worth it to me. It's also an opportunity to see friends that I usually only see once or twice a year due to physical distance.

Obviously the news itself you can get online instantly. You go for the experience, the community, the opportunity to meet the game developers and community managers, or play early demos. There are also a lot of little interesting panels and shows that most people don't bother with because they're not on the main stage (or shown on the stream), but they can be really neat and insightful and are seldom covered in most website's news (I know chaud has made a point to get recordings of many of these the last few years though). So there are a lot of good reasons to go.

I do also want to note that they really have improved over past convention mistakes, and a lot of things have vastly improved like the store experience, demo lines, etc. One year I wasted -- no exaggeration -- five hours in the store line. Now I spend very little convention time actually in line. Demo lines move really fast most of the time, you can order the store stuff online if you want, and there is finally enough seating at the main stage that no one gets stuck unable to watch or sitting on the floor.

The early conventions were basically just WoW and SC, then Diablo III started building steam, and then they added Heroes and Hearthstone and Overwatch, so the convention covers a big range of their IPs. If you only play one Blizzard game, I'm not sure it would be worth the production or cost or time anymore unless you really love conventions or something, because the time is split between a lot of games now. It's also expensive, especially if you need to travel. The ticket price isn't really that crazy (I know people often complain but its in a similar range to a lot of other conventions), but it's a very touristy area so the hotels are costly and often booked at capacity. Public transport is really terrible so you'll need to rent a car or uber if you're doing anything not walking distance. And of course actual travel itself is expensive.

But yeah, if you're into several Blizzard games, can swing is financially, and are able to get tickets - it's definitely worth going at least once.

[Lochton]

I have never gone to it, but I have heard it is a lot of fun by some friends/guildies. Is there a benefit to going versus watching online? Why did you go there if you went? Was it worth the cost of admission and dealing with the huge crowds? Would it be fun enough to go there alone? Share your experiences!

Sadly not, I really wish to go. I almost got to go a few years ago but wasn't fast enough to get a ticket. Luckily, I had cancellation insurance on my flight tickets.

Now, the wife and I wish to go to BlizzCon but we're aiming more for GamesCom one day or two, or the whole lot if possible. Just not this year, of course. Haha.