Not the biggest fan of a mega thread. I can’t see whether my feedback is repeated or not.
Makes it easier for the team, so hopefully they can easily digest the feedback and use it to improve experience for next year.
But yeah I agree it stinks for us because it may make our feedback more like yelling into the void since it’s not individual anymore.
Give and take I guess.
I’m going to echo what I imagine are most of the sentiments already expressed in this thread: disappointment and undervalue.
I’ve only been to one previous BlizzCon (2019) and my partner and I had a great experience. I’d like to say we felt same way about 2023, but we don’t.
The initial line experience was ridiculous. We’re lucky that we stayed at a hotel near the convention center, because we were able to join the line before it got to ludicrous length (i.e., still in front of the hotels rather than neighborhoods). There seemed to be very little thought or organization in how to handle the lines. We wanted to make sure we got in before the OC. Fortunately we did, but many did not. We would have been very frustrated if not.
Darkmoon Faire should absolutely be in its own space. Having it in a small, crowded area was a terrible decision. To make matters worse, there was zero thought given to how to organize the lines for the various things in DMF, so people were often confused about what lines were for what activities or where the line even started. There were lines in 2019, but there was much more room and the lines were organized and cogent.
On a related note, it felt like there was a lot of wasted space in the rest of the convention. Notably, OW took up two halls, one of which was dedicated to e-sports. I think e-sports should have been kept in the Arena, as I believe it was in 2019.
And speaking of the Arena, I think that community night should have been kept separate from the closing ceremony/concert.
We were very disappointed by the lack of panels . In 2019 we enjoyed the panels about the lore, art, and design of Diablo and WoW. We also enjoyed hearing from Blizz employees about their actual work at Blizzard, even if it isn’t directly game-related. For example, in 2019 there was a panel from four folks at different non-game engineering teams that I found really interesting. This year, there were only a handful. I appreciate that content doesn’t fall from the sky, but I feel like after 4 years more effort could have been made here.
It felt like this year’s BC relied way too heavily on streamers and other “influencers” for content. While I appreciate their work, I don’t spend the money and take the time to go to BC to meet and greet with them. I want to talk to and hear from the actual people developing the games I enjoy.
I like the backpack that we got, but I wish it had included maybe a couple of other token items, just for fun. A couple badges or instead maybe some pins. A plushie?
One positive note is that I thought the designs for the different halls were really cool. I thought the Diablo hall was particularly cool. My partner and I enjoyed the Sacrificial Alter in 2019 and again in 2023.
In 2019, we were positive that we’d go to the next BlizzCon. In 2023, we’re very much on the fence about whether it’s worth the cost. Either way, for the next BlizzCon it needs more content, more space, and better organization.
The biggest complaint I have is in regards for Day 2, more specifically the Darkmoon Faire.
I arrived at the convention center and got in at around 10:00 am.
Darkmoon Faire was INSANELY packed, to the point where even if you did get in, you couldn’t get anywhere.
The line JUST for the capsules went all the way down to the Overwatch League stage.
After a while, they closed off the Darkmoon Faire, which is fine, HOWEVER a few points about this huge snafu:
- NOBODY could get in to do pin/badge/collectible trading with other people. ALL OF THE PICNIC TABLES WERE INSIDE!
- In the process of blocking off the Darkmoon Faire area, access to the men’s restroom was blocked off.
- In addition to the men’s restroom being blocked off, it also blocked off access to the water fountains, WHICH INCLUDES a fountain to refill water bottles.
Solutions:
- Place the Darkmoon Faire in another area, such as Hall E (The hall underneath Hall D)
- Move the picnic tables away from the Darkmoon Faire. The Darkmoon Faire only used the small top-left corner of Hall D, while the area below was COMPLETELY CLEAR.
- Dedicated areas for people to set up their own Pin Trading. This would go in hand with point 2.
- Better line management. The Darkmoon Faire is one of the most popular things people go to, in order to get the exclusive pins, toys, and of course, the capsule depot.
- Expand the capsule depot to get more people through. Currently there are (I believe) 4 cashiers to sell the tokens, but I think around 12 capsule machines. The cashiers usually go quickly, however after we get that we get into ANOTHER line in order to redeem them at the machines. One person using one machine for 25 or even 50 tokens will take a while, and could take longer if the machine jams or fails to dispense a capsule. Getting another row or two of machines could potentially alleviate this.
- Have a place dedicated to the disposal/recycling of capsules. Many people throw the capsules away, or just leave them in a bag on top of the barrels. These can easily be recycled for use again next year if they are collected somewhere.
I definitely agree with what’s already been said in the original post and the replies so I’m going to add a couple smaller things I miss about previous blizzcons. I know one small thing that could/should be able to be added back is names on badges if we want. One of my most cherished things about the badges from the past was having my in-game name on there (and the year I got stuck with a pass I couldn’t resell I put my dog’s name and nickname on there). It feels small but it really kind of gives a personal feel to the experience and I miss it. The other thing was that there used to be a big wall to sign and people would put their guild’s name, messages, their main’s name/server, etc. It was another really cool personal touch I miss.
As a dedicated BlizzCon attendee since 2009, I was eagerly anticipating my return this year after the event’s hiatus since 2019. The earlier iterations of BlizzCon were unparalleled in their immersive grandeur, seamlessly showcasing all of Blizzard’s franchises and enveloping attendees in the universes of their favorite games. However, my experience at this year’s BlizzCon diverged significantly from past years, prompting me to provide a meticulous and comprehensive account of my observations.
The anticipation for BlizzCon 2023 was tinged with reservations, considering the challenging situations Blizzard has faced, including lawsuits, sexual assault allegations, and corporate mergers. Despite these concerns, the prospect of reuniting with the Blizzard community fueled my excitement.
From the outset, it was evident that this BlizzCon was going to be different. The promise of a “whole new feel” raised questions – why fix something that isn’t broken? Unfortunately, the immersive experience we were promised did not materialize. The lack of communication leading up to the event was concerning, from last-minute schedules to the absence of essential details, Q&A panels, voice actor discussions, and the surprising omission of a BlizzCon app.
Badge collection at the event was lackluster compared to previous years. Personalized badges with our names and character names, which serve as a point of pride for fans, were absent. While the backpack was a nice touch, it lacked the additional items we’ve come to expect, such as patches and plushies. The reliance on a large fold-out for the schedule and map felt outdated, and the absence of a digital planning tool was a notable drawback.
Moving into the convention itself, the layout proved problematic. Awkward flow between rooms and bottlenecks hindered navigation between halls. The promised immersive experience was notably absent from the halls’ decor. The iconic large stage with ample seating was missing, and the sight of attendees sitting on the floor, a hazard in itself, was unprecedented and contrary to the standard we’ve come to expect from BlizzCon.
The relocation of the Darkmoon Faire downstairs resulted in considerable congestion, with long lines on the second day preventing many enthusiasts from experiencing this integral part of BlizzCon.
The sense of community, a cornerstone of past BlizzCons, was notably absent. The elimination of community quests and the lack of server/battlegroup meet-ups represented missed opportunities to foster an immersive sense of camaraderie among attendees.
The panel experience suffered due to the lack of an app, making planning difficult and information retrieval inefficient. The scarcity of fun panels, Q&A sessions, and discussions with voice actors was disappointing. The Arena Stage’s randomized ticketing system was chaotic, preventing many from experiencing it firsthand.
The absence of alcohol at the event was unexpected and felt like a letdown to many attendees. While acknowledging the complexities associated with alcohol, the majority of us are adults on vacation, and its absence hindered the communal experience that has been integral to BlizzCon, especially considering the thematic significance of drinking in the games’ lore.
The cosplay contest encountered organizational issues, with a lack of a list for exhibition participants and substantial wait times. This, coupled with reduced convention hours, impacted the ability to maximize the event experience.
Lastly, the omission of a closing ceremony with a live band was a significant loss. This element has been a cherished staple of previous BlizzCons, contributing to the event’s memorable conclusion.
Despite these concerns, I want to emphasize my love for BlizzCon and Blizzard. While this year’s experience was not my favorite, I had an overall enjoyable time. I sincerely hope that next year’s BlizzCon can recapture the essence of what has made this event so special over the years.
Thank you for your dedication to the Blizzard community.
So me and a good friend both got portal passes this year, he had been to blizzcon 4 previous times and I had been to the 2019 one, in 2019 I had enough fun with a basic pass to decide on a portal pass. This blizzcon, I had more fun walking between the Mt. Dew booths than I did any of the Blizz stuff.
I tried and tried to type out something coherent and concise. But @razha-1191 totally hit the nail on the head here. Very well worded.
Me and my buddy did not find out about the Con-Employees finally being given direction on Portal Pass entries. Till they began closing lines off early for the end event.
We didnt even stay around to watch the closing ceremony at that point as we felt we were told the event was closing early and we could go ‘stand’ in one of the dedicated seating areas to watch the event… or we could just go back to the hotel and watch it on youtube and be comfortable.
Portal passholders do need to be compensated for 80% of the con the pass having no value aside from a easy to access restroom. And possibly a place to sit if someone had not taken up 3-4 seats with con bags. I am not talking anything akin to full refunds but blizz needs to reach out to us that essentially paid for 2 extra tickets just to wear an orange armband.
I really want a reason to go back next year, and engaging with your fans whom are willing to pay for a premium experience and making things right would go a long way.
Blizzcon 2023 - View from a 9 year vet
Hi all! This is Jade here from the Blizzcon Facebook groups. If you have spent any time in the groups (Blizzcon 2023, OG Blizzcon 2023, Blizznerds, Blizzstuff, etc) you likely know who I am already and word vomit is my specialty (Like Jedi and Sith Lords, but I actually do word vomit well). I don’t know if posting has a word limit, but if there is I will try to break it here.
To put it bluntly for myself and others… we feel Blizzcon 2023 was a mess from pre-announcement to finish. There were some good parts don’t get me wrong. It is fact though that if it was not for those of us on the community side that stepped up and some extremely amazing blizzard employees doing individual efforts this year would have been a much bigger disaster than what it was.
Many of us carried this year’s convention for a lot of people both returning vets and first timers alike. That isn’t patting ourselves on the back either, its feedback directly from people a lot of us have met before, during and after the convention ended.
I split my feedback by topic as it was the only way to really organize it that I could think of. Some will be good, some bad and some a bit of both. We heard from a lot of individual employees that you wanted this feedback so you are getting it. Let’s dig in.
Initial Announcement - Mixed
We knew Blizzcon would be back from what Mike Ybarra said last year. It was great to have an early confirmation but it took a lot longer for us to get the actual dates than we had hoped for. We know that no Blizzcon has ever been announced before Feb 7th of the year it’s in, and usually we know something by May 26th. This year’s announcement took place on May 17th. It was well within our regular announcement period and most of us could use it to plan fine.
The later announcement still posed some problems. Later announcements negatively impact international travelers and those that need to request time off far in advance. Since I am sure you had dates locked in earlier than later, we need those times so our overseas community as well as people with more strict PTO requirements can join us too.
The other glaring issue with a later announcement is community impact.
Con Before the Storm, WoWhead, Ditchcon, Blizznerds - All of these are groups that had typical parties that go off yearly at Blizzcon and not one of them had time to plan properly because they didn’t know what to plan for date wise. Con Before the Storm especially went into details (front page – http s://www .conb eforestorm. com/ You can delete the spaces in the link to get the full site since I cannot post direct links) about some challenges stemming from the pandemic and with not having adequate time to prep.
These parties and meet-ups may not mean anything to the Bobby Kotick’s of the world but to the rest of us that attend yearly making friends and treating this as a real community its critically important. Without them Blizzcon becomes just another convention. So knowing that Blizzcon was indirectly confirmed to return but then still had to wait almost a full year for the dates? That really started it off on a sour note.
Alcohol - Bad
I do not do a ton of alcohol myself. I like one or two specialty drinks on any given day and that’s it. Banning alcohol sales from the convention though feels shortsighted even to me. Many of us know the reputation that Blizzard acquired over the last couple of years especially where alcohol is involved but banning sales doesn’t make a difference nor does it necessarily protect anyone.
Jerks will still be jerks even without the alcohol excuse to hide behind. It should be available, and even if you want Blizzcon to be a family friendly place you can still do so with alcohol being sold. Look at SeaWorld. They were started by a beer company and were still family friendly even with alcohol sold.
Pricing, Tickets, Hours of operation - Bad
Many of us expected a price increase. What we did not expect was to get less value overall for our money. There are many examples through this thread that all echo the same thing - The cost for what we received was not worth it in regards to both GA and Portal.
In 2019 your standard GA ticket gave us 24 hours of convention experience. Blizzcon ran from 10am until 10pm both days. The portal and charity tickets gave us 28 hours because of the Thursday evening Night at the Faire event running from 4pm to 8pm.
This year though? 10am to 7pm both days with no Thursday event. Many of us have said Blizzcon should be a three day event and it looked like it was going that way in 2019 but this year it actually reversed back the other way and was worse. Both GA and portal holders were reduced to a total of 18 hours of Blizzcon content on site.
So for myself, as a portal pass holder both years I lost 10 hours of event time and paid $250 more. Why? Speaking to the people in charge on the business side - If a vendor came to you and told you that you were going to get almost 30% less of a product while asking you to pay almost 50% more would you say yes? Or would you laugh and go elsewhere?
This has to change back next year and only scratches the surface of some of the portal pass issues regarding their listed benefits (and not listed?)
Overall having worked in the theme park industry for 9+ years the only way I could describe a portal pass was to call it a glorified quick queue pass. Otherwise it just wasn’t worth buying.
AXS (Purchasing, Transferring Tickets, Resale Marketplace, Goodie/OC codes)
We have had AXS for a couple of events now and up front let me say that having an official resale market is a good thing! It is a secure way for people to buy and sell tickets without having to go to eBay or other shady sites. Even the ticket purchasing initially was pretty smooth. I did enjoy having two separate waiting rooms, and having a max number on tickets you can buy on a transaction. It made it much simpler and less stressful, with the added benefit of most of my friends getting tickets on the first wave.
That is where the good ends. The resale fees - I don’t know if this was controlled via Blizzard or if this was purely an AXS thing, but if you ever want the resale market to be the preferred choice, the fees can’t be as steep. It becomes worse when you open a 3rd wave of tickets. Why would anyone buy on the resale market and get hit with $100 in fees pushing the ticket over the $300/$800 cost when they could just buy a new ticket direct?
Then we have the fiasco that happened TWICE. Goodie codes first and then OC tickets. This might be something purely on the AXS side, but since they were chosen for ticket sales this is still something that should have been thought about and addressed before it was an issue. I do not understand why when sending both goodie codes and OC tickets that they would only go to the accounts/emails of the original purchasers. By not ensuring that both would be tied to the account that actively held the ticket at the time the emails sent out all you are doing is discouraging users from using the resale market and giving them a worse experience.
Also we need to bring attention that the OC tickets were not transferrable. I understand that not making them transferrable would allow them to be resold via 3rd party but what is worse - a ticket sitting and burning because the holder wasn’t even at Blizzcon or someone maybe making extra money that wasn’t Blizzard or AXS? I also remember it being mentioned that it was going to be possible to opt out of OC tickets. That never happened or was not communicated. The first news we had about how we would see OC done was the day tickets were delivered to the AXS accounts.
When an attendee would need help with the goodie codes not being received they were often met with a back and forth between Blizzard and AXS support. Both sides would tell users to contact the other for missing goodie codes and that by itself is unacceptable as well. Someone has to stand up and go “Hey, I will solve this”.
If you can’t guarantee an ease of use on a platform please don’t go with it or bring it in house. One relatively easy option to handle goodie codes if AXS isn’t able to track codes along - Go back to the whole “hey there’s a goodie code in my goodie bag I picked up at the con!” It’s simple, worked before, and guarantees that people who are there for tickets get their stuff and puts a lot less stress on support all over the place.
My last comment on AXS is this. I received an email today for a survey about Blizzcon. I did it, while typing this much longer post but I can’t help but ask the question if the emails went to the original ticket buyers or the ones who had the tickets?
Early Access Sale, Blink Shopping, Gear Store - Mixed
It is always good when we have an early access sale and blink shopping. I do hope that continues. In addition I did feel it was beyond time to do away with the traditional Blizzcon gear store of ordering an item by waiting in a long line and then again for them to find it in the back. Blink in 2023 is the best way to do this going forward. And yes, we all have phones.
The early access sale randomly went live at midnight EST one day. I am sure it probably was not meant to, but it felt truly off that the sale goes live that late when the east coast is in bed and most announcements and other content was mostly during the times of 10am to 1pm EST.
Then let’s look at shop items itself. There were multiple points of contention with gear store loot this year. Both the Wrathion and Season 10 pin packs had messages on them that they would become available in the gear store. They were not. The Blizzard 2023 pin was strangely only available on blink and the pin trading booth also which was a departure from the early access sale. Additionally the posters/prints had some discrepancies on what they actually were and they did not even match the advertised size.
The loot itself was ok. It had a lot of what we expected (Pins, plushies, badges, shirts, etc) but I do miss both the leggings and skater dresses. Bring these back! Imagine skater dresses in the 4 covenant looks from SL. Leggings of each dragon flight. A Lillith dress. Additional overwatch leggings. You have a market out there you could continue to try to sell to!
Registration - Mixed
To start with the good - Registration was pretty smooth picking up my personal wrist band and badge. I don’t really have any complaints there. In addition staff directing the way to go made it easy to see.
Yet there are issues too. Something that is mind-blowing to me that for portal pass registration queues we had to walk the long way around the Hilton. The distance had to be at least TWICE what general admission was. In 2019 the portal/charity was in the Hilton lower levels and there is little reason for your higher ticket tier that you pay more than double for to have to work that much further. Then even MORE mind-blowing than the portal registration is that ADA goes along the same route for portal? That cannot happen.
I had to pick up two tickets. My own portal pass and another for a friend who got covid and couldn’t come. I had to jump to the regular registration line as well to get the normal one after getting my portal. I definitely feel we should be able to pick up all pass types at the portal pickup there.
Lastly, why can we not have customized character names? Is this an AXS limitation? If not bring this back.
Goodie Bag - Mixed
We have had years where it’s good and years where its meh. This year was… merely ok. It’s a backpack. Yes it’s a nice backpack. I like the spot for the USB port. But we have done the snapback bag for the goodie bag before. I have the 25th anniversary backpack. I have a messenger bag. I have a really nice explorers backpack from the store pre-covid. Another backpack doesn’t excite me as a veteran.
Look at the most recent FF Fanfest goodie bag also. A crossbody bag, a stress relief item, a pen, keychain, magnet, and a pin. Imagine how many different things that could be themed! In the past we have gotten DMF coins, inflatable psi blades or hammers, special patches, collectible blind items, even statues! For all the game worlds that are available its unimaginative for us to have our main walk away item be a simple backpack, no matter how nice it is.
Convention Entry - Bad
So remember when I mentioned about how registration was a good experience with lots of staff pointing the way? Day 1 when I came out of the clarion all I saw was a massive line wrapped in front of on the sidewalk and in the parking lot to the convention with absolutely nobody directing. A cop had to come up and get people to stop blocking the exit to the parking lot because so many people were in the way. I looked at lanyards to see if it was all just GA queue and I saw both portal and GA mixed together.
The only reason I managed to get in that first morning without waiting in that massive line was because someone posted in one of the groups that the portal holding area was in a certain spot that I knew exactly where to go to so I just walked alongside the line until I got up to someone who had a portal lounge sign and went on their directions.
It was absolutely chaotic and even an hour after Blizzcon officially opened on Friday people were still wrapped around the block waiting to get in. That has never happened before at a Blizzcon. While getting everything secured is good and stuff, forcing huge long lines with no organization or clear idea of where to go just was awful.
Let’s also talk about early entry for the portal pass itself. It’s listed as “early entry to the lounge” as a benefit for portal pass. Awesome. I was up there. Then word starts going around that we could line up at the hall entrances before they let GA in. So I head down to get to hall D so i could get to the DMF entrance. Doors then opened 15 minutes early.
Then for day 2, I am still getting ready when doors open for portal holders at 9:20. Then GA got in right after at 9:25. By the time I got to the DMF that day (9:45) every line was already capped unless you had ADA. I was so completely frustrated hearing that and it didn’t make for a fun start to the day.
Opening ceremony - Bad
Those of us in the community always talk so highly of first timers getting to attend the opening their first time, and especially after four years away who wouldn’t want to be there?
Limited seating during opening ceremony is a concern I understand and no matter how it is handled there are problems. For example a first come first serve event can lead to a bunch of seats being saved in a prime area by one person waiting on others to show up.
I could have stomached the lotto but it wasn’t executed properly. If you came with a group/family there was a lot of examples where one person of many ended up with a ticket while everyone else didn’t and it turned into a choice of “Does the one person go by themselves or nobody?” The standby line that was available is a good idea, but it doesn’t fix the glaringly obvious problems with how the lotto was handled.
Community Night/Closing Ceremony/Band - Mixed
For many Blizzcon’s it’s been a staple that community night ends Friday, and closing ceremonies ends Saturday. There was no reason I could see to change this formula. Moving community night to Saturday leaves a big gap on what we normally do Friday, and harms cosplayers that participate in the exhibition and the cosplay contest (More on that later). It did not feel right that we did not have a proper closing ceremony followed by the band appearance as tradition.
In addition one thing that should have been said when referencing community night was that it was going to be on Saturday up front in the original listings. Many of us had no idea it was moved until we saw the band announcements that it was listed as being after community night on Saturdays date and then dug into the rules of the cosplay contests confirming that all of their stuff would occur on Saturday. It was very weird to have to dive into rules to know this!
On the subject of the band, I know many in the community aren’t a fan of kpop but personally I don’t mind seeing differences in closing bands. We’ve already had some variance with 2018/2019 selections that aren’t the traditional Ozzy/Metallica/Linkin Park type bands so it’s not completely out of the normal thing.
Blackpink is a group I like, so exposure to other new artists of that genre is fun and with the tie-in to Overwatch it fits! My only other advice would be that pending other changes to the convention that should be done is to have 2-3 different acts for closing entertainment. It won’t solve every complaint of closing band choice but I would be hard pressed to believe you couldn’t get artists to play at Blizzcon that are varied and does give people options.
Cosplayer Treatment - Bad
So this piggybacks some off of community night’s issues/changes. Cosplayers already have a stressful schedule and I saw the email which was sent to the ones in the contest/exhibition detailing this year’s schedule. It was practically a requirement to be in cosplay both days if you wanted to do the exhibition or contest and that is an awful setup and a lot to ask of them. Cosplayers who want to participate basically end up sacrificing their entire con instead of just one day.
The cosplay exhibition and contest need to remain on friday so they can do what they need to through the day, and then Saturday can be left for them to do an alt cosplay if they wish or to just go casual and be able to talk to fans and relax. Cosplay is such an integral part of the Blizzcon experience and I noticed such a lack of cosplay on Friday which I can only contribute to the fact that everyone was preparing for that evening. I know at least one of my friends was. Then they had to still sacrifice most of Saturday too!
The last thing I would touch on this echo’s what I have heard from others and that is many in the Blizzard cosplay community do not feel great over recent changes and it has been going on for longer than just this Blizzcon. In the words of one of my best friends - “I feel defeated”. Nobody who cosplays to her level should EVER have to feel that way when participating in Blizzcon.
Blizzcon App - Bad
Our app this year ended up being a printed brochure. This of course can be done better. I have been to smaller conventions such as Holiday Matsuri and they are able to put out a mobile app. If you don’t want to tie streaming/purchases into it fine, but at least have a digital map and schedule of panels. This is not out of the realm of what can be done. Its 2023 so we expect it.
Those of us in the community had to go through and do our own digital schedule using Google drive just so we did not have to filter between 4-5 different pages just to figure out what was when.
Portal Lounge - Mixed
Starting with the good again here! I loved that it felt like there was more in the portal lounge vs 2019. Lots of food selections, schedules of meet and greets were listed, and even a freebie choice! (I do like my goatman!) The theming was also on point.
Now for the bad.
One of the perks listed on a portal pass is “gameplay experiences” and it was announced previously that we would have private demo stations. Those ended up being some xboxes. No private demos for PCs. Maybe this was a security thing, but please dont advertise gameplay experiences it’s clear that they were not going to be delivered on. I don’t even recall seeing the xboxes myself.
In addition let’s talk about those freebie choices. On day 1 they were never mentioned anywhere I saw. Towards the end of day 2 was when the chaos occurred. When word got out about the choices some portal holders missed out while others got full boxes of goodies. A friend of mine who wasn’t aware of this being available got up there and didn’t get anything. Meanwhile I saw people walking out and around with boxes of the choices. It’s easy enough to list this idea up front or put a sign when you go in.
Some additional feedback on how to handle this type of giveaway in the future - when I did get my plush I was asked if I had already been through the line. I know I hadn’t, but since we have to wear the wristbands all day have us scan those when we pick up our item. Guarantees one item per person until the very end and then if you want to give out boxes in the last 10 minutes… go for it.
Convention Size/Layout - Mixed
The convention clearly shrank for what there was to do and see plus felt massively oversold. The Warcraft hall had four sections in it while Overwatch had two full halls dedicated between the now defunct league and the game itself. There was a TON of empty space between both Overwatch halls and Diablo.
The immersive experience was not worth the tradeoff of the traditional convention floor setup. I LOVED the theming for areas don’t get me wrong. Diablo had a fantastic setup and vibe. I loved the concept of reading about and seeing the corridor of team (though, what sword? i didn’t see any sword). In practice, it was just not executed well. So much empty space was really apparent and how much of the convention space just went unused, funneling people into longer lines and cutting down on what was there to begin with.
As nice as the immersion was for some of it, I want immersion in the games but it is not as important at Blizzcon. Some area themes are great! DMF is a great example if you want to heavily theme it. Otherwise, I don’t need to walk through an extremely loose themed Overwatch or Warcraft area. It’s Blizzcon without all that just fine!
Demo stations also felt odd. There seemed to be fewer demos considering all the games you’re making content for. In addition the raid for Classic when it opened had no solo queue line. I probably saw five groups of 10 bypass me at the while at the front of the line. I joined the line when opening was starting and nothing was marked that groups would have to be formed. You can easily setup both types of lines without spoiling content, so that needs taken into account depending on what your demo is!
Also while some games may not be in active development anymore there is a lot of Blizzard history that was ignored just to focus on Overwatch, Diablo and WoW. Starcraft is an incredible part of Blizzard history and to not see ANYTHING starcraft related minus a couple shirts on the store is a shame. HotS while not as popular/historical same thing. The Blizzard Arcade from 2019 would have been an amazing way to continue to honor older games.
DMF suffered the most from the layout issues to the point where on day 2, only portal and ADA people were getting in. It wasn’t a listed benefit of the portal pass, nor do I feel it should be because it’s an area everyone pays for. This is what makes it critical that every area is done well.
Hells Ink was another area that was great to have at the convention but looking back on it now it took up a lot of space that could have been used more effectively for the amount of people that came through it. I am willing to bet I gave out more quest reward stickers for something I did at Blizzcon than people got tattoos there.
ADA - Bad
ADA was a mess. The one silver lining is that when I found myself having to use it on day 2 since I was not fully recovered from a pretty major surgery that I didn’t have to prove my reason why. I appreciate that.
The rest is where we have the problem. I mentioned earlier about ADA having to follow portal around the Hilton the long way. Imagine making someone in a wheel chair or walking boots go that far. Would the person reading this accept that if it was a family member? No, you would likely be pissed at the treatment. At the very least ADA registration should have been in either inside the Hilton or close to it without walking a long distance
Seating was also a huge problem. With little convention seating it became an issue of when someone does need to sit if they didn’t go to very specific places they didn’t have a place to do so! It makes for a long day, especially when lines are out of control. There was also at least one case where ADA seating was blocked because people were standing in front of them making the ADA seating worthless
ADA lines were nonexistent in many places. When I was in line for the toy capsule coins a blizzard employee had to scramble to get an ADA line formed on the fly and was bouncing around trying to direct people where to line up. If not for her, many of us would probably still be standing there almost a week later. These lines need to be marked out ahead of time and especially when you have limited space such as the DMF
That brings us to the last topic regarding ADA. There was unfortunately a lot of abuse. Specifically the spot I saw was at the pin trading board line. There were a few people who were waiting for the board to flip just to pull ADA and jump in front of everyone else to take the one or two red merchies that were revealed.
Unfortunately there will always be people there that will abuse a system meant to be used honorably but the best way this can be dealt with while still honoring ADA badges is to change from a “you can go straight to the front of the line when you want” to “Please come back at X time”. It works for theme parks, it can work for Blizzcon. Will it require a little bit more staff/resources? Yes but it is worth treating ADA right while also preventing people from abusing it.
Number of Panels - Bad
In past Blizzcon’s there are always so many panels. Deep dives, QAs, voice actors, artists, etc. This year though? We had what… 10 official panels? No voice actors. Hardly anything artist related. QAs were largely nonexistent. It’s not enough. I understand the layout affected the panels on how many could be held in the arena but with how much empty space there was in other areas its jut not acceptable to hold Blizzcon like this. There are so many things you could talk about or people you could bring in and there was just such little opportunity for what panels we had.
You have an audience that wants to hear from the developers and such. Give us that. When it comes to QA if there’s a question you don’t know how to answer just commit to answering it later! It’s ok to say “We don’t have an answer” if for some reason you are fearing holding open QAs for that reason.
Food - Good
Food trucks were good, lots of spots inside the convention to eat as well. A few places I would have liked to have tried always had massive lines but that’s probably just a sign of it being good!
Also I loved how many of the food had special names like one of the hot chocolates was referred to blackrock magma or something like that. I also found over in the Overwatch Arena hall that the food there was really good and had virtually no line when I got there around 5pm on day 2.
Darkmoon Faire - Mixed
I made this its own section because this is a critical part of our experience now. To start with the theming was on point! You guys nailed the ambience even with the area it was in and I loved the little cthulu rider statue. I was really happy to see the toy capsule machines came back too since we speculated on that initially.
The rest was not as fun. The space for this was way too small. In the “Warcraft” Hall you had DMF, Warcraft Rumble, Hearthstone, WOW, and WOW Classic. In 2019 the DMF was the entirety of North Hall level 2. So when you shrink the space, you also shrink what’s in it and the capacity.
When the fire marshal prevents people from entering due to how many are there that should tell you for a fact that you made a bad decision in placement. I am not sure with how popular the DMF has been and especially TRADING why it was shoehorned in the back of hall D. If nothing else it could have easily been in hall E while the cosplay lounge was in the back of hall D.
The toy capsules themselves while I loved them coming back it was mishandled too. There weren’t enough of the machines! Remember we are crazy when it comes to tradable collectibles. If you do not expect us to buy 50-100+ of a small item to try to do sets then you are way out of touch with our community. Plus some machines only took the silver coins and others only the older gold coins. That holds everything up more. In addition if you are going to institute a cap on items do it from the start and not wait for day 2. Also, I did hear there were issues with people keeping some of the coins themselves… Easy solution there is to give everyone one with the goodie bag!
Strangely both days vendors shut down early by like 5pm. Why? That just cut down the time available to do things at the convention more. There was absolutely no reason to stop selling tokens or anything early. Especially when it took so long to get through the lines anyways.
My last feedback regarding the DMF was that we were supposed to have monitors through the convention to view the panels from. I don’t recall seeing any there.
Things to do overall - Mixed
There were some good experiences in each hall that were fun to do but overall the convention just had less in it. In years past DMF would have things like face painting. There was legos one year. You could get in a wind booth thing trying to catch loot cards. Here this year though it felt like it was just a lot of lines for either a photo op, demo or to buy something.
Also I wanted to touch on the March of the Murlocs. We knew it was coming for a while, but it wasn’t until the Wednesday before the convention that we even knew what day it was on and I had to end up with that knowledge direct from a Blizzard employee because nothing was announced prior despite being a main feature of what to look for in an earlier news post.
Esports - Bad
There was a whole hall to Overwatch esports. Otherwise it was forgettable. Sure you had a guild clash and arena finals for Warcraft but otherwise it was so light on anything esports related. Starcraft is still popular. Arena itself is still popular. While personally I don’t care for anything beyond Starcraft the lack of other things being seen on the show floor felt jarring compared to past years
Security/Convention Staff - Mixed
Some of the staff who I encountered was pretty nice and helpful! I like that!
Then there was a ton of reports of non blizzard staff and security who just didn’t know anything of what was going on or where to direct people.
In addition I heard of two really unpleasant incidents involving security. The beach ball killer before doors opened on day 1 was the first. It’s an inflatable beach ball. If you don’t want to work at a convention, don’t?
The second was when someone in cosplay was stopped by security after they were at prop check previously and the security guy basically was bending their cosplay weapons trying to see if it was real or not. I get security is important and to take it seriously, but they need to respect us as well. Especially our cosplayers who put so much work into their craft.
Blizzard Staff - Good
Like I mentioned at the start, individual Blizzard employees was one of the good things about this year’s Blizzcon. I remember specifically a red haired woman in the DMF who was working extremely hard to get the ADA line setup on day 2 and even came up to us several times to make sure we were ok due to how long the lines were taken. It was her first Blizzcon and having worked an event at a theme park I can imagine how she felt. She was just one of countless helpful employees that you could tell wanted this year to be a success despite all the ways it appeared prime for failure
Yesterday I put up a poll in two groups asking what our members felt were pain points.
The first was Blizzcon 2023 (Now called Blizzcon 2024). It is a public facing group with 8442 members and for ease of this post I will call it the public group.
The second was OG Blizzcon 2023. This is a private group with 2065 members. I will be calling this the private group.
As of this writing the public group had 913 votes while the private had 246. The breakdown is below (First number is the public group vote, second is private)
ADA (Obtaining Ticket, Seating, Anything Related) - 30 / 8
Blizzard Staff (Not convention/Security) - 10 / 3
Price - 67 / 22
Merchandise (Presale, Blink, On site Vendors) - 82 / 26
Other - 20 / 0
AXS / Ticket Sales - 15 / 8
Convention Staff/Security Issues (Not Blizzard Staff) - 101 / 25
Food Choices - 20 / 10
Goodie Bag - 75 / 20
Communication - 81 / 15
Schedule/Events/Panels - 149 / 35
Convention Size and Hours (IE space used/Layout) - 263 / 74
Public Post – htt ps://www. face book. com/groups/248801025666255/?multi_permalinks=1438888726657473
Private Post – htt ps://www. face book. com/groups/550070812228934/?multi_permalinks=1461095121126494
Again delete spaces to get the full links.
This isn’t a completely scientific poll but it does give a great deal of insight on what people felt were issues even beyond our own feedback submitting here. I don’t want to repeat every complaint but the data is there.
One of the biggest things I heard a lot of is that the Blizzard team is open to feedback. So I challenge you - prove it. We know there is representation by Blizzard in our facebook groups at least (Both known and not known) and there is an ADA liaison for the Accessible Blizzcon group. There needs to be more. Setup a community council with those of us in the community and let us help you.
Many of us are long time vets and treat Blizzcon as the incredibly important event it is. We can and will help make this the best convention it could be but if you choose to do nothing with all of the feedback you are getting then odds are likely that Blizzcon will eventually fail.
You have a lot of our good will for 2024 based on that this was the first year back, and with a lot of transitioning within the pandemic period but if 2024 isn’t treated carefully you will lose us for 2025. I guarantee it. The people I have talked to all agree that treating this as a cash grab will end badly and we can only pick up for the community so much. Don’t let us down.
The last thing I recommend is to go after Saralyn and get her back, or at least someone else competent in her role. You HAVE to have an overseeing organizer for Blizzcon. Otherwise many of the same issues we had in 2023 will continue. It was pretty clear to see between online communication and the different halls that everyone was on different pages and there was no uniformity.
My last item – Please for the love of Hellscream announce 2024 before this year ends!
I’m going to try to be concise because a lot of my concerns were already covered.
I traveled from Nova Scotia, Canada for this event, my first con ever actually. I’m pretty much as far away as one can get and still be in North America. I’m not sure the value was there. $1000 on flights, $1000 on hotel, plus food, and any merch I wanted to get etc. Truthfully we had less lines and more fun at Disney the days after.
Things I liked:
Picking up badge wasn’t too bad
Meeting up with my gaming friends I’d only ever talked to online
Diablo space, while there was a lot of wasted space, looked nice.
Cosplay was excellent
Enjoyed le sserafim, managed to get into the arena for that
Decorations looked cool in the themed areas. Sword was cool.
Things I disliked:
OW2 had way too much space dedicated to it. Did not need two halls, though it was a great place to get food since it was so dead. Only like 1/4 of the demo machines were in use most of the time.
Wow space was way way way too small for all the wow associated properties.
DMF was very disappointing. Looked nice but no substance. I didn’t even get to do the patches or pins due to lines for tokens etc. I did the plushies only because I wanted wrathion for myself and a friend and they had pulled them off the website and marked as sold out to force you to play the game. Lines to pay for it, then another long line even first thing in the morning to redeem. Ended up with triplicate OW2 plushies (which I paid full retail for at the end of the day) as well which I have no interest in. Should have been limited to wow related in DMF.
Mystery grab merch is awful and a way for people to feel cheated and like you’re offloading stuff you can’t sell. And having people manually loading the cubbies with batches made got for lots of triplicates etc and no variety after standing in line.
Everything in DMF felt like a cash grab with a line. No interactive stuff. Needed more games and carnival stuff.
Merch pickup was more lines and my 4pm pickup email came at 8:30pm.
On day two I bought more merch in the morning and 30 minutes later I went to the site and it was marked down. I waited in the customer service line for 45 min to see if they could refund the difference (my third order, by the way) and the guy I got just said sorry final sale. Then when I asked if he could get me my other two orders he said no I had to go wait in the zone line. I spoke with another nice gentleman (in a button up shirt with a grey beard) and he was able to have them refund the difference to my card and he got my other orders, which pointed out how little the first person wanted to help.
No more items added really after the new announcements to the store, just one art print
Opening ceremony – no screens in the store area or the registration area so I watched on my phone/iPad in line and sitting on the floor (no seating in the store aside from the zones).
Lack of seating overall in the viewing areas
Lack of panels and fan interaction/q&a
Water was $$$$$
No line control, had to ask others in line what the line was for
Secretlabs sold out of murloc pillows early both days, on day 2 before lunch
A lot of looping loud music in the wow area making it hard to stay there from a sensory perspective, could be a bit less loud
Jamming 5 things into one hall for the wow area did not work at all.
Need more seating literally everywhere to sit down with friends and socialize, take breaks
Schedule was vague and pretty empty. I had to follow Facebook groups and community Google sheets to know what was really going on.
Basically I’m not sure I’d go back and make that investment again. I only got to take part in the plushies and buy some stuff from the blink store. Everything else was too long a lineup, sold out, or a cash grab. After hearing about past events, I honestly feel downright cheated and questioning what I got for my registration money. The right to buy some merch? The right to overpay for some Overwatch plushies I didn’t want? 2 days of standing in lines? I have planned lots of events as part of my job and I know there are some low cost additions that could have added big value.
As a WoW fan, competitive player and someone who has recruited many players to return or begin playing, I was pretty disappointed. I’m glad I planned a Disney trip after because that salvaged my time there and investment in travel.
This was our fourth Blizzcon and my children’s first (11 & 12 years old) They are both Overwatch players and we were looking forward to sharing with them what has always been a wonderful experience for us.
Positives:
- The halls and stage looked cool. Especially Darkmoon Faire
- We all liked the backpack, but wished there were any smaller goodies. Patches, pins, stress balls, tissues that say QQ, anything would’ve been nice.
- The Blizzcon/Microsoft staff we ran into were all lovely to talk to.
- Overwatch World Cup was fun to watch in person. My 11 yo especially liked this
- Didn’t have trouble getting parking nearby
- Nice variety of food choices
- A Blizzard employee came up to a group of us cosplayers and gave us OW funko pops. That was really nice
- The free posters and dev signing was great. We’ve always loved talking to the Blizzard staff and hearing what they have to say. We ran into some people that worked on the skins of the cosplays we were wearing. And the art director of Overwatch was so sweet with us about our cosplays. Very nice memory for my daughter and I.
- It was nice to have a brief rehearsal for the community night so we knew what to expect.
- The way the cosplayers were displayed alternating stage left and right was really nice. Felt smooth. It seemed like the exhibition cosplayers didn’t get enough time though.
- Someone organized a snack trade on Thursday. We left with a ton of candy and treats from all over. I also attended an informal pin trade on Sunday and the vibes were great. I wish the announcement had been made earlier so we had more of these meet ups because the community is what makes these conventions special.
- Registration went smoothly but the walk to pick up our badges was SO LONG
Negatives:
- Line to get in Day 1 was a mess. We arrived very early but due to staff giving wrong directions we ended up further back than when we started. The walk was so long I injured myself and regretted not applying for ADA. The whole experience wore the kids and I out before we even got inside.
- Security screamed at us to get prop checked even though we’d already been through the earlier prop check and had tags. Then the 2nd prop check people told us we were fine and the security yelled at prop check and us. Unprofessional.
- It was already hard to get seating for Opening Ceremonies in previous years. Not sure why they chose to shove all the panels and entertainment into the very small arena. We were unable to watch in the arenas and there was no seating in the rest of the venue to sit and watch. We also weren’t allowed to play the demos during the opening ceremony. So we didn’t have anything to do but stand there.
- Far less space than in previous years so it felt more crowded
- Darkmoon Faire was a nightmare. Less space. Tightly packed lines. Running out of coins and merch. Enough people have talked about what went wrong. We also had a horrible experience with it.
- The cosplay contest suffered from a lack of communication. Emails were vague and no one was 100% sure they were a finalist until Friday of the con.
- We were promised in the contest rules that all Finalists would be receiving 1 ticket per contestant and 1 for an additional handler. We were a duo and should have received 4 tickets. We received ONE and didn’t get it until Friday November 3 at 11:20am. After we’d already registered our purchased tickets. We couldn’t even try and sell it to recoup costs. Building these elaborate costumes was expensive and I honestly did it with the hope we’d be able to get free tickets for my time and labor.
- In previous years, contestants would receive a pin or two. We received nothing. Most of us lost the contest and that pin was always a lovely consolation prize. Without the many cosplayers who slave for months and sometimes years, there would be no community night and it felt like we were an afterthought. There were some wonderful Blizzard employees that made bracelets but we didn’t see them.
- Moving community night to Saturday and bundling it with the concert made a gap in programming on Friday and made it much harder for the cosplayers. Originally the organizers asked us to come in costume both days for judging but changed it to just Saturday after we all complained. But even so, I lost all of Saturday. We only had a couple hours of con before we were required to be “backstage” for judging and then in the holding area to wait and wait.
- We were assured that we would be able to get back in and see the concert but after I took my large cosplay off in holding, security told me I couldn’t come in. My husband and kids were inside without me. Finally halfway through, my husband came to get me and one security guard took pity on me because my kids were inside. Very disappointing that it was in the smallest venue and only had one option when we had multiple bands in previous years.
- Overall there seemed to be less to do than before. Fewer hours. Fewer panels. Fewer seats. Fewer demos. No arcade. No StarCraft, HOTS, or Diablo demos.
- No community parties like con before the storm or wowhead because of the late announcement.
- Going back to the cosplay contest, the hosts butchered our names. I have a modest Instagram account and it would’ve been nice if people could’ve known where to come to see my progress on the build. The copy I wrote for my announcement was not read at all. I wasn’t the only one. Many cosplayers had mispronounced or flat out wrong introductions. They couldn’t even pronounce the materials correctly. Please bring back the funny or knowledgeable hosts like Darin DePaul or Jackicraft.
- It would’ve been nice to be on stage for our category when the winner was announced so we could cheer on the winner. Besides the duo, you couldn’t tell who was in what category.
- The paper schedule was hard to read and was missing things.
- Signage for which devs were doing signings and when would’ve been nice.
- Personalized badges would’ve been nice as well. Gamer tags/social media names for guests and name/role for Blizzcon employees.
Overall, we didn’t have the fun that we’ve come to expect from previous Blizzcons and can’t imagine coming back especially with the price increase. The price is now equal to two days at Disneyland, a place where our whole family is guaranteed to have a pretty good time. We didn’t have enough fun to feel good about a $300 ticket especially with shorter hours and fewer exciting experiences.
Brief and consolidated:
- Insufficient seating for Opening Ceremonies, no one should be sitting on the floor
- The Arena is too small for Opening Ceremonies, external screens are not the same as being in the room
- Need to celebrate all the games, not just upcoming releases
- Bring back the missing panels (music and sound, art, cinematics, voice actors, etc)
- More eSports and more space for panels, each hall should have something happening
- A live Q&A, while often problematic, is a fun way to interact with the devs and a large piece of the soul of what made Blizzcon what it was
- Removing alcohol from the show floor just drove people out
All that said, I had an amazing time at my tenth Blizzcon, and I hope to see some steps to restoring the glory of previous years.
100% agree the extra $1000 came with nothing besides a line an hour early and then halfway through day two a “dedicated” line that should have been there day 1.
My feedback on this one, because I wasn’t able to attend due to personal life issues, is that I always like to be able to watch the panels/tournaments, but this year was very difficult, It was only one channel to watch anything, and it was pretty much what Blizzard wanted to show us, 1 stream with no options to change for a different experience.
Now yes, it was free, and I’m not going to complain at that, but I would have liked to enjoy seeing things at the moment they were happening, rather then later when attendee’s were posting on Youtube. There should have been streaming channels that allowed a more personal experience like other years.
I first want to thank Blizzard for even having a Blizzcon this year and I want to start with the good!
I’ve now been to 6 Blizzcons and whereas this was the least enjoyable, I’m grateful for every blizzcon and if it was the same experience next year I would go again as they all have been enjoyable!
Thank you for being a company that invites feedback and listens to it, there are countless others companies that don’t listen to feedback and live in their own echo chambers, thank you!
Thank you for putting developers and not PR people on stage, thank you for engaging with attendees and thank you for doing the best you could with what you had.
Starting at the beginning:
- Announce dates earlier: it helps with planning and budgeting for everyone going, and planning parties, many of the
*Offer a benefit dinner ticket: we miss eating with the developers the night before
- Please stick to what you say: if there are only going to be 2 ticket sales, keep it that way?
*If there is going to be a lottery for opening ceremony, please let us know earlier and let us give or sell the tickets we get to people who want to go to that.
*Do not make portal pass holders go the long way around to get to the same spot.
*Please not another backpack, or give us some loot options: backpack or something else.
- Please give us exclusive in game items with thought.
*Please bring back the voice actor panels
*Please allow portal pass holders earlier access to the opening ceremony standby line
*Please inform all staff of important information and maybe give them tests to pass, many times staff had no idea what was going on.
*Please keep opening ceremony in the arena, it offers superior viewing, wish it had more room, but the stage can always take up less space.
*Please offer more machines and lines at the dark moon faire
*Please give portal pass holders gold coins to the gold machines and make the gold machines have a higher probability of offering extra loot.
*Please make the portal pass demo lines clearer
- Please come interact with the fans at the Hilton
*Please allow for better food and alcohol in the convention center
- Please allow more bands and band options, 1 Kpop band won’t cut it.
*Please give StarCraft a presence, more than just on a patch.
*Please keep blizzcon open longer into the night for everyone or just portal pass holders
That is all for now, again thank you for having a Blizzcon at all after 4 years and I hope we get another one next year even if a small or no amount of suggestions are implemented.
There isn’t much I can add here, but I feel it important to voice SOMETHING at least.
Context: I have attended every Blizzcon back to 2011, so I know the experience quite well. I also did the Portal Pass (or whatever it was called) in 2019.
Darkmoon Faire: This has been said, but I’ll repeat it: DMF needs its own area, entirely. The top floor in previous years is clearly superior to this years configuration. It seems as if every year, the lessons learned from years past are forgotten - are event hot washes not performed? Or are they done only to check a box but no action items actually put in place?
- The Capsule line was an absolute mess, and it has been this way every single time some ultra rare items are introduced and the sale amount NOT limited. Please look back at the Timewalker’s Treasure Chest, whereby people would spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars, trash most of the loot, and keep the rare items out of it. You can’t allow people to spend that much on the capsules for something that is very time consuming (actually spending the coins, of course) and expect lines to flow freely. It even caused the fire marshal to get involved! Limit the quantity sold to a REASONABLE amount from the start, so people don’t do this. In general, for rare items, the assumption must be: limit the sales, or people will buy them out for greed.
- Pin sales continue to be one of the worst lines, and I swear they find the slowest and most inefficient way to sell them and just stick with it. There are some solutions here: First, for every seller, you have a runner getting pins. Our salesperson was doing all of the work herself, and it was so loud it was difficult to even convey what I wanted. Second - and this has multiple ways of solving the issue or at least alleviating it - you could give people in line order forms and pencils to fill out what they want, and they can simply hand it to the salesperson to order up. The other option is to order them Blink-style and once you get to the front of the line, you pick up your order - this one is challenging because you know people will order stuff just to lock it out from others buying them. Finally, more salespeople. That line moves painfully slow because they simply can’t move it quick enough.
- Pin/patch trading in general: Ugh, with the pins to chase here that depend on random luck of the board flipping at the right time after standing in line for an hour or two! Equip your employees with pins to wear on their lanyard! Encourage more organic trading on the floor! ALL of the rare pins should have alternative ways to get them versus just one single way. And as I recommended to one of the employees, there are simple ways to prevent that board from spinning when people push on it: put a 2x4 and some hooks behind it to give it some structural stability once the people in the box spin it around…
Demos: What happened to 30-60 minute max waits to play a standard demo? Were we just down on available computers to use? We saw some ladies playing the WoW expansion demo almost the entire time we were in line (which was probably 1.5ish hours at least, almost 2?), but when we played we got 30 minutes at best. It just felt inconsistent, and excessive.
The Main Arena: didn’t even get to see it! Every time we went, it was locked out. This was one of my favorite areas every year, and I couldn’t even get into it for the entire convention.
“Stuff to do”: or, a lack thereof. A very pretty layout, but shockingly devoid of things to do. Few “quests” (there seemed to be more fan-run quests than Blizzard-ones!), few panels, etc. I felt I did the entire con for the most part, after Day 1. Typically, I feel satisfied that I could do something the entire convention. This time, it felt “flat”.
Line Management: ADA people were absolutely hosed when going into the DMF area. Portal pass was already inside, and they lined ADA up against the wall, and when the crowd swarmed in and the doors opened eventually, the ADA people had no easy door to go through first - they simply had to wait for the horde to get through before they could make it in. Further, some doors were left unlocked and people were able to sneak in 15 minutes early before security meekly attempted to stop any further entry.
Portal Pass: I wasn’t caught up in the Friday Portal Pass debacle, mercifully, but I’d be very upset to spend that kind of money only to be misled about the benefits. I felt I got my money’s worth when I got it in 2019, but this year’s looked terrible by comparison, yet cost as much money as the exclusive dinner years ago! The pricing for that is just out of control, and what you get for it this time around gave little benefit. I’m grateful I didn’t waste money on it.
AXS/Ticket Resales and Loot Codes: big yikes here. AXS had no problem continuing to sell tickets at $250/each, while the resale market was dramatically lower. Oh, you made the mistake of not searching for resales first? No problem, you just spent $100+ over the going rate. Oh, a friend (or, you know, scalper) bought your ticket and transferred it to you months ago? No problem, we’ll send your loot code to the original purchaser and you can HOPE they are nice enough to give it to you. This was terrible.
The stunning lack of StarCraft: One can only hope this is because something cool is in the works, but…wow do I miss the eSports championships they’d do for BlizzCon. The whole IP needs a shot in the arm.
The band…: Yeah, I know this is purely opinionated, but the band was weak. K-pop’s popularity is extremely limited. I miss the days of the Foo Fighters, Metallica, Linkin Park, etc. Can we get back to a bigger band again?
Alcohol: Yes, we get it, alcohol and Blizzard during Blizzcon is a hot topic. But having served in the military for 20 years, this felt like classic mass-punishment of the masses, for the misdeeds of the few. I don’t think much else needs to be said about that.
That’s all I have for now, but frankly, I think it’s more than enough. I do look forward to next year - I hope for more independence and autonomy following the Microsoft acquisition. I hope for StarCraft’s triumphant return. I hope for more activities. I STILL hope for a 3-day con, despite there being barely enough content this year for 1 day! I hope for a smoother experience at the DMF both for purchasing and trading. I hope for the return of “Soon” ™ (and that it actually means games of quality are returning.
I have faith all of this can happen again.
As a “much-older” attendee with a walker, I was treated with the utmost kindness by every “blue shirt” there. Me and my companion had portal passes so I could use the lounge to get away from the crowds when needed. But the helpers such as the lovely blue-hair Marglo, who took time to just chat with me (I will cherish the bracelet) … and it turned out she has something to do with the holiday quest … made it a most memorable Blizzcon.
I was at the 2019 Blizzcon on the cheaper pass. It was nice, especially the technical and stage presentations. I hope you bring them back next year.
They were not only immensely helpful, they were interesting to talk to, and volunteered in many cases to chat with us. Two devs sat down with me at lunch and started conversations. They asked what I liked.
And I didn’t even play their games! I am a WoW guy, they were Diablo and Overwatch. Still had wonderful, insightful, interesting conversations with them.
As someone with a negative experience at the con I wanted to chime in on this subject. The Blue Shirts are really the only piece of the con that was positive. They actually tried to help and make things better for everyone. They went above and beyond what they needed to do as volunteers for this event. This cluster would have been much much worse without their presence.
I have posted in a number of threads, but I will summarize here as well.
Lack of communication - A common theme for this review is the lack of communication. This is both from a point of view of communication either being late or non-existent. The late announcement of BlizzCon caused many groups to not have time to organize pre-con events.
AXS Ticketing - The initial process was smooth, but it went off the rails shortly after that. The big issue was lack of communication after the initial ticket sales. Firstly, the codes was a debacle because they were not sent out to users that had bought resale or had tickets transferred to them even well ahead of when the actual codes went out. Second, Opening Ceremony notification was a joke. Everyone was speculating on what if they made it or not (e.g. Ticket vs Seat or Orange vs Purple).
Entry & Opening Ceremony - As noted above the ticketing piece was very confusing. This was the worst line I had ever seen at BlizzCon and it was unacceptable. Thankfully, I put off registering until Friday and I was able to skip the line. Also, thanks to the mess that was the OC lottery I was able to get into the arena for the OC. It was disappointing to not see any StarCraft pieces included.
The Convention - The set pieces were great, but this year felt flat. Everything was a line and their was very little to do. This was the least amount of time I have spent in the actual convention over the 4 or so I have been to. The big miss was the lack of stages across the con to host a number of smaller discussions like years past. This change also removed a lot of seating areas that would have been helpful for those that couldn’t get into the OC. The format from 2019 and prior worked and should come back for the future. Please see all of the DarkMoon Faire complaints from others as I am aligned with that feedback. One piece I will add for DMF is the Pet Adoption on Saturday was crushingly disappointing. Why were the pillows even included for this option? They aren’t pets and were not shown as an option to choose. Plus, the stocking of the cubbys was just off and it felt like they were opening a box of item A and just stocking that instead of having a mix of options. I got 3 of the exact same item.
The Blink Store - This was an absolutely painful experience. I ordered some items on 10/27 for a Friday pickup. I did get an initial confirmation, but nothing after that. No communication for which Zone to go to and no barcode to scan. A Blue Shirt helped me sort this out thankfully with the Customer Service line. It was nice not to have to wait an hour to pickup my “blink” order. The other problem here is some of my items went on sale on Saturday. That felt insulting. The selection was a let down compared to years past. Also, why did we not have exclusive (in-person) Con merch?
Portal Pass - This was my second Portal Pass and it felt like a total scam. Concierge? You mean the bag check area? Demos? You mean a few xbox machines playing Overwatch? Also, I missed out on all of the expanded benefits on Day 2 because their was no communication out. I did not get the free items, I did not get expedited demo lines and I did not get easy DMF entry. This was worth $100 or so more above the base ticket, but not the current premium.
Closing Ceremony - Community night felt short, but it was good. The closing band was such a huge disappointment. Honest question, was this band selected because they paid or did the closing performance for Free? I don’t mind Kpop, but this was such a drop in previous con experiences. The second song where they stood their and waved was pure comedy. Do better next time or don’t bother at all. The bands that have sang at community night in the past would have been an upgrade. My group ended up watching all of this at the hotel due to the long lines, no seats and horrid band choice.
Alcohol - This took away some of the fun from the con and had my group spend more time outside catching up. In the past it was nice to wait in line with a beer or watch the Overwatch games with a beer in hand. Not to mention how fun the Blizzard specific drinks were. Why did the con attendees have to suffer because of a few bad Blizzard Employees?
Why Go in Person? - This year it felt like we had a worse con experience because we went in-person instead of doing the virtual path. Going in-person did not give us; any unique merch, any unique in-game items, as many opportunities to test out the new OW hero or view many of the speakers or ceremonies actually in person. Plus, those virtually got better food, actual adult beverages, no lines and everything else the in-person group had available.
Blue Shirts - I posted elsewhere, but the actual employees did great. Thank you for volunteering and helping as much as possible to reverse this absolute cluster of a mess.
New Team Organizing BlizzCon - I understand a new group helped organize the Con this year. It is crystal clear they absolutely failed at this task and should be held responsible. In the future, please have a core group of Blizzard Employees or actual past Con attendees weigh in on the decisions they are making. Some sort of BlizzCon Council. Many of us saw how the Opening Ceremony lottery would be a mess from a mile away. It was evident that the new organizers did not understand what BlizzCon attendees want, like or interact with the con. If they did this we likely would have avoided the pain points of the OC lottery and DMF being shut down by the fire marshal.
Final Thoughts - At this point it feels like the in-person con might be dead. Blizzard has been burning through player trust over the years (e.g. WC3:Reforged or OW PvE) and this was the another example of a full let down. I might go virtual next year and save thousands of dollars to see if Blizzard is doing what is needed to re-build the trust.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. As my first con, i was very upset, we weren’t told about an ADA entrance the first day so having to walk all the way around the building was a pain. Also not enough seating. There needed to be some chairs on the edges of the walls so some people could sit down. Or even notified about waiting in line for the demos. After seeing all the work that was done, there just wasn’t anything to purchase or do. Played a demo for release that was happening in 4 days, and we only stuck around for an hour the second day because there wasn’t anything else to do.