Less
than one week from now a gathering of epic proportions will occur.
On the twenty-second and twenty-third of October 2010 in the Anaheim
Convention Center in California Blizzard fans of all kinds will
converge on the site. Coming from all across the globe and from all
different walks of life these gaming fans will have one common purpose
in mind; to party hard, gamer style. The name of this yearly
event is (as if you didn’t know) BlizzCon and tickets are not
surprisingly already sold out. Thankfully virtual tickets are still
available for the event allowing players to experience the epicness of
BlizzCon from the privacy of their own homes. For more information on
virtual tickets and the event in general visit the
href="http://us.blizzard.com/blizzcon/" target="_blank">official
BlizzCon website.
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The anticipation leading up to BlizzCon weekend is without a doubt
intense. It may seem like some cosmic force is controlling time just to
taunt you, causing the days to drag by. Regardless of if the days are
actually moving slower (the universe is out to get me I tell ya!)
it’s easy to simply fall into a stupor where you aimlessly
stare at the clock. The only highlight of the day comes when you
finally get to put that X on the calendar indicating that you are one
day closer to the main event. Then bedtime comes and when you do
finally fall asleep visions of attractive ladies doing the Night Elf
dance haunt your dreams.
Falling into this shambling zombie like state is not advised. Instead
you should spend the time leading up to the event preparing for it.
This may seem silly, how much preparation can you actually do right?
However you will be surprised to find that there is much to be done
before you are fully prepared to experience BlizzCon in all its glory
and at the very least it will help you pass some time. Below is a list
of five things you can do in the time before BlizzCon to be at your
very best:
Keep it Clean
Maybe your trying to take down that boss that has been eluding your
guild for time untold, maybe you're going for that PvP reward that you
just *have* to have, or maybe you have as mentioned above fallen into
the dreaded BlizzCon zombie stupor. Whatever the case, and whatever the
level of your lack of personal hygiene now
is the perfect time to get
on the right track to be sure that you are sparkly clean and minty
fresh for your time at BlizzCon.
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Keeping up on personal hygiene
ensures that you will not cause the fear affect in those around you.
Take time out of each and every day leading up to the event to take a
shower or bath if that’s your cup of tea. Clean yourself well
and if your really feeling the shower don’t be afraid to run
all the hot water out everyone knows you can open the secret cow level
by ruining someone else’s day in this manner. Brush your
teeth and change your underwear daily, get that much needed haircut,
and while you're out of the house pick up some deodorant if
you‘ve run out. Remember, no one likes a stinky gamer unless
they happen to be a stinky gamer themselves.
Completing your personal hygiene regiment each and every single day
before BlizzCon (I would also suggest keeping up the hygiene while
there for the sake of those around you) will ensure that you have the
best chances of not frightening everyone away in a 10 yard radius while
at the convention. Not to mention it will also help to quickly pass a
solid hour in your day. Single gamers should note that it’s
been rumored that good personal hygiene increases your chances of
attracting a potential mate by 150%.
Get Packing
Packing is a pretty mundane task and easy to forget. Or it may simply
seem appealing to arrive at BlizzCon with only the clothes on your
back, since no luggage means less to worry about right? While this
logic may hold true, I can assure you that packing enough changes of
clothes to hold you over the entire weekend is a very good idea.
Amazingly enough, even wrapped up in the excitement of BlizzCon, people
are bound to notice if you show up in the same clothes two days in a
row, especially if you plan on hanging out with roughly the same group
of friends. Bringing enough clothes for the weekend will not only help
maintain your reputation with your friends (not changing clothes can
take that reputation from friendly to neutral faster than a speeding
murloc) but will help you feel better about yourself ensuring that you
will have the best possible experience during your stay. Not to mention
every good gamer knows you need at least a few sets of epic gear to
change in and out of to totally win at the internet.
Learn the Lingo
BlizzCon is a mass gathering of the fans of all Blizzard games such as
StarCraft, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. Every game has its own lingo,
acronyms, abbreviations, and slang phrases that are used to express
emotions, opinions, and physical conditions.
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Knowing the native language is
never a bad thing.
As such it’s
easy to assume that the nerd speak at the Anaheim Convention Center
will be at an all time high. With this in mind
the days leading up to
Blizzcon are the perfect time to brush up on your gamer speak.
Now don’t get all defensive, sure you might think you're up
to date on all the 1337 terms, but it’s better to be safe
than sorry. Visit websites dedicated solely to gamer lingo, pay
attention to in game chat, and even (/shudder) browse the World of
Warcraft forums. Following this method you are sure to know exactly
what that guy yelling about pwning some face in BRD 2 man without a
meat shield is talking about. The consequences of not understand the
correct lingo could be disastrous and has the potential to forever
damage your gaming reputation. A fate far worse than death itself.
Learn the Schedule
BlizzCon takes place over two action packed days of gamer fun. Most
likely you won’t want to miss any of it. So while you're
patiently waiting for the time to come when you can gather your things
and make your way to the event, it’s an excellent idea to
learn the schedule of events. This way you will know exactly how much
time between events you have to purchase gear, chat with your friends,
go to the bathroom, or grab a bite to eat.
Now when I say “learn” the schedule what I really
mean is devour it, study it, stare at it, sleep with it, and
burn the image into your brain until you become a BlizzCon schedule
machine. Until you can rattle off without hesitation the appropriate
event that goes with each time slot on each day then your learning is
not complete. Don’t feel as if you must give up your social
life though, it’s an excellent idea to print a copy of the
schedule and present it to your friends for some quick quizzing on the
go.
Gaining an intimate relationship with the schedule and you are sure to
maximize your weekend experience.
Don’t Forget the
Merchandise
Going to a gamer convention it’s imperative that you look the
part. This can be accomplished by purchasing and sporting at least a
few pieces of gaming merchandise, preferably of the new BlizzCon 2010
sort. It’s true that there will be plenty of great
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Show the world how epic you
really are by purchasing the right merchandise.
merchandise to be found at the convention, however getting in a
preemptive strike is never a bad idea. Thankfully Blizzard foresaw the
need for this and allowed those players who have tickets to the
convention to purchase merchandise October 9th through 11th
while players holding virtual tickets were able to
take part in the sale on October 13th.
For the slackers among us (me being one of them) who missed the sale,
sadly enough much of the merchandise is already sold out. For those
determined to be sporting some of this gear, a few of the items can be
found on Ebay and other such auction sites for what most would consider
to be exuberant prices. Short on cash but still want to achieve that
classic gamer look before the big day? Visit the Blizzard store, or any
number of other sites that sell Blizzard game themed merchandise to
make a purchase. Sure you won’t quite be the cream of the
crop, but you will certainly get an A for effort.
This completes our short tutorial on preparing for BlizzCon 2010. Join
us on our forums to share some of your own ideas on how to prepare. For
those of you attending or watching the event live we here at Ten Ton
Hammer hope that your experience is a critical strike.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.
