I just got back from BlizzCon and I had a very wonderful time there. This was my 8th BlizzCon and it was probably the most disappointing one I ever went to. Even though I was disappointed, I still managed to have a decent amount of fun there. I want to go over what I did during the week and what things I was disappointed with in this blog. I left Vancouver on a Wednesday and arrived in Anaheim on Wednesday afternoon. I stayed at the Portofino Inn again, which was pretty decent. On Wednesday night, I had steak at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse restaurant. Although the steak was expensive, it was probably one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. I couldn't believe how tender the steak was even though it was a pretty thick cut. On Thursday, I woke up pretty early and got in line for my badge pickup. The line was pretty smooth, I got a backpack and looked at some of the items in the store. For the rest of Thursday, I decided to go to Disneyland. I've been wanting to go there again since they opened the new Star Wars area. Some of the rides that I went on had very long lineups but most of the rides were pretty good. I really liked the new Star Wars area, it felt like you were actually in a Star Wars world. My most favourite ride that I went on was probably the Davy Crockett's canoe. Even though you had to paddle, it was still really enjoyable to be near the water. The It's a Small World was still closed. At about 5:00pm, I went over to Downtown Disney and I had my dinner there. I went to Naples Restaurant and had some good pasta there. At 7:00pm, I went back to the BlizzCon store to pick my items that I bought. I bought the BlizzCon magnet, a Diablo shirt, some Diablo dice and a Diablo keychain.
On Friday, I went over to the convention center at about 8:50am because I knew the lineup was going to be crazy. Apparently the people who came after me had to wait a very long time to get into the convention center. The line was super long that it stretched over to people's homes. The first thing I wanted to do was get in line for the Hell's Ink tattoo because I didn't have a seat for the main stage for the opening ceremony. The thing that was stupid is that most people had already signed up prior to Friday and there were no slots for the people lining up on Friday. The next thing that I did was that over to the Glass Cannon, which had figurines for the new rpg Diablo board playing game. It was pretty cool how they were building a DnD campaign for Diablo. After that, instead of getting a permanent tattoo, I got a small washable ink tattoo. It wasn't too good, like from the past BlizzCon, it was super small and not very memorable. After getting a tattoo, I watched the opening ceremony from the Fat Goose Inn. There weren't many seats there so I had to stand up for most of the opening ceremony. Once the opening ceremony was over, I got a Diablo poster signed by the devs. Then I went over to the Overwatch area in Hall C. I did the Overwatch demo and won. I got an Overwatch poster and got it signed by the devs. Then the I went over to Hearthstone area in Hall D. The Hearthstone demo was the new play mode called duo battlegrounds. I did a demo and got second with my partner. I then tried the new mobile game, Warcraft Rumble. It was pretty cool to try it out, I am not very good at it though. I have it downloaded on my phone now. I also visited the Darkmoon Faire, it was super crowded and I didn't buy anything there. At about 3:00pm, I grabbed some food from the food trucks outside. I had the beef and lamb over fries. It was pretty good, but it needed some more sauce. Went back into the convention center and I happened to lineup to meet some Diablo content creators. I met Wudijo and Annacake. While I was standing in line, I saw Neinball and Dredsycthe standing off to side and met those guys after meeting with the content creators. I also met Nite, Leviathan and MacroiBoiBoi. It was good seeing those guys again because I haven't seen them for a long while. Afterwards, I took a lot of photos from BlizzCon. I took pictures from the Sacrificial Altar, the Diablo Relics and Museum, the Wings of Inarius (pictured), and the Tree of Whispers.
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I then went back to the Overwatch area, I did the demo again but lost this time. Then I took more pictures at the Comm Tower. I tried the Warcraft Rumble demo again, I did a little better this time around. Since the convention center was closing at 7:00pm, there weren't many things you could do after 6:00pm. Once the convention was closed, I went over to Denny's to have my dinner and that was it for Friday.
On Saturday, one of the things that I wanted to do was watch some Overwatch World Cup. Canada was knocked out by South Korea on Friday so I didn't have country that I was cheering for. The first semi-final was between S. Korea and China and this was one the closest matches that I have ever seen. Both teams played great and both teams were playing a dive comp that had either a Doomfist or a Winston. Lip played great for S. Korea but Leave and Shy were a bit better. China ended up winning 3 - 2. The second semi-final was between Finland and Saudi Arabia. Both teams looked good. I was cheering for Masaa for Finland and KSAA for Saudi Arabia because they both played for the Vancouver Titans in the past. This match was super close also. Saudi Arabia had a very bad C9 on the last map but managed to win the series 3 - 2. I think these semi-finals might be one of the Overwatch matches that I have ever seen. After the semi-final matches, I lined up for the Diablo panel over in the main arena. The panel was ok, there wasn't much detail about what was coming up. To me, it seemed like there could have been more news or details that could have been shared to keep everyone happy. After the panel, I went to grab some food and ate some chicken tenders and fries. I then went back to the Hearthstone area and did the demo again. This time I did a lot better and managed to build a very big demon build, which helped get first with my partner. After that, I tried to get in line for the Tarot Card reading but they were closed. So instead I watched the finals of the WC between China and Saudi Arabia. The finals was really good, Saudi Arabia won 3 - 2 on a reverse sweep. I knew Saudi Arabia had a good team because they defeated the US in the quarterfinals on Friday. KSAA was very impressive on the Sigma and SirMajed is the best Illari player out there right now. I had to stand again to watch the WC so my legs are pretty hurting by now. Then I went to get some card pack from the Horadric Library and went over the Hearthstone area and watched a bit of the Le Sserafim concert. The performance was pretty good, very good dancers but I am skeptical about their singing. Once the convention was over, I got some food by the food trucks outside for my dinner. This time I got the teriyaki chicken bowl, which was super yummy. And that was BlizzCon 2023.
The things that disappointed me:
1) Poor use of the convention center
I think I would have put the Overwatch World Cup stage in the main arena and moved the main stage back in Hall D. The Darkmoon Faire seemed very crowded and I would have left it in the opposite building were the registration was being done. I would have left the registration outside like in 2019, which would have freed up lots of space. Also, there is an area below Hall D that seemed it was not being used at this con.
2) Lack of demos from other Blizzard games especially Diablo
I think the lack of demos especially for Diablo killed this con for me. Usually there is enough space for playing games so I think there was a lack of effort of getting computers and peripherals to play Diablo, StarCraft, Heroes of the Storm, and the Blizzard arcade.
3) Lack of panels and overall areas to watch events
In other BlizzCons, there are many areas for different e-sports events to happen. This BlizzCon seemed to have very little. I also like it when there are smaller areas for the devs to give us some inner details to how their games are created. Whether it is sound design, game lore or voice acting, these little pieces of how the games are created makes it super interesting to me. It is not always about what is coming to the Blizzard games but also a step back to inform the players of how and why the game was created in the first place.
4) Convention hours too short
This BlizzCon seemed super short because the convention closed at 7:00pm. Normally the convention is open until 9 or 10pm so there were less time for you to experience everything.
Overall, I had a good time at BlizzCon but I don't think I will go again.
