Apple Cider Mage Does Blizzcon 2011

Sorry about the quality of the image today – I had to take it with my phone’s camera in low light. If you can’t tell what they are, those are my business cards. I’m taking a cute white box full of them with me to Blizzcon this week. Oh, wait, I didn’t mention I was going to Blizzcon? How silly of me! Then let’s back it up a bit and start from the beginning.

The Convention

Blizzcon, for you World of Warcraft devotees, is Blizzard’s annual convention that celebrates all of their game properties – most notably World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. It takes place in Anaheim, CA, in the city’s multi-hall convention center, right near Disneyland. I’ve personally been going every year since 2008 and I always have a ton of fun. This year should be no exception – not only does their promise to be some juicy unveilings (new Warcraft expansion, possible DLC for Starcraft II and maybe even a whiff of Blizzard’s secret project, Titan) but a lot of talk about next year’s hot release, Diablo III.

The schedule of events for the convention has been posted (sort of) via their mobile phone app, as well as various Warcraft news sites, but not on their actual event page. I’m using their Android app to figure out where I’m going each day and what I want to see. A rough plan of things I want to hit looks like this:

Friday

• Opening Ceremony  11 AM-12 PM, Main Stage
• World of Warcraft Preview 12:30-2:00 PM, Main Stage
• World of Warcraft Class Talent Systems 2:15-3:15, Main Stage
• World of Warcraft Dungeons & Raids 3:30-4:30 PM, Main Stage
• World of Warcraft: 4.3 Raid and Deathwing 5:00 PM-5:50 PM, BlizzChat: Live Forums

Saturday

• World of Warcraft Lore and Story Q&A, 4:15PM-5:15 PM

Items that are bolded are ones I’m definitely not missing, hopefully, as I go to them every year. You can also see that my schedule is fairly Warcraft-oriented. I tend to keep my schedule fairly loose though and allow myself to wander or go elsewhere as necessary.

Meetups and Parties

Besides just attending panels and trying out demos of the new games, I also go to a couple of social events in and around the convention. Most notably is the WoW Insider party at 5 PM on Thursday, October 20th, at the Annabella hotel, which is right around the corner from the east entrance of the convention center and up the block. It’s an amazingly gorgeous mission-style hotel and I’ve had a blast every year I’ve attended this party. The WoW Insider staff are always fun people to hang out with, with lots of MCing, podcasting and prizes/swag. Just don’t get pushed into the pool. This year the party is being jointly sponsored by WoW Insider and  Wowhead and should promise to be the biggest party yet. Don’t be late and get stuck outside because there’s no room! I heard that this year there’s even going to be faction-inspired cocktails so everyone can imbibe for the Horde or the Alliance.

I also go to my server’s meetup every year but since Blizzard doesn’t display the times for that until the day of the convention, I have no idea when that will be. In past years, I’ve taken part in the Elitist Jerk’s /flex picture outside, as well as hanging out with some of the fine ladies at WoW_ladies.

This blog doesn’t have a ton of fans (yet) but hopefully if any of you guys are going to Blizzcon, that maybe we’ll get to say hi. If anyone wants to hang out or get in touch, you can send me an e-mail at my address from my contact page. Also if anyone wants to invite me to anything, just let me know as well.

Hope to see some of you there!

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Leveling Through Misandry

When I started off asking people what they really wanted to see in a mage blog (again, heh), a lot of them really wanted to see some revamped mage leveling information. Since I haven’t levelled a mage in earnest since vanilla, I felt that this was a prime opportunity to do something really radical. Not only would I level a Horde character (which I have scant few), but I’d also write about my experiences so that new mage players could read along, watch the character grow and have some laughs along the way. Anyone is welcome along on this journey, but I plopped myself down on Mal’ganis, where I have some higher level friends so I wouldn’t be quite so lonely. Thus Misandry was born. (Name is tongue-in-cheek, I assure you. Or is it?)

Anyways, Misandry here is going to be levelled up (fast or slow, haven’t really decided) and every 10 levels or so, her progress will be recorded here in the form of guides that tell you what spells you get when, what content you might want to do, and what the overall experience is like for me. The only thing I cannot decide right now is what spec to play her as! So I ask you, faithful readers, to decide for me:

 

Once I get the answers in by Sunday, October 9th, I’ll get her past level 10. You can also follow my progress in bits and pieces on my Twitter account, which you can follow from the sidebar on the right side of my blog (@applecidermage).

Are any of you leveling a mage currently, comment and tell me a little about them!

Let’s Jam!

There’s nothing that quite says a fresh start like “Tank” from Cowboy Bebop. See, I’ve been out of blogging for a little while. But I got the itch; the itch to blog. Every time I’d read a news story on Wowhead or somewhere, or see a link on Twitter, I’d say to myself, “Why can’t that be me?”

So I’m getting back on the horse again, here to bring you hopefully the most entertaining or at least insightful look into Warcraft, feminism and beyond. Whatever my little heart desires, really. I’m taking you all along for the ride. Won’t you come with me?