All the sights, feels, and experiences that made my first ever BlizzCon worth the trip

As you may have deduced by my recent run of BlizzCon coverage, last weekend was my first time attending the event in person. It was two full days of announcements, demos, nostalgia, and more cosplay than you can shake a Pepe staff at.

More than anything, I wanted to attend the opening ceremony in person. I have watched many of these reveal-filled presentations on stream, and it was on the absolute top of my BlizzCon bucket list. I told our editors that after the opening ceremony, they could assign me an in-depth piece on the water fountains of the Anaheim Convention Center meaning I spend the entire rest of the con snapping pictures of bottle fillers and I’d still be happy.

Luckily I was able to experience the opening ceremony (which was totally worth the early wake-up call) and spend the rest of the weekend split between hands-on experiences that viewers couldn’t do at home and walking around to soak in the general vibe of the con floor.

The first thing that strikes con-goers as they meander around the exhibit halls are the photo ops and centerpieces. Between the stages, demo areas, refreshment stands, and booths ran a network of paths linking all of the different areas. It felt like every intersection of these paths hosted a statue, life size re-creation, weapon rack, or some other massive installation.

Walking into the hall dedicated to World of Warcraft required confronting a massive Dark Portal. It didn’t help the fact that I had the login music from Classic stuck in my head all weekend, but it did serve as the backdrop for quite a few attendee’s favorite selfie of the weekend.

Flanking the massive stone structure were small Horde and Alliance photo-ops. The Horde got a cactus and the Alliance got a cow. The Hearthstone area had an honest-to-goodness five-foot hearthstone which was carefully roped off to avoid eager fans leaning on it and getting whisked back home before the con was half over.

In addition to the panels and demos everyone could watch from home, there were plenty of things to do and freebies to be had. The Profession Plaza was one example where con-goers could create a custom bracelet to commemorate their weekend. My favorite one of these areas was the Last Call at the Arcantina tabletop RPG experience, which was awesome enough to merit its own full write-up.

I had to share a few more pictures of the life-sized statues scattered around BlizzCon. There were many more than three, but these should give you an idea of the sheer size, incredible detail, and stunning poses of each of them.

There were so many things to see and details to take in that I didn’t even notice that Grommash Hellscream was standing on Mannoroth’s decapitated head until I checked the pictures afterwards.

I’m not a player, but I did make sure to take the time to check out two of the most unique events happening at BlizzCon under the Overwatch banner. While the World Cup was on livestream the whole weekend, actually being in the arena during the final match was an unforgettable experience.

My expectations were high for Questwatch, and the voice actor participants did not disappoint. Matt Mercer emerged on stage dressed as Cassidy and wielding a t-shirt cannon loaded with what looked to be a stuffed animal. After a quick rundown on the rules of the Daggerheart system, he fully assumed the role of Cassidy to serve as game master.

What followed was a hilarious, delightfully layered game where four fellow voice actors took the stage, became their Overwatch characters, and played the Questwatch game as their characters’ characters. The only way to truly understand is to catch the replay for yourself. While any live play is going to be chaotic, unpredictable, and high-pressure, the squad rose to the challenge and being part of the live audience was certainly a core memory of my BlizzCon.

With 35 years of history, there was plenty for the Blizzard archivists to pick from when deciding what to showcase on the con floor. For every modern character statue and new demo there was an original miniature or throwback game collection on display. I was surprised to find that all of the props form the long, panning shot across the era-spanning desk from Blizzard’s The Next Chapter video were real and laid out for con-goers to file by.

The collection of company holiday cards was fun to look through, but the highlight for me was getting to stand before the amazing Alexstraza-inspired jacket that Holly Longdale wore on stage at BlizzCon 2023. Crafted by Renegade Effects Group, it stole the show last time around and laid the groundwork for all of the amazing Holly looks to come.

Capturing the magic of attending BlizzCon in person is impossible, but hopefully you’ve seen enough of what you can experience by just wandering around the give you a good idea of what it’s like. I’ll add that, with a vanishingly small number of exceptions, every attendee (and all of Blizzard’s on-site staff) were in a fantastic, friendly mood all weekend.

It was super easy to make friends while waiting in line, swap plushies with a group that got all Whompers, and chat with someone in a staff t-shirt only to find out what they actually do is work on your favorite video game.

The last pictures I’ll leave you with are the last ones I took on my way out of BlizzCon on Sunday night. You’ve probably seen these two pieces of art in promos for World of Warcraft: Forever depicting bands of adventurers from the Horde and Alliance. It was so cool to see the actual oil and acrylic versions by Alex Horley hanging on the wall – it seemed like the perfect bridge between the past and present to close out my BlizzCon experience.