BlizzCon 2006 A No Go?
It may be a little too early to weep, my most fan-obsessed World of Warcraft players, but not too early to become appropriately concerned. For those of you who enjoy getting together with equally enthusiastic players to talk shop and stalk Blizzard employees, you may just have to cross BlizzCon off your list of possible venues.
You may remember Ingrid posting about last year’s event here at Play-Girlz (ha! can you believe they still let us blog nearly a year in?). According to a Blizzard employee on the game’s forums, they haven’t even begun to think about this year’s gathering. And why? BlizzCon “isn’t intended as an annual event”. Shock and horror!
While the source doesn’t state that there will never, ever be any future fan-cons, it looks like this year’s might be a little questionable. What with Blizzard running around trying to get The Burning Crusade out before they get lynched perhaps it’s not really surprising that they don’t seem too concerned about making sure everyone gets their murloc. The prioritizing question they face is ‘what will make WoW fans angrier…delaying the expansion, or not having a con that most of them can’t attend anyway’. I personally would rather face the embittered few that would have actually made it to BlizzCon, than the millions of pitch-fork carrying mobs that will descend on the company’s head if TBC is mucho delayed.
WoW commenters seem to be taking this as an indication that The Burning Crusade may not be ready for a 2006 release, and Blizzard may be trying to wiggle around having a con before that mythical date. While the initial reaction might be disappointment, I’m sure that once players start thinking of how much cooler a con would be (and how much more valuable in-game stuff they could possibly collect), the pain will ease some. Provided Blizzard coughs it up in 2007.
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POSTED IN: MMORPG, Rumors, Things That Suck, World of Warcraft
2 opinions for BlizzCon 2006 A No Go?
Cal
Jun 15, 2006 at 9:39 pm
Why do developers put out a release date? Has one ever made it on time in the last decade?
I believe in this day and age, all you need to say is “We’re working on such and such and will keep you updated as we go”. Then publish on their website what they are doing and what problems they have come across that are slowing them down. Throw in screenshots as you go, and I believe a lot of people would take it.
Call me naive.
Erin
Jun 16, 2006 at 3:58 am
‘Dog-boning’, as I like to call placation tactics, are pretty much the norm already, but rather than what you suggest, they’re kind of tossed out to already frothing masses. Kind of as an apology.
I wouldn’t mind in the least if a dev couldnt give me a set date but just kept my up to date on how things were going. I rarely run out the day something is released anyway.
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