Massive banners greeted you at the entrance to BlizzCon.
Image Credit: Giancarlo Valdes/GamesBeat
ANAHEIM, Calif. — You know you had fun at a convention when your feet are still throbbing with pain two days after the event ended.
Developer Blizzard Entertainment hosted its seventh BlizzCon at the Anaheim Convention Center this past weekend, where over 20,000 people came from around the world to celebrate Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo. Among the festivities were a slew of announcements, including the new expansion to the long-running massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft.
Here’s a look at what BlizzCon 2013 was all about.
Thousands of fans wait for the opening ceremony to begin in Hall D.
In just a few hours, fans would line up here to play Warlords of Draenor, the new expansion for World of Warcraft.
A huge line quickly formed around Heroes of the Storm, Blizzard’s new entry into the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre.
An elf from World of Warcraft. BlizzCon had a ton of cosplayers this year: diehard fans who spent hours and hours making sure their costumes look like their video game counterparts.
The Skeleton King and his handler. Some pieces were so big that cosplayers often had a friend or spouse walk with them to help carry it across the convention center.
Panda warriors from World of Warcraft’s Mists of Pandaria expansion.
Sorry, I’m not sure who this guy is. My knowledge of Blizzard’s mythology isn’t that great.
Hands-down my favorite costume at BlizzCon. It looks like something that could’ve come out of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
Fans weren’t the only ones who dressed up as their favorite characters. Blizzard had a few “official” cosplayers, including this Demon Hunter from Diablo III.
I loved the details on her shield.
Some people cosplay in groups.
A purple knight?
I don’t know who this guy is, either. But they looked cool!
High Warlord Naj’entus from World of Warcraft. This cosplayer used a combination of dowels and wires to get her creepy arm working.
This one kind of reminded me of the White Walkers from Game of Thrones.
The Witch Doctor from Diablo III.
The training dummy from World of Warcraft.
Blizzard developers gave the audience a preview of the new World of Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor.
A statue of Tyrael, a major character from the Diablo series.
Faction Feud is BlizzCon’s spin on Family Feud, where two teams try to come up with the most popular answers to various Blizzard-related questions.
The character Yzan from Diablo III. It was Just one of the many fantastic cosplayers from Friday night’s costume contest.
Blizzard developers talked about the Crusader, the new playable class in Diablo III’s Reaper of Souls expansion.
Fans bought everything they could at Blizzard’s shop.
For the first time in BlizzCon history, Blizzard had a stage dedicated to voice actor panels.
Attendees played Hearthstone against each other to win prizes.
People flocked to the StarCraft II tournament stage as the finals approached.
The StarCraft II tournament had both English and Korean commentary teams.
Kim “sOs” Yoo Jin emerged as the champion in the StarCraft II World Championship Series.
A massive statue of Thrall (from World of Warcraft).
The face-painting and temporary tattoo stations were pretty popular.
In the Loot Elemental booth, fans tried to grab as many of the flying tickets as they could. More tickets led to better prizes.
A detailed sculpture of Deathwing (a dragon from World of Warcraft) sat in the art gallery.
Blink-182 performed at the closing ceremony.
BlizzCon stayed open for a few more hours after the concert ended.
