Today was alleged to be the day that Microsoft would close the deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. Friday the 13th seems like the right date for that.
Will that happen today?
I do not know, but it seems almost certain it will happen soon, and not soon enough given Bobby Kotick had James Cordon host an in-house company town hall…. horrible seeks horrible I guess… and it went as poorly as one might expect. We clearly need to get Bobby his golden parachute and get him out of the company.
But once Microsoft owns the place you can bid farewell to even the meager financial insights we get from ActiBlizz, the land of the MAUs. I think we get one final statement for Q3 2023 to close the deal and then the whole thing will be subsumed into Microsoft’s balance sheet, where Blizz will barely qualify for a footnote.
Wait… I am being told that the acquisition has been completed this morning, that Activision Blizzard is now part of Microsoft, having cost $69 billion dollars.
Well, that out of the way, on to the bullet points.
- BlizzCon… Not Sold Out?
BlizzCon is coming up at the start of next month and… I hear tickets are still available. Maybe a sign of times or the fortunes of Blizzard but a ticket to BlizzCon used to be something you practically had to bot to make sure you got one before they were all gone.
BlizzCon 2023 ticket prices
The second round of tickets went on sale at the end of September and I just checked in last night and… I could still buy one if I wanted.
- BlizzCon Goodies for Sale… not Cheap
Of course, people might not be going to BlizzCon not only because the trip is expensive, but also because you can stay home and watch most of the interesting stuff on your computer. But what if you want the in-game items that come with that BlizzCon ticket you didn’t buy? Blizz would still like some cash from you.
BlizzCon Virtual Trash… I mean goodies
For just $30 you can get have all of this:
- World of Warcraft: Dragonflight: new Ysergle pet and the Chilling Celebration Banner toy
- Diablo IV: the ferocious Lapisvein Mount, the Cobalt Ensign Mount Trophy, and the Demon-Mother Countenance Mount Trophy
- Overwatch 2: 1,000 credits, a Murky weapon charm, and a mystery name card
- Hearthstone: a BlizzCon 2023 cardback, 5 Standard packs, and 5 Golden Standard packs
- Warcraft Rumble: the Murloc Kobold portrait and skin
Need MORE virtual goods or just have more cash to blow? For $50 you can have, in addition to the above, these lovely items:
- World of Warcraft: Dragonflight: the Bound Blizzard flying mount
- Diablo IV: the fearsome Midnight Harness Mount Armor* and a Premium Battle Pass redeemable for any one season
- Overwatch 2: the Drowned Warrior Sigma Epic skin as well as a Season 7 Premium Battle Pass
- Hearthstone: a mystery Signature Legendary card
- Warcraft Rumble: the Murloc Tower skin
Now, I am not going to cast aspersions. The pets that came with the old BlizzCon DirecTV virtual ticket were some of my favorites. But I literally play NONE of these titles, and there isn’t anything in the wizard’s bag for WoW Classic, so I’ll just save the money for something else.
- The Lich King is Available at Group Rates
So we got the final patch for Wrath of the Lich King Classic on Tuesday, but we had to wait until yesterday for the big guy to show up. I don’t know why, but Blizz got in another news item to cover that.
No Orc warlord can top this guy
Go get him.
- Wrath End of Expansion Sale
Meanwhile, with the end of Wrath Classic foretold Blizz has put all the Wrath Classic upgrades and services on sale.
You can pay less to change your name
It is half off the upgrade packs, one of which includes a level 70 character boost, and 30% off of services like name changes. Why would you need a character boost when you can now Dungeon Finder your way into wrath? Oh, you might need more people playing to accomplish that.
- Joyous Journeys is Still Here
Meanwhile, in yet another sign that the days of the Lich King are numbered, the Joyous Journeys XP buff remains in effect in Wrath Classic.
Can be turned off by your local inn keeper
I mean, if you’re a purist you can go turn it off. Or you can use it and some heirloom gear to really speed up that last alt you want to get to level cap before Cataclysm Classic shows up and you question your commitment to that expansion.
- Beyond the Usual AddOn Apocalypse
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s final patch for Wrath Classic broke a lot of my addons hard. I had to turn them all off because just letting them ride was literally crashing the game client on login. And they are being updated pretty slowly… and their is weirdness. Questie, for example, is not getting along with the inclusion of the built-in quest location tracker that Blizz threw into the update. So I have been reminded why I hate to get used to a bunch of addons. They eventually break and then we find the person supporting them has gone on to something else.
- Unified Pets, Mounts, and Toy Box
I will admit that I do like that Blizz threw in the whole UI thing for pets, mounts, toys, and heirlooms. It makes sharing things across characters easier and you can go chase down a pet or a mount with an alt and not have to worry about not having whatever it is on your main.
You do have to log in all your characters to get things lined up, and you only get one of each mount or pet… but by the time we get to Mists of Pandaria… assuming we ever get there on the WoW Classic train… it is supposed to let you have three of each pet.
One thing they did miss is that the unified collections bit works a lot better when you also have unified, cross-character achievements. Because achievements are per character still, but pets and mounts are shared, each one of my characters got the Leading the Cavalry achievement, which awards each one of them the Albino Drake.
I am getting these like they’re AOL disks
I know they are dupes and that I can probably delete them safely… but I’ll put them in the bank just in case they have some use late.
And then there are the toys, the logic for which escapes me. My Northrend Wormhole Generator got put in the toy panel when I clicked on it. So is Jeeves also a toy? No. How about Direbrew’s Remote from Brewfest? That totally seems like a toy! No.
Anyway, the logic of why a couple of my engineering items ARE toys and others are not seems a bit baffling. The Wormhole Generator still requires the right engineering skill, so the others totally could be toys… they just aren’t.
Well, those are my bullet points about Blizzard. Just 3 weeks until BlizzCon. I hear tickets are still available. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for more news about the acquisition… including the ceremonial jettisoning of Bobby Kotick, the one thing I think we can all agree on as being a good result.
Addendum: This just in, Bobby gets the boot on January 1st. Yes, he’ll be showered with money, but at least he’ll be gone.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 