Friday, August 15, 2008

UPDATED For Trade: Your Blizzcon Travel + Expenses for 1 Blizzcon Ticket

(Bumped DOWN on 8/23/08, one ticket confirmed, thanks Diablo III DB!!)
(Bumped up on 8/22/08)
ONE TICKET CONFIRMED! THANKS Diablo III DB! Need ONE ticket for my handler!
Good afternoon, all. Interesting title, isn't it? Sit back, and I'll tell you a tale. A tale of depression and desperation.

I am one of the many thousands who got screwed over by Blizzard's incompetent IT staff and the smarmy little "Oops" page. What has followed since have been repeated fruitless attempts to contact customer service, my bank, and customer support. Blizzard customer service won't give me a straight or consistent answer, customer support just says talk to customer service, and my bank says "hang on, we have some people working on just these Blizzard screwups."

I am at this point, pretty much positive the lottery holds no realistic hope for me. I'm insulted by Mike's apology delivered by middle finger. I'm also desperate, because I have been planning on going to Blizzcon since February. This will be my first actual vacation in 12 years where I am not off for 3 days or less, still on call and not allowed to leave town, work will not be able to reach me, and I and I have invested a large amount of time into planning and preperation, exactly to avoid the kind of disaster that Blizzard produced by fiat. But enough of the sob story, there's enough QQ in the forums, mostly from people who didn't plan beyond "get Blizzcon tickets."

What it is, is simple. I am offering you two seats, room for luggage, meal expenses, and hotel expenses to and from Blizzcon 2008 in exchange for 2 tickets that your friends or family can no longer use for whatever reason.

I will be departing from Cleveland, Ohio no later than the morning of October 4th. My approximate route can be found by putting Cleveland, OH to Anaheim, CA into Google Maps. I can easily adjust this route to swing by and pick you up.

Sounds interesting! What exactly do I get?
  • Two (2) seats in a 2003 Buick Regal with Dual-Zone Climate Control! (And leather.)
  • Arrive in true Horde style with "SHUHALO" vanity plates.
  • All of your meals on the road, paid for!
  • All of your accomodations on the road, paid for!
  • Accommodations at Blizzcon (TBD), paid for!
  • My eternal gratitude and written promise to NOT cry on you.
  • Getting your picture taken with a lunatic in a full-body Tauren costume!

What do YOU have to have and do?

  • Have two paid for and confirmed Blizzcon 2008 tickets for people who can no longer attend.
  • Be located between Cleveland Ohio and Anaheim California!
  • Be packed and ready to go when I show up!
  • Travel relatively light - no more than two suitcases each, please!
  • Must be 21+ with a valid and current driver's license for your state of residence!
    We will grant an exception for an under-21 if they're travelling with a parent, sibling, or guardian over 21!
  • Must not object to smoking in the car, but non-smokers welcome. We try to mind our smoke. Hotel rooms will be smoking or non-smoking by your preference, when possible.
  • Provide occasional assistance to a Tauren cosplayer between panels and events.
    This mostly will be assisting with area control during certain complex movements to prevent injury and carrying an emergency contact card with you.
  • Bring your own camera and towel!

Surely there are things you won't pay for?
Indeed there are.

  • You'll be responsible for your meals at Blizzcon proper, but we're happy to join you!
  • The six t-shirts and four posters you want from the Blizzard Store.
  • Going out drinking with your friends, though we're happy to give you a ride if you need it.
  • The side trip to Disneyland, though we might join you!
  • Bail. ;)
Generally, if it does not relate to the car, your hotel room or eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, you would be responsible for buying it yourself, just as we would be. We just ask that we work together to keep these reasonable. That means we are not eating at every steak house on the way for every meal, but if people are hungry we will find somewhere agreeable.

So why should you consider my offer? For starters, selling your ticket on eBay? Risky. You have an army of angry people who want to lynch you, and will report you, and a dangerous new feedback system. Craigslist? Who knows. Forums? Most of them are cracking down on it. And you still have to be there in person to pick it up, otherwise, you risk the joy of mail fraud. And hey, since you're already at Blizzcon...
And to touch on the costs briefly; just the hotels will easily run $500-600 for Anaheim alone, before air fare or gas, rental car, plus still more for food. I would say a fair estimate of the value is at least $1,750.

But I'd like the major reason you consider my offer, to not be what your alternatives are, but because of the reasons I present here. As I said above, this was going to be my first real, genuine vacation in 12 years. I have put a tremendous amount of time into planning this vacation. As part of it, I began building my costume in May of this year, deciding to go with my 70 Tauren Shaman for something new, and hopefully amazing and astonishing for all to see. I have over $3,000.00USD invested in this costume in materials and supplies alone.
My primary reason for going isn't the exclusive mount, an excuse to get away from work, or even really because I'm particularly zealous about World of Warcraft or any Blizzard property. I like Tauren. I didn't think I would like WoW, and I got proven very wrong, and I've loved every minute of it. I decided to go to Blizzcon this year because it presented me an opportunity to move my character off the monitor and into the real world to some extent, and share it with a lot more people. Yeah, sounds cheesy, but it truly is the case. I thought it would be a nice trip to drive, even with gas prices what they are, and I could enjoy being a bit of a spectacle among friends.
Am I some old school hardcore raider type? Not really. Hardcore RPer? Nah. PvP omgh4x? Uhm, no. I try to enjoy all parts of the game equally. Have I been in WoW since day one? Not really. Does it matter? Not really, I don't think. I'm just someone who enjoys the game a great deal, and was looking forward to an opportunity to share something I enjoy with a bunch of people I've never met. Now, that's in severe doubt. So, I turn to the folks who did get lucky. Sure, it's a long shot, and it's desperate, but yeah. I do want to go that badly.

If you're interested, you can reach me by leaving a comment here or sending an email at yetama -at- error404 -dot- nls -dot- net; this is a forwarder, as the character will be remaining a surprise. Everything is open to discussion, and we'll do what it takes to make it work, and make it an enjoyable trip for everyone as much as we can.

Thanks!
(Posted 8/15/08, date will be adjusted to stay at the top as needed.)

5 comments:

Emerald_City said...

Aw I really hope you get some- I had to shell out my pretty penny for a couple tickets- but looking at Ebay now I feel fortunate I got them for what I did haha. Make sure you post this on Anaheim (OC) craigslist- hope to see you (and your kickass costume!) there =)

Imalamuya said...

Thanks for the well wishes! To be honest, I'm being extra generous because we -really- want to go. (And secretly hoping someone will take pity on my checkbook. ;)

Any tips on posting to CL? I can't figure out how to post for tickets wanted. :(

Emerald_City said...

Well here's the link for the OC craigslist- which I recommend just because a lot people are posting there since that's where Blizzcon is:

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=blizzcon

Up in the right hand corner there's a link that says "post" and it'll guide you through how to make the add- just put your category as "items wanted" that's what I did when I was begging for my tickets- let me know if you need any more help- I know the pain of not getting those tickets.

Oh- and good luck in the ticket lottery =)

John Lane said...

Yetama... huge good luck... I would looove to go to Blizzcon... but alas I am a poor college student and Blizzcon cuts right in the middle of my college semester. /tear
I really really hope you score some tickets!


For the HORDE! /dance
Aberend -Mors Ultima Ratio- US Server Terokkar

Benjamin Slayter said...

This post is filled with win.
Please provide more photos, my wife and I would love to see this. Also, if you are interested in selling plans for said costume, we'd be interested.