WOW - BlizzCon: Day One : World of Warcraft General Discussions

The first day of BlizzCon is reaching its end, and what a day it was. It's hard to put in words the energy that radiated throughout the Anaheim Convention Center this morning as thousands of players walked through the doors of BlizzCon 2007. When the next expansion for World of Warcraft was announced -- and especially when the gameplay trailer for Wrath of the Lich King rolled -- the convention hall erupted with cheers.

And that was only the very beginning of an outstanding first day. Huge crowds watched the StarCraft, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft tournaments, cheering on their favorite players and carefully following every move of every match. To quote one viewer, "I never played StarCraft before, but watching these pros was awesome. It makes me want to be as good as them, so I can be up there on that stage in that soundproofed booth, with the crowd cheering me on. I literally had goose bumps."

Another unique highlight was the developer panels, which covered material ranging from World of Warcraft class design, to the new single-player campaign in StarCraft II, to what it takes to land a job in the game industry. "During the Raids and Dungeons panel, Tigole fielded a lot of tough questions from players, and it was clear [with every answer] that he's really passionate about the game," said one attendee.

But for some, the best thing about BlizzCon was the atmosphere of being in a huge crowd of fellow gamers. "If you can carry on a conversation with a complete stranger that consists almost entirely of 'Whoa, dude, bam!' then you know you're in the right place. It feels great to be here, with a ton of people who all share the same passion. You just have this total connection with everyone here."

These were just a few quick snapshots of day one at BlizzCon, but we hope this short glimpse can give you some idea of the incredible energy permeating the event, thanks to everyone here sharing their passion for games with us.