Wizard Trailer [ via Diablo III Website]

Highlights of the bag include the inflatable Frostmourne sword, the Diablo III stress ball, Padaren Brewmaster beer cozy and bottle opener, and of course the card containing the codes for the polar bear mount and Starcraft II beta. My personal favorite? A small box of tissues labeled "QQ nOOb." Awwwwwww.

It's not all about WoW though, of course! I'm expecting interesting news from both StarCraft II and Diablo III, so stay tuned over the next couple of days as I delve into this new, dark world. In the meantime, if you folks have any questions you'd like answered about Wrath of the Lich King, or the other two, non-WoW titles, drop them in the comments section! Who knows, I might be just lazy enough to skip coming up with my own questions in favor of yours!

We got one of those non-answers that was very telling. "We haven't announced anything about what will be playable at Blizzcon," a Blizzard rep told us. Inconclusive, yes, but delivered with one of those smiles that one frustratingly can't print.

It sure sounds like Blizzard is working to bring a playable copy of Diablo III to BlizzCon this year, but we realize that things can change at the last minute. However, if you're going to the 'Con in Anaheim this year, don't be surprised if you're knee deep in hellspawn and rainbows all weekend.

While you might think developer panels are dry stuff, the descriptions indicate otherwise. One Diablo III panel, for example, hints strongly that we'll get a look at new classes beyond the Barbarian and Witch Doctor.

The Diablo III Game Design session promises "new and exciting features the upcoming sequel", which we find attractive because new and exciting things are what we live for, and one StarCraft II panel is listed as hosting a developer led live demo. A similar session last year spelled out a host of new features and unit details.

On the World of Warcraft side, BlizzCon will give players a peek into "current and future plans" for WoW PvP in one panel, a "unique opportunity to glimpse future dungeons currently in development" in another.

Here's the full list, so you can pick and choose which sessions you'd like to attend, you lucky ticket holder, you.

- Diablo III Class Design
- Diablo III Game Design
- Diablo III – Lore and Art
- StarCraft II Gameplay
- StarCraft Lore
- StarCraft II Art
- World of Warcraft Class Design
- World of Warcraft PvP
- World of Warcraft Art
- World of Warcraft Dungeons & Raids
- World of Warcraft UI and Mods
- Blizzard Cinematics
- Blizzard Sound and Music

Panels [BlizzCon 2008]

That's the bad news. The good news is that Blizzard has "a small reserve of tickets left" which will be going up for grabs tonight, August 12 at 8:00 PM PDT. Even with the larger crowd accommodation and the $100 ticket prices, expect whatever's left to sell out at lightning speed.

And expect even more grumbling and griping in the official Blizzard forums when they do.

Update: 9:40 PM PDT - We have appreciated everyone’s patience as we've worked to address issues with the BlizzCon ticket sales today. To avoid having people stay up into the early hours attempting to make ticket purchases, we will take ticket sales down and continue implementing optimizations through tonight and tomorrow morning.

There are still plenty of tickets available, so if you weren't able to purchase tickets today, please check back tomorrow. We'll continue to provide updates on the World of Warcraft forums here.

I haven't checked yet, but in theory purchasing your BlizzCon tickets today should be a much smoother experience.

BlizzCon Ticket Sales Resume Today [Blue's News]