Fa la la la la, mwah HA HA HA...

Every year around this time, just as the holiday season reaches its zenith, the community team begins its annual tradition of preparing for the road ahead (pending apocalypses be damned). But as we began to schedule our meetings for brainstorming what kind of cool projects and promotions we wanted to do for 2013, we realized...we had absolutely no where to hold department gatherings anymore. We'd run out of meeting rooms!

Our mission became clear. The primary objective? Empty out the office we'd been using as storage space and turn it into the finest meetin' room this side of Sanctuary. The bonus objective? Discover what treasure lurked in its depths and present the bounty to as many worthy companions as possible.

(Note: Cat not included.)

So, under the pallid glare of fluorescents (and to the tune of The A Team theme song), we destroyed that office's defenses, looting everything its box-ridden corpse had to offer. To our delight, after carefully cataloguing our spoils -- and checking the lists twice -- we identified the following rare items:

Signed Diablo III Collector's Editions (over 30!)

Mini Tyrael statues (over 40!)

Books of Cain

Diablo III pins

Diablo II action figures

Some Battle.net Authenticators featuring everyone's favorite Prime Evil

And a bunch of World of Warcraft swag



I've titled the right one: "Zarhym Shrugged."

We decided the best recipients of all this sweet stuff would be you, our mighty community, and picked a few awesome allies to help us distribute the goods:

We're letting these sites set the terms for how and when everything's given away, so be sure to tune in to their front pages (or video streams) for possible holiday swag sightings. We can't wait to see what kind of epic contests, challenges, or raffles they might have in store!



No Bashioks were harmed in the capturing of these photos.

Good luck to everyone who participates in the giveaways, and a big thank you to our Diablo III fan sites who've not only helped us reclaim precious meeting space, but also provided a wealth of support, coverage, and cause for conversation in this year of our Lord (of Terror), 2012.

P.S. Here's a sweet digital painting of a barbarian in a Santa suit. Why? Because beards.