BlizzCon 2019 tickets go on sale in two waves—one on May 4 and one on May 8—through AXS, and whether you’re a convention veteran or trying to go for the first time, it pays to be prepared.

Several things are changing about this year’s ticketing and badging process, and we’ve pulled together five pieces of essential BlizzCon 2019 ticket-sales intel.

There Are Three Options This Year

In addition to the general-admission BlizzCon Pass and BlizzCon Benefit Dinner pass, we’ve introduced a third option to attend BlizzCon called the BlizzCon Portal Pass. Quantities of all three—including the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner, which had its own separate on-sale day in past years—will be going on sale both dates. (Read about each pass type in our announcement blog.)

When you arrive at the BlizzCon ticket page on AXS on the dates of the sale, you’ll choose which of the three options you want to try to buy. Each of the three passes will have its own completely separate “Waiting Room” (more on that below!) and purchase process, so if you want to try to get all three, you’ll need to enter each Waiting Room individually.

The Ticket Waiting Room Opens 30 Minutes Early

AXS’s ticketing system features a “Waiting Room” where people wait to find out if they’re selected for a chance to buy tickets. This Waiting Room opens roughly 30 minutes prior to the official on-sale time—but don’t worry too much about arriving far in advance.

Once the ticket sale officially begins, a number of people in the Waiting Room will be selected randomly for a chance to get tickets. So whether you get in the Waiting Room early or just before the sale starts, as long as tickets are available, your odds of getting tickets are the same.

If you’re selected, you’ll choose the quantity of tickets you want to try to buy, then click Find Tickets. If tickets are still available, you’ll then have 7 minutes to complete your purchase before tickets are released back into the available pool. AXS’s Waiting Room also has measures in place to guard against ticket-buying bots (learn more).

May 7: Updated to clarify the ticket-selection and purchasing process.

You’ll Need to Choose a Statue as You’re Buying Tickets

This BlizzCon, instead of having the typical Goody Bag as in past years, we’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of Warcraft by giving each BlizzCon ticket purchaser their choice of one of two BlizzCon 2019 Commemorative Collectible statues—an Orc Grunt or a Human Footman—and you’ll need to lock in your selection(s) as part of the ticket-buying process.

Here’s how it works, using the core BlizzCon Pass as an example:

If you get through the Waiting Room, you’ll immediately be presented with two options: “BlizzCon Pass with Grunt” and “BlizzCon Pass with Footman.” You’ll need select a quantity for each of them (up to a maximum total of 4), then click Next to advance to the next page.

So, for example, if you want to buy three BlizzCon Passes total, and want two Orc Grunt statues and one Human statue with those passes, you’d select BlizzCon Pass with Grunt x2 and BlizzCon Pass with Footman x1, then click Next.

After you click Next, you’ll then simply reconfirm that you want 3 BlizzCon Passes total by clicking Find Tickets. That will take you to a new page where you fill out your billing information.

Remember, once your ticket purchase is complete, your choice of statue is locked in! When a ticket is scanned at badge pickup, the ticketholder will receive whichever statue was selected at the time of ticket purchase, even if you transfer the ticket to another guest. Speaking of which….

Transferring Tickets Is Permanent!

When you purchase BlizzCon tickets, all of them will stay in your name—and in your AXS account—unless you decide to transfer one or more of them directly to your guests using AXS’s Transfer option.

Unlike previous BlizzCons, where ticket buyers could edit the names of their guests at will until a specific deadline, AXS’s Transfer option permanently hands the ticket over to your guest for them to manage. Your guest can then do with it as they wish (including transfer it to someone else), and you’ll no longer have it in your account. Just make sure you're transferring to someone you trust!

The deadline for using the Transfer option is August 25 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

You’ll Need the AXS Mobile App to Get Into the Show

To pick up your badge at registration this year, you’ll need to download the AXS Mobile App. The app displays a QR code (one code for all of your tickets), which changes at regular intervals to help guard against dupes and fraud. Because of that, we won’t be able to accept paper tickets, confirmation emails, or screenshots/photos of the QR code at BlizzCon registration.

After you buy your tickets, you should receive an email from AXS with instructions on how to download the app, or you can download it at any time for iPhone and Android.

If for some reason you find yourself at the show with a dead mobile device or some other unexpected issue preventing you from accessing the app, don’t worry. Just head to the Solutions Desk at registration and they’ll help you out.

Ready Check!

If you want to set up an AXS account in advance and save yourself a step during the ticket-buying process, you can head to the BlizzCon AXS account registration page. Alternatively, you’ll have the option to log in using your Blizzard account during ticket sales, if you’d prefer.

And if you want even more nitty-gritty details, including things like lists of items you can bring into the show, registration hours, and more info on the badge-pickup process, make sure to explore all of the pages in the Event Info section of the BlizzCon website.

GLHF!