Blackgua
06-24-2005, 06:58 PM
The first Fan Faire since the launch of EverQuest II has officially come to a close. Everyone here on the team extends their thanks for attending. We all had a blast, and it was wonderful to finally meet some of our community members. I hope everyone who did get a chance to go to the Las Vegas Fan Faire had a great time! Enjoy my take on Las Vegas Fan Faire 2005.It all got started last Wednesday, when members of the SOE team flew or drove out to Las Vegas, Nevada, for a little thing we like to call Fan Faire. The flight over went without any major hitches, and the flight attendants on the plane were awesome. When we were taking off and ascending to cruising altitude, one of the attendants started sliding peanuts down the aisle. They also sang a little tune at the end of the flight. I would have to say that the awesome flight attendants in addition to the very short flight made the San Diego to Las Vegas trip one of the most enjoyable flights I've ever had.Enough about the flight over. We arrived in Las Vegas, where we took either a limousine (thanks, Gallenite, for letting me tag along) or shuttle over to the Las Vegas Hilton. Shortly after arriving at the hotel, I realized that my cell phone's battery was about to die. I also realized that I forgot to bring my charger, so I was in a bit of a bind. Saavedra came to my rescue, pointing out that he has the same brand of phone and he remembered his charger. We tried it out and it fit, but it didn't charge my phone! Long story short, Saavedra and Lotus heroically went with me in a cab to the local phone store to get me a new charger.After getting settled in, we all went to the bar outside Quark's within the Hilton, where we had a few drinks with those who arrived on Wednesday. It was here that I met up with the likes of Gage-Mikel, Mystikclaw, Kendricke, Nocte, Mystique, Noah, Pravus, Sassee, Vanguard, Lightbearer, Blackweb, and others who I'm leaving off the list because I can't recall if they were there for sure. I assure you, they are every bit as cool in person as they are on the forums (sorry, Gage, but it's true). It was here that the Gage-Mikel hating began. Actually, we all really like Gage-Mikel, and every time you see one of us make fun of him, it's in good fun.A few "iced teas" later, and I strolled up to my room for some rest before the Community Summit began on Thursday. We started the first ever EverQuest II Community Summit by handing out badges and meeting those who we didn't already meet the previous night. We then had an excellent brunch before starting the first roundtable discussion. We got a lot of great feedback from the Community Summit attendees, and we revealed a little bit of information to them that they are welcome to post about here. Topics covered in four separate roundtables included: Population and Mechanics, Raids and the End Game, Expansions and Adventure Packs, and an open topic discussion.The first night came to a close after the welcome reception and karaoke, where I sang George Michael's "Faith" and Rahzel's "If Your Mother Only Knew." Smed belted out another awesome rendition of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle." There were a lot of other great songs that night performed by Mystikclaw, Nocte, Lightbearer, and many others. Who knew that gamers could sing (or at least have a great time trying)?Truthfully, I decided to go to sleep pretty early on Thursday night (~1:00AM), so I don't have any crazy tales to tell beyond karaoke. With that, I'll move on to Friday. Our first dev brunch took place, where we got to share orange juice and breakfast with EverQuest and EverQuest II players alike. I sat a table with mostly EQII players, and all of them were very cool. The Quest for Antonia walk-in contestants had their pictures taken during the dev brunch, so I'm not sure if any of them actually looked like Antonia Bayle or not. Cat, our audio lead, dressed up in the Antonia costume and walked around for a couple hours. If you knew Cat, you would know how out of character and completely awesome that really was.We had a few panel discussions on Friday about Expansions and Adventure Packs, Tradeskills, and an open Live/Gameplay forum. The most entertaining of them was the Tradeskills forum, where poor Frizznik got dozens of questions and took a little bit of flack. He did, however, reveal more information about why there are tradeskill devices in Everfrost, batch combines for refine recipes, and a few other goodies. If information about these has not yet been posted, I'm sure it will be soon. Friday also saw the EQII Live Quest, where I personally observed a team trying to discover the answer to the riddle they were provided. They did an excellent job, and I've been told that some misinformation may have been involved when they didn't win (yes, I'm going to bug people about it ).Friday night, we had the grand banquet and costume contest, where Brasse the dwarf tied for first place with a gal who made her own Antonia Bayle costume. Excellent job all around with the costumes! Dragon also made an appearance with some really amazing platemail, but he wasn't allowed to win because he makes costumes professionally. After the banquet came to a close, many of us went over to Quark's to have a few spirits. The highlight of the night was when Fires of Heaven and Ardent Legion shared the same drinks. Now, maybe they'll all get along in-game and on the forums! Yes, I had a few "iced teas" there.We've already made it to the final day of Fan Faire in this all-too-brief write-up (a whole lot more went on than I am able to write about). The day began with the EQII Mob Madness tournament, where everyone got to play gnome wizards with uber spells in Everfrost. The team with the most experience gained in the end won. Who were the winners?! Team Dark Horizon took first place: * Phal, Guk Server: Dark Horizon * Nalla, Guk Server: Dark Horizon * Jakanden, Guk Server: Dark Horizon * Kendricke, Guk Server: Legion of the White Rose * Recca, Kithicor Server: Trinity * Egas, Lavastorm Server: CataclysmThanks to everyone who participated in Mob Madness, and sorry if you were trampled during the sign-ups at the banquet. Nocte, I apologize on Suleman's behalf for getting you killed.Other events that took place on Saturday include the second dev brunch, where I talked mostly with EverQuest Live players, more forum panels (Live/Gameplay, Spells and Arts, and a second Live/Gameplay forum), and a Desert of Flames special preview. The sneak preview of our first expansion pack drew crowds that wound halfway to the lobby. I hope everyone who got to sit down and try it out had a good time, even though you were only able to play for a brief period of time. Thanks for checking it out, and let us know what you think!After the close of the normal Fan Faire festivities, I had the opportunity to go to Ruth's Chris with some of the other team members, as well as a couple of our loving fans. Gethani from Deviance was probably my favorite person at Fan Faire this year (apologies to Saavedra, Gage, and the rest of you hooligans). Not only is she the nicest person you'll ever meet, but she got a beautiful hair stylist to come hang out with us. No more sappy stuff. You want to hear about The Beach, don't you?Nothing happened at The Beach. Okay, everything happened at The Beach. I had a great time at the club talking to all of you, dancing with all of you, and drinking with all of you. Those iced teas you see in both of my hands scattered about the internet were perfectly non-alcoholic (sure...). Thanks go out to Brenlo, who probably belongs on MTV for his amazing VJ skills. He had the party hoppin' like I couldn't believe (and no, I'm not just sucking up to him because he's my boss). Kendricke danced the night away and entertained all of us by doing the splits and moving like someone you'd see in a Britney Spears video. I hope everyone had a great time at The Beach. I know I did!That brings my write-up to a close. Fan Faire was more of a success than any of us had dreamed. We have a wonderful new community here in EverQuest II, and I look forward to seeing all of you next time we have a get-together. Thanks for all of the feedback, praise, good times, and memories that will last forever!