Fan Fair Feedback [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

Mitsuka

08-09-2010, 01:06 PM

Since I don't yet see a post yet for Fan Fair feedback, I figured I'd make one here.First of all, I have to say the SoE staff was great, they were fun to hang out with, were readily accessible, and very obviously there for us the players. I had a blast, but this had infinately more to do with the people I met and got to hang around with rather than the event itself.Now we get to the bad part.1.) I paid for a platinum pass and what do i get for it? Nothing. They had only ONE platinum only event, and that was the first tnight. And guess what it was for, Battlegrounds. So it was only for EQ2, and I personally hate Battlegrounds and want nothing to do with it, I wish they would completely rip it out of the game and admit that it was a huge mistake and that they will never do something like it again, and yes I do realize this is my opinion. So the fact we were suppoed to get platinum only events and we got nothing but this was a huge let down.2.) The platinum loundge was pointless and horrible. There was absolutely no reason why anyone would want to spend any time at all in there. There was nothing special about it other than people without a plat pass could not get in.3.) The vendor area this year was a huge let down as far as I'm concerened. There were no events going on in there other than the PCs that were available for use. It was fun to meet some of the staff and see the upcoming games as they showed them off, but as far as the people that were there to sell us stuff, it was horrible. There were no give aways or contests at all at any of the boths that would generate excitement about products or give people a reason to go and see what their products were all about. I just found myself walking past all of them.4.) The MC (Master of Cerimonies) was horrible. There is no other way to discribe it. The only thing he did whenever he was up ther was talk about himself and what he was doing. He had no idea what was going on, he didn't at any point try to get the crowd involved with what was going on. It was completely about him and had nothing to do with what Fan Fair is suppooec to be about, the fans. Mr. Hall was not visible at all or involved with the event at all except when he was up on stage talking about himself. Now the person he was with (I can't remember her name at the moment, but she was dressed up as a dwarf) was awsome. She was getting the crowd involved with the event, making fun of them and playing with us and doing what a good presentor should do. Making the event about us. All I can say is if I come back next year is I hope Jace Hall has nothing do to with anything there, and the dwarf lady is there leading it again.5.) The prises, or should I say the complete lack there of. The only hand outs this year as far as I could tell was the art given away after we at supper the last night. The first two nights had no give aways, no "special" events or contests, nothing. The last night after the art was given away, all that ANY of the contest winners would get as far as I could tell was a ribbon. If you like ribbons, that's fine and dandy, but I for one would think that the winners should have recieved a site more than that.Honestly the only reason why I had a good time this year is because of the people I got to meet and the people I was with. SOE staff was awsome for the most part, but if the only thing that I was there for was Fan Fair I would have walked away with nothing memerable or worth wile for the event. I paid extra for a plat pass as well and got jack for it. AllI can do is hope that they will take this thread, learn from thier mistakes this year and do a much much better job next year of planning the events, and actually making the event itself worth while.

Saroc_Luclin

08-09-2010, 01:25 PM

I wrote this up before I left Vegas but didnt have net access until now. I was going to start the thread but instead I'll add to this Thank you SOE for doing this. It was a blast as usual. I had a great time despite the upcoming list. Since I couldn't make the Feedback panel, I'm doing this here. So, that all said, here are my thoughts on FF 2010. 1. Platinum passes. The idea of multiple tiers has potential, but more thought needs to be given for that in the future. First of all, the goal of Fan Faire is to get people together. So while the Platinum Lounge may have been nice in theory, in practice, it was a complete failure. When you have some guildmates/friends who have a plat pass and some without, you will be hanging out with them, which is somewhere other than the Platinum Lounge. In the end it was open to everyone so it was a moot point. (And thank you for not having anything actually in there, so people didn't feel like they were missing anything). From the Feedback panel, I did hear that someone brought up the fact that Plat passes were way oversold, and that was obvious. The Plat line for the dinner was easily twice as long as the Gold/Silver line, which should not have happened. It was also annoying that at the dinner, once the lines started forming up, we were prevented from trying to hook up with guildmates who may have gotten to an earlier part of the line. For the future, if the multiple tiers are done again, here are some of the things to consider: * Sell fewer Plat passes. * For dinner especially, let Plat pass holders go in earlier to reserve a table, then have everyone in the same line so people can hang out together and go to the reserved table later. Maybe have a "Platinum only" Buffet line. * Keep the "Online Plat Package" available for those who want it like you did this year; so people who couldn't get the plat pass could get the online perks. * This may be a bit hypocritical from what I've said, but instead of the Plat lounge, maybe let Plat Pass holders into the main area earlier, so if we wanted to play some of the demo's before the crowds we can. * Reserve a row of computers for general Plat pass use, even during the EQ/EQII Online events. 2. Scheduling. The book schedule was nice, but it was hard to carry around. The page schedules we've had in previous years was nice because you could fold it up and stick it in your pocket; the booklet not so much. So because of that it was hard to remember what was where. The other issue too was there was no eisel that I saw that had all of the day's events on it in the Game Room so you could look at it and see what was going on at a glance. (Especially if it was updated with the unscheduled events like the EQ Next talks). It was annoying too that the EQ and EQII expansion talks were scheduled at the same times. It would have been nice to have them separated so if you wanted to see both you could have, especially since there were no trailers at the announcement period. That said, it was great that the expansions were announced early so there didn't need to be as much 'dodging' the obvious questions. Another scheduling issue I had was the smaller talks. EQ and EQII will always dominate FF, so while it's great that the smaller talks are scheduled around it, it might be nice to double up some of them (repeat them in different slots) to let people visit them if they conflict with the big ones. The Magic Tactics talk for example, I had to miss due to EQ Next. I would have liked to see the Agency talks as well but they conflicted too often with other ones. 3. Opening Ceremonies Brasse is a fantastic MC. I wasn't sure at first anyone could match Brenlo's presence, but she did a great job. Jace on the other hand, didn't seem to do as well. There felt like there was too much advertising for him which was annoying too, though probably just a condition to get him to host. As I mentioned before, I loved having the expansions announced early, so that elephant was dealt with quickly. But I was disappointed there were no expansion trailers like in previous years. Not getting the producers up on stage was a good call I think; face it; most of those guys don't have a big stage presence so with a few exceptions, they tend to kill the energy instead of amping it up. The Karaoke at the end fizzled IMO. People had a good time, though the band had the volume ramped a couple of notches too high. Karaoke is something we need the open bar for I think. Let the post Opening Ceremonies just be a pure dance/mingle opportunity. 4. Pool Party The Pool Party went well enough. Open bar is always nice (even when I don't drink), but this is where the Karaoke should have been at. I may be getting too old, but I didn't care for the DJ music too much. Too little I recognized I guess; but the pictures showed some people dancing. 5.Closing Ceremonies. I've already mentioned my thoughts about tables. This time at least, the food was actually quite good, and I think there was more than enough. Giving everyone an hour to eat was nice, but it slowed things down a bit. It's a tough call to decide which is better to do. Still it flowed well, and Brasse once again was excellent; especially during the Costume Contest section. The fillout sheets was a great idea. (as was the Humor category) Jace, I didn't care as much for to be honest. 6. Live Quests The EQ Live quest went really well this year. Great tie in to the upcoming expansion and fun events overall. That said, and I mentioned this last year, we need Tiered rewards for the bigger Quest groups. SWG and Vanguard only had a few teams AFAIK, so it makes sense to have fewer prizes. But EQ and EQII had 10-20 teams. With that many people, we really should have a 1st/2nd/3rd prize for people. 7. Panels: Lots of great panels, both the ones I went to, and the ones my guildmates when to. The EQ Panels were as usual (loved the zone creation one), and the smaller groups had great talks too that I saw. My only issue was really scheduling and a lack of a common schedule location to see what is happening NOW and NEXT in one place. Also having the Bronze rooms being devoted to a single talk at a time worked really well. Last year when you had the rooms split up more, it was hard to hear at times due to noise from other rooms. This year it was great. 8. Energy levels Maybe I'm getting too used to FF's, but for whatever reasons, the energy levels at this FF seemed lower compared to what I'm used to. It may be due to Economic/RL issues, but overall, especially in the main game room something seemed off. I think part of it was during the In Game events. There was no real host that I could tell to try and drum up interest to that corner of the room before and during the game evnets like there have been in previous years. I don't want to compare with Brenlo too much, but one of the things I remember about previous FF's was how he would wander the Game Room a lot and just draw attention to things constantly (and be throwing things out to people, especially during the Game events). 9. Station Store I was glad ot hear there is apparently a new person running the overall store. He told me he was going to look into getting a new set of the metal pins that are always popular but haven't been updated in years. Hopefully he'll follow through and get new EQ server pins, as well as EQII and DCUO and other game pins. Otherwise, a few new things, including some things that sold out fast. I hope we see more new things next year, especially with the pins. One thing I brought up at the EQ panel was the idea of Expansion Art books. At the Zone design talk, they showed some of the fantastic artwork that was made as "Zone concept art", and they were incredible. It would be great if they could pull that artwork together on an expansion by expansion basis (maybe with a quick write up on the zone it is a concept of) and sell them to people. 10. Boxed Software Product Another idea I brought up on a panel, but I saw evidence of it even at the Store here. They had copies of an old EQII expansion for sale. Considering it is 2-3 expansions old now, why would people want to buy those? (A local EB Games in my city still has copies of EQ:Omens of War, which is about 8 expansions back now; it's never going to sell) Instead, for RL boxes at least, there should be a single SKU for each product that goes to the B&M stores. The box just says "Everquest" or "Everquest II" or whatever. And it will ALWAYS give you the latest expansion + all of the previous ones at the time it is registered. So if I were to buy such an Everquest box now, it would get me Underfoot and everything before. If I got it in November or December, it would get me HoT and everything before. Doing this sort of thing keeps the product fresh in store, and means stores don't have old, effectively useless products on the shelves. Anyways, there may be more later when I reflect on it more. But all in all I had a great time as usual and I'm looking forward to next year already.

ghas

08-09-2010, 03:52 PM

I'll put my feedback here as well then.Of course the best parts were the people I went there to hang with and meet.Most of the panels I went to were good. (Most of the eq2 ones, and the Magic tactics one). I was disappointed with the class mechanics panel though, I thought they would actually discuss changes they were thinking about making. Instead it was just another Q&A.I didnt buy a Plat pass, and I'm happy about that, they really did not get thier money worth, and I think they deserve a small refund. I did hear that there was a lot of constructive talk about that during the FF feedback panel, which is good.I also agree with the above posters about the lack of vendors this year, and the overall energy levels.Now my biggest complaints...(all of which happened at the closing ceremonies)Jace was an absolutely horrible MC, hes not funny, he didnt get the crowd into it (except for the boo'ing him part). I was sitting in the very back, and there was almost a constant stream of people just walking out moving thier hands in the talking too much motion. I suggest next year have it just be Brasse, or I really enjoyed the speaker for the Magic tactics panel and LON panels, (sorry I forgot his name, but he works at the Denver branch)Also, for the teams that won the live quests...There was only one prize for each team? That was extremely lame. If I would have been up there I would have just walked off stage and said F* it.

ghas

08-09-2010, 04:04 PM

Hmm, there does not seem to be an edit button. Am I right in thinking that Jace does not even play any of the games he was MC'ing for? Who thought that was a good idea?

Najae

08-09-2010, 05:08 PM

My personal feedback from this year.The bling, bling (good news)MCs : Brasse was absolutetly the best MC that I've seen for Fan Faire. Funny, entertaining, knowledgeable, and kept the pace going. Jace had some good lines, and I enjoyed his part, but I felt that he wasn't as polished and as much of a stage presence as I was thinking he would. It could be that he was just vastly outdone by the amazing dwarf. I would like to see both of them back next year.SOE employess : Seemed to really dig and support their games. All of the ones I talked to, both in panels and wandering around, seemed geniually interested in feedback and ideas for their games and just all-around discussing them. The majority of them put out a good vibe that was enjoyable to be around.Pool party : Definetely a must-have. Big turnout, great entertainers (fire dancer, dj, and my personal favorite: the model in the bubble) and a solid night of entertainment. I do wish I could of left my badge up in my room (had to go get it) and just used my wristband to get around and not worrying about my badge getting stolen while I was in the pool.Platinum pass (here and below, however) : It was great to get it in advance. Only having to line up for to get the goodies in the opening day was nice. I thought the cutout on the pass was a good choice to ensure people only got their fair share of the bags. I also like getting a fancier (gold colored) shirt over those who did not the plat pass.Giveaways : The items that were given away (laptop, headphones, visa cards, art) were all ones that I was really hoping that I would win.Costume contest : It seemed much more fair this year, and the winners more deserving. Costumes seemed great, and the display on stage was entertaining (more Brasse handiwork).---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The not so shiny (bad news)Platinum pass : I'm not sure that the pass lived up to all that it was supposed to be. Other than a different looking shirt and extra ingame item, I'm not sure what I got that a guildmate who only got a gold pass didn't already get. It seemed like just about everyone was a platinum badge, so the lines were just as long as ever. The platinum lounge was virtually dead and not very tempting.Karoakee : Live band seemed to be a better choice last year. It seemed to be a big miss this year and people didn't get into it as much.Tables : A huge problem, and seems to always be. One of the biggest is that people "reserve" their whole table and don't want anyone else sitting there. I felt bad for the people who had to wander around and beg for seats. At my table, people I was sitting there with insisted that they needed to save 3 seats for guildmates. Those 3 were empty for most of the banquet, and one remained empty the entire time. Schedule board : There should be a main schedule board for everyone to see what is going on for the entire day. Not many of us like carrying around the schedules (or have an Iphone).Vendors : The vendors that were there were all great and should be back but overall the numbers were far too sparse. I'm disapointed that there weren't more. I'd like to see the entire main room filled with vendors that all relate to our favorite Sony games, gaming hardware, etc.--------------------------------------------------------------Suggestions :Keep the platinum pass, but make it mean more. Make them more rare (limited number, first come first serve).Reserve tables for final banquet when you register for Fan Faire. This should come as a first come, first served deal as well. IE, if I'm the first person to sign up for Fanfaire, I get first choice of where I want to sit. I can "save" up to 10 seats as well for the next 10 days that my guildmates can choose to sit at. After that, the seats are fair game. I don't want to have to miss out on panels or camp in line just to make sure I can get a table. Do the drawings and announcements for winners earlier, maybe at 8:30. After that, then get with the regular closing ceremonies, costume contest, etc.Keep the general room open earlier, later, and open the entire time. 8am-3am timeframe.Keep it up with the Phat Loot store. Much better and more game specific items than last year, and it can keep getting better.

tiaauriga

08-09-2010, 07:30 PM

<cite>cjsabo wrote:</cite><blockquote>MCs : Brasse was absolutetly the best MC that I've seen for Fan Faire. Funny, entertaining, knowledgeable, and kept the pace going. Jace had some good lines, and I enjoyed his part, but I felt that he wasn't as polished and as much of a stage presence as I was thinking he would. It could be that he was just vastly outdone by the amazing dwarf. SOE employess : Seemed to really dig and support their games. All of the ones I talked to, both in panels and wandering around, seemed geniually interested in feedback and ideas for their games and just all-around discussing them. The majority of them put out a good vibe that was enjoyable to be around.</blockquote>Agree entirely. *Passes the fermented goodness to the dwarf* And I don't even play EQ!Enjoyed the party last year more than the pool party this year, but that's just me. Can't beat air conditioned comfort in Vegas.Love the idea of the passes being mailed out ahead of time. Just need to make sure there is a mailing address field on the form when registering. I bet it would negate a lot of the mailing issues (mine being one of them.) Will say though, THANK YOU, for making sure that there was a pre-printed badge there waiting for me, just like I would have had if it had arrived in the mail. /hi5 on that one, SOE.All in all, been going three years now, and plan to be back next year. Love the additional tournament for SWG that was added. Just wish there had been more panels for SWG. Hoping for Vegas again, just maybe time to try out another hotel.

Kraza

08-09-2010, 10:11 PM

Here's the issues I had...<ul><li>Platinum passes - Not enough value for the cost. The platinum lounge was a waste, you don't want to separate what seemed like an already smaller group than previous FFs.</li><li>Station Store - Full of old junk. Where's the Sentinel's Fate T-shirts or any up-to-date merchandise? Mouse pads? Coffee cups from more than just Free Realms?</li><li>Seating at the banquet - Not enough of it and where were the server and game specific tables? Seems like a perfect opportunity to bring people together, but instead it was crowded and random.</li><li>The MC - Brasse was great, but Jace fell flat. I realize Brenlo is no longer with SOE, but no matter how people felt about him, he certainly put the Faire in Fan Faire. There needs to be somebody out and about, getting people ramped up.</li><li>Panels - The mechanics panel seemed ill-prepared, there was no presentation, just Q&A. Also, the sessions in the Event Center needed either the large displays turned on, or the seating better arranged. Lots of people couldn't see the screens.</li></ul>

Sanr

08-10-2010, 01:22 AM

Thank you Sony for an excellent event. The highlights for me include:<ul><li>the Sony technical and customer service staff who answered questions with genuine interest, humour, and expertise,</li><li>the pool party, where the free booze and bikinis enabled many of the introverted gamers leave their shells to become fun loving socializers,</li><li>the excellent Master of Ceremonies, Brasse, who had me laughing the whole night long,</li><li>the incredible artwork on display and for sale, and </li><li>the new friends that I met along the way.</li></ul>Here are some considerations for next year<ul><li>rewarding guilds with 20 or more people in attendance with an in-game item such as an aug or adornment. I am an EQ1 player and an aug with stats like 35AC, 150HP, and 150Mana would be a fair gift and might encourage more people to attend.</li><li>raising the value and quantity of the prizes that were awarded for the various competitions,</li><li>bringing more variety of swag for players to purchase,</li><li>offering a forum with the best players in the game who demonstrate their play. I would like to see how they organize their bags, gems, etc., and how they strategize when soloing versus grouping.</li></ul>See you next year!!Sanrev, Winter's Legacy, Mithaniel Marr

Hierl

08-10-2010, 01:34 AM

Overall I had a great time, and so did my guildmates from what they were saying. The dwarf on stage was awesome, and made up some for Jace's lack of "awesomeness".However there were some things I was unhappy about or at least didn't really make sense.1. Tables at the banquet. Guilds made placards for their tables, my assumption was that they would be put on a table ahead of the banquet to reserve that table. Nope. We actually ended up taking a table away from some staff people, judging by the comments some of them made when they saw us. Definitely screwed up seating. People want to sit with people they know, or at the very least with people from the same game. 2. Platinum Passes. I know its been mentioned already, and I only had a Silver pass. I really could not see any benefit to the Platinum pass there that I didn't already have, other than they got a separate line at the banquet, which inevitably failed due to the sheer amount of Platinum Passes. Someone said there was an event for Platinum, there may have been but I didn't see one.3. Tournaments. Specifically EQ, I didn't catch the other ones, but the EQ best of the best, to be polite was a complete fail. Specifically the GM that was running it, either has low self esteem, not a people person, or plain out was being a complete *****. She told the participants in the last round they had 2 minutes to buff and prepare, 30 seconds after she said that she yelled out begin. The other guy running it with her said no its not time yet. So the ones that were trying to figure out what was going on got pwned. Definitely should have restarted that round. Secondly, they couldnt even get the EQ app to run on their own projector, with their Lead Programmer working on it. Epic, epic fail. People were walking up and watching them try to get it started and were LOL'ing the whole time. Couldn't or wouldn't start the rounds on time, which dragged it into conflicting with other events. 4. Pool Party. Great event, music was way way too loud and the music choice wasn't the best, but it was pretty good. Several very nice chicks too. Open bar was pretty good, but the bartender where I was wasn't very good, other ones were good though.5. Game panels, specifically EQ. Informative for the most part, and most of the replies made sense. A good handful of questions they were obviously playing off by misdirecting the answer. I couldnt tell whether they simply didn't understand or just plain out didnt want to answer them. Otherwise was pretty good though. One piece of advice, bring your power cord for the laptop next time you do a demonstration of your expansion, at the one panel where you know lots of people will be at. I don't remember specifically who it was at the laptop, but come on, you made your entire team look inept by doing that. That was pretty much the only flaw you had on that panel.6. Station Store was nice/interesting. I actually had expected it to carry more products, so I was a little disappointed in that aspect, but I was able to pick up a couple cool knicknacks. I liked the sony vaio display, was pretty decent setups. The game room was pretty decent, and the headsets were awesome. I would recommend leaving the game room open full time, as it actually encouraged people to talk across games/servers when they saw someone else playing. I saw the Nvidia desk there and thought they might be selling items there, but as it didn't look like anything interesting was going on there I didn't check it out.7. Photo reel, display whatever at the end and beginning of banquet was real good. I look forward to seeing those pictures again if they post them.8. Jace. Seriously. I kinda knew who he was before, but I really expected him to do more than promote his show. Brasse (I think, the dwarf up on stage) did a really good job, especially during the costume party.9. Costume thing. Was awesome. Very very very great job on some of the costumes. Notable mention goes to the Bellikos costume, she completely rocked that one, even playacted it appropriately. The dryad, excellent costume, didn't hurt that she was very pretty too. The chick with the leather and the whip, pretty good as well. The billy doll or whatever, I didn't like at first, but he grew on me. Wasn't as good as the bellikos or the dryad, but certainly was very creative. Some of the other costumes, I really didn't know what to say, other than you have more courage than I do to go up there in those. Firefly, really like wow, you have issues.

Okage

08-10-2010, 02:56 AM

<cite>Sanrev wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thank you Sony for an excellent event. The highlights for me include:<ul><li>the Sony technical and customer service staff who answered questions with genuine interest, humour, and expertise,</li><li>the pool party, where the free booze and bikinis enabled many of the introverted gamers leave their shells to become fun loving socializers,</li><li>the excellent Master of Ceremonies, Brasse, who had me laughing the whole night long,</li><li>the incredible artwork on display and for sale, and </li><li>the new friends that I met along the way.</li></ul>Here are some considerations for next year<ul><li>rewarding guilds with 20 or more people in attendance with an in-game item such as an aug or adornment. I am an EQ1 player and an aug with stats like 35AC, 150HP, and 150Mana would be a fair gift and might encourage more people to attend.</li><li>raising the value and quantity of the prizes that were awarded for the various competitions,</li><li>bringing more variety of swag for players to purchase,</li><li>offering a forum with the best players in the game who demonstrate their play. I would like to see how they organize their bags, gems, etc., and how they strategize when soloing versus grouping.</li></ul>See you next year!!Sanrev, Winter's Legacy, Mithaniel Marr</blockquote>If you are going to reward guilds by their attendance at the FF, it should be by percentage of the guild in attendance and not by a number. Our guild from SWG had a 100% attendance, but we didn't have 20 members.I aggree that giving only one prize for a team is lame. So what's the point in competing if only one person will actually win.I understand the problems with Lucas Arts, but someone needs to really work on getting more stuff for SWG. After all, we just had our 7th anniversary, but the only items that were there was one ball cap and one shirt. No lighters, glasses, mugs, or anythings else.The smugglers run, in my opinion was a flop. We were told that the quests would be in three 30 minute parts. Not three groups, which there was. That adds up to 4.5 hours totally. I was in group 3, and after adding it up. I knew I would have time to do it, cause the anniversary partly was going to be in 2 hours. lol, what happen?Well, that's my feedback.

Saroc_Luclin

08-10-2010, 12:03 PM

Note that AFAIK, they weren't given 1 prize per team; all of the team mates got a gift card. What was rolled on stage was for a bonus prize. They did mention that everyone else was getting gift cards ("Enjoy your giftcards guys")

Ronin_Medjai

08-10-2010, 02:53 PM

I had an amazing time at Fan Faire.I hope that if possible to maybe try and arrange table seating differently to where people of the same game, guild, and server can all be sitting near eachother. I believe we were lucky with SWG in that we managed to get most of our people near eachother.I really agree with everyone about Jace. He was only using us for self-promotion of his own endeavors. Brenlo was great at working the crowd and knew the game. Him making fun of SWG players was never fun though so I dont miss that. I have always liked Brasse and think she is amazing. Pex is also really good too. I dont know if he would be up for the job, but he is definitely an awesome guy and really good at different improv things as well. Plus having him and Brasse host the costume contest seems like the best idea IMO as they both are into RL Costuming and such. I also didnt like the segregation of gold to platinum pass holders. I am actually quite happy I didnt purchase a platinum pass. I actually had several friends who held platinum passes who gave up their spot in the platinum line just to hang out with me so I wouldnt be alone. That to me was awesome of them, but they actually missed out on some of their platinum duties because of this.My last suggestion is maybe a Fan Faire volunteer program. I personally live in Las Vegas and request time off every year to attend. I have drive to San Diego to Block Party numerous times and I love hanging with SOE and fellow SWG players. I think I have a lot of SOE employees as friends even on facebook, lol. I would love meeting with any members of the community relations team to help plan and even set things up to make things go smoother. I wouldnt mind exchanging phone numbers or emails and helping coordinate things as early as it might take. I know you guys REALLY worked your tails off this year, and I know that tons of people who attend wouldnt mind helping out.I know the backstage blogger contest was a new thing this year, and I REALLY hope it returns next year. I honestly didnt even enter it at all because the sheer number of EQ and EQII players that attend these things discouraged me to the point that I didnt think any SWG player even had a chance. I feel myself as a very personable, outgoing, and approachable person. I really dont want anyone to feel left out and love talking to strangers. (I am a bartender by trade so it is in my job classification and I am good at it.) I hope you bring back the backstage blogger contest again next year, and I will definitely be giving it my 110% to make an entry and really help SOE bring an amazing and enjoyable experience to Fan Faire. The food this year was WAY better and setup in a much much better way. Kudos on that. I agree that the karaoke wasnt the best this year. I know the guy running it kinda just shrugged when one of my friends went up there and the teleprompter was off synch. He didnt even care it seemed. The live band was WAY better!

Syla

08-10-2010, 02:59 PM

First, Thanks SOE for another great fan faire. Here is my feedback about it (please note im a french canadian so my grammar isnt on top):Thursday:I liked the welcome reception, but nothing was giveaway ... i think it was abit cheap. Also while we all wait for register(2hours), no music, no entertaiment (think about it next year). Jase Hall was good, but i think gamers more see themself into Brenlo, he was a real gamer, he was realy close of the community.Friday:The live quest ... do we realy need ot do it that way? Again this year live quest was designed for 8 yo kids ... remind me to skip it next year.Pool party: OMG !!! Nerds gone wild !! If i say it was AWSOME .. its not even close of what it was, let say it was EPIC !I ve been to alot of party in my life, but that one ... wow ... please please please do it again at the pool next year. The DJ was great, the music was great, good thing no karaooke this year.Saturday:Best of the Best EQ: it was great, fun, you guys fixed the DA/Harmshield bug, but as a Necromancer, you forgot one of our best spell for dueling ''Call of skeleton swarn'' its a UF spell. And about the prices ... well im pretty sure if you guys would give a tittle in game and a lore item, that would be a way better then those things u gave for the top 3.The banquet: If you guys dont fix it, i might skip that part next year. First, the costume contest was a way too long. You guys should have a filter and choose up a few of them, like 10 and make them come all together on stage. The food this year was great, i loved it. The prices ... well cheap is the good word, last year with brenlo we got alot of mastercard 100$ and more things to giveaway. The video at the end with the green day song ... AWSOME ! But thats it? no party nothing? just that? ...For next year:We should have a after party on Thursday and Saturday at a bar. I know you guys busy with all fan faire, some of you realy want to go sleep. But you could just make a deal wiht a place not far from the ballys, having all the fan faire poeple in free. A place with no dress code lol cause well, dont fear to say it, we are nerds and dressing isnt our best quality lol. So let say when the welcome reception and the goodbye reception is done just say '' we invite you to continue the after party at ''insert a name'' . Its a free enter when you show your SOE convention apss at the door.Shorter costume contestMore prices to giveawayAfter partysMore in game item to giveaway on the contestI would go again with Jase Hall, i think he was fun (''is Redbull gave you those wings??'' LOL), he just need to get more into the community this year.Dance contest? last year was kind of fun lolMore things to sell, bring up more traders into the room, we want Magic the gathering cards sellers and more new sellers.a official contest about what guild bring you more people (grats Winter Legacy btw)Do the fan faire for June ... please ...Thank for reading me.Sylarr, Necro of Bertox server, Travelers of Norrath, Everquest

VorAbaddon

08-10-2010, 03:01 PM

Might as well throw in my feedback here to be consistent.I had an awesome time at Fan Faire. There were a few things that seemed a little rushed, but I've heard there were reasons for that particular to this year.That being said, let's get to the good:<ul><li>Brasse: Brasse was funnier than all hell. Keep 'er coming.</li><li>Brasse and Jace: They had a very good back and forth repore (sp?) While Jace solo did spend a lot of time promoting and had some deadpan humor that, while delivered well for it's style, I'm not a huge fan of, the two of them worked very well together.</li><li>The truncated "State of the Union": The timing was better, during the first nights dinner, and the method better. Smed gives us an overview enough to wet our appetite while we're doing other things, and then we get to all the details during panels. A vast improvement.</li><li>The EQ panels: The devs were awesome, more so than usual. They gave a lot of good, honest feedback AND, even better, said no to some really backwards ideas. Ngreth's "Do you know how many subs we'd lose due to CR's and losing gear coming back?" Aristo's "Tell your guild leader to stop being an idiot" and Elidroth's "Raid gear has always been superior to group gear" was grand stuff. They were friendly and worked with the crowd, but at the same time held to standards.</li><li>The Agency: Smooth as silk.</li><li>The pool party: This is a great idea. Open bar, bikinis and nerds? Let the humor commence!</li><li>The new costume contest method: Absolutely wonderful, but I'd love if child costumes got their own run. They don't belong in the vote becuase an objective decision is almost impossible. Still, this method got through things better, was MUCH funnier, and just great. One other suggestion to keep it quick: Have a decibel meter at the front (they sell those, hopefully cheap) and measure fan reaction to the costumes. Pull in the top, say, 10 or so for the final "People's Choice" vote.</li><li>Congrats Snickers!</li><li>The end video was awesome and really brought Fan Faire to life. A great outro.</li><li>The EQ panels were generally in the same room. This kept everything uniform so if I wanted to see an EQ item, I went to that room and was almost always right.</li></ul>The "Could be Better"<ul><li>Jace solo: I'm not sure if it was nerves for an unfamilair audience, but it just didn't flow well.</li><li>The Platinum Passes: Great concept, but could have been executed better. Much better.</li><li>Stupid Questions: I suggested this at a panel, but I think the EQ panels at least need a writing board where they keep the "Stupid Questions" list. Or at least call it "repeat Questions". This will cut down on the "OMGZ, do something about banners!" being repeated. A lot.</li><li>The Silent Auction: This needs a revamp. there were good steps taken. I'll be making a seperate thread becuase it's a major pet peeve.</li><li>Format for the schedule: This is actually a hate and love. Like the new format, but hard to carry about. Maybe access to a copier to scan the pages I want?</li></ul>

Syla

08-10-2010, 03:31 PM

Is the video you showed at the last minutes of the fan faire with the song ''time of your life (green day)'' ll be able to download or just wach it on streaming?? That was pretty good, made all of us very emotional lol, cause we ad the time of our life <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Thanks again SOE for that magical weekend !!Sylarr

Lord_Ebon

08-10-2010, 04:27 PM

I went to FF last year as well as this year, so I have a good bit of feedback as well:What was Good:<ul><li>The food. Thursday night there was enough food for all (full chaffing dishes even at the end) and it was a decent but not over the top meal. Saturday night there was not only enough food (in stark contrast to '09s half-a-taco-each fiasco) but it was also a good variety of real food (stuffed shells, meatballs, etc.).</li><li>Brasse. She's funny, and she's a longstanding EQ2 player / community figure. She probably could have MC'd by herself (more on that below).</li><li>The little foam rubber EQ2 guy in the goodie bags. The little foam EQ1 tomahawk was also cool (and made a handy pillow on the flight home).</li><li>Free photos for Platinum subs (1 for Gold). The green screen photo is always funny to see, including 1 with gold and infinite with platinum was a nice touch.</li></ul>What was Bad:<ul><li>The EQ2 panels - location. Holding panels in the Event Center was terrible compared to where they were last year. Friday the screen was on the floor where no one could see it (thankfully moved onto the stage for Saturday). Round tables are a bad idea for panels in general. We'd have been better off with the Platinum Lounge moved elsewhere and that and the panel room next to it made into one big EQ2 panel room. The acoustics in the event center were also bad -- even when people spoke into the mic (maybe half the time) it could be hard to hear just because of the room.</li><li>The EQ2 panels - content. Every single EQ2 panel I went to (which was all of them except BG/PVP) was heavy on the Q&A and light on the meat. Last year the panels had good presentations, this year we got a little bit of presentation depending on the panel and the rest was Q&A. That doesn't really cut the mustard -- we already have 2 Q&A panels, we want to see a little more new information in the other panels. I loved the quest creation one last year, and I'd love to see kind of a "EQ2 - Behind the Scenes" panel where you show us how you do some of the things you do.</li><li>The MC (Jace). I've seen his show and EverCracked and he can be funny, but there's more than just being funny in being a good MC (and his funny isn't really the good MC kind). Brasse was a lot better and was at least good at trying to stir the crowd up a little bit. On that note, they need to watch the mics a bit... when they go off-stage their mics should get turned off or down, quite a few times I heard them off to the side whispering.</li></ul>What was Ugly:<ul><li>Dinner seating, absolutely terrible. You need to have 5-10% more seats available than you have people, and on the last night it was definately a packed house. You could even make a few extra bucks there by charging a few bucks to let guilds pre-reserve full table(s) or even half tables (say a full table if they have enough registered attendees to fill ~80% of the table or a half-table if they have enough for ~40% of a full table). Let guilds do that a week in advance and then print up "Reserved" cards with their guild name on it. I know if I was going as a guild with a full table's worth of people I'd happily pony up $50 to reserve a table. </li><li>Banquet drinks (this is partly on Bally's). I sat at a table second row back from the far front and there was not nearly enough serving staff coming by with water and coffee. The ones that did go by that were asked for water or coffee nodded their heads and then ignored the request and kept on doing other stuff. If you're going to have that many tables (and actually fill them!) then you need enough serving staff to keep people happy. </li><li>The Platinum pass. Original marketed as this kind of special VIP pass that'd get you into platinum-only events, it turned out to be the majority option instead. If you're really going to make it the majority, then don't market it as a VIP option, instead market the other passes as discount options. I was also disappointed in the goodie bag, I was hoping for something a bit more since it was the platinum bag.</li><li>Freebies / raffles. The wheel was a GREAT idea, but just not taken full advantage of. Instead of just giving the first 20-people in line a spin, you could have given all the Platinum passes a ticket good for a spin, that would have been cool. Also, the raffle for the framed prints was a good idea, but if you're going to do that then put a ticket under everyone's chair. That way everyone gets a ticket and you can call out the winning numbers, much better than everyone looking for tickets that aren't under most chairs. OR if you're going to do the few tickets under each chair, say specifically that "If your chair has a ticket under it, you're a winner!" at the start so that people aren't expecting to find one.</li></ul>Other things I've seen posted and agree with:<ul><li>Station store... new stuff! People will buy lots of stuff, just give us new stuff to buy. I'd love to see things like EQ2 pins</li><li>Silent auction... yeah it sucked getting outbid in the last few seconds. I lost on the guardian guy and I was only like 2-3 people from the paper again. Having ALL the papers lined up and forcing people through a single line sucked, because people hold up the line (they have a vested interest in doing so, plus people are just slow). What could be done is to stagger the item closing times every 5 minutes. Then say you'd start closing items at 3:05pm, at 3 you'd close the line to everyone except those interested in that item, who'd be let into their own little circulating line. Then for those 5 minutes they go round and round till they either give up or time is called, at which point the last full line (Name + Bid) on the paper wins. Take the paper back, kick everyone out of the line, put the next item in, and repeat till dizzy.</li></ul>

Mekii

08-10-2010, 05:00 PM

I have to agree. Brasse was great, Jace...not so much. The MC should at least be knowledgable in the games and be able to banter with the players. Jace seemed to be scripted and lost if things got the slightest bit off script. He talked about himself and his projects more than he did the games and people he was there to represent.I liked the idea of having the badges mailed out. I realize it was a last minute change and hope that it will be done earlier next year of have an option to opt out when registering for those that leave early.The plat pass is a good idea with potential, but IMO was a total waste of money this year. You get to be seperated from your friends to be able to sit in an empty room? 1 event for EQ2 players and nothing for any of the other games? In game items that could be bought seperately? Slightly early access to the banquet to grab a table was about the only benefit benefit I got from the extra money spent on it.Larger events need to have more prizes. The EQ live quest had lots of teams, don't know about the others. There should have been prizes for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places. At least give some sort of recognition to the participants, maybe even a place sheet so we can see how we did in comparison to others if we didn't win. Also, just 1 prize for a team of 10 people? Kind of glad we didn't win after seeing that. We had fun doing the even together as a group, why ruin it by the drama of trying to decide who should get the loot.Make sure the "NPC's" in the live quest know what the items are. We were given a turn in piece by 1 person and told we had completed that part. When we tried to turn it in to Terris Thule we were told it wasn't the right item. After going back and trying to figure out what we had missed we had to 'petition' to get the item accepted. (thx Zat)If your going to make people have to figure out [key words] for the NPC's to respond to keep them off to the side where only 1 group can access them at a time. That way 1 group isn't just repeating what someone else is saying to them. (guilty) Half the fun is trying to figure out what you're supposed to do.But overall I did have a good time. This was only my 2nd Fan Faire (2009 & 2010). I got to meet alot of my in game friends and see some old 1's again. See you all again next year for #3.

SOE-Brasse

08-10-2010, 05:13 PM

Thankee fer yer feedback!Please keep it coming, I am avidly compiling notes by the metric ton here. Had a great time with you all and am ready to help start planning next year's event!;-)#Brasse

SKru

08-10-2010, 05:56 PM

The pool party, and banquet were great. It would be nice if guilds could reserve a table for all late night events. Although the music was pretty loud at the pool party, unless you were lucky enough to be far away from it. The platinum pass was great, but it seems like there were more of those than the silver, and gold combined. Maybe reducing the number in half, or quarter, and raising the price, and benefits for 2011. Do more stuff to make them a real benefit, because as it stands right now it is like paying $30(?) more for a mount. I liked the panel set up, and it was nice to have a lot of water available. They need a better sound system though. All the late night events had very good food, or drink."Fan Faire 2010 at Bally's Las Vegas from August 5-8." What happened the 8th? Really? It was from the 5-7, and should have been presented as such. This was my first FF, and I stayed until the 9th thinking something was going on the 8th. Next time I will know better. Jace SUCKED, and should have been fired the first night. The dorf(hehehe) was funny though, and really knew what was going on. Switch hotel chains. For the most part imo the service at restaurants in Bally's, Paris, and RIO just plain suck. I hope to go again next year, but will not be staying at those hotels. There also seems to be more to do up by MGM, New York New York, and Luxor area to me anyway. Maybe doing a special event at Excalibur's Tournament of the Kings. Have more SK merchandise for sale. It all sold out so fast. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Maybe I will try ebay.Overall I had a good time, and was able to meet a lot of the people from my guild/server that I always wanted to meet. It was money well spent.

fma

08-10-2010, 06:20 PM

<cite>SOE-Brasse wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thankee fer yer feedback!Please keep it coming, I am avidly compiling notes by the metric ton here. Had a great time with you all and am ready to help start planning next year's event!<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />#Brasse</blockquote>Haha, thanks for listening! you were great on stage...Jace, not so much, talk about SELF PROMOTION, ughh..As for platinum passes....wow did I look like a fool to my dad, whom I spent a week marketing the platinum pass in the context that we would get "exclusive" access to things like devs and side panels. At the end of the day, I could have just gone with silver or gold as I could care less about the extra ingame items--skyblade skiff-LOLHave a panel where people from different servers can meet up and and guilds can solicite ect.....I thought there were going to be more events to bring servers together.DONT have it at ballys next year. What a lame hotel. We spent most of our time in Paris because atleast it has an atmosphere.More stuff in the main room. There was Nvidia, phat lewt store, green screen photos, and survey table lol. I did all these in the first hour and then was looking for more.Gift bags---- I know this isnt that big of a deal, but for plat passes, I thought we would get atleast a cool "vintage" eq or eq2 poster....there was plenty of SWG and DC universe posters for free but no eq??? come on...support your "poster child" game!! hahaI know its still in early production, but give us some "EQ Next" panels next year!

Cyliena

08-10-2010, 07:22 PM

1. I wasn't impressed with Jace at all. Basically about three words into anything he said my brain tuned him out, and I left the grand banquet right after the costume contest because he got that boring, that fast.2. That said, Brasse--you did a wonderful job. I hope they have you as the only MC last year, you really are terrific at it. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />3. Personally I didn't stay long for the pool party (yay heat headaches lol), but it sounded like everyone had fun. The chick in the inflatible ball was quite perplexing, though. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />4. The EQ2 panel location was terrible. I agree with most others that (a) the screen was far too small to see, (b) the sound made it difficult to hear and (c) the panels ended up being mostly Q&A.5. All the devs and customer relations people I met were wonderful! They made themselves available when they weren't busy and were willing to chat and answer questions when they could.6. The posters we were given--I had to leave them behind! <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> They wouldn't fit in my luggage because I use smaller bags (20"x14" or some such) and wasn't about to ruin them by folding them. Next year please make sure anything of that sort isn't too big please? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> (I'm hoping some cleaning lady out there snagged the ones I left for her children at least.)7. If it's at Bally's again next year, please post the hotel room rates for BOTH towers. When I called, they told me that the advertised rates were for the South Tower only, and it was $20 more per night for the North Tower. I asked again when I checked in and was told the same thing, so I just coughed up the extra $20 per night. I have no problem really with that (though my room was much shabbier than last year's for some reason), but it would be nice to be aware of it before calling them to schedule.8. Bring more EQ2 snuggies next year! <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />9. Gotta agree with others who have said that it seemed like everyone had a plat badge. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I didn't mind, but seemed to be silly that registration for plat badges closed early given how many were out there.10. The painting raffle--I think it would've been better handled if the paintings simply went to whoever had a certain color ticket or something under their chair. Someone sitting at my table got a ticket, but them and a few others that went on stage walked away empty handed. The surprise from finding it under the chairs should've been sufficient enough to choose winners imo.I hope that doesn't sound like I only have complaints! I really enjoyed my entire time at Fan Faire, just hoping to help out with making future ones even better. <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Cyliena

08-10-2010, 07:24 PM

<cite>phantie wrote:</cite><blockquote>2. That said, Brasse--you did a wonderful job. I hope they have you as the only MC last year, you really are terrific at it. <img src="/station/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></blockquote>Errrr, I meant to say "next year", not "last year".... I can't edit my posts yet, heh. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Sleet

08-10-2010, 09:44 PM

I have just a couple of observations. I think they are things that others have already said, but they bear repeating.<ul><li>Get rid of Jace Hall. As an MC, he should have been out drumming up enthusiasm at all the evening events and in the game room generating a buzz with impromptu contests (wookie yells anyone?) and passing out t-shirts or some other gifts. That's what I feel an MC should be doing, though I am glad he wasn't. He did not seem to have a knowledge of the games he was representing. And what the hell was up with that dumb-a$$ "Money LOL" rap video thing?</li><li>Put the karaoke back with the Friday night event. Three years ago, when the pool party was at the Rio, the live karaoke/pool party rocked.</li><li>In comparison to previous years (2007 & 2008 in my case), the food at the grand banquet was excellent. Thank you. It was really very surprisingly good. They food on Thursday night was also very good. Thank you.</li><li>Thank you for the Silver pass. I felt very exclusive. ;-P</li><li>As always, thank you for the open bar.</li><li>For those that participated in the live quests in a pick-up group, it would be nice to have some way to find out how their group did. I know that one person in our group gave her phone number on the form we turned in, but she does not know my number and I do not know hers. How can I find out how we did?</li></ul>I know that it appears that there are a lot of complaints in these feedback posts, but I want to thank all the CS people and anyone and everyone who helped to plan, organize, prepare, and execute the Fanfaire. I always have a great time when I come, and I will continue to come as long as it is in Vegas.

typh42

08-11-2010, 01:29 AM

I really enjoy going to Fan Faire, this year was no exception. All the SoE employees were beyond helpfull and nice. The panels had good back and forth between the dev teams and the audience (at least the EQ1 ones).As far as my likes and dislikes:Yah, having a Plat Pass really didn't offer much other than getting to wait in a long line to get in before those who didn't have a pass, I got to save a few minutes registering and a few going to the pool party, not much else sadly.The Phat Loot store really needs some new items. Stickers, notebooks, pens, pencils (anything you can slap an EQ or SoE logo on). These things are not expensive to have made, and I bet a good portion of the attendies would purchase multiple ones just to have at the desks at home and at work.The opening night party was just bleh. Live band Karoke is the way to go.The Pool Party was one of my guilds highlights. Good music, got to meet players from numerous guilds across the different servers (and the booze!)Brasse was the best thing about the Grand Banquet. Very entertaining, her off the cuff comments left us in stiches. You can tell she is very passionate about being "Brasse" and about all things SoE. Kudos for making her an offical member of the staff! I really enjoy doing the live quests, and I understand there is space limitations, but if that continues to be the case, can we have less events and more complex tasks to accomplish? The Maze was creative while the writing a story was bleh.Overall, I give this years Fan Faire 4 out of 5 stars. We already have more guildies ready to go next year!

soehatesshamen

08-11-2010, 02:24 AM

Checking into Ballys again for Fan Faire 2010 .I got into my room with no problems.Got a North tower room close to the convention site.I didnt get my Plat pass mailed to me until 2 days b4 I flew out to Vegas.As for the platinum pass...I saw nothing special about it.yes we got 2 in game items we already had.We had a lounge to sit in that had nothing special.We did get into events a little earlier than the gold and silver pass holders...BUT we figured out how to work that to our advantage.Send one plat holder in to hold tables and what not...The pool party? I was most worried about this.But thanks to Ballys it went much better than the pool party at the Rio.It was 90+ degrees for the party...SOE did listen and gave us lots of tables to sit at...Thank you!With places to sit and fans blowing and misters going it made the party alot of fun.Alot more people went into the pool...The music was good listening.The food for the banquet was yucky! Meatballs and something with big noodles with meat sauce was too much.The salad with the dressing was too rich.2 red sauces with a garlic sauce for the salad was WAY to much...everyone was burping up stink!There was lots of food left over this time cause people just couldnt eat the crap.The meet and greet was ok...the pork sandwiches sat better than the food from the banquet.I didnt do the karoke...had better things to do in Vegas than listen to people butcher songs I can hear in my local bars.I didnt think this FF was a total loss...altho for venders it was the suck...they were trying to sell items that were over 6 years old.Not much was new.The lack of prizes was a let down...not much to sign up for.I guess the best fun was hanging out with the people I have played with for years.Meeting new people and getting togather with new people...hanging out in rooms drinking and talking...Going to buffetts...gambling...and exploring Vegas as a group was great fun!I guess the soe FF is the excuse I need to make a vacation...I only did the meetandgreet...the pool party and the grand banquet...Spending time with my friends made it woth wild for me!!! But the FF 2010 was fun...more so than the last 3...Thank you to all those that put in the hard work to make this FF happen.I may bit ch alot but I do thank those for the jobs they do.Costume contest was very long...I know everyone should be seen in thier costumes...but it was so very long...As for kids?I'm sorry if this seems mean...I dont care to see a 3 year old dressed in a part she/he dosent play.I dont think they should win over a serious gamer...Maybe make a seprate cat for children??? Everyone is gonna cheer for a sweet child...who's gonna BOO a 3 year old??Dont the rules say you need to be 13 years OR older to play the games?

Graye

08-11-2010, 03:38 AM

I heard a lot about that with the guy who brought his kid up there.. I think someone did that last year also.For that case, I can really see an argument, of sorts, being brought up to different age levels... maybe since the game is rated for 13 and up, that would make a good splitting point.

Graye

08-11-2010, 04:00 AM

<cite>fmarz wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>SOE-Brasse wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thankee fer yer feedback!Please keep it coming, I am avidly compiling notes by the metric ton here. Had a great time with you all and am ready to help start planning next year's event!<img src="/station/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" />#Brasse</blockquote>DONT have it at ballys next year. What a lame hotel. We spent most of our time in Paris because atleast it has an atmosphere.</blockquote>I think that is more of a personal choice. Being that they nixed almost everything VG from Fan faire, we did the live quest, Grand Banquet (after the dinner), Pool Party, and just a peek around the main area. Besides that, we felt no need to be "stuck" at Bally's, and hit up Fremont, Mandalay Bay, The Venetian, Cesar's, etc, etc, etc...I am not against having a new location.. heck the Hilton was an awesome resort, but it severely limited doing anything outside of FF without coughing up some hefty travel costs.If you, SOE, decide to do the pre-mailing of badges again, it would be best to get those out WELL in advance. The ability to take a mailed one, give it to someone else, and pick up a badge on-site was ermm.. well yeah.Use an SOE employee for your MC.. no thanks for the multiple hr long commercial from Jace.Banquet tables.. EVERY YEAR have been an issue.. The seating available should be for 10% or so more than actually show up. Especially for first-timers and those not going in guild/friend groups, it can be a bit daunting to walk in and not find a spot that is "open".I haven't kept an eye out for it much, but I did notice the big "Platinum Lounge" area... After 3 FF's, I wonder, why all of the tables & chairs in the kiosk areas?Leave some chairs around for when you're going to do a demo, and set up a general "lounge" off to the side of the main room event. Easy access to some drinks and snackage, as well as a place to sit (out of the way of people looking at the games) near/inside the event would be a good thing.Well, there's plenty more I guess I could say or whatnot, but it is 2:00am and I'm spent <img src="/station/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" />

Kela

08-11-2010, 04:07 AM

Really I thought the Meatballs, Cheese stuffed Pasta shells, and Sausages, Ceasar Salad, the cheese and tomato salad, as well as all 4 deserts where fairly good, not great but good and far better then last year's tacos.

Graye

08-11-2010, 04:18 AM

<cite>Kela wrote:</cite><blockquote>Really I thought the Meatballs, Cheese stuffed Pasta shells, and Sausages, Ceasar Salad, the cheese and tomato salad, as well as all 4 deserts where fairly good, not great but good and far better then last year's tacos.</blockquote>They had tacos last year? ( <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)

Kela

08-11-2010, 04:32 AM

<cite>SKrule wrote:</cite><blockquote> "Fan Faire 2010 at Bally's Las Vegas from August 5-8." What happened the 8th? Really? It was from the 5-7, and should have been presented as such. This was my first FF, and I stayed until the 9th thinking something was going on the 8th. Next time I will know better.</blockquote>This was asked at the FF feedback panel, and it was because they used to say the equivilant of 5-7 and had alot of people set the 7th as the day they flew out, causing lots of problems because the event accually ends around Midnight on the 8th.As for my feedback, most of it was given at the panel or said already here. Though I have to agree Brasse good, Jace not so much, save when being helped by Brasse.I also think that the Plat lounge should go(even as a Plat buyer) and instead they should get more exclusives in game, and have smaller numbers at Fan Faire(and maybe bonuses like free booze or food every night). Though I understand that the reason there where so many Plat attendees is because the mechinism that should have stop selling them glitched and didn't stop selling them.

Saroc_Luclin

08-11-2010, 09:19 AM

One idea I had last night would be to extend the FF another day at the front end. (Leave Sunday all but empty for a recovery day like it is now), and use the extra day to promote the smaller games more. So a schedule might be: Wednesday: Registration/Loot Store open, General room opens up. Wednesday Evening: Premier of some Sony movie (contact your company brothers to arrange it) Thursday morning/afternoon: Magic Tactics, Vanguard, Agency, TA:CO, etc... talks. Maybe some of the smaller general topics like "Breaking into the Industry", Account Security, etc... (Repeat a lot of these over Friday and Saturday as well but their main talks should be on Thursday) Thursday evening onwards like we currently have. The idea is the Thursday FF day should have nothing related to the big games (EQ, EQII, maybe not even DCUO or EQNext) in them, so it gives the smaller games a chance to shine without the big guys around.

Larkso

08-11-2010, 06:04 PM

This was my first Fan Faire and it was so much fun that I plan to talk to everyone in my friends list and recruit folks for next year; trust me this is a good time! I have a long list of suggestions, but they build on what SOE started. The complaints are about things that were not SOE’s fault, but steps could be taken to address these issues in the future.***** Kudos *****SOE Staff: The SOE developers, designers, community relations and entire staff were great people. They were enthusiastic and listened to the players. As a player I honestly believe they will do their best to incorporate the ideas from players and address identified issues.Fellow players: Meeting other players was a ton of fun. People were friendly, interesting, intelligent, witty, willing to share ideas and help each other. I was in line by myself a lot and people were willing to talk about game experiences, which helped keep my spirits up, even if my fanny wanted to sit down. For the record, Firefly was a nice guy in an outlandish costume. And thank you to the folks who held a chair for me so I could stand up more easily at the panel sessions.Panels: I really enjoyed all the panels, but the EQ Next panels were the most wonderful of all. The concept art shown for EQ Next was amazing and downright inspiring. The ideas that the panel talked about just made me wonder whether I will abandon my EQ1 toons and switch to EQ Next. I appreciated the give and take between the panels and player populace. Thank you to the SOE staff person with the microphone at the second EQ Next breakout session who made sure that I got a chance to speak.The proposal at the banquet! Snickers, I hope you and your bride enjoy many years of happily ever after. Congratulations and best wishes! ***** Complaints *****Bally’s – I really do not like the hotel. I got there at 11:00am on Saturday and waited in 3 extremely long lines to check in. Some of those lines were unnecessary because the hotel staff did not communicate when the key card would be available; had I been properly informed at 2pm that I would not be able to get a key card until 4pm, I would have waited till 4pm and done the whole thing once. Thank goodness for my EQ friends (Wars and Zada) who already had their room, went to lunch with me, let me park my bags in their room and hang out with them. I missed the opening reception because I was exhausted from trudging back and forth to the counter and waiting in lines. The hotel was not in good physical shape: The walls and ceiling were water damaged; there were droplets of blood on the wall in my bathroom, which made me nervous about the cleanliness of my room. The Bally’s hotel and restaurant staffs were slow, unresponsive and missing in action. I did not sleep well because the bed was not comfortable and ended up sleeping sitting up in a chair. Dad, can we please try a different venue next year?Jace Hall – I thought he was out of his element and added nothing to the event. Just because someone is a film/TV personality does not mean that they know how to handle a live audience. ***** Kibitz *****Brasse should take the helm at the events! She rocks on stage, has great stage presence, can adlib and she knows the SOE games, which made her humor topical. She sparkled more than all the spangles on her costume. If she needs someone to play off of, there have to be players who would be good choices. I smell a contest! (Plus I am a total sucker for a brogue.)Remember that many people who play SOE games have mobility issues. Standing in long lines and sitting in flimsy chairs is difficult for a lot of us. Some benches in the hallway would have really helped. If you are doing two panels on the same subject on different days, solicit questions from people between sessions. This would allow those who cannot stand in a line the chance to participate. It would also give the SOE folks time to think about a response.Stagger the time to get people into the events to reduce the long lines. If the date that people registered was used to determine when people could get into an event, that would encourage people to register early and in groups.Have overhead signage with which line is which; a placard at the front of the line is useless to someone more than 20 people back.A few big placards with all of today’s events and locations would help. Also a “you are here” style map in two or 3 places would have been a Godsend.More opportunities to play; I was in withdrawal by the time I got home. Ever think about how much fun it would be to have people play together in groups at Fan Faire? Maybe a special raid for attendees would be fun with a Fan Faire augment as a reward; it could grow in power with each Fan Faire attended. Silent auction: Use the Ebay model where no one knows what the current high bid is. Should be possible to do electronically and include people attending remotely too. Money is money and more is always better. It would add a bit of drama to the auction, too. Where did the money from the silent auction go? Was this for charity? The fact that I am asking means that a better explanation is needed.The vendor area was light. I was expecting a larger number of diverse vendors. I missed some good things like the T-shirts because there was no information posted about what the vendors carried and I was too exhausted from the lines and not sleeping well to care about shopping.Use the big screens and project what is happening (on stage, in live role play events, on random game area monitors, the raw footage from the backstage bloggers, panel discussion) in real time to create excitement and help people see what is happening.Costume contest: The transitions were slow because some of those costumes are hard to move in. Line the contestants up in the order that you want them on stage. Have a curtain at the top of the stairs to hide the next contestant and the departing one. Have food and drink for them backstage. The people in the back of the venue did not have a chance to see the costumes, so use the big screens to show the costumes in detail.Longest distance traveled: Didn’t we give home addresses at registration? If so, figure out the longest distance before Fan Faire and then call that person (or top 3) to the stage. You can also mention the long distances that were not further than the ones called on stage. I was curious how many countries, providences and states were represented.Mail the badges to every tier as people register. Speaking of badges, make the names of characters, servers and guilds much bigger and printed on both sides. Use the game logo so people looking for someone can find them easier. I did meet a lovely shadow knight from Denmark because she was looking for her guildie.I would like to see more breakout sessions in panels. The quest and raid design breakout sessions were fun. But I think people need a way to get the creative juices flowing. Some ice breakers and questions may have helped. I would have liked more presentation at the games mechanics panel, possibly with breakouts for the different classes to discuss ideas for playing them better. What are the must-have AAs, what issues are you having playing your class, what would you have done differently?Need to allow time between panels. It is impossible to get from one panel to the next if they run for a whole hour. Schedule the time for 45-50 minutes. With all the water we were drinking, we needed breaks. Prizes: Please have more in-game rewards and less swag from vendors. If the Fan Faire augment idea is used, increase its resist statistics as a reward.I have to agree that I was disappointed that there were no Sunday events. A faire-the-well-till-next-year bagel and juice send off would have been nice. I know you need the time to strike the event (tear down and pack up), but you did advertise Sunday as an event day and the staff could have used a bagel too.

Grodlaza

08-11-2010, 06:06 PM

This was my second FF and I was completly let down. I went with the knowledge that I was only attending the pool party and the closing banquet. After fan faire was over I had walked out on both. The pool party for me was a free booze night and well since I don't like bottom shelf vodka or rum I didn't stay. I asked a bartender what all alcohol he had and thats what he told me that they had. Maybe it was just that one bartender I don't know but after that I walked out. The closing banquet the next night was a let down I had a Gold pass and when we were lining for the dinner and was told that after Platinum pass people it was first come first serve. I thought as a gold pass member we had priority to the special events apparently not on this night. One other thing I had to check on when I got back was and still is there that the Gold pass people were suspose to get the premium gift bag just like the Plat pass people [Removed for Content] even happened to the that I never got one cause they were in the Plat only lounge. So all in all from what I can tell Plat got screwed, Gold got screwed. Why spend the extra money next year just go silver...

Vincent76

08-11-2010, 07:41 PM

<a href="../../swg/posts/list.m?topic_id=1120607">Vincent76's Fan Faire Report</a>

Aerel

08-11-2010, 07:49 PM

Had a wonderful time at Fan Faire - I agree with most of the other posters that Brasse was awesome, Jace not so much (use that money elsewhere!!!) Here are some additional thoughts:1. More Lewts - I really wanted a new mousepad but no. I also don't know if there are things that you could make "customizable" through the wonders of computers... like taking the green screen shots and putting them on a mouse pad. You are charging for this stuff so money shouldn't be an issue and ppl will pay!2. The Plat Lounge - was depressing. Mostly it was event staff when I saw it, and I think it was because it was the seating that was available. Take the money you paid Jace and rent a tent and some inflatable chairs and bean bags. Make it a comfy inviting area where ppl want to hang out! 3. For the Love of All that is Holy and GOOD (or Unholy and Bad - I don't judge) - COFFEE!!!! Seriously, I am hereby volunteering to buy the coffee set up for a few hours for the Plat Lounge on behalf of my guild and and server. Maybe that would make it more desirable?4. EQ2 Group Tourney. So what's up with allowing people to bring in custom UIs on flash drives - especially advantageous this year given the new UI on test. Also, a better way to organize PUGs arriving... we had someone bail in our group and had a heck of a time finding our other person. Finally, will you all be posting the final results? I'm curious to know how we did.5. (Okay this is a chick thing....) Tell Bally's to stock conditioner in addition to shampoo or put it on next year's top tips for fan faire if its in the same place LOL!6. Grand banquet - The food was taken down so quickly, I never got a chance at dessert - was able to grab a plate of biscotti for my table, I'm sure I looked silly taking a dozen but none of us got to go get. The silver pass folks barely got to get in line. And the seating was way way to tight.7. Plat pass generally - yeah, not sure what I paid extra for other than being able to stand at the end of the first long line riather than the front of the next short one.Not to be just surely though - we had so much fun meeting people and hanging out. The devs, especially when they were off panel, were great and generous and the staff was helpful and fun. The pool party rocked! Despite the suggestions above, will likely be back next year.

Dented

08-12-2010, 03:00 AM

Larksong I completely agree with all your compliments and complaints about fan faire, except bally's...When i arrived at bally's on Wednesday at 12am. I was the only person to check-in. The room i booked via the soe fan faire link to bally's registration. I picked the cheapest ugliest "classic" room. I never asked for an upgrade but they stuck me in the north tower to the deluxe room which was Clean and comfortable. I've stayed at many hotels all over the world let alone the country and that bed i slept in at bally's was nothing less than 2nd best. From what I have read, there are some rooms at bally's that should be never used again. I would also agree the balyy's lobby and casino needs a little Bob Vila action.Otherwise from the bally's room you had, I shared your experience identically.

BearClaw

08-12-2010, 05:45 AM

Was a great time, Hats off to SOE for a great time with the Staff and all the games players

Kela

08-12-2010, 03:15 PM

<cite>Dented wrote:</cite><blockquote>Larksong I completely agree with all your compliments and complaints about fan faire, except bally's...When i arrived at bally's on Wednesday at 12am. I was the only person to check-in. The room i booked via the soe fan faire link to bally's registration. I picked the cheapest ugliest "classic" room. I never asked for an upgrade but they stuck me in the north tower to the deluxe room which was Clean and comfortable. I've stayed at many hotels all over the world let alone the country and that bed i slept in at bally's was nothing less than 2nd best. From what I have read, there are some rooms at bally's that should be never used again. I would also agree the balyy's lobby and casino needs a little Bob Vila action.Otherwise from the bally's room you had, I shared your experience identically.</blockquote>Bally's is a very old hotel, by Vegas standards. Built in the early 70's. They apparently are referbishing the rooms in the south tower, while the North Tower has been fully refurbished. It is possable Lark was put in one of the rooms that have not yet been refurbished, as it takes 3+ years to refurbish an operating hotel tower.As far as the loby and casino floor I am sure that is on the schedule for TLC too... after they finnish the south tower.

crazylarry

08-12-2010, 06:57 PM

my 1st Fan Fair and my time at Fan Fair was very limmited. Plat loot - loved the paper with prices used to by stuff - used it to ask for the EQ playing cards that were not on display when i was looking for EQ stuff to buy.

Kyreth

08-12-2010, 09:16 PM

My Background:I've been an EQ player for 10 years! Attended Fan Faire with my fiance and our guild - a group of 20 people total. This was our second Fan Faire, with last year's being the first.The Positive Experiences:Brasse, you were awesome! Your presence lent a sense of fun and immersion to the events that was very much welcomed by all. I am keeping my fingers crossed to see your involvement again next year!The developers and staff were very friendly and accessible. I really enjoyed attending the various panels - Legends of Norrath, EQ Next, House of Thule, EQ Game Mechanics, and EQ Raid Development. The responses were direct, informational, and occasionally humorous, and even when I didn't have questions it was fun to hear about what everyone else wanted to know.The pool party was great. After my first experience with an open bar at last year's Fan Faire ended with me not remembering half the night, I actually took the advice given at the Opening Ceremony and did not drink my Platinum Pass's worth of alcohol this year, and actually got more out of it :pThere was a woman at the Sony Vaio laptop booth who I talked to on a couple of occasions. I was excited to find that she wasn't just connected with the laptops, but that she also played EQ2. As I don't play EQ2, I had fun trying out the character creation for it on the fancy laptop and she and I had a nice discussion about the good fae vs. the dark fae. That definitely made visiting the product booth more fun!The banquet was good. Last year I didn't get any food, but this year there was plenty. I liked the stuffed shells and biscotti the best - though not together of course! The costume contest was really cool to watch, although we were sad that our guildmate, Zi-Thuuli, didn't place! I plan on participating in it next year, and am sorry that I missed the costume creation panel, as this will be my first attempt. The video at the end was awesome, and I sincerely hope that it will be available to watch online somewhere soon.The Things I Would Change:As many people have already said, I did not enjoy Jace Hall as MC. He just wasn't connected to our games and it showed. Part of what I liked about last year's Fan Faire was the fact that we were all part of the SOE community and could relate to each other. Bringing in an outsider sort of ruined that vibe.I would have liked to have had some sort of mini-speech from a SOE official before kicking off the pool party. Something like "Welcome to the party, we are happy to have you, enjoy your time here, yay Sony gamers!" As it was, the event seemed somewhat detached from the grand scheme of the Fan Faire.The EQ Live Quest was interesting, as I didn't participate in it last year and didn't know what to expect. It would have been nice to know how our group fared compared with the others, though.At the banquet, I would have liked to have seen those giant side screens hooked up to a video of what was going on on the stage. My group was sitting quite far back, and I couldn't see any of the details on the costumes during the contest. Being able to watch a close-up video feed of the whole thing would have been awesome.Finally, since returning home I have been checking the Fan Faire website to look for the closing video and pictures that were shown at the banquet, but no luck yet! In fact the last news on the site is from July announcing the MC. It would be neat to see some more current information about what went on there for people who couldn't make it. For example listing the winners of the various contests!In Conclusion:Overall, I had a wonderful time! Although my guild was together as a big group, we did try to adopt stray people who were wandering around by themselves, which made things a lot of fun. I am already looking forward to coming back next year :)

Larkso

08-12-2010, 09:17 PM

It was Thursday when I checked in. (Guess I was more jet lagged than I thought when I typed Saturday.) And I am glad if other people had better experiences with Bally's. I have stayed in hotels throughout the US, Canada, Spain and the UK. Some of those were famous high-end hotels and some were just cheap. My expectation level was for a nice room with good, helpful, informative and friendly staff. In all fairness to Bally's, most of the bell caps were friendly and helpful. One of the desk managers' took my key cards that I neglected to leave in the room. My check in process on Thursday was the pits. The wait staff in the eateries was not good. My friends and I used room service quite a bit and they were nice and helpful. Someone else said that they wanted hair conditioner, but I thought the toiletries were wonderful. I am ordering some soon. Fan Faire 8 out of 5 starsBally's 2 and half out of 5 stars

Saroc_Luclin

08-12-2010, 10:57 PM

I think part of the issue with checkin was that just when the mass of Fan Faire people arrived, Harrah's computer systems hiccuped badly. Usually they can handle the mass of people fine, but when the computers don't work with no real ETA for coming back up, it's a nightmare. As a side note about Ballys though, I was impressed a little about the reminder note they sent out on Sunday, warning everyone that there would be a lot of people checking out and to use the other services if you can.

Kela

08-12-2010, 11:08 PM

<cite>Larksong wrote:</cite><blockquote>It was Thursday when I checked in. (Guess I was more jet lagged than I thought when I typed Saturday.) And I am glad if other people had better experiences with Bally's. I have stayed in hotels throughout the US, Canada, Spain and the UK. Some of those were famous high-end hotels and some were just cheap. My expectation level was for a nice room with good, helpful, informative and friendly staff. In all fairness to Bally's, most of the bell caps were friendly and helpful. One of the desk managers' took my key cards that I neglected to leave in the room. My check in process on Thursday was the pits. The wait staff in the eateries was not good. My friends and I used room service quite a bit and they were nice and helpful. Someone else said that they wanted hair conditioner, but I thought the toiletries were wonderful. I am ordering some soon. Fan Faire 8 out of 5 starsBally's 2 and half out of 5 stars</blockquote>I believe part of the problem on Thursday(when I arrived also) was that the coputers where down most of the day. That said last year people had the SOME of the same issues you are talking about, and as befor they where limited to the south tower, as that is the one that is still undergoing renovation. Also I know of atleast one other person that had similar issues in thier room to what you had, though they said it looked like people had too much "fun" in that room. They talked to the front desk and not only got a new room but got upgraded to a Premium room. So maybe you just had the unfortunate luck of running into some of the many bad employees that show up whenever you have a relitivly low paying job.

Gnomopho

08-12-2010, 11:12 PM

<cite>Lord_Ebon wrote:</cite><blockquote>Silent auction... yeah it sucked getting outbid in the last few seconds. I lost on the guardian guy and I was only like 2-3 people from the paper again.</blockquote>Coming from the guy who won the Guardian, better luck next year. He looks sweet next to my computer. <img src="/station/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" />

Bisxoni

08-13-2010, 04:50 AM

Just going to get straight to the point.The Good1. Brasse as MC.2. Friday's Pool Party. Had a blast.3. Bally's Hotel. Checked in at Noon Thursday with no line, was given a North Tower room when I booked a South Tower room BUT was still given a South Tower price.The Bad1. Platinum Passes. This was a cluster f*** from the get go. There were more people in the Platinum line then the Silver and Gold Pass lines combined. I was lucky enough to get to the Pool Party and Grand Banquet line an hour before everything started so I didn't have to wait in the long line. No Private VIP Events for Platinum Pass holders as was listed according to the Pricing Info.2. Swag Bags. All I got was a tshirt, a foam tomahawk, a lightsaber keychain, foam EQII knight figure, a beta invite to DCUO and a laynard and 2 posters (Joker DCUO and SWG). Was this really supposed to be it? What about Premium Gift bags with special giveaways?3. Jace Hall. Sorry but he ws not all that great for an MC for this event. He sounded out of his element.Other Comments1. The food at the Grand Banquet was average at best.2. Loved the EQ Live Quest but would have liked to have seen a second maybe a third place ribbon since we had quite a few groups for that event.3. Nothing against the DJ, a Live Band or Karaoke instead of a DJ for the Pool Party would have been better for the event.4. Only went to the Thurday morning Customer Service Panel, EQ2 Next panel and did the EQ Live Quest so I can't make too many comments on the panels other than they were ran well. Spent the rest of the time with Stromm friends out and about on the Vegas Strip.

WarSheol

08-13-2010, 06:38 PM

Was a very fun FF overall,Staff 100% helpfull and talkative.New scheduals nice books loved them over past years carrying loose sheets of paper that was bad, Books are good.Phat Loot Store Very improved, I hope to see some of that stuff in the SoE Store, was very happy to finaly get a black EQ1 hat, they only had 4 left so I grabbed em all I need them. I was wearing a EQ2 hat because I hate the brown EQ1 ones so is nice to wear the right game heh.Wife got a EQ Snuggie and loves it way better than normal snuggie because it has the words EverQuest she can find what end is the top easier when picking it up lol.Heroic Prints, very nice stuff just not enough of it for all who wanted it. And many of the items for sale where for this FF event only.Lines for events did move fast But it was very very confusing to know which line you belonged in when Gold and Silvers stood in the Plat line often. This was also a complaint I saw several times with the handicapped attendies who had trouble moving from one line to the other.Biggest problem for us as mentioned, is no fault of SoE itself but 15 or so individuals on saturday night decided this table is Mine and you cant sit here, Shame on you, you all know who you are. you cant reserve a table which has no banner on it for all your pals who are Not Plat pass holders.Recommend for tables next year maybe an ABC 123 labeling system so you can text where your at, or even help remember your own seat . I completely understand you cant put a server label on them as in the past those get stolen very fast lol.Loved the hotel layout as I stayed in the North tower this year was a very short walkName Badges... I have requested many times to make the print on them BIGger, people keep walking up and grabbing my badge to see the print on it, Also put the print on BOTH sides of the badge so it wont matter which side is facing away please <img src="/station/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" /> I said pleaseill remember more stuff to post laterEDIT The Schedualing of event panels, was wonderful. who ever did that Thank you.was so nice to not to have to walk to different rooms near as much could just sit in one place for hours and see EQ1 stuff in the same room back to back to back.

Mekii

08-14-2010, 03:08 AM

Just a suggestion for the live quest for next year. (from EQ Live Quest experience)Have a way for the NPC's awarding the tokens for the individual tasks to mark what token they gave the group. It was pretty easy to figure out what the highest value token was. Teams could have easily combined their tokens for a higher score then sort out the prizes later.I'm not accusing or even suggestion anyone did this, I didn't see anyone do it and have no way to know if they did. Only that it would have been easy to do if any were really desperate enough to cheat.As said earlier it would also be nice to know how you placed even if you didn't win. It doesn't have to be announced on stage, a results sheet posted somewhere would be just fine IMO.

Crystilla

08-14-2010, 12:04 PM

<cite>Mekii wrote:</cite><blockquote>Just a suggestion for the live quest for next year. (from EQ Live Quest experience)Have a way for the NPC's awarding the tokens for the individual tasks to mark what token they gave the group. It was pretty easy to figure out what the highest value token was. Teams could have easily combined their tokens for a higher score then sort out the prizes later.I'm not accusing or even suggestion anyone did this, I didn't see anyone do it and have no way to know if they did. Only that it would have been easy to do if any were really desperate enough to cheat.As said earlier it would also be nice to know how you placed even if you didn't win. It doesn't have to be announced on stage, a results sheet posted somewhere would be just fine IMO.</blockquote>This actually has happened for EQ Live Quest several years ago. A very large guild had two teams and they worked together to give each other the answers. And on another Live Quest card game one, there was some of that as well (though if my rumors were right, someone may have been eliminated for having two cards of something they shouldn't have as well).

jeromyjacks

08-14-2010, 04:06 PM

This was a blast! Was my first fanfaire.The wife and I stayed off site at the Excalibur and well. That was fun and all but the walk each day to ballys was....meh.. Live and learn.It was great to get to put faces to names ive seen in game, and in guild. We had 8 guildies show this year and already have that and more planned for next year!The pool party was awesome! We got to meet tons of people from our server and we DID drink out platinum pass worth of booze <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ( no waking up in strange rooms with rings tho <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) Btw when will we see the videos the backstage blogger did? My guild was interviewed and we would love to get to post it on our website for the other guildies to see.The banquit was good, wasn't great but better then we all expected. The pics you were all showing on the screens at the banquit? Are they gonna be viewable and possibly downloadable for us? I took tons of pics while there, but there were some of my guild that I would LOVE to get my hands on!!The only downside I had was the platinum pass didnt really seem much of a benefit. We ordered ours the 2nd day it was announced, thinking they were limited and would sell out fast. The amount of people with platinum pass's was kind of a let down. We still had to wait in HUGE lines, didnt get much more then an extra ingame item, and unlimited green screen... mehOver all We had a blast!!Brasse was awesome!!

Kela

08-14-2010, 06:22 PM

<cite>jeromyjackson wrote:</cite><blockquote>This was a blast! Was my first fanfaire.The wife and I stayed off site at the Excalibur and well. That was fun and all but the walk each day to ballys was....meh.. Live and learn.Did you take the monorail from there, because I believe both are on stops, yeah its $15 or more a day, but it saves your feet. That said I stayed off-site the first FF I went to. Accually off-strip at a Business hotel, you know the kind with the morning breakfest and free internet. That was also the last time I did that, with the showing up at the hotel at 2am each night, and not being able to take stuff back to my room. It was just too much of a hassle.It was great to get to put faces to names ive seen in game, and in guild. We had 8 guildies show this year and already have that and more planned for next year!The pool party was awesome! We got to meet tons of people from our server and we DID drink out platinum pass worth of booze <img src="/station/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /> ( no waking up in strange rooms with rings tho <img src="/station/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /> )Another good reason to say on site, a much shorter drunken stumble to the room. Btw when will we see the videos the backstage blogger did? My guild was interviewed and we would love to get to post it on our website for the other guildies to see.The banquit was good, wasn't great but better then we all expected. The pics you were all showing on the screens at the banquit? Are they gonna be viewable and possibly downloadable for us? I took tons of pics while there, but there were some of my guild that I would LOVE to get my hands on!!I hope so cause I would like to get copies of a few of them.The only downside I had was the platinum pass didnt really seem much of a benefit. We ordered ours the 2nd day it was announced, thinking they were limited and would sell out fast. The amount of people with platinum pass's was kind of a let down. We still had to wait in HUGE lines, didnt get much more then an extra ingame item, and unlimited green screen... mehThey where supposed to be far more limited like 200-300 fewer people then got them, but do to a glitch in the computer doing the selling they didn't stop selling them when the majic number was reached.Over all We had a blast!!Brasse was awesome!!</blockquote>My comments in purple<cite>Crystilla wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Mekii wrote:</cite><blockquote>Just a suggestion for the live quest for next year. (from EQ Live Quest experience)Have a way for the NPC's awarding the tokens for the individual tasks to mark what token they gave the group. It was pretty easy to figure out what the highest value token was. Teams could have easily combined their tokens for a higher score then sort out the prizes later.I'm not accusing or even suggestion anyone did this, I didn't see anyone do it and have no way to know if they did. Only that it would have been easy to do if any were really desperate enough to cheat.As said earlier it would also be nice to know how you placed even if you didn't win. It doesn't have to be announced on stage, a results sheet posted somewhere would be just fine IMO.</blockquote>This actually has happened for EQ Live Quest several years ago. A very large guild had two teams and they worked together to give each other the answers. And on another Live Quest card game one, there was some of that as well (though if my rumors were right, someone may have been eliminated for having two cards of something they shouldn't have as well).</blockquote>one thing they could do is have each NPC hand out a differant chip style, so that if you have two chips with say a bow and arrow on it, you cheated. You could still give each NPC a Copper, Silver, Gold and Plat coin baised on thier judgement on how you did as well, it would be the symbols on the coins that can't match.

Obann

08-15-2010, 01:22 AM

Had fun at fan faire like always even though there atmosphere was more low key/low energy then the past. Of course all the SOE employess and devs where easy to approach and talk too. There were some drawbacks. The number 1 being the platinum pass. It felt as if it was forgtten about when it came to scheduling. With the fan faire site advertising special events and stuff for the pass, what we received was a let down. Since this was the first year can hope that if it is offered again it will be a better offer.People like stuff. Even if it is a t-shirt. There just seemed to be a lack of extra gifts this year. Bring more presents next year. Even if it is done through a drawing at the panels or such.Brasse was great as a MC. Jace Hall not so much. The MC really needs to be someone who knows the SOE product line well and can engage the audience as such. Please, please, please, do not use the main hall for panels. That huge space made me feel like out of place. There was no sense of it being a panel. It was more like being in a major lecture hall where you feel small and insignificant.Now the biggest pet peeve. The banquet. For the last few fan faires this has been the single thing that seems to have gone wrong. From how the food is handle to the tables. 1st there is no reason, minus some weird Nevada/Las Vegas law, for the food to be taken down within a hour. Banquet services can not use it elsewhere so let the attendes eat at their own pace. Also stick to simple foods. I can not think of any major complaints when hamburgers and hot dog was the menu. 2nd sitting at the tables. With the variety of passes this year it was impossible to have a group stand in line together and get a table. My server wanted to sit together for this. We were able to snag 3 tables but realized we couldn't keep them forever. Pre-assigned tables need to return. People will complain about servers/games getting special treatment but at least you know exactly where you will have a seat. It is a nice thought to have the attendes mingle but it just doesn't work in practice. The last thing is more of a suggestion then anything, at that is be accomedating to special dietery (medical related) needs for the banquet. Haven't seen a question asked about that during registration since my first fan faire and that was for vegetarian meals. For those people that have medical conditions that require them to avoid certain foods it can be daunting to ask about having a special meal being part of a convention of this size. I know the number of attendes this would cover would be small but for those few of us it would be appreciated.

godsha

08-15-2010, 01:43 AM

After spending 20+ hours on planes, then more time in air ports i was pumped to get to fanfair, every year i had been told of all the wonders that happened there, the compertitions, the tasks, the loot.Meeting freinds i have know for years in game in person was great, and the fun we had was off the charts the last day was packed with heaps to do and the feast at the end was exelent.But as a platnum pass holder i don't know,, i some how expected more. wether others had over hyped it from the drink? or the economic down turn put a dampner on procedings i don't know, as i have never been to one before and have no comparasome but from what i have been told about past events.Do i regret coming all that way?? No.Did i have fun ..... Yes.Will i every do it again?? Maybe.Dont get me wrong, fanfair was 2nd to the main resion i came over. Meeting everyone, having a good time with freinds was 1st, And i did have a lot of fun. I learned alot, seen alot, and did a lot, but it just seamed to lack the X factour i was expecting. At the end of the day i went for a good time and i had it, just proves that not all nuts grow on tree's and i'm glad to be one of them.

Kela

08-15-2010, 01:55 AM

<cite>Obann wrote:</cite><blockquote>Had fun at fan faire like always even though there atmosphere was more low key/low energy then the past. Of course all the SOE employess and devs where easy to approach and talk too. There were some drawbacks. The number 1 being the platinum pass. It felt as if it was forgtten about when it came to scheduling. With the fan faire site advertising special events and stuff for the pass, what we received was a let down. Since this was the first year can hope that if it is offered again it will be a better offer.Me too!People like stuff. Even if it is a t-shirt. There just seemed to be a lack of extra gifts this year. Bring more presents next year. Even if it is done through a drawing at the panels or such.Even just giving away say DCUO, or Agency Shirts, ones differant then the Fan Faire Swag shirt, at the Banquit, and Meet and Greet. Would have been good. I know some of the cooler more expencive stuff is limited by what the sponcer is willing to give up, but I am sure even them are willing to give out t-shirts or something that glows, or lights up. Geeks are like birds and get really distracted by shinies.Brasse was great as a MC. Jace Hall not so much. The MC really needs to be someone who knows the SOE product line well and can engage the audience as such. could not agree more.Please, please, please, do not use the main hall for panels. That huge space made me feel like out of place. There was no sense of it being a panel. It was more like being in a major lecture hall where you feel small and insignificant.This was also brought up in the Feedback panel, and unfortunatly it was the only room big enough to hold all the EQ2 attendees, We where close to half the total number of registants there. IMO, if it is at Bally's again, Nix the Plat lounge and turn the hallway between it and the Bronze rooms into a panel room, and HOPEFULLY that will be big enough.Now the biggest pet peeve. The banquet. For the last few fan faires this has been the single thing that seems to have gone wrong. From how the food is handle to the tables. 1st there is no reason, minus some weird Nevada/Las Vegas law, for the food to be taken down within a hour. Banquet services can not use it elsewhere so let the attendes eat at their own pace. Also stick to simple foods. I can not think of any major complaints when hamburgers and hot dog was the menu. 2nd sitting at the tables. With the variety of passes this year it was impossible to have a group stand in line together and get a table. My server wanted to sit together for this. We were able to snag 3 tables but realized we couldn't keep them forever. Pre-assigned tables need to return. People will complain about servers/games getting special treatment but at least you know exactly where you will have a seat. It is a nice thought to have the attendes mingle but it just doesn't work in practice. The last thing is more of a suggestion then anything, at that is be accomedating to special dietery (medical related) needs for the banquet. Haven't seen a question asked about that during registration since my first fan faire and that was for vegetarian meals. For those people that have medical conditions that require them to avoid certain foods it can be daunting to ask about having a special meal being part of a convention of this size. I know the number of attendes this would cover would be small but for those few of us it would be appreciated.Personally, I like the idea of open seating, HOWEVER, I do agree that having alittle direction in where to sit should be included, maybe by game instead of server, because there are a number of Fan Faire people that make friends on-site, especally first timers, that would miss sitting with those friends if they had to sit with thier own server. </blockquote>

WarSheol

08-15-2010, 02:16 AM

One more thing.The T Shirts where a big improvment over last years (how couldnt they be) But come on your SoE you have amazing art why are ya holding out on us? <img src="/station/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" />

MissingSleep

08-16-2010, 08:46 PM

Sell Billy dolls at the SoE store.

Syla

08-27-2010, 03:25 PM

For next Fan faire can you please post us like 6 month or 5 BEFOR , the date of the Fan faire and the hotel it ll be in. Many didnt come cause they couldnt take vacation at that time or already took theyre vacation ...And about the Platinum pass, gold pass, silver pass ... That was i thiknk useless, you want to put it 130$, fine put it 130$, its still a good deal, we have the expention free, open bar friday, diner saturday and finger-food thursday, tshirt and many other things. We shoudl get some REALY special item in game. I think a special AA, a epic 3.0 lol. Well something REALY usefull. The mount is cool ... and the shield 1th anniversary look good ... BUT you can do better.Also the Special reduction for 10 more at the 2009 Fan faire was great ... i would say instead of reduction, give us something good liek those headset or a gamer keyboard. For all guild that are 15 and more members.Ohh i already say it befor on a previous post but dont forget: AFTER PARTYS ... Vegas is big, and we like to stay all the players togetehr, so if you can setup after party to a bar not far(free entrance wiht the SOE fan faire badge). Cause closing the open bar party at midnigth wasnt realy fun.. we want to continue to party up!Sylarr of Bertox server, Everquest

Kela

08-27-2010, 03:39 PM

<cite>Sylarr wrote:</cite><blockquote>For next Fan faire can you please post us like 6 month or 5 BEFOR , the date of the Fan faire and the hotel it ll be in. Many didnt come cause they couldnt take vacation at that time or already took theyre vacation ...</blockquote>I didn't have to say much about the rest of your post, cause I ether agree with it, or it is a matter of opionion and since I already gave mine on those subjects it would be redundant. To this however I do have something I can add.I asked the very same thing as the Feedback panel was breaking up. Unfortunatly, as the big conventioins like E3, ComicCon and GenCon really don't have fixed dates. SoE can't really start looking at scheduling Fan Faire until those dates are anounced, to avoid conflict as much as possable. As they can't really start looking until then, and it takes awhile to find a venue prefurably in a place and time that does not conflict with one of the other conventions. Once they find a place they still have to negosiate a contract, and eventually get one signed, it is only after that contract signing they can really tell us about when and where it will be. In part because of contract negosiation confidentiality clauses, and in part because right up until the contract is signed the deal could fall though and they would have to move somewhere else.Which rummor has it, is why we ended up at the Las Vegas Hilton in '08, or was it Bally's in '09?

Saroc_Luclin

08-27-2010, 04:10 PM

Hilton '08 was the FF that had the emergency last minute move. Before then IIRC they were semi seriously considering having it on the East Coast I believe, but the deal they were cooking up fell apart and the Hilton was their emergency fallback, since they had been there before and so forth. While I understand people not being able to make it due to being unable to get those vacation days off; if you are seriously thinking of fan faire, I don't see how "already took your vacation" can be an excuse to not make it.

Kela

08-27-2010, 07:03 PM

<cite>Saroc_Luclin wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hilton '08 was the FF that had the emergency last minute move. Before then IIRC they were semi seriously considering having it on the East Coast I believe, but the deal they were cooking up fell apart and the Hilton was their emergency fallback, since they had been there before and so forth. While I understand people not being able to make it due to being unable to get those vacation days off; if you are seriously thinking of fan faire, I don't see how "already took your vacation" can be an excuse to not make it.</blockquote>Honestly, if your willing to miss the Meet and Greet, and hopefully Smed's Address from now on. You can* fly in Thursday after work, and fly out Sunday Morning, and only miss one day of work. Most jobs allow you to take a 3day weekend if you ask nicly. Granted that is kinda rushed, but it can be done.That said I personally would ask for a 4 day weekend(or if you work for a company with a flex schedule) Thursday though Sunday off.Also the Devs also asked at the panel if they set up a Window of possable dates(wich gives them some flexablity, but ties them down to a few week period) would Late summer be a good Idea. I think everyone said yes to that. So they may be having some internal discussions about fixing a date window with-in which they will hold Fan Faire. That will make it easier to talk to your boss about time off, prior to getting a fixed date from them.Since they where talking about Mid-july to Mid-Aug(befor school starts up) as the window, you could go to your boss and say, there is an event comming up I would like to attend, they don't have a fixed date yet, but it would likly be in late summer sometime around Mid-July to Late-Aug, would you be ok with me taking a few days off(Thursday and Friday) for that event once a fixed date is anounced?*this assumes you live in the Contenental US, work a 9-5 job and can get a flight to Vegas following work(most major cities can).

Saroc_Luclin

09-13-2010, 11:21 AM

More Fan Faire feedback ideas. * If you do Platinum Passes again, consider letting the Plat Pass buyers get the Digital Collector Editions of the expansions. * With respect to the free expansions in general, provide a way people can upgrade their free expansions to the Collectors Editions without having to actually BUY the CE's. There's rumbling going on on the EQLive boards now about those two topics with respect to the Fan Faire. (And frankly, even though I don't usually buy the CE's, I'm a little irked by them too)

Arwyn_RoV

09-15-2010, 07:48 PM

<cite>Saroc_Luclin wrote:</cite><blockquote>More Fan Faire feedback ideas. * If you do Platinum Passes again, consider letting the Plat Pass buyers get the Digital Collector Editions of the expansions. * With respect to the free expansions in general, provide a way people can upgrade their free expansions to the Collectors Editions without having to actually BUY the CE's. There's rumbling going on on the EQLive boards now about those two topics with respect to the Fan Faire. (And frankly, even though I don't usually buy the CE's, I'm a little irked by them too)</blockquote>SOE Please do this!

Wildeone

10-26-2010, 01:05 AM

I missed this thread, woops <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />MCs:<ol><li>Please don't get Jace Hall to MC again. He was dull, and way too heavily scripted. The only times I thought he was remotely funny was when he went off script. I realize he was probably pretty cheap, because he wanted to use the audience in his "LOL MONEY MONEY LOL" chant thing, but still... Watching him just made the show drag on.</li><li>Brasse rocked... She stayed in character the whole time (well, besides the opening meeting thing... I blame Smed), and was funny. She's familiar with every Sony game, and thus able to connect and relate to the SoE gamers. Costume was awesome. /thumbs up for Brasse in 2011.</li><li>Felisha Day and/or all of The Guild for Fan Faire 2011! The drunk Paladin who was shouting "Brink Back Brenlo" when Jace Hall was talking suggested this, lol. It would be priceless if they could attend and MC.</li></ol><div>Events:</div><div><ol><li>Would be pretty nice if the schedules in the booklet were sorted by game. Granted, the first day there, I made a spreadsheet of all the EverQuest events, Times, and Locations, and added in the other events that looked interesting, and went from there... I don't expect people to do that though, lol.</li><li>throw the people out who heckle the devs...</li><li>Best of The Best - I don't know about the other competitions, but Kiara tried for a good 20+ minutes to get the projector thingy to work, and couldn't... Maybe get that working ahead of time? <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></li></ol><div>Hotel:</div><div><ol><li>I personally liked Ballys... Most of my guild, however, did not... Maybe because it was my first trip, ever, to Vegas. I purchased the 24 hour buffet (omg... all the food!).. Had a few meals at the buffet in Paris, and then went to Planet Hollywood (I think?), and fell in love with that food... Made Paris feel like I was slumming, lol.</li><li>-Maybe- publicize to the fan faire people the Vegas events a little more? I guess it's kindof on them to research it themselves, but still...</li></ol><div>General stuff:</div><div><ol><li>EQ Swag: Really? lol.. I couldn't figure out what that blue thing for EQ was. A guildmate told me what it was on the car ride home.. A Styrofoam tomahawk? lol</li><li>Don't do the differentiation between the passes next year, if they are the same as they were this year... I went with the gold pass, and I don't think I got anything different than a Silver pass... I felt bad for the platinum pass holders.</li></ol><div>That's all I can think of.</div></div></div></div>