Feldon 
SOE’s annual Fan Faire event is moving to autumn next year, well into the school year for many parents and children, but otherwise staying put in Las Vegas and the now familiar Bally‘s hotel. The three dates on offer this time around are:
- September 13th – 16th, 2012
- September 27th – 30th, 2012
- October 18th – 21st, 2012
Voting for one of the above three dates for Fan Faire 2012 is only open until August 19, 2011.
If you’re wondering why Fan Faire seems locked to Las Vegas and hasn’t traveled to the Midwest or East coasts in many years, or why Fan Faire is straying from the summer months next year, you’ll want to read Linda “Brasse” Carlson‘s extensive response to those concerns:
Let me pop in here to talk honestly about a few points that come up every year:
Why the autumn?
Among the many, many considerations in booking FanFaire is the simple fact of availability of the venue.
The choices set before are the only three weekends that Bally’s has open in 2012. Plain and simple. THREE out of the entire year! In 2011, we had two choices, one in July, one in August.
We know kids are in school and that Fan Faire covers two weekdays, Thursday and Friday. Over the past few years, when we’ve been able to run Fan Faire during the summer, we have received many complaints about the overbearing heat and the almost inevitable double booking with family holiday plans, other conventions.
Each year we have people tell us how disappointed that they cannot attend, and others who tell us they happy that they can attend for the first time ever. There is no perfect scheduling solution that will fit everyone, unfortunately… at least not until someone invents cool wormhole technology. Man, that would be cool. Please get working on it.
Why Bally’s?
We have been at Bally’s for three years running, and we have developed a very good relationship with the hotel. Almost all technical and logistical issues have been ironed out (hey, there is always room for improvement and we have collected ALL your feedback to work on next year!). Moving from venue to venue means we have to reinvent the wheel every time.
The price is right for SOE and for guest rooms.
If we moved elsewhere, to another hotel capable of giving us the same level of facilities and services, we’d be picking up a much larger bill.
I’ll say it right here: the cost of admission does not cover the cost of admission, not by a long shot. This is our big annual fan event, a heartfelt thank you to our players, but in order to be as fiscally responsible as players should expect us to be, we have to choose our venue with extreme care, or increase badge fees such that no one could afford to come.
The rooms are affordable for a large convention hotel as well. As a player, I’ve had to pay $150 – 190 a night at other Fan Faire hotels we’ve been at over the years. I know what it’s like to live on a tight budget and how hard it was to fork over that kind of money for 3 – 4 nights. Bally’s is on the strip, and for those who prefer fancier hotels, there are several other choices nearby within a reasonable distance!
Why Vegas?
We’ve talked about this a lot over the years. Las Vegas is the most affordable solution. Yes, for both parties.
For SOE, it is within a reasonable day’s bus trip for the hundred or so staff and devs we send out – yes, you heard right, we use a bus, not air travel… to save money and keep your badge costs down!
Vegas is the most affordable airfare option on average for folks from all over North America. We are fortunate that many of our wonderful overseas friends make the trip regardless… and yep, it’s true, we cannot afford to host this event overseas, as much as we’d love to.
Vegas has Bally’s. See above (it’s big enough, reasonably priced, and we know it well enough to make our jobs easier every year).
In closing…
We are always looking at other options. Our Events Team is forever on the search for the best deal, location, service, venue, value on the dollar for our fans and for the company. We never say never for the future, but for 2012, all signs point to Bally’s in Vegas once more, and we all hope to see you there again! I just wish it was sooner!!!!
Yer auld Dwarf,
Brasse
The problem that everyone is talking about is that ALL of these dates are terrible for those who have children. It is difficult enough to find someone to watch your kids while you take a weekend vacation to visit with your fellow gamers and online friends. Finding someone to watch them and take them to and from school every day is next to impossible. Bringing them with you really isnt an option either since Las Vegas is hardly a place for children, not to mention taht a lot of the after hours activities do not allow anyone under a specific age.
I love having Fan Faire in Vegas. Vegas is one fun town with many things to do outside the SoE event. Having it in the fall is a great idea, also. The heat in Vegas was unbearable when I went in 2010. I want to go next year, I had a blast (even with the heat) last year. Sony throws a good party, and it’s something everyone should attend at least once in their EQ2 career.
so how come I can’t vote for this?
Well they dont release expansions anymore just crappy game updates and gimicky features we have to pay for…..they mine as well just cancel them all together….oh how I miss the TSO days when I could go to fan fair – be excited about actual expansion – drink myself silly – hook up with chicks and doods and then sober up still excited about the comming continent and ACTUAL content……..
Marco and Shanae – remember me ;)in 2009
Woot! Finally a time when flights are cheap, the sun won’t melt you in the streets, and Vegas won’t look like Disney.
For those who find ditching the kids in October harder than July, save your favors and pitch it as LESS watching since they are in school. if you still want to drag the kids along, I’m sure 2 days less class time won’t tip them from wizards to duds.
If the October date wins my wife and I are going again. Wish for cheap flights from Oz. So, everyone follow the voting link, log in using your station details, and vote for October, please. Remember to log in or you won’t be able to vote.
You have to log in with your station account to vote. If you STILL can’t vote after signing in, . . . PM someone? /shrug
Alasoy,
I didn’t like having a dozen small dungeons and 3-4 raid zones as my only new content for an entire year. Also, the TSO raid zones had punishing single-point-of-failure mechanics that were extremely frustrating and tore guilds apart.
Destiny of Velious is giving us new dungeons and new raid zones with both easy and hard versions FOR FREE every 3 months until mid-2013. This has resulted in a lot less of players quitting for the summer and the cyclical “subscribe for the expansion and quit 3 months later” problems. Also, last I checked, you don’t have to “pay for” game updates.
Age of Discovery is an extra charge for Beastlords, Design Your Own Dungeon, Item Reforging, Increased AA Limit, Mercenaries, and Tradeskill Apprentices. If you don’t want any of those things, you can continue to play new Velious content every 3 months for the next 18 months without paying any extra.
LOL @ a lot less players quitting for the Summer. DoV raids are terrible, unimaginative and the rewards are lackluster.
Easy versions of everything gives players less incentives to gear up and move to the higher end guilds which kills recruiting – combined with the fact that the gear is so close together you can “finish” DoV easy in three months max and have nothing to look forward to at all which has led to tons of turnover at the endgame.
You will be unable to do anything in DoV after AoD comes out unless you purchase AoD since the additional AAs are tied to the expansion.
Nice try though Feldon 🙂