Feldon 
We wish we could concretely confirm that this year’s Fan Faire will take place on October 18-21st. We wish we had twenty-seven 8×10 glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one as evidence. But we don’t. So this will be one of those preponderance of evidence cases.
Last August we talked about the poll asking which three fall dates SOE should settle on for Fan Faire (since Bally’s had already been locked up tight for the usual suspects of July and August).
Players overwhelmingly chose October 18-21, 2012. Then there was silence. And more silence. Then SOEFanFaire.com started redirecting to SOE.com which we talked about.
Linda “Brasse” Carlson mentioned in a podcast (I believe SOE Podcast #126) that if you had seen the poll thread, you already knew the Fan Faire 2012 dates.
Today, the vagueness continues.
Danicia has posted this on the SOE Station forums in the Fan Faire section:
Greetings all!
I promised on Facebook that I would start a thread just to let you know that we ARE working on the announcement & information. I cannot confirm the dates right now, but you can go back and look at the poll to see how the community voted.
If you have any particularly strong ideas about what you would like for 2012 (or don’t like from previous events), you can leave those thoughts here.
We have been working on some great new things and brainstorming on how to make other favorite things better.
I know this message is cryptic and probably a bit frustrating with the lack of detail. Just know that we are ALL super excited and plan on bringing you an update shortly. For my own part, I’m chomping on the bit, as it were, in anticipation of the announcement.
At this point there’s no need for further pussyfooting around. Fan Faire 2012 is October 18th-21st.
Now What?
If you are an extreme early bird, you can probably call Bally’s hotel in Las Vegas and ask if they have a group rate for SOE Fan Faire. There’s likely no point in looking at airfare yet. The median price for flights generally falls at about 45 days out from the event.
We remain puzzled as to why SOE is holding onto this information. Once again, we must fill in the blanks.
Will EQ2Wire Be There?
That’s a good question. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, Fan Faire was about covering the news, the events, the announcements. There was always a chance that what we heard at Fan Faire wouldn’t materialize or would change somehow between the announcement and the reality, but generally speaking, the information was spot-on. This changed with Fan Faire 2011.
Yes, the broad strokes were the same. We got Beastlords. We got a revamped Freeport. We got Mercenaries. But the devil is in the details, and the details were dramatically different. Do development and design teams need to be flexible and able to adapt to change? Absolutely! But it would have been nice to know that everything we were being presented was still in the “might change drastically” concept stage.
This, compounded with the inconvenient timing of an October event, compounded with the daunting prospect of staging two days of work at a personal cost to me north of $3k is giving me pause. I’ll have a better answer as we get closer to the event.
Will our intrepid reporter for all things EQII make it to Fan Faire?
Stay tuned….
;-{D}
I would go just for the opportunity to ask Smokejumper why he is ruining the game, and the rest of the other devs why they are so incompetent.
Also, lol @ Brasse just “touted” how great SOE’s customer service is, when they can’t even get the details of their Fan Faire right.
They did forget to mention the 30 some pages of people posting that none of the dates were good and most people wouldnt be able to attend on any of them. I would dare to say there were well over the 215 people who voted for that dat who said they would not be going at all, but again, they didnt mention that part.
Zanadi and I will not be able to make it on those dates. Way too late in the year. Anyone with kids in school, or going to school themselves are pretty much out. It was a really dumb idea from the get go.
As someone who staffs an annual convention, my guess would be that they can’t say anything yet because they may not have a contract with the venue yet. Most venues won’t allow you to announce dates until you have a fully executed contract. (It also tends to be bad practice to do so anyway.)
Who knows, perhaps they are looking at a new location?
…..or maybe they are not sure that any of them will be working for Sony by October
You want to make Fan Faire better? MOVE IT EAST!!
It had been awesome, with people from all over the country able to attend Fan Faires. Now, people on the east coast or in the south have to continually burden more expense. My wife and I have been to Dallas, Atlanta, and Boston, but will never be able to afford the trip to Vegas year after year after year after….
I went in 2006 to the one in Atlanta 5 hour drive for me. I wanted to go this year but the wife’s boss is out on maternity leave and she cant go. The 11 year old is in school and we cant take a vacation, I cant leave her at home with the wife as the wife works 12 hour shift and somebody has to get the 11 year old. Oh well they proably would not like any of the questions I had to post anyways. I need a clone.
I say we have a “Skype-a-Thon” (the internet’s version of a telethon) to raise money for our intrepid reporter’s trip to Fan Faire . . .
@Electri you seriously expect SOE to pay more to hold a Fan event than in previous years. You must have cotton wool in your ears and be chanting LaLaLaLaLALA!! They are cash strapped and hurting.
Withered Lands is WORKING on test server. One of the best looking zone’s i’ve seen them do.
I’m surprised to see a reference to Alice’s Restaurant, I don’t imagine many folks will catch it.
Tist,
There’s always a chance. 😉
“I know this message is cryptic and probably a bit frustrating with the lack of detail.”
Oh no.. d’you think?
So business as usual then. This year I was determined to try to take up the many kind offers to stay with folks I had met in EQ2 for Fan Faire. With what’s happened this year so far, I think I will just keep the $1000 (U$ money) to fly from the UK to the US and go have two weeks all inclusive somewhere instead. The lack of any kind of answers and the up beat “we are all excited” somke screening BS when what the majority of folks really want is an answer on the Pro 7 thing is REALLY starting to p!$$ me off! I agree with you Necromancer- I would go wanting answers and therefore be VERY dissappointed.
We attended the 2006 FF in Atlanta which was a great time and then went to the 2009 event in Las Vegas which was ‘meh’. It didn’t have the same intimate feel and we hated the hotel and corporate sponsorship. We vowed not to attend another FF in Vegas. (Well, maybe if someone were to give us an all expenses paid trip we’d think about it.)
SOE should fire the dwarf Brasse, and hire Raj Joshi from Battlecast instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdU_mFG1mrY
Well we know its going to go ahead.
Bar some sort of sudden problem, I think with Sony’s problems there is going to be some sort of uncertainty until the financial year is over, so I’m guessing we will know more once the financing is agreed.
I’d really like to go, if it slips later it would be even better timing for me, but if its brought forward in the year I’ll have to make some decisions about what to do on a US trip.
When the dates are set it would be cool to do a donation thing to get EQ2wire definitely there, from a purely selfish point of view the more the merrier (and the last I went I have to say it was a blast! I would definitely recommend the experience to everyone!).
Feldon,
I do understand what you mean about the 2011 Fan Faire. I, too, have been to Fan Faire from 2008 (got to see the Star Trek Experience before it left) through 2011. 2008, ’09, and ’10 gave us a TON of information. And even though a lot of it didn’t happen (e.g. making the Dispatch debuff melee only and giving summoners the ability to debuff spell mit instead, or giving group Heal-over-Time spells the ability to “save up” heal ticks if no one was damaged then, at the end of the spell duration, heal someone as a burst direct-heal if they were damaged at that time) but at least we got to see what they were thinking . . . and that they WERE thinking.
We KNEW that the ideas they came out with were just that, ideas. None if it was finalized and many ideas would never see testing let alone the live servers. We did get the requisite “We’ll discuss that in-house.” and “We’ll look into that.” but it made us, the people that went there, feel like we were a little bit a part of the inner workings of SOE.
In 2011, however, there was NONE of that. EVERY discussion panel was just a smoke-and-mirrors show, no (or minimal) information was given and, when put on the spot with direct questions, they were either evaded or it seemed they just made something up (read: lied).
I’ve loved going to Fan Faire these past four years, but even I’M having reservations about going . . . and I live on the east coast, I’m no where near as far as you, and I can take those October days at work as personal days and still get paid. The cost to me would be 1/3 to 1/4 of what yours would be and I’m still undecided, so I understand your concerns.
I am sure some will still go for the party, but I wonder if the days when it was a discussion session with the devs is over. Now, like the game, I imagine it will be more entertainment oriented, with some PR thrown in.
Father rapers or mother stabbers?? And where did my 8×10 full color glossy photos go??
@Necro:
If you were to sit with some of the devs and converse (2-way, listen as much as talk), you’ll find there are some REALLY sharp folks on their team. THEN, when you find out how their code base has evolved, you’ll *facepalm* and be amazed that they ever get ANYTHING to work at all.
@Feldon:
My wife & I considered going back to fanfaire again this year, but it’s a huge expense ($10-$12K for both of us). Vegas is almost always the cheapest place anywhere in the US to fly to/from and get accommodation, but we usually have to book 9-12 months out to get the best rates. The main reason we may not attend, however, is that I’m just not sure what they’ll present that I’d be interested in this year. If it gets announced and looks like we’ll be going, I’ll catch up with you via email to let you know so we can video sessions or something for you if you’re not able to attend.
FYI: devs and even smokejumper DO listen to you, especially when you’re in front of them and not raving like an idiot about their mission to destroy your SK’s ability to solo raid content.
I’m going to need to see evidence of SJ and co listening before I take your word for it that they do. I don’t want to solo anything…and my SK is horribly geared and lacking in AA. 🙂
I live in New York, and it is actually cheaper for us to travel to Las Vegas for a weekend than it would be for us to travel to many places here in the North Eastern US, including most places right here in NY that would be large enough for such an event. It has been talked abobut many times and it is just cheaper overall to have it in Vegas. FF will most likely be held there for as long as they keep doing them. In the very least, its driving distance to San Diego, so its cheaper for SoE.
“What were you arrested for, kid?”
And I said, “Littering.”
And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, “And creating a nuisance.” And they all came back, shook my hand,and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench.
@kosh, and Kredick ummm yea whats that got to do with anything eq2 related. Really?
@Badcat: It’s related to this line from the article: “twenty-seven 8×10 glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one as evidence”.
Since this is where comments should be posted that are related to the article, seems fine to me, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with EQ2. 🙂
(singing) You can get, anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant, excepting Alice. 🙂
I got to see Arlo once in Houston. That was the best. And no he didn’t sing Alice’s Restaurant. It’s 18 minutes long, so he doesn’t sing it often. 😉
Somehow I missed that link thanks.
I remember when fan faire was a big deal. It just seems pointless now. And I had hoped to go to one some day. Oh well. guess I can save myself some money.
@ Feldon. Saw Arlo in Erie, Pa back in the 80’s sometime along with John Prine and he did hinted at doing but never did. Was still a fantastic show.
@ Feldon. Saw Arlo in Erie, Pa back in the 80’s sometime along with John Prine and he hinted at it doing but never did. Was still a fantastic show.
Your all surprised by SOE vagueness? No I’m sure your not by now. Let’s just say I’m a long time EQ2 player/raider (6years+) who ran away in Nov 2011 and is still keeping an eye on my first MMO thanks to EQ2Wire (your all doing a great job Feldon & Co).
I put up with the cloak n dagger vagueness of SOE for a long time. Not to mention the apparent MEH attitude to anyone outside the US.
I’ll be totally honest guys, I gave up faith on eq2 around about the time Domino came onboard. I had no faith in Brenlo, and even less in Smokejumper. And don’t even get me talking about Smedley.
I want to love eq2 enough to come back to it, but I can’t see it happening anytime soon 🙁
“I just wanna ride my mooooootorcyyyy…”