Tickets are all gone for fan fest

[Azuru]

For those who were calling people stupid for booking the hotel way ahead of time. Let me fill you in on this, I booked TWO hotel rooms with two queens at the Rio for a total of $925 for three nights. As of right now, I just checked ONE room with two queens cost a total of $837 for three nights. I didn’t even get the tickets, have it in my basket to enter name and lost it anyway, but I’m still going because I want to see my friends there. So my point is it’s better to cancel the hotel reservation than paying double because it was getting closer to the day of the event.

[Azuru]

For those who were calling people stupid for booking the hotel way ahead of time. Let me fill you in on this, I booked TWO hotel rooms with two queens at the Rio for a total of $925 for three nights. As of right now, I just checked ONE room with two queens cost a total of $837 for three nights. I didn’t even get the tickets, have it in my basket to enter name and lost it anyway, but I’m still going because I want to see my friends there. So my point is it’s better to cancel the hotel reservation than paying double because it was getting closer to the day of the event.

I forgot to mention the room were booked with event discount and so was the room that I just looked at a few min ago. That was a huge difference in pricing in just a few months. I booked them back in mid June.

[Lainmyst]

[QUOTE=raionheart;4723845](1/2)
Posting here to what I said on Reddit

Our next member was able to get in at 12:22pm PT. A code was required. He was stuck on the loading screen after entering the name of ticket holders. He was able to complete his purchase at 12:26pm PT. He ordered 2 tickets.

Your statement proves there was an issue, I like many got into the queue instantly, it was still 12:00 but I waited in the queue for 26 minutes to find the tickets were sold out and yet your friend didn't get into the queue until well after me? I am glad you were able to resolve it. Maybe if I had refreshed the screen I could have gotten a ticket.

[Lainmyst]

I forgot to mention the room were booked with event discount and so was the room that I just looked at a few min ago. That was a huge difference in pricing in just a few months. I booked them back in mid June.

I booked mine back when the fan fest date was first announced. it was only $450 for my room with a $66 deposit. I was told I would get a refund if I cancel by 3 days before the arrival date. As soon as I failed to get a ticket I canceled but then re-instated my room later that day. I am waiting to see what SE does about this mess.

[raionheart]

Your statement proves there was an issue, I like many got into the queue instantly, it was still 12:00 but I waited in the queue for 26 minutes to find the tickets were sold out and yet your friend didn't get into the queue until well after me? I am glad you were able to resolve it. Maybe if I had refreshed the screen I could have gotten a ticket.

I think you misunderstand. Let me clarify. When I say "get in" I mean past the queue screen and able to purchase tickets. Sorry for not being clear. We along with the rest of the world queued in as soon as it went up. Everyone in my group had the page up since 8am morning of and I'm sure other parties had as well. The queue did not begin till 12pm PT as stated. Let me edit that post to clarify in case someone misunderstands as well and add fuel to the fire.

I am located in Silicon Valley area (known for high speed connections) on a corporate fiber network. Even I was biting my nails every second during the queue page. So if you read back to my first point on my post people seem to think they are the first to queue in at 12, they're not. Everyone who were trying to get a ticket were refreshing and queueing at the same time.

[raionheart]

For those who were calling people stupid for booking the hotel way ahead of time. Let me fill you in on this, I booked TWO hotel rooms with two queens at the Rio for a total of $925 for three nights. As of right now, I just checked ONE room with two queens cost a total of $837 for three nights. I didn’t even get the tickets, have it in my basket to enter name and lost it anyway, but I’m still going because I want to see my friends there. So my point is it’s better to cancel the hotel reservation than paying double because it was getting closer to the day of the event.

Actually I think you are rather smart to book a room in advance. I've been telling everyone to and annoyed for those who didn't . Because here's the thing, you have 72 hrs before the reservation to cancel for free. So it doesn't make sense not to book ahead. Now the discount rate is all gone/sold out and the room prices are high again and/or they will need to look for another hotel for a better deal.

I actually originally booked on Hotels.com for (1) room two Queens at The Rio from the 15-18th and my total came up to like $800 ish. This was on March 22nd

Thankfully when Square-Enix announced the room discount I quickly booked another room at The Rio with the discount and my new total was $461 for the same dates. I canceled my old reservation from hotels.com. This was on June 14th

The only thing I didn't book till I had event tickets was plane tickets, cause those are normally non-refundable.

[Lainmyst]

I think you misunderstand. Let me clarify. When I say "get in" I mean past the queue screen and able to purchase tickets. Sorry for not being clear. We along with the rest of the world queued in as soon as it went up. Everyone in my group had the page up since 8am morning of and I'm sure other parties had as well. The queue did not begin till 12pm PT as stated. Let me edit that post to clarify in case someone misunderstands as well and add fuel to the fire.

I am located in Silicon Valley area (known for high speed connections) on a corporate fiber network. Even I was biting my nails every second during the queue page. So if you read back to my first point on my post people seem to think they are the first to queue in at 12, they're not. Everyone who were trying to get a ticket were refreshing and queueing at the same time.

Thanks for the clarification, I am starting to get the sense that SE won't do a thing about this and it is possible it is just too difficult an issue to resolve fairly. I went to the last Fan Fest I guess that's enough. Time to move on.

[raionheart]

Thanks for the clarification, I am starting to get the sense that SE won't do a thing about this and it is possible it is just too difficult an issue to resolve fairly. I went to the last Fan Fest I guess that's enough. Time to move on.

Nah I totally understand the frustration. A lot of people were looking forward to go this year and meet their guild mates/ in-game friends and Fan Fest was a safe haven to experience it at. Not everyone from our group made it, and it sucks, cause this will probably be the last fanfest we would meet up for in awhile. It's not something I can budget/time for every 2 years. It will probably be the next next fanfest till I decide to go again. The fault mostly lies in the lack of anticipation/metrics planning on Square Enix's part on volume of attendees. Instead of increasing event space volume they downsized it. Hopefully they figured out how to run the merchandise queue this time around. I hope they do the pre-order/purchase online for merchandise and pick-up on site like I heard they did for the recent events.

p.s. If the rumors of people being able to purchase more than 4 tickets is true, then I hope they investigate those purchases and release the extra tickets back in the wild as a lottery or something.

[Lainmyst]

Yes even though I have moved on in a way i am still sad. I was very much looking forward to this. But maybe something will come through. i held onto my reserved room at the Rio just in case. I heard some who didn't get tickets either plan to still go just to visit outside. I know the only friend I was going to meet up with failed to get a ticket too. Not sure if I could bring myself to go and just hang around outside the event.

[raionheart]

Yes even though I have moved on in a way i am still sad. I was very much looking forward to this. But maybe something will come through. i held onto my reserved room at the Rio just in case. I heard some who didn't get tickets either plan to still go just to visit outside. I know the only friend I was going to meet up with failed to get a ticket too. Not sure if I could bring myself to go and just hang around outside the event.

Maybe they can do a tour deal for the Int'll fanfests like they did with ours. lol That way you have an excuse to go to Paris or Japan XD;