Tickets are all gone for fan fest

I think i went to one of the panel for xi organized by you years ago at acen

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Originally Posted by StrangerFanatic

Mostly, I'm wondering how much of the hall is going to be empty despite the fact their tickets sold out. Hopefully very, I'd rather not find out a lot of people bought tickets to the event off of scalpers who are selling them for twice their worth on Facebook and other Social media platforms right now.

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It's doubtful that the convention hall is going to be empty. Someone's trying to poll the FF14 subreddit population to see how many succeeded in obtaining tickets; 396 individuals suceeded as of now (46% of all votes). While there are many limitations to surveys like these, anything from sample size, limited access to the entire population of concern, to responder bias, etc, it does tell us that hundreds have obtained tickets (especially if you consider some individuals may have ordered more than 1 ticket).

It would be interesting to see, however, if everyone follows-through with their Vegas travel plans. Many individuals were considering canceling when they found out their friends/family weren't able to obtain tickets, etc, but the alleged name-freeze administered by showclix shortly after the sellout, the non-refundable travel plans some folks have made, and perhaps other factors may influence some into going afterall...

Link to reddit poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...in_buying_fan/

As someone who managed to buy a ticket I'm happy, sure it sucks for others but these things happen sometimes.

Suuuuper easy to say where you're sitting. So point of the comment?

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Originally Posted by Kanzer

You had literally months to prepare for this. This is how it's gonna be from now on, FFXIV Fanfest is a now a popular con in high demand. There are certain preparations you're going to have to make if you want to increase your chances of going. This includes collaborating with friends and pooling money together so that the first person who gets in can buy for everyone. Since I've started doing this I haven't missed a particular con I want to go to(Though I recognize the chance is definitely still there!). Take it as a lesson learned and better luck next time!

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You quoted the wrong person lol, but just in case, my comment was to the person assuming everyone should have 1600$ cash on hand to purchase group tickets for their internet friends on their behalf and if you didn't have it on hand that you were just silly. I'm not complaining at all just they were calling people stupid for not, and sure some people may have known about this, though this is my first time noticing it based on an email I got 2 days ago, saying you had months to plan would mean you're fully aware of it. I'm not complaining about the event, just giving accurate reasons in response to the silly demeaning comment against others by the person I quoted. I get lots of people are upset here and they have the right of it, but theres no reason for people to attack others or assume their level of intelligence based off of how 1 person thinks. Just don't treat people like idiots for not being aware especially if they're new to something, as well as assuming they've always known. Calm down take a breather then post.

I haven't caught up completely with the thread (I think I read the first 19 pages), but has anyone suggested an alternate Fan-organized event or meetup in Las Vegas, concurrent with the official FanFest?

I mean, all you really need is wifi, a projector, and some space and you could

- view the live stream
- organize an in-game meetup (people could make alts)
- maybe present a live performance from A Stage Reborn (if you could get them to do it?)
- have a real-world costume/cosplay contest, or panel about costume construction
- have an in-game glamour contest (and share secrets of the glamour masters)
- have a fan art contest
- have panel discussions about anything (job roles, battle strategies, crafting/gathering, etc.)
- have live demos of clearing Ultimate Bahamut or other raids
- FFXIV "best and worst experiences" story time
- have a screenshot or "postcards from Eorzea" contest
etc.

For other conventions where you can't get tickets, offsite events are often a popular alternative and are sometimes better than the "real" thing.

Also some regional fan meetups might be pretty cool as well.

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Originally Posted by Xellos2099

I think i went to one of the panel for xi organized by you years ago at acen

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You probably did! I ran the XI panel for 4-5 years at ACEN, got denied after the combined XI+XIV panel didn't go so well, and went back the next year with a solid XIV panel.

I stopped going to ACEN though because Momocon tended to be a back to back weekend with it, and Momocon is a lot less expensive for me XD But then Momocon, then AWA, stopped giving me the XIV panels, and I'm kind of just burnt out now. Only going to AWA this year to be with the anime club I'm staff adviser for.

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Originally Posted by Avenger

For other conventions where you can't get tickets, offsite events are often a popular alternative and are sometimes better than the "real" thing.

Also some regional fan meetups might be pretty cool as well.

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I gotta say, I really like your pragmatic thinking. However, I think until the issue of the sale is addressed with some more transparency and empathy than we saw a few pages ago people will be fixated on the sale rather than on-site solutions.

Thank you for sharing these great ideas :).

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Originally Posted by Hakane_Mitsu

As someone who managed to buy a ticket I'm happy, sure it sucks for others but these things happen sometimes.

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Originally Posted by Tsalmaveth

Suuuuper easy to say where you're sitting. So point of the comment?

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The "sucks for [you] but these things happen sometimes" bit would probably be better said as something like "This is the awful reality of the horrible state of ticket sales for popular live events: It's a crap shoot and the odds of getting tickets to a popular event are stacked in favor of professional ticket brokers rather than fans. Unfortunately Fan Fest seems to have crossed the threshold into undersupply/overdemand hell where it's almost impossible for normal people to get tickets - and apparently this took SE completely by surprise, as well as many fans who had no trouble getting tickets to the last FanFest, which took hours to sell out. It would be nice if SE would try to do something to fix the obvious issues, but it is a hard problem to solve overall - as you can see from trying to get tickets to almost any popular convention, concert, etc.."

I'd suggest that there are a lot of things SE could do to try to fix the problem and also to compensate the many disappointed fans who were crushed by ShowClix Ticket Queue (Savage).

I have said my personal piece of how I, along with many were cheated out of a ticket we should be in possession of. Today I felt a deep sadness over this mess not just for myself but mostly for all the others who missed out on the 2018 FF!4 Fan Festival. Which now if nothing is done should be called the Fan Wake instead. My sadness is even deeper then it normally would but for the knowledge that many fine and even great cosplay artists, who spent probably one-two years pouring their hearts and souls into the best costume they could make. Of course hoping to be in the contest and even winning. Now those dreams have been dashed by a broken ticket system and cheaters. If you, SE, choose to go the easy route and do nothing about this then this will be a very sad fan fest. All your best fans will now regard you with no trust but only that you only seem to care about the $$ and not the players. What would Yoshi think of this mess? If you don't fix this and figure out a way to cancel the current tickets without hurting those who were legit and lucky enough to get a ticket, then sell them again to us with a vastly improved and secure system then this will be your permanent legacy! I know this post is buried in many pages of comments, I hope you take the time to read this and know this will be a permanent stain on this game and SE and all the Devs who worked so hard to make this a great game.

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Originally Posted by Lainmyst

If you don't fix this and figure out a way to cancel the current tickets without hurting those who were legit and lucky enough to get a ticket, then sell them again to us with a vastly improved and secure system then this will be your permanent legacy! I know this post is buried in many pages of comments, I hope you take the time to read this and know this will be a permanent stain on this game and SE and all the Devs who worked so hard to make this a great game.

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The sad thing is I think they really aren't going to do anything. 24 hours without an official response (I refuse to count the forum post because not everyone comes to these forums and are desperate for a solution on Reddit/Twitter/Facebook) makes it feel like they're just pleased with the outcome and the 500+ people who got shafted are just a bump in the road and "it happens". If anything that post felt like salt in the wound because it was an attempt to put out the flames but all it did was enrage everyone because we all know what's really happening.

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Originally Posted by Avenger

Might not have been gloating. The "these things happen sometimes" bit would probably be better said as something like "this is the awful reality of the horrible state of ticket sales for popular live events: it's a crap shoot and the odds of getting tickets to a popular event are stacked in favor of professional ticket brokers rather than fans. Unfortunately Fan Fest seems to have crossed the threshold into undersupply/overdemand hell where it's almost impossible for normal people to get tickets - and apparently it took SE completely by surprise, as well as many fans who had no trouble getting tickets to the last FanFest, which took hours to sell out. It would be nice if SE would try to do something to fix the obvious issues, but it is a hard problem to solve overall - as you can see from trying to get tickets to almost any popular convention, concert, etc.."

I'd suggest that there are a lot of things SE could do to try to fix the problem and also to compensate the many disappointed fans who were crushed by Ticket Queue (Savage).

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That's not really what I was thinking, It was more like Most that managed to get through with the proper steps (not for the first 10mins~ where people could bypass the access code which royally sucks) and get their ticket are legit happy and glad they're able to go which I am too.

Sure it sucks that quite a lot of players won't be able to attend including some friends of mine but I've also been getting a ton of hate since I purchased my ticket because I'm flying over from the UK to attend the NA FanFest and everyone is telling me to "Go BLAM! yourself" ( Gotta keep it PG-13 :) ) and we don't even know how many others like me coming from EU to visit Las Vegas and attend the NA FanFest.

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Originally Posted by Frostbytes

The sad thing is I think they really aren't going to do anything.

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I hate to agree but I feel like you might be right. I love this game but if this is how they treat us I am considering unsubscribing. I’ve never done that so I can barely believe I’m considering it but I am having a hard time reconciling the response we’ve received and what this game was built around after 1.0.

Well yeah... I would be pretty pissed as well if(because) EU players were(apparently are) taking the few tickets the NA people have for a smaller event. Just like the lot of tickets that were put aside for the Japanese tourists that are going to have their own FanFest. I'm hardly shocked your comments are not well received in the least.

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Originally Posted by Hakane_Mitsu

Sure it sucks that quite a lot of players won't be able to attend including some friends of mine but I've also been getting a ton of hate since I purchased my ticket because I'm flying over from the UK to attend the NA FanFest and everyone is telling me to "Go BLAM! yourself" ( Gotta keep it PG-13 :) ) and we don't even know how many others like me coming from EU to visit Las Vegas and attend the NA FanFest.

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That's too bad. I don't have any antagonism toward legit players who managed to beat Ticket Queue (Savage), or players who want to travel from other countries and attend. I note that there is a population of international players on NA servers as well. I guess it might be a problem if nobody from NA got to attend the NA FanFest, but I doubt that large numbers of people are flying 8 or 9 time zones to attend FanFest anyway. Though I wouldn't mind going to the Europe or Japan FanFests if I could!!

I do wish that the ticket sale hadn't been such an awful bloodbath though.

This is completely unacceptable. Online BEFORE noon, waiting for the website to open, immediately put into queue, and wait for 24 minutes to get informed the FanFest is sold out. Square Enix, you must do better than this. It's entirely in your power to fix.

Dear SE Team,

Thank you for hosting Fanfest for us. Even if you're feeling the heat, it's not a given that gaming companies host conventions, meet their fans and let a group of us bond. Just the chance at going is pretty neat. My hope is that this game continues to thrive so that we can have many more Fanfests to attend. \o/

In the interim, specific details would be appreciated on the number of tickets sold, the size of the venue based on the fire code and if there are any plans to accommodate more guest. Facts right now would really help. Rumors are running rampant and people are clinging to them so they can just keep their pitchfork on hand.

The first response hinted at an ongoing investigation, so keeping us informed would be great.

Hope you see this!

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Originally Posted by ErysNight

Dear SE Team,

Thank you for hosting Fanfest for us. Even if you're feeling the heat, it's not a given that gaming companies host conventions, meet their fans and let a group of us bond. Just the chance at going is pretty neat. My hope is that this game continues to thrive so that we can have many more Fanfests to attend. \o/

In the interim, specific details would be appreciated on the number of tickets sold, the size of the venue based on the fire code and if there are any plans to accommodate more guest. Facts right now would really help. Rumors are running rampant and people are clinging to them so they can just keep their pitchfork on hand.

The first response hinted at an ongoing investigation, so keeping us informed would be great.

Hope you see this!

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Second to all of this. More information would be great!

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Originally Posted by Tsalmaveth

Well yeah... I would be pretty pissed as well if(because) EU players were(apparently are) taking the few tickets the NA people have for a smaller event. Just like the lot of tickets that were put aside for the Japanese tourists that are going to have their own FanFest. I'm hardly shocked your comments are not well received in the least.

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It would certainly be much fairer to have everyone in the same ticket pool (vs. presale for reserved tour tickets, for example) but I think it would be interesting and fun to meet some JP and EU players at NA FanFest.

I would also really like to see some Feast matches between top NA, EU and JP teams. :D

As interesting as you might see it, there are fewer tickets for the NA convention and as many if not more people. This debacle has just set everyone's mood off and their continued lies and silence on it has not helped in the least. No one is going to want to hear 'oh yeah, well I got mine.... too bad for you but these things happen' because no matter what you THINK you are meaning, it comes off as pretentious and snide to people who have been jipped. Especially when it's people from areas that will be having larger, and in the past, better run conventions later. Nah, that's not going to go over well and I don't really blame anyone for being angry, either. You can be as passively nice as you want, but this is a slap in the face to the NA fans all the way around. And we have every right to be pissed off and demand answers. Not that I think they're going to bother to supply any.

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Originally Posted by Lainmyst

I have said my personal piece of how I, along with many were cheated out of a ticket we should be in possession of. Today I felt a deep sadness over this mess not just for myself but mostly for all the others who missed out on the 2018 FF!4 Fan Festival. Which now if nothing is done should be called the Fan Wake instead. My sadness is even deeper then it normally would but for the knowledge that many fine and even great cosplay artists, who spent probably one-two years pouring their hearts and souls into the best costume they could make. Of course hoping to be in the contest and even winning. Now those dreams have been dashed by a broken ticket system and cheaters. If you, SE, choose to go the easy route and do nothing about this then this will be a very sad fan fest. All your best fans will now regard you with no trust but only that you only seem to care about the $$ and not the players. What would Yoshi think of this mess? If you don't fix this and figure out a way to cancel the current tickets without hurting those who were legit and lucky enough to get a ticket, then sell them again to us with a vastly improved and secure system then this will be your permanent legacy! I know this post is buried in many pages of comments, I hope you take the time to read this and know this will be a permanent stain on this game and SE and all the Devs who worked so hard to make this a great game.

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You make it sound like the cosplayers/players who did get tickets didn’t deserve them. Or that the majority of the ticket sold went to scalpers and not actual subscribers. My guess is, the majority of the tickets went to players who are just as big a fan like you, just as great a cosplayer as those who had the bad luck of not being able to get tickets. These fans you speak of, whose so quick to pass judgement based on rumors and hearsay aren’t really fans then, just salty, entitled kids.
It’s possible that there’s still an open investigation, it’s completely possible to identify ticket purchased by bots or other questionable means and refund those and put them back up for sale, but I bet even if they recover say 50 tickets theres still going to be a lot of angry , entitled folks anyway...

I still dont understand why they dont take "pre-orders" a bit before selling tickets to see how many are interested in this (without it being final of course) and then renting a location that at least can get near that amount? Yes bigger places cost more money but you also sell more tickets and merchandise and you said that you are doing it for the fans too..

Also next to the disaster of the queue being no queue for a certain amount of time, I dont really understand why the rules to get such a code was less strict than the years before, even though FF14 grew. Before that you needed to be subbed 1-2 months before that, now you only needed to be subbed somehwere in a half year and returners with free game time counted too..why?

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Originally Posted by Frostbytes

The sad thing is I think they really aren't going to do anything. 24 hours without an official response (I refuse to count the forum post because not everyone comes to these forums and are desperate for a solution on Reddit/Twitter/Facebook) makes it feel like they're just pleased with the outcome and the 500+ people who got shafted are just a bump in the road and "it happens". If anything that post felt like salt in the wound because it was an attempt to put out the flames but all it did was enrage everyone because we all know what's really happening.

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My post was meant to do what you think it did. I just hope they have some kind of soul with this regard. But I think i am just going to move on nothing more can be done if they continue to ignore reality.

Ok, so SE JP started the Fanfest tour sales last night while we are still waiting for the solid answers from SE.

https://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...e7f0ec9733ed98

$3000.00/per person (incl. Fanfest 2day access/touring/air fare(excl.fuel surcharge)/Hotel)
30 limited tickets.

30 X $3000.00 = $90000.00

Friend of mine works at HIS Japan who handles tours. Said these of bundles are handled pretty cheap.
His rough estimates, $20000 for the hotels, $40000 for the airfare, anywhere between $6000-$15000 for the touring and transportations
(touring industry is in heavy competition nowdays. so they'll take whatever the company's offers and just takes it).

That leaves $15000 for SE profit. Not much for SE, but if you see it as $500/each person($15000/30ppl) for the tickets.
Off course it's a rough estimate. But seems like these Japanese fans are paying much higher rate.

I wonder if we get the same opportunities for the upcoming EU and JP fanfest.
Fair trade right? considering NA fanfest is giving up 30 seats for the other regional players.
Not that I can afford it, but just wondering.

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Originally Posted by Alleo

I still dont understand why they dont take "pre-orders" a bit before selling tickets to see how many are interested in this (without it being final of course) and then renting a location that at least can get near that amount? Yes bigger places cost more money but you also sell more tickets and merchandise and you said that you are doing it for the fans too..

Also next to the disaster of the queue being no queue for a certain amount of time, I dont really understand why the rules to get such a code was less strict than the years before, even though FF14 grew. Before that you needed to be subbed 1-2 months before that, now you only needed to be subbed somehwere in a half year and returners with free game time counted too..why?

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Someone on the Reddit thread explained that the large venues in Vegas are generally booked up years in advance, and due to the nature of FanFest (only being every 2 years) and the fluidity of the timeframe (they probably won't know exactly when they are gonna hold each fanfest until one year prior, and the time of year is much later this time), the larger Vegas venues are not going to give them an acceptable price. This year tickets were $150 - if 4K of them were sold, SE only has an operating budget of $600,000. What if the hotel wants half of that for a larger space? That's a mere $300K to rent LAN computers, pay event staff, order T-shirts, buy custom swag for the swag bags, etc. That money goes fast.

Hotels generally offer reasonable rates on event space when they have assurances that most of the guests will stay at the hotel, hence the con rates for blocks of hotel rooms. But hotels also want predictability, and SE not scheduling these events regularly, years in advance, means they're not getting the best deal that they could if they were an annual event.

(I know for a fact that Dragon*Con is so big and so regular that hotels give the con chairs a small cut of the hotel profits, because they are 100% guaranteed to be sold out that weekend, and nothing encourages good relationships like permanent business.)

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Originally Posted by Catwho

Someone on the Reddit thread explained that the large venues in Vegas are generally booked up years in advance, and due to the nature of FanFest (only being every 2 years) and the fluidity of the timeframe (they probably won't know exactly when they are gonna hold each fanfest until one year prior, and the time of year is much alter this time), the larger Vegas venues are not going to give them an acceptable price.

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Preorders are a good idea to gauge interest, and also to make it easier for players to get tickets.
Yoshi-P seems to like Las Vegas, but there are lots of places they could have the NA FanFest.
I think there were FFXI Fan Festivals in Anaheim and LA, for example.

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/wiki/Fan_Festivals
https://web.archive.org/web/20060203...stival.com:80/

@Catwho: Its not like they are bound to Vegas. NA is quite big, so there should have been some places. Also seemingly Blizzcon with over 30k visitors still has a ticket price of under 200, so its not really sure that they would need to raise the price much. (Also were did you get the budget from? Was this posted somehwere? Kinda curious)

In the end if they are now already not willing to go bigger, then doesnt that mean that it will always stay that small, no matter how many more people will play it? Wouldnt that just increase the anger of all those that miss it? (Especially since its not every year) Maybe they should get away from such wide fanfests and really do smaller ones through the year in different places, to have people meet up, maybe even meet the staff (it does not always have to be Yoshida) and thats it.

You're not going to be able to book any decent-sized venues less than a year ahead, and a year ahead, a large majority of people aren't going to be able to plan that far in advance, so they'd get woefully inadequate predictive numbers, possibly even to the point of booking something too small. That's also taking into consideration that hired companies who provide things like lighting, equipment, and rentals, often also need to be contacted >6 mo. before the event.

(I work for a convention that runs 11,000-14,000 attendees per year. It's not quite the same, as we have a 10-year contract with our convention centre, but given that they have events booked 10 years in advance it should show you some of the nature of this business. We're also in a small state capital, which means that anywhere larger is going to have even worse issues.)

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Originally Posted by Alleo

Maybe they should get away from such wide fanfests and really do smaller ones through the year in different places, to have people meet up, maybe even meet the staff (it does not always have to be Yoshida) and thats it.

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that's funny, because we already have kind of exactly that: the Fan Gatherings. it seems the last one was in Helsinki. Don't you have Fan Gatherings in NA? I know there was one in London early this year and we had some in Germany at the Gamescom.

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Originally Posted by Avenger

- FFXIV "best and worst experiences" story time

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Second part is unnecessary. After this fiasco, I'm pretty sure most people attending the unofficial Fan Fest would have the same worst experience story. :P

Jokes aside, I like this idea and I'd definitely attend if it were to take place. If not, well, my crew already has suites booked at the Desert Blue. Those of us who didn't get tickets can just gather up in one of the suites, watch the live stream together, hang out, drink, and enjoy our own private, intimate version of Fan Fest. I think this is the best way to handle such a shitty situation.

I know there are some people who are depressed because all their friends either got tickets, or didn't and cancelled their trip. If you can't cancel your hotel/flight and you have no friends to hang out with... hi! I'm Box. I'll be your friend. ♥

Some transparency would probably help out.
1. How many tickets were available?
2. How did the queue work? Lottery? First in first out? If it was FIFO, then a number showing where you are at in the queue would help. If I knew there were 3000 tickets(made up number) for sale and I'm 5000 in queue, well, gg, no tickets for me.

How will this impact next fanfest? Given how fast tickets went and the number of couples or FC that are split, I'd imagine next time EVERYONE will buy 4 tickets just because they can. Even more people won't even get a chance to buy.

They need to drastically increase supply for next time. Larger facility, make a east/west fanfest, or whatever. They need to get a solid read on how many people want to go and figure out a way to accommodate more customers. I'd be interested in seeing what number tried to buy tickets and what percentage of those people actually got tickets.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

You probably did! I ran the XI panel for 4-5 years at ACEN, got denied after the combined XI+XIV panel didn't go so well, and went back the next year with a solid XIV panel.

I stopped going to ACEN though because Momocon tended to be a back to back weekend with it, and Momocon is a lot less expensive for me XD But then Momocon, then AWA, stopped giving me the XIV panels, and I'm kind of just burnt out now. Only going to AWA this year to be with the anime club I'm staff adviser for.

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I went the year one of the raffle gift was stolen or something. Either way, I think Rosemont center would be a good choice for fanfest. It is pretty decent size. It have "NOTHING" to do with me doing Chicago native. XD

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Originally Posted by LunaP

You're right, it was silly of me to think that some people don't have that amount of cash on them at all times. You've enlightened me kind sir.

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Adding to this discussion since it seems you're missing what others are trying to point out. Bottom line, you're bringing up all these excuses when there were actually steps that you/others could have taken to make all that a non-issue.

In short, how much cash you have on hand is irrelevant. No one was purchasing tickets with cash. It's all digital transactions over the internet. Credit card, debit card, both of which can be prepared beforehand. Even if someone doesn't have enough in their balance, it's 2018 - there are multiple options like PayPal or Venmo for transferring money between people over the internet. And as players of an online MMO, I'm sure everyone involved at least has access to a phone/computer and the internet.

No one is trying to take out anger on you or others taking that angle. People are pointing out what could have been done differently so maybe you/others won't make the same mistakes again in the future. You can be dismissive about this kind of feedback if you like, but at the end of the day some people planned ahead for this kind of stuff and it helped them get tickets. It's like the fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper.

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Originally Posted by Machka

Adding to this discussion since it seems you're missing what others are trying to point out. Bottom line, you're bringing up all these excuses when there were actually steps that you/others could have taken to make all that a non-issue.

In short, how much cash you have on hand is irrelevant. No one was purchasing tickets with cash. It's all digital transactions over the internet. Credit card, debit card, both of which can be prepared beforehand. Even if someone doesn't have enough in their balance, it's 2018 - there are multiple options like PayPal or Venmo for transferring money between people over the internet. And as players of an online MMO, I'm sure everyone involved at least has access to a phone/computer and the internet.

No one is trying to take out anger on you or others taking that angle. People are pointing out what could have been done differently so maybe you/others won't make the same mistakes again in the future. You can be dismissive about this kind of feedback if you like, but at the end of the day some people planned ahead for this kind of stuff and it helped them get tickets. It's like the fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper.

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I believe they're saying they're unable to afford more than one tickets, and on one hand, I understand that it's a pricey event (especially if you factor in flights, hotel, transportation to hotel, food, etc), but on the other, I feel that, for most people, this isn't simply a trip to the beach.

Coordination was certainly important, but even with my group of 7, the last two people to score them ran into website issues. Since they were the last 2 of our group to go through, it would have been near impossible for those who had already gone through the purchasing process to do it again in time. Some had even waited until the others had gotten through the queue to the registration page to finalise their transactions. How do you suggest situations like that be resolved?

I understand what you're getting at - things definitely could have been done better- but in some situations, it's honestly quite difficult to.

Ok so I do NOT know if this has been mentioned in this thread or not yet, as I am too tired to go through 20 some pages to find out. My apologies for my redundancy if so.

So I was thinking back on the 2014 fanfest. Anyone remember how one of the MC's was walking around and saying "We're going to pack in as many people as the fire code allows! Line up over there to purchase tickets!" They allowed that at THAT fanfest only, people to buy tickets AT THE DOOR! They did NOT do this for the Paris one in 2016 for whatever reason even though the Paris fanfest was BIGGER than the Rio one. So....my question is, why cannot they give us SOME hope and allow us to buy tickets at the door again? I mean think about it, if they did it then, why can't they do it now?

And....another thought that came to me.... although I am not sure the NA community would be able to really come together for something like this but.....imagine if say someone were to organize a massive event during fanfest time where the people with fanfest badges, did like a baton pass thing. Now mind you like..... at least a thousand attendees would have to get together on this but imagine if you could get the community together like that?! Where 1000 people stand outside the doors to get in, and 1000 people who have like played all the games inside and stuff then hand their badges to 1000 other people so they can get in and do stuff...then give their badges back to the original owners after. I mean imagine if people could be that trustworthy and kind so that everyone could be at fanfest. Maybe the devs would see this kind of community behavior then and EVERYONE would get in then.

Yeah I know a silly dream, but I can dream of it nonetheless. I went to both fanfests and I just cried when I realized I won't be going to this one....

The Poor Community team response from today was such a disappointed.

They don’t even want to acknowledge how people skipping to the front of the queue sharing the URL affect the others waiting since 12pm which I think is the biggest issue in here.

How can you claim you got more tickets this year if the other years took hours for them to sale,this venue is more smaller than the previous one makes no sense what your stating SE, how are you gonna fix this we got left out cause people skipping in queu you completely ignored that in your response, not even an Apology we hope you have a concret answer in the next live letter this will leave a permanent Stain forever in this Community if you dont fix this awfull situation...
#FFXIVFanFest #RipFFXIVFanfest

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Originally Posted by slayerx02

You make it sound like the cosplayers/players who did get tickets didn’t deserve them. Or that the majority of the ticket sold went to scalpers and not actual subscribers. My guess is, the majority of the tickets went to players who are just as big a fan like you, just as great a cosplayer as those who had the bad luck of not being able to get tickets. These fans you speak of, whose so quick to pass judgement based on rumors and hearsay aren’t really fans then, just salty, entitled kids.
It’s possible that there’s still an open investigation, it’s completely possible to identify ticket purchased by bots or other questionable means and refund those and put them back up for sale, but I bet even if they recover say 50 tickets theres still going to be a lot of angry , entitled folks anyway...

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I have never in my post implied that legit players who were lucky enough to get tickets shouldn't have them. They were just plain lucky. The system shouldn't only rely on pure luck. Myself and others who got into the queue exactly at 12:pm where messed over by a broken ticket system period that is a fact. I am sure SE is still looking into it. But so far it just seems it will move forward without fixing this issue, that
the many who were cheated at a chance to go. As I said I not once implied those that were lucky to get tickets didn't' deserve them. I don't know how you read that into what I said.

Hey ppl. Let's not make this mess turn into "Ticket holders VS non-ticket whiner" PvP battle! We are all in the same page here. It's just matter of where you stand in this mess.
This is exactly what SE and Showclix want us to do. Make this into PvP battle and make the public think non-ticket whiner is the enemy.
We can't let that happen. Ticket holders showing up here in this thread is our best friend here! Most of ticket holder don't even care(or donno) such thread exists.
We need to reach out to everybody for help, regardless. Have other ticket holder share their experience in this. Let's bring everyone in the same boat and discuss what went wrong here.
Than maybe SE will listen. Let me ask you this, Ticket holders, do you want to go through this mess again in next fanfest? Non-ticket holders, don't you want to have clear/honest answers to what went wrong this time?

Let's all unite. Something most countries can't do, but in Eoerzea, we can!

I'm so sorry to everyone who missed out on tickets, whether you have gone every other year or this would have been the first one. I really feel for you, and I wish they would have chosen a larger venue. At first, I was also shocked at how quickly tickets sold out. But... even in my own little bubble, I can understand why. Seven people from my raid static wanted to go this year, up from two in previous years. And I've heard similar stories elsewhere -- lots of people wanted to go for the first time this year. Plus, the game is getting more popular. It makes sense that demand well exceeded availability. We could say we wish SE had seen this coming, but honestly... they are usually very conservative with their estimates, partially due to humility. Maybe they didn't even think it was possible to have an event like this sell out so fast. Even if the signs were there, they might have been like... "Nahhh, no way." I can't imagine the talks going around the various community teams about how exciting that is. While the code being temporarily deactivated is definitely concerning, I honestly don't think there were many people waiting on the off chance they might not need a code. Plus, the window was so small, and people who were even in queue from the beginning missed out. I personally think the 'scalpers' are just posting illegitimate things just to get people heated. It's possible it happened, but we've seen zero evidence besides people 'talking' about it.

Again, I'm so sorry people missed out. I was one of four people in my FC to get tickets, and I bought three of them. So many people who wanted to go weren't able to, and I've got this weird feeling... I'm grateful I got 'lucky', but it really was just luck. And I'm sad my friends are sad, but also sad that the gathering won't be as exciting as it could have been. I hope they'll have more events and larger events in the future.

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Originally Posted by Rakuko

Coordination was certainly important, but even with my group of 7, the last two people to score them ran into website issues. Since they were the last 2 of our group to go through, it would have been near impossible for those who had already gone through the purchasing process to do it again in time. Some had even waited until the others had gotten through the queue to the registration page to finalise their transactions. How do you suggest situations like that be resolved?

I understand what you're getting at - things definitely could have been done better- but in some situations, it's honestly quite difficult to.

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If there were 7 of you and each person could buy 4 tickets you only needed 2 people to get through the queue to ensure everyone in your party could go.


ie. Me and my friends like to go to SDCC. There are 4 of us. Many conventions (including sdcc) have a max of 4 tickets per transaction. Each of us goes into the ticket sale ready to buy all 4 tickets, so we only need 1 person to get lucky with the queue. Each of us splintering off to only buy our own would severely gimp our chances of getting the whole group in. There was no reason for the last two of your party to struggle when they could/should have been bundled with those that went through before.