Post Fan Festival 2016 Experience, Thoughts and Suggestions

With the NA Fan Festival 2016 coming to a close, how was your experience there? What did you like? What did you dislike? Any suggestions or ideas to help improve the next Fan Festival for players and fans? Leave your comments here!

I will update this more as I read and gather more thoughts, work in progress.

My experience: I have gone to both of the NA Fan Festivals and I feel that both events have had their pros and cons. I really liked meeting fellow players as well as members from the Dream Network, the FFXIV Development and Community Team

Likes: Very fast registration process compared to 2014; bigger venue at Paris vs the Rio venue; discount on hotel rooms where the fan festival was being held; staffing was more abundant (volunteers needed in 2014); badges were professional looking; room next to convention served food; real life fat chocobo mount; nice concerts on both days: Susan Calloway and the Primals; scheduling cosplay contest earlier; PvP was entertaining; jumbo cactpot vs raffles

Dislikes: Merchant line was terribly long and disorganized; no party mixer; no organized server gatherings; badges were not personalized with name and server; short list of music requests for primal; no shirt reward for beating the proto ultima challenge; not enough seating; the development team members were only out for brief moments to interact with fans and they were in random areas; some staff members did not even know what final fantasy was (probably hired specifically just to "staff" the event); room next to convention had food that was quite expensive; live letter was weak; trial roulette had some ridiculously unbalanced choices and no reward; jumbo cactpot vs raffles

Feedback, suggestions and concerns: I would like the development team to reserve a time of the event specifically for meet and greet, signing, and picture taking. I would also like the merchandise line problem to be addressed, possibly by allowing us to pre-fill merchandise ordering forms and/or placing red tickets in each gift bag as this may speed up this process. Giving us a special code to order exclusive items online may also be an option. Please add a space for our badges for server and character name. Please extend the next fan festival to 3 days instead of 2. This day can then be used to complete registration, have times to meet members of the development team, and have specific areas for players to meet each other. As a fellow player has stated in this thread, I do not think the choices for the cosplay contest were all fair and would have preferred to have actual professional judges used in that area instead of the development team. An eorzea cafe would be great instead of generic food. Overall, I would like to give this Fan Festival a score of 7.5/10.

I really do hope the development and/or community team takes the time to read and acknowledge this thread. I created this thread in hopes of them using our feedback in order to improve and make the next fan festival even more fun and exciting. Thank you!

I watched it on a stream and while the fanfest itself is fine, the Cleeng streaming website is pretty bad. It's difficult to look at archived footage, it doesn't save comments like twitch does, I can't save the video, and I can't resize the video stream. And after all that it's $30. And it was slow to archive too, I couldn't watch the keynote because I was at work but when I got home it still wasn't up.

I would have also like to see more screentime of what was happening on the "showroom floor" like they did with the previous fanfests. Like walking around and seeing what people were doing, etc.

My biggest gripe with the event, like most people I spoke to, is the merch line and how disorganized it was.

There was a large amount of line cutting, line capping and general confusion surrounding the line. There was also no enforcement of item limits about 1-2 hours into the event and I'm not sure when they decided to put the item limits back in place. The staff was enforcing the one activities book per person and it would have been appropriate to enforce a one purchase order per person too.

We got near the front of the line on day 2 only to be told that the lore book was sold out.. the staff was trying to see if it would be possible to give event holders a presale code but that never happened. Was also 10 ppl from cashier when mog slippers sold out.

We all still had a fantastic time at the event but these are downsides that SE could have mitigated or compensated for. It was also a bit disappointing that there were no personalized badges or exclusive shirts (E.g. Odin).

The organization of different sections one the events floor could have been better. The staffs are being very helpful, but there were a lot of confusion of going where for what. The merchandises line was a nightmare. People are waiting online for hours just to be told that the items are sold out.

My suggestion for the merchandise is to have some kind of preorder online OR do an online survey to get an idea of how much products to bring. While I understand that most products will be available at SE online stores, however, the buying experience isn't the same...

I had a great time at Fanfest but every time I dealt with the staff I wanted to leave. All but one of them were rude and unhelpful. I was yelled at, scowled at, given contradictory information. Would have hurt any of them to smile and welcome the attendees? I got to meet some of the devs that were all really great, all the panels and stage events were good. But the merch situation breaks my heart. Day 1 we couldn't find the line and when we did they dispersed us said it was capped about a thousand people in front of us. Day 2 we were told that tickets for merch were being given away starting at 10am. We showed up at 8am and the red tickets were gone.
I hope they do something to make this right with the fans. My suggestion is set-up a temporary webstore for Fanfest goers to be able to buy the exclusive merchandise such as the shirts and hoodie make up for those of us not able to complete the que for the Weeping City of Merch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NieFirst

But the merch situation breaks my heart. Day 1 we couldn\\'t find the line and when we did they dispersed us said it was capped about a thousand people in front of us. Day 2 we were told that tickets for merch were being given away starting at 10am. We showed up at 8am and the red tickets were gone.
I hope they do something to make this right with the fans. My suggestion is set-up a temporary webstore for Fanfest goers to be able to buy the exclusive merchandise such as the shirts and hoodie make up for those of us not able to complete the que for the Weeping City of Merch.

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Exactly this. And yes, I understand the lore books and others things will be online, but the exclusive items will not be. So sad about this.

Also no free Tshirts for a trial was very disappointing since this is fan fast ot a normal convention....

Well, I had a good time. Didn't get to go in 2014, so I have nothing to compare to.

Likes: Fast registration, good presentations, activities were fun.

Dislikes: Crowd control, didn't get to meet Yoshi or any of the dev team, Primals didn't play Shiva(Oblivion), blackjack dealer took my money

Other: The OP mentioned organized gathering. I would've liked that. I went alone and am not a person that is very social in large groups. I was very much out of my comfort zone. I would be for something like this.

This was my first fan festival and I had never been to Las Vegas before. It took me a few days to acclimate to the smell, the crowds, and the people handing out escort cards to people on the sidewalk, lol. However, once I acclimated, I had a very good time!

Here are the things I liked:

*The open floor concept. I loved the fact that even though you may have been in line for something, you could still see and hear what was going on on the stage.
*ALL THE SEATING!
*The water stations. THANK YOU!! I got so thirsty walking all over the place and talking to people. It was so nice to be able to go to the wall and get some water.
*The mini game events. I had a lot of fun with the mini games. In fact, that was all I ended up doing at fanfest (plus the art contest judging, and the fat chocobo experience). I didn't do any of the in-game stuff because I haven't really played in over a year and I wasn't confident enough to be able to test my in-game skills.

Suggestions:

*Don't give out ALL of the tickets during presale. Reserve 300 of them (or more) and allow those who didn't get to purchase presale tickets to enter a lottery. However, allow them to specify how many tickets they would need if they won. Some people purchase tickets for multiple people.
*Announce when servers are doing group pictures and where they are going to be over the intercom system so that people who want to participate can.
*Set aside some time each day for the Dev team to sit at a table so that people can ask them to sign stuff, or, in Yoshi-P's case, give them gifts. :-p I realize that they are EXTREMELY busy, but I would have really appreciated the opportunity to get them to sign my Encyclopedia Eorzea. :)
*Bring back the job-themed mini games and the "soul stones" that people got at the first fanfest.

Suggestions 2 (because we are STILL being limited to 1000 characters per post. -_-):

*Merch seemed to go quite a bit smoother this year, however, there were still a lot of issues. Is it possible to switch to an online system? Kiosks or something? Then you can devote all of the staff to putting together orders and people can go and pick up their merch a few hours after ordering it, to give the staff time to put the order together.
*I hate to say it, but I think you need a bigger venue, lol.
*I appreciated the fact that you had food available for purchase in a neighboring conference room, but $15 for a sandwich and $3 for a 12oz can of soda is a bit ridiculous.
*If someone has lost track of another person, maybe consider allowing us to request that the other person be paged over the intercom system?
*I ended up being in line for the fat chocobo exp. for more than 90 minutes. Perhaps it would have gone a bit faster if all you did was take a photo instead of a 6 second video?

Other things I really liked:

(Sorry, I had the entirety of a 6 hour drive home to mull this over today).

*The Primal Concert. It was so awesome, I loved the music and the energy, and I loved how extremely into it Koji was. :D I mean DAMN Koji, I didn't know you sang too! I'm seriously fan-girling right now, lol.
*The PvP exhibition. The commentary from Matt and Tony (?) was fantastic and incredibly amusing. My only disappointment was that the JP Dev team didn't even try to beat "Hello the First Time". Come on guys! Give us a challenge, we know you play this game, lol
*The Fat Chocobo Experience and the moogle mystery. :D

Ok. I think I'm done now. ;)

Having been to 2014 and 2016, as well as being a veteran of many anime and sci-fi cons, I'll chip in my 2 cents here.

PROS: Registration line was well done this year. I loved the swag in the swag bag. I liked the Triple Triad cards, and the trading and wheeling and dealing we did for them. The Fat Chocobo experience was fun, even if someone accidentally broke it for a few hours on Friday. Concerts were great, all the panel content was great. Trial roulette was hard as heck as always. The new 24 man primal trial is a tad too easy and I expect Mr. Ozma or whoever programmed that to tune the difficulty up.

CONS: Merch line. Lack of T-shirt in swag bag. $15 for a basket of chicken tendies in the food line. Location being in a casino again - I'm allergic to cigarettes and I spent the weekend physically ill since the only way in and out of the convention area was via the casino.

SUGGESTIONS:

- For the merch line, assign a time to stand in line AT REGISTRATION. Once the times were assigned on Saturday morning, things went a lot more smoothly. Hand out a ticket with a specified merch line time at registration instead. Also, make ANY of the items that are "fan fest exclusive" available if you have a Fan Fest registration. Include a one time special code or something for the SE store. As it is, I'm hitting F5 on the store trying to get a copy of the book.
- Give us the option of ordering a T-shirt at the time we place our Fan Fest tickets instead of forcing us to go through the merch line. I had to pay a friend to buy my shirt since I didn't get a time ticket.
- Don't bother with a food court. Maybe that was the hotel's idea, but I got a really nice sandwich at the cafe that was literally 1000 feet away, for less money.

Registration worked great, suggestion to have an additional space below the badge for us to write our character name w/ a sharpie pls!

I love how all the cosplay enteries got to go on stage this time!

Free swag and the challenge items were fun, but we can't actually play with the triple triad cards since it's single sided!

Please put the ballot box for the art contest close to the art gallery! It got blocked off since everyone was trying to check on cactpot.

Community gathering suggested times per server would be great since we didn't have a meet and greet this time.

A line to meet yoshi & co and autograph please.

First time my Wife and I went but that merch line sucked bad. My wife sat in line for 2 hours for that 1 staff member to tell her she wasnt in line anymore. I'm sure you guys know what staff member was a super ass. In the end though we got everything we wanted to buy. I made the suggestion to Camate that next fan fest needs to have a "I survived the merchandise line at Fan Fest" T-shirt.

The only things that were even close to the price of admission were the two concerts. The rest of the experience was nothing but heartbreak and disappointment. When compared to FFest 2014 this was an utter failure. Square Enix failed at Scaling Up 101. The experiences inside the room were just nowhere close to the fun and enjoyment that were had at the previous FanFest @ the Rio.

The actual content we were given was very low in comparison to the previous experience. Last time we got the title, the cutscene, the announce the Dragonsong, Calloway/Nobou's involvement. We got info/lore on the new race. This time we got a cutscene with nothing but an unintentional(?) hint at a job we may or may not see. No song, no new information on anything substantial that effects gameplay. Just a few QoL announcements and no PS3 support. Its all fine and dandy to tell us we are getting more inventory space, but we deserved a job (if there are 3 one in each city was appropriate with the lack of a new race). The Keynote was merely mediocre. The battle panel was above board, the Q&A and the Live Letter which was merely another Q&A with mediocre/repetitive questions wasn't worth the time either. (Many people in my group left because they were so incredibly board by it. No real new information even regarding patch 3.45. Not even the patch date, which oh by the way they announced this morning. The Lore panel was an extended sales pitch for a book the vast majority of the audience couldn't buy because they oversold it during the day one merchandise debacle and were sold out. (Btw SE you owe me 20$ because now I had to pay your insane shipping price.)

The lack of shirts included in the price of entry was ridiculous. When combined with the merchandise debacle, we really should be getting some recompense from SE. The vast majority of people walked away from this fanfest without anything to show for it except a refrigerator magnet and a small usb drive.

Toss in the fact there was less FFXIV related activities to do on the show floor, which pushed the line for Trial Roulette longer and longer. The fact there were no more stations for the Roulette than last time even with the expanded attendee pool, was ridiculous. And the continued need to have PvP where the lines were often nonexistent because the pvp player pool is so low.
The concerts were the saving grace of the festival. Even if the Primals couldn't play either Shiva or Brute Justice. (Koji and Soken still are the best).

The Paris as the venue had a lot to be desired. Rooms were no where near as nice and much more expensive than the Rio. Being on the strip was very nice though (even if food/drink was a lot more expensive because of it.)

The merchandise line was just horrible. No communication between staff members. Staff members being extremely rude, threatening, being physical with attendees and the claims that some where soliciting cash bribes to put people in line. I know from personal experience that at least a few people were actually allowed past the bearded/pony tailed gatekeeper to cut 100s/1000+ people in line just because they were a pretty girl. The entire merchandise situation was poorly handled. I have no idea if this was a SE Merchandise issue or if it was the FFXIV team not planning well, but there really needs to be some sort of post fanfest solution to this. The lore book and odin went up on the store this morning. The book sold out in under 30minutes. A LOT of people were back at work this morning and probably missed their chance at picking it up. But the Lore Book was not all most of us were after in that line. T-Shirts were the huge thing because SE failed us and didn't include one/two in the price of admission as they had the last time. Not only were shirts not available in larger sizes, most all of them were quickly out of stock in most sizes. SE needs to figure out how they can sell those shirts online to attendees they failed to adequately service.

All in all I had fun at FanFest 2016. But not because of FanFest itself. Because of the wonderful community that has been created. The Social aspect of the convention was the real fun and we made that ourselves and had nothing to do with SE or the outright mismanaged event we received.

This was my first fanfest and overall I did enjoy it. I loved the triple triad cards and would love to see a board to use to play it. I think th TV with the cactpot numbers could have been higher up and stay on the winning numbers longer.

I liked the Hildebrand quest book. The staff were not consistent with the stamps. I think times in our bags and order sheets or an online version would have helped with the merchandise. Also the option of getting a shirt when we get tickets...I wanted to wear it there. Pretty disappointed that I couldn't even get a book online either.

The concerts were amazing! I like the idea of adding areas to have people meet others on their world. I like that you can see what is going on while in line, but I think it needs to be a larger room for that so people aren't distracted. Las Vegas is expensive and crowded. It would be nice to see it in a new location that is more accommodating for others to go. I look forward to even more fun next time!

Knowing what you know now and your personal experience, if for say SE does not change anything for the next NA fanfest, would you still go?

Yes Kai a lot of us are still going from house of umbra next fan fest, but damn that beard/ponytail guy was an asshole but he was a temp he's not SE staff.

This was my first Fanfest and my first convention, so I can't compare it with much.
My friends and I all loved it.

In particular, I thought the event scheduling and available activities were great. The Primals concert was especially good for leaving everyone feeling amped and ready for more.

I spent probably a total of about 8-9 hours in various lines, 5-6 of which were in the merch line from the start of Day 1. Judging by the sheer volume of people who lined up for merch throughout both days, I question how much better it could've gotten. Major kudos to all of the staff working at that warzone of a booth.
Waiting in that line became a fun social event of its own, so I don't regret it at all. But I do request an I-Beat-the-Merch-Line t-shirt.

With all of the lines, the Triple Triad cards and quest booklet were pretty nice. They allowed for some icebreakers and got people to reach out more and talk to strangers. If I have the good fortune to attend another Fanfest, I hope to see more of this sort of content. I wish we got extra TT cards in our goodie bag though, because it was sad not being able to help complete so many peoples' sets by the end of Day 2. I'm sure some people wanted to hoard cards of their favorite characters, so there probably wasn't enough in circulation to let everyone get a full set. If there were RL commendations I could hand out, I would've definitely given some to people who forsook completing their sets to help others get that one last card to complete theirs.


It would've been nice if all of the staff members could've had the same positive energy that the devs, community reps, and attendees had. I understand that their job of running around, and herding and serving so many people for hours had to have been really unpleasant, but their attitude has an impact on the overall experience of the event. I felt like I was bothering most of them with my presence, and the people stationed behind counters all looked extremely bored and tired. And I didn't like how one guy dispersing lines during early registration was shouting for people to move in such a way that he was trying to guilt trip everyone, as if we were all intentionally there to be assholes and create a fire hazard.

A few people stationed at the various activities were okay. But I recall one staff member in particular who was actually upbeat and had an attitude I wanted to see more of (at least when I was there). And he was the guy directing people in the merch line towards open registers. High-fiving and trying to re-energize the attendees. It helped a lot.

Maybe something special could be done for staff members to help uplift their spirits more?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by synesthetic

But I recall one staff member in particular who was actually upbeat and had an attitude I wanted to see more of (at least when I was there). And he was the guy directing people in the merch line towards open registers. High-fiving and trying to re-energize the attendees. It helped a lot.

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I think i know who youre talking about, yeah he was really cool and understood why this stuff meant so much to us we didnt know his name but he was really supportive and was fed up with the other temp staff that were rude so he didnt come back on saturday.

Overall I thought the event was amazing.
I liked the activities, and the livequest. The concerts were probably my favorite part of each day!
All in all, just being among so many people who love Eorzea as much as I do, was a thrill beyond words. Such an amazing community that I'm sure Yoshi & the devs are proud to have cultivated!

No shock, my biggest disappointment and frustration was with the merchandise snafu. The lack of organization was atrocious. Employees gave us mixed info, were beyond rude, even demeaning at times.
Constantly being cut from lines,
Day 2 timed tickets & running out of items while letting people buy 10 pairs of moogle slippers at once was tiring.
Don't get me started on the Lore Book...

They should've done merchandise online. And do exclusive shirts with initial ticket sales so everyone has a chance to get one and in the size they want.

Hope they don't use Paris again. Awful employees. That long haired bearded guy the worst.

Pros: - Badge pickup was fast and easy
- Live quest was entertaining
- Proto Ultima was fun
- Being on the strip was convenient for both food and hotels

Cons: - Merch line was TERRIBLE
- No shirt for beating the battle challenge (call it feeling entitled or whatever you want, but I find it pretty upsetting that you get a shirt for beating a challenge at E3, Pax, etc but not at their own con)
- Not enough seating for concerts and popular panels
- No set signing/picture area/schedule for devs (as someone who got Yoshi-P's signature I am glad that they all did roam and sign stuff/take pictures, but I think that in the future there should be set time(s)/place(s))

Suggestions: - Please PLEASE get a second batch of the Fan Fest shirts for sale online. There are multiple ways you can do it so only Fan Fest attendees could take advantage of it. You could put them up and make it so you could only buy them via a code sent to attendees (like 1 of each shirt/hoodie per code). You could even have them up as a "pre-order" for like a month or something so that you don't have to worry about having too much overhead stock.
- Personalized badges. I would love the option to be able to have my character name/server/FC name or tag etc. If you're worried about it slowing down badge pickups you could also offer a mailing option for badges or have a separate badge pickup area for customized badges
- For the merchandise next time maybe have the option to order them ahead of time and be able to pick them up a the con. Or at least have that option for the convention shirts

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niwaar

The vast majority of people walked away from this fanfest.

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I would like to respectfully disagree with this statement. The majority of your group may have walked away, but judging by how packed the convention hall was for The Primals concert, I would say most people stayed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niwaar

Staff members being extremely rude, threatening, being physical with attendees.

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I wonder if it was just one or two people who were like this? Because my experience with the staff at the event was very pleasant. I know that there was SE staff mixed with temp agency workers. Perhaps it was a temp worker that was rude? I believe the temp workers were hired from Eastridge Workforce. They would have been wearing two badges.

I do agree with you that it would be nice if SE were to set up a merch website for those who attended FanFest so that they can still order the items that they want, but didn't have a chance to get at the festival.

Pros - so many, but I'll just list a few!

• Dev team and SE folks working on the game are simply awesome - I always end up with a greater appreciation for the game in all of its dimensions!! Thank you to everyone!!
• Presentations and Q&A were excellent
• PvP tournament was way better than I expected - now I kind of want to try it out more than once or twice!
• I enjoyed pretty much every activity I managed to do
• Music was outstanding - Soken is my idol (not to mention Primals) - and the piano concert was a surprisingly nice addition as well
• Fans were friendly and enthusiastic (but see below)
• Lots of great merch!! Lore book is excellent (minor typos aside) and I'm so glad that I managed to get one!
• Paris hotel/casino is pretty cool (if horribly smoky in casino area) and the food (and dessert!) options were tasty; was easy to just walk outside and check out the famous Las Vegas strip (vs. Rio which is separated by a highway)
• Physical card games - triple triad cards and jumbo cactpot created by SE, and amazingly professional mini cactpot event created entirely by a player

Cons

• I didn't expect that the merch line could actually get worse than it was in 2014, but somehow it was... much worse. :(
• Like hunts in some patches, merch line brough out anti-social behavior, like people letting their whole FC cut in front of 1500 other people in line... :mad:
• Fewer in-game activities than 2014 (which had odin, speed runs, trials, and frontline - vs. proto ultima, trials, and the feast)
• No 72 player frontline - that was a great event!
• Trials line was so long that there was never enough time to wait in it between presentations (though you could watch from line)
• Non-SE temps just weren't as terrific as the SE people (or most fans)
• What happened to Mitsutoshi Gondai? He was on the anniversary broadcast and has been at other events but he was missing and I didn't hear any explanation as to why.

Suggestions

• Online prepaid preorders (maybe exclusively on day 1) and designated times for merch item pickup (maybe even text people when their items are ready!) That way nobody waits in line for 6 hours only to find that lore books are sold out :( They can make sure that they have enough on hand to fulfill the prepaid orders at the very least. Getting your stuff at the actual show is much more exciting and rewarding!
• Longer primals set/second set!! Was left wanting much more!!!
• More in-game events and more capacity (maybe longer hours as well like 2014) so the lines aren't as long
• Maybe add a 3rd day so that there's more time to do the events and to meet people
• Ditto on more dev interaction, live Q&A and signing opportunities, if possible
• Bring back 72p multiple alliance PvP battles - they are really cool
• Bring back T-shirts and/or other cool rewards for beating battle challenges
• More organized meetups for servers and data centers
• To my fellow players/fans: We need more cosplay and art please!!! Was so good but seemed like less than 2014. I'll start working on my own plans for next time, maybe :D
• More fan-created events and activities
• Bring back the Retainers (player volunteers) - they would be more into it than random temps; this has worked well for other conventions;
• Post the Jumbo Cactpot results on the Jumbo Cactpot Jumbotron (huge screen at front) and Twitter
• Give attendees access to the stream video playback in case you miss anything or want to enjoy it again
• Dev PvP team needs to step up their game - get a full set of developers from Japan to join Yoshi-P and Nakagawa and show the players the true meaning of fear!

Random crazy suggestions

• Maybe more concurrent events where players and developers at fanfest interact somehow with remote players playing the game in the various game worlds, or simultaneous challenges across whole servers or data centers... I kind of liked it how the players on Mateus tried to interact with people preparing for the battle challenge.
• Maybe a third live music night, like string quartet or small chamber orchestra versions of music from FFXIV (maybe even sneak in a piece or two from other Final Fantasy games as well)
• PvP clinic to help people learn the ropes of PvP and improve their game
• Chances to meet the fan artists as well as game artists
• FFXIV concept art gallery with original works used in the game
• Performance by winners of FFXIV music remix contest
• Events and challenges for crafters and gatherers
• Triple Triad and Verminion tournaments
• Game dance (e.g. Manderville, mogdance, etc.), weaponskill and /emote clinic and contest
• Primals band/tour T-shirts
• Cutscene oscars/criticism, with viewing and commentary for the best/worst cutscenes

I, like several others, only have Fanfest 2016 to really go by regarding suggestions and whatnot. First off, I wanna give props to Brendan (Brandon? I don't remember his name and I forgot his name on the forums). From what I experienced, he did a very good job handling the griping and whatnot of the attendees regarding the merch line. (I was cut off from the line with literally two groups of people in front of me after waiting for 2+ hours. I was not happy, but I give props where props are due.)

Pros:
- Piano concert, especially Soken playing Equilibrium
- Primals concert, especially Sephirot x2 and Locus
- 4.0 mini-trailer was nice
- The announcements that were given were nice
- Tried The Feast for the first time because the Duty Roulette line was ridiculously long and it proved more fun than I though, even though I had next to no idea what I was doing.
- Proto Ultima was fun
- Got to run around in cosplay, always a plus.


Cons:
- I came down with a cold Thursday night. >:|
- This has been said before and I'm going to say it again: merch line. This was atrocious, mismanaged, and shouldn't've happened to begin with. If it's obvious that a line is becoming a fire hazard CAP IT BEFORE you have attendees waiting in line for 2 hours only to find out they're no longer "in line." My group got screwed over multiple times with the line. We didn't know it was being relocated inside the first time - the information was /horribly/ communicated. The second time we had people cutting in front of us and behind us. The third time we were cut off with only a few people in front of us from the cut off point. There was no sort of ticketing system the first time the line had to be dispersed, which was a MASSIVE oversight on the part of the staff in charge of the line. When it was implemented on Saturday, things went more smoothly.

Cons cont'd. (This word limit is dumb.)
- Trial Roulette line was massive and I think this had to do with very few other activities to do. The Battle Challenge was too easy/didn't have enough appeal, PvP had next to no appeal, and apart from the chocobo and mini games, all there was to do was sit and wait in line for merch that may or may not be sold out.
- Where were the "I beat Proto Ultima" t-shirts? I thought it was lame that we didn't get those. =/
- I'm seeing things about 72 man battles, organized server meetups, and I want those.
- No organized dev meet up times.
- There was more information given on Heavensward at the last Fanfest than there was on Bloodstorm at this one. That was a major disappointment.
- No personalized badges. =( I was rather looking forward to this.

Suggestions:
- Merch pre-order, ticketing system, both.../something/ to make merch less of an issue. Maybe take a poll to see what people are interested in and make sure to have tons of stock so the lore book and moogle slippers don't sell out first thing on day 2.
- 3 day convention, please. 2 days simply isn't enough.
- Organized developer meet and greet times.
- Larger venue (there WILL be more interest for the next Fanfest given the people I've been talking to)
- Gauge which activities are more popular and which are less popular. Give less space to the less popular activities and more space to the more popular activities.
- "I beat..." t-shirts please.
- Make the Fanfest exclusive gear available to the people who attended Fanfest but weren't able to get it, please. I think it's completely lame that the merch was so thoroughly mis-managed and these items are no longer available.

((Just so you all know, you can edit your posts to get over the 1000 character limit))

Having been to both FanFests I would like to compare the upsides to both and possible suggestions to take forward.



2014:
- The event schedule was up a near full week earlier which allowed for better planning of things.
- Hours open were longer (9am to 10pm)
- A Battle Challenge T-Shirt or a Swag Bag T-Shirt.
- Merchandise sheets listed the limited and exclusive items!
- Somehow the merchandise line went so much better even with less registers??
- The Merchandise line was NOT ALLOWED to be lined up during the keynote.
- Allagan Power Bank owo!

2016:
- Larger Venue than the Paris
- The registration and badge pick-up were so very streamlined, thank you.
- I didn't get to go to any of the events but the Any Way the Wind Blows event looked so fun!
- WAR. BEAR. SHIRT.
- I didn't get it due to having promised someone to help get them merchandise, but the hoodies!
- Allagan Tomestone of (Fanfiction) Poetics USB 2.0 Drive! Last tomestone of 2.0 with a 2.0 stick owo
- The DRG (3D) sticker.
- I didn't get to experience it, but FAT CHOCOBO!!!!

Suggestions or Considerations not related to those mentioned above:
- When capping lines, please please please, try to cap it at the end or try to manage the lines from the very beginning. The staff just did not want to manage the merchandise line from the very beginning and it spiraled out of control. If allowing people to line up during the very special opening Keynote, please manage the line. No one knew where it wrapped around or where (It snaked in the same place 3 times near the battle challenge area somehow). Please have the staff communicate this. It was very hard to hear on the mic that the line was 'capped' but no one knew where the cap was. We spoke to some staff who said 'you're fine, it's capped at the end' only to be told 2 hours later that we were in a non-existent, line for nothing. People were frustrated and I heard that some people were extremely rude to staff and got that treatment right back.
- Consider doing from the very beginning the ticket time slot system for the merchandise line or allowing those with fanfest tickets to make purchases online in a special store. This way we can order all of our merchandise and skip the point of sales and just pick up the items. You can still have a merchandise booth but also allow for us to spend time at FanFest away from it and do other things.
- Gauge how much time you have early on and notify people that the line after a point will probably not be seen. A staff member did this but by then it was 4 hours in into the Merchandise line. The same member also did this for the Koji line but people still lined up. He told my section early on that this was right around the time where Koji may not be able to see us; and he was almost right on. Koji asked to extend it 5 minutes just a few people before me. Thank you to this staff member, whose name I do not know. He had a mostly clean shaven face but long blonde/brownish hair. Thank you.
- PLEASE HELP US GET MORE MERCHANDISE THAT THE JP STORE HAS. I want, need those fat cat bowls and towel?scarf??!
- Possibly, a longer setlist for the Primals concert? I completely understand why Oblivion (Shiva's theme) or the lack of the right instruments for Brute Justice but I had hopes for more songs. Still, thank you, as the concerts were still very amazing.
- I think the non-personalized badges were streamlined very well, please allow us space to put our name and servers on with a Sharpie! I also appreciate how much more durable these are.

Overall, I had a positive experience that was mostly made through my own doing. 2014 I spent a lot of time by myself trying to defeat Line Duty Finder to beat Odin and get the T-shirt. This year, I was trying much more to spend time with people from the game who I've met or wanted to meet. However, the lines meant that I really only did a few things. All Friday I was in the merchandise line (due partly to an error in Judgment when entering. A line-con partner I had made and I thought since we had waited in line for entry for 5 hours that we should use the restroom and sit for the Keynote. Otherwise, we would have been about first 100 people in the merchandise line). From the entirety of the end of the Keynote to 6pm I was in line for merchandise. On Saturday, I attended the lore & localization panel and then got a picture with Koji. From there the Live Letter was going to start soon so I got seated for that. Then I wanted/needed food before the concert. I gave up some things (2Fat2Chocobo!!! T_T, making sure I got a good spot to sign the wall, Proto-Ultima Battle Challenge) but I also got one of the best experiences which was a 30 second to a minute meet with Koji and hung out with some amazing people.

The festival was cool, but No shirt and not being able to buy any merchandise was extremely lame. They should definitely offer something for the people that went to fan festival to be able to buy the exclusive to fan fest items at the very least. I really hope they do something about this as that 7 hour+ fan fest merch line was the biggest waste of time.

Giving a slightly more qualitative reply (besides my lengthy commentary & suggestions above) - I have to say the whole atmosphere and experience put me in a really good mood for days!! (Even waiting 4.5+ hours in the hellish merch line dps queue wasn't enough to dampen my enthusiasm!)

There really isn't anything quite like 5000 FFXIV fanatics filling up a fake Paris street, or cheering wildly as Soken's metal band tears through a set of songs from the game!! Experiencing this madness with folks from your FC makes it even better. :D

9/10 would lose gil betting on Yoshi-P's PvP skills again

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Originally Posted by ExKage

((Just so you all know, you can edit your posts to get over the 1000 character limit))

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I WAS WONDERING HOW PEOPLE DID THAT! Thank you! :D

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Originally Posted by Avenger

I have to say the whole atmosphere and experience put me in a really good mood for days!! (Even waiting 4.5+ hours in the hellish merch line dps queue wasn't enough to dampen my enthusiasm!)

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I wanted to add to your comment by saying that on Saturday at FanFest, during the PvP Exhibition, I made the decision to try to log in for at least an hour every Sunday from now on. It's been more than a year since I played the game regularly because I got caught up with life and school, and the last time I really logged in to play was back at the beginning of June. I made some amazing friends at FanFest who are a part of my husband's FC, and I want to be able to stay in touch with them. :) Thank you to the planners of this wonderful event for renewing my love of this game and making me want to play it more often.

Repost from Facebook group for those who haven't joined it

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Hi everyone. I'm that guy giving out the 3D printed job icon favors. I want to thank everyone who has allowed me to walk up to you and awkwardly hand you an expression of my appreciation for your cosplay, your company, or your conversation. As a person on the autism spectrum it is not so easy for me to approach strangers, and especially in cases where you might appear to be in the middle of conversation or moving with purpose to some other area, please forgive the awkward exchange as I try to figure out if it would be acceptable or not to interrupt you.

I'm so glad that people liked the job icons. I was a bit worried after the merch list was posted showing the official pins that people might not want them.

I regret that I didn't print jobs in better ratios -- I underestimated how many tanks would be there (despite what DF experiences might indicate, there are apparently more than 30 in the world) and the sheer number of WHMs (I ran out shortly after the keynote, despite them being the job I made the most icons for).

I'm also sorry I didn't get to meet everyone who wanted one. I tried to be more social/available than usual but I did have to disappear to my room or to the spa a few times to come down from the overstimulation. (PS -- in case you're wondering, the Bally's spa is much nicer than the Paris's)

Next time I'll give my printer more time to spit favors out and include more of the tanks and healers (and, Twelve willing, RDMs and DNCs).

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Originally Posted by Rongway

I'm that guy giving out the 3D printed job icon favors. I want to thank everyone who has allowed me to walk up to you and awkwardly hand you an expression of my appreciation for your cosplay, your company, or your conversation.

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Nice idea! Fan-created goodies and mini-events are a great addition that I would really like to see more of!

This was my first fan fest, however I have been to a number of gaming/anime/comic conventions and have also staffed and run similar events (on a shoestring budget though).

The biggest thing that struck me is how the event seemed to be "cheaping out" in certain areas. It's not like SQEX or the event is losing money (unless they are then...)

Anyway, my suggestions for improvements:

1. Place the merchandise area in a separate room. Have more stalls open. Have designated "cash only" & "debit/credit" only stalls. Perhaps open the merch area on day 0 for a limited period for people who arrive early (although most people arrived early), or allow online pre-orders and have people pick them on on day 0. Also merch should be slightly less expensive. Giving people tickets to come back at "xx:xx" time like on day 2 is a good idea as well to reduce congestion/rage.

2. Place the main stage in its own area. This allows people to actually concentrate on the stage events without being distracted by all the other noise of the other activities. Live stream the main stage events into all the other event rooms (like was done in the food room).

3. The food room: Not really advertised and was just "there". Should have more FF themed foods a la Eorzea Cafe (but might be hard to pull off if food is being provided by hotel catering.) At least have more food options to buy (less pricey would be good too.)

4. The activities should also be in their own room with better managed lines. Other people have suggested different/additional activities so I won't rehash that, but I will add that there should be a Cosplay area with themed sets/backdrops, and an scheduled autographs area for the dev team and other celebrities. Oh, and also a triple triad tournament? I mean if you're giving out the cards........

5. More Guests should be announced/available to create a better fan experience. We expect the devs to be there and the musical guests were a nice touch, but having more guests like voice actors and the art team or even celebrity cosplayers would add to the fan experience.

6. Someone mentioned earlier that having "player volunteers" rather than the temp staff "staff" the event would serve attendees better. However depending on how the event is incorporated there may be issues regarding paid workers vs volunteers etc...

7. More "I beat xxxxx" t-shirts, especially for the battle type events, and perhaps more prizes for winning other events as well. The Cactpot draw and Hildibrand activity was a nice touch though.

That's it for now, I did enjoy the event despite some of the hiccups but some improvements are needed so that fans in JP/EU can have a better experience in the next couple months and so that the NA folks can also have a better experience in 2 years time. :P

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Originally Posted by Heezeemeezee

Oh, and also a triple triad tournament? I mean if you're giving out the cards........

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What would've been even better is if they gave us the cards, but allowed us to make up a full TT deck just like we do ingame. Not just for 6 cards, but an ACTUAL DECK for 30 cards+. They'd be amazed at how much we collect these ingame! OR! Had they given us the amount we did, BUT! Decided to announce at FanFest that we would be getting the actual TCG later on in the coming year or so would've hyped up so many of us. How about ingame codes for each of the cards. You place the code on the mogstation and receive the codes ingame through mogmail like anything else. People think this to be gated, but that's what makes these event special. The content we walk away with. Also, Pokemon and Mew or Surfing Pikachu was gated. Don't even get me started on gated content for special events lol.

A room for TT separate from the con would've been nice. Kinda hard to play TT when everyone has the same deck as you though. Still don't have that darn Ser Aymeric card! *SALTY TRIGGER* :(

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Originally Posted by Heezeemeezee

3. The food room: Not really advertised and was just "there". Should have more FF themed foods a la Eorzea Cafe (but might be hard to pull off if food is being provided by hotel catering.) At least have more food options to buy (less pricey would be good too.)

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We Actually did a walk around and the food/drinks in the food room was more expensive than nearby restaraunts (comparing to the high-class ones like 'Steak' is unfair). They were selling half-bottles of Caeser's casino branded water for $3.00, wheres 15 feet around the corner was a corner store selling regular size Evian for $1.75

This is ignoring of course that the main showroom had free water fountains and dixie cups, but that personal preference.

I have a few thoughts about this fan fest, and how it compares to 2014, so I'd like to start from the beginning.

Thank you for clearing up the registration situation. It was very relieving to arrive at the hotel, check in, and grab my ticket within less than an hour. The registration line was nonexistent when I arrived at around 1pm, and only slightly long by the time my roommates arrived at 3pm. Like others, I was disappointed that we didn't have our character names or servers on the badge. Was this done to save time? If so, I can understand, but in the future would you please leave a spot to write our names/servers? It was really fun to bump into people just by glancing at their character name and saying, "Hey, I know you!" Sure, it would be just as easy for attendees to wear a "Hello, my name is..." tag, but this would just kind of encourage the mingling.

The overall tone I felt from this fan fest, compared to 2014, was that SE was putting a heavy emphasis on production value. As others may recall, the standard quality stream in 2014 was FREE. Anyone could watch it. (You received the Moogle outfit code and a HD stream for a price, but if you just wanted to watch the content at a lower resolution, it was available to you for no charge.) There were some marked budgeting differences between 2014 and 2016 that I believe were made to accommodate the fact that SE was charging $30 per person to stream. In other words, that stream had better be good, because that's where the majority of the money is going to be made... not the attendees' tickets. That said, the production changes also benefited attendees, but there were definitely residual effects that you could either love or hate. For example, not only did we get a Primals concert like in 2014, but we also had an amazing piano concert featuring Susan Calloway (who was NOT there in 2014). This was a nice touch, and very relaxing after the first day of the fan fest. So which concessions were made to make this additional concert happen? There were no cosplay judges for the cosplay competition, which was very frustrating to those who participated. Further, there were NO t-shirts available for either attending or beating the battle challenge (but you COULD buy fan fest exclusive t-shirts that were only available by waiting through a LONG LONG LONG line). By the end of the fan fest, the battle challenge had almost no one in line for it (while Odin was a staple feature at the 2014 fan fest). I had to wait just to get enough people to do it on Saturday afternoon. The Allagan Tomestone USB drive was a pretty sweet trade off, but the lack of t-shirts was disappointing. I know it may seem silly, but some of us are 'collecting' FFXIV "I Beat..." event t-shirts... and not just the ones available at fan fest. I love the Sephirot shirt I got at PAX East this past year.

Another thing that really deserves its own mention was the ways in which the fan fest just seemed more 'serious' in general. I was sad Soken didn't get another panel. I recall in 2014, he joked about how strict Yoshi P was when he would make new music. This was great to see some of their personality. He also yelled at Koji a lot more during the 2014 concert, which was funny. The 2016 Primals concert seemed to be more 'put together' than it was in 2014, with a very specific set list and almost no audience participation. There were also points where it was very obvious that some sort of background tracks were used, and voice filters were added for certain songs. I understand WHY this was done... many people in 2014 were upset with the quality of the stream of the concert so they wanted to make sure it sounded great... but at the same time, I'm sad with the reduced authenticity of seeing a live show. Also, in 2014, the audience was encouraged to do a 'call and response' to Titan's theme, and someone was even called up on stage to scream "NOW FALL" during the beginning of Garuda's theme. A local female vocalist was hired to sing the female parts. That was excellent! I'm not saying they should have had a complete repeat of 2014, but more involvement would have been nice.

A few other marked changes that seemed to make the event more 'stream friendly' was changing the event giveaway into the jumbo cactpot, and omitting the raffle at the end of the event completely. The raffle prizes in 2014 seemed to be a lot nicer... but hey, what you can you do... sponsorship limitations. Again, the streamed events were kind of odd because this is supposed to be a fan event, but at times it really just felt like we were a studio audience, if that makes any sense. I *did* like the Q&A with live questions from the audience, though. On another note, I was also sad to hear that the winners of the art contest would not be announced at the fan fest. I understand it would require more staffers, but that was a really nice touch in 2014. (To people saying they should have gotten more volunteers: they tried getting volunteers in 2014, but they couldn't get enough. I remember receiving an email after the first day begging more people to staff, and offering us a refund on our ticket if we were willing to staff the next day.)

As far as the merch line was concerned... I was really surprised they didn't fix that after the issues we had in 2014. Those problems were infamous and they seemed to only get worse, especially because there were fan fest 'exclusive' shirts available, and you couldn't get them through trials. The 'come back at your time slot' thing was a good change on Saturday! Honestly, I'd prefer if time slots were simply handed out with tickets and goody bags to prevent overflow. This would allow friends to consolidate their orders (like many people did) if they didn't want any restricted items, and it would be easier for staffers to get through the line. The cosplay competition 'time slot' was handed out with registration and that system seemed to work out pretty well.

I didn't get to participate, but I enjoyed The Feast Exhibition. I really wish I had signed up! I would have loved to do that. Fingers crossed... I hope one day The Feast is so popular and competitive that it would be viable for SE to fly in the top teams from every NA datacenter for a live PvP finals event AT the fan fest. I know this is really hoping for a lot, but... hey, maybe one day! I'd love to be there for that.

The cafeteria next door to the convention hall was a very nice touch. I remember there being a concession line in 2014, but nothing like that. Sure, the food was pricey, but it's Vegas... and it wasn't bad food, just expensive!

...

So, I really wanted to mention the cosplay competition separately because I know cosplay is a really niche thing and definitely not something everyone is interested in. In other words, I don't expect SE to spend a lot of money hiring guest cosplayers to attend and judge the event. Also, I know there were some changes made that benefited cosplayers, and those were great improvements compared to 2016. For example, I really liked that the cosplay prejudging and event were held on the same day. This allowed people with really uncomfortable costumes to only wear them in one day, and they didn't have to throw everything on both days if they didn't want to. I appreciated this break! Also, I like that there was a requirement to bring progress pictures. Without getting too much into it, there was a very big reason WHY this rule was added (and it is a staple among many cosplay competitions to ensure honesty). Okay, but here's what really bugged me... FFXIV cosplayers, to me, are among the most impressive cosplayers I have ever seen. FF costumes in general have a LOT of detail, and so it takes a lot of time to replicate that. I can say from the bottom of my heart that I know each and every person who made their costume poured their heart and soul into it. I think that deserves recognition and appreciation. In an effort to keep prejudging short and concise, the judges (dev team?) needed to get through a LOT of entrants during prejudging -- 50 to be exact, between noon and the event later that day. However, due to the fact that they are devs (not cosplayers), there is simply a lot of terminology and crafty know-how that they won't understand. This is why many events will hire cosplay judges to be the 'resident experts' on craftsmanship, and this is why I assumed SE hired cosplay judges in 2014. Explaining how my costume was made to the dev team reminded me of what it might be like if they tried to explain how they created a particular model or questline to me. I'm not a dev, so I would understand it in simple terms, but I wouldn't really comprehend the amount of dedication and time that goes into every step of their work.

All of that said... I should also mention that I participated in the 2014 and 2016 cosplay contests, and was a finalist both times. This meant I made it to the stage part of the competition. Prejudging in 2014 made my costume feel appreciated. I had ample time to talk about what I had done to the judges -- a combination of devs and cosplayers. Detailed questions were asked about how I made each piece. I believe the judges (cosplayers themselves) really listened and interpreted each costume, even if they weren't super familiar with the costumes they were looking at. They had reference images. In 2016, perhaps to accommodate for time, the devs simply asked, "Did you make this? Which pieces did you make?" They flipped through my progress pictures and asked zero questions about my materials. This was frustrating because I wanted to tell them how I got heavy pieces to FLOAT on my body! Lol. As I was explaining how I made my thermoplastic pieces, I was essentially cut off and told they had heard enough. Sure, it was done in a polite way, but I didn't even get to start on my cloth pieces, my fabric painted pieces, etc. I am not a rambler but I definitely felt rushed through this process. I did NOT win a prize or place in the contest, but I did hear from other finalists and people who placed that they also felt like they were hurried along. I can't speak for others, but for me it is really less about possibly winning a prize and more about just getting to show you how hard I worked on making this outfit from a game I love. So really, my two requests would be this: please get at least one cosplay judge to be on your panel, at least for prejudging. It doesn't have to be someone famous... even a local cosplayer... maybe a past winner of the FFXIV fan fest (the Garuda in 2014 or the Dragoon in 2016 -- these would be my top choices). That would be a really fun 'call back' for them, and for us! But, the cosplay judges are important. Please. And please, set aside time to review all costumes. I'm not even going to mention how uncomfortable the entry process was (first come, first served) because that is a separate thing... but in general, there were a lot of things that could be tweaked to make this event more enjoyable overall.

Now, as far as the cosplay event is concerned... I appreciate that you let every single entrant walk across stage! I do not envy the judges' jobs when it comes to having to choose just 20 finalists and five prize winners, so it was nice that everyone was featured before the end. It was also really nice to see mini 'groups' walk across stage with each other. This was an improvement from 2014! But, the lack of organization leading up to the event (literally: stand here until it's time, everyone walks and poses quickly, then you walk off stage and wait to see if your name is called, get back up on stage, stand in a row) meant that we didn't have our names featured on the big screen behind us. I know Bayohne did announce our names (and possibly servers?) when finalists were called back on stage, but this is very quick and easy to miss. I miss being able to glance at the screen and see someone's name. And, people who watch the stream could recognize their ingame friends with ease. So, if possible, would you please bring back this feature in 2018? Also, I thought I'd take a moment here to apologize for my blunder on the stage. I walked in, did my little pose, and then went to walk off. The lights were blinding and I guess I had forgotten the orientation of the stairs I had walked up (it was all very quick with lining up) so I went to find the side of the stage, looked down, didn't see stairs... got confused, walked behind the curtain... people started following me (LOL I'M SORRY) and then a staffer had to run on stage and lead us all down the FRONT of the stage. From that point forward, there was a staffer standing on stage making sure people went where they needed to go. And I'm sorry because I felt responsible for that whole thing and leading everyone into the dark. But hopefully that didn't show up on the stream... Anyway, I know I made a serious blunder, but if it wasn't me it would have probably been someone else... there needs to be a little more organization next time. I understand that there was very little 'wiggle room' as far as event blocks are concerned... With the concert being at 6:30 or 7 (I forget the exact time), the cosplay competition needed to start by at least 5:30 or the event would have had to go longer to accommodate everything. That said... why did the hall close at 8pm? That seems a little early. :P Was it a venue agreement? I would have loved to have more time just to do more events.

Something I *loved* this time around was how nice Yoshi P was about taking pictures with the cosplayers after the competition was over. He came over to take a group photo with us after the contest, and then allowed us to get in line for individual photos and signatures. He signed my book... and I'll cherish it forever!

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Like in 2014, I loved the 2016 fan fest, and I'll hopefully be back in 2018! Everything has its ups and downs and I really hope SE takes our comments/suggestions seriously as they continue to tweak future events. Here's a few takeaways:

1) Please include at least one t-shirt at a fan fest -- whether it is included in the goody bag or as a trial reward. As silly as it sounds, people really like these. It's a big deal.
2) PLEASE find a fix to the merch line. Releasing fan fest 'exclusive' items and then forcing people to stand in line almost all day to get these items isn't just an inconvenience... it's almost cruel. :(
3) Please send all fan fest attendees a login or token or something to view the stream for free. Please don't make us pay $30 to watch a stream we saw in person. Many of us missed some events and would love to see them!

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Originally Posted by Ryuko

As others may recall, the standard quality stream in 2014 was FREE. Anyone could watch it. (You received the Moogle outfit code and a HD stream for a price, but if you just wanted to watch the content at a lower resolution, it was available to you for no charge.)

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@Ryuko: Great comments in general. I'd forgotten that you only needed to pay in 2014 for the HD stream and moogle attire (SD stream was free on Twitch though it didn't include the opening and closing ceremonies?) and that it was $20 rather than $30.