Are all fan festivals like this?

I was one of the lucky ones to win the chance to buy a ticket for the Fan Festival. This was my first one, of any type. I didn't go in with high expectations, I was curious to see what I would find. My experience so far has been...frankly terrible.

Registration was the day before. Lineup was absurdly long, literally one city block. But that lineup also moved rather fast, impressively so in my opinion, so that I was only waiting less than an hour to register. This was one of the few positive impressions I've been left with.

Security seemed...bizarre, honestly. We could only use bags the size of the tiny packs we were provided on registration or smaller. (Roughly the size of a large purse.) No outside food and drink--obviously so we'd buy it on location. Water had to be emptied at the checkpoint and refilled inside, like an airport. Odd, but whatever.

The registration goodies consisted of that tiny day pack, a keyring gemstone, a paissa magnet, a carrot pen, a square grape squeeze ball, and a 10th anniversary pin. Seemed a bit meager for a $200 con, but I honestly don't have a basis of comparison here, maybe I'm being uncharitable, I'd like to hear opinions. (Oh, and they included a single FFXIV TCG booster pack, like a drug dealer offering the first hit for free.)

It was today, the first day of the fanfest, that things just...really went to crap.

Per the schedule: the convention doors opened at 7am; the fanfest doors opened at 9am. Intention was we had to pass a security check before entering the fanfest, and then at 10am would be Yoshi's address. I arrived around 8am, no real lineup, explored a bit, came back to the FFXIV entrance around 8:30, there were hundreds of people packed in the hall like sardines. Whoops. Joined the crowd (not the line, the crowd), and waited. Around 9:20 or so, we finally started moving, and we just walked right past security through airport-like gates as a horde, no real security checks conducted.

(I later heard there were lineups outside that extended for blocks, that were still slowly shuffling forward around 10am. In over-40-degree desert heat. Apparently, no one bothered to come out and tell them they could have just walked inside. Thankfully I was spared that!)

We get inside the main hall, there are maybe 3,000 chairs for 15,000 attendees. Most had to sit on the floor, or stand and watch for 2 hours. The keynote address was actually kind of cool, it was an amazing experience being in a large hall with 15,000 other fans cheering at each reveal. (I'm, uh, bringing earplugs for Day 2. ; ) Loved that part. But then the CEO of Microsoft walks on stage and it turns into a 20+ minute corporate XBox commercial. I finally got up and left, 15 minutes into that.

Or, I tried to. One of the events was labelled as a Battle Royale: an upcoming 8-man trial, I think? At the same time (and in the same convention hall), merchandise was being sold. Everyone was just sort of crowded together, shuffling forward, sort of hoping we were going in the right direction. No staff to guide or organize us. Eventually, 20 minutes into this slow shuffle, word of mouth passed back from the front that merchandise should stay left, battle royale should stay right.

You could pre-register for the battle royale, which I did, for the second time slot, 1-2pm (the prior one was 11:30-1pm, I think?). The opening address had run late, and after half an hour of shuffling uncertainly forward it was now 12:30 and I couldn't even see the hall we were supposed to enter yet. Someone nearby loudly proclaimed that those who pre-registered should push forward, he seemed to know what he was talking about, and so I followed him. Still don't know if he was right, I may have "budged" forward about halfway through the crowd, and if so I do apologize to my fellow attendees. But there were literally no staff clarifying anything.

After an hour of this uncertainty, I finally enter the huge hall hosting the Battle Royale. The lineup continues halfway down the hall, we continue to slowly shuffle forward. I'm scanned, my registration confirmed...and I join another line. Wait another 40 minutes or so until I finally sit down at a computer around 2pm with 7 other players. We're playing pre-made characters, thankfully only one player wanted healer and didn't play WHM, so I got the easymode healer role. 5-10 minutes to configure hotbars, 10-15 minutes of fight...and we're done. Our reward after two hours of waiting: a scanned badge on the fanfest app. More on that later.

I see there's a washroom at the end of the hall, I make a dive for it. Cross a line to get there, come out and ask what's it for? "FOOD!" someone responds emphatically. This line had hundreds of people in it. I was suddenly very grateful for my smuggled-in trail mix!

Finally I decided to wander the con itself. One kind of neat setup: they had staff standing under quest markers, giving us quests. One involved taking a perspective-picture where we seemed to holding up a huge blue globe dangling from the ceiling; another involve us recording ourselves dancing on a dance floor; a third had us tracking down fish in a barrel and selfie-ing us holding our nose over it. There were six of the, and they were kind of fun, honestly.

The stations were...less so. One had magnetic fishing rods used to snag magnetic fish cutouts. Another seemed to be some kind of ball toss? A third was literally just a FFXIV snapchat station. There was a library mockup that looked interesting, but I don't know what it was about. It all seemed...traveling circus like. Cheap and kitschy. There were about six in total, and each station had hundreds of attendees at it, slowly shuffling forward in snaking lines, taking up to an hour (maybe more?) to get through.

The goal of these things--including the Battle Royale--was to unlock "badges" in the fanfest app. Once you unlocked three, you...got in line. Shuffled slowly forward for another hour or so. Your reward at the end of the day for all the cool activities? A roughly 10x15-inch printed poster...and a tiny sticker. There was no benefit to completing more badges. That and the registration pack is the sum total of the freebies we got at the fanfest. The real kicker? There were three stickers available; we had to choose one.

I spent 4-5 hours today literally just standing or slowly shuffling in lines, sometimes not even knowing if I was in the right spot. Most (all?) of the major scheduled events were streamed anyway. The gifts seem cheaply made, pretty much worthless.

Some of the good points: the "quests" were kinda fun. The other attendees were all great, as were some of the costumes. Being in a crowd of fans was a neat experience.

Overall though, day one seems like a major disappointment. This is my first fanfest. Are they all like this? And if so...why do people go, particularly when it's so expensive? Am I missing something? Am I maybe just not the target audience?

Unless Im just unlucky...isnt this most events that have alot in Attendance?

You are not alone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...tical_failure/

This has been the worst Fanfare in a long while, in terms of organization.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IndyPendant

Overall though, day one seems like a major disappointment. This is my first fanfest. Are they all like this? And if so...why do people go, particularly when it's so expensive? Am I missing something? Am I maybe just not the target audience?

---

Cons are mostly boring, if you ever see videos, you may notice its just mostly cosplayers taking photos and nothing much about the con it self.

The con prices in the past were not these prices, at least ages ago.

Fanfests are not any different to a con other then the keynotes at the start, sadly they don't offer spectating sports either like Blizzcon does.

However with this fanfest being so in demand, it feels like a bunch of ERPers were being hopeful meeting another ERPer.

Sound like an irl equivalent of the Endwalker launch login queue.

If the Azem keychain sucks so much, can I have it? lol


I think a lot of cons are like that, yeah. I'd expect more staff direction than you described, but that might be effected by the attendance. Not having nearly enough chairs when they know how many attendees they sold tickets is a fail, though.

I attended Star Trek conventions in 1995 & 1996. They were much like what was described in the OP even then, although the security aspect was likely even more minimal.

Doesn't sound as if things have changed much in terms of how these events are organised/managed.

Quote:

---

(I later heard there were lineups outside that extended for blocks, that were still slowly shuffling forward around 10am. In over-40-degree desert heat. Apparently, no one bothered to come out and tell them they could have just walked inside. Thankfully I was spared that!)

We get inside the main hall, there are maybe 3,000 chairs for 15,000 attendees.

---

To be fair, SE is most likely not handling all this themselves but outsourcing it to the venue's staff they hired or something like that. And such a venue should be used to this sort of thing.

Quote:

---

But then the CEO of Microsoft walks on stage and it turns into a 20+ minute corporate XBox commercial.

---

I don't think that normally happens at all. It had me facepalming because it was not a very good example of what fanfests are normally like, and they sort of ruined the atmosphere. At least it was at the end though and that was probably intentional so that people who are bored can leave or stop watching.

The CEO ruined the atmosphere a little at the start as well, because only Yoshi-P and the community team know how to talk to fans. I literally saw SE's camera pan over the text that the CEO was about to read, and they did read it shortly thereafter (yes the CEO was reading a teleprompt). Teleprompts just aren't a good way to connect with fans and make you seem like a politician.

What made the Xbox part so much worse was that everyone there and everyone watching is already playing on another platform and doesn't need to care about this Xbox version. So they spent 20 minutes trying to ask the crowd to be excited about something that they, frankly, didn't care one way or another about.

Not normally like that, but let's be fair, they had to announce the Xbox version somehow and they had been working hard on it for a long time in the background, so they would feel proud of their work and want to express it. Just was more long-winded than it needed to be.

Quote:

---

You could pre-register for the battle royale, which I did, for the second time slot, 1-2pm (the prior one was 11:30-1pm, I think?). The opening address had run late, and after half an hour of shuffling uncertainly forward it was now 12:30

I finally sit down at a computer around 2pm with 7 other players.

---

I think these fanfests are larger than they've done before, so they might not be used to handling quite this amount. But if that's true then they have the opportunity to learn from it for the other fanfests.

Quote:

---

Most (all?) of the major scheduled events were streamed anyway.

---

Of course they are. The benefit for you is the opportunity to be there in person, see them with your own eyes, potentially interact with the developers and streamers/content creators. There is one unique thing for you though, which is not streamed and that's the music and Primals concerts, where the band including Soken play FFXIV tracks live with instruments.

Another thing you get to do, potentially, is participate in the cosplay contest (too late now, it already happened).

Quote:

---

And if so...why do people go, particularly when it's so expensive? Am I missing something? Am I maybe just not the target audience?

---

The atmosphere. The feeling. Meeting the people you normally play with, who are not really the same as the average people you meet everywhere else, because the game attracts a certain audience. Seeing the developers, streamers and content creators in person. Participating in cosplay contests or being there to witness the Primals play FFXIV tracks in person.

The rest of what you described is just fluff to distribute people between different places so they aren't all doing the same thing at once but since you are doing this with the other people in the queue, you can still feel you are doing it with people who play the game like you do.

Shouldn't expect it to be perfect though. You are recommended to use earplugs because of the noise, it's going to be a nightmare with that many people breathing in one location, queues are going to be long. All of that is predictable when you see how many people are attending though.

Sounds very crowded and exhausting. I will never be part of any fanfest of anything even if I could because chances are im gonna get lost and die.

I've probably gone to about 7 conventions or so including Anime Expo. I would say that your experience is just about the norm for most cons-especially TODAYS cons. The cons of today are ALWAYS insanely packed. We're talking so crowded, if a fire broke out, it'd set a record for fatalities. Frequent con-goers or cosplayers actually call these packed cons "Line-con"s now, because all you do is go from line to line for hours, usually outside in the sweltering sun. It's always hot, stinky, and miserably crowded. You do all that mainly just to go buy merch and stuff from the artist alleys.

Let me emphasize that. For the most part, it's about going there to buy stuff. Then, its about panels. In this case, the only panels are the ones hosted by the main team. So like, for Anime conventions or Comic-con, usually there's loads of different panels from different people and series and games-wouldnt be like that for XIV. You're going to be herded in all for the one main gathering of the day, and then turned loose to go spend money again. After that, all thats left is spots for you to take pictures. They dont put much effort anymore. Just some propped up cutouts and neat flashy giant posters are usually enough. Enough spots for people to take pictures to show off that they were there, even if they didnt particularly have too much fun.

The grand ending is of course, the concert. This will make or break it for a lot of people. You might still enjoy it, if you go see the Primals. I personally think they're amazing and that it would still be a great time. But aside from that, what you experienced is all there is to offer, yes. Spend your money, go listen to yoshi, and then go wait around in hazardously crowded spaces to spend more money and take more pictures to promote their game on social media for them with lol. Maybe see some neat cosplayers in the process. Sounds standard for 2018+ cons to me!

the schedule and events are pretty much on par with past fanfests.

the issue is that there are TOO many people now that need wrangling and it just ends up being line-con.

also this is the biggest gathering in NA that they've attempted, so naturally there are growing pains and dealing with a new venue (the past ones were at hotels). And as usual staff they get for these things half or most of them don't know how to do their jobs properly.

A lot of personal experience is when you go to these things the main attraction is connecting, meeting and interacting with your fellow fans, meeting up and seeing friends you play online with in real life.

That sounds super disorganized. I've been to basically every one they had in NA except this one and that sounds a little insane. They've always had a bit of chaos to them, but not on this level. Kinda glad I didn't get to go this year from the sounds of it.

I'll agree that the major draw is going and meeting up with friends and stuff, though. I'm not sure I'd have went to any of them without that. Part of what makes the lottery system for tickets so annoying imo. It defeats the entire purpose if groups can't really go together.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lieri

Sounds very crowded and exhausting. I will never be part of any fanfest of anything even if I could because chances are im gonna get lost and die.

---

Dramatic, but technically possible, I guess? lol

i visited the frankfurt fanfest a few years ago and it was pretty much the same. Hours of waiting for minimal rewards and horrible catering. It was only bearable with friends that suffered trough this together with you ^^;
the concerts were really nice but anything else was meh

I was very salty about not getting a ticket but after seeing what a clusterF it was I don't feel so bad. I've been to plenty of packed cons and festivals and whatnot but that really looked like a logistical nightmare.

Was at the Fanfest in Frankfurt years back (2017). As I recall, it was a long time for the initial entry, but once inside there were enough seats for the keynote.

While the onsite food-place wasn't that good, it was easy to exit, grab something to eat at the local mall and then get back in.

For the activities the lines weren't that bad, did help that it had 1 Anti-tower speedrun, 1 trial roulette and the 24 man Proto-Ultima. Last one drew a lot of people but also moved quickly, did it multiple times on different jobs.

Recall the line for merch was somewhat long right after the key-note. But that was mainly for the pre-ordered and pre-paid stuff so people just needed to show ticket and wait for their bag.

Heh. Okay, consensus answer to my headline question seems to be summarized as "Yup, all fan festival/cons are pretty much the same. Don't attend them for the fan festival/con, or for the game it's about. Attend only if you have an additional, different reason to be there: showing off your cosplay, meeting your gaming friends irl, and/or including it as part of a larger Las Vegas vacation are the three most common good reasons to go." Thanks everyone, I'll just accept this as an (expensive!) lesson learned.

They were trying to replicate the in-game experience of queuing for something with a long wait time and then getting out-lotted on the drop you wanted as closely as possible.

Basically just described an expansion launch, and have a perfect retelling of how hype dies down once its here and things go from fun to bitter, with a few exceptionally good parts.

Quote:

---

Are all fan festivals like this?

---

Yes. They are. From your description? I have seen much, much worse. One I was stationed at as a medical officer, some lunatic had decided to slap a curtain over the fire exit signs in the amphitheatre ( yes yes I know Steve Jobs did it too )

Another Comic Con i was at, the main building had had a plumbing issue that hadnt been fixed, the closest working toilets were 400 metres away.

In another building.

These events are usually, as has been noted, outsourced. They are the ones hosting the event yes, but they DO NOT own or control the venue or its staff.

Your beef is with the venue organisers, not Square Enix.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VelKallor

Yes. They are. From your description? I have seen much, much worse. One I was stationed at as a medical officer, some lunatic had decided to slap a curtain over the fire exit signs in the amphitheatre ( yes yes I know Steve Jobs did it too )

Another Comic Con i was at, the main building had had a plumbing issue that hadnt been fixed, the closest working toilets were 400 metres away.

In another building.

These events are usually, as has been noted, outsourced. They are the ones hosting the event yes, but they DO NOT own or control the venue or its staff.

Your beef is with the venue organisers, not Square Enix.

---

Yeah, this is what I've been hearing: all fanfests are basically nightmares. But your last statement: no.

The venue organizers were terrible, it's true. But Square Enix is ultimately responsible for the events themselves. Square Enix allocated the freebies for the events. Where was the t-shirt from prior years? Had to be purchased. Where were the minions/mounts provided in prior years? Have to be purchased (presumably, that mount that was just released). The end-game "award" was a poster print and one of three available stickers. I can't stress that enough: they were too cheap even to give attendees all three available stickers! There were six "quests" and six "stations" set up for the convention: a random venue organizer wouldn't have known enough about FFXIV to be able to do that, they were clearly designed and organized by Square Enix, and they were woefully insufficient for a two-day event with 15,000 attendees.

And now that it's a few days later, more reports are showing up about some vile organization and behaviour of the staff--and those reports include both Square Enix staff and venue staff. --It's worth noting though that there are also a great many reports of the hired venue staff doing the best they could with a terrible situation--presumably these were temp workers earning minimum wage because billion dollar companies gotta serve their shareholders. Also note that other than mentioning their absence, I never complained about the behaviour of the staff; that's because the few times I did interact with them, they always seemed professional and respectful. Other attendees apparently did have some negative experiences; I'm only saying I never did.

This fanfest was a complete and total failure on all fronts. Dismissing Square Enix's responsibility only invites them to repeat it in future years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by IndyPendant

.

---

Last fanfest was a nightmare. We stood in line from 8am till nearly 7pm at night on the merch line. Almost all the way up till the concert started. That was just the first day. The second day, staff was yelling at everyone in the 24man content for the ultimate weapon raid (it later went into the 24man alliance raid of Dun Scaith). My friend finally snapped back at the staff and showed them how the game works (someone didnt accept duty, so it locked the whole party out for 30min). All the quest events last fanfest took about 2-3 hrs per section to even get through. Finding people with the right cards for triple triad was a pain in the ass too from other players who didnt already have what you had.

The purchase of merch could've been solved by having people look at a menu in line and purchase ahead of time. When it's ready, all you'd have to do is show your receipt and number and they'd hand you your stuff in a bag. Not that difficult (but someone organizing the event didn't seem to know how to run events lol).

As someone who attends half the years worth of cons across the states, fanfest is always a ish-show.

Sounds like I dodged a bullet missing this con, but I could tell it was not a great idea to have hoards of people cooking outside in 40c temperatures in Vegas anyway. Hopefully people actually showered before attending...

Some few of the Fanfest visitors on Maduin had told us they waited in lines for hours, but I had not believed it to be as bad as described. I'll keep that in mind next time I think of attending. A funny side note, the Fanfest characters they created were able to openly trade with us non Fanfesters on live servers. They were all given millions of gil, and were able to trade it to other, non fanfest players, as well as join FC's. The last person to play Eight'g Fanfest'd is a legend.

Compared to previous fanfests, it's a bit like there was 2x the support and staff for 5x the attendees.

As a result, there were actually fewer in-game events than in previous fanfests (e.g. no trials roulette, which was really fun.) It was also harder to do the show floor events. The badge redemption table just gave up the second day and handed out posters instead. There seemed to possibly be fewer SE devs as well this time. Great that Ishikawa was there, and it would have been nice to have battle/scenario designers, artists, etc..

Also 2018 Las Vegas fanfest was November I think rather than July so the heat was not nearly as oppressive.

Merch line savage is a recurring thing unfortunately. But the dangerous crowding was new.

Other larger conventions like PAX or SDCC seemed to be managed much better, especially line and entry queue management, security, onsite food/restaurant options and water stations, seating, ADA accommodation/sight lines, concert amplification/volume, conference hotel bookings, transit, etc.. There definitely weren't enough line management staff at fanfest.

Is maybe good thing Mao nots consider attendings. Seems convention was much crowdeds. Mao has shots but Mao is old and sick and catching Covid could kill Mao.

I went to a smaller work related conference and it sounds like I had more fun than I would have at fan fest. I saw about 12+ hours of lectures about interesting topics, collected free pens and chocolates, tried a few mini games and got more free vitamin samples my family could use in a year. With a warm buffet lunch included in the price for both days.

The important events of fan fest are streamed online so it seems like the only reasons to go would be to meet Yoshi-P and other staff, streamers or cosplayers and to buy exclusive merch.

Wish they would just stayed with the digital fanfests. I know it's "not the same" as live fanfests but seriously people were left out cause the tickets sold in minutes out and STILL they had problems with the organisation.

The demand for a inclusive fanfest is there. SE just fails to capitalize on it by including all the players and selling online tickets.

Quote:

---

it seems like the only reasons to go would be to meet Yoshi-P and other staff, streamers or cosplayers and to buy exclusive merch

---

It was for the concerts, the battle challenge, and to meet people in your FC, static, or other communities you are in. There was pre-order for merch if you had tickets and we were told items may sell out at FanFest so we should pre-order if we want to be sure to get them. People didn't want to pay shipping and didn't realize everyone would have the same idea.

I feel there are some valid complaints for FanFest: convention center food availability, rushing setup before the Primals, ADA seating, and the implementation of the "quests".

I think many of these complaints just show people are not use to traveling or going to big events. I had fun, but I have been to large cons and have no issues leaving the event entirely if I feel overwhelmed, hungry etc. I feel like some people thought they were supposed to be able to stay in this building comfortably for 12 hours and that's not realistic.

This all sounds very dangerous. Where do I start.

1. What kind of convention doesn’t allow outside snacks, and water. This is a HUGE health risk with all of the packed people, and frequent walking around. People need snacks, and to hydrate. No con I’ve ever been to has been this stupid, and Ive been to many as a traveling performer.

2. Lack of staff sometimes happens at cons, but at that level it’s just dangerous. If all those people decided to mob, imagine what would of happened. That can absolutely happen at large events. Shame on the venue for being so cheap. Hire enough staff. It’s for everyone’s safety.

3. I understand safety, but let people carry their own bags. We all have our own needs. It’s so stupid.

Im glad I didn’t go, and now I’m not sure I want to go to any fan fest, even though it is a dream of mine to attend. :/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gortys

I think many of these complaints just show people are not use to traveling or going to big events. I had fun, but I have been to large cons and have no issues leaving the event entirely if I feel overwhelmed, hungry etc. I feel like some people thought they were supposed to be able to stay in this building comfortably for 12 hours and that's not realistic.

---

As I responded in another thread, I don't really blame the attendees for wanting the kind of better organization that I've observed and experienced at other conventions – especially improved safety, line and end-of-line management, sane amplification, ADA accommodation and sight lines, etc.

But your point about taking care of yourself and leaving/taking a break from the event when necessary is a good one. Some other secret/stupid tricks that have occasionally helped me with other convention boss battles include:

• When possible, arrive after the entry queue has finished so you can just walk in and don't have to stand in line for an hour. (That didn't work at fanfest sadly since I really wanted to see the keynote/PL live and the entry queue took more than an hour to enter. Queueing in the outdoor heat the first day was rough. Also they handed out all the merch line tickets in just a few minutes the second day.)
• Sleep in at least one day if possible (possibly concurrent with above.) Also try not to stay up too late if you have to queue early the next day.
• If you absolutely need an ultimate challenge activity, focus on doing one (1!!) of them. After one victory anything else is gravy. Remember it's a boss battle. Focus it down and ignore FOMO adds.
• Look at the schedule and plan downtime when you can just chill out or recharge for a bit.
• Always bring hearing protection (note this failed at fanfest - the primals' distorted overamplification melted my earplugs and even destroyed my sound-canceling headphones.)
• Enjoy waiting in line by watching cosplayers walk by and chatting with other fans. (For game cons you can also bring games to play in line or a Switch.)
• If you're stuck in a queue when the event starts, watch the stream (if there is one) until you get in. (Had to do this for the PL since I slept in later the second day.)
• If you see anything that looks good and doesn't have a huge line, check it out! (Kind of worked for a couple of show floor activities, and for gleaner quests.)
• Enjoy offsite activities and just hanging out (but not too late if you have to queue early the next day.)
• Celebrate the large and small victories, and ignore the occasional full party wipes.

Since the north hall food court was (inexplicably) closed, and much of the LVCC wasn't in use, you could actually go there and (literally) chill for a bit.

For me I consider myself winning the boss battle as long as I am either a) having fun inside or outside the convention or b) relaxing and not thinking about the work/stress/etc. of everyday life. Having my FC there meant I wouldn't be trying to check off as many activities as possible, and that was really OK.

Unfortunately since fanfest is only two days, every hour is 1/24th of the convention time. I realize that "watch it in the inn" can be unsatisfying, but I figured that any panels that I missed parts of could be watched later on youtube (and more efficiently at double speed, haha) so that helped to defeat the FOMO adds when I was waiting in queues during things I wanted to see (also watching the panels either on phone or on the screens they had.) Also just hanging with FC friends was fun on its own, whatever we happened to be doing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eraden

Is maybe good thing Mao nots consider attendings. Seems convention was much crowdeds. Mao has shots but Mao is old and sick and catching Covid could kill Mao.

---

Aww, definitely take care of yourself! I masked any time I was near people and not eating, but was in a tiny minority. Nobody in our FC got sick, thankfully. What seemed possibly more risky were potential heatstroke from queuing outside (!) in the oppressive heat for an hour or more the first day, and potential domino/crushing from the poor crowd management such as the merch/battle queue mob the first day.