Tickets are all gone for fan fest

[Ranetsu-Akagane]

I read on reddit someone called showclix and was told was told that "they will not be getting any more tickets issued for the event by SE, and they sold all available tickets with no plans to sell or reissue any tickets sold already. They also said any issue with access codes needs to be taken up directly with SE, as they just use SE's software, and all of that is handled by SE directly."

I can't say for sure this is true but it does worry me.

[Finnfinite]

I read on reddit someone called showclix and was told was told that "they will not be getting any more tickets issued for the event by SE, and they sold all available tickets with no plans to sell or reissue any tickets sold already. They also said any issue with access codes needs to be taken up directly with SE, as they just use SE's software, and all of that is handled by SE directly."

I can't say for sure this is true but it does worry me.

Eh, it's p common for third party "helpers" like this to not be informed of later plans. Just because they filled (and overfilled) the quota SE told them first doesn't mean that what SE told them was the real quota to begin with.

[Ranetsu-Akagane]

Eh, it's p common for third party "helpers" like this to not be informed of later plans. Just because they filled (and overfilled) the quota SE told them first doesn't mean that what SE told them was the real quota to begin with.

I really hope they sell more, I was really looking forward to going.

[Khanscott]

Well, people in my FC are extremely pissed off that less than half of them actually had a chance at a ticket. People are getting sick of stupid mistakes like this.

Quite honestly, I see nothing being done about this fiasco. I will be legitimately shocked and amazed if S-E opts to actually take the time to offer a solution.

[Hyperia]

Its logistical limitations is why they are keeping a venue at 2,500 people. Anything larger and it will overwhelm their staff and thus, requiring a professional event company to take over, ballooning the costs. Keeping it at 2,500 people allows the staff and developers to give everybody a chance at meeting them where if they had it at 5,000 to 10,000, that just wouldn't be possible. Its also a cost issue where they have to cover the cost of renting the venue and setting up the events, etc. Its mostly cost recovery, even factoring in the store where they sell items. If you wanted to have things as large as Blizzcon, your going to have to increase the price of the ticket to close to $500.00 or more. Running a convention is VERY expensive and VERY hard to do.

I got a chance to ask them if they would be willing to increase the size beyond 2,500 to 3,000 and they really didn't want to go over those limits. So no, it is what it is and that's all it will be.

[Avenger]

The 2018 NA FanFest ticket sale really seems like a it was a disaster.

If I recall, the ticketing site broke down in 2014, but it still took more than 24 hours to sell out? Note this was also at the Rio.

And in 2016 it still took several hours to sell out.

So how is it then that in 2018 people who were in the queue exactly at 12:00:00 PDT weren't able to get tickets?

And what was up with the "presale" - were too many tickets pre-sold (how did you even get into the presale anyway?) so maybe they weren't available in the regular sale? Or were too many tickets grabbed by robots and scalpers?

[Avenger]

Its logistical limitations is why they are keeping a venue at 2,500 people. Anything larger and it will overwhelm their staff and thus, requiring a professional event company to take over, ballooning the costs. Keeping it at 2,500 people allows the staff and developers to give everybody a chance at meeting them where if they had it at 5,000 to 10,000, that just wouldn't be possible. Its also a cost issue where they have to cover the cost of renting the venue and setting up the events, etc. Its mostly cost recovery, even factoring in the store where they sell items. If you wanted to have things as large as Blizzcon, your going to have to increase the price of the ticket to close to $500.00 or more. Running a convention is VERY expensive and VERY hard to do.

I got a chance to ask them if they would be willing to increase the size beyond 2,500 to 3,000 and they really didn't want to go over those limits. So no, it is what it is and that's all it will be.

Wow, <that's too bad!> I do like interacting with the developers and staff, but 2500 seems ridiculously small and almost guaranteed to disappoint the majority of fans who want to attend.

If FFXIV is competing with WoW.... maybe they should consider having a larger convention!!

[Istaru]

Its logistical limitations is why they are keeping a venue at 2,500 people. Anything larger and it will overwhelm their staff and thus, requiring a professional event company to take over, ballooning the costs. Keeping it at 2,500 people allows the staff and developers to give everybody a chance at meeting them where if they had it at 5,000 to 10,000, that just wouldn't be possible. Its also a cost issue where they have to cover the cost of renting the venue and setting up the events, etc. Its mostly cost recovery, even factoring in the store where they sell items. If you wanted to have things as large as Blizzcon, your going to have to increase the price of the ticket to close to $500.00 or more. Running a convention is VERY expensive and VERY hard to do.

I got a chance to ask them if they would be willing to increase the size beyond 2,500 to 3,000 and they really didn't want to go over those limits. So no, it is what it is and that's all it will be.

Um...

About Blizzcon, their tickets are $199.99.

Why would SE need to charge $500 for the same thing?

[Freyar]

The 2018 NA FanFest ticket sale really seems like a it was a disaster.

If I recall, the ticketing site broke down in 2014, but it still took more than 24 hours to sell out? Note this was also at the Rio.

I remember that selling out in under an hour. I remember being very nervous about not getting tickets year-one. Had three people working to get them.

And in 2016 it still took several hours to sell out.

That it did. It was much less frustrating.

I managed to get through and get the four tickets I needed. I knew it was going to be more of a fight this time due to moving back to the Rio. Good god was 2016 great. Had a suite in The Paris for that one.

[JunseiKei]

The 2018 NA FanFest ticket sale really seems like a it was a disaster.

If I recall, the ticketing site broke down in 2014, but it still took more than 24 hours to sell out? Note this was also at the Rio.

And in 2016 it still took several hours to sell out.

So how is it then that in 2018 people who were in the queue exactly at 12:00:00 PDT weren't able to get tickets?

And what was up with the "presale" - were too many tickets pre-sold (how did you even get into the presale anyway?) so maybe they weren't available in the regular sale? Or were too many tickets grabbed by robots and scalpers?

The ticketing site in 2014 didn't break down, but people were worried that they weren't getting a response from the site. The site kept going, but a lot of people closed it and tried again, losing their place completely in queue. I bought tickets and went to the 2014 one; all I did was leave my page up and played the new patch, checking back on it in between runs and confirming my purchase when my number was up. Yes, it took hours to sell-out for the 2014 tickets, but that's because the queue took that long to process everyone.

From what's been said, the queue broke on the ticket page and people that weren't supposed to have codes, got them (I've had an active account since 2013, never letting it drop, and I never received a code. I also had no plans on going this year; cat's surgery came out of my trip funds, or I'd be really upset about that to begin with).