Improvements they could make for Fan Fest 2015

[JigsawComplex]

* More VIP tickets (at least for the chance alone at getting autographs/photos)

* Possibly different ticket system (Eventbrite just sucks. They just aren't able to handle the foot traffic)

* Better venue (The Rio had nice convention halls and casino, but others are nice while being located ON the strip)

* More/Better trained Staff (The crew did the best they could, and the retainers were a mixed bag. Some good while others would stand next to the Odin line and say "I don't know what that is")

* Charging Wall

* More Server Tables

* More Supervisors/Detail (Did you really need to take up huge portions of the wall with grafitti, Hyperion?)

* More chances for photos/autographs with Speakers/Devs and Cosplayers.

I LOVED the event. But my two biggest gripes were that I missed most of the events/Schmoozing with players and Devs because of the merch line fiasco, and those DREADFULLY annoying PVP Bros. Lol

[Mamakat]

Then during the second day of the event, it was decided to let the team that technically lost continue to try to finish if they were already fighting Diabolos or at least close enough to him.
The thought was so that those teams could still get their winner stamp.
But doing that made it so that everyone in line, who were either doing it for the first time or trying again from not winning earlier, have less of a chance of actually getting in to try >_>;
It was just a huge mess.

This was a big bummer for us. With the lines on day one + watching the panels we ended up trying Sunday. Went to get in line around 4 and she told us we couldn't get in line because the PCs were being shut down at 7:30... now, I knew that line wasn't a 3 1/2 hr line, and it was especially frustrating to see the people just keep on going multiple times and when we asked if we could just at least get the complete stamp so we could get our patch we weren't allowed

[Tinks]

As others have mentioned, I think the biggest improvement that needs to happen next year is how the event lines are handled. I'm sure most of us spent the majority of our fanfest time in line. That's ridiculous, and not at all how the XI Fanfests were, so I expected better. (Not that there weren't lines of course, but there weren't 4-5 events with 2+ hour lines.)

The obvious solution is to make it so that more people can do each event at once. More computers, more archery room etc. Another, building off of the time slot thing, is to have a kiosk setup for getting in line. Basically you go up to the kiosk, enter your cell number or take a physical ticket number. Put monitors near each event showing what numbers are up next. Text those who entered cell numbers when they're less than 30 min away from entry. Yes, there will be a line for the kiosk in the mornings first thing, but after that it will dissipate. Hell you could even set it up so that a party leader registers however many people in a party for it so less people have to go to the kiosk. Call it a duty finder kiosk. If my DMV can figure it out (and DMVs aren't known for their technical savvy) than I'm sure SE can. This would allow people to move around, meet people, and see other stuff while "waiting in line."

The next improvement I would like to see is a bigger venue with a) more tables and b) server marked tables. They had this at the XI fanfests and it helped tremendously in finding people from your server. You don't need enough tables for every single person to sit at, but there weren't nearly enough tables at the venue.

And lastly, as stated before, we need a bigger merchandise selection and more registers. Like, a LOT more...especially if you release brand new items at the event.

[Vilhem]

My #1 complaint: the merch line!!

As a VIP, I went in there first thing Saturday morning, long line of VIPs, okay. By the time the Keynote began and finished, I was in the same spot just around the corner from being able to buy my merch. But, the line was stagnant for over an hour. Apparently one of their credit card registers broke down. Okay cool. The solution? MAKE A SEPARATE LINE FOR THOSE PAYING WITH CASH AND BRING THEM UP!!!

...so I got to watch as those non-VIP people, who were able to sit down for the Keynote, whip by me, order their merch, and be on their happy way, while I had to wait almost ONE MORE hour to buy my stuff.

The line wasn't initially roped off either, which meant that after the Keynote, there were people who rushed the merch line, and cut in right at the beginning. It took me and another guy complaining to get that section near the display merch roped off. Terrible terrible management. I've been to several conventions where the vendors use a card reader straight off their smartphones/tablets. Why can't SE do the same thing? Would have been a much faster process.

Second beef was about the cosplay contest. I'm a good sport about competitions and all that, but there was no prep for this contest other than "show up at x time". A little heads up about what to expect would have been nice. I sewed/crafted armor pieces for my cosplay on my own, and even saying that, they were done with me in less than 2 minutes. In my head I was like "...that was it?"

[Bayohne]

Thank you all for this thread!
We're definitely looking for ways to improve the show experience for all those attending and are anxious to get more feedback like this!

[Katsaria]

Thank you all for this thread!
We're definitely looking for ways to improve the show experience for all those attending and are anxious to get more feedback like this!

Let Koji fox sing every song at the concert.

[Magnesium02]

Thank you all for this thread!
We're definitely looking for ways to improve the show experience for all those attending and are anxious to get more feedback like this!

Can you have a 4th Fanfest in Australia?

[mbncd]

Can you have a 4th Fanfest in Australia?

Please, this! I REALLY wanted to go but my options were to travel from my own home city of Brisbane to Europe/NA (both about a third of the way around the planet in opposite directions) or learn a whole other language. As a disabled pensioner, this was simply impossible.

Even if the event wasn't in my state, I could have travelled to one of the others for far less than the thousands of dollars the airfares to EU/NA would have cost (not even counting hotel costs, living costs or event costs). Personally, I'd love is if SE brought FFXIV to Brisbane but Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide seem to get most of the conventions so they would work too.



Edit:
By the way, I did buy the streams to both of the English speaking FanFests. If they'll have English translations of the major events in the JP speaking event I'd be willing to buy that too but I think that will be highly unlikely.



Edit 2: Oh, and as far as feedback to the NA FanFest stream goes, I really only have a few things to mention.

Firstly, I believe someone already stated this but the constant replaying of the trailers became a little grating. I ended up sleeping through many of the events and things due to the awkward hours in GMT+10 and then going back to watch the archived footage. After the first few times, I completely jumped over the trailers as soon as they started.

Secondly, I don't know if it was just me but I was hearing some high pitched feedback during some of the panel sessions, particularly on the last day. That whine was very uncomfortable. Not sure if that was an issue with the stream or if it was something on site or what but it was very much not a good thing.

Again, for the most part I wasn't watching the footage live. I didn't see the vast majority of the viewer chat. If, as others have mentioned, it wasn't well moderated, that's something that definitely needs work too.

Also, the archived footage should start specifically at either 10 or 10:30 (and stated as such on the schedule) and the panels should start on time. I found it quite difficult to skip to the start of scheduled events because they weren't at appropriately predictable times. Alternatively, break up the archived footage to cover specific events and cut out the music/trailer scenes in between. For instance, a specific video for the Live Letter, another for the concert, another for the keynotes, another for each session of coverage with Camate/Grek/Clutch, etc, etc, etc. That allows for much easier navigation amongst the archived footage instead of skipping through hours of footage to find the various things in a 10 hour video.

Lastly, it seems the live attendees didn't automatically get free access to the HD archived footage. That's something that should definitely change! There's far too much stuff going on in the minute at any con, it's really easy to miss a lot, especially if the crowd is noisy or there's lots to look at. Those people who attended should be able to watch the event in a quieter calmer environment at their leisure after the event so that they can really get everything out of the experience without worrying about missing too much.

[Starkness]

MCing was awesome, seating was good.

I think different coloured tags to signify what server you are from would be nice for meeting people without having to nametag creep so hard. Also, it might not seem fair but having separate lines per class for the "duties" would help. A big part of line clogs were retainers and crew trying to form groups on the fly yelling out for certain classes, allowing lots of line cutting. Not a big deal bit worth mentioning.

It would be fun if there were a set of dev issues saved for fan fest that the crowd votes on with cheering or booing. It seemed like the devs got a lot out of that and hopefully we will get our ADS mounts soon.

One last thing, same coloured raffle tickets, even though that was some of the funniest shit I have ever seen.

Good job all, won't miss the next one for the world.

Thanks

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Yeah, my only complaints were about the lines really, and not being able to adjust what the side buttons on the mice were mapped to but that's understandable.