NA Fanfest 2018 Debacle

[Zohnax]

So, while a portion of the community may have gotten their tickets successfully by sheer luck, it's highly suspect how fast the tickets sold out in comparison to previous years.

Oh, it probably has something to do with
this as evidenced by this and further corroborated by posts like this.

• Let's start from the beginning of problems with this ordeal. Some players subscribed during the prerequisite time frame did not receive their access codes to buy tickets automatically and had to contact Square Enix Support in order to get one. But here's an interesting bit: the codes had no relevance. Literally, there's a post on Twitter with a screenshot of someone's access code. You can type that code into the ShowClix website and get right into the section to beginning buying tickets to NA Fanfest 2018 and the website does not recognize if a code has been used already.
• Another interesting bit at this point of the process: you could have multiple tabs open and bypass the 4-ticket per purchase limitation somehow. Seriously? So instead of the process being something sensible like verifying limitations based off of a credit/debit card, as you can see in one of the links above, where one person has $1574 in tickets in their checkout cart. Ball parking tax and being generous, that's at least nine tickets for one purchase right there.
• As if that wasn't bad enough, due to the high volume of requests to access the page, a lot likely contributed by constant refreshing, a Virtual Queue was instilled that restricted purchases. Sounds reasonable, right? However, reports have popped up that once you got through the queue to the purchase site, the URL could be copied and the Virtual Queue bypassed. So while players were legitimately waiting in a process they felt was reasonable, scalpers exploited faults in ShowClix's purchase website.
• "But the Fanfest website says tickets aren't resellable."
  Apparently, the ticket information can be edited to reflect new owners or as others on Twitter have stated, you could just hand your badge to another person at the event and won't be checked once you are inside the event.

I'd like to point out the irony in a company that's so adamant about being against reselling housing in-game that they enable a similar environment in real world terms.
While people won't be keen to the idea, SE should have ShowClix rebuke all Fanfest ticket purchases and resell tickets in a more secure form. The flame of outrage is lighting up reddit and smoldering on Twitter. It's only a matter of time before the gaming media gives Square Enix the bad press and reputation they deserve for such a severe oversight.
The community eagerly awaits a response on this matter.

[Patt]

Seconding this! It's very odd, especially in comparison to prior fan fests, that the tickets sold out so quickly in a legitimate manner. I know myself (and several others) were in queue from the exact second that sales opened (12PM PDT) and patiently waited in queue were met with a "Sold Out" message upon reaching the ticketing page.

It's really heartbreaking for those of us who already booked hotel rooms through the SE Rio partnership that went live weeks ago; now we're left with hotel reservations for an event we can't attend.

I really hope SE does something about this as it is heartbreaking and frustrating.

[Awha]

Seconding this! It's very odd, especially in comparison to prior fan fests, that the tickets sold out so quickly in a legitimate manner. I know myself (and several others) were in queue from the exact second that sales opened (12PM PDT) and patiently waited in queue were met with a "Sold Out" message upon reaching the ticketing page.

It's really heartbreaking for those of us who already booked hotel rooms through the SE Rio partnership that went live weeks ago; now we're left with hotel reservations for an event we can't attend.

I really hope SE does something about this as it is heartbreaking and frustrating.

Wait the reservation did not come with a guarantee ticket for the event the reservation partnership was intended for?

[Patt]

Nope! Convention events typically offer "blocks" of hotel rooms at or near the event location, in this case the Rio in Las Vegas. Weirdly though, these went up for reservation way before tickets for the actual event went on sale. If you wanted a chance at reserving your accommodations for the event in this manner, you had to book well in advance of the ticket sales. It makes no sense.

[Awha]

Nope! Convention events typically offer "blocks" of hotel rooms at or near the event location, in this case the Rio in Las Vegas. Weirdly though, these went up for reservation way before tickets for the actual event went on sale. If you wanted a chance at reserving your accommodations for the event in this manner, you had to book well in advance of the ticket sales. It makes no sense.

Yeah I was just shocked since you mentioned you made your reservations weeks in advance so I figured they would at the very least offer some form of guarantee bundle since you are making a reservation at the venue the event is being held. Well I guess that is how I thought the partner ship worked. That is crazy.

[o0cacoto0o]

I don't get the idea of people getting a hotel room or even buying plane tickets prior to purchasing the fanfest ticket themselves. I waited and even though it would have screwed me over in needing to go to a different hotel, I wouldn't have to deal with cancellation fees (if any). I got lucky, and I'll admit it, in getting 2 tickets for fanfest, and the hotel room at the Rio with the discount. I am baffled at how this sold in 30 minutes. Last year it took 10 hours, luckily this time I was ready just in case, but this sucks for everyone who couldn't get a ticket.

Usually any time I went to conventions, they asked for your ticket confirmation number to reserve for the hotel. This way people with tickets would get priority.

[Akira]

if this is the case i hope they do get what they deserve or re-do the whole porcess again to make up for it

[KodaDax]

There needs to be a proper response to what has happened by SE. Those who were ready at the very top of the hour to buy the tickets weren't able to.

I completely agree with Zohnax that accountability needs to be made for what has happened by ShowClix/SquareEnix, and proper resolution to this problem to where the legit "Fans" are able to actually go to "Fan"fest.

Blows my mind that proper steps weren't taken to prevent some really basic ways to cheat the system.

[Catwho]

Anyone who purchased tickets should be asked to provide their unique code sent to them in email to verify the purchase. Legit players who purchased their 4 get to keep their tix up to four max, but bots who didn't get a code, or who used the same code multiple times, would be forcibly refunded and their tickets cancelled, then the tickets go back into the general queue for next time.

If the same CC was used to purchase more than four tickets, cancel all but four.

Anyone offering to sell tickets for more than the price of $149.99 (+whatever the fees were) should have all their tickets cancelled too. I don't mind folks selling their extras, but scalping must be stopped brutally.

[dark494]

You can see the angry responses on their twitter
https://twitter.com/FF_XIV_EN/status...71625432125440

Reddit's also revolting
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...as_to_why_the/

Press is starting to write about it
https://www.runaroundnet.com/2018/07...v-players.html

More of the same confirmations about this debacle