FFXIV FanFest 2018 Feedback - Thoughts, Appreciations, Criticisms

[ExKage]

First of all, I had to wait because I had to get home and get access to a keyboard and a screen to be able to formulate my ideas properly, even then I don't think I have haha. THANK YOU.



Many of the criticisms I have once had for the 2014 Rio FanFest and the 2016 Paris (LV) FanFest were addressed. 2014's registration line issue was dealt with in 2016 but I have to really, really thank you for how well it was handled this year in 2018.

Merchandise:
I wish that more items would be in-stock but I can only say that hope the merch team can anticipate how much your audience loves to buy them. I am so so glad that the store was able to fix my issues (barring the $4 something tax that was charged to The Best OST) during the pre-order process. I received the link to my order from store support. When I had it brought to the merchandise pre-order pickup, things went so smoothly. We got in the line to get our merch and it progressed quite efficiently and expediently. My $700+ order was carefully and diligently checked. I felt a bit sorry for the lone staff member carrying more than 7lbs of merchandise spread out between two of the bags. By lunch things were all completely finished and I just had to figure out what to do with friends coming in! Thank you so much for this refined process!

Lines/Security in the Hotel/Casino/Conference floor:
Thank you for having staff that was able to articulate or understand certain needs. Knowing where to stand or where the line split off, etc while we waited to get into the FanFest area or where we wouldn't block other entrances worked well with the staff and the banners. Everyone from the staff, the security, to everyone else I could possibly name were extremely courteous in my interactions. I know I lined up early some days, well before security would start letting people in. Thank you for your own energy and enthusiasm!!

I think most will agree that the stage events are always a blast so I want to cover the activities I was able to get to. I admit to not liking being in line on hard floors without constantly moving so when the lines were long my feet hurt more so I had to rest and decided not to tackle some more challenges. I was able to try out the Kugane Tower climb (I have actually never done this climb even in game), completed Yojimbo, completed the Fashion Report, and win my Dueling Circle match. I admit that Yojimbo is the one I needed to hit first so that's what I did. After failing once, I immediately went back into the line and then sharing my experience of the fight with the next group I had. We cleared! It was great and THESE STAMPS!!!!! I would like to tell you that I thought the stamps were otterly amazing

The fight stick for the Dueling Circle! I really enjoyed this 'new' take on how to make custom input controllers. The character movement isn't the one I was used to but I took to using it with DRG easily.

I didn't get to tackle the Challenge Roulette but the challenges I had heard were very fun! I definitely would have loved trying it if I hadn't started to get exhausted.

Gold Saucer: How otterly fun is it really? A lot! I was otterly amazed with how things have turned around since the activities of 2014.

Names Wall: Thank you for removing the world names and letting us Warriors of Light/Darkness choose. Before, each world would have their own section and things either got overlapped or outshone. I think it helps more than it hurts this way.

Art Gallery: Small criticism is that in at least 2016, the art contest had the art hanging on what seemed to be sturdier stuff. I saw a few people get so close in the cramped quarters of moving through the art submissions that the panels holding up this year's submissions swayed.

The screens and audio displays:
I was worried with the idea of having the gaming and store areas separate but THANK YOU for having so much more space this time around. In 2016, we were all in one room and even with the screens around the hall I was still unable to hear many announcements (like how apparently the line to the merchandise store had closed hours ago and I was in line to No Man's Land). This year the display panels were plentiful and I could hear everything clearly when I was in line.

tl;dr: I really enjoyed this event. A lot of the issues if not all of them from previous FanFests in NA were all resolved. I was able to experience what I wanted, more than I had in 2016 when all I did was essentially stand in lines. I hope all of your staff's voices recover soon. I know there were some snafus (ticket sales with the demand so high) but I had an amazing time and it honestly could not have happened if you hadn't planned as you all had this time. Thank you, and I hope to be able to get a ticket to enjoy the next one in North America when it comes!

[reiichi]

FanFest was absolutely amazing this year! I feel like a lot of the issues I had in previous years was addressed much better, although there's always room to grow.

Ticket Purchasing:
I feel like this still needs some improvement. It's clear that even though each FanFest for North America has been larger than the last, we still encountered the dreaded demand > supply issue. I do hope that future events will allow more people to come. Or perhaps for another day, as I was not able to make all the gaming challenges while trying to balance getting through the merchandise line and certain "required" panels I knew I wanted to watch live.

Registration:
Like the 2016 Vegas FanFest, this was handled about as well as I think it could be. It ultimately comes down to how much space and staff can be allocated for the lines. To allieviate some of the congestion, would it be possible to split the badges and goodie bags? One thing I miss from the very first FanFest was the personalized badge with my choice of World and Character Name. Perhaps we could do something like pre-printing badges and mailing them to the buyer[s]? Then, on each badge, stick the QR code on the back so that it can be referenced in-system for goodie bag pickup. This could also assist in helping find or replace lost badges, as each badge would be tied to the person who purchased it. (Add requiring ID, and one could easily reduce the worry of scalpers by making their lives harder.)

Pre-order Merchandise:
The pre-order merchandise idea was GREAT! Please do this again! While I'dh ave loved to have been able to buy multiple items of certain times (lore book[s] to send to friends, certain plushes, etc), I understand that gauging demand can be quite difficult. But with two years of purchase data to compare to, I think that'll be a little easier to compare. Certain things tend to sell out every time. I hope this data can assist in increased production.

Regular Merchandise:
I was a little sad to see that the in-person merchandise line did not match what was available for purchase online. While I'm certain many of these items will eventually make it to the online store after all of the FanFests have concluded, it was a similar issue to what I experienced with the pre-order supply. I hope in the future, we'll see some of this addressed. I did like that the line was capped off and blocked by staff to ensure that people weren't going to get into line when many of the items they wanted were no longer available. However, as one of the people to be in the first batch of the line, I was a little surprised to have seen that some items sold out in the first wave. (Carbuncle Slippers, to be exact). In the future, I hope that we'll have a larger supply and variety of items.

Venue Selection and Staff:
A big thank you to all SE staff and Rio staff who helped make the even go as smoothly as possible! The bag checks were quick! The lines were handled without major issues. In 2014, there simply wasn't enough space for everything. In 2016, we had a lot of issues with line management. Both of these were addressed very nicely for 2018! I'm interested in seeing how this further improved in future FanFests.

Screens and Audio/Streams:
In the main panel room, these were a great help and could easily be heard. In the Merchandise line, these were mostly easy to see, but hard to hear some of the time. In the gaming room, we could see the display, but there was far too much noise between people and PCs to really make out any of the speaking. If possible, could some basic captions be implemented? We don't necessarily need the exact words or perfect spelling, but some quick text to summarize what was said or being talked about would have been really useful in the louder spaces, or while trying to catch up on a stream.

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Overall, I had a great time at FanFest and I hope all the staff did too! This year's was vastly improved and it was great getting to meet up with friends who I'd only see at FanFest. Looking forwards to 4.5 and 5.0!

[LalalanoPipipi]

I don't think this is necessarily a fault on the XIV team's part, but the lack of communication before The Primals concert was so insanely stressful. We tried to ask staff members what was going on and even they didn't know, there was a lack of communication clear across the board. And then when they let us in, the flood gates opened and people stormed the stage from all sides. I'd be shocked if someone wasn't hurt in the madness. For myself, my ribs are insanely sore after a man next to me elbowed the heck out of me to try and get a better spot. I've been to quite a few concerts and have never seen entry handled so poorly, that was a legitimate safety concern. There were people who arrived as early as possible to get good seats and sat through things they were otherwise uninterested in (Feast...) just to have a chance at being front for the concert, only to wind up in the back in all of the confusion. Next year they should implement a better system for the concert, possibly a ticket system or even just a proper line.

Other thoughts, I feel like they should set aside an hour or two for a proper autograph panel. Just have a couple devs behind a desk and shuffle us through. I get that it's nice and feels special to find them in the wild, but so many people were left disappointed when the lines would get capped and they got turned away. I mean, still let us meet them around the floor but I'm sure the lines would be better if people thought they had a more solid chance to get an autograph or if they already got one.

There's also the entire ticket sale debacle, but I certainly don't have any suggestions to fix that. Clearly all the people who made it there were legitimate fans, it just seems like Fan Fest is that popular now. I guess I'd just suggest capping it at one per person.

I might get a little pushback for admitting this, but security was a little lax. :P Once you were past security, no one bothered to look or check for badges. I know a bunch of people used one or two tickets to sneak people in. I wouldn't doubt this is why we had so many people who had to sit on the floor.

Oh, and on the topic of the concert again, the acoustics were pretty unfortunate. I couldn't hear Susan at all, and I was barrier. I realize issues happen so for all we know it was entirely out of their hands, but it'd be nice to be able to hear everything next year!

[screamercy]

I spent a little over $5000 on pre order merchandise so don't feel bad lol. I had to make 3 trips to the car, so many bags.

The only suggestion I have was to make the Primals concert longer. The schedule said 7:00 - 8:30 but it was hardly 7:15 to 8ish. I don't remember it being this short back in 2016.

[Avenger]

TL;DR: FanFest was really cool and fun - I wish more of my FC had gotten to go!!

Coolest and Most Exciting Things

• Live announcement of 5.0: Shadowbringers expansion, and Blue Mage in patch 4.5!!
• Live and personal interaction with FFXIV principals: Yoshi-P/Soken/Yokozawa/Koji/Foxclon et al.
• Many cool and fun in-game events (Challenge Roulette, Yojimbo Battle, etc.)
• Primals concert!!! Rocked. (Piano concert also excellent, and tear-inducing!!)
• Cosplayers! They really brought their A game
• Excellent merch that you could actually preorder and pick up before the show!! Went very smoothly (no more merch line savage!)
• Live Q&A!! I just wanted a lot more of it!!
• Nice swag (Nice, functional FFXIV backpack and pins/coasters/magnet) I have gotten lots of comments on the backpack and shirts from random FF fans
• Meeting and hanging out with players and fans from all over!
• Aetheryte and Kugane were beautiful, and great landmarks/rendezvous points
• Player signature wall continues to be great (though it was too small this time haha!)

Things to Improve / Suggestions for future events

• Ticket queue savage?!! Tickets should not sell out in 2 minutes!! Clearly demand >>> supply; could do advance preregistration (e.g. comic-con returning badge presale is 10 months in advance) so that everyone who wants to attend can go!! Two people in my FC who wanted to buy tickets weren't able to because they sold out instantly!! ;-(
• Primals concert logistics were apparently a mess (but I came in after the rush so it was OK for me)
• Primals concert itself was so good but too short! (started late and only went until 8 rather than 8:30 on schedule)
• I wish the game areas had been open longer - it was very hard to attend panels *and* do the games, since lines started shutting down early each day (5pm?!); 3 days would be better, even if there were larger gaps between main stage events; I would have appreciated more slack time to play and hang out
• I miss the pre-fanfest reception they had at the first one - it was nice to have server meetups and also to have more time to hang out with the FFXIV folks
• I didn't make it into the autograph lines (Soken, Susan, Koji?) because they were instantly capped (but I later ran into Yoshi-P and Foxclon randomly and they were kind enough to sign my things!! Many thanks!!
• Item codes should be at least timed exclusive like last time - having them available on mogstation on day 1 made them seem a bit less amazing
• On the other hand, I don't think the concerts need to be exclusive - they were so good they really deserve to be streamed and enjoyed by everyone I think
• More Q&A time!! Few questions can be asked in 1 hour, since they have to be translated both ways!
• Most event staff were great and clearly played the game, but others hadn't and weren't as enthusiastic or helpful, especially in the game areas
• My brand new lore book item code didn't work - gave me "this code has already been registered" error
• Unlike previous years, it was constantly very crowded and was standing room only for the presentations; more seating would be nice, and more in-game event stations wouldn't be bad either
• Event food line was long and nearby Starbucks and Hash House closed early
• It was hard to determine the show hours and when each area opened and closed each day - didn't seem to be listed in the program
• OMG the smoke in the Rio almost killed me - still coughing up crap from it, bleh; wish I had found a smoke-free path from room to convention floor, but even the hallways were smoky and the ground casino floor was Hell's Lid
• I still wish we didn't have to wait two years for the next event!! (especially since this one sold out so quickly)

Thank You!!!!

Thanks so much to everyone from SE who came to FanFest and/or helped out in any way, and also to all the fans who came!!

And special thanks to the FFXIV Dev Team for working really hard to create this game which brings us a lot of fun, happiness, and friendship! I like how Yoshi-P was honest about some missteps (SB launch server meltdown aka Raubahn Savage) and noted that the game may have its ups and downs, but overall I have had a great time with the game, and Fanfest just crystallized it into a very good mood and enthusiasm for all things FFXIV as well as anticipation for BLU and 5.0!!!

[Avenger]

I might get a little pushback for admitting this, but security was a little lax. :P Once you were past security, no one bothered to look or check for badges. I know a bunch of people used one or two tickets to sneak people in. I wouldn't doubt this is why we had so many people who had to sit on the floor.

Wow, that is definitely possible!
On the other hand, I really liked that I was never yelled at by aggressive security staff to "show your badge!" even when it is obviously visible and I'm trying to have a nice and fun time.
Freer movement and fewer choke points within the convention also reduces hallway crowding and backup and makes it a lot faster to get from place to place. It's also safer for emergencies. (Cosplayers also look cooler without prominent badges. Except Namazu maybe.)

[Kalinas]

I was able to attend all 3 FanFests and I have to say this one was the best yet! There are a few things though that I wish had been different.

Ticket Purchasing:
I think everyone felt the stress of the ticket sales savage. I mean aside from more tickets and a reliable code input for buying (people being able to skip queue with the URL was not the best feeling). The other thing is…please don’t put hotel reservation up before the actual tickets are sold. The rooms were all taken and I had to find another place to stay.

Registration:
It went fairly smoothly this year. Though I wish there had been a 24hr pick up somewhere to help reduce the number of people in the morning. I loved that the badges were a nice hard plastic again. Getting the loot bags while fun and really great stuff inside was also stressful as I felt a little rushed as I checked to make sure I had each item before moving on.

I agree with others that I really missed having Character Names/Worlds on the badges. It made it easier to interact with others as we could see the names we were familiar with from online. I’ve take sharpies to my last two badges and added my game info, but it didn’t look as nice.

I really like this idea:

One thing I miss from the very first FanFest was the personalized badge with my choice of World and Character Name. Perhaps we could do something like pre-printing badges and mailing them to the buyer[s]? Then, on each badge, stick the QR code on the back so that it can be referenced in-system for goodie bag pickup. This could also assist in helping find or replace lost badges, as each badge would be tied to the person who purchased it. (Add requiring ID, and one could easily reduce the worry of scalpers by making their lives harder.)

I was talking to friends and we all missed having a pre-fanfest reception/party like the one they had at the first fanfest or even like the second which was more of a meet on the strip and party type of thing which was also fun.

When it came to the Bonus Item codes one thing I kept hearing was that people wished they had been held a year before going straight to mogstation. I get that, I mean we don’t even have Yuna, Lulu, Rikku or any of other outfits from 2016 active on it yet. I dunno…I can see it both ways, them doing this to avoid people selling the codes for high prices online for the year.

Pre-order Merchandise:
This was probably one of the biggest areas of improvement. I didn’t have to worry about not getting items I wanted. There were a ton of things to pre-order as well which was very nice.

Regular Merchandise:
Then when it came to the actual FanFest merch on site, I was disappointed for a couple of reasons. The first being that items like Emerald Carbuncle and the Spriggan Hat weren’t available for purchase. I had been on the fence about them when I was settling my pre-orders and decided that I wanted to see them at FanFest before buying one. I know I can get them online in a few months, but it’s one of those things that are just more fun to wear with other FFXIVers. Later when I saw that not all the items from the pre-order site were available…I was gutted.

The second thing that was actually kind of annoying was that new items would appear randomly for sale and you had to keep checking in to see if for example a Spriggan hat would pop up. It never did, but I did get a Fat Chocobo Blanket. I do wish there had been more of each item available as I had friends who decided on Saturday that they wanted something only for it to be sold out already. The capping of the line with real time card windows was excellent. The staff at the store was all very friendly as well and I was really happy with the services.

Venue Selection and Staff:
Over all my interactions with the Rio staff and venue were pretty good. I loved the way that FanFest activities were divided up so that it wasn’t as compact and crowded. The lines were handled fairly smoothly. Bag checks went well aside from the fact that everyone having the same bag led to a few swapped belongings on two occasions (it was sorted out quickly though and returned to my friends). I will say having another entry way that avoided the smoke filled casino would have been a welcome addition for my contacts.

Challenges and Games:
I really wish there had been some other option to get a stamp for the activities. This is a place where I admit to losing patience. If you’re trying to attend panels or in line for autographs for example, then it gets really hard to get everything done. I was able to complete a lot, but the lines for some activities like Kugane Tower were just too much…especially when you have to beat the content for the stamp like Challenge Roulette or Yojimbo. I felt the like a duty timer was ticking down the whole fanfest.

I’ve done the tower jump in-game three times already and didn’t want to stand in line for 60+ minutes just to do it again, so I chose not to get that stamp in the end. I also had a friend who has a fear of heights and all she wanted was the postcard as that was the last stamp she needed. On the last day towards the end of Fanfest, she asked if she could just get a stamp since it was only a participation thing (unlike Yojimbo wear you have to win), but they wanted her to wait in the line just to sit down and fall off basically. When she tried to explain her issue with it, the staff member was actually pretty rude about it. Then they closed the line. Just glad we have the community that we do…someone in line traded her cards and said they were going to try the tower again anyway.

I loved the Gold Saucer area and the Kugane sitting area (even if it was always full lol). More themed zones like that would have been amazing. I loved attuning to the Aetheryte and getting a pic. In general, more photo op areas would be perfect…even better if you had places for cosplayers to pose. Speaking of pics, the 3D photo was super fun as well!

Screens and Audio/Streams:
I was going to sit and type out all the following, but someone else has already said it basically:

In the main panel room, these were a great help and could easily be heard. In the Merchandise line, these were mostly easy to see, but hard to hear some of the time. In the gaming room, we could see the display, but there was far too much noise between people and PCs to really make out any of the speaking. If possible, could some basic captions be implemented? We don't necessarily need the exact words or perfect spelling, but some quick text to summarize what was said or being talked about would have been really useful in the louder spaces, or while trying to catch up on a stream.

I do want to tack on though that captions should have been there. No reason not to have them. It helps everyone. I have Deaf friends and there weren’t even interpreters on stage for the big panels. This isn’t just for the people at the actual event (Lord knows I saw enough people struggling to get assistance for their own accessibility challenges), but for all the people on stream too.

Signings:
I’ll be honest…I gave up on trying to get autographs. It was just too stressful to see lines form and people getting turned away. Maybe one year I will get Koji and Yoshida’s autographs on my FFXIV game case, but it wasn’t this year. I wish there was a dedicated place for people to get signings or even a lottery for people to enter for a chance to meet and greet the team.

Concerts:
These were amazing! There were some sound quality issues, but overall it was so fun. The addition of the standing area for Primals was good, but people weren’t told and so had to leave seats which caused confusion. Also people who actually had seats but were standing was also a thing…kinda blocked the view of other sitters. As always more songs would be good. I really wanted Susan to sing Sophia’s Equilibrium (esp after that Lakshmi's Theme she did). Still waiting for that Primals/Susan Remix of Answers (hint, hint).

[Dustytome]

As someone that just watched the streaming my only gripe was about 80% of the time I couldn't seem to hear any attendees when they were talking into the mic. I'm not sure if there were audio issues with the mics or if people were whispering (understandable to be nervous), but it was going from staff talking clearly to near silence.