It was the best of times it was the worst of times…hmm a tale of two cities doesn’t seem to work here when trying to talk about a great experience and Fan Faire.
A NEWBIE’S GLANCE AT LA GRANDE FAIRE
Seeing as this was my first Fan Faire I was able to attend it was a completely new experience for me and quite a few other people that I talked with.
I was interested to hear what other first timers thought of the experience. We all came to the general consensus that this was one of the most enlightening, entertaining, and amazing experiences that you can have.
The scale of such a venue is amazing, there were simply so many people happy to participate in all the activities that we had from Dev panels, to Live Quests, and Best of the Best competitions. If you can imagine hundreds of people swarming around to find some piece of a puzzle from a Live Quest or hunting around to find some feathers or gems it was pretty awe inspiring. I had planned for around 50 groups of 10-15 people to attend, so that may give an idea as to how big just the EQII Live Quest was.
THE TRIP
Waking up at the crack of dawn to take an early flight out to Atlanta was an interesting experience, even more so seeing as it was raining in San Diego. Rain and San Diego doesn’t mix all that well and there was a good amount of traffic getting to the airport.
I cut the flight close this time, I barely was able to check in my luggage and hop in the plane before we took off. I literally picked up the boarding pass, went through security, and hopped on the plane.
Layovers do have a way of being interesting each time, it never fails. In Dallas the Tram system was impressive. It was the first time being to “The Big D” but from what I saw on the plane it looked like a neat place.
Hopped on the flight from Dallas to ATL and off we went, when your on a plane for a couple hours you get used to it, but I’m not sure if I ever can really get used to flying. It just seems a bit odd to look out of your window and see nothing underneath immediately.
Landing in ATL was interesting, we took 2 passes at the runway since it couldn’t be cleared in time but other than that it was smooth. Waiting for luggage took a while, I flew in with a group from SOE and we were a bit apprehensive as time ticked off the clock and our luggage was no where to be seen. We’ve all heard those stories of how luggage gets lost and I didn’t want to be “just another victim”. It took a while but the luggage came in safe and sound, except for one of my co-workers whom had the unfortunate circumstance that is luggage on the next flight.
INC “SHOT GLASSES THAT DON’T FIT”
Ok so after we arrived in “ATL” or Atlanta as most of the world calls it we put away our belongings in our rooms and head down to the Champion’s lounge in the Marriott.
I was apprehensive about meeting everyone at first but as time went on I got pretty comfortable and started chatting with people.
Quite a few people (not myself) were partaking in a ritual that is known as an “Irish Car Bomb”. Ok bad name for a drink but it’s even worse when it can’t be done properly. You take Guinness and dunk a shot glass full of Bailey’s into it while the Bailey’s is still in the shot glass. These glasses didn’t quite fit in the beer glasses so there were a couple of people that got Guinness all over. I think the later it got the less people cared about that.
Seeing how everyone was hanging out and having fun, I knew there were more good times to come…
“WHERE ADVENTURE COMES ALIVE”
Fan Faire Day 1 (Thursday) didn’t bring the promise of pie or anything along those lines but it did bring a start to the new day and getting everything set up just right for all the people we were expecting to come. Prep for this is a task and a half. The team was setting up kiosks, computers, and stuffing the “goodie bags” so there was a good deal of work that needed to be done. Needless to say it was all done in time.
Doors opened up and the flood of Fan Faire attendees poured in. The line was a bit on the long side but it didn’t take too long to process them all.
The Devs that came along and those outside the community who were invited specifically for the community summit attended meetings (which seemed to take up most of the day). Not much else to say from my end here since I didn’t get the chance to attend.
As night time rolled around we met up with people we knew and hung out. Thus ending the day…and in some cases starting it for other people.
Day 2(Friday) brought the masses out, which was impressive. At around we started the Live Quest, we had some great actors who just happen to be Guides and everything went according to plan. I made the quest tough since I have heard that many like to use laptops and the like to solve problems. I walked around for the most part of that quest and it seems as though everyone had a good time. There were a bunch of people who were on their laptops trying to solve the puzzles and riddles as I expected, but no one finished for at least an hour.
I was able to spend a good amount of time mingling with the players and listening to them, it was a good time. Also seeing a Ranger win the EQ Best of the Best competition was pretty impressive, I tip my hat to him.
There was a Welcome Reception later on that night at around where the winners of the Friday competitions were announced. Congratulations to Team Uglyen for winning the EQII Live Quest!
There were also other things that occurred that were rather unique to Fan Faire, such as guys putting on girls pink babydoll T-Shirts for prizes. Not much more you can say about that…
After the ceremonies and celebration everyone headed to the Tabernacle…
“A REBEL YELL”
Now the Tabernacle is something that you kind of have to see to really believe, there are 3 floor levels.
As you enter the building there is a small flight of stairs then you have a choice, go up the stairs to either side or go downstairs.
At the bottom is a basement where there was a Karaoke band played while choosing either side stairway led you to a grand sort of gymnasium feeling area with a stage. Going up the stairs even further led you to a small sitting area with a bar. On that same level there was a stadium type sitting area that overlooked the “gymnasium”.
The place that seemed that everyone congregated to was the basement where the karaoke band played. Let me tell you something, they made everyone sound good (possibly because they would turn the mic down a bit sometimes on the karaoke singers). All in all I have to say it was good stuff, even though I’m not a huge rock person how can you not get into “Rebel Yell”.
The place was closed down at which seemed a bit early and there were quite a few people leading the charge to the local pubs and other clubs so I suppose it wasn’t just me who thought that. I ended up just hanging out and even saw a few co-workers later on that night.
I think some of the late nights might be contributed to us getting used to East Coast time. It’s a bit tough when you’re from the West Coast and you realize that 12:00AM is only 9:00PM our time…need I really say more?
We stayed up a while just talking and hanging out some odd time in the AM comes around, now lest we say we knew there was a storm coming in but you could seriously hear the rain pour down. Saavedra, Sandor, and I head outside and needless to say it felt like you were under a waterfall. You know that misty feeling, well you would know if you were under a waterfall and this is what it felt like while under the protection of the awning at the Marriott. After that we called it a night.
DAY 3…AND MORE
Saturday was Day 3 for Fan Faire and there were some great activities lined up, Best of the Best for EQII, EQ Live Quest, and Le Grande Ball to close out the day.
Best of the Best started early at (possibly this was a way to weed out those who were partying all night) but the tournament got on its way. Unfortunately there were some technical difficulties that couldn’t be resolved so the tournament was cancelled with no winner announced.
The EQ Live Event I didn’t participate in as I was roaming around talking with different players but I can say everyone looked like they were really into it and the smiles as folks ran across the rooms were priceless.
I was also able to catch some of the panels that were taking place such as the Tradeskill panel for EQII, great stuff. I hung out in the back as I came in a little late, but others joined me with their little babies so that was neat. Not always will you see the tiny ones at these sorts of conventions but it made this unique. I am happy to say I didn’t make them cry!
I even had a bit of time to sit down and talk with the EQ2-Daily.com guys for their podcast. It was fun but I was a little tired so I may not sound “normal”, although who really knows what normal is with me. Cyan, Rot, and Val are really good guys and I was glad to participate in the podcast with them.
Next thing you know it’s time to get ready and go to the Grande Ball.
LA GRANDE BALL
The Final Banquet, La Grande Ball, or whatever you would like to call it was great. There was an auditorium that was just packed full of people at dinner tables. The massive showing was impressive.
I do have to say, Brenlo loves the microphone. He was entertaining the crowd and didn’t miss a beat. I do think that the games that were done on stage were great. There was a memorable Pirate “YARRRR” game which Blackguard lost to Coyote. Then there was also a Beat Box competition which Blackguard lost to Phane of Elysium…Notice a trend here? I think Blackguard was just exhausted since I’ve heard him Beat Box before, he just sounded a bit flat.
Even though there wasn’t a winner for the EQII Best of the Best competition there were prizes raffled off to those who entered that competition. Congratulations to all those winners! I believe they won an Ipod shuffle.
If you didn’t already know, Brenlo had his birthday on Saturday as well and there was a “Sing like Marilyn Monroe’s Birthday song” competition. Let me just say that was an interesting experience and you had to be there.
There was a short intermission between things and during which time a marriage proposal took place. This pretty much left everyone standing up and clapping. Good luck to you both!
At the Banquet I had the opportunity to sit with Larry Elmore who was hanging out with the Aggro Fish. Larry Elmore if you didn’t know is a great Fantasy artist and a great person as well. I noticed Coyotee was drooling a bit while talking with him, but that’s ok we all seemed to have a good time listening to Larry.
The Banquet ended as DJ Geoffro spun some records, which was nice and pleasant way to end the evening…
CHAMPIONS AS ALWAYS…
Ending the evening is always difficult when you have everyone lounging around at the local bar inside the Marriott called Champions. We ended up there after the Banquet and that’s where I met up again with Aggro Me and the EQ2-Daily guys (minus Cyan). We talked for a good long time and came up with some crazy cockamamie ideas; it could be the lack of sleep talking there.
THE LONG WAY HOME
Now we’re up again and ready to go on Sunday, most of us helped pack up things downstairs and it hits you that it’s over. You look around and you just say wow…
We hop on the shuttle to the airport and lo and behold Kendricke and Arthias from Caster’s Realm are on board. I didn’t happen to have the opportunity to talk with them much during Fan Faire but it was good to talk with them on the shuttle.
Off we go on our flight to Chicago which is pretty far diagonally to San Diego. We end up in Chicago and well it was just interesting to see your plane that you’re supposed to take to San Diego decommissioned because there is a hydraulic leak. A new plane was sourced for our expedition home and off we went once again (even though it was an hour late).
is about the time that I got out of the Airport, what more can I say…it was indeed a long day.
THE DAY AFTER
In all honesty I didn’t know what to expect, let’s face it I’m a “don’t believe it until you experience it” type of person. I heard from quite a few people that it was a great time to interact with the players and such but you really never know until you are there.
Now that it’s over it’s hard to really come to grip with what really transpired over the last few days. Last night when I got back I thought about Fan Faire and what it really means. I suppose it will mean different things to everyone but I can say one thing is certain; Fan Faire is about the community, and what a great one it is.
I am proud to say that the EQII community as well as all SOE communities are strong; YOU the community are what make our games so great. So while I have seen people giving a shout out to SOE, I in turn must give a shout out to the community. YOU ALL ROCK!
Until next Fan Faire…
NOTE: This was written mainly regarding EQII as that is what I participated in most
