Awww… the party’s over already? Didn’t it just start?

We spend almost a whole year planning for Fan Faire, then all of a sudden, it’s over and we’re left with raspy voices, aching bodies, exhaustion and lots and lots of memories.

Here’s a recap of my Fan Faire journey:

EverQuest was celebrating its 10th Anniversary at this Fan Faire.  We had parties, special videos, special panels, book releases, and more!

The EverQuest 10th Anniversary Celebration Panel examined the development and evolution of the EverQuest franchise and the people behind it. Moderated by veteran video game developer and personality, Jace Hall, this panel gave fans a chance to learn the story behind the game and get a glimpse into the future of EverQuest.

The EverQuest: The 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition book was made available at Fan Faire and attendees were able to get their books signed by artist Donato Giancola and other special guests.

Fan Faire also welcomed the world premier of EverCracked! The Phenomenon of EverQuest. The film, hosted by Jace Hall, included the history of EQ with never-before-seen footage and interviews with industry moguls and longtime players.

Fantasy artist Larry Elmore was also in attendance with his artwork which was available for signing.  I’ve known Larry for a few years now through our events. Very talented artist and an extremely fun person to be around!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Most of the day on Wednesday was spent finishing up a few tasks and checking on any last minute details that needed to be taken care of before heading to Vegas!

Sleep? Who needs sleep?  I actually couldn’t!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Okay, maybe I should have slept.  Thursday morning started out a bit rough for me.  Usually I plan to be at the airport three hours ahead of time.  Yes I know I’m crazy but I find lines to be more evil than I am. Unfortunately, even though I was mostly packed, I still managed to get behind schedule and ended up having to toss stuff into different suitcases.  Once I was finally packed and ready to go I headed out.

The drive to the airport was a bit comical. I decided to fly out of a different airport than usual.  Though, I have been to that airport several times before, I was so busy thinking about Fan Faire, I drove right pass it and ended up going about 30 minutes out of the way; which meant I had to drive 30 minutes back to the airport. I ended up at the airport late and missed my flight.  Luckily, I was able to catch the next flight out.

Once I arrived at the airport, I was waiting for my luggage… and waiting, and waiting and… “Hey what happened to my other bag?  Oh no, it’s not here!”  Yep, one of my bags got “misplaced” in the void. Fortunately, I didn’t have much in it but unfortunately, it had a few things I did need like some Live Quest items. I left the state of panic and rushed to one of the stores in the airport to pick up a few backup items like poker chips! Meanwhile, I had people saying “Hey it’s Zatozia” already!

I grabbed a taxi and headed to Bally’s.  The taxi line at the Vegas airport was sooooo… long.  It moved pretty fast though. 

Once I get checked in to my room, I made my way down to the convention hall to see what was needed.  After helping to set up a few things, I went to get some lunch to prepare for a long weekend!

When I came back from lunch, I checked on the Game Room computers to make sure the PCs had all they need for EQ… other games too of course.  Unfortunately, there were a couple of unexpected oopsies with the hotel’s network and overall connections.

*** Showtime! ***

Back in the old days of Fan Faire, Thursdays weren’t an official day and only a few people would show up early and everyone would hang out in one of the local bars and just shoot the breeze.  As years passed, more and more people came to Vegas early.  This year, it seems like the majority of the people arrived on Thursday! The early bird masses lined up for registration as far as the eye could see. Whoot!

As people began to crowd the room, I met up with some of the 501st guys who were attending Fan Faire to help out with the SWG Activities, including the Live Quest.  Now that’s a hologram!

Part of job on Thursday was watching over the Contest Sign-Ups “booth” table, whatever you want to call it!  While explaining to everyone what was going on for the various games, I got lots of feedback about things we can do to make it even better next year.  So thanks to those who gave me idea!

In the evening, the Welcome Reception took place. Unlike previous Fan Faires, this year, the reception actually had lots of tables, chairs, and a stage! There were lots of prizes and shenanigans by Brenlo, our favorite Master of Ceremonies.

Late Night Gaming followed the reception.  Many people came in to play in a Free Realms card game tournament and played Legends of Norrath and other games on the computers.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Friday, kicked off with a meeting.  Too bad meetings didn’t get lost with my luggage!  *smiles with an evil grin* The meeting wasn’t too bad though, we just kind of gathered to make sure everyone was focused on what they needed to do for the day!

In the early morning, we had a mini-summit with the EQ Community Leaders that came to Fan Faire.  I’m surprised everyone was able to wake up in time! Gathered in a circle with the EQ Dev team the Community Leaders in attendance were Jyve, Hulking, -Wycca, Minimind, Tharkis, TNexus, Crystallia, Saroc, and one of our news members, Chanaluss.  The main discussion was about the new expansion but many of them brought questions from the overall community.  Unfortunately, the session was shorter than it normally would be due to scheduling conflicts.  The meeting was still very productive for everyone.

I had to cut out of the meeting a little early so that I could get things prepared for Friday’s Live Quests sessions.

EQ’s Live Quest - The Dungeon Relics

Throughout the history of Norrath, monumental events have occurred but the stories that are heard have always been through the voice and words of those approved by various rulers.  The mission of the Society of Mechanology was to uncover the truth!  Not long ago, a rift was opened in Plane of Time during a series of events. This rift caused chaos all across Norrath.  While others are already researching the rift and chaos, the Society of Mechanology sought to uncover the truth behind the destruction of time. The Seeds of the Destruction were soon revealed and brave adventurers begun helping to heal time.

The Society of Mechanology seeks to continue their research.  While researching Norrath’s past, they discovered a journal that hinted of relics of great power within several ancient dungeons of Norrath. Engineer Boggle Toggle, the leader of the Society Mechanology, once again sought the assistance of brave adventurers to retrieve each of the relics.

At the border of dungeon, the groups had to do a /random check to see which version of the dungeon they will need to open to complete the task. 

  • Solve a puzzle – If they rolled this option, they received a puzzle to complete.

  • Scare off the boss – If they rolled this option, they had to sing a song about the dungeon, or in one case, they had to pretend to be a troll.

  • Charm the boss – For this option, they were asked to pretend to be an evil eye, use their tradeskills to create a totem, write a poem, or even bring back a list of scavenger items.

  • Create a train - Using the provided supplies, each member of the group had to participate in causing a train. Some were very creative with their trains.

  • Sacrifice a group member –Unfortunately, one group ended up rolling this option several times! For this option, the groups were asked to either work mines by transporting gems to a mining cart or they were asked to perform a ritual.

  • Defeat the boss – No they weren’t asked to actually kill anyone! For this one, they played a game of war against the boss, played a race game, searched for dragon, eggs, performed an incantation, or tossed victims into a pit. 

In some cases the Bosses of the dungeons gave their own twists to the tasks!

Thank you to the wonderful EQ Guide Program for helping out with the Live Quest once again. Without you guys, the Live Quests would... well they would have no life!

The Winners of the Live Quest were the  members of the Group Funnelers of Fennin Ro

  • Freerez (Northstar Legion, Fennin Ro)
  • Veneva (New Dawn Rising, Fennin Ro)
  • Zaknafin (New Dawn Rising, Fennin Ro)
  • Jaddaren (New Dawn Rising, Fennin Ro)
  • Maleificent (New Dawn Rising, Fennin Ro)
  • Jessex (Northstar Legion, Fennin Ro)
  • Sheebangs (Northstar Legion, Fennin Ro)
  • Ragz (Northstar Legion, Fennin Ro)
  • Vandaydar (New Dawn Rising, Fennin Ro)
  • Mirsad (New Dawn Rising, Fennin Ro)

Congratulations Again!

EQ Panels

At the EQ development panels on Friday, attendees were able to ask developers questions about Game Mechanics, Quest Design, and other general questions.  Unique this year was the Quest Design Panel.  Attendees were walked through the tools the designers use to create the quests.  The Quest Workshop panel returned this year as well.  In that panel, everyone was broken up into different groups and worked with designers in actually hands-on experience at building a quest.

Community Address

After the panel sessions ended, The 3rd Annual Community Address was given by John Smedley, SOE’s President and CEO along with the Production teams for some of our games and departments.  EQ’s Producer, Thom Terrazas gave everyone an update on what’s ahead for EverQuest, including the announcement of EQ’s next expansion, Underfoot.

Party

EQ’s 10th Anniversary Bash followed the Community Address.  Karaoke, food, drinking, dancing, even breakdancing, and lots of fun! For the hard core folks, the Mayong 51/50 Server was made available to play onsite for Fan Faire Attendees.  Many went back and forth from playing to partying!

As if all the excitement at Fan Faire and Vegas wasn’t enough, a few of us managed to stay up late playing board games.  “Oh, I’m going to hate myself in the morning.”

Saturday, June 27, 2009

“Yep, I hate myself for staying up so late!”

EQ Best of the Best

I had to get up very early to make sure everything was all set for the Best of the Best challenge.  After making sure all the machines were patched and the accounts were logged in ready to go, I went to the morning meeting!

A big thanks to SOE’s Phil Tish and RIP’s Quicklick for MC’ing the Best of the Best this year in Brenlo’s absence.  They both did a great job!

This year, we did something different with the Best of the Best. We automated it. EQ Designers – Absor and Aristo helped create a fantastic Best of the Best challenge. With the changes, characters were set to level 85, a fiery circle surrounded the battle area of the arena, and shrunk as time progressed.  In addition, there were skeletons, zombies, tigers, and oh my… a dragon if people took too long to kill each other.  There was no use hiding, you would be found. The fiery wall knocked people back into the middle of the arena if they tried to leave the perimeter.  There were a few hiccups with actual set up but this new structure seemed to work our great!

And the winners were:

First Place:

  • Arrica (Rest in Peace, The Tribunal)

Second Place:

  • Romiah (Rest in Peace, The Tribunal)

Third Place:

  • Bassette (Pravus Mortis, Druzzil Ro)

Other Finalists and Preliminary Round Winners:

  • Beimeith (Township Rebellion, Luclin)
  • Deepess (Triton, Povar)
  • Kahrn (Diehards)
  • Mulleg (Township Rebellion, Luclin)
  • Zorezriz (Final Destination, Quellious)

EQ Panels

The EQ Panels on Saturday were the Mayong (51/50) Server Demo, a repeat of the Game Mechanics panel for those who couldn’t make it on Friday, a Raid Workshop and a panel showing off the Underfoot Expansion.  The Raid Workshop was new to Fan Faire.  It was set up similar to the quest workshop.  Everyone brought up into groups and was able to work together in the raid creation process.  The expansion panel highlighted zone art, lore, and features of the expansion.

Banquet

In the evening, the Grand Banquet took place, there were several presentations including rewards for Live Quest and Tournaments, the costume contest, and acknowledging the two Players of the Year (Palarran of Rest in Peace on The Tribunal for EQ!)

In the wee hours of the morning, I hung out with several late nighters.  We hung out for drinks, chatting, watching gambling, and watching a certain kilted shaman get approached by someone who wanted a unique picture with him. Sorry I can’t share the picture here!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I only ended up getting about an hour of sleep!

Fan Faire was officially over at the close of the banquet.  However, it didn’t end it for most of us.  We still had to tear down computers, displays, tables, etc. and pack it all up for shipping home.

After all was done it was finally time to head back home!

Special thanks go out to gifts I received while at Fan Faire. I decided not to mention specific names to keep other people from feeling left out.  But thanks for the Vegas Survival Guide, the Wookiee Survival Kit, happy face stickers, drinks (no alcoholic), faction modifiers, being able to hang out with old-schoolers *wink* you know who you are, and for all the many stories and memories that people shared with me while there.  I really do love Fan Faire!

Hope to see you all at the next one!

Zatozia the Torturess
Community Relations Manager

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