Fan Faire - Day.... Wait, it's Over??

Wow.  That was intense. Two days of mingling with nearly 2000 gamers, developers, fansite people, and game characters.  I have a spiral notebook full of notes and four hours of panel audio recordings to go through.  Sorry folks, some of this will just have to wait until I get back to Alaska (but I'll be working on it on the plane).

My impressions of Fan Faire are still a blur.  I spent time talking to Paul Molina, EQII Lore guy, about the new expansion (I had to swear on my NDA.  This is going to be SO COOL!).  Dan Kinney and I chatted about the Station Launcher.  I hung out with the Free Realms guys and talked hard core gamers into giving it a try. 

Friday I went to the EQ2 Potpourri panel, which was largely Q&A and much to my amazement the devs hardly said "Ask me after Smed's address."  Then of course we had the Annual Address, followed by a party.

Many people seemed to be missing Saturday morning after the party....  We did our ZAM panel in the morning (thanks to everyone who came, you had great questions).  I headed to the Crossroads room and had my backpack stolen by a Robgoblin.  Eventually, I made the second screening of Evercracked, which you HAVE to see when it comes out in a couple of months.  After making running jokes about having to clear the bathroom instance, I spent the next three hours in panels.

By mid-day Saturday I had completely lost my voice, which makes asking the tough questions REALLY hard.  My husband and boss were endlessly amused by my frustration.

Then we had the grand banquet, which was Tex-Mex, and lots of people being humiliated by Brenlo.  The costumes were especially good this year.  You may know that Brasse retired from the costume contest.  Well this year, had she chosen to enter, she would have had some serious competition.  Hubby did the "burly guy in teeny t-shirts" thing and got a new video card.

As everything wound down and hubby and I are wandering around Paris looking for the economy size Eiffel Tower drinks we were stopped by some friends in Legion of Kithicor, who had a bone to pick with ZAM.  They got stuck on the Live Quest and Kiara told them, "If you got stuck on a quest in game, what would you do?"  But when they went to look it up on ZAM we didn't have it... 

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# Jun 30 2009 at 6:00 PM Rating: Decent
Me and my hubby had a blast at Fan Fair it was our first one and so much to do and see loved meeting all the people behind the toons and makings of all the games and i think the best place to meet everybody was at the smoking place got alot of names and hope to keep in touch with everyone we met and see them next year. (main toon Gothicangel)
FF memories
# Jun 29 2009 at 3:39 AM Rating: Decent
I had a really great time this year, at least up until my new camera got stolen Friday afternoon. It is not the fact of the loss that bums me out (and ALL the pics and video I lost with it) but the realization that it was stolen by one of us, since you had to have a pass to get into the room. The same person apparently also stole a camera from the Sony Electronics booth.

Even still, after I got over the desire to just go home, the weekend definitely picked up for me. It is kinda hard to stay depressed with karaoke and an open bar. :)

For me the BEST part of the whole trip was not the panels or the dealer's room or seeing the new games... it was the unofficial smoking room. This was the edge of the casino closest to the convention rooms, so was the closest place you could go to smoke. I had many terrific conversations with many players, there, and got many great ideas for new stuff. Be on the lookout, soon, for a whole new section on Interior Design in EQ2, including tables with the pics of all the house items, front and back, and info about permeability and placement restrictions, grouped by furniture style! Thank you, Nefaria (sp?)

FF memories
# Jun 29 2009 at 8:30 AM Rating: Excellent
Good times for sure! Best part of FF for me was getting see old friends, and meeting people for the first time. Golf with Sutures on Friday was humiliating but, none the less, I had a really great time getting to know him. And, it was a REALLY nice change to get out of the office and in to the sunlight for the first time in a long, long time.

I've got a couple of pics from the ZAM panel as well as some various taken with Brasse, Winter, Blud, Feldon and many other ZAM frequenters, which I'll post later this afternoon. :)
FF memories
# Jun 29 2009 at 4:59 AM Rating: Excellent
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Ah yes, I met a lot of people at the smoke pit, too. I would like to thank that gigantic ashtray for being where it was. ;) Good times. :)

Calthine -- the banana picture is blurry! *sniff* Remind me to give you lessons on cell phone pictures for next time. :D
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Awesome Time!
# Jun 28 2009 at 11:20 PM Rating: Decent
Just got home and I had to jot a quick note on this news item to say, Yeah it was a complete blast, thank you ZAM.

I have to tell you that all the folks at ZAM made this an unforgettable time. Right from the initial meeting with Draknorr and Allison, who went out of their way to get my crew and I set up and ready to roll, to a great time hanging out with Allakhazam, Illia, and Calthine at the banquet. The folks at SOE made sure we got all the good seats, this was purely a fantastic time.

My wife even has the infamous winning "burly guy" G.I.R.L. t-shirt to show for it. Thanks Calthine, Verna was very stoked you gave that to her.

I have pages and pages of notes mostly centered around the raiding aspects of the game and camera full of pictures to share, but before I get to that I want to put up a recount of the completely over the top time I had thanks to the folks at ZAM and SOE. Once my head stops spinning and I figure out where to put it up. Smiley: wink

But here is a teaser...

This is one of me and my wife just after the community address. See those white couches behind us, that is where we got to sit, it was fantastic. I really wanted to post up the one of Calthine, Allakha, Illia, and I but I figured I better ask them first. Smiley: lol

[img=133634]

Edited, Jun 29th 2009 12:44am by mmostrategist
Awesome Time!
# Jul 03 2009 at 4:01 PM Rating: Excellent
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Glad you had fun bud! :)
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Banana Suite
# Jun 28 2009 at 5:25 PM Rating: Decent
You gotta love a guy who thinks, I'm not going as an EQ character, I already have a banana suite, I'm going as a banana.
Annnnnd EQ1????????
# Jun 28 2009 at 5:03 PM Rating: Decent
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EQII Lore guy, Station Launcher, Free Realms guys...

Great, fantastic.... How about some EQ1 news, you know the game that made Allakhazam what it is today... ya that one...

Come on, this news is really not inspiring to the Everquest 1 people. It seems like we (the EQ1 people) are always left in the dirt. Thanks alot.

Annnnnd EQ1????????
# Jun 28 2009 at 7:40 PM Rating: Excellent
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There ya go: http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=18632
Annnnnd EQ1????????
# Jun 28 2009 at 6:02 PM Rating: Excellent
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Sparxx wrote:
EQII Lore guy, Station Launcher, Free Realms guys...

Great, fantastic.... How about some EQ1 news, you know the game that made Allakhazam what it is today... ya that one...

Come on, this news is really not inspiring to the Everquest 1 people. It seems like we (the EQ1 people) are always left in the dirt. Thanks alot.



Don't look at me, I'm on the EQII and Free Realms sites. I had my hands full!
Live Quest
# Jun 28 2009 at 1:44 PM Rating: Decent
Tell me, what is this live quest and how can I be of service? :D
Live Quest
# Jun 28 2009 at 6:03 PM Rating: Excellent
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Katoan wrote:
Tell me, what is this live quest and how can I be of service? :D

LOL! The CM's for the SOE games run Live Quests for their games at Fan Faire ;)
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