The Glade 4.0

I've just snagged two sets of badges for all 4 days, but will probably only attend one or two of them with a friend (and sell the others).

Anyone else planning on attending?

http://prime.paxsite.com/

Wee bit far for me... I went to PAX East for one day as its within 30 min from me though...

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Dang it Midgen, why didn't you ask this 1 year ago? My wife and I spent a week in Seattle with our 3 day Pax passes (they have 4 days now? nice). We couldn't justify going a second year in a row.

Possibly next year though.

You will have a blast. If you've never been, you will find there is a lot to see and do and never enough time for it all. Pick the panels you absolutely cannot miss and then line up early. This is the trick. EARLY.

My wife doubted how early we should line up for all of the panels we wanted to see. She had a time in her head which she thought was plenty, but I told her that it wasn't good enough. After sitting on the front row (or very near as you can get without being the Press) of all the panels we wanted to see, and being 10th in line to see Acquisitions Incorporated, she will never doubt my lining-up skills again. The trick is to ask yourself "how early should I line up to get a good seat?" and then add another half hour to an hour to that. That's the key. You'll find that most other folks think like yourself, so you have to increase that time.

I began lining up for Acquisitions INC three hours before the show (before they let the line for the famous Japanese composer group in... Hideo Kojima or something like that). And I still wasn't first in line, but close. But within the first hour, there was already a line down the block. Within the second hour, that line had tripled (every person in this photo, even the folks down by those trees way back there? yeah, they're all part of the same line). And the best part about being there early, I was one of twenty people who had shade from the sun.

For a smaller panel, I'd line up an hour or hour and a half early depending on it's popularity.

It's also worth lining up to play some high profile games as well, not necessarily just for the chance to play them, but there were quite a few booths that would hand out Beta keys for trying out their games.

Anyway, let us know how it goes! I had a blast and I am sure you will too.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Ya, I remember a Pax thread from last year were I posted some pics from a local news station, and you lamented Seattle traffic/parking/steep hills. :p

I live in the northern suburbs, and only have a moderate interest in the event. I rather despise downtown Seattle for the same reasons you gave last year. Combine that with huge crowds, long lines, and potentially hot weather ... blegh...

Once the actual agenda is published, I'll get with my friend/co-worker and decide which day or days we want to attend. The rest of the tickets will go back to Craigslist to try and recoup some of the money I spent.

Part of my motivation is that the SWTOR Dev Team is holding their Seattle Cantina Tour on the Saturday evening of PAX Prime, and I am interested in having a little chat with those folks. :p~

Sadly, no, since PAX had the audacity to line themselves up against (and then promptly start sucking away guests and attendees) Dragon*Con.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Tell them to get off their "heroic races only" moral high ground and just put in the choice to play Wookiees, Jawas, etc. already. --with the option of muting your own character's voice.

Yeah I rememberthat thread now. Seattle was nice, and I was surprised to learn they don't really get any snow in the winter. But downtown, I agree it's not a place I'd willingly visit. I averaged it out, and found that the ratio of meeting "batshit insane people who may or may not kill you" is 1 per hour. There was one guy in particular while I waited inline for Acquisitions INC where I seriously thought to myself, "Well, I now regret being at the front of the line because when the bullets start flying I am dead."

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

More like Dragon*Con has the audacity to try and run alongside the bigger, better PAX Prime. They aren't even the same kind of con', anyway. PAX is all about gaming where DC seems more focused on entertainment in general.

We must now wage jihad to see who's convention is best.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Dragon*Con's been Labor Day Weekend in Atlanta for 26 years, now, and gaming has been within its scope well before Penny-Arcade was a thing.

And I wouldn't gripe so much if it weren't for the fact that PAX has been gaining ground in the RPG community and sucking up generic "geek" icons who made their name under Dragon*Con's ouvre (like, say, Wil Wheaton).

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Just further proof that PAX is better. It's the new gaming expo mecca. Dragon*Con has some game stuff, but PAX is nothing but games, in all forms. The cons serve two different purposes, but I think PAX's huge rise in popularity speaks to the quality of the con in general.

I'm not saying it's not a quality Con.

I'm saying I wish they'd chosen a weekend that didn't cannibalize another quality Con.

I'd go to both, if I could be in two places at once.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I believe the stated reason for not having these as playable races is the decision that all playable races must speak basic. There was also something about none of the existing player wearable armor models working with them.

Considering that they continue to have these double XP weekends, which just puts more and more people up against the 'lack of end game content' wall, i'd be very surprised to see them expend much development resources on anything but 1) Cartel Market, 2) PvP Content, and 3) "Elder Game" content (i.e. Flashpoints and Operations). There are some rumors about Space PvP, and things like Pod Racing mini games coming from the data miners, but I'll be (pleasantly) surprised to see much come from that.

One thing that irks me is that I have a bunch of max level characters who have max affection with all of their companions, including some romance/marriage stuff, but once the class story is done, the companions go completely mute, except for the occasional, but annoyingly repetitive battle cry. To Wit, Corso Riggs got all mushy with my female smuggler, and proposed to her one drunken 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas' weekend. Now all he does is stand on the bridge of her ship staring off into space.

Well, at least SWTOR will be represented in some shape or form. They were absent last year. The only Star Wars-ish thing I got to do was shake the hand of the man who wrote the Saga Edition RPG.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Well, not exactly. They aren't attending PAX proper. They just scheduled their 'Cantina Tour' to be in the same neighborhood at about the same time. Aug 31st at some as yet to be determined "Cantina" in the general neighborhoood of PAX Prime.

Ah ok. Sounds like "An Evening with Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub" my wife and I attended. Not officially a part of PAX Prime, but held at a dinner theater in the evening in the nearby area.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!