Johdo, If you arnt feeling up to par, let me know. I thought the tickets went on sale Monday....

Johdo, If you arnt feeling up to par, let me know. I thought the tickets went on sale Monday....

if i start having doubts, you'll be the first i notify. Although to be honest, you'll probably be able to get in with generics as people drop immediately after getting their 'participation' prize.

Anyone know what that is BTW?

Grr, I missed the first few hours of event registration to spend time with the family. What a sad, sad day this is.

Grr, I missed the first few hours of event registration to spend time with the family. What a sad, sad day this is.

Wait - will this be the first tourney you and I won't be facing off against each other?

Grr, I missed the first few hours of event registration to spend time with the family. What a sad, sad day this is.

Wait - will this be the first tourney you and I won't be facing off against each other?

Don't you fret, I'm gonna work hard to find an extra ticket JUST so we can play at Nationals, haha.

I think the only good part about this is I can probably attend World's this year.

What if you win a regional tournament in-between now and the Nationals? Do you still get into the tournament?

What if you win a regional tournament in-between now and the Nationals? Do you still get into the tournament?

I was wondering about that too.

My guess is, since you only win a "bye" and not "free entry into a National Event", then you probably won't get in. Does that make winning a Regional less meaningful? Mehhhhhh. Still get the templates, trophy, and the GLORY!

You should still get entry into the event not GenCon. They should save places for those regional tournament winners regardless.

You should still get entry into the event not GenCon. They should save places for those regional tournament winners regardless.

One would hope. But 224 is just as weird of a number as 200. And it didn't say anywhere "Regional winners are granted free access to this event" or anything like that to suggest it. And it does indeed say on the Gencon tourney sight that the winner will have free entry to Worlds.

I guess everyone who didn't get in the event should probably email FFG and see if that'll get them to open more spots. Got a few friends who are going to gencon just for X-Wing and didn't get into the tournament.

I guess everyone who didn't get in the event should probably email FFG and see if that'll get them to open more spots. Got a few friends who are going to gencon just for X-Wing and didn't get into the tournament.

Is there some reason to think they're holding out on table space or something? I'm sure they created the event (and listed players) based on the room they have available.

I guess everyone who didn't get in the event should probably email FFG and see if that'll get them to open more spots. Got a few friends who are going to gencon just for X-Wing and didn't get into the tournament.

Is there some reason to think they're holding out on table space or something? I'm sure they created the event (and listed players) based on the room they have available.

Judging by the play space they had last year, I would think that they have more space available. And taking a look at the Gencon events, you'll see that they have all of their games in Hall F. And as such, it may just be a redistribution of gaming space. For example, SWLCG has 88 of 128 tickets remaining. And AGoT has 82 of 128, and W40K LCG has 63 of 150.

So, it's possible for them to reallocate some of their gaming space for X wing away from AGOT and SWLCG. And these are just the games that are playing on Thursday.

I wish they would have set aside 24 spots for regional winners. Not free spots just spots that only regional winners can register for. Then at a given date if those spots aren't filled they will open up to the general populous.

As it is they've just made a part of the regional prize support worthless. Stores still trying to advertise their regional event shouldn't include the national bye in the description of the prize support. I can see some people being a bit upset upon finding out that they won a first round bye to a tournament they can't possibly attend because they didn't register for it a month before the event they just won.

I just looked at the dates for regionals and noticed that there will be regionals held after the national tournament. I'm not really impressed with how FFG has set this up.

I wish they would have set aside 24 spots for regional winners. Not free spots just spots that only regional winners can register for. Then at a given date if those spots aren't filled they will open up to the general populous.

As it is they've just made a part of the regional prize support worthless. Stores still trying to advertise their regional event shouldn't include the national bye in the description of the prize support. I can see some people being a bit upset upon finding out that they won a first round bye to a tournament they can't possibly attend because they didn't register for it a month before the event they just won.

I just looked at the dates for regionals and noticed that there will be regionals held after the national tournament. I'm not really impressed with how FFG has set this up.

That would be nice, but it's harder than it sounds. In order to actually do that, they'd need to have an infrastructure in place to correctly and accurately keep track of the regional winners. Maybe the Regional Instructions instruct the TO to report who won the regional back to FFG. But, I'm sure not all TOs and store will follow through on that. And even if they did, how would FFG correctly matchup the Regional winners to the GenCon userids? You have to have a GenCon id to buy the tickets to the Nationals tournament. That is certainly all doable, but it's not a snap of the fingers doable. How much time and energy does FFG have to invest into that problem so that 24 players get a spot in just 1 of their tournaments? We may see that in the future, but it's not surprising it doesn't exist.

I'm hopeful they see some sense and make it top 32, which means 6-2 makes it in, but it is probably wishful thinking at this point.

They have allocated 7.5 hours to the top 16 though, so maybe?

I think I can say this? I e-mailed Organized Play to say (at length) that I thought running Top 32 made sense. I got a reply back on Friday that said (paraphrasing) they were sticking with 16 due to time and space issues, and felt it was already a more generous cut than a lot of national-level competitive events.

I wish they would have set aside 24 spots for regional winners. Not free spots just spots that only regional winners can register for. Then at a given date if those spots aren't filled they will open up to the general populous.

As it is they've just made a part of the regional prize support worthless. Stores still trying to advertise their regional event shouldn't include the national bye in the description of the prize support. I can see some people being a bit upset upon finding out that they won a first round bye to a tournament they can't possibly attend because they didn't register for it a month before the event they just won.

I just looked at the dates for regionals and noticed that there will be regionals held after the national tournament. I'm not really impressed with how FFG has set this up.

That would be nice, but it's harder than it sounds. In order to actually do that, they'd need to have an infrastructure in place to correctly and accurately keep track of the regional winners. Maybe the Regional Instructions instruct the TO to report who won the regional back to FFG. But, I'm sure not all TOs and store will follow through on that. And even if they did, how would FFG correctly matchup the Regional winners to the GenCon userids? You have to have a GenCon id to buy the tickets to the Nationals tournament. That is certainly all doable, but it's not a snap of the fingers doable. How much time and energy does FFG have to invest into that problem so that 24 players get a spot in just 1 of their tournaments? We may see that in the future, but it's not surprising it doesn't exist.

I understand that it may not be that easy to do and they have limited time and energy, but this is really the first time I feel they have acted in bad faith.

It's not unreasonable for a regional winner to think that they will have an opportunity to use their prize. Will from this point on all participants going into a regional know that the bye is essentially worthless? Were all the stores that paid for regional kits made aware before hand that part of the top prize would be worthless unless the winner took steps a month before the tournament to ensure that it isn't?

I don't even see a news article on the main page informing people on the details of the national tournament and telling them how to sign up. A simple act now because even if you win a regional you won't make it in if you don't sign up would have been nice.

I wish they would have set aside 24 spots for regional winners. Not free spots just spots that only regional winners can register for. Then at a given date if those spots aren't filled they will open up to the general populous.

As it is they've just made a part of the regional prize support worthless. Stores still trying to advertise their regional event shouldn't include the national bye in the description of the prize support. I can see some people being a bit upset upon finding out that they won a first round bye to a tournament they can't possibly attend because they didn't register for it a month before the event they just won.

I just looked at the dates for regionals and noticed that there will be regionals held after the national tournament. I'm not really impressed with how FFG has set this up.

I agree with this. There wasn't even an announcement on the FFG site that nationals pre-reg has opened up. I have a bye for nationals now that I have no guarantee of being able to use...

I'm hopeful they see some sense and make it top 32, which means 6-2 makes it in, but it is probably wishful thinking at this point.

They have allocated 7.5 hours to the top 16 though, so maybe?

I think I can say this? I e-mailed Organized Play to say (at length) that I thought running Top 32 made sense. I got a reply back on Friday that said (paraphrasing) they were sticking with 16 due to time and space issues, and felt it was already a more generous cut than a lot of national-level competitive events.

Top32 would be MUCH better. There will be multiple 1 loss players that don't make the cut, going to 32 instead of 16 solves a majority of that problem. Going from 16 to 32 players really shouldn't make too much a difference. If it's single elimination, 16 of the players will be gone after the first round anyway. I suggest they just start Day 2 an hour earlier to make sure the space is available. Come on FFG, 200 down to 16, with regional bye winners? That's a seriously steep cut, you are leaving too many things to chance.

Walk by the FFG area on Friday and Saturday. It is almost a certainty that at any point there will be enough empty tables for 8 games of X-Wing.

I do not buy the space issue AT ALL. I've spent many hours in that area over the last few years and while it is often very busy, I can't think of there ever being a time they couldn't have fielded another 8 games of X-Wing in addition to all the other things going on.

I'm hopeful they see some sense and make it top 32, which means 6-2 makes it in, but it is probably wishful thinking at this point.

They have allocated 7.5 hours to the top 16 though, so maybe?

I think I can say this? I e-mailed Organized Play to say (at length) that I thought running Top 32 made sense. I got a reply back on Friday that said (paraphrasing) they were sticking with 16 due to time and space issues, and felt it was already a more generous cut than a lot of national-level competitive events.

They have clearly gone insane. I am all for more inclusive cuts than exclusive. For a lot of players making the cut at Gencon or similar tournament is the highlight of their gaming career. For many of us it has nothing to do with winning the whole thing.

It's a shame. Last year they went overboard, this year they dialled it back too much. A happy medium in the middle probably would have been perfect.

I wish they would have set aside 24 spots for regional winners. Not free spots just spots that only regional winners can register for. Then at a given date if those spots aren't filled they will open up to the general populous.

As it is they've just made a part of the regional prize support worthless. Stores still trying to advertise their regional event shouldn't include the national bye in the description of the prize support. I can see some people being a bit upset upon finding out that they won a first round bye to a tournament they can't possibly attend because they didn't register for it a month before the event they just won.

I just looked at the dates for regionals and noticed that there will be regionals held after the national tournament. I'm not really impressed with how FFG has set this up.

I agree with this. There wasn't even an announcement on the FFG site that nationals pre-reg has opened up. I have a bye for nationals now that I have no guarantee of being able to use...

You both seem to be saying that FFG should do more to accommodate people whose decision to attend the tournament at GenCon hinges on whether or not they win a Regional event.

But the prize for winning Regionals is a first-round bye at Nationals--not free attendance to Nationals, or even a guaranteed ticket to Nationals. It wasn't advertised that way, and I haven't met anyone in person who expected guaranteed admission to be part of their prize.

And in fact, it's really not feasible to have your attendance at GenCon depend on anything that happens just a few weeks before the convention. This year, for instance, the GenCon block of hotel rooms--meaning essentially every hotel room in downtown Indianapolis--was sold less than two hours after they became available. And that was on January 25.

I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who wanted to attend and couldn't; I'd keep an eye on the website every once in a while to see if tickets have opened up, and if you're planning to go but can't snag a ticket, I'd plan on showing up early with $12 in generic tickets and hoping there are some no-shows.

But if you were waiting until Regionals seson to find out whether you wanted to attend the tournament, you missed the boat by about six months for factors that are entirely outside FFG's control.

Walk by the FFG area on Friday and Saturday. It is almost a certainty that at any point there will be enough empty tables for 8 games of X-Wing.

I do not buy the space issue AT ALL...

I don't really buy it as a space issue, either. It's possible that all the elimination events will be untimed and don't think 5 rounds will fit in their 7.5-hour block on Friday, although they could fix that by making only the last round untimed.

They have clearly gone insane. I am all for more inclusive cuts than exclusive. For a lot of players making the cut at Gencon or similar tournament is the highlight of their gaming career. For many of us it has nothing to do with winning the whole thing.

Yeah, I'd also rather see a bigger cut. Not only does it make more sense from a tournament perspective, it could help make the elimination-round lists more diverse (that is, I think it might reduce the proportion of fat-turret lists slightly).

It's a shame. Last year they went overboard, this year they dialled it back too much. A happy medium in the middle probably would have been perfect.

I agree. Hopefully they'll be able to learn from this year's experience when planning next year's event.

I will say that I think there could be value in people writing polite, thoughtful e-mails to FFG's Organized Play staff laying out the reasons for a bigger cut. If they hear from enough people who aren't cranks, they might make a change.

I wish they would have set aside 24 spots for regional winners. Not free spots just spots that only regional winners can register for. Then at a given date if those spots aren't filled they will open up to the general populous. As it is they've just made a part of the regional prize support worthless. Stores still trying to advertise their regional event shouldn't include the national bye in the description of the prize support. I can see some people being a bit upset upon finding out that they won a first round bye to a tournament they can't possibly attend because they didn't register for it a month before the event they just won. I just looked at the dates for regionals and noticed that there will be regionals held after the national tournament. I'm not really impressed with how FFG has set this up.

I agree with this. There wasn't even an announcement on the FFG site that nationals pre-reg has opened up. I have a bye for nationals now that I have no guarantee of being able to use...

You both seem to be saying that FFG should do more to accommodate people whose decision to attend the tournament at GenCon hinges on whether or not they win a Regional event.But the prize for winning Regionals is a first-round bye at Nationals--not free attendance to Nationals, or even a guaranteed ticket to Nationals. It wasn't advertised that way, and I haven't met anyone in person who expected guaranteed admission to be part of their prize.And in fact, it's really not feasible to have your attendance at GenCon depend on anything that happens just a few weeks before the convention. This year, for instance, the GenCon block of hotel rooms--meaning essentially every hotel room in downtown Indianapolis--was sold less than two hours after they became available. And that was on January 25.I'm genuinely sorry for anyone who wanted to attend and couldn't; I'd keep an eye on the website every once in a while to see if tickets have opened up, and if you're planning to go but can't snag a ticket, I'd plan on showing up early with $12 in generic tickets and hoping there are some no-shows.But if you were waiting until Regionals seson to find out whether you wanted to attend the tournament, you missed the boat by about six months for factors that are entirely outside FFG's control.

And I don't recall a date/time of preregistration opening for nationals, which should've been posted (unless I missed it, which is my bad)

I'm still going to attempt to get in. It all was just a bit blind-siding for those of us who aren't super vigilant on the opening of preregistration.

I think open spots should be held to accommodate up to X regional winners. Not free admission (like what they're doing with worlds)

And I don't recall a date/time of preregistration opening for nationals, which should've been posted (unless I missed it, which is my bad)

I'm still going to attempt to get in. It all was just a bit blind-siding for those of us who aren't super vigilant on the opening of preregistration.

The issue with this is likely Gencon. Gencon needs their cut, which is where the tickets come in. I think there are loopholes for the final cuts, but since you can't get straight into the cut, you are in the same boat as everyone else.

If there are any prize hunters out there, let me know... Im sure I have something of my former prizes that may interest you... Not to mention that you would be allowing a fan to play the game.