So US Nationals in June, then NA Champs in August, and Worlds in November-ish.

That kind of bones the entire West Coast when you consider having to get time off work multiple times, travel expenses, etc.

I'm not sure the West Coast is being singled out. Even if I lived in easy driving distance of both Columbus and Indianapolis, I'm already carefully evaluating whether I can afford enough time off to go to GenCon--and I certainly can't do both.

More X-wing is always good, but I wonder if they're not just dividing the player pool.

EDIT: That might be a good thing, of course. GenCon and Worlds were both tough to manage this year, as I understand it.

Not great for most of the country really, I've got a minimum 13 hour drive for any of the 3 major events, which means I'm coughing up for a flight. Would be nice if they were spread around a bit.

I guess DragonCon is probably in the same tier, but it's much less gaming-focused. Ditto SDCC.

We have some plans for DragonCon down here in the South... so keep an eye open if you'll be around, or are looking for an alternative to the NOVA Open.

Can't wait to see what's planned, the southeast is due for a larger scale X-Wing event.

I totally understand why they put them where they did, just wish there was somewhere else that made sense. Dragoncon would be great since I go every year, but gaming is a very small part of that convention, and it is a much larger convention then Origins. I would say it's a lot bigger then Gencon as well attendance wise, they under report their numbers every year because of the fire marshal. I've heard from people in the know that the numbers are much closer to Comic Con. I heard about the Americas Mart thing as well, that will be very cool, I would love to see D*Con build up the gaming track in general.

...I'm not sure "they lie about their attendance numbers to get around safety laws" is a ringing endorsement for putting an FFG event there.

I totally understand why they put them where they did, just wish there was somewhere else that made sense. Dragoncon would be great since I go every year, but gaming is a very small part of that convention, and it is a much larger convention then Origins. I would say it's a lot bigger then Gencon as well attendance wise, they under report their numbers every year because of the fire marshal. I've heard from people in the know that the numbers are much closer to Comic Con. I heard about the Americas Mart thing as well, that will be very cool, I would love to see D*Con build up the gaming track in general.

...I'm not sure "they lie about their attendance numbers to get around safety laws" is a ringing endorsement for putting an FFG event there.

Maybe, but D*Con is a hell of a good time!