"Europian Champs"

By shotbyscott, in X-Wing

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There is a difference between the EU and Europe, of course.

Turkey is (partly) in Europe, as is Russia.

Europe is far larger than the EU. ;) .

But travel and accomodation, that's excellent news!

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Australia took part in the "Euro-Vision" song contest last year so I guess the European continent is bigger than we thought :)

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Well, Eurovision is a joke anyway. :P .

Australia is now permanently included I believe, maybe because they feel sorry for them being so isolated? I dunno, it's not something that is on my radar. ;) .

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[nay sayer cap on] The problem with this event being scheduled alongside the UK Games Expo is the cost of going there for people from the outskirts of the UK, or abroad. Much as I'd love to go, travelling from just over the sea in Ireland would cost me an absolute fortune, as the price of the hotels in the area sky rockets during that event. Nationals last year was even a bit rough, and that was with a much cheaper hotel situation. Add flights, food, and transport to that, and it's a hell of a cost.

[nay sayer cap well and truly off]

That aside, I'm really happy there's a European Championship. I think the Open series last year opened up FFG's eyes to the fact that a solid competitive scene exists in the EU area, but flying to GenCon/Worlds just isn't an option for the vast majority. This seems like a great opportunity for people who can't do that, but want to get themselves involved in a seriously high grade event. Last year's Nationals in the UK was an eye opener for me on how events like that can be run, and I'm sure EuroChamps will be even more of a spectacle.

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[nay sayer cap well and truly off]

That aside, I'm really happy there's a European Championship. I think the Open series last year opened up FFG's eyes to the fact that a solid competitive scene exists in the EU area, but flying to GenCon/Worlds just isn't an option for the vast majority. This seems like a great opportunity for people who can't do that, but want to get themselves involved in a seriously high grade event. Last year's Nationals in the UK was an eye opener for me on how events like that can be run, and I'm sure EuroChamps will be even more of a spectacle.

I hope that 2018 is then on continental Europe so its lots easier to get to (well for me any way)

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Holding European Champs in the most expensive place possible - great shout!

So most of Europe has to fly rather than drive, and we're holding it at an expo you need to buy tickets for in a location where all the hotels are ridiculously expensive or already booked out, because there's a big gaming expo on. Wonderful.

Edited by Stay On The Leader
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I hope that 2018 is then on continental Europe so its lots easier to get to (well for me any way)

I imagine it'll move around each year. I can see why they may not do that (UK Games Expo is fairly big, and anything that generates even accidental exposure to the game for interested parties is a huge bonus for them), but it would be nice to see change countries each year. I can't see it ever coming here to Ireland, but the player base is large enough in a lot of other countries to warrant the move.

The Expo thing is what's causing a lot of the flight/accommodation price increases, on top of the usual June/Summer hikes travel cost hikes, but the ticket price for the event is a touch galling to boot. Not sure why there isn't a tournament only option considering you're probably not going to have time to peruse the main floor if you're doing well by day 2...

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I wouldn't mind seeing it at Essen though, I'd gladly book another day or two just for that, my wife can more than entertain herself with everything else.

And Essen itself is quite affordable (when you book the hotels early enough).

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Holding European Champs in the most expensive place possible - great shout!

So most of Europe has to fly rather than drive, and we're holding it at an expo you need to buy tickets for in a location where all the hotels are ridiculously expensive or already booked out, because there's a big gaming expo on. Wonderful.

Posted at

Holding European Champs in the most expensive place possible - great shout!

So most of Europe has to fly rather than drive, and we're holding it at an expo you need to buy tickets for in a location where all the hotels are ridiculously expensive or already booked out, because there's a big gaming expo on. Wonderful.

Not to mention, you pay the entry fee for said game expo and see none of it because you spend the weekend playing X-Wing.

I guess its good advertising for them having it at such an event

"What are they all playing over there"

"ohhh that's the X-Wing European championship"

But the competition entry should include the exhibition admittance just to be fair

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Apparently there's 600 places available, which will be interesting to see if they fill. I really hope they let us know when on Friday the event starts though, just so I know whether I want to book a hotel for the Thursday as well.

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Apparently there's 600 places available, which will be interesting to see if they fill. I really hope they let us know when on Friday the event starts though, just so I know whether I want to book a hotel for the Thursday as well.

They filled 400+ last year at Yavin, and that wasn't an explicitly european event though a lot of European players did attend. I wouldn't be surprised to see them get more than that this time but I wouldn't expect 600+.

The admin was a nightmare for them over two days so I'm not surprised to see it extended.

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Holding European Champs in the most expensive place possible - great shout!

So most of Europe has to fly rather than drive, and we're holding it at an expo you need to buy tickets for in a location where all the hotels are ridiculously expensive or already booked out, because there's a big gaming expo on. Wonderful.

Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries? Granted, Holding this in Germany, France, Belgium or one of the other more central countries is better for those who want to drive. But the North American Championships are held at GenCon which is one of the largest conventions in the world PERIOD. It basically shuts Indianapolis down and fills all the hotels.

Also, flights into it are pretty cheap? Warsaw (arbitrarily chosen spot in Eastern Europe) to Birmingham is 172$ which is actually cheaper than gas, I would think, to a similar size city in France/ western Germany round trip right? (not up to date on gas prices in europe). It is way easier to piggy back on a gaming convention logistics wise for large events as well. All in all, I think this is about the best you can hope for.

Just think of the poor Australians and Asians... No open series, No championship and worlds is LITERALLY on the other side of the planet.

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Dammit, don't taunt me like that! I've been waiting for tickets to go on sale since the announcement in November!

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Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

TIL the only other option to Birmngham is Helsinki.

Posted at

Holding European Champs in the most expensive place possible - great shout!

So most of Europe has to fly rather than drive, and we're holding it at an expo you need to buy tickets for in a location where all the hotels are ridiculously expensive or already booked out, because there's a big gaming expo on. Wonderful.

Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries? Granted, Holding this in Germany, France, Belgium or one of the other more central countries is better for those who want to drive. But the North American Championships are held at GenCon which is one of the largest conventions in the world PERIOD. It basically shuts Indianapolis down and fills all the hotels.

Also, flights into it are pretty cheap? Warsaw (arbitrarily chosen spot in Eastern Europe) to Birmingham is 172$ which is actually cheaper than gas, I would think, to a similar size city in France/ western Germany round trip right? (not up to date on gas prices in europe). It is way easier to piggy back on a gaming convention logistics wise for large events as well. All in all, I think this is about the best you can hope for.

Just think of the poor Australians and Asians... No open series, No championship and worlds is LITERALLY on the other side of the planet.

Case in point: my trip to Nationals set me back €150 for flights, €260 for accommodation, and about €200 in food and travel expenses. That's on an off-weekend with the cheapest flights I could get.

Not to be too blunt about it, but when you factor in the full travel expenses plus the cost of having to buy both an entry into the tournament and a weekend pass for the expo, that's a sizeable chunk of change for most people. I got lucky because Ireland isn't all that far away. The Friday start means that people will also have to take time off work to make this.

I'm not bemoaning the event - if anything I applaud it's inception - but €600+ to enter a competitive is a hell of a buy in. You can't blame people for being a bit put off by that. Especially with that ticket scenario.

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Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

TIL the only other option to Birmngham is Helsinki.

Helsinki is Hell :)

some where in western Germany is easy access from NL, BE, FR, CH, DK, PL, CZ, LU and DE

OK access from ES, PL, UK, IT, SE, FI, and NO

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Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

TIL the only other option to Birmngham is Helsinki.

TIL that " Holding European Champs in the most expensive place possible - great shout!" is really saying "Holding European Champs in the most expensive place, except all the other more expensive places!"

So, would you rather European championships be in western Germany but with 1/4 of the available tickets? That is understandable, but there is more than just cost you have to factor in here. Maybe I am used to it being in the US and our events being spread out. But this really seems like par for the course for me. Especially for an event this size.

Edited by Timathius
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Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

During the Expo weekend with this short notice? It wouldn't surprise me.

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I'm not sure why people are bugging about the tickets - it's not like it's costing a lot more to get into the tournament than it would for any other 3 days of competitive x-wing. It's about £35 if it's the same ticket cost as last year which isn't prohibitive and is comparable with many regionals/nationals.

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I'm not bemoaning the event - if anything I applaud it's inception - but €600+ to enter a competitive is a hell of a buy in. You can't blame people for being a bit put off by that. Especially with that ticket scenario.

I would agree with you IF the ticket prices for the Uk games expo would not be dirt cheap. 80€ for a 3 day family ticket is dirt cheap, you can bring the family, play x-wing yourselfs and either have the family entering the competition too or look around at the expo and/or looking around in Birmingham.

http://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/tickets.php

But it certainly not cheap to travel for events, but so is life. A weekend holiday always cost some money.

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Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

TIL the only other option to Birmngham is Helsinki.

So, would you rather European championships be in western Germany but with 1/4 of the available tickets? That is understandable, but there is more than just cost you have to factor in here. Maybe I am used to it being in the US and our events being spread out. But this really seems like par for the course for me. Especially for an event this size.

They don't have big halls in Germany, then? That's odd because I've been to some huge Magic tournaments all over Europe. Maybe they all closed down?

And isn't it a shame that piss-poor organisation and inordinate costs put onto the players is par for the course?

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Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

TIL the only other option to Birmngham is Helsinki.

So, would you rather European championships be in western Germany but with 1/4 of the available tickets? That is understandable, but there is more than just cost you have to factor in here. Maybe I am used to it being in the US and our events being spread out. But this really seems like par for the course for me. Especially for an event this size.

They don't have big halls in Germany, then? That's odd because I've been to some huge Magic tournaments all over Europe. Maybe they all closed down?

And isn't it a shame that piss-poor organisation and inordinate costs put onto the players is par for the course?

They sure do! Now, what do you think it costs to rent one of those out by yourself? FFG's distributor is probably not paying very much to host the event at the EXPO. Because it is bringing in 4-600 people. Also, where are you going to get the mats, tables, and other things you need to run the event? The labor to set it up? FFG sent their own crews and supplies to US nationals and NA championships. In this case, its probably Eridivisium (or whatever their name is) probably putting on the show. So they have to factor in their labor costs and volunteer pool for running the event.

I am just not seeing your point whatsoever. This location was chosen for all the points SEApocalypse pointed out and those I pointed out . It just seems like you're not really thinking through all the behind the scenes things that are actually going on, and can't see past your personal problem with the location.

Also, Comparing X-Wing events to magic events is laughable.

Are you really suggesting that any hotel in Birmingham + travel for most of Europe would come even close to holding this in any of the Nordic countries?

During the Expo weekend with this short notice? It wouldn't surprise me.

What short notice? they announced this in November and the event is in June.