11 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

When compared to almost 400 at Yavin, it really is. Hell, there were 130+ players at a Regional in November. Although, I've seen concerns over the price of entry for not just this System Open, but the event it was run at.

I'm sure there are a hell of a lot of players - both in the US and internationally - who would love to attend a System Open event, but have been priced out due to event/travel/accommodation/time costs. Maybe having these events alongside a big show is not the way to go?

Adding another $110 to the existing entry fee AND travel and hotel costs if you aren't local is painful

1 minute ago, VanderLegion said:

Adding another $110 to the existing entry fee AND travel and hotel costs if you aren't local is painful

It was bad enough paying £25 for the UK Games Expo last year (plus accommodation gets really pricey as well when there's a big event running).

5 hours ago, Hwarangdaem said:

Only ~36 players?

So a 1/4 chance you make the cut for $150 buck not to shabby

3 minutes ago, doji said:

So a 1/4 chance you make the cut for $150 buck not to shabby

Cheaper than going to Alaska for their regional swag.

5 minutes ago, Moppy said:

Cheaper than going to Alaska for their regional swag.

Depends if you had to fly to Seattle in the first place

3 hours ago, VanderLegion said:

Adding another $110 to the existing entry fee AND travel and hotel costs if you aren't local is painful

And you're talking hotel costs in Seattle, no less. Those ain't cheap.

I'm local, and it still cost me another $28 just to park.

6 minutes ago, PhantomFO said:

And you're talking hotel costs in Seattle, no less. Those ain't cheap.

I'm local, and it still cost me another $28 just to park.

This is why I took the bus to the Seattle Regionals.

4 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

When compared to almost 400 at Yavin, it really is. Hell, there were 130+ players at a Regional in November. Although, I've seen concerns over the price of entry for not just this System Open, but the event it was run at.

I'm sure there are a hell of a lot of players - both in the US and internationally - who would love to attend a System Open event, but have been priced out due to event/travel/accommodation/time costs. Maybe having these events alongside a big show is not the way to go?

Every time they get arranged alongside a big show we see players standing up to say it's not what they want because it stacks tons of unnecessary cost and peak accomdation/travel pricing onto an entry fee that's already nowhere near justified by the prizes on offer.

And every time FFG ignore that and go ahead and organise another one in the same place. The European Championships are struggling to sell their tickets - they've been arranged at the same UK Games Expo that hosted Yavin Open last year and the poor experience of that appears (on the basis of slow ticket sales) to have turned off a HUGE number of players from going back for a second time.

6 parattani players on the top 6 boards at Endor!

26 minutes ago, sozin said:

6 parattani players on the top 6 boards at Endor!

Well, look on the bright side. Instead of worrying about all that 'how to store my X-Wing collection?' now you can just fit the whole thing into just one tray for all three of the ships you'll need, and still have room for all the dials, pilot cards and focus tokens, focus tokens and more focus tokens that you'll want!

Yavin was run pretty well last year at the Uk games expo (day one at least). The regional on the Friday before had issues, but that was mainly due to TOME.

I think the euro's is having slow ticket sales thanks to it being 3 days of commitment. Most people can get the weekend off, but the Friday before hand as well, and 3 whole days of x wing, means more organising.

10 minutes ago, nurglez said:

Yavin was run pretty well last year at the Uk games expo (day one at least). The regional on the Friday before had issues, but that was mainly due to TOME.

I think the euro's is having slow ticket sales thanks to it being 3 days of commitment. Most people can get the weekend off, but the Friday before hand as well, and 3 whole days of x wing, means more organising.

My comments weren't aimed at TO organisation but about the cost/logistics. It's got to be one of the worst value for money gaming experiences going.

2 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

My comments weren't aimed at TO organisation but about the cost/logistics. It's got to be one of the worst value for money gaming experiences going.

Like this

From FFG's side of the cost/logistics issue, they come out on top if they share with another event. If I had to guess what a single hire of smart, 200-table convention centre cost in a major US or UK city, I'd guess around 50,000. If you share with the comiccon, they've already paid cheaper for it as part of some better deal they got for bringing in 100K people.

But FFG is rolling in X-Wing money. I think they should increase organised play's budget.

1 hour ago, sozin said:

6 parattani players on the top 6 boards at Endor!

Anyone ever hear of this happening before at a Regional or above?

Only if they get people to attend do they come out on top. I don't know the figures involved but I'd say some of these big events are risking running at a heavy loss if they're buying space they aren't filling.

Having worked in Organised Play for a number of big companies I think every penny spent on the department is repaid tenfold, but some companies just don't get that. Konami were the worst, they make it actively difficult for you to show how cool their games are and enthuse their playing community. I think it's a Japanese thing, they just don't get what it's for.

6 minutes ago, Moppy said:

From FFG's side of the cost/logistics issue, they come out on top if they share with another event. If I had to guess what a smart, 200 table convention centre cost in a major city, i'd guess around 50,000 a day.

No that's WAY to high. Most of the venues that host these events can be rented out for partys/wedding receptions starting around $2,500 a day as long as it is not a peak time. Hosting them during the large events would cost considerably more so I'm not sure what they are thinking other than for publicity.

3 minutes ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

No that's WAY to high. Most of the venues that host these events can be rented out for partys/wedding receptions starting around $2,500 a day as long as it is not a peak time. Hosting them during the large events would cost considerably more so I'm not sure what they are thinking other than for publicity.

Yeah I think that's what it is. Put an event aimed at attracting gamers to your game somewhere that you know there are going to be gamers.

The makers of WoWTCG used to host some of their big tournaments in shopping malls for similar reasons - put the game in front of people who are shopping. It did lead to DMF Blizzard at one point, though, when the Top-8 and TO staff almost got snowed into a shopping centre that had basically closed down entirely in the middle of a snowstorm. That was one goddamn cold place to play cards into the evening!!!

2 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Yeah I think that's what it is. Put an event aimed at attracting gamers to your game somewhere that you know there are going to be gamers.

The makers of WoWTCG used to host some of their big tournaments in shopping malls for similar reasons - put the game in front of people who are shopping. It did lead to DMF Blizzard at one point, though, when the Top-8 and TO staff almost got snowed into a shopping centre that had basically closed down entirely in the middle of a snowstorm. That was one goddamn cold place to play cards into the evening!!!

Hey at least you didn't have to worry about the smell since everyone was freezing instead of sweating! Lol

7 minutes ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

Hey at least you didn't have to worry about the smell since everyone was freezing instead of sweating! Lol

Well, in their defence the WoWTCG crowd was probably the nicest and smartest bunch of people I've ever worked with - the game was possibly the best TCG/CCG ever and had a following who tended to be a bit more professional/affluent/socially aware than your average gamers. It had way more girl gamers than anything else I've been involved in, too, although Magic has been working quite hard on getting more girls into their organised play recently.

1 hour ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Well, in their defence the WoWTCG crowd was probably the nicest and smartest bunch of people I've ever worked with - the game was possibly the best TCG/CCG ever and had a following who tended to be a bit more professional/affluent/socially aware than your average gamers. It had way more girl gamers than anything else I've been involved in, too, although Magic has been working quite hard on getting more girls into their organised play recently.

I'm not saying this is the justification for starting them, but the Eurogames like Catan are very mixed gender these days. The 3 times I've been to Essen there have been times when the gender ratio (in the vicinity, not just at a game table) was nearly equal.

1 hour ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

No that's WAY to high. Most of the venues that host these events can be rented out for partys/wedding receptions starting around $2,500 a day as long as it is not a peak time. Hosting them during the large events would cost considerably more so I'm not sure what they are thinking other than for publicity.

X-Wing tables are physically large.

Yavin Open. Monach Suite, Birmingham Hilton Metropole, UK. It was very cramped. Now I hit google and it says 1,300 square meters (13k square feet). The room has a listed capacity of 2,000 for reception.

UK Nationals. Never went but was told is was plush. Googled the size, it's Hall 3, Birmingham ICCC at 3,000 square meters

According to google, the Olympic Conference Centre in London, UK is £ 15,900 per day for 1700 square meters and Hall 4 of the ICCC is £ 30,000.

I have no idea what Esdevium or FFG actually paid, but it's almost certain to be in the tens of thousands for each event. But they have all this x-wing money and I wish they'd spend more of it on OP.

21 minutes ago, Moppy said:

I'm not saying this is the justification for starting them, but the Eurogames like Catan are very mixed gender these days. The 3 times I've been to Essen there have been times when the gender ratio (in the vicinity, not just at a game table) was nearly equal.

X-Wing tables are physically large.

Yavin Open. Monach Suite, Birmingham Hilton Metropole, UK. It was very cramped. Now I hit google and it says 1,300 square meters (13k square feet). The room has a listed capacity of 2,000 for reception.

UK Nationals. Never went but was told is was plush. Googled the size, it's Hall 3, Birmingham ICCC at 3,000 square meters

According to google, the Olympic Conference Centre in London, UK is £ 15,900 per day for 1700 square meters and Hall 4 of the ICCC is £ 30,000.

I have no idea what Esdevium or FFG actually paid, but it's almost certain to be in the tens of thousands for each event. But they have all this x-wing money and I wish they'd spend more of it on OP.

That is probably the reason that UK nationals are held in Birmingham and not London. Location is a considerable factor in the prices.

Does anyone have any updates from Endor? Are they streaming?

I don't have much info. Got a few texts from the Vancouver guys.

Blair is 7-0 for the day. He's running 2 Blues with FCS, 2 Bandits with Tracers, Chips and a Stresshog.

Calen is 6-1 as seen from yesterday's score sheet. He's running Calen's Pride (Kanan with TLT, Finn, Rey, Tactical Jammer, FCS, Title and Zeb with Chopper, Title and Biggs with M9G8, Integrated). Alex Yeun at 5-2 might be running the same list...

8 minutes ago, bmf said:

I don't have much info. Got a few texts from the Vancouver guys.

Blair is 7-0 for the day. He's running 2 Blues with FCS, 2 Bandits with tracers and a Stresshog.

Calen is 6-1 as seen from yesterday's score sheet. He's running Calen's Pride (Kanan with TLT, Finn, Rey, Tactical Jammer, FCS, Title and Zeb with Chopper, Title and Biggs with M9G8, Integrated). Alex Yeun at 5-2 might be running the same list...

I'm pretty sure that Ghost was packing an unauthorized Death Star laser. I was stupid enough to put Maarek in range one of Kanan. He rolled five hits and a crit after dice mods.

It hurt a lot. Not only could I not kill Biggs, but I didn't even kill his droid.