11 minutes ago, LagJanson said:

Don't count on that. They don't typically take cash registers into the inflight reports...

I’m not.

However, if I were running things I’d do this:

Gamer walks into the In-Flight Report and is handed an “order form” for ALL FFG products being released at Gen Con. Gamer sits down waiting for the Report and fills out the order form INCLUDING credit card info. After the report, gamer turns in form to an FFH employee. Gamer is then given a recipt for the purchase and told to pick up hid purchase at X location at any convienent time during the Con.

For that matter, the pre-sales they have online now could have a “pick up at Gen Con” option.

2 hours ago, heychadwick said:

I'm thinking of storming the gates when they open. Not sure if that's insane, but Thursday is my only day to wait.

I wasn’t even planning to go, but I’ve been considering driving from Toledo just to pick up 2e a month early (and I guess play some 1e? Since I could?).

It can’t really be crazy if we all storm it, right? Then it’s normal by definition.

3 minutes ago, drail14me said:

However, if I were running things I’d do this:

Gamer walks into the In-Flight Report and is handed an “order form” for ALL FFG products being released at Gen Con. Gamer sits down waiting for the Report and fills out the order form INCLUDING credit card info. After the report, gamer turns in form to an FFH employee. Gamer is then given a recipt for the purchase and told to pick up hid purchase at X location at any convienent time during the Con.

For that matter, the pre-sales they have online now could have a “pick up at Gen Con” option.

I think FFG would get into trouble with the convention doing as you suggest... GenCon is pretty sticky on commerce rules, and business hours are likely regulated.

Now pre-order with pick up at GenCon is something I approve of...

2 hours ago, Khyros said:

Good luck getting them. In 2016 they gave tickets to all of the people that played X Wing to pick up the X Wing stuff, which was nice, but they were only valid for that day, and you were playing in their tourney all day long. So you had to have someone else *cough* wife *cough* go pick them up for you. Which still requires standing in a LLLOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG line. They didn't repeat that in 2017. Which means the only way at all to get the stuff will be to storm the vendor hall doors at 9am when they open, and hope you're fast enough to be one of the people who gets in line before they run out of stuff.

The good news is that they set aside stock for each day, so if you're not there Thursday, you have a chance on Friday to get it, and if you don't get it Friday, you can try again Saturday. But unless they bring back the ticket thing, it's far from a guarantee.

In 2016 they honored the tickets the next day, even though they said they had to be used that day. They did this specifically for the tournament attendees.

In 2017 cards were handed out to all tournament attendees. Though IIRC, we only got one ticket per new ship, so if you wanted multiples, you were outta luck. You were also out of luck if you wanted to try to get PR items for their othe games.

I played in the Thursday qualifier both years, and had no issues using my tickets to get pre-release ships.

Anyone have any idea how long it might take if I get by right door by 9am? I'm just trying to plan my day. Last time it took me an hour waiting, but it wasn't right when they open.

Hoping if I'm at right door around 9-9:30 that I can be done by noon. Realistic?

They could do all the things you guys are mentioning to make the line shorter and/or make the experience better for the customer. But why would they? FFG lines at Gen Con are epic every year and they have their booth right up in the front of the hall. They want everyone who's not in line to see that the line for Cool FFG Stuff wraps around the booth and meanders out into the hallway for a quarter mile. That's marketing. Everyone walking by will want to know what amazing stuff all these people are waiting in line for. In exchange for getting product early, you get to be part of FFG's carefully constructed flash mob.

1 minute ago, heychadwick said:

Anyone have any idea how long it might take if I get by right door by 9am? I'm just trying to plan my day. Last time it took me an hour waiting, but it wasn't right when they open.

Hoping if I'm at right door around 9-9:30 that I can be done by noon. Realistic?

I think it's reasonable to expect to get out by noon if you are there at opening. The FFG lines are often unreasonable though... Remember to bring your cane to fend off anybody going for the pretty box you've selected.

2 minutes ago, skotothalamos said:

They could do all the things you guys are mentioning to make the line shorter and/or make the experience better for the customer. But why would they? FFG lines at Gen Con are epic every year and they have their booth right up in the front of the hall. They want everyone who's not in line to see that the line for Cool FFG Stuff wraps around the booth and meander out into the hallway for a quarter mile. That's marketing. Everyone walking by will want to know what amazing stuff all these people are waiting in line for. In exchange for getting product early, you get to be part of FFG's carefully constructed flash mob.

FFG made improvements to better handle the line in 2017 compared to 2016. I don't think it does them any favors to annoy their customers and many just walk away from the line - I have. I think it's more a case that it costs too much for a larger footprint and more staff. Usually the biggest wait is actually the customers picking out what they want...

I felt line moved pretty well last year. It just took 45-hour. As long as I'm OK with 2 hour wait, I think I'm good.

1 minute ago, heychadwick said:

I felt line moved pretty well last year. It just took 45-hour. As long as I'm OK with 2 hour wait, I think I'm good.

You're a stronger man than I. I schedule way too many events to spend that much con time in line. ANY line.

56 minutes ago, LagJanson said:

Huh. Maybe I got all of them from being in line? @Khyros you could have a better memory. I know I got a Guns for Hirer ticket when I lined up looking for a TIE Phantom in a mad scramble before the event, I handed that off to some player that day since they didn't have TIE Phantoms in stock. Got another one from not sure where, then. I could have sworn it was playing on the Thursday.

I got tickets (one per X-Wing PR item) during the Thursday Qualifier last year too. Your memory is fine.

That doesn’t mean that tickets didn’t make it to everyone (or someone’s tickets weren’t set on the table and “accidently” picked up by someone else).

I actually wanted to pick up the PR boxed set for my brother last year (he went to Europe instead of GenCon, the twit ), but it just want possible for me to get more than one copy.

18 minutes ago, direweasel said:

You're a stronger man than I. I schedule way too many events to spend that much con time in line. ANY line.

I'm running events instead of playing. Well....I have Thursday only.

@heychadwick How's that robotic ankle of yours? Will it be a problem if you really need to run to the line or stand for 2 hours?

I'm just concerned that after GenCon my flight on the Shuttle Tydirium might be cancelled because the Captain is laid up, getting bed rest. ?

1 minute ago, Force Majeure said:

@heychadwick How's that robotic ankle of yours? Will it be a problem if you really need to run to the line or stand for 2 hours?

I'm just concerned that after GenCon my flight on the Shuttle Tydirium might be cancelled because the Captain is laid up, getting bed rest. ?

Actually, I get my new ankle brace next week! With it I should be able to run and everything. Don't think I'll even need a cane! I might be able to super jump over people, but not sure on that.

Maybe we'll get lucky and one of the articles released by FFG before GenCon will explain a nice organized system for getting 2.0!

if you buy the 2.0 coreset at Gencon, do you get the pre-order Damage Deck?

Thank you all for continuing to reinforce my decision *not* to go to GenCon. I couldn't handle those crowds, and I can't see standing in lines like that for a pre-release.

For what it's worth, FFG will be bringing as many copies of these things as physically possible. When they sell something at Gencon, they sell it at full MSRP without any of that money going to distributors or retailers, so it's a massive straight-to-pocket increase for them compared to their usual distributional sales. They will have on hand as much physical product as they possibly can, but that will be limited by production times, shipping times, and physical transportation/storage space.

For what it's worth, their booth will probably be pretty void of anything not Legion, Destiny, 2.0, and whatever other boardgames are getting the newest stuff. Like, last year, they didn't even have any Armada stuff in their booth (I wanted to buy another movement tool for the tournament).

12 minutes ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

For what it's worth, FFG will be bringing as many copies of these things as physically possible. When they sell something at Gencon, they sell it at full MSRP without any of that money going to distributors or retailers, so it's a massive straight-to-pocket increase for them compared to their usual distributional sales. They will have on hand as much physical product as they possibly can, but that will be limited by production times, shipping times, and physical transportation/storage space.

For what it's worth, their booth will probably be pretty void of anything not Legion, Destiny, 2.0, and whatever other boardgames are getting the newest stuff. Like, last year, they didn't even have any Armada stuff in their booth (I wanted to buy another movement tool for the tournament).

Is their booth is the same location each year?

49 minutes ago, Kaptin Krunch said:

if you buy the 2.0 coreset at Gencon, do you get the pre-order Damage Deck?

I was wondering/hoping so....

49 minutes ago, Hawkstrike said:

Thank you all for continuing to reinforce my decision *not* to go to GenCon. I couldn't handle those crowds, and I can't see standing in lines like that for a pre-release.

You could always just come and hang out for the Shuttle Tydirium stuff. We are out in Lucas Oil and not around the crowds.

5 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

I was wondering/hoping so....

Does FFG have an email address that we can reach out to them at with questions like these?

3 hours ago, drail14me said:

Is their booth is the same location each year?

No. But the Gencon program will have a map of the dealer hall. That said, it doesn't do too much good to even know where their booth is, because you never know where the end of the line will be after the doors open. You might find yourself at a set of doors right next to FFG's booth, but you may end up "running" a few hundred yards to get into the end of the FFG line as it rapidly begins to form and expand. I say "run," because you are not allowed to run and the Gencon staff will be reminding us all of this rule and yelling it before the doors open each day. Not that it will stop some entitled and selfish people from running and displacing people.

It would be great if FFG could coordinate with the Gencon staff to build a line in the hallways outside the dealer hall before the doors open each day. Like a "hey, anyone looking for the FFG line, it will being forming in the morning outside the Southeast doors, and then have it wrap around as much as possible in that hallway area (or even outside the convention center to save hallway space). They should probably do the same thing for WizKids and GF9 and any other huge booths, just to cut down on the madness and crowding the doors that happens each day outside the dealer hall.

4 hours ago, heychadwick said:

You could always just come and hang out for the Shuttle Tydirium stuff. We are out in Lucas Oil and not around the crowds.

My brother and I are signed up for Round 1 of 4. We're not super competitive, so please have mercy on us.

@Hawkstrike - If you hate lines and crowds, you will want to stay away from the FFG booth on Thursday for sure. However, GenCon is SO MUCH MORE than the FFG booth! There are a lot of X-Wing games there (and tons of other games...I am registered for 8 events, and only 3 of them are X-Wing (and the first two items on my wishlist were actually Zombicide events, and I didn't make the cut to get into either of those ). Such a great convention.

1 hour ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

It would be great if FFG could coordinate with the Gencon staff to build a line in the hallways outside the dealer hall before the doors open each day. Like a "hey, anyone looking for the FFG line, it will being forming in the morning outside the Southeast doors, and then have it wrap around as much as possible in that hallway area (or even outside the convention center to save hallway space). They should probably do the same thing for WizKids and GF9 and any other huge booths, just to cut down on the madness and crowding the doors that happens each day outside the dealer hall.

Great idea, though I doubt they'll need to do that for the Wizkids booth, since Wizkids decided not to run any events at GenCon this year. They'll have a booth, but most of the Heroclix players will probably be skipping the con.