I was in the queue for over 30mins, I was then kicked out and told tickets are now sold out. Lame
Good job I didn't book flights from the UK then...
Those of you whinging about not being able to get 3 day badges, you are aware that...
1) THere are still individual day badges available and
2) You can buy badges right at the convention for somewhere between face value and face value + $10
Right? Right?
What do you mean at the convention? I don't think they have ever sold tickets at the convention center for Pax East. And if you are talking about scalpers, I got an 8 hour drive and a huge time investment in hoping some guy will be standing on a street corner with a ticket, and that's a small investment compared to a lot of people.
Yea well I work 60+ hours a week and I don't have time to be a fat nerd anymore and hang out on the internet all month waiting to dutchdoor a website. So how the frack does one go about getting a couple of 3 day badges now? will there be more? am I fracked? should they do a better job selling tickets? Who really HAS these answers anyway?
The Show Clix Site didn't have everyone F5ing it as the url wasn't known. By them announcing when the tickets were going on sale it caused everyone to kill the site before they could even update. By that reasoning, it is technically our fault to for crashing the site and not making it so they could update in a way. .
And yet it still managed to time out on processing my credit card more than once before I was successfully able to get an order placed. The PAX Site had major issues, Show Clix had obvious if not major issues, and OnPeak might as well have been using a 386 with a 28.8 modem. I truly don't expect perfect server performance during such times, but the all-around cluster-fest we saw today wasn't anywhere even remotely related to perfection.
While that sucks that you had issues with Show Clix(as I didn't hear that many people having issues with them other then the Queue time and then things being sold out)...
You have thousands of people trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time and try to come away with everyone happy. I know many people were able to book and then probably got off the PA forums to ease their blood pressure down(I was one of them). I think that the community in general should expect problems and then be happy if it does go smooth. This is going to be the way it's going to be from now on I'm sure so we just need to accept it. PAX is popular as hell. The End.
The Show Clix Site didn't have everyone F5ing it as the url wasn't known. By them announcing when the tickets were going on sale it caused everyone to kill the site before they could even update. By that reasoning, it is technically our fault to for crashing the site and not making it so they could update in a way. .
And yet it still managed to time out on processing my credit card more than once before I was successfully able to get an order placed. The PAX Site had major issues, Show Clix had obvious if not major issues, and OnPeak might as well have been using a 386 with a 28.8 modem. I truly don't expect perfect server performance during such times, but the all-around cluster-fest we saw today wasn't anywhere even remotely related to perfection.
While that sucks that you had issues with Show Clix(as I didn't hear that many people having issues with them other then the Queue time and then things being sold out)...
You have thousands of people trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time and try to come away with everyone happy. I know many people were able to book and then probably got off the PA forums to ease their blood pressure down(I was one of them). I think that the community in general should expect problems and then be happy if it does go smooth. This is going to be the way it's going to be from now on I'm sure so we just need to accept it. PAX is popular as hell. The End.
You wouldn't be acting so cool and accepting of the terrible way everything was handled today if you didn't get tickets too. It absolutely should NOT be this way from now on, and we should NOT accept it.
Yea well I work 60+ hours a week and I don't have time to be a fat nerd anymore and hang out on the internet all month waiting to dutchdoor a website. So how the frack does one go about getting a couple of 3 day badges now? will there be more? am I fracked? should they do a better job selling tickets? Who really HAS these answers anyway?
I also work 60+(closer to 70) hours a week. I scheduled my lunch hour around this and rescheduled meeting where possible.
Also, there will not be, no(unless they release tickets from people who abused the system and got more then 5). You explain a 'better' way...and don't just repeat some of the nonsense I've heard lately.
I was in the queue for over 30mins, I was then kicked out and told tickets are now sold out. Lame
Good job I didn't book flights from the UK then...
Those of you whinging about not being able to get 3 day badges, you are aware that...
1) THere are still individual day badges available and
2) You can buy badges right at the convention for somewhere between face value and face value + $10
Right? Right?
What do you mean at the convention? I don't think they have ever sold tickets at the convention center for Pax East. And if you are talking about scalpers, I got an 8 hour drive and a huge time investment in hoping some guy will be standing on a street corner with a ticket, and that's a small investment compared to a lot of people.
PA doesn't sell them at the convention, but I PROMISE there will be scalpers. At Prime there were about 20-30 of them within a two block radius of the doors. They don't even ask for much extra(as I saw someone sell a 4 day pass, on friday, to a scalper for $20).
The Show Clix Site didn't have everyone F5ing it as the url wasn't known. By them announcing when the tickets were going on sale it caused everyone to kill the site before they could even update. By that reasoning, it is technically our fault to for crashing the site and not making it so they could update in a way. .
And yet it still managed to time out on processing my credit card more than once before I was successfully able to get an order placed. The PAX Site had major issues, Show Clix had obvious if not major issues, and OnPeak might as well have been using a 386 with a 28.8 modem. I truly don't expect perfect server performance during such times, but the all-around cluster-fest we saw today wasn't anywhere even remotely related to perfection.
While that sucks that you had issues with Show Clix(as I didn't hear that many people having issues with them other then the Queue time and then things being sold out)...
You have thousands of people trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time and try to come away with everyone happy. I know many people were able to book and then probably got off the PA forums to ease their blood pressure down(I was one of them). I think that the community in general should expect problems and then be happy if it does go smooth. This is going to be the way it's going to be from now on I'm sure so we just need to accept it. PAX is popular as hell. The End.
You wouldn't be acting so cool and accepting of the terrible way everything was handled today if you didn't get tickets too. It absolutely should NOT be this way from now on, and we should NOT accept it.
Oh really? Last year I had to buy Separate passes for myself and a friend on Ebay before PAX Prime. I paid about $450 for the set. I DID go through this last year.
And I didn't bitch. I pulled up my britches and prepared for East. It sucks, and I understand, but don't tell me how I would react.
Yea well I work 60+ hours a week and I don't have time to be a fat nerd anymore and hang out on the internet all month waiting to dutchdoor a website. So how the frack does one go about getting a couple of 3 day badges now? will there be more? am I fracked? should they do a better job selling tickets? Who really HAS these answers anyway?
1. Time shouldn't really be a factor if you're interested in fat loss. Simply eat less calories than your maintenance amount. Since you will be eating less, this coincides perfectly with your lack of time. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. Ideally you will be lifting weights while doing this to maintain lean muscle mass. Cardio is optional, as its primary purpose is to speed up the process, but you can always just eat less.
2. You only had to hang out on the internet from 12:00pm to 12:20pm to get 3-day badges. That is not quite a month, but I appreciate your hyperbole.
3. You hang out on the internet for 20 minutes, click the registration link listed on the first post of this thread, or from various twitter accounts. You then sit in queue for anywhere between 0 and 15 minutes. Finally, you complete the purchase process.
4. Someone at Penny Arcade will manually check suspicious activity and cancel badges. Those badges will be resold at a later date. Don't count on twitter for the resale notification. You have to be vigilant.
5. You are not fracked. You can also purchase badges through 3rd party means. It looks like the market value for 3day badges will settle around $200.
As much as it sucks for the people who can't make it, when it's sold out, it's sold out. While there are some parts that could have been handled better, the only way they can give advance notice without selling out quickly is for fewer people to want to go to PAX. If they set a date a month in advance and a time at night on a weekend, more people would be able to check the site, but it would only sell out even faster
I also work 60+(closer to 70) hours a week. I scheduled my lunch hour around this and rescheduled meeting where possible.
Also, there will not be, no(unless they release tickets from people who abused the system and got more then 5). You explain a 'better' way...and don't just repeat some of the nonsense I've heard lately.[/quote]
A better way would be releasing a set number of tickets per day at different intervals. Over the course of a few weeks at least.
Well, honestly, at this rate, I may not be able to go to PAX in the future if I'm not on the ball like I was today. The idea of paying $200 to go to a con like this... no thanks. And they keep jacking up the prices of the tickets by $5 every year.
Different strokes and all that...
But I think $75 for 3 days is a steal. Even the $40 per day tix are pretty reasonable, IMHO. And the low prices are probably one of the reasons the badges sell out so fast...
It's not bad, certainly, but given that there is a lot of demand for a video game conventions in the Boston area, I'm surprised that someone else hasn't stepped up to the plate to offer another similar, albeit smaller event. That would be an ideal way to handle the load.
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SheriResident FlufferMy Living RoomRegistered Userregular
Daaaang I came in to comment on how easy and smooth my purchasing process was
Then again I had people texting/tweeting me as soon a noon hit, refreshed the SE++ thread about 10 times, saw it would be announced on twitter, and was in the queue in under a minute of Khoo posting this thread
It wasn't so bad as long as you were in immediately. In fact, once I got in the queue, other than feeling pure terror at the thought of possibly being kicked out, it was 15 minutes (if even) and done. Once I saw the PAX twitter saying "we'll announce the links soon" I knew to keep Khoo, Jerry, Gabe's twitters open as well, with the suspicion Khoo would tweet it out (he pretty much IS penny arcade expo, after all).
Another thing: if you're pissed, take a step back before posting. You can vent frustrations here, but it has to be done in a constructive fashion.
I think it all boils down to them pre-announcing it yesterday. If they just sent out a tweet and updated the site at noon, None of this would of happened or to the degree it did. Because of that the F5 Army was out in force, caused server issues. Not sure why they pre-annouced it unless they were trying to break some sort of record.
Pax East 2014 checklist:
3 Day Pass [X] - BYOC [X] - Accomodations [X] - Travel [ X ] - Time Off [ X ]
I'm a first time poster but not a first time PAX East attender. I love the convention and I was even able to personally thank Mike "Gabe" at the PAX last year for creating such a unique community experience. Today, unfortunately, was not a positive experience. During my lunch break (about 12:20) I accessed Showclix via the functional Twitter link and then proceeded to wait approximately 30 minutes in the virtual queue. At last the queue page spat me back to the ticket purchasing page where it now told me the three day passes were sold out. I then, albeit begrudgingly, attempted to purchase daily passes. All of the information was entered, I pressed checkout, and then a wild server unavailable page appeared. Twelve minutes of trying to refresh, re-enter, and re-submit ended with my allotted ticket purchasing time having expired. By this time I had a meeting I had to leave the office for and I was unable to spend another 45ish minutes attempting to give Penny Arcade my money. Thankfully a friend of mine got online and was able to buy me the tickets, otherwise I would not be making a return trip to Boston next year.
I felt the need to recount this frustrating experience in the hopes that steps will be taken in the future that can help avoid such issues. Pre-registration (which I would gladly pay $100 for at the convention), releasing tickets in waves, and finding additional ways stop to scalpers are all things that could be re-considered (because obviously the PA staff has considered these things already). I want to see PAX continue to be the best gaming convention in the world. Learning from and fixing the issues that happened to me and so many others today will help ensure that.
I love how me and 4 friends kept having the site crash on us, and then once we get into the queue the tickets sell out instantly. Oh but it's okay, because they are going for as much as $1000 on Ebay right now. I mean, it would of been great to get a 3 single day passes again, but then they cancel the transaction for some odd reason. Yes, I was billed and then the money was gave back and an email stating that I was trying to purchase to many tickets. I mean 2 tickets per day is to many?. Yup. Looks like after 4 years of going to PAX as a die hard fan, I won't be going this year.
A better way would be releasing a set number of tickets per day at different intervals. Over the course of a few weeks at least.
And then they just sell out that much faster each time.
There will never, ever be a way that satisfies everyone. Ever. Someone will be screwed over with X method.
Do what the wife and I are doing. Plan to just go to Boston and hang out with friends. I'll spend the extra 150 bucks on something touristy and have just as much fun.
I'm a first time poster but not a first time PAX East attender. I love the convention and I was even able to personally thank Mike "Gabe" at the PAX last year for creating such a unique community experience. Today, unfortunately, was not a positive experience. During my lunch break (about 12:20) I accessed Showclix via the functional Twitter link and then proceeded to wait approximately 30 minutes in the virtual queue. At last the queue page spat me back to the ticket purchasing page where it now told me the three day passes were sold out. I then, albeit begrudgingly, attempted to purchase daily passes. All of the information was entered, I pressed checkout, and then a wild server unavailable page appeared. Twelve minutes of trying to refresh, re-enter, and re-submit ended with my allotted ticket purchasing time having expired. By this time I had a meeting I had to leave the office for and I was unable to spend another 45ish minutes attempting to give Penny Arcade my money. Thankfully a friend of mine got online and was able to buy me the tickets, otherwise I would not be making a return trip to Boston next year.
I felt the need to recount this frustrating experience in the hopes that steps will be taken in the future that can help avoid such issues. Pre-registration (which I would gladly pay $100 for at the convention), releasing tickets in waves, and finding additional ways stop to scalpers are all things that could be re-considered (because obviously the PA staff has considered these things already). I want to see PAX continue to be the best gaming convention in the world. Learning from and fixing the issues that happened to me and so many others today will help ensure that.
I'm not attending PAX East this year due to schedule overlap. However, I visited the purchasing page this morning when I got the tweet because I just wanted to check out how it looked this year. The first thing I saw was that I had to select the type of badge I was getting before I entered the queue, which didn't really make sense. I was using an iPhone on 3G connection, and I noticed that after about ten minutes of letting it idle, it did the same thing to me as it did to you: it spat me back out at the badge selection page before the queue.
PAX Prime '13 had it right. There was a queue, then a checkout line. No badge selection beforehand. I'm really hoping they change it back for Prime badges this April/May, as I might be stuck with nothing but a mobile phone when the time rolls around, and I don't want this "glitch" to happen when I'm purchasing badges for real. Last year was stressful enough. A mobile error mid-queue from these changes would be the last straw.
I think it all boils down to them pre-announcing it yesterday. If they just sent out a tweet and updated the site at noon, None of this would of happened or to the degree it did. Because of that the F5 Army was out in force, caused server issues. Not sure why they pre-annouced it unless they were trying to break some sort of record.
I actually think it's better this way. Either way there are going to be people who get screwed over or don't get tickets, but when it's pre-announced it increases the odds of the people who really want tickets to be prepared for them instead of just the people who are busy. I don't believe Prime was pre-announced but that still had issues and sold out faster than East. I would say OnPeak was the only major problem especially with some of the hotels going up early.
At the end of the day I'm just happy that I was able to still secure the passes I needed. Mind you they weren't 3-day passes, but I still do get to go to PAX East with my friends and have a great time hanging out with great people! That is what the spirit of PAX is at the end of the day!
Well, that is a thing!
PAX East 2014:
Hotel [x] Transportaion [Driving] Passes [x] Challenge Coin [Soon]
I got the horrible news that one of my fellow teachers was murdered this morning. While not nearly as bad, I was very upset when I learned that PAX East 2014 tickets were already selling out before I got home. I have been spending my day getting trained down to educate and care for incarcerated juveniles. Hoory for a rewarding job. Boo to restricted internet access.
I can't believe what I'm seeing. Just look at what scalping is taking place.
Scalping nonsense like this is why I don't bother trying to get tickets for professional sports. It appears the same thing is happening to PAX East tickets. I have been to every PAX East, and I was fortunate to be an Omeganaut in 2011. Given the current state of PAX East affairs, 2013 will be my last PAX East.
I got all the badges I needed and a room in the Westin, so I realize I have no room whatsoever to talk. That said, I really respect our... respectable... PAX organizers for trying something new with the pre-announcement. They had an idea, they put it out there, it didn't really work. They get torn up every year by angry people who didn't get tickets/hotel rooms/transportation/enough hugs as a child, and they wanted to see if there was a better way. It was a little tiny bit of a fiasco, but at least they tried.
I don't think PA dropped the ball. I think OnPeak dropped the ball and then kicked it all the way across the field and into oncoming traffic, but PA had no control over that. OnPeak should've been better prepared, they weren't, and that's that. Maybe they'll have better servers next year. Maybe they won't even be the company doing the hotels. That's another year away and I very strongly doubt they're checking the PAX forums to see how mad people are.
In all the freaking out and bashing of whoever and whatever that's going on around here, I want everyone to keep in mind that they get a gold star for effort and a lot of what happened was out of people's control. They hopefully learned that the pre-announcing just makes things worse, and they'll try something new next time. Anyone remember the Jordan Mechner keynote? Let's go back to being PAX friends.
PAX East 2014: 3-Day Pass [X] | Hotel Room [X] | Transportation [X] | Time Off [X] | Costume [ ]
NEED TWO ROOMS IN THE WESTIN ON THURSDAY NIGHT! Please PM me!
I think my only problem this year was that it was announced. There are perks to being a forumer, I pretty much hang out and watch the forums and build my anticipation for East from the moment Prime ends. Every year my schedule varies, my stress begins in September. Once October came and kept going, the stress was building. Yesterday when the announcement came, I felt nothing but despair and heart seizures. One of the few great perks of being a forumer besides knowing a lot of the regulars around here by name or face is having the first crack at tickets and hotels. No one tells us when they come up, we are a community and excitedly vigilant about what we love. I knew when that announcement came through yesterday that the game had changed and to expect blood on the battlefield today and oh, internet... you brought it. I came out victorious, but just barely and sadly, maybe for the last time.
Does anyone know if there's a way to refund the tickets? My friend and I had agreed to go Friday and Sunday (we have gone every year), but I found out after purchasing that my friend had backed out at the last minute, and I obviously don't want to go alone when I've gone with my best friend all these years.
I'm surprised to see a bunch had no issues, I'm a little irked that I was on promptly at noon but still got screwed by being booted out to 503 bad gateway at the screen just before putting my credit card in.
But still excited as this is my first PAX, got fri/sat passes (3 day or bye bye Sunday) and a room at Omni downtown.
The key to end scalpers is to associate passes with names at purchase, no changes allowed after. NYCC went as far as RFID as well, but I had an inside track for pro passes there anyway.
There's no easy answers. They can't increase the number of tickets available, PAX is already over crowded. If they announced what time tickets will be available, the servers will crash and no one will get in. If they don't announce it, then people complain that they had to wait all day and don't have the time to do that. You can't please everyone.
As far as the Hotels go, don't fret, the Westin is unlikely to reopen with any more rooms, in fact it looks like OnPeak has it blacked out permanently now, but I had no problem booking tickets at the Seaport directly across the street like 2 weeks before PAX last year, people periodically cancel their reservations, particularly as the date comes closer and people find out they can't make it. Just relax.
Ticket transaction went okay, not great. I kept refreshing and eventually it was tweeted out. It crashed several times during the check out so I was a bit scared. The only thing was the hotels. It crashed for a long time. Still haven't received that conformation info on the hotel so I'm still freaking out a bit. Decided to do the Park Plaza. It's no seaport, but it will have to do.
I managed to get a 3 Day Pass, but the hotel page was busted. I was at the checkout page to get the Seaport and then BAM, 503. Seaport: gone. Westin: gone. I still managed to get the Omni, which from what I read is not a bad hotel and is only 1.5 miles away from the convention center.
ya I got the omni as well. Still hoping to maybe get into a closer one or just do room share with a closer one but most likely will just stick with what I have
Does anyone know if there's a way to refund the tickets? My friend and I had agreed to go Friday and Sunday (we have gone every year), but I found out after purchasing that my friend had backed out at the last minute, and I obviously don't want to go alone when I've gone with my best friend all these years.
If you read the disclaimer when purchasing tickets, it says no refunds. You can try your luck with pax_questions@paxsite.com though.
Quick question?? 3 day passes were sold out by the time I got online, so I bought 12 single day tickets for myself and my family (4 fri/sat/sun). Is my order in danger of getting cancelled? I didn't even think of the 5 ticket limit at the time.
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stebuuCrabs are fucking crazy, and I hate horsesRegistered Userregular
Thread recap: PA shitcocked things. Be sure to follow twitter in the future. also, trust no one.
Quick question?? 3 day passes were sold out by the time I got online, so I bought 12 single day tickets for myself and my family (4 fri/sat/sun). Is my order in danger of getting cancelled? I didn't even think of the 5 ticket limit at the time.
The 5 pass limit is for five "three-day equivalents." In other words, 5 three day passes, or 5 each of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, for a total of 15 passes. You should be fine.
when does the room share thread start picking up like do people genereally have there room situation figured out by a certain time. I was hoping to have everything figured out by january febuary at the very latest so I dont get stuck with paying full price for a room or without a room
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What do you mean at the convention? I don't think they have ever sold tickets at the convention center for Pax East. And if you are talking about scalpers, I got an 8 hour drive and a huge time investment in hoping some guy will be standing on a street corner with a ticket, and that's a small investment compared to a lot of people.
While that sucks that you had issues with Show Clix(as I didn't hear that many people having issues with them other then the Queue time and then things being sold out)...
You have thousands of people trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time and try to come away with everyone happy. I know many people were able to book and then probably got off the PA forums to ease their blood pressure down(I was one of them). I think that the community in general should expect problems and then be happy if it does go smooth. This is going to be the way it's going to be from now on I'm sure so we just need to accept it. PAX is popular as hell. The End.
You wouldn't be acting so cool and accepting of the terrible way everything was handled today if you didn't get tickets too. It absolutely should NOT be this way from now on, and we should NOT accept it.
I also work 60+(closer to 70) hours a week. I scheduled my lunch hour around this and rescheduled meeting where possible.
Also, there will not be, no(unless they release tickets from people who abused the system and got more then 5). You explain a 'better' way...and don't just repeat some of the nonsense I've heard lately.
PA doesn't sell them at the convention, but I PROMISE there will be scalpers. At Prime there were about 20-30 of them within a two block radius of the doors. They don't even ask for much extra(as I saw someone sell a 4 day pass, on friday, to a scalper for $20).
Oh really? Last year I had to buy Separate passes for myself and a friend on Ebay before PAX Prime. I paid about $450 for the set. I DID go through this last year.
And I didn't bitch. I pulled up my britches and prepared for East. It sucks, and I understand, but don't tell me how I would react.
1. Time shouldn't really be a factor if you're interested in fat loss. Simply eat less calories than your maintenance amount. Since you will be eating less, this coincides perfectly with your lack of time. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat. Ideally you will be lifting weights while doing this to maintain lean muscle mass. Cardio is optional, as its primary purpose is to speed up the process, but you can always just eat less.
2. You only had to hang out on the internet from 12:00pm to 12:20pm to get 3-day badges. That is not quite a month, but I appreciate your hyperbole.
3. You hang out on the internet for 20 minutes, click the registration link listed on the first post of this thread, or from various twitter accounts. You then sit in queue for anywhere between 0 and 15 minutes. Finally, you complete the purchase process.
4. Someone at Penny Arcade will manually check suspicious activity and cancel badges. Those badges will be resold at a later date. Don't count on twitter for the resale notification. You have to be vigilant.
5. You are not fracked. You can also purchase badges through 3rd party means. It looks like the market value for 3day badges will settle around $200.
6. They could improve.
7. I do bro.
Also, there will not be, no(unless they release tickets from people who abused the system and got more then 5). You explain a 'better' way...and don't just repeat some of the nonsense I've heard lately.[/quote]
A better way would be releasing a set number of tickets per day at different intervals. Over the course of a few weeks at least.
It's not bad, certainly, but given that there is a lot of demand for a video game conventions in the Boston area, I'm surprised that someone else hasn't stepped up to the plate to offer another similar, albeit smaller event. That would be an ideal way to handle the load.
Then again I had people texting/tweeting me as soon a noon hit, refreshed the SE++ thread about 10 times, saw it would be announced on twitter, and was in the queue in under a minute of Khoo posting this thread
So I realize I am the exception here
Sheri Baldwin Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Etsy Shop | BUY ME STUFF (updated for 2014!)
Another thing: if you're pissed, take a step back before posting. You can vent frustrations here, but it has to be done in a constructive fashion.
Massive Crystal Cavern!
Love this Axon.
Also sorry if I came back at some of the venting people...I just think that PA did what they could in a rough situation all around.
3 Day Pass [X] - BYOC [X] - Accomodations [X] - Travel [ X ] - Time Off [ X ]
I felt the need to recount this frustrating experience in the hopes that steps will be taken in the future that can help avoid such issues. Pre-registration (which I would gladly pay $100 for at the convention), releasing tickets in waves, and finding additional ways stop to scalpers are all things that could be re-considered (because obviously the PA staff has considered these things already). I want to see PAX continue to be the best gaming convention in the world. Learning from and fixing the issues that happened to me and so many others today will help ensure that.
And then they just sell out that much faster each time.
There will never, ever be a way that satisfies everyone. Ever. Someone will be screwed over with X method.
Do what the wife and I are doing. Plan to just go to Boston and hang out with friends. I'll spend the extra 150 bucks on something touristy and have just as much fun.
I'm not attending PAX East this year due to schedule overlap. However, I visited the purchasing page this morning when I got the tweet because I just wanted to check out how it looked this year. The first thing I saw was that I had to select the type of badge I was getting before I entered the queue, which didn't really make sense. I was using an iPhone on 3G connection, and I noticed that after about ten minutes of letting it idle, it did the same thing to me as it did to you: it spat me back out at the badge selection page before the queue.
PAX Prime '13 had it right. There was a queue, then a checkout line. No badge selection beforehand. I'm really hoping they change it back for Prime badges this April/May, as I might be stuck with nothing but a mobile phone when the time rolls around, and I don't want this "glitch" to happen when I'm purchasing badges for real. Last year was stressful enough. A mobile error mid-queue from these changes would be the last straw.
Trade me pins, yo: https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Lazorz
I actually think it's better this way. Either way there are going to be people who get screwed over or don't get tickets, but when it's pre-announced it increases the odds of the people who really want tickets to be prepared for them instead of just the people who are busy. I don't believe Prime was pre-announced but that still had issues and sold out faster than East. I would say OnPeak was the only major problem especially with some of the hotels going up early.
PAX East 2014:
Hotel [x] Transportaion [Driving] Passes [x] Challenge Coin [Soon]
I can't believe what I'm seeing. Just look at what scalping is taking place.
Scalping nonsense like this is why I don't bother trying to get tickets for professional sports. It appears the same thing is happening to PAX East tickets. I have been to every PAX East, and I was fortunate to be an Omeganaut in 2011. Given the current state of PAX East affairs, 2013 will be my last PAX East.
I don't think PA dropped the ball. I think OnPeak dropped the ball and then kicked it all the way across the field and into oncoming traffic, but PA had no control over that. OnPeak should've been better prepared, they weren't, and that's that. Maybe they'll have better servers next year. Maybe they won't even be the company doing the hotels. That's another year away and I very strongly doubt they're checking the PAX forums to see how mad people are.
In all the freaking out and bashing of whoever and whatever that's going on around here, I want everyone to keep in mind that they get a gold star for effort and a lot of what happened was out of people's control. They hopefully learned that the pre-announcing just makes things worse, and they'll try something new next time. Anyone remember the Jordan Mechner keynote? Let's go back to being PAX friends.
NEED TWO ROOMS IN THE WESTIN ON THURSDAY NIGHT! Please PM me!
this has the shuttles from last year at the bottom
:rotate:
But still excited as this is my first PAX, got fri/sat passes (3 day or bye bye Sunday) and a room at Omni downtown.
The key to end scalpers is to associate passes with names at purchase, no changes allowed after. NYCC went as far as RFID as well, but I had an inside track for pro passes there anyway.
I'm looking forward to my first experience!
As far as the Hotels go, don't fret, the Westin is unlikely to reopen with any more rooms, in fact it looks like OnPeak has it blacked out permanently now, but I had no problem booking tickets at the Seaport directly across the street like 2 weeks before PAX last year, people periodically cancel their reservations, particularly as the date comes closer and people find out they can't make it. Just relax.
The 5 pass limit is for five "three-day equivalents." In other words, 5 three day passes, or 5 each of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, for a total of 15 passes. You should be fine.