PAX West Staff Pin Trading

Spokane_SnowMan

Schedule is up, this year it is on day one, Friday the 2nd, at 4pm.

I don't like it. During expo hours, on the first day. Gonna be a race to pick up enough pins to be able to trade for all the staff pins. Either that or drop the money on others to trade.

Hingo

Keep in mind that if you're going hard for pins early in the AM, and you are lucky with line times, you could always fodder out. The Blizzard pin, for example, could be traded for anywhere from 4-12 pins, depending on "value" (using Iron Horde vs Hearthstone Cards for reference).

Spokane_SnowMan

I have some left over Polygons and a couple other older pins. Probably will try and convert them into multiple whatevers.

YoungFrey

And it's scheduled so that you have to miss Automata, Chris Perkins, Scott Kurtz, and Gearbox. I know eliminating all conflicts is impossible, but without shoving in Thornwatch I don't know that could have been much worse.

youngeric86@gmail.com

What should I expect from this and how can I make the most out of the event. Since PAX South I have spent some time and money trying to collect a bunch of pins. But this will be my first trading event.

Lazorz

YoungFrey wrote: »

And it's scheduled so that you have to miss Automata, Chris Perkins, Scott Kurtz, and Gearbox. I know eliminating all conflicts is impossible, but without shoving in Thornwatch I don't know that could have been much worse.

Purely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they schedule it "poorly" to lower the demand on the event. We saw what happened last year when Staff Trading was at a convenient time... You weren't an hour and a half early? Sorry, you wouldn't be getting a spot (although that was also partially due to a poorly set up area being shared with Markiplier).

In any case, the same type of situation happened at East and I actually preferred it that way. You could walk into the staff trading line at any time during the two hours and have a spot. It's a compromise but in my opinion the outcome is way better than the clusterfuck that was Prime 15 staff trading.

misskass

Lazorz wrote: »

YoungFrey wrote: »

And it's scheduled so that you have to miss Automata, Chris Perkins, Scott Kurtz, and Gearbox. I know eliminating all conflicts is impossible, but without shoving in Thornwatch I don't know that could have been much worse.

Purely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they schedule it "poorly" to lower the demand on the event. We saw what happened last year when Staff Trading was at a convenient time... You weren't an hour and a half early? Sorry, you wouldn't be getting a spot (although that was also partially due to a poorly set up area being shared with Markiplier).

In any case, the same type of situation happened at East and I actually preferred it that way. You could walk into the staff trading line at any time during the two hours and have a spot. It's a compromise but in my opinion the outcome is way better than the clusterfuck that was Prime 15 staff trading.

It's pretty much guaranteed to be due to this exact reason. Spreading all of the high audience density stuff over the same hour(s) forces people to choose, so (in theory) nothing will be overloaded.

TheAggroCraig

misskass wrote: »

Lazorz wrote: »

YoungFrey wrote: »

And it's scheduled so that you have to miss Automata, Chris Perkins, Scott Kurtz, and Gearbox. I know eliminating all conflicts is impossible, but without shoving in Thornwatch I don't know that could have been much worse.

Purely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they schedule it "poorly" to lower the demand on the event. We saw what happened last year when Staff Trading was at a convenient time... You weren't an hour and a half early? Sorry, you wouldn't be getting a spot (although that was also partially due to a poorly set up area being shared with Markiplier).

In any case, the same type of situation happened at East and I actually preferred it that way. You could walk into the staff trading line at any time during the two hours and have a spot. It's a compromise but in my opinion the outcome is way better than the clusterfuck that was Prime 15 staff trading.

It's pretty much guaranteed to be due to this exact reason. Spreading all of the high audience density stuff over the same hour(s) forces people to choose, so (in theory) nothing will be overloaded.

All day Friday it seems like they're trying to get people out of Expo: Twitch panel, Markiplier, Pewdiepie, pin trading, etc. Expo might not be terrible!

darkinfero

Make the choice that's best for you.
At East I had to miss staff trading and some other panels I wanted to intend. It's the nature of pax.
But don't let pin collecting stop you from going to something that you have top on your list.
You do have 4 days of pax. Sometimes you might get lucky and see staff trading near Main merch in the convention center.

YoungFrey

TheAggroCraig wrote: »

misskass wrote: »

Lazorz wrote: »

YoungFrey wrote: »

And it's scheduled so that you have to miss Automata, Chris Perkins, Scott Kurtz, and Gearbox. I know eliminating all conflicts is impossible, but without shoving in Thornwatch I don't know that could have been much worse.

Purely speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they schedule it "poorly" to lower the demand on the event. We saw what happened last year when Staff Trading was at a convenient time... You weren't an hour and a half early? Sorry, you wouldn't be getting a spot (although that was also partially due to a poorly set up area being shared with Markiplier).

In any case, the same type of situation happened at East and I actually preferred it that way. You could walk into the staff trading line at any time during the two hours and have a spot. It's a compromise but in my opinion the outcome is way better than the clusterfuck that was Prime 15 staff trading.

It's pretty much guaranteed to be due to this exact reason. Spreading all of the high audience density stuff over the same hour(s) forces people to choose, so (in theory) nothing will be overloaded.

All day Friday it seems like they're trying to get people out of Expo: Twitch panel, Markiplier, Pewdiepie, pin trading, etc. Expo might not be terrible!

All day every day, their goal is to get people out of the Convention Center. That is the core problem of running PAX. Too many people? Shut down by Fire Marshall.

thefawnn

youngeric86@gmail.com wrote: »

What should I expect from this and how can I make the most out of the event. Since PAX South I have spent some time and money trying to collect a bunch of pins. But this will be my first trading event.

Staff trading is super fun! The staff sits with a collection of pins in front of them, typically a mixture of a large amount of their own staff pins, a medium amount of "fodder" (common pins you can trade up for), and a couple rarer pins -- though the rare pins do get snatched up very quickly, so keep a sharp eye! Trading here follows the rules of staff trading elsewhere; only two trades per staff member. You can trade with what's on their table in front of them AND what's on their lanyard. Some staff do little games or raffles, though at the busier PAXen we don't see it as much due to time constraints and crowd size.

It's a great way to get to chat with staff, get the staff pins you need, and try to find some non-staff pins you don't have yet. It's also an awesome place to get to know the members of the community (tons of trading in the line!). Arm yourself with a good amount of fodder and get ready to have fun!

LetMeIn

I enjoy the event more for the fact that I get to meet most the team of Penny Arcade. The pins and games are only a bonus but I really just want to meet all the staff including the ones without the pins. I don't even know how many times I sent in email and got Nathan to help me out with an order or send out my Club PA pin. I also love getting everyone autograph