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PAX 2017 Expectations
DoomsdayPlay
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Year by year PAX prices have slowly been going up, but this year it jumped from 95 for 3 days to 165.
With this price jump, do you have any higher expectations from PAX?
Price changes aside, were there things from last year that you'd hope they'd change this year?
With this price jump, do you have any higher expectations from PAX?
Price changes aside, were there things from last year that you'd hope they'd change this year?
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I definitely see your name around here the most haha. Maybe you'll have an sensible answer for this too.
Every year I expect them to fix the spacing issues at PAX, the game panels have the most uncomfortable pathways, while the tabletop section is a dead wasteland for most of PAX. Don't you think they'd cater to the majority of the people there? I mean i think tabletop games are cool and all, but there is just so much wasted space for practically half of the convention floor.
Maybe the convention center has certain rules on how they want things laid out?
Just to play devil's advocate...I thought the expo floor last year was one of the best it's ever been laid out. I never felt super cramped as in previous years and it was MUCH bigger than before as well. This expansion along with VR and E-sports meant that tabletop was insanely small last year. I struggled to find a table every time I went other than late Friday night. It definitely a difficult balance as PAX has to try to allocate 12 acres of space in a way that caters to the widest audience.
I thought tabletop was pretty small too. I could never really find a table until Sunday. Maybe I was distracted by all the other PAX greatness, but I fancy myself a tabletop game lover so I was checking it out often. Perhaps I was just looking at the wrong times. I did not have an issue with the layout of the expo floor. It was slow moving at times, but there was a lot of people so it was to be expected. I hope that PAX is more of the same from last year.
I have to agree with the layout, aside from say the corners near the escalators (where doom was and Rockstar historically ends up in the past) feels a bit cramped, but otherwise the floor had great flow. I do find the E-sports stuff to be a huge waste of space, especially with how much of tabletop it ate up. It seemed like it could be better used for actual booths, vendors, TT freeplay...anything really.
https://allmylinks.com/topherxbeads
I also have to agree on how much of a wasted space the e sports section ate up. Its not like it was something that was being used constantly. So most of the time it was empty.
Out of the 4 years I've gone, I will say that last year was one of the better setups.
Yeah, I'm very surprised. I wonder how many badges they released.
I do wish they reported that still.
In any case, I think that South has probably taken a lot of pressure off of East.
Even more so, based on what PA staff have said, the lack of 3-days probably helped ease the pressure considerably on Friday and Sunday pass numbers. Previously, they had to assume that all 3-day pass-purchasers were going to attend each day; now, they don't have to worry about that, which means far more F/Su passes are available than previous years. Good news for everyone except those who lucked into the comparatively cheap 3-days before.
I have to disagree with you, the e-sports part might have been my highlight of last year for me. Everyone has there opinions on what should and shouldn't be there tho. Personally, I don't enjoy any of the YouTube stuff and the personalities that go with it.
PAX East 2019!
Badges [X] Hotel [X] Time off request [X]
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I went to the Streetfighter finals and the LoL finals. Those were an absolute blast. I do have to admit though that when those spaces weren't being use, they were just giant empty areas. I love esports and have been a big proponent of them taking a more prominent place at conventions. I think the large turnout that they saw for most of these events would be encouraging for organizers, but perhaps they could find ways of making use of that space when the matches weren't happening.
They haven't released attendance numbers in awhile because they didn't want a competition between east and west to form. I think there were just as many people. My only evidence is anecdotal as the lines seemed just as long, but it seemed the expo hall was just set up better than before. I think honestly what we're seeing is just the abolition of 3 day passes easing pressure in general. I'm sure at least some 3 day pass buyers didn't attend on Friday due to work, but wanted the 3 day pass for the reduced cost and prestige of it.
We may see increased attendance just due to people more realistically buying the days they want to go. That's my hope anyways. I enjoy seeing PAX succeed.
East Sunday has never sold out faster than 15 days. And before 2015, Friday always took over a week. It's really interesting seeing the attendance patterns differ between West and East. At West all days sell out roughly at the same time (Monday lasts less than twice as long as Saturday). For East, Saturday is way more popular than any other day. In 2015 Friday sold 50 times slower than Saturday. And this year it's already 80 times slower and we're not done yet.
I mean if you're on the floor, it's noticeable on Sundays how few people are there compared to other days. Friday is still pretty busy, but you can usually get around pretty well. Forget doing much of anything on Saturday lol
That backs up their reasoning for not selling 3-days. If the same number of tickets are sold for each day, but the show isn't at a similar density each day then tickets are going unused to some degree. So a fair assumption is that this year, Friday and Sunday will see higher attendance since people buying those tickets can be assumed to have actually wanted them.
Bump and +1 for Logarithmic Data Viz 8-)
Also, I really hope they try to encourage more game/game production panels, as the last couple years have been bare. I remember panels on Uncharted/Naughty Dog, Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc. I feel like that presence has gone down, and I really wish they'd ramp it back up.
2016 PAX East Omeganaut
HAIL HATS !!!!!!!
@Jordman12
Sunday is one of my favorite days. Its usually the mad rush to hit up the expo floor to do anything you missed Fri and Sat, and then there's Acquisitions Inc which is probably my favorite panel of PAX. I'm sure we'll see the Bioware Base back this year with Andromeda releasing in Q1 2017, they always have tons of content panels.
I hope so. I always have a blast at PAX. I just have found the content provided the past couple years to be a bit more lacking, in my opinion of course. Hopefully Protomen again as well!!
PAX East Attendee - 2015, 2016
I just find it dramatic how divergent the factors end up making East. Also East is in a more isolated location (as I hear it told), with the food, bars, and hotels further away. At West all of those are right there. So East seems to favor the "go super-hard one day" approach, and West is more "come and go all day for several days".
Additionally, Friday badges have been 'low' for over a week. The changes don't seem to correlate to time of year or how far in advance of East they go on sale. They one real correlation I could see is that Friday and Sunday slowed down the year after South was started. ie. the first time East was sold after South was sold, Friday and Sunday both took a lot longer to sell out. Saturday and 3-days sales but still sold out faster than 2014, but they speed up less than previous years. But for 2016 Friday and Sunday sped up again. So maybe the hype for the first South pushed East down, but the low-key reality saw East demand bounce back. However, the 2nd South showed it to be a real contender and East dropped again. Total hypothesis here, I just find it all interesting.
They've been teasing more new stuff in the next few months, so if they play PAX again, we'll probably get more than the taste we had last year.
I'm hoping they have new stuff since they always blow the roof off, but I'd almost want to see someone else get a shot instead if they don't.
huh?
I've always been team go hard all day every day and worry about not dying when I'm kicked out of the building.
https://allmylinks.com/topherxbeads
I thought the food trucks outside was a great addition (don't remember seeing them previous years). I usually pack snacks, but you can only eat so much pre-packaged garbage before needing something of substance during the day.
Ah...I haven't been able to compare it, so that makes sense. Compared to where I live, the number of options within walking distance is mind blowing. I will say that wait times during peak meals are shocking (food trucks, restaurants, etc).