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This year I have a new job so I might have to unfortunately stick to mobile for queue up (but honestly I might just break and use my work computer). I've done mobile for resale queue before but not for regular.
By my very scientific calculations (and Skelevader's spreadsheet) I'm wagering that tickets won't go on sale until after Memorial Day. Anyone else have a guess to throw in?
According to the milestones set out by Khoo back in '14 the tickets can go on sale at anytime now, STAY VIGILANT!!
Good question. There are a number of "public" milestone dates that we have, many of which need to occur in this order... I know I'm missing a few.
- Website Update for the new year
- Space placement for Exhibitors
- PAX 10 Submissions Open
- Registration Opening
- Musical Guest / Storytime announcement
- Panel Registration Opening
- PAX 10 Winners Announced
- Enforcer Roll Call (Internal)
- Panel Announcement
- Guidebook release
But each of these has about 10-20 sub-steps that need to occur before happening. For instance, the PAX 10 Judging itself is a large physical event with industry judges that we run with all the games up and running... and getting those into workable states usually takes a few weeks. The process is ~200-300 man hours easily.
The PAX 10 submissions have wrapped up so next step is ticket sales.
In addition to Skelevader's spreadsheet, it would be interesting to see a historical report that shows PAX 10 submissions closing dates next to ticket sale dates to see if there is any correlation of time between the two. Maybe there is a historical timing that has gone unnoticed.
The difference in dates has always seemed to changed because of other outside influences like adding PAX East and South, or PAX East being held later, and this is most likely the case. But what if all these years the PAX 10 submissions have had the same delays and always closed 12- 16 days before tickets went on sale?
I attempted to gauge it by number of weeks from the actual PAX date. For the past three years it's been between 16 and 12 weeks out. I don't think they have any hard and fast dates to this day, but rather loose target times that can fluctuate.
Either way, I'm ever vigilant in the afternoons these days.
While I would love the badges to drop sometime this week or early next, it will likely be after Memorial Day. That way we can all be nice and deranged from some personal cocktail of the following:
1. refusing to leave your computer between the hours of 10-2
2. maniacally checking your phone every time it vibrates or dings
3. maniacally checking your phone if it's been quiet for too long, just in case
4. hitting the F5 key so many times it breaks off and rolls away under the desk, never to be seen again (but you can hear whimpering)
5. having recurring nightmares about missing the "on sale!" tweet
6. rearranging your furniture so if you do happen to step away from your computer, there's a direct line of sight (I may or may not be personally guilty of this)
7. complete and utter paranoia that everyone else is plotting to steal your badge(r)s
...I'm kidding!
...but not really
This is beautiful. I have only done most of these things!
It's 1:30 PM pacific. I guess I don't have to keep watch now.
Just kidding, I won't feel safe until about 4 PM.
I'm not saying this is true, but Showclix is based out of PA. So I assume that PAX has to work with the time difference. 4pm Seattle time would be 7pm PA time. I always assumed they did this in the event of issues with Showclix. Again, not saying it's true, just a guess.
I'm on the fence right now. I've been to five PAX Wests, including the last three years in a row, and then two back in the day when I went as an exhibitor and didn't really get to enjoy myself. I still have fun, but compared to my PAX South experiences so far, West is starting to feel a little too big for its own good. Too crowded, too spread out, too many lines. Don't get me wrong, I still have an excellent time, but it's a super exhausting experience for me too, and maybe not the best vacation, as far as resting and relaxation goes.
I've already bought my PAX Unplugged pass, and budgeted for PAX South 2018... but I could probably swing PAX West without too much trouble, if I can just stop getting sick and injured for a couple months before September and stash the paid time off. Or possibly, I may just go to Seattle during PAX to hang out with friends, watch a few panels and the AcqInc game on Twitch, and never actually have to set foot in the WSCC. I don't know yet.
Realizing lately that I don't really trust or respect basically any of the moderators here. So, good luck with life, friends! Hit me up on Twitter @DesertLeviathan
I'm on the fence right now. I've been to five PAX Wests, including the last three years in a row, and then two back in the day when I went as an exhibitor and didn't really get to enjoy myself. I still have fun, but compared to my PAX South experiences so far, West is starting to feel a little too big for its own good. Too crowded, too spread out, too many lines. Don't get me wrong, I still have an excellent time, but it's a super exhausting experience for me too, and maybe not the best vacation, as far as resting and relaxation goes.
I've already bought my PAX Unplugged pass, and budgeted for PAX South 2018... but I could probably swing PAX West without too much trouble, if I can just stop getting sick and injured for a couple months before September and stash the paid time off. Or possibly, I may just go to Seattle during PAX to hang out with friends, watch a few panels and the AcqInc game on Twitch, and never actually have to set foot in the WSCC. I don't know yet.
I will agree that South is far more chill of a con. I would love to go back (I only went its first year) but it's so close after Christmas that I'm usually hurting on budget.
While computers are ideal, I did order from my phone in a parking garage once. So those of you worrying that you might be on vacation, it's still doable.
+2
I3izzyNonofficial member of the F5 brigadeFG, ORRegistered Userregular
While computers are ideal, I did order from my phone in a parking garage once. So those of you worrying that you might be on vacation, it's still doable.
Totally the same for me last year. We were at the doctors office for my GF's annual exam and I got the alert in the waiting room. I know I must have looked like an ass, but I just left my phone on my lap the whole time. I was then to afraid to walk into the garage for fear of losing signal. She was nice enough to get the car and bring it around so I could finish the queue time while she drove home.
While computers are ideal, I did order from my phone in a parking garage once. So those of you worrying that you might be on vacation, it's still doable.
This might be me this year; did you have to leave your phone unlocked and fully on the entire time? Or were you able to just check in every few minutes and still keep your spot in the queue?
"Try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damned fool about it."
I went to PAX West for the first time in 2014 and got a massive infection while there so ended up stuck in my hotel for a lot of the trip so I am really looking forward to getting to see more of the convention and more of Seattle this time. I loved the chill vibe of PAX South 2016 but I want to experience the bigness and craziness of West fully this time. X3
Anyone have any recommendations for hotels they like? Stayed at the Homewood last time which was nice enough but they promised us a Suite with the kitchenette but later changed us to a tiny room for the same price after there were no other options.
PAXiety (n.)
The crippling and life-disrupting fear that the second you leave your computer or phone, badges will go on sale. Starts in early May with buildup until the badges actually go on sale, at which point symptoms abruptly disappear until next year.
I wanted to go to my sister's wedding, but it was at 1PM on a Thursday and I have PAXiety
See also: obsession, F5, soon
Also, I'm totally wiped out from training for a 5k this week, just took a nap and had a dream registration opened where we were all represented as pieces of bread in a never-ending loaf
it's too early to start the PAX-related hallucinations...although the bread did look delicious
"Try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damned fool about it."
+1
I3izzyNonofficial member of the F5 brigadeFG, ORRegistered Userregular
While computers are ideal, I did order from my phone in a parking garage once. So those of you worrying that you might be on vacation, it's still doable.
This might be me this year; did you have to leave your phone unlocked and fully on the entire time? Or were you able to just check in every few minutes and still keep your spot in the queue?
To make sure I didn't get screwed lose my spot, I didn't let my screen turn off. Plugged in my battery pack right when I got into the queue just to make sure I didn't die. But I am not sure exactly what to do on the mobile. Though I remember a few years back there was a bug that once you got through the queue, people were able to reload the site and be back at the purchase page, like it gave them a cookie that allowed them to jump the queue.
While computers are ideal, I did order from my phone in a parking garage once. So those of you worrying that you might be on vacation, it's still doable.
In the past I was able to get tickets on mobile, the hotel queue however kept throwing us an error when it was our turn to select a hotel.
This continued for half an hour, constantly sending us to the back of the line, until we requested desktop version....
I have always run into issues with hotel queue on desktop and phone but considering my lurking skills post tickets, I'm not terribly concerned with hotels.
This is going to be my first PAX. Moved to Seattle a few months ago and have been planning ever since. Hoping to pick up an extra pass or two to get some friends to come along with. It's going to be a long wait
Really hoping they don't go on sale while I'm at work. The network is "ok" but our computers are XP machines running Windows 10. Ugh. you can guess how fast they are lol.
Really hoping they don't go on sale while I'm at work. The network is "ok" but our computers are XP machines running Windows 10. Ugh. you can guess how fast they are lol.
If you work between the hours of 10AM & 1PM Pacific, it is very likely they will go on sale while you're at work. You can buy via phone, so I'd look into having that at the ready.
We got a new boss this year that didn't understand why 3 of our techs each had a monitor devoted to a split-screen of: forums, registration page, and Pax Twitter feed.
We educated her on what is really important!
My place blocks gaming sites and that includes Pax (but somehow not the PA Forums - phew)
If you work between the hours of 10AM & 1PM Pacific, it is very likely they will go on sale while you're at work. You can buy via phone, so I'd look into having that at the ready.
Last year I ordered my tickets via my phone. I didn't let it go to sleep and it worked out fine. I work full-time, so sometimes I'm all over campus. I have my credit card with me at all times just in case I'm not near my office computer. Good luck everyone!
As someone who used to work in market research, and used to launch online surveys regularly (Translation: something similar to say, a ticket purchasing site)...I can say Fridays are very, very unlikely for them to open ticket orders.
The simple reason is, if anything goes glitchy or wrong, you're under a very, very tight deadline to fix it, lest it remain FUBAR for an entire weekend. We avoiding launching surveys on Friday like the PLAGUE.
My money remains on a Wednesday or Thursday.- most of my PAX ticket purchasing experience (Prime and East) has been on those two days.
As someone who used to work in market research, and used to launch online surveys regularly (Translation: something similar to say, a ticket purchasing site)...I can say Fridays are very, very unlikely for them to open ticket orders.
The simple reason is, if anything goes glitchy or wrong, you're under a very, very tight deadline to fix it, lest it remain FUBAR for an entire weekend. We avoiding launching surveys on Friday like the PLAGUE.
Yeah, but they don't really have to worry about that for PAX West, because the tickets sell out in under an hour. If there was still something going wrong by the end of the work day, it means they would be in a horrible situation no matter which day they chose.
As someone who used to work in market research, and used to launch online surveys regularly (Translation: something similar to say, a ticket purchasing site)...I can say Fridays are very, very unlikely for them to open ticket orders.
The simple reason is, if anything goes glitchy or wrong, you're under a very, very tight deadline to fix it, lest it remain FUBAR for an entire weekend. We avoiding launching surveys on Friday like the PLAGUE.
Yeah, but they don't really have to worry about that for PAX West, because the tickets sell out in under an hour. If there was still something going wrong by the end of the work day, it means they would be in a horrible situation no matter which day they chose.
That's assuming the launch goes flawlessly and something doesn't go screwy with say, the servers. If you launch the tickets and the servers melt down for some bug-related reason and it's 3PM on a Friday? that is a disaster.
You just don't launch on Friday. It's never a good idea. (That's not to say that they won't, just that they are unlikely to)
Really hoping they don't go on sale while I'm at work. The network is "ok" but our computers are XP machines running Windows 10. Ugh. you can guess how fast they are lol.
If you work between the hours of 10AM & 1PM Pacific, it is very likely they will go on sale while you're at work. You can buy via phone, so I'd look into having that at the ready.
I work inside of a concrete building. No reception at all :bigfrown: Although I don't normally start work until 2:00PM PST.
The suspense this year is killing me. Have they ever sold badges this late? I'm super determined to make this PAX, I had to miss last year's thanks to surgery.
0
I3izzyNonofficial member of the F5 brigadeFG, ORRegistered Userregular
The suspense this year is killing me. Have they ever sold badges this late? I'm super determined to make this PAX, I had to miss last year's thanks to surgery.
Please see the earlier post in this thread from Skelevader and his spreadsheet of dates:
As someone who used to work in market research, and used to launch online surveys regularly (Translation: something similar to say, a ticket purchasing site)...I can say Fridays are very, very unlikely for them to open ticket orders.
The simple reason is, if anything goes glitchy or wrong, you're under a very, very tight deadline to fix it, lest it remain FUBAR for an entire weekend. We avoiding launching surveys on Friday like the PLAGUE.
Yeah, but they don't really have to worry about that for PAX West, because the tickets sell out in under an hour. If there was still something going wrong by the end of the work day, it means they would be in a horrible situation no matter which day they chose.
That's assuming the launch goes flawlessly and something doesn't go screwy with say, the servers. If you launch the tickets and the servers melt down for some bug-related reason and it's 3PM on a Friday? that is a disaster.
You just don't launch on Friday. It's never a good idea. (That's not to say that they won't, just that they are unlikely to)
But my point is, it's a disaster no matter which day they do it if the system is so horrible that it isn't fixed by the end of the business day, since it only has to work for under an hour. Can you imagine how many people would be there F5ing if they announced at 1pm tickets are on sale, the system went down within the half hour and at 4pm the system was still down? It could be a Tuesday or a Friday, it makes no difference, it would be a giant disaster for the ticket company. The ticket sales would have to be delayed until a later date regardless (since part of the strategy is that nobody knows when they will go on sale)
The system is also being run from multiple time zones. Including Eastern. So that 1PM has people working at 4PM their time to make it go. Not a lot of leeway.
Posts
According to the milestones set out by Khoo back in '14 the tickets can go on sale at anytime now, STAY VIGILANT!!
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/post/quote/190019/Comment_29855940
The PAX 10 submissions have wrapped up so next step is ticket sales.
In addition to Skelevader's spreadsheet, it would be interesting to see a historical report that shows PAX 10 submissions closing dates next to ticket sale dates to see if there is any correlation of time between the two. Maybe there is a historical timing that has gone unnoticed.
The difference in dates has always seemed to changed because of other outside influences like adding PAX East and South, or PAX East being held later, and this is most likely the case. But what if all these years the PAX 10 submissions have had the same delays and always closed 12- 16 days before tickets went on sale?
PAX PRIME 2018 Status: Badges [√] Room [√] Waiting [ :x ]
PoGo Trainer Code:4505 8413 2232
Either way, I'm ever vigilant in the afternoons these days.
This is beautiful. I have only done most of these things!
Just kidding, I won't feel safe until about 4 PM.
I'm not saying this is true, but Showclix is based out of PA. So I assume that PAX has to work with the time difference. 4pm Seattle time would be 7pm PA time. I always assumed they did this in the event of issues with Showclix. Again, not saying it's true, just a guess.
It's also my first time heading to the West Coast.
So go easy on me West Coast folks. =P
I've already bought my PAX Unplugged pass, and budgeted for PAX South 2018... but I could probably swing PAX West without too much trouble, if I can just stop getting sick and injured for a couple months before September and stash the paid time off. Or possibly, I may just go to Seattle during PAX to hang out with friends, watch a few panels and the AcqInc game on Twitch, and never actually have to set foot in the WSCC. I don't know yet.
I will agree that South is far more chill of a con. I would love to go back (I only went its first year) but it's so close after Christmas that I'm usually hurting on budget.
Totally the same for me last year. We were at the doctors office for my GF's annual exam and I got the alert in the waiting room. I know I must have looked like an ass, but I just left my phone on my lap the whole time. I was then to afraid to walk into the garage for fear of losing signal. She was nice enough to get the car and bring it around so I could finish the queue time while she drove home.
PAX PRIME 2018 Status: Badges [√] Room [√] Waiting [ :x ]
PoGo Trainer Code:4505 8413 2232
This might be me this year; did you have to leave your phone unlocked and fully on the entire time? Or were you able to just check in every few minutes and still keep your spot in the queue?
Anyone have any recommendations for hotels they like? Stayed at the Homewood last time which was nice enough but they promised us a Suite with the kitchenette but later changed us to a tiny room for the same price after there were no other options.
I hope not. I have to go to the mall on my lunch break so I'll be away from my desk >.<
Also, I'm totally wiped out from training for a 5k this week, just took a nap and had a dream registration opened where we were all represented as pieces of bread in a never-ending loaf
it's too early to start the PAX-related hallucinations...although the bread did look delicious
To make sure I didn't get screwed lose my spot, I didn't let my screen turn off. Plugged in my battery pack right when I got into the queue just to make sure I didn't die. But I am not sure exactly what to do on the mobile. Though I remember a few years back there was a bug that once you got through the queue, people were able to reload the site and be back at the purchase page, like it gave them a cookie that allowed them to jump the queue.
In the past I was able to get tickets on mobile, the hotel queue however kept throwing us an error when it was our turn to select a hotel.
This continued for half an hour, constantly sending us to the back of the line, until we requested desktop version....
Keeping my eyes out for twitter!
NOT SO SECRET NOW IS IT!
Either troll or someone in PA Club maybe?
Probably Club PA presale related yeah.
Are they still doing that? I thought it was a one-time thing, a sort of last hoorah for Khoo leaving.
PAX PRIME 2018 Status: Badges [√] Room [√] Waiting [ :x ]
PoGo Trainer Code:4505 8413 2232
yeah, one time thing that happened twice already...
If you work between the hours of 10AM & 1PM Pacific, it is very likely they will go on sale while you're at work. You can buy via phone, so I'd look into having that at the ready.
My place blocks gaming sites and that includes Pax (but somehow not the PA Forums - phew)
Last year I ordered my tickets via my phone. I didn't let it go to sleep and it worked out fine. I work full-time, so sometimes I'm all over campus. I have my credit card with me at all times just in case I'm not near my office computer. Good luck everyone!
The simple reason is, if anything goes glitchy or wrong, you're under a very, very tight deadline to fix it, lest it remain FUBAR for an entire weekend. We avoiding launching surveys on Friday like the PLAGUE.
My money remains on a Wednesday or Thursday.- most of my PAX ticket purchasing experience (Prime and East) has been on those two days.
PSN: L00nyEclip
Steam: Loony Eclipse
Twitter: @Loonyeclipse
That's assuming the launch goes flawlessly and something doesn't go screwy with say, the servers. If you launch the tickets and the servers melt down for some bug-related reason and it's 3PM on a Friday? that is a disaster.
You just don't launch on Friday. It's never a good idea. (That's not to say that they won't, just that they are unlikely to)
PSN: L00nyEclip
Steam: Loony Eclipse
Twitter: @Loonyeclipse
I work inside of a concrete building. No reception at all :bigfrown: Although I don't normally start work until 2:00PM PST.
Please see the earlier post in this thread from Skelevader and his spreadsheet of dates:
Last year was June 7th and 2014 it was May 28th.