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Pax Prime veterans, what would you do differently this year?
Hoboking006
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
in PAX West
The die is cast and PAX Prime 2015 is upon us.
How have your past experiences shaped your approach to this years event and how will you make it a unique experience?
How have your past experiences shaped your approach to this years event and how will you make it a unique experience?
May PAX be upon you.
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Just my opinion.
And what I'm almost certainly going to do exactly the same again: Acquisitions Inc. and D&D !! And be open to any spontaneous fun and awesomeness which I might stumble across.
Trade me pins, yo: https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Lazorz
At my own expense.
Attending: PAX Prime 2016
Twitter @Pogoplay
No lie, I was debating this while at the Pax East Storytime. Just five minutes later they passed out Tell Tale Collection Steam codes for everyone in attendance though. Because of attending that panel I now have lots of great games from a studio I respect. GearBox also has swag for attendants I believe.
I always say I'm going to get one, and have yet to do so. Maybe this will be the year.
This year I might try to find the elusive tabletop area. And spend more time in the classic arcade room.
"Brilliant! Oh wait, if we were meant to fly, we would have been born with little bags of nuts."
I like to do a leisurely stroll of the expo hall, merch booth, or some other area before lunch personally. But yeah, no desire to do the queue-up thing. I'll stroll up about 1015 or 1030.
I find I get the most out of it by planning. I put my top things as my first stop for each day and hurry straight there. It has worked out awesome almost every time. Then, I load up Friday with the things I think I'll have the longest waits for and knock a few of them out. It's awesome, I'm on the PAX high, and then the rest of the weekend no matter what I do, I'm not bummed and I don't feel like I missed out on something. I also don't feel like I wasted time.
Tournaments and concerts=amazing. Sign up for some, they're worth it.
Panels=hit or miss, but the hits are so worth it.
http://www.amazon.com/Allstar-Marketing-Group-PC011712-Amazing/dp/B00GVJGPWQ
It's not really pocket-size; I stick it in my backpack.
ThisThisThisThisThisThisThisThisThisThis
Save the AAA stuff for the last day when the expo hall clears out more and the lines get short. Alternatively, try and get into PAX early and hit the big stuff first when the lines are just forming. I usually do the last day thing because getting up early means getting up with a hangover, usually. And yeah, the indie booths are ridiculously fun and full of stuff you've never heard of.
I was considering getting a stool like this as well. I saw several people at PAX South lines with these and thought it was a great idea. Thanks for the recommendation.
And I'll avoid the Expo Hall on Saturday completely. (Unless there's an omg awesome photobooth like the Lichdom booth last year... In which case I will need a photo in my Saturday costume.)
Spend more time with random internet friends.
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Panels are really only great if it's something you really want to see or if you want to fill some time. Smaller panels are usually more interesting since they aren't recorded and you can have a more in depth Q&A if they're interesting.
Also good advice. The community events and various parties are good stuff and usually pretty fun. They've generally become more interesting to me than the con itself.
Definitely more looking forward to events/concerts/parties/community stuff than waiting ages in line to play a game, that's for sure.
I am looking forward to whatever pubcrawl is at Prime this year.
<@zerzhul> you win at twdt
Was this something that came up in the forums? I'm curious because this sounds like something my group would be into.
Usually:
One of the things notably *not* organized on the forums are most of the parties. Those are usually announced via the organizing company. So if you getting on the list for PAX parties is your thing, I'd follow all the companies you care about that usually throw them.
Apparently it was a pre-planned event but most people didn't know about it. I just happened to talk to girl at the TT who was there searching for the social board game area. I can't remember if she said she read it or if it was a word of mouth thing.
We'll put off playing the AAA titles until Monday as well. We sat in line for ESO for 2.5 hours in 2013, and while it was a fun experience to play the game (45 minutes of playtime was pretty good) it was frustrating to spend such a large portion of the day in line for one title. I'm going to walk through the Expo Hall on Friday this year and figure out which booths I'm interested that look like they'll take some time and plan for those for the end of the weekend.
More tabletop, more Magic, more meeting new people.
PAX. PAX. PAX. Boom.
This year my new thing will be to try and go to concerts but part of the reason I started this thread to was to get ideas from other veterans on what new things to try.(it's all about information, perhaps the new thing is just being more active on the forums!)
But every year theres one thing I try and hone, my expo hall skills. It's not just about demoing games and getting free stuff, it's about the hunt, strategically mapping out my battle plan for each day to maximize the number of unique experiences and cut down line time. The pax prime subreddit was a great resource last year, so this year I plan on making a swag lookout thread on these forums for fellow expo hall hunters. Not just material swag to, but unique experiences offered by booths to keep a look out for(like last years videoball competition, that guy was hilarious).
I wouldn't really change anything else except that I am definitely not skipping the giantbomb panel this year. I opted for the Evil Within party last year and that was a disaster. I am not waiting 4 hours in line getting accosted by homeless crackheads while Jessica Chobot and friends gets to waltz in as a "VIPs" again.
THIS year I'm dragging along a slightly different group of friends (and my wife, hopefully). We're going to plan things out a bit in advance, and actually try to STICK to the plan this year. Hit up way, WAY more panels, do more organized events. Actually bring (and own) a 3DS for lines. Participate more here, on the forums, and find more of the community stuff.
Basically I'm treating last year as a "test run", and this year as a real convention.
I figured out how to actually manage to get badges, so now I need to figure out how to... get into parties and such, I guess.
So, a story. Last year I went to PAX Dev for the first time. My friend and I showed up Tuesday morning the week of PAX and ended up staying until Monday night after everything had closed. And man, being in Seattle for a week was an incredible experience! The entire trip felt like a week-long PAX (which with Dev and Prime being a total of 6 days, it kinda sorta was), which was so, so cool. And you don't have to go to Dev to experience a longer PAX than just the four days, because anytime that week you can meet other PAX-goers who are willing to hang out, talk, play games, etc., because the whole reason we all came to Seattle was to hang out and have an awesome time!
So my point is, going to community events is a great way to get more "PAX" out of your trip and feel like your PAX was week-long rather than just four days. My favorite community event by far is the Pre-PAX Board Game Night, which happens pretty much all Thursday evening until late, late at night. It's great to just sit down and play some games with random people that you instantly feel connected to. I've always felt that it gave me a taste of PAX before the show even started, because just being in a giant room with a bunch of tabletop games going on is pretty much the PAX experience, just not in the convention center. I've also heard the Pokecrawl, Triwizard Tournament, and other bar crawls are a blast.
So the moral of the story to all you first timers or vets looking to make changes is: don't be afraid to go to community events! They're really an awesome time. Trust me, if you're looking for something new to experience, just pick one and go!
Trade me pins, yo: https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Lazorz
Firaxis passed out Civ: Beyond Earth posters after their panel at East last year too.
Then bring two of them.