Discussion: Spring Freedom Player Summit 2012 - Save the Date

Wootness! *goes to check to see if dates go against her schooling or anything like that*

And yes, I will have my observer on my head again!

/em makeplansforapril

It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...

Much as I'd love to, A) I still haven't found a job yet, so I can't afford it, and B) it'd cost me $500 just to fly there and back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

Before "Freedom", I went to three of these.

#1: They are held close to the studio home base because they as staff are not paid to be away from work as often as we think.

#2: Those that were held away from the home base, were sponsored by NCSoft in conjunction with a major gather in which NCSoft could have a large presence. Adding Meet & Greets was very limited AND selective.

#3: The people of Paragon Studios not only have a job making this game great and awesome, they have commitments to keep the game great and awesome. At the 2nd grouping, Positron was on the microphone to us as the player base and told the studio to turn on the Halloween Event early. (You should have seen the mad rush to the gaming area they set up for the weekend and were in the process of closing down when he did that).

#4: Paragon Studio provides a paid service. A well written and choreographed in game experience for which 90% of us just lust over, but they do not control the expenditures outside of the game. They have bosses that want them to work harder and longer at getting more people into the game. It is only through their hard work at keeping the game awesome that the publisher says "okay, you can do this but you can't go far". It is called a leash. Or, in other words, a job.

But when they are with us, talking one-on-one with them, that we realize that not only do they love what they are doing, that they would love to spend more time with us in a one-on-one basis.

But they can't spend that time. Because they love keeping it awesome.

So they stay close to their home base.



Myself? If they keep it awesome, I will come out to them. Just as I come to them every time I log in and play.

You should host it in Long Island in New York I would love to see a NCsoft company building in New York in the eastern zone.

To add to what Janlee stated above, I've been to the local Meet & Greets and I've been to both HeroCons & to the Player Summit last year. While the Meet & Greets were nice & we got cool information from them, I wouldn't fly out for one. This is mostly because I hate making flight arrangements, but also because based on the experience, what I got from the Meet & Greet wouldn't have been worth that hassle. That said, if I had to, I'd consider flying to a Player Summit. I think it's THAT much better!

For one, since they're longer, you get more information. Both from what's presented & from what you can pry from the many members of the dev team that are present.

Two, many more of the dev team get to be at the Player Summit than at Meet & Greets. So... you can pick their brains in private, or they're available to provide answers to questions brought up in the many Q&A sessions. Since these are the people actually working on the things of interest to you vs their team leads, the answers are often much more satisfying or consoling as the case may be.

This last point may be less applicable as I've never gone to a Meet & Greet linked to another event. For these strictly CoH events, since the Player Summit event lasts longer, people make arrangements to stay longer & so there's more opportunity to socialize & explore the area with your fellow players outside the event. In addition, the SF Bay Area's a great place to extend your visit out to be a longer vacation. And in April, there should be some nice weather! (Somewhere. see Microclimate)

I understand people would like this to be closer to home for them (especially given my own aversion to travel), but it's not likely to happen. Accept this. It's an awesome event & if you can arrange to attend, I highly encourage you to do so! I've heard a number of first-timers bemoan that they didn't come out sooner. Don't let that be a problem you continue to have!

Another summit ? - good show !

For those of us who will catch this on UStream (and I hope you do stream it again), can you possibly put the camera in a better position this time ?

If you can run the in house PA into the stream (rather than use the camera's mic), then that would be good as well.

And just to be even more of a pain in the rrrrrs (), is it possible to cut the slides into the stream as well ? - so when Positron (or whoever) puts a slide up at the conference, we see a copy of it on the stream ? (Not sure I'm describing that well enough...)

I don't know how UStream works, so I don't know if either of the last two are even an option, but it would make it easier to follow for those of us in 'remote attendance' - I found it very hard to follow what was being presented on the last summit's stream.

Joking aside I will say, I would consider this if I wasn't going to have double-jaw surgery sometime "soon"...which will use up my vacation time heh.

Oh well, 10+ days of CoH sounds good!

I'm not at all shocked that Paragon Studios won't be at PAX East this year.

Easter weekend is a horrible time to schedule a convention.

I'm seriously worried this might actually kill PAX East entirely.

Hmm.

This is actually sufficient advanced notice that I might be able to go.
And a trip to Priceline shows the cost to be under $400 for round trip in Friday evening and out early Sunday with hotel and car.

Will have to see what my tax return looks like.
But I might actually make this one!

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Something I wish I could go to in person, but I'll definitely try to catch the stream.

(Also, if there's a contest that will be attached to this pummit, please don't make it about getting a haircut.)

Argh! This one I dont think I can make it to (poor sentence structure and all), as I am finally planned to move to Georgia at the beginning of the month of April. I will be back to the home state for a Fall Player Summit though even if I have to walk. This choice is a close one; two years not seeing my daughter and estranged wife>Going to the Spring Player Summit (with no more Avatea). Soooo close. *sigh*

I'll start saving up. Now that Southwest flies out of Atlanta, the fare is a bit cheaper, plus as their commercials incessantly remind us, they charge no bag fees.

Tip for travelers: I've heard that the best time to order airline tickets is late Tuesday afternoon or during the day on Wednesday. The worst time is on weekends. Keep in mind that airlines change their prices something like four times every day, and the price swings can be pretty wild.

Bing Travel actually has a nice little search utility that will give you a predictive analysis of whether they think your flight's price will go up or down based on the airfare history of the flight you're looking for. I've found that it doesn't have the best price (look to Expedia or individual airline sites for that), but the buy/wait indicator is useful to know if you're getting a decent deal.

It'll be good to see you again!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hey, I'm wondering, is anyone planning on coming early/staying after to do some sightseeing or anything? I mean, if I'm going to fly out to the west coast, it seems kind of a shame not to spend a couple of days in San Francisco touring Alcatraz, going up Coit Tower, going down Lombard Street, tour Giants stadium, buying a chowder bowl on Pier 39, etc.

There are also a lot of techie landmarks in and around Palo Alto and Mountain View, being Silicon Valley and all. I wouldn't mind going back to the Computer History Museum, buying some gifts from the Apple mothership, riding by Google (they won't let the public on their campus ), and so on.

Last May, I was there three extra days and didn't get to do nearly as much as I wanted. In November, I wasn't there any extra time.

I'm driving out this time.

I've had it with TSA.

I'll spend two leisure days driving out, taking in the road sights and attractions. Listening to my own music (iPod) or Sirius/XM and eating full meals.

I will be relaxed and rested come the Friday before, hoping that there is an informal M&G. Then I will have fun with all (if Hero1 does not mention anything about 'showering').

Then on Sunday afternoon, I will blitz drive back so I will be back at work on Wednesday.

But I like driving.

And, I like these meetings.


But I'm weird.

So is that particular hotel near enough for tourist sightseeing to not require a vehicle?

I did a search of the hotel from another post D_R made in another thread. And this is what I found.
dinahshotel

NOW just because they had it there one time does not mean that they will have it there again.

The first 2 Hero Cons were held in two different locations. There does seem to be a pattern of us not getting invited back to previous event locations.
So it's kind of hard to say if this will be the same hotel facility used again.