EQ2 Guide Calthine's Blog - Part 4  

Calthine's Blog - Part 4

SOE Fan Faire 2007===

Saturday:

Morning came far too early! I run down to the Starbucks near our elevator for coffee and croissant and run back up to get my blog up. Then we head downstairs for the EQ2 Neriak powerleveling challenge. There's some scheduling confusion, but Hubby gets in line for the morning session. I decide to head back to my room and grab some quiet before the afternoon panels, 'cause frankly the high noise level in the casino and at Fan Faire seems to really tire me out.

Ultimately there's some problems with connecting to a server for the challenge, so it's rescheduled for 4pm. Hubby and I buy a few souvenirs (I finally got the EQ1 Bard Zippo I always wanted) and wander off for lunch.

We hit the Rising into Kunark panel. Yeah, there will be a write up. :) OGR was there, and hubby got some video too. Stay tuned for my writeup.

I run up to my room to call Nana and see how the kids are doing. Kiddo was having a rough time with me gone and was biting at school, so Nana kept him home and they went to the park and had ice cream. Yay Nana! Today they went to our state fair and Kiddo got to climb all over a dump truck and excavator. We confirm my flight times and I run the quarter mile back to the convention area for the EQ2 Into the Future panel.

There are far more people than the room can accomodate, so instead of a 2 hour panel they're doing 3 45 minute panels. I head to the Legends Lounge to sit and Blog.

Brenlo is throwing t-shirts into the crowd, Hubby got into the Neriak challenge, and they're raffling off stuff from the SOE Survey. Momochi finds me and brings me some yummy glacieu vitamin water, which I must have really needed 'cause I chugged the first one really fast.

The Into the Future panel is great, just about every dev was there, and there's lots of neat stuff in development. Again, stay tuned for my write up.  Incidently, Domino (our new tradeskill dev) got huge applause in every panel she attended.  You'd think we appreciate her or something!!

Hubby's team places fourth in the Neriak powerleveling challenge. Interestingly enough, most teams (groups of six) didn't get over level 10 in two hours. He's disappointed. Not because he didn't win the cash, but because he wanted one of the cool keyboards 2nd place got. We head up the to room to change for the banquet.

A buffet dinner that was yummy, but interestingly enough was foot long kosher hotdogs and half pound burgers with fru-fru salads and stuff. Oh, and southern-friend chicken. The deserts were great: Niami and I did our best to save everyone from the evil that was a tiny, creamy decadent cheese cake. Brenlo had people ARRRing and doing other call-and-response effects for various games. Ultimately there were 1600 people at Fan Faire representing nine SOE titles (counting ones in development. He was giving away keyboards, mouses, webcams, headsets, and t-shirts for the most amazing shenanigans.

We were treated to the very first live Fan Faire wedding, which was conducted with full pomp and circumstance on stage and then in game. Momochi and I were happy-crying on each others' shoulders and sharing a napkin to save our makeup. SOE had an extremely professional team shooting video, so rather than give you details I'll just tell you to watch for the video!  (And gratz, guys, much happiness to you!)

Many hugs, pictures, and some tears ensue as people say good-bye. We have to get right up to our room as we need to leave for the airport at 7am and haven't started to pack. I really hated to leave. Everyone I met was a joy to me, we gamers truly are a fantastic bunch of people. Okay, I'm a gamer Fanboi too! Best for me was finally meeting so many of the friends I've made in our community.

I may never be able to attend another Fan Faire, but this event was really memorable for me. Words escape me, truly. It is one of the high points of my life, and I feel privileged and blessed that I was able to attend. If you ever get the chance to attend a Fan Faire, jump at it.

Much love to you all, I miss you already...

- Calthine

PS: Stay tuned this week for the non-blog, serious writeups of some of the panels and information we received. And probably some video, too!

EverQuest II Wikibase™