EQII Overview of Fan Faire!

It's 2 days until Fan Faire 2009! Are you ready for some fun?  Soon gamers from all over will descend upon Las Vegas to join SOE employees in days of massive online gaming fun. No matter which SOE game you play, there will be something for everyone who attends even those who have yet to try our games.

Online registration has already closed, but you can still attend the Fan Faire through walk-in registration which begins June 25, 2009 at 4pm Vegas Time!

The EverQuest II Team

The following members of the EQII team are scheduled to be at Fan Faire, as well as a host of folks from the other SOE teams and departments!

Alan "Brenlo" Crosby
Nathan "Kaitheel" McCall
Kyle "Kander" Vallee
Emily "Domino" Taylor
Brett "Timetravelling" Scheinert
Chris "Aeralik" Kozak
Jason "Fyreflyte" Woerner
Greg "Rothgar" Spence
Josh "Autenil" Kriegshauser
Paul "Cronyn" Molina
Ryan "Imago-Quem" Favale
Jen "Kirstie" Gerull
Nick "Glip the Gnome" Parkinson
Carlos "Gninja" Mora
Dave Brown
Tom Tobey
Rich Waters

And others who are coming to hang out!

EQII Schedule:

Friday, June 26:

• 10am - 5pm - EverQuest® II Tournament: Conquering Kurn's Tower: Check in at the Info Desk onsite for more information!
• 2pm – 3pm - EverQuest II - "Kill 10 Rats" - Quest Design: Panelists - Nathan McCall, Emily Taylor, Carlos Mora, Brett Scheinert. What goes into designing a quest, from ideas to tools to building.
• 3pm – 4pm - EverQuest II - Adventurer's Guild: Panelists - Kyle Vallee, Brett Scheinert, Chris Kozak, Jason Woerner, Greg Spence, Josh Kriegshauser. All about Gameplay.
• 4pm – 5pm - EverQuest II - Models and Animations: Panelists - Tom Tobey, Dave Brown. The art behind your characters (and the NPC's!) and the cool stuff they do.
• 5pm – 6pm - EverQuest II - "EQII Potpourri": Panelists - Chris Kozak, Josh Kriegshauser, Emily Taylor, Jason Woerner, Brett Sceinertt, Greg Spence, Dave Brown, Paul Molina, Nathan McCall, Kyle Vallee, Ryan Favale, Tom Tobey, Carlos Mora, Jen Gerull, Rich Waters, and Nick Parkinson. General Q&A about EQII.

Saturday, June 27:

• 12pm – 2pm - EverQuest II Live Quest: Team up with several others in a real-life quests. Several teams of 10 people will participate in this two hour fun-filled adventure and journey to help a cast of characters!
• 2pm – 3pm - EverQuest II - Mechanically Speaking: Panelists - Chris Kozak, Jen Gerull, Jason Woerner, Greg Spence, Josh Kriegshauser. Items, spells, and class balance.
• 3pm – 4pm - EverQuest II - "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...": Panelists - Nathan McCall, Kyle Vallee, Paul Molina, Brett Scheinert. Lore, lore, and more lore!
• 4pm – 5pm - EverQuest II - "To Infinity and Beyond" - Part I: Panelists - Chris Kozak, Josh Kriegshauser, Emily Taylor, Jason Woerner, Brett Sceinertt, Greg Spence, Dave Brown, Paul Molina, Nathan McCall, Kyle Vallee, Ryan Favale, Tom Tobey, Carlos Mora, Jen Gerull, Rich Waters, and Nick Parkinson. The future of EQII, where it's going and how it's going to get there.
• 5pm – 6pm - EverQuest II - "To Infinity and Beyond" - Part II: Panelists - Chris Kozak, Josh Kriegshauser, Emily Taylor, Jason Woerner, Brett Sceinertt, Greg Spence, Dave Brown, Paul Molina, Nathan McCall, Kyle Vallee, Ryan Favale, Tom Tobey, Carlos Mora, Jen Gerull, Rich Waters, and Nick Parkinson. The future of EQII, where it's going and how it's going to get there.

The Early Bird Registration and Badge Pick-Up tables will be opened from 4pm to 8pm.  This will ensure that everyone can grab their badge, or register and grab one right after they check in.  Unfortunately, we will have no method of giving out the badges after 8pm.  If you miss the cut off you will need to wait until Friday morning to get your badge.

Crossroads will be open from 4pm to 8pm and then from 10pm to midnight.

Sign up for the Tournaments will be at the information desk Thursday evening.

Starting at 8:00 PM there will be a welcome reception at the in Bally's Event Center. SOE dev team members and more will be present to welcome everyone as they arrive and everyone will be able to chill out and chat casually about the games we love to play.

In the late evening from 10pm to 1 AM, there will be a late night gaming session.  Come chill out and play Legends of Norrath, Free Realms the Trading Card Game, Pox Nora and more. You must be an All-Access Fan Faire pass holder to attend.

Friday, June 26th:
Friday is the first full day of action at Fan Faire and there will be plenty of activities for everyone to participate in. Registration and Badge Pick-Up will open at 10:00 AM and run until 7:00 PM.

The Game Room is opening at 10:00 am and running until 7:00 pm. The Vendor Bazaar and Phat Lewt Store will be open form 10:00 am to 7:00 PM, and Crossroads will be open from 10:00 am to 7:00 PM.

By visiting each of these locations you can visit a great number of vendors, jump in game and say ‘Hello from Fan Faire!” to your online buddies, and hang out with SOE employees and your friends while you enjoy refreshments at Crossroads.

Community Address: At 7:00 pm on Friday, see what's new at SOE!  To kickoff the 2009 SOE Fan Faire, SOE President John Smedley will provide opening remarks to more than 1500 video game fans at the Bally's Las Vegas.  The third annual "Community Address," will be streamed online allowing both Fan Faire attendees and gamers worldwide to get the very latest updates from SOE.

Not attending Fan Faire? Don’t worry you still have a chance to hear the address via the Live Webcase. To register for the webcast, CLICK HERE

To close out the day, following the Community Address we will celebrate the EverQuest 10th Anniversary with a Birthday Bash! There will be live entertainment, light snacks and complimentary bar until midnight. Additional food will be available for purchase.

Saturday, June 27th:
Registration, Badge Pick-Up, the Game Room, Bazaar, Phat Lewt Store, and Crossroads will all be open on Saturday from 10:00 AM through 6:00 PM. This will ensure that if you have not had a chance to stop by each area on Friday, you can check them out in your free time on Saturday and share in all the action.

The Grand Banquet will begin at 8:00 PM and will provide a full buffet dinner for attendees. At the banquet the SOE Fan Faire Costume Contest will take place.

Event schedule and times are subject to change. Please check the schedule when you arrive at Fan Faire to be sure you have the most accurate information.

Fan Faire Resources

• Vegas Fan Faire Preparation - What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! But… What you leave at home stays at home! Here are some tips on preparing for the 2009 Vegas SOE Fan Faire to keep you from leaving something important behind.
• Flickr Group for Fan Faire! - All attending Fan Faire 2008 are welcome to share their photos with the community through the newly created Flickr group.
• Twitter – Do you Twitter? Get updates on your mobile phone and on the web!  Follow us at twitter.com/soefanfaire.
• YouTube - Watch and subscribe to see the latest SOE videos and trailers on YouTube.  Find us at YouTube.com/SOEVideos
• "Virtually" Attending Fan Faire! - Once upon a time, people went on vacation and were pretty much out of reach until they got home. Can you believe it? Oh em gee. Nowadays you can't go out to eat, to a movie, or even into...eww...the little elves' room, without hearing someone talking on a cell phone or sending a text message. Here are some tips on staying connected while at Fan Faire.
• Fan Faire Maps - For all those attending, here are a few maps of the inside of the hotel where the events will be taking place. Feel free to use these to map out strategies for maximizing seeing as many panels as possible, or print them out so you reduce the risk of getting lost during the three day celebration
• Fan Faire Looking for Group - To help you find members of your guild and server faster and easier!

As you can see, the 2009 SOE Fan Faire looks to be a fun-filled event with plenty to do for everyone who plays any SOE game and just likes to have fun in general.  Throughout the course of Fan Faire, there will be many opportunities for EQII players to meet with the team and talk about the game.

We look forward to meeting with everyone who’s coming to Las Vegas!  If you can’t make it, be sure to watch the EQII Players website and make use of the resources listed above for daily updates!

See you at Fan Faire!