So far, I have painted the FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIVAL 2023-2024 in Las Vegas as a magical, wonderful event. And that’s because, in truth, a lot of it was magical for all of the reasons I listed above. However, this FAN FESTIVAL had a lot of logistical issues that should absolutely be fixed for the upcoming FAN FESTIVAL events in London and Tokyo.
The first was the lines, and how poorly organized so many of them were. The most egregious example was on the first day of the FAN FESTIVAL. Once the Keynote address that announced DAWNTRAIL was completed a half-hour late at noon, attendees flooded out of the exit to go to the other side of the hall to get in line to buy merchandise and to get to their Battle Challenge time slots that were from 11:30 to 1 PM. Because there were simply so many people for both with no separate line organization whatsoever, it turned into a massive glut of people frozen in place in a small area. It was bad enough and dangerous enough that I was seriously afraid that people were going to get crushed. I personally had the 11:30 AM to 1 PM Battle Challenge timeslot reserved, and I was trapped in that mess long enough that I came within 15 minutes of missing my time window. Due to a lack of staff, it was ultimately on the community members themselves to try to organize (somewhat!) into separate lines, but that didn’t really work.
The problems with lines continued through everything else. The food vendors often had lines a half-hour deep or more, with lines blending into each other due to the lack of queue space, and there were multiple places at the convention that kept running out of food. That in itself is not SQUARE ENIX’s fault, but it definitely did not help things to find that you had very limited options (if at all) throughout the day. There was also no dedicated queue for the redemption table, and so the community-made line snaked to the back wall through the middle of the massive room that people were cutting through to get to activities, curved around at the back wall, and then went back to the registration table.
I also both loved and hated how SQUARE ENIX handled the merchandising at the event. The merchandise buying experience itself was great. You were given a sheet with all the items on it, and there was a constantly updated pair of boards showing what was already sold out for the day. You marked what you wanted, and in what quantity you wanted, on the sheet and then got into line. Once you were at the register, you handed your sheet over, they rung you up, and you paid. You were then given a receipt and a numbered tag and told to the step to the right to wait for you order to be ready. Once your order was ready, they called your number, gave them the tag, and you exited to the further right. This was incredibly efficient, and it kept the line moving so that people could order, pay, and leave fairly quickly.
Unfortunately, you had to be lucky enough to get into the merchandise line in the first place. At the start of the day, the staff gave out return time tickets for the merchandise line, and they ran out very, very quickly. It was disheartening for a lot of people to find out that they could not buy items at the FAN FESTIVAL itself, just because they couldn’t get a ticket. This would not have necessarily been an issue, except that because of how fast the merchandising line was actually processing orders, there was never much of a line to begin with. I found myself wondering why there was not a standby queue for when the line gets shorter than a specified point, much like what people who queued for the Battle Challenge had.
The other issue with the merchandising was the quantity of items available. To their credit: SQUARE ENIX put all of the items sold at the FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIAL 2023-2024 in Las Vegas online in two separate order windows long before the event started this past weekend, and both the staff on hand and the FAN FESTIVAL app stated that most of the items (pretty much everything but the FAN FESTIVAL apparel) would be restocked on the SQUARE ENIX Store after the show. Despite this, a lot of the items listed sold out extremely quickly on both days. I don’t know if it is an issue of SQUARE ENIX simply not having enough on hand to satisfy potential demand or if it was because there did not seem to be a limit of items that you could buy per SKU per person. By the time I was able to shop for merchandise on the last day of the event around 4:00 PM, the inventory was down to a few FAN FESTIVAL shirts, a few pins, and a few CDs with a lot of merchandise selling out quickly in the mornings. I was a little surprised that SQUARE ENIX didn’t overproduce the items, seeing as they were going to do another wave on the online store and that they had two more FAN FESTIVAL events to sell merchandise at in the coming months.
Another issue that I saw with the event was with seating in the main hall. For whatever reason, there weren’t nearly enough seats for everyone in attendance and people were allowed to hold multiple seats for undetermined lengths of time throughout the day by placing their bag, a water bottle, or whatever else they had in their possession to ‘mark’ the seat as unavailable. This had the effect of making the seating for certain panels awkwardly empty at places, as the seats were clearly being held for a future panel or concert. I sometimes wondered just how many of the people sitting on the floor behind all the chairs were there not because they wanted to be, but because they couldn’t find seating and I found myself wondering why staff didn’t address this.
This issues with seating also extended to ADA Warriors of Light. I myself am not ADA, and I did not attend the event with any ADA individuals, and so I cannot speak first-hand about ADA issues at FAN FESTIVAL. However, there are plenty of posts on social media addressing what occurred and so I would urge you to seek those stories out.
The virtual badges themselves were a problem on the second day. The only way to ‘earn’ the 10th Anniversary Celebration virtual badge and the side quest badges was to have the relevant QR codes scanned at the redemption table. The redemption table stopped scanning any of those QR codes almost immediately on Day 2 of the FAN FESTIVAL due to the overwhelming number of people in line at the redemption table. Instead, they were just handing out the double-sided poster and one of the three reward stickers to anyone who would come by. Despite this, the Gleaners were still giving out quests and telling attendees to head to the redemption table to get their reward and badge. This meant that there were staff members having to constantly tell people in line at the redemption table that they were no longer scanning QR codes. I encountered several people who were quite unhappy that they were no longer able to complete the full virtual badge set at the FAN FESTIVAL, despite the virtual badges being front and center in almost every non-panel aspect of the show. I ended up with all three variations of the stickers by finally just asking for them towards the end of the FAN FESTIVAL.
There is one last thing that I want to point out: the show floor display for the just-announced FINAL FANTASY XIV Direct Drive Turntable System FFXIV-SQ-1500. During both days of the event, it was on full display, and it admittedly looked gorgeous. However, it was also poorly lit inside the display, and so you couldn’t quite see all the details as clearly as you would want when considering whether or not to make a $1,699.99 USD purchase. It was a random issue that I am sure will be corrected before the London event.
If you’ve read through about my issues with the event, then you will notice a common theme: everything that wasn’t great was a logistical issue. The lines, how seating is handled, the inability to complete the QR virtual badges, ADA issues (as I could see shared on social media during/after the event), and even the turntable display are issues that can be studied and hopefully addressed before FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIVAL 2023-2024 takes place in London later this year. And to SQUARE ENIX’s credit, the staff was clearly aware of these problems during the event, and I do believe that they were trying their best to make it all work.
Before I wrap this up, something else that I was surprised about was that there was not a panel or signing sessions for famous FINAL FANTASY XIV Online content creators. There were a lot of famous FINAL FANTASY XIV Online content creators present at the Las Vegas FAN FESTIVAL, and people would absolutely flock to wherever they were popping up to talk to them and get pictures with them. At one point, I saw a long line outside the main hall, and it was for a set of streamers who had gathered together and were letting people take photos and say ‘hi’ to them. I actually asked one person if Naoki Yoshida had randomly shown up, because the line was so long, before being told what it in fact was for an impromptu steamer photo session. The content creators on YouTube and on Twitch are part of what helps to expand the reach of FINAL FANTASY XIV Online to new Warriors of Light, and I would love for these streamers to have been given both a dedicated signing line area with times. I would have also loved to see two or three of them present a panel to talk about their experiences streaming for the community and to provide advice to new content creators and streamers on how to make the most of it.
If you’ve stuck with me so far, then you’re probably wondering: “Was FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIVAL 2023-2024 worth attending despite the issues?”
The answer is, unequivocally and forever: Yes.
No matter how bad the line or seating situation could get, everyone around me was still having fun. For the $200 price of admission, you got to see Naoki Yoshida announce DAWNTAIL live on stage, you got to see two amazing evening concerts, and you got to see the love and passion that the community has for an MMORPG.
While I did not get to keep the setlist, I was able to take photos of it! (Images by author).
During the Closing Ceremonies, the development team repeatedly thanked all of us, the Warriors of Light, for helping them get through the COVID-19 Pandemic and looking forward to this in-person FAN FESTIVAL, and Yoshi-P acknowledged the role that the Legacy players from 1.0 played in keeping FINAL FANTASY XIV Online alive. It was a touching tribute to those who have been playing for 13 years, even before A Realm Reborn and when Naoki Yoshida took over the title.
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Piano Performance Set List 1) Beneath Dark Waters Encore 9) Flow (vocals by Amanda Chen) THE PRIMALS Set List 1) Locus Encore 10) A Long Fall |
If you’re lucky enough to swing a ticket for FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIVAL 2023-2024 in either its London or Tokyo stops, then you need to go, because you won’t regret it.
Did you attend FINAL FANTASY XIV FAN FESTIVAL 2023-2024? If so, what was your experience like?
Tell us in the comments below!
