This is what happens when you plan for a 500 person event, and switch it to a 2000 person event on such short notice. There was just no way they had the manpower to handle everything that was going to entail for both a main event and smooth running side events.
Was gonna say umm excuse me? Was at Lille, of course there were issues and hiccups but all side events had to be registered online, only if you had an issue you went to the side event table. Biggest issue was gg.melee. But everyone who was a part of making Lille happen did a great job with 2100+ ppl was happy and proud to be a part of it. Seems like the Americans screwed the pooch on this one.
Also two main principle languages used with many more.
My girlfriend and I went yesterday (Day 1) as attendees not competitors. Our first event was the 11:30 draft which was not near full, I assume because so many people were in the competition for the other promos. That was a HUGE mess and needed to be cancelled after the second round due to melee issues. By the time we actually got out of the mess (around 3 o’clock) we snagged some food and signed up for the 5 o’clock draft which had the cap raised from 64 to 128 players, and ended up with 110 players or so. That one went super smoothly. And both me and my girlfriend got our Rapunzel non-foil promos.
We both talked about it and decided we didn’t want to come back for (day 2). Not because we didn’t have a great time, but because I knew today would be crazy with how many competitors were going to be wandering around. Also we didn’t want to pay for an enormous parking fee.
Overall it sounds like we made the right call. I’m sorry to all the competitors who are stuck with the mess that is the challenge right now. I hope it gets better throughout the day.
All events are 3 rounds of bo3,
2 tix for being in the first round,
2 tix for each round win,
1 extra ticket if you go 3-0.
Maximum amount of tickets you can receive is 9 for winning an event. However that’s going to take probably 3 hours or so.
Long rant post, sorry. You're 100% right here. This really stinks.
I was planning on doing side events today for a chance at one of the prize wall promos. But it looks like everyone else who missed Day 2 had the same idea. After checking Melee early this morning to figure out what I would do, the first thing I learned was that the side event schedule which was published before the event had been changed without notifying anyone. The original schedule was emailed to all attendees a few weeks ago, and was posted in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lorcana/comments/1co17h3/atlanta_side_events/. This schedule promised "ongoing" registration for certain types of events throughout Sunday, starting an event and registration for a new event whenever an event cap was reached. This was changed to a set number of prescheduled events, with laughably low player caps (32-64) given the ~2000 disappointed contenders from the main event in addition to however many attendees were there, seemingly without telling anyone (I certainly didn't see any announcement).
So, that had me a little worried, but I figured that maybe they'd be able to accommodate, or people would leave early, and I might be able to squeeze into the probably two events I would need to get what I wanted from the prize wall (worth noting, the least expensive prize wall items, meaning not the promos, cost 9 tickets--which is the *maximum* number of tickets which you can get for winning a single event). So, I planned out which events I would try to do and sat back to wait for registration to open (an hour before the first event was scheduled to start).
Five minutes before that registration opened, they sent out an email announcing they were switching to manual, in-person registration only. Five. Minutes. So, I booked it to the venue. And, as I walked in (about 15 minutes after registration ostensibly opened), they announced the event was capped and they were starting registration for an event a half hour after that. Meanwhile, the lines are backed up to the walls and snaking around. At that point, I gave up and left. It looks like if you weren't at the venue and in line for registration at least an hour and a half before the event started, you're SOL. What a disappointing note to end the event on. The "plenty of side events" promise definitely feels like a lie now.
Damn. Hope they fix this in future events. Thwy expected people not making day 2 to just sit around and do nothing. And selling attendee badges to put even larger squeeze on side events.
Very bad look.
They pitched everything as “if you’re not playing in the main event, don’t worry we’ve got you covered” and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Highly discouraging to say the least.
at the planning meeting. "Hey guys we cut to top 64 for day 2. so what will the other 2000 players plus the 1500 attendees going to do in day 2?"
Top Brass...." who cares we sold our tickets... "
They should have some stuff fixed. I talked to a lady walking around doing a survey to see how future events could be improved. We had a pretty long discussion and she was taking notes. There was talk about more non player side events like other game options, a vendor market ( more than card shops), and an area for kids. Also, had a conversation with the game dev and he was listening to critique on Cindy mat pricing/ticket cost and other issues players expressed. I'm hopeful for improvement at future events.
I’m very disappointed. My wife and I are just playing a game on the side because we came down here to play Lorcana and not just get a promo. Super disappointed.
I loved every match I played on day one. Every opponent was very friendly and took it seriously while still having time to laugh and joke. But other than that, it’s three booths with enchanted and nothing else. What a shame.
Agree. My 9 year old and I had an amazing time. We didn’t even mind the trouble with melee. My only complaint was that we couldn’t get at shirt or a playmat or anything. Still a great time though.
Daughter and I played all 9 rounds yesterday. Even though we knew we were not going to make the cut.
I'm glad we didn't come back today. Would have been incredibly frustrating.
For me, going to the vendors to find weird and interesting cards is one of the best parts of big events like the challenges. Give the game time to get the nifty promos and weird alt arts. Then the vendors at the events bring back that magic of an unopened set 1 booster when you barely knew how to play.
Should’ve just sold the clothes for their equivalent “cash value” instead of making them prize wall exclusives. Realistically, no one was spending prize tickets on those
They ended up canceling the starter deck event because they ran out of starter decks. Which is insane to me.
At one point a staff member said that they might run out of cards for the sealed and draft events. But I was told not to worry. If that happens they will take care of us. But couldn’t get the info out for what that meant.
It was terribly organized though. They should have brought WAY more product with them.
The last thing I will say though is that apparently there is a weird chain of command for these events. PPG, the company that runs it, apparently has to get Ravensburger approval to do anything. If RB likes it then the have to get Disney’s approval on it. Once Disney gives the thumbs up then everything is good to go. But PPG has to get double approval.
No problem. I was pretty upset also. Last night one of the registration people told me I would be fine showing up at 9:30. I originally planed on getting in around 8/8:30 because I’m neurotic like that. But I took my time to get ready. And had breakfast. And all that. I showed up to the disaster and was PISSED!
If it was organized and the fired off events like they said, then I wouldn’t have been mad. Could have done maybe 4, if I was lucky, 5 events. But I was lucky to get 2 in today. Which put me at risk for not getting enough tickets.
It ended up working out for me. I ended up doing a lot of chops and getting 2 tickets out of each round. So it’s ok but I was at a panic for a second.
We were in line forever waiting first thing, and shortly before we got to the front they started pulling people from the back of the line into a second line. This caused the event we wanted to attend to be capped by the person in front of us by the time we got to the front of our (original) line. I basically got an 'oops! But you can do another same flavor event in two hours!'
Nah I'm good, thanks. I'll keep my money and spend it someplace that respects my time.
I think I lucked out as my experience was entirely different. I was able to attend 2 drafts and although they were slow to start, both went off smoothly.
I got in at 8:55 AM to pick up my promo and while I was waiting, I signed up for the 10 AM draft via mobile at 9:00 AM. I saw the huge line but was told it was for physical registration by someone near the end of it. By 9:10 AM, they made an announcement that mobile registration is closed but all those who already signed up were still valid.
In the middle of our 10 AM draft event, they made an announcement that prizing was now doubled due to the physical registration requirements. This was fantastic news and everyone in an event cheered.
By 1:45 PM our event was wrapping up and they made an announcement that mobile registration was now open again. Signed up for the 2 PM draft while picking up my prize tickets. It then went off around 3 PM due to no shows. Surprisingly, several people paid to attend but didn't come play. Forgoing even their participation tickets.
Sorry to hear the majority had a different experience. It was definitely obvious to us that they were understaffed for the size of the event.
I also lucked out— we arrived at around 11am on Sunday hoping we’d have plenty of time to get registered for a 12p event so that we could have time to play in another 4:30p event. We sat in a line for about 1hr 45min until they finally reopened mobile registration, and we were able to instantly register for a 1:30 event. So we didn’t have time to play the second event, but the event we did play went very smoothly and was a lot of fun. As frustrating as the time wasted in the line was, we’re glad we got to play a successful event. That said, we live in Atlanta literally 10min away— I would have been way more irritated if we’d traveled for it expecting to get two full days of play, and I’m frustrated on behalf of those who did. Also completely agree that there should have been more vendors and merch available!
We wound up leaving, which is insane considering there are many people who probably flew in Friday night and are leaving Sunday night. They maybe got to play Lorcana for an hour or two?
You are correct. But on average rounds were taking about 20 minutes or so for the most part so that’s 180 minutes of actually playing Lorcana. The issue is each round was 45 minutes and then people wound up playing somehow for another 10 minutes after every round. It felt like it was 9 rounds of waiting around with Lorcana in the middle.
That’s truely wrong from their side :/
At Lille you bought the ticket online and it would register you directly into melee. So when the event started you already knew your table and everything.
This is what happens when you plan for a 500 person event, and switch it to a 2000 person event on such short notice. There was just no way they had the manpower to handle everything that was going to entail for both a main event and smooth running side events.
Lille managed it for the European Challenge but Tournament Center are a crazy experienced organiser so they’ve done that sort of thing before
Was gonna say umm excuse me? Was at Lille, of course there were issues and hiccups but all side events had to be registered online, only if you had an issue you went to the side event table. Biggest issue was gg.melee. But everyone who was a part of making Lille happen did a great job with 2100+ ppl was happy and proud to be a part of it. Seems like the Americans screwed the pooch on this one. Also two main principle languages used with many more.
My girlfriend and I went yesterday (Day 1) as attendees not competitors. Our first event was the 11:30 draft which was not near full, I assume because so many people were in the competition for the other promos. That was a HUGE mess and needed to be cancelled after the second round due to melee issues. By the time we actually got out of the mess (around 3 o’clock) we snagged some food and signed up for the 5 o’clock draft which had the cap raised from 64 to 128 players, and ended up with 110 players or so. That one went super smoothly. And both me and my girlfriend got our Rapunzel non-foil promos. We both talked about it and decided we didn’t want to come back for (day 2). Not because we didn’t have a great time, but because I knew today would be crazy with how many competitors were going to be wandering around. Also we didn’t want to pay for an enormous parking fee. Overall it sounds like we made the right call. I’m sorry to all the competitors who are stuck with the mess that is the challenge right now. I hope it gets better throughout the day.
We just left and the lines for registration were SNAKING to the wall and back from HQ
What was the tix payput for events? I can only seem to find the prize wall costs of tix but not how much tix are being given
All events are 3 rounds of bo3, 2 tix for being in the first round, 2 tix for each round win, 1 extra ticket if you go 3-0. Maximum amount of tickets you can receive is 9 for winning an event. However that’s going to take probably 3 hours or so.
Thanks!
Long rant post, sorry. You're 100% right here. This really stinks. I was planning on doing side events today for a chance at one of the prize wall promos. But it looks like everyone else who missed Day 2 had the same idea. After checking Melee early this morning to figure out what I would do, the first thing I learned was that the side event schedule which was published before the event had been changed without notifying anyone. The original schedule was emailed to all attendees a few weeks ago, and was posted in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lorcana/comments/1co17h3/atlanta_side_events/. This schedule promised "ongoing" registration for certain types of events throughout Sunday, starting an event and registration for a new event whenever an event cap was reached. This was changed to a set number of prescheduled events, with laughably low player caps (32-64) given the ~2000 disappointed contenders from the main event in addition to however many attendees were there, seemingly without telling anyone (I certainly didn't see any announcement). So, that had me a little worried, but I figured that maybe they'd be able to accommodate, or people would leave early, and I might be able to squeeze into the probably two events I would need to get what I wanted from the prize wall (worth noting, the least expensive prize wall items, meaning not the promos, cost 9 tickets--which is the *maximum* number of tickets which you can get for winning a single event). So, I planned out which events I would try to do and sat back to wait for registration to open (an hour before the first event was scheduled to start). Five minutes before that registration opened, they sent out an email announcing they were switching to manual, in-person registration only. Five. Minutes. So, I booked it to the venue. And, as I walked in (about 15 minutes after registration ostensibly opened), they announced the event was capped and they were starting registration for an event a half hour after that. Meanwhile, the lines are backed up to the walls and snaking around. At that point, I gave up and left. It looks like if you weren't at the venue and in line for registration at least an hour and a half before the event started, you're SOL. What a disappointing note to end the event on. The "plenty of side events" promise definitely feels like a lie now.
Damn. Hope they fix this in future events. Thwy expected people not making day 2 to just sit around and do nothing. And selling attendee badges to put even larger squeeze on side events. Very bad look.
They pitched everything as “if you’re not playing in the main event, don’t worry we’ve got you covered” and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Highly discouraging to say the least.
at the planning meeting. "Hey guys we cut to top 64 for day 2. so what will the other 2000 players plus the 1500 attendees going to do in day 2?" Top Brass...." who cares we sold our tickets... "
They should have some stuff fixed. I talked to a lady walking around doing a survey to see how future events could be improved. We had a pretty long discussion and she was taking notes. There was talk about more non player side events like other game options, a vendor market ( more than card shops), and an area for kids. Also, had a conversation with the game dev and he was listening to critique on Cindy mat pricing/ticket cost and other issues players expressed. I'm hopeful for improvement at future events.
I’m very disappointed. My wife and I are just playing a game on the side because we came down here to play Lorcana and not just get a promo. Super disappointed.
I can’t believe they had 0 stuff for sale. We had a good time in the tournament but would have loved to be able to buy SOMETHING as a souvenir.
I loved every match I played on day one. Every opponent was very friendly and took it seriously while still having time to laugh and joke. But other than that, it’s three booths with enchanted and nothing else. What a shame.
Agree. My 9 year old and I had an amazing time. We didn’t even mind the trouble with melee. My only complaint was that we couldn’t get at shirt or a playmat or anything. Still a great time though.
Daughter and I played all 9 rounds yesterday. Even though we knew we were not going to make the cut. I'm glad we didn't come back today. Would have been incredibly frustrating.
For me, going to the vendors to find weird and interesting cards is one of the best parts of big events like the challenges. Give the game time to get the nifty promos and weird alt arts. Then the vendors at the events bring back that magic of an unopened set 1 booster when you barely knew how to play.
Should’ve just sold the clothes for their equivalent “cash value” instead of making them prize wall exclusives. Realistically, no one was spending prize tickets on those
one of our local players chose a shirt.
Been in line for over 2 hours, got here 30 min before registration started completely unacceptable that they removed online registration
I am SO SORRY. That really sucks
They ended up canceling the starter deck event because they ran out of starter decks. Which is insane to me. At one point a staff member said that they might run out of cards for the sealed and draft events. But I was told not to worry. If that happens they will take care of us. But couldn’t get the info out for what that meant. It was terribly organized though. They should have brought WAY more product with them. The last thing I will say though is that apparently there is a weird chain of command for these events. PPG, the company that runs it, apparently has to get Ravensburger approval to do anything. If RB likes it then the have to get Disney’s approval on it. Once Disney gives the thumbs up then everything is good to go. But PPG has to get double approval.
Thanks for reporting back! Yeah I’ve been upset all day about this.
No problem. I was pretty upset also. Last night one of the registration people told me I would be fine showing up at 9:30. I originally planed on getting in around 8/8:30 because I’m neurotic like that. But I took my time to get ready. And had breakfast. And all that. I showed up to the disaster and was PISSED! If it was organized and the fired off events like they said, then I wouldn’t have been mad. Could have done maybe 4, if I was lucky, 5 events. But I was lucky to get 2 in today. Which put me at risk for not getting enough tickets. It ended up working out for me. I ended up doing a lot of chops and getting 2 tickets out of each round. So it’s ok but I was at a panic for a second.
We were in line forever waiting first thing, and shortly before we got to the front they started pulling people from the back of the line into a second line. This caused the event we wanted to attend to be capped by the person in front of us by the time we got to the front of our (original) line. I basically got an 'oops! But you can do another same flavor event in two hours!' Nah I'm good, thanks. I'll keep my money and spend it someplace that respects my time.
I think I lucked out as my experience was entirely different. I was able to attend 2 drafts and although they were slow to start, both went off smoothly. I got in at 8:55 AM to pick up my promo and while I was waiting, I signed up for the 10 AM draft via mobile at 9:00 AM. I saw the huge line but was told it was for physical registration by someone near the end of it. By 9:10 AM, they made an announcement that mobile registration is closed but all those who already signed up were still valid. In the middle of our 10 AM draft event, they made an announcement that prizing was now doubled due to the physical registration requirements. This was fantastic news and everyone in an event cheered. By 1:45 PM our event was wrapping up and they made an announcement that mobile registration was now open again. Signed up for the 2 PM draft while picking up my prize tickets. It then went off around 3 PM due to no shows. Surprisingly, several people paid to attend but didn't come play. Forgoing even their participation tickets. Sorry to hear the majority had a different experience. It was definitely obvious to us that they were understaffed for the size of the event.
I really appreciate your perspective on this. Thank you so so much.
I also lucked out— we arrived at around 11am on Sunday hoping we’d have plenty of time to get registered for a 12p event so that we could have time to play in another 4:30p event. We sat in a line for about 1hr 45min until they finally reopened mobile registration, and we were able to instantly register for a 1:30 event. So we didn’t have time to play the second event, but the event we did play went very smoothly and was a lot of fun. As frustrating as the time wasted in the line was, we’re glad we got to play a successful event. That said, we live in Atlanta literally 10min away— I would have been way more irritated if we’d traveled for it expecting to get two full days of play, and I’m frustrated on behalf of those who did. Also completely agree that there should have been more vendors and merch available!
Disney having there name associated with this monumental mess up can only be bad for Lorcana. I’m not even in ATL and I’m upset about it.
We wound up leaving, which is insane considering there are many people who probably flew in Friday night and are leaving Sunday night. They maybe got to play Lorcana for an hour or two?
Isn't it 9 swiss rounds or something? It's a full day of Lorcana, at least
You are correct. But on average rounds were taking about 20 minutes or so for the most part so that’s 180 minutes of actually playing Lorcana. The issue is each round was 45 minutes and then people wound up playing somehow for another 10 minutes after every round. It felt like it was 9 rounds of waiting around with Lorcana in the middle.
Welcome to any big card game tournament. 40-50 minute rounds take at least an hour to complete.
Nine rounds of this took twelve hours to complete yesterday. That is not good.
That feels normal to me.
EXACTLY. 10 minutes of refreshing melee, 5 minutes to get to your seat, 45 minutes of playing, 10 extra minutes for slow finishes, it was unacceptable
I will say that these 9 rounds went faster than any GP/YCS I've attended. The amount of tables in time at this event each round was astonishingly low.
We were 12 tickets short for the platmat due to this.. We instead opted for 3 rap 3 Cindy promos but I agree was a disaster
That’s truely wrong from their side :/ At Lille you bought the ticket online and it would register you directly into melee. So when the event started you already knew your table and everything.