The 2011 Las Vegas Fan Faire at Bally's
All of the following images are in chronological order. Mispellings will abound, as I'm doing this at 4am on tuesday morning
The Images!
Out-of-focus but my first photo of Fan Faire, Wed evening, just arriving to find Oloring, Yamene, Beimeith, Mulleg, Wyora and Tnexus already there
Nuka sprawled out after arriving
Alkaria relaxing
A poorly backlit Nadev with some booze and jegermeister ready for that night
Nuka with his distinctive red EQ2 hat. That's how I find him every fan faire, look for the tall guy with the red EQ2 hat!
Nadev showing his duct-tape repaired Iphone
Heading down the strip going out for supper to a place off strip called Rosemerry's
Something I got used to all weekend... Theznir doesnt like cameras =D
See, told you he doesnt like cameras, At least Oloring and Wyora dont have that problem
Attempting to sneak a photo of Theznir, from behind my back, but he dodged and got out of the way
Trying to fake taking a photo of the menu and flashing it up to him... didnt work either!
I had ordered the Pan seared pompano on a bed of sauteed spinach with fried capers and a chive muscaded beurre blanc
Wyora ordered the Grilled Veal Porterhouse with swiss chard and burbon green peppercorn sauce
Oloring got the roasted rack of lamb with pine nut mushroom quinoa and smoked tomato butter sauce
I think Theznir closed his eyes intentionally here =D
Theznir ordered the Moroccan Spiced Sea Scallops with ginger scented jasmine rice, watercress, and a lime coconut green curry sauce
Again with the eyes closed! Theznir, Wyora and myself
A good photo of the four of us. Theznir, Oloring, Wyora, and myself
Back at Bally's we were prepared with drinks, mixers, and ice!
Saroc arrived after hanging out with some Heroes from Luclin
Saroc again
Peistro, the new community manager for Everquest came buy to hang out and tell stories late wednesday night
Breakfast on Thursday morning ended up being the Sbarro breakfast buffet with Nuka, Alkaria and Nadev
Nuka here managed to turn a 5$ free play credit into 40$ extremely fast
Qaman and Jill arrived on thursday
The man formerly known as Klonn Darkbane, i forget, and Yummy and Snax
People getting ready to check into the hotell
I caught Theznir, Wyora, Biemieth, and Mulleg going to find some food
Nadev and Piestro, they've been told that they look like brothers, so I had to get a photo of the two of them together
Things being set up in the convention hall
The Sony Bloggie Touch that I was awarded for the blog contest
A better shot with less reflection
Heroes from luclin had around twenty people make it to the fan faire
The guides get in early to collect their badges
Klonn again
Yummy and Snax, they play gnomes =)
Aristo and Piestro
All the guides getting together for a group photo
Jenn Chan and Chandrok (Jason Leo)
Absor looking grumpy, and chandrok
Chris "Dzarn" Black, David aka Jumbotron / Elegist, Chandrok and Ellyra, Ngreth talking with sklug behind them
Dzarn, the newest designer on EverQuest
The main hall filled up fast as people streamed in to get badges and swagbags
You could take surveys for a chance to win lots of things like laptops and headsets
blurry photo of some of the vendors
Batilda and Mansho
Myself, Batilda and Mansho
Imrahil, another fan faire regular. But he blinked!
Ngreth showing someone EQ and taking notes on his ipad
Jenn, Elegist, Absor in back, Ellyra, and half of Elidroth
Hazalya and I had the darndest time finding eachother at the fan faire, but I'm glad we finally met up. She plays a kitty on my server
Banut Yamene, Mansho, Batilda, and Hazalya chatting
Gimuu from luclin
Shalastar and his wife, with Oloring behind them. Almost all of the TR wizards were at Fan Faire
A better picture of the same three
Banut and Dannin, who is now playing on the progression server with a leezurd SK instead of a shaman
Larry Elmore and Elidroth chat about art
Prathun swung by to say hi
Prathun and Jenn talking
Amanda and Prathun, behind them is Utdaan the first EQ Mac player I've ever met at fan faire
Maddoc
Arishkogol made it to the fan faire!
Alienware was there with a custom gaming Hummer
And a trailer to tow behind it full of comptuer stuff
Tnexus and Utdaan
Someone walked infront of me right as I took this
The message board, not all that usefull, but fun
Good to know where burned wood is this week!
The line for fingerfood for the community address
People packing in. Unfortunately this year for some reason the sound quality was not the greatest and while you could hear and understand, it took a bit more effort
Tnexus, Utdaan and Ryan "Rytan" Barker
One of the TR Tables, Oloring, Banut, Yamene, Mulleg and Theznir
People waiting for the event to start
Wyora at dinner at Sage in the new Aria hotel
The Foie Gras Custard Brulee
Grilled american Kobe Skirt Steak... the best steak i've ever had in my life.
The duck dish that Wyora got
Wyora with her meal
Wyora and myself
Wyora and myself from a different angle
The waterfall outside the Aria hotel
Getting people together in my room for some partying and chatting. Saroc, Tomal, Oloring and Banut were the first to arrive
Alex, one of the graphics programmers for EQ2 and Maddoc arrived shortly after
Tomal in front, Yamene talks with Gloriana, Amanda, and Prathun
Gloriana and Maddoc.
Gloriana is a habitual blinker so she made me take the picture again
Everyone sitting around talking about games
Alex and John, another programmer from EQ2. We stood around talking about good food and drinking scotch
Mulleg getting up for another drink
Alex shared a story of a great pig roast that he did at his house once
Jen and Amanda
A much better one without the peace sign and hand infront of face
Mulleg chats with Alex, the rest of us are chatting about food
Prathun needed rescuing from Beimeith
Oloring Yamene and Tnexus chat over drinks
Saroc sporting his Heroes hat
John Rohrssen, programmer for EQ2
Everyone deciding at almost the same time that it was time to get ready for bed and get some sleep
The last three remaining, Tomal, Biemeith, and Mulleg
Cant waste beer, gota finish that last one before going home
Tomal's name tag, this becomes important later, as you see everything is spelled correctly here
Early morning for the annual CL meeting. The room was double booked for the Guide breakfast though. We moved but Dzarn grabbed some grub while he was there
A much smaller crowd than usual for the CL/CRT meeting. We invited Utdaan as teh only mac player, to attend as well
Hamilton the rogue
Mansho, Brasse, and Batilda
The same, but Mansho blinked!
Batilda, Oloring and Shalastar
Chandrok, Sklug (obscured) Ngreth, Jenn Chan, Ellyra, and Aristo hang out by the EQ demo station, but not many people were swinging by to play
Piestro and his epic (and shiny) cape!
Misharu makes a good super villian, for the DCUO live quest
Brasse introducing the developer war stories panel
Voting for the war stories, everyone was given a glass bead to drop in a cup to vote... Jens "twinkletoes" Anderson won handily, note the title of the story.. "Naked Wrestling with Jim Lee"
Piestro goes over the live quest rules
Itea, warrior for Township Rebellion, was finally spotted! We knew he was at the fan faire but none of us had caught up with him
EQ players in the live quest, competing for the most points
EQ Live questers pack the hallway working on quests
Saroc with the Heroes team airship construction
Klonn the ... gnome !
Squeecha is adorable!
What an epic name for a game... Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls
Lydia dressed up as her SWG persona
Cheddarella is another fan faire regular, we didnt get together for some scotch tasting this year though =(
Zenai and Itea, it's always great when RL partners play the game together and raid together =)
Running around on a newbie character in Crescent Reach... this one being a kitty it actually lived through the fall when one of the devs walked it off a ledge from up by the dragons
The first EQ panel about to start. Sklug, Absor, Elidroth, and the back of Ngreth
Ellyra and Jenn Chan
The whine-o-meter making it's anual apperance
There was debate as to whether the meter should go to 11 this year, instead it just got some exclaimation points.
Elegist hiding in the audiance
Elidroth, Aristo, Dzarn, Ellyra, Jenn
Players lining up for questions, while Thom Terrazas handles the mic
Chandrok, Sklug, Piestro, Absor, Elidroth all taking notes and answering questions
The room was laid out real strange, and had a lot of obstructed view seats
Hezalya taking her seat between the first and second panels
Hamilton met up with us for supper
Yamene has a monstrous truck and drove a group of us for supper, Mansho in back
A shot of the new towers and hotells in the center of the strip
an obscured shot of where we went for supper
Texas de Brazil a fantasic brazilian steak house
We had to wait a while packed into the lounge area while they got a table large enough for our group
The little circles infront of everyone told the servers when you wanted food. Green side up means bring the meat!
Leg of lamb being shaved for Oloring
Township Rebellion's raid on the steak house
In the time that we ate, very ominous storm clouds drifted over the strip
At the pool party, it started to pour outside just as the party started, so everyone crammed under some tents and cabannas. Nadev and Nuka and some others
Beimeith and Ngreth chatting about wizards
Meahlana brought her wolf hat !
Heroes and TR shared a Luclin Cabana by the pool staying dry
Batilda and Mansho... I think he came to fan faire just so he could walk around without his shirt on at the pool party ! (Just kidding, we know he's as much an EQ geek as the rest of us!)
Unlike last year, no one clusterd around the water mister fans
One way to avoid the rain... is to go swimming!
Den Mom, wet but happy =D
Gloriana and Maddoc chat under some cover... better watch out though, because those are actually chain pull showers
Piestro - Never underestimate the power of GNOME
Elder Guides Misharu and Rynara, it wouldnt be a fan faire without them !
The rain kept the crowds down at the pool party until it started to dissapate
Proof that Absor made it to the pool party, before he had to run off and fix some things with the computers for the EverQuest tourny to be run the next morning
Meahlana and her hat... she blinked ! argh!
Remember that nametag of Tomal's from before... well Heroes was spelt properly there... but now he's got it mispelled with a sharpie on his arm =D
Tomal with a sleeve rolled up to show off his "Heros" pride
Tomal, Amanda, and Wyora. The rain had finally stopped so people moved back 'outside'
Gloriana and Krazaak who doesnt look nearly as red as he did in Atlanta. He's playing a different character now though
Maddoc and Gloriana at the pool party
I knew I wouldnt remember Krazaak's new character's name, but here it is, Uwopo in EQ2
People clustering around the bars for free drinks
Theznir noticed my camera without enough time to dodge out of the way... but he did get his finger up!
Hazalya and Mulleg at the pool party
Gloriana, Amanda, and Tomal
After the pool party we moved up to Wyora's room to hang out
Dzarn swung by to and introduced himself to those who had not yet met him
Dzarn's lastname in game should be "of the many hats"
Tomal and his Heros 'tatoo'
Jose made it, he was delayed because he heard there was no tequilla, so he brought us some margaritas
It got late so we migrated away and back to our rooms for some sleep. Jose didnt have to drag Tnexus this time, unlike their previous encounter in vegas =)
Early morning for breakfast with the devs. Steve Klug and Jenn Chan are always up early, and Gloriana is getting ready to set up the Sony Electronics Booth
BACON!
Dzarn was one of those we least expected to be up in time for breakfast, but he was there, with another hat!
The "breaking into the game industry" panel. Unfortunately it turned out to be more "breaking into SoE" than the industry, but it was a good one anyways
The TR team starts to set up for the EverQuest tourny
The Township Rebellion Team starting the DEATH DEATH DEATH event
Nuka and Alkaria listen on as Ashlanne explains how yet another cellphone has died on her
Hamysh of Heroes had a shirt that I need to find a copy of now =) Got Haggis?
The TR team still chugging along in the tourny
Another team preps for Dracoliche
The EQ Devs hover over their demo system, making forum posts since no one was playing at that time
This is the line for spinning the phat lewt prize wheel
Slaughter in the Blightfire Moors
This was the eventual winner of the audiance choice in the costume contest, a great kitty costume with chainmaile armor
A bunch of people were playing table top games, some SPANC and some Munchkin going on
Yet another line for Phat Lewt
Ngreth, Elidroth, Chandrok, and Aristo in the systems panel
Players lining up to ask questions
Tom Terrazas enforces the One question at a time rule
Wrang comes every year, but I'm not sure if he always registers with the same name
The EQ team breaking out the EverQuest ball caps
Elidroth fielding some questions before the panel
Elegist / Jumbotron ready to duck out of the way so he doesnt get any questions
The panel begins
Ellyra likes to kill halflings. She's not talking about that here, but I forget what she was talking about
Rajaki dressed up as an EQ2 Othmir in her campaign to get them as a player race
The costume contest entrants were judged for creativity, construction, and quality
The kitty from above, I didnt realize his cloak had something on it until I got behind him
Tnexus spins the wheel of loot
Players start lining up for the grand banquet two hours before it starts
These players play the freerealms card game while waiting
Again Banut managed to be THE front of the line by getting down there two and a half hours early to take a nap at the door =D
This line goes all teh way back into the casino!
They asked everyone to fill in the hall better because the casino managment was complaining
The rest of our Luclin group managed to squeze their way to the front with us
Yamene is tall... so i accidentally cropped his head off in my camera shot
Theznir ducks behind Oloring
This security guard must have got very bored standing there
I came so close to getting a good photo of Theznir... but i missed his head
He saw the camera this time because of the flash on the previous attempt
And again!
Everyone streams in for food! TR got two tables next to eachother and used almost every seat
Township Rebellion table one, with a pair of Cestus Dei also from our server
TR Table two, with the couple empty seats we had
Piestro opted to join us at our table
Zenai and Itea went right for the deserts!
Brasse gets things started for the costume contest
There was a huge number of people crammed up there to take photos
I decided not to get up there since it was turning into a mob scene
Safe Haven players managed to get a good seat too!
I was called up on stage and presented with a certificate for having the most played time on a character in EverQuest. A "no life" achievement =D Ok... so most of it is AFK
Former GM Pugigi and her husband, she finished her law degree and now works for SoE as a lawyer
Back up in my room for some saturday night partying. Mulleg dragged along some Stronghold of Savages players
I forget his name now unfortunately, from Stronghold of Savages
This player passed out on a couch in the hall-lounge on our floor. Guess he couldnt make it to his room
Very late at night (or early sunday morning) a group of us all went down to the tequilla bar for some food and drinks
Even more people showed up so we made some more room at teh table
Maddoc contemplates what to order (I believe he settled on the bowl of chili)
Jose and Ryan discuss something
I bought a ginormous plate of nachos for the table. They were quite good, but there wasnt enough guacamole
Jose was impressed with the Nachos, but declared that we needed more tequilla to properly enjoy them
Amanda got the quesadilla which looked wicked good
Dzarn of the many hats and Tom at 3:30 in the morning. This was actually an 'early night' compared to many previous fan faires
Sunday morning I got up in time to see off a large group of Heroes
I ran into Ellyra, Tom, and Chandrok all getting ready to leave
Shalastar and his wife, adn Mulleg were also preparing to leave
Ellyra decided to sit down at the slot machine next to me, and ended up winning big
Biemieth, giving Mulleg a ride back home to CA took me to the airport, but first we stopped for food
There are no In n Out burger in the north east so we went to one
I Tried to get a good distance photo of the strip while heading to the airport, but kept getting trees or cars
This one wouldnt be bad if not for the shrub in the center
We got too far away by this point but I tried anyways. My final photo of fan faire.
As always, send corrections to tharkisREMOVE@REMOVEgmail.com (yes, get rid of the two REMOVE it's a normal gmail account)