This years PaizoCon was interesting to say the least. I've attended every one except the very first one and I enjoyed myself immensely. All of the PFS games were run with imagination and the players were equal to the task at hand.
I thought the hotel was fine and as far as the cost of the meals I had anticipated that as part of the cost of the Con. The only minor squibble I had was simply the location of my room. On the fifth floor and clear around the other side of the hotel. I could not believe how far I had to walk. ;) Frankly I went to the Con to eat and drink. Not to have to think about exercise, I do that all the time in my other life!
Look out though as here comes the other shoe.
The mustering was horrible (sorry not going to candy coat it). People yelling and way too much chaos. Friday morning I was met with confusion and frustration and it didn't get better. Except for Sunday morning, which for me seemed to be the best day. Other than the fact that I was sent to a high level table (good) and then low level players showed up. There was no GM and another table (same game) had a GM but no players? The first table I was seated at ended up (before WE figured it out) trying to seat 9 players. It was a 3-7 and we had every level from 3-7 and again the other table didn't have one player.
Actually the Season 5 Special mustering was fine also. Other than the group of players who didn't have a full group standing in the doorway as we (with a full table of players) were trying to get in, it was fairly well organized. But again we were prepared for that specific event.
Not sure why the mustering changed from the way it had been for the previous years? It seemed to work. You went to the board, found your game and the table it was at and you sat down. The GM then waited until the appointed starting hour and if the table wasn't full, went to the hall and pulled from non-ticketed players, who were patiently waiting in the muster area. No muss no fuss. Certainly no frustration for players with tickets. And maybe less frustration for non ticketed players wanting to play.
Now comes the hard part. Do I have a solution? Unfortunately, no I don't. Other than going back to the old system and I have a feeling that's not going to happen. It's too bad as the Con has been fun but a headache every 5-6 hours just doesn't seem like a healthy way to spend your weekend. Especially when it really shouldn't be that bad.
As I said the games were great, once I was able to sit down and get my blood pressure under control.
