Well that was horrible.
It was indeed horrible. But not the worst it's been!
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To whom it may concern, for future lottery events (and maybe this has always happened but this is the first time I've made it into more than 1 lottery event--previously only ever having made it into 1 in 4 Paizo Con's combined,) could you please put something in the script that doesn't allow a second iteration of the exact same event to be chosen if you've already made it into that event?
While its fun that I've made it into 3 events (not including the special--with that its 4), two of them are duplicates.
Disagree wholeheartedly.Well that was horrible.It was indeed horrible. But not the worst it's been!
I don't want to be argumentative, but they have fallen down much harder than that in the past. I recall a few years ago I was in Guam for a work trip when this process happened. I got up at 4 AM local time to find out lottery results and pick PFS games and I swear I didn't get to make my selections until noon, with the site constantly up and down.
Edit: I will concur that this seems to be cutting it closer to the wire than they typically do.
Sorry about that everyone, I let something terrible through.
Normally lottery events become publicly visible when we finish running the lottery. This time around they uhh... won't populate until Open Event Signup becomes available.
I was staring too much at the end results ...
Please don't worry about it Erik - it's worked that way every single year. We all just hope for change. Most years open signup started at the exact same time, so it wasn't noticeable.
I actually got in two events I'm quite happy with ('3's) - woot!
As for the historical records, I'd say it was the second latest lottery (or a tie?), and about the third worst crash. Combined that could make it the 'worst', but I think that still goes to the year the lottery results were visible for about 2 minutes before being rerun due to an error.
I'm trying to sign up for #7-27: Beyond the Azlant Ridge (GM Author edition). It shows 5 attendees. When I sign up it doesn't change or show up on my schedule.
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I'm trying to sign up for #7-27: Beyond the Azlant Ridge (GM Author edition). It shows 5 attendees. When I sign up it doesn't change or show up on my schedule.
I'm signed up for that as well and I seem to be having the same problem. It says "On your schedule" in the box next to the event but it isn't showing up in my schedule proper.
Customer Service Representative
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I'm trying to sign up for #7-27: Beyond the Azlant Ridge (GM Author edition). It shows 5 attendees. When I sign up it doesn't change or show up on my schedule.I'm signed up for that as well and I seem to be having the same problem. It says "On your schedule" in the box next to the event but it isn't showing up in my schedule proper.
I think I see what is going on with that event, and I'm going to be working with the tech team to get that fixed.
I think I see what is going on with that event, and I'm going to be working with the tech team to get that fixed.I'm trying to sign up for #7-27: Beyond the Azlant Ridge (GM Author edition). It shows 5 attendees. When I sign up it doesn't change or show up on my schedule.I'm signed up for that as well and I seem to be having the same problem. It says "On your schedule" in the box next to the event but it isn't showing up in my schedule proper.
That is the event I'm having trouble with as well.
I probably lost my place in line by removing and re-adding though :(
Also this really should have been a lottery event. :(
Disappointing result for my first lottery (I didn't get any of my choices ranked 4 on any day) but I kind of figured they'd be popular, so c'est la vie.
The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".
Must be a hard thing to judge ahead of time how many events of which type to run.
The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".
Steve, the lottery doesn't work at all like that. The lottery will always give you your 4's for a day, before the 3's, before the 2's, before the 1's. If you got your 2's, that means all your 4's and 3's were full by the time your turn came around - which is completely normal :)
Most people's rankings will be roughly similar (4's for designers, 3's for other high profile, etc), so you have 600-800 people trying to get the same 20 slots in a day (better than a Nat20 needed to get a single one of them, even if you weren't picky about which).
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Steve, the lottery doesn't work at all like that.The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".
As established with Leg 'o Lamb it could work for Steve that way...
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Chief Technical Officer
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The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".
I can assure you that's not how it works. It's more like this:
• It's Steve's turn to pick events for Friday! Is anything that Steve ranked "4" still open? Nope. How about "3"? Nope. How about "2"? Yes! Give Steve one of those, then let the next person pick.
...then, a bit later...
• It's Steve's turn to pick again! One of his "2"s is still open, so we'll put him in it, then let the next person pick....
Cheers all. I was kind of just griping, I didn't really think it worked like that, it just feels like it.
I went for the Starfinder previews, so I fully expected that the most likely outcome was that I wouldn't get any.
Sorry for not wording my post better. I'm very happy with the two lottery events I did get into.
I can assure you that's not how it works. It's more like this...What Vic has failed to notice though is the "IF USER='STEVE GEDDES'" code which takes you to special code for those of us that don't deserve lottery events.
I know what I've done. What did you do?
A-ha! I knew it!!
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Chief Technical Officer
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I can assure you that's not how it works. It's more like this...What Vic has failed to notice though is the "IF USER='STEVE GEDDES'" code which takes you to special code for those of us that don't deserve lottery events.
I know what I've done. What did you do?
Hmm. Maybe we shouldn't have tried to only match him with events being run in Australian.
Heh. Watching Americans try and say "no worries, mate" is kind of fun.
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The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".I can assure you that's not how it works. It's more like this:
• It's Steve's turn to pick events for Friday! Is anything that Steve ranked "4" still open? Nope. How about "3"? Nope. How about "2"? Yes! Give Steve one of those, then let the next person pick.
...then, a bit later...
• It's Steve's turn to pick again! One of his "2"s is still open, so we'll put him in it, then let the next person pick....
FWIW, I think this is a great system. It's really fair. And even though I didn't get any Starfinder events, I'm still excited for all the stuff I DID get. Looking forward to a great PaizoCon!
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Must be a hard thing to judge ahead of time how many events of which type to run.
It's more a case of what the GMs' schedules look like than anything else. Most of the popular lottery events are run by Paizo staffers that are closely associated with that product line. (Or have a particular fondness for a non-Paizo item.) And this is their chance to relax, too! They don't want to spend the whole weekend doing the same thing over and over again - they want to have fun.
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Holy cow. I had the luckiest lottery ever. In past years, I have received usually 1 lottery event, and not one of my highest ranked ones. (That being said, I've enjoyed the events I was in!) One year I got zero. This year I got three... including two of my highest ranked ones (the Planescape games).
The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".I can assure you that's not how it works. It's more like this:
• It's Steve's turn to pick events for Friday! Is anything that Steve ranked "4" still open? Nope. How about "3"? Nope. How about "2"? Yes! Give Steve one of those, then let the next person pick.
...then, a bit later...
• It's Steve's turn to pick again! One of his "2"s is still open, so we'll put him in it, then let the next person pick....
Hi vic
Just for my own curiosity, does this mean that someone like me (with essentially two tiers of events I'm interested in) would get the same result whether I listed a whole bunch as 4s and the rest as 2s, or if I ranked the two groups as 2s and 1s respectively?
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Holy cow. I had the luckiest lottery ever. In past years, I have received usually 1 lottery event, and not one of my highest ranked ones. (That being said, I've enjoyed the events I was in!) One year I got zero. This year I got three... including two of my highest ranked ones (the Planescape games).
Congrats!
Just for my own curiosity, does this mean that someone like me (with essentially two tiers of events I'm interested in) would get the same result whether I listed a whole bunch as 4s and the rest as 2s, or if I ranked the two groups as 2s and 1s respectively?
Not Vic, but Yes!
The description of the lottery (now missing from the sidebar on the events page) spells out that the best results come from fully using the range of 0-4 for the events. I think it was in the email too. Essentially, there's very little "gaming" to be done with the system - the more honest you are, the better it works. With the exception that you do need to watch the # of seats (e.g. the special has more than the number of lottery participants with interest in it).
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The fact I got both of the choices I ranked 2 makes me regret that - it feels like the system thought "it's okay not to give him any 4s because he's getting both the ones he ranked 2".I can assure you that's not how it works. It's more like this:
• It's Steve's turn to pick events for Friday! Is anything that Steve ranked "4" still open? Nope. How about "3"? Nope. How about "2"? Yes! Give Steve one of those, then let the next person pick.
...then, a bit later...
• It's Steve's turn to pick again! One of his "2"s is still open, so we'll put him in it, then let the next person pick....Hi vic
Just for my own curiosity, does this mean that someone like me (with essentially two tiers of events I'm interested in) would get the same result whether I listed a whole bunch as 4s and the rest as 2s, or if I ranked the two groups as 2s and 1s respectively?
Yes... when it gets to you it try to give you your highest ranked one... 4 or 2 has no meaning other than what is the highest number YOU applied to your events. If it sees two or more ranked the same it randomly assigned which one.
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Cheers all. I was kind of just griping, I didn't really think it worked like that, it just feels like it.
I went for the Starfinder previews, so I fully expected that the most likely outcome was that I wouldn't get any.
Sorry for not wording my post better. I'm very happy with the two lottery events I did get into.
And there lies the problem... I ranked ALL Star Finder sessions as my highest ranking, in the hopes of getting any. I presume Starfinder was one of the highest ranked/chosen events. What was it, four of those a day, six slots... so it would only take 24-30 people before your turn choosing Star Finder to not get the slot. I didn't get any Star Finder either.
So, I was sure to also pick some threes (designers in sessions that sounded fun), and then some 2's and 1's... I probably had 10 selections for each day. I got two things for four days. That's pretty standard. They were a 2 and a 3 I think. I am excited about my second one, but sadly it's during the special!
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It doesn't make any difference whether you mark all your events (on a particular day) a "4" or if you mark all your events (for that day) a "1."
When your name gets drawn it picks one at random at your highest rank. If you marked ten events with a "4" then the computer picks one of those ten at random (then another, then another -- if those events are full). And if you marked every event with a "1" it still just picks one at random.
It only matters if you differentiate your ranks. Mark one event with a "2" and mark all the others with a "1" -- it's the same as marking one event with a "4" and all the others with a "3."
The hope is that the computer picks your name early rather than late. Your own ranks don't mean a whole lot. It's when the computer selects your name out of the hat.
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Chief Technical Officer
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Just for my own curiosity, does this mean that someone like me (with essentially two tiers of events I'm interested in) would get the same result whether I listed a whole bunch as 4s and the rest as 2s, or if I ranked the two groups as 2s and 1s respectively?Yes... when it gets to you it try to give you your highest ranked one... 4 or 2 has no meaning other than what is the highest number YOU applied to your events. If it sees two or more ranked the same it randomly assigned which one.
Correct. All rankings are relative only to your own other rankings for each day. (Keep in mind that the lottery does a day at a time, so if you have nothing but 4s on Thursday and nothing but 1s on Friday, those end up being effectively the same thing.)
And if you rank only 1 thing per day, it doesn't even matter whether you give it a 4 or a 1. And your odds of getting anything in that case are not as good as if you rank a whole bunch of things each day.
To maximize the possibility that you will get multiple lottery picks that you like, it's therefore best to honestly rank each and every event you would be willing to attend, giving the things you want most each day a 4 and the things you want least each day a 1. And the more thought you put into ranking those preferences accurately, the better the outcome is likely to be for you.
Cheers. That's what I did (there was a "do your best" admonition ahead of time, so I just followed instructions without understanding it). I only had two classes of lottery event I was interested in.
I'm just amused at myself since ranking the 4s was easy, I then spent ages unnecessarily agonising over whether my second tier choices were 3s or 2s (on some objective scale). A bit of self-discovery for me, with no material effect. :)
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I'm just amused at myself since ranking the 4s was easy, I then spent ages unnecessarily agonising over whether my second tier choices were 3s or 2s (on some objective scale). A bit of self-discovery for me, with no material effect. :)
I agonized more over the 4s and 3s. I try to have one 4—there is usually a very clear event or three that I want more than anything else. Then a couple 3s. Everything else gets roughly split between 2 and 1, as a "I'd be equally happy with anything else I get in this tier" ranking.
I feel very fortunate again this year. Apart from the special, I got only one lottery event that I really wanted and it was my 4 for Friday. That leaves me lots of time for PFS games and repeated trips to the PaizoCon store.
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For the future, may I suggest a method whereby everyone gets a single lottery event before anyone gets a second (or third, etc).
This would be far more fair (and avoid the Leg'o'Lamb syndrome)
To make this work, you would probably need to do the lottery as the whole con at once, but, honestly, that would seem to be easier to code,etc., anyway.
To make this work, you would probably need to do the lottery as the whole con at once, but, honestly, that would seem to be easier to code,etc., anyway.
They did do that one year, and from what I understand it didn't work out well. Also the fairness level varies with people coming only a single day, etc.
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I'm pretty sure that would require more volunteers to DM. You know, if only x number of people volunteer to DM then they can only put x number of tables for us to play.
I feel that that's the problem overall; they haven't got the magic answer of how to get more people to volunteer to run games while the number of attendees keeps going up.
If you or I had volunteered to DM a few tables then there would have been a few more tables for people to sign up for.
I think that seats in the special are actually limited by the size of the ballroom, not the number of volunteers.
I think that seats in the special are actually limited by the size of the ballroom, not the number of volunteers.
At previous hotels that has been true. In previous years at this hotel it was not actually.
If you didn't get in, show up in the standby line - plenty of people are no-shows. Friend of mine's first PFS event was just walking up to the special and getting in - and that was when it was on Friday, not two days later into the Con.
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I tried standing in line for the special one year, but volunteered to help run instead. I & have been doing runner/HQ ever since. :)