The Lottery: Questions and Advice Thread (especially for first-timers)


PaizoCon General Discussion

Grand Lodge

Here are my two questions:

1) If there are two Lottery events on the same day that I excruciatingly like, one Lottery event on another day that I 'quite' like, and no Lottery Events on the other two days that I care much about -- am I likely to only get one of the two that I excruciatingly like even if I don't put a "4" on anything else? ....The two that I really want just happen to be on the same day. And none of the others really stand out. I shouldn't really put a "4" on any of the others cuz they're more like "2s" or "3s."

Maybe this is just a question of what exactly does 'each day has its own lottery draw' mean?

.

2) On one of the days there is a Lottery event that I 'quite' like and would enjoy getting it. It's about a "2.5" on my wishlist. There's pretty much nothing else on that day's Lottery-event list that I'm really excited about -- except another Lottery event that takes place the same time as the "2.5" one just mentioned. I mean, I'd rather go to the 2.5 event but don't really feel okay putting it as a "4" on my wishlist. And if I don't get selected for it that will be okay. But if that happens I'd at least like to have my name in the hat for the other Lottery event that takes place during the same time.

But there's a rule somewhere (I think I read correctly) that says if one puts two Lottery events on one's wishlist that make a conflicting schedule, they're both disqualified.

Clarification?

Dark Archive

As I recall how it works...

if your name is drawn for a given day, it will look for your highest priority selection (randomly if a tie), and select that, if available. It will keep going down the list until it finds one. You will only get a single slot on a given day. So, I don't know why conflicting time slots would matter, since you can only get one, anyway.

Different days are drawn randomly (I was able to get things on two different days last year).

Be picky with your list, because if you get drawn, you want to enjoy what you've been able to make it into!


If you're running an event in a given time-slot, should you rate everything else in the slot a "0"? Leave them all blank?

Or, should you go ahead and rate things in that slot for the off-chance that nobody is interested in your event, so you could concievably play something else?

Contributor

Silbeg, it is possible to get two lottery events on a given day. Both my husband and I had that happen last year. The system will go through the entire list of people before starting over, but any event that doesn't get filled in the first cycle will end up with someone who already has one lottery event that day.

You can definitely rank multiple events at the same time; you just can't be assigned to multiple events at the same time.

I'd say to be picky with your rankings, but there's very little downside to assigning a 1 to anything you have even the slightest interest in playing. You can always trade it or drop it if you decide you'd rather do something else with that time, but I think it's preferable to come out of the lottery with at least one game, and ranking more widely helps a lot with that.


I cant seem to rate the events, are they available to rate yet? Or am I missing something.

Im trying to do it from my phone if that makes a deference.

Scarab Sages

JwJ wrote:

I cant seem to rate the events, are they available to rate yet? Or am I missing something.

Im trying to do it from my phone if that makes a deference.

It should open up tomorrow.

(Tomorrow being relative due to timezones)

Its on the right side of the event page. Lottery opens up ay a certain time

Liberty's Edge

Check the schedule on the main Events page - the Lottery open tomorrow at 1pm west coast time. That's when you can start making you picks


Ok, Thanks.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
W E Ray wrote:
1) If there are two Lottery events on the same day that I excruciatingly like, one Lottery event on another day that I 'quite' like, and no Lottery Events on the other two days that I care much about -- am I likely to only get one of the two that I excruciatingly like even if I don't put a "4" on anything else? ....The two that I really want just happen to be on the same day. And none of the others really stand out. I shouldn't really put a "4" on any of the others cuz they're more like "2s" or "3s."

My understanding:

Events are drawn by day, so there is no downside to rating events on two days a 4. There's also no point in rating two things 4 on the same day (unless you literally don't care which you get). High ratings do NOT affect your probability of getting something; it is only used to communicate to Paizo which you prefer more.

They will randomize the list, work down the list giving each person their highest rated event that is available for the first day. Re-randomize and repeat until no events are available that day. So if you're rating two high demand slots as a 4, that just going to mean you'll possibly get one at random and the other will likely be gone by the second pass.

Then they'll move on to the second day and repeat the process.

So don't worry about rating events on two different days a 4. For the day with two of them, if one is even more excruciatingly desirable rate it a 4 and rate the other a 3. They'll try to assign you the 4 first, and if it's not available they'll give you the 3 (if available).

Grand Lodge

If there is a lottery event that I am very interested in (a particular scenario, for example) that is repeated on multiple days, and I sign up for one each day (in the hopes of getting into just one of them), is the system smart enough to ensure that if I get into one session, it then takes me out of the lottery pool for the other sessions? I realize this is very unlikely to happen, but I wanted to make sure this was OK before trying it.

Liberty's Edge

Starfinder Superscriber

I just realized that PFS volunteer comp badges haven't gone out yet.... Every previous PaizoCon, they were in before the lottery.

I hope we get them before it's too late to register for Lottery events.

Scarab Sages

There seems to be a problem with the filtering of the event listing. If I limit to Lottery and Seminars, I get four events, none of which are seminars.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Grim Ranger wrote:
If there is a lottery event that I am very interested in (a particular scenario, for example) that is repeated on multiple days, and I sign up for one each day (in the hopes of getting into just one of them), is the system smart enough to ensure that if I get into one session, it then takes me out of the lottery pool for the other sessions? I realize this is very unlikely to happen, but I wanted to make sure this was OK before trying it.

I don't know, but as you say it's extremely unlikely. And you wouldn't have a problem trading many of those high-demand slots for something else.

Grand Lodge

TomParker wrote:
Grim Ranger wrote:
If there is a lottery event that I am very interested in (a particular scenario, for example) that is repeated on multiple days, and I sign up for one each day (in the hopes of getting into just one of them), is the system smart enough to ensure that if I get into one session, it then takes me out of the lottery pool for the other sessions? I realize this is very unlikely to happen, but I wanted to make sure this was OK before trying it.
I don't know, but as you say it's extremely unlikely. And you wouldn't have a problem trading many of those high-demand slots for something else.

Thanks!

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

So I'm only able to attend 1 day (the Saturday) and was only going to buy a 1 day pass. I can't do this as an e-ticket, only 4 day badges (I already got my banquet ticket).

Does this mean I can't sign up for anything on Saturday? I have to buy my badge at the door and then see if whatever I want to try to attend has openings?

Lantern Lodge Customer Service Manager

theheadkase wrote:

So I'm only able to attend 1 day (the Saturday) and was only going to buy a 1 day pass. I can't do this as an e-ticket, only 4 day badges (I already got my banquet ticket).

Does this mean I can't sign up for anything on Saturday? I have to buy my badge at the door and then see if whatever I want to try to attend has openings?

That's correct.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 32

Gotcha thanks Sara Marie!


The only lottery event I got into was the special, which isn't even full. Is getting nothing normal?


Furdinand wrote:
The only lottery event I got into was the special, which isn't even full. Is getting nothing normal?

Yes


Furdinand wrote:
The only lottery event I got into was the special, which isn't even full. Is getting nothing normal?

Unfortunately, it is kind of normal. My first PaizoCon (5 years ago?), I got a whole bunch of my lottery choices, then more or less nothing for the next couple of years. This year my son and I each got one.

See you at the special!


Personal experience from Paizocons as a fan: No lottery events is pretty normal, depending on what you sign up for. Linda and I only got two lottery events over all our Paizocons as fans, other than events that weren't full after the lottery (meaning everyone who got no events listed must have ranked all of those as priority 0). How many events you get will thus depend greatly on how many less popular events you rated non-zero. It would, however, be very surprising to get no events if you rated every single lottery event at least 1, since there's almost always an event somewhere with a space open after the lottery.

Scarab Sages

Wow, the lottery was pretty brutal. Yikes.

Shadow Lodge

Furdinand wrote:
The only lottery event I got into was the special, which isn't even full. Is getting nothing normal?

Have a conversation with Leg 'o Lamb. He got one lotto event this year. His first ever...in five years.


Belabras wrote:
Wow, the lottery was pretty brutal. Yikes.

As Rogue said, it's all a matter of how wide your selections are. I went with somewhat limited this year (about 30 ranked items), and got two of mine. There's no bonus for only ranking one (or four) items per day, you're just limiting your options.

Most schedules fill out from the open events, which are plentiful.

Edit: Oh! And check the posterboard where people pin up event tickets they can't make it to - some INCREDIBLE stuff has been up there before.


I have now signed up for an open event.

The event does not appear on my schedule.

The event its self says "On your schedule"

Other events at that same time are not grayed out.

Should I be worried?

Grand Lodge

I put one "4" one "3" and one "2" for each day for events that I liked. Then I put a "1" for a whole host of others figuring I could trade them for something I like. I got a couple of the "1"s and the 8-99 Solstice Scar. So I'm trying to trade. (And since word on the Boards suggests that doesn't work so well, I'm resorting to bribery.)

Contributor

Rob, people are reporting that same thing in some of the event-specific threads, so it's not just you. No idea what it means though.


W E Ray wrote:
I put one "4" one "3" and one "2" for each day for events that I liked. Then I put a "1" for a whole host of others figuring I could trade them for something I like. I got a couple of the "1"s and the 8-99 Solstice Scar. So I'm trying to trade. (And since word on the Boards suggests that doesn't work so well, I'm resorting to bribery.)

Trading I think varies depending on what you're willing to put into it. The year my friend Cedric went to the con, he was incredibly active on trading and managed to rack up a schedule with more lottery events than Linda and I got from the lottery in a few years combined, even though I think he only started with one event from the lottery. But the amount of work he put into to do so was pretty extreme and somewhat reminiscent of one of those Legend of Zelda quests where you keep trading things to the various NPCs around the world.

Shadow Lodge

Pirate Rob wrote:

I have now signed up for an open event.

The event does not appear on my schedule.

The event its self says "On your schedule"

Other events at that same time are not grayed out.

Should I be worried?

Was this event the author edition of Azlant Ridge?


Ya, I saw the other thread and Davis comment now, I posted there too.

That really should have been a lotto event, I was super excited that I managed to sign up for it too :(

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