It has now been 3 weeks since FanFest 2016, and I have to say it was truly an amzing experience. In the weeks leading up to the event, when I said I was going to Las Vegas, people would ask why. I would tell them that I was going to FFXIV FanFest which would often lead to more questions. So I ended up just telling people I was going on a road trip with friends to meet other fans of a game I have been playing. However it wasn’t until I arrived that I was reminded that meetups like FanFest are more than just about a game, because without the fans, a game is just software and the development team certainly knows this. Many times you would see a member of the development team surrounded by a bunch of fans, trying to interact with as many as possible, while their poor handler was trying to keep them moving on only to stop again a few feet later and repeat the process all over again. They love the players, and strive to make this game everything that it can be.
I also had the treat of being friends with some of the Phoenix Down Radio crew, and was able to see things from the side of the content creators in the community. Time and time again, I would see the various podcasters meet up, many for the first time in person, and I watched as they would introduce themselves, offer a handshake or hug for those who were huggers (but by the end, EVERYONE was a hugger, and offered up teary goodbyes as they went their separate ways.) Many of the people we ran into time and time again as we all made plans to go from one part of the event to another, and tried to meet up as a larger group at the end of the day. (As a side note, the sushi dinner with PDR and Maelstrom Radio was amazing, I want to do it again!) At the end of the event, I got to see how much each group loved and respected each others’ work in the community. In the next few weeks and months, you can be sure there will be plenty of cross-over events planned between the shows, as each has their own special take on the community to share with the other groups’ followers. I can’t wait to hear more about the upcoming PvP discussions, Lore specials, and how to lead the PUG life.
Lasty, but certainly not least, my favorite part of the festival was meeting everyone at the event. Whether in line for a mini-game or Battle challenge, it was easy to start up a conversation with the person next to you, as we already had something in common. In many cases though, before too long you would find yourself in a conversation that has nothing to do with FFXIV, and by the time you reached the front of the line, you would be sharing contact info with them in hopes of rekindling that conversation again. We were all there to celebrate a game, Final Fantasy XIV, but what the event really reminded us of was how much we loved this community that the game brought together, and what we truly were there to celebrate was each other. Thank you for this opportunity to tell my story.
Ryael Arkash
Hyperion
Well, FanFest 2016 is now behind us, but the memory of the experience will live on for a very long time. I had an absolute blast meeting everyone there, from the SE Dev and Community teams, to fellow Podcasters and content creators, but mostly the players and fans of the game. The amount of love and admiration people have for this game and this community is absolutely mind-blowing, and my own enthusiasm was reinvigorated after seeing this first hand.
The event itself was spectacular, from the beginning keynote 
where Yoshi gave us teaser information on Stormblood, the new Expansion coming Summer 2017; to the concerts featuring Susan Calloway on Friday and The Primals on Saturday. The lines for many of the most popular attractions like the Trials Roulette, Fat Chocobo pictures, and merchandise line were long, but others were moving very smoothly like the mini game booths, PvP, and the Proto-Ultima alliance fight. There was a lot of energy and emotion that kept everyone upbeat and excited which I was personally very glad for as I did not sleep at all during FanFest. Why, you ask? It has to do with my one and only complaint about the event, and that is how the merchandise kiosk was handled.
y not be aware, the lines to buy merchandise were horrific. There was no direction, barely any regulation, and they were painfully slow. To those who got merch the first day, you have both my sympathy and my jealousy, as many spent the entire day in line to get swag and did not get to experience any of the other events. Hundreds of people were turned away at one point, and it wasn’t until later in the day when they started handing out priority tickets for the following day to those in line who would not get served before the close of the day’s events. SE also announced they were going to give out a limited number of time-stamped tickets for the next day, which had many 
people, Luna and myself included, spending the night in line to get them as we wanted to make sure to get the items we wanted. Despite the lack of sleep from this, I had a lot of fun talking with the other players in line. We ended up starting a mini LAN party with our laptops, and did what we could to keep awake and excited to get our spot in the merch line. This made the next day’s adventure to buy items much easier, but at the expense of many others not able to buy anything. I sincerely hope the community team takes a good long look at how this part of the event was handled, takes feedback from the community, and can come up with a way to make sure that everyone has an equal chance to buy souvenirs from SE. That, and the fact that the main item I was hoping to get, the Lore book, was sold out before we had a chance to get in line were the two biggest complaints I had about the event. There were other small things that could be improved upon, but lets save that for another time.
With this being said, every other experience I had at FanFest 2016 was positive, memorable, and downright amazing. I met some fantastic people, and I want to make sure to shout out as many of you as I can remember. The podcasters – 
s and personalities – 
