TOPIC: Distrubtion Method for Combo Items Discussion

<br />I just think the limit on the 1C/2C/3C quantities and the requirement to stand in line for hours every night to get them, is going to cause some problems.  <br />

<br /><br />Seeing on how I hace enough to make . . .<br />27 1C's<br />8 2C's<br />9 3C's<br /><br />. . . and have another order on the way.<br /><br />I think the quantities listed above for the printing are rather disappointing.<br />

The problem with making a third available each day was that at least on one occasian we ran out of tokens for one of the types (for that day).  I had to tell people to come back the next day, an occurance worse, in my opinion if you had not planned for it.  <br /><br />Regardless of how we do things, if combo tokens are made only at the event (which is the original intent, to have them as an at the event deal) it is unreasonable for any one person to think that in the few hours we could set aside to trade for combo tokens you could conceivably get through the line 20 times.  It would only be feasable if the averge person went through twice and the only person left was one that wanted to make the twenty combos.  The likelyhood of that increases with the 2C and 3C combos, but not with the 1C which many people can make.<br /><br />If we split out the tokens each day and offer up 1/3 each day, it makes it less likely that any one wanting more than one or two will be able to get them in one setting.  <br />Say you are there each day and make it though the line twice, that means the maximum you might be able to make would be six of any one, unless there were a bunch left over on Saturday night.  That is why I do tend to lean toward making one or two available each day.  It hopefully means that any who show up to make a combo will get at least one, and then on subsequent days, if there are any left over, I can trade for larger amounts not fearing I am screwing the next person in line out of one, or the dihard that got in line over and over, can have 10 more if no one else is in line.  <br /><br />If we make 1/3 available each day, it has to be cut off at the 1/3 amount, or you screw the people over that only want to be there Saturday.  If you only want one of each, and no more than 65 people showed up to make combos, you are golden.  If you only want one of each and 90 people show up, at least 20 go away pissed and upset because they have to come back tomorrow and did not plan on it.  <br /><br />Also if we make 1/3 available each day, it is very likely that person wanting more than one copy of each token will still have to show up every day if more than 50 or so people are in line at any one time.  So splitting them out is only benefiting the person who only wants one copy of each.<br /><br />Nothing has been decided yet, but you are correct that we need to soon, before event sales go online.  <br /><br />Given that Jeff already announced how many of these will be available, it should be clear that these are not intended to be available in an unlimited quantity, that is what the Reserve and Trade Items are for.  <br /><br />Jeff has already said he does not want to do a "mail in" deal for the combos, I agree, as that defeats the original intent for them being a cool thing to do in addition to the game.  If they are mail in, you do not even really need to play the game or show up to the con to get one, which seems pretty unfair to the people who actually attend and play.  <br /><br />It seems likely that no matter how we do things, many who want more than one or two copies of the combos will likely have to be there each day.  So maybe the better question for debate is when people prefer to make the combos, In the past it has always been around 7PM, if that is not a good time, propose another.  If we have a consensus, I really do not have a strict preference of when I am available, it just can not be for more than a few hours each day.<br />

<br />One question I have - if the turn-in is in the Tavern, will anyone wanting to participate have to pay the $3 admission fee (or whatever it is) to get into the Tavern to do the trade-in?  <br />

<br /><br />That is how it has been in the past, it was designed as a tavern activity.  I am considering having it outside the tavern (Jeff's decision) due to the chaos it created last year.

I think the combination tokens are very neat, and I thank you guys and gals for making them available to the community.  <br /><br />

<br />The problem with making a third available each day was that at least on one occasian we ran out of tokens for one of the types (for that day).  <br />

<br /><br />Vouchers would fix this issue. <br /><br />

<br />Given that Jeff already announced how many of these will be available, it should be clear that these are not intended to be available in an unlimited quantity, that is what the Reserve and Trade Items are for.  <br />

<br /><br />That is his right.  It is also my opinion that the numbers seem to be very disappointing.  I would be ecstatic with an unlimited amount.  <br /><br />

<br />Jeff has already said he does not want to do a "mail in" deal for the combos, I agree, as that defeats the original intent for them being a cool thing to do in addition to the game.  If they are mail in, you do not even really need to play the game or show up to the con to get one, which seems pretty unfair to the people who actually attend and play.  <br />

<br /><br />That is his right.  I would love a mail in deal.  A mail in voucher would require you to attend the convention to pick up your prize.  <br /><br />

Have numbers actually been announced? I must've missed it if so. How many of each are being made?<br /><br />If we're going to pick a time, I vote for 9am (or whenever the tavern opens). I can be pretty sure I won't have anything scheduled for that hour if I can help it.

<br />We are going to print the following numbers:<br /><br />1C Boots: 300<br /><br />2C Staff: 200<br /><br />3C Bracelets: 200<br /><br />4C Medallion: 200<br /><br />I appreciate everyone's passion for Comboing tokens.  It is really cool.  But to be fair to the other 95% of Td players who don't combo, it is important to but a limit on Dave's time before and during the Con.  In the past, there have been times when I have allowed some little stuff to demand too much time away from the actual event -- and as such the event has suffered.  It is always a balancing act to try to weigh all these factors together to determine how much resources to give a certain aspect of the event.  The more we take of Dave's time -- the worse for the general event.  <br /><br />Thanks for all your input.  We will have an announcement on the exact schedule very soon.<br />

<br /><br /><br />The tavern opens at 11.<br /><br />

Just want to add my support for any system that involves us mailing in stuff ahead of time.  Anything that reduces the amount of time I need to stand in a line at Gen Con is a huge plus.

<br />So maybe the better question for debate is when people prefer to make the combos, In the past it has always been around 7PM, if that is not a good time, propose another.  If we have a consensus, I really do not have a strict preference of when I am available, it just can not be for more than a few hours each day.<br />

<br />I would prefer to be late. Having to be there at 6:30pm to get ready for 7 pm basically elimates many evening slots, or being able to continue in any of the big minis tournaments, which often go until late.<br /><br />Could we possibly consider doing this trade in thingie at 11 pm, when many things are winding down, if not simply over?

Dave,<br /><br />Thanks for the input.  I can understand your reasoning for wanting to do them each on a separate day (with two on the first day).  Given that you want to do this as an at-GENCON thing, there are no easy answers that will make everyone happy.  I'm sure you are going to have some people unhappy at not getting the Combo tokens they wanted - hopefully it will be people looking for multiples instead of people trying to get a first one, which your approach will help insure (as I doubt there will be more than 200 people in line).  <br /><br />I hope that someone is there to monitor the line forming well before the turn-in time, or there may be some chaos when you show up.  <br /><br />Thanks,<br />Mike

That would be OK with me, I usualy am at the event until 2AM anyway.  The tavern will close at 11PM this year as well, so we could do the trades in there and not get in the way of any other events.<br /><br />Any other opinions?<br /><br />Dave

Erf. Well 11am would probably be worse than 7pm. I was hoping for a time before things actually got hopping and people might have schedule clashes. I figure almost everyone has something to do by 11am though. I guess there's notta to do but pick some arbitrary time then.<br /><br />The thing I liked about the 1/3-1/3-1/3 is you had three shots at getting the combo items. I went thursday and saturday last year. I didn't end up getting to trade everything I want since they had run out by saturday, but it's nice to know that if push really came to shove, I had three bites at the apple. If it's just all of the tokens each night, it's going to be all or nothing each day and I'm forced to show up to get each token.

I understand, that is why I went to the 1/3 each day last year.  I am not opposed to the idea, but it was harder for me to shift gears for each recipe.  In 2006, I only had to fully focus on one recipe a night and I got pretty good at scanning stacks of tokens for the correct ingredients which made the transactions faster.<br /><br />Dave