Dark Lord Day (DLD) 2015

That's actually about what I figured out the last 3 years. Seems about 1/4 people gets through.

 

maybe i'll try reggies this year. jaks stranded me in munster last year. the last bus left at least 30 minutes before scheduled departure time. kinda sucked

 

The reggies set up is nice and the breakfast in the morning is good foundation for a full day of imbibing. I will say that the return trips get a little messy as drunk folks want to get home. Be prepared to wait for a bit and to have to jostle for space if you're trying to return on one of those late afternoon buses.

 

I took the Reggie's bus the first year they were offering it (for the Fifteenth Anny party). We got stranded in Munster because the bus broke down one of the trips down. I think they have a new bus now, but I'm not taking my chance with with the bar shuttles anymore. Its a much safer bet going with something like @Lansman sets up each year.

 

Last year they handled the demand just fine. The site never crashed, you just got put in a queue and either got them or didn't. No site slowdown at all.

 

Last year you didn't have servers crashing because of the queue. This year being a free for all, people are going to be hitting F5 repeatedly until they get the result that they are looking for which is going to lead to the servers needing to handle a much higher workload.

 

I have no idea how well etix handles load, but last years system worked fine. The only issue was that the queue started before the sales time and that pissed a few people off. It was a such a smooth buying experience last year I hoped they would keep it. But people have to bitch about something every year. They will end up on Ticketmaster next year, and there they will stay (with $50 tickets and even higher fees).

 

Question regarding tickets and groups: if you pick up a group when you purchase your tickets, will some groups sell out faster than others? Will it affect your ability to buy tickets if the group you've selected is already full? Or will the site just bump you to another group?

 

No one really knows as this will be the first year using etix. If it's similar to prior years, the user will have the ability to select up to 2 tickets from one of the 5 groups listed on the screen. If tickets are not available for a given group, you won't be able to purchase tickets from the group. You either can purchase tickets from a group or you cannot. There is no bumping from group to group. Hit F5, rinse, repeat.

 

Why is everyone assuming there's going to be no queue..im sure the ticket site knows exactly what's going to happen tomorrow and I bet they will have a queue set up. Let's not all jump the gun here when we have no proof that this will be an f5 spamming party

 

It will not bump you to another group.

The way most ticketing sites work is:
Get through to site
Make selection for group/quantity
Click Submit (or whatever)
System checks if those tix are still available
If available, hold placed on tix while you complete payment forms
If not, throws an error and makes you reselect

This all assumes their servers handle the load well. On less robust systems, you may have problems loading the page to select tickets, may have problems after you click the Submit button getting the server to process your order, may have issues getting back to the page if the group is full, etc.

Most sites have some method in place to handle a sudden load like that. I'm pretty sure Etix does.

 

Tough to beat last year's fees (~20% of total price for 2 tickets) although I'm sure it can be done! $9.28 Booking fee and $6.50 USPS Critical Mail Fee. Critical Mail Fee? The only critical part was for them to squeeze more money out of it.

 

I guess I'll get in the queue at 10 P.M tonight.

 

Too late, ive been in since last year when they went on sale.

 

Ur right everybody boycott! Lets show them and I promise I won't be on tomorrow trying to get tickets! Haha cmon, everyone knows its a great time. Its not there fault thousands and thousands of people love their beer and this event

 

Sounds like a lot of bitching for someone who doesnt have to drive 8 hours and regularly can attend actual beer festivals.

 

Yea yea, I know...

 

The bottle share and guest taps are were worth the ticket prices last year.

I didn't even try to wait in the Dark Lord draft line, or the barrel aged coffee line, or the overpriced food lines.

 

Oof. That's really disappointing. If anything I was hoping they would get rid of the GA tickets after last year. Also, quick fact check on this but didn't they have all the new property last year?? Not sure how that's a reason to cram even more people in there again.

Advice to newbs who are lucky enough to get tix: get ready for lines, be generous with the bottles you bring while in line and you will try some amazing beers in return. Also don't sleep on the non-Dark Lord offerings from FFF - got to try a few of my favorite FFF beers for the first time there (Zombie Dust, Rye'd Da Lightning, Live a Rich Life, Boom Over Pow)

It will be odd missing out on this event, but I think five years in a row is definitely the point of diminishing returns for me.

 

Yeah, the shares are pretty epic.

The huge coffee line was only if you wanted glass whalezbro. You could walk up to the other side of the counter and buy the coffee.

Edit: Oh, and they sold versions of those snifters online the next morning. Totally not worth waiting in line for those fucking things.