If you want to view dozens of pictures from the event, be sure to check out our Fippy Fest Photo Gallery!

FIPPY FEST 2024

Fippy Fest 2024 was held at the San Diego Comic Con museum on June 14th and 15th 2024.

Now, this was not meant to be a fan convention like FanFaires and SOE Lives of the past. 

The bulk of this event was meant to be a free live streamed event for the masses, to celebrate the milestone Year of Darkpaw for the EverQuest Franchise.

However, some in-person tickets were sold at a higher price point to both limit in-person attendance to make for a more intimate feel, as well as offer a very special ultimate fan experience.

Compared to Fan Faires, Fippy Fest was extremely scaled down, but very much upscale.

I’ll admit, I miss the crowds and numbers of a Fan Faire, but most of the attendees, dubbed Ambassadors, as well as the Developers were in agreement that there was something special about this much smaller more intimate type of event.

Attendees got much more time with the developers, and the developers were about to relax and open up a bit more in a smaller setting.

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Now, Before I get into the behind the scenes of Fippy Fest, let’s talk about what we learned.

First of all, the entire Fippy Fest Live Stream is available for your to watch, All 7 hours of it! And I highly recommend it. It was entertaining and well thought out by the organizers at Darkpaw. 

But, in case you just want a condensed version of the big takeaways, here’s look at at the larger news and announcements from Fippy Fest

For the EverQuest 2 fans in the group (and there were some very jazzed EQ2 fans) the Origins Server, Anashti Sul live date was announced, and the server is up as of this video release!

The other interesting thing we learned about the Origins Beta was that that server is the most populous current server of any EQ2 server, including live servers.

We also received expansion announcements during Jenn Chans opening remarks, including the name of the 31st EverQuest Expansion called, The Outer Brood.

We got a glimpse of the end game of Outer Drood including this huge dragon reveal by Adam Bell during the Expansions panel. This was the “something big” he teased at Pax East. And it is big. Next to Mechamatic Guardian, it is the largest NPC in the game! In this expansion it seems some invaders from the Void are making their way to Norrath!

For EQ2 the name of the 21st Expansion will be Scars of Destruction. And we got a sneak peak of …something for EQ2 as well. What you didn’t get from the panel, and exclusive to The EverQuest Show, are the sound effects for this crab…walrus bug thing….Check him out…

The art panel also gave us some sneak peeks at some concept art of the past, but also for the upcoming expansions! I’ve provided a link to those full screen images on EverQuest Show Dot Com.

Also during that presentation Jenn Chan became a magician and conjured the newest addition to the swag store : Cloth Maps!

These maps are the newest commissions by Darkpaw Games from Rick Schmitz, the artist behind the original Norrath maps. He recreated these entire maps, characters, lands and all for the Year of Darkpaw.

There is one for EQ and one for EQ2. And they are reasonably priced at around 20 bucks each and available right now in the swag store. A link is provided in the video description.

For TLP players, there was some pretty incredible news that was shared by Lucy McClaren about just how popular the Teek server is…

The entire live stream was very informational and I certainly suggest you check it out.

Putting Fippy Fest together is a huge task. The Live stream is essentially a 7 Hour Broadcast with a lot of moving parts, but add to that an in-person component to prepare and logistics of moving people to various points throughout San Diego.

Before Fippy Fest, the venue had to be prepped and set up, along with Swag Bags filled with goodies.

But once the ambassadors arrived, it was 2 full days of EverQuest excitement.

FIPPY FEST IN PERSON

Here’s a look at what the Fippy Fest attendees got to see…

Badge Check In was simple and a Fippy Fest Back pack was loaded with some initial loot, but there would be more throughout the day.

After check in, our breakfast and lunch facilities were just outside the front door of the Comic Con Museum.

But inside is where we began the first interactions between the Ambassadors and Attendees. 

A quick welcome by myself and a glance at the schedule, and it was off to the signing party.

EQ and EQ2 developers lined up to sign the EQ and EQ2 posters that the attendees received. These are high quality, matte finish posters of the new EQ maps done by Rick Schmitz. The posters are limited edition, numbered, embossed and signed by Jenn Chan.

After a signing party a quick lunch before we got a port to our first destination of the day, Daybreak Games Studio.

Once there, attendees got more swag, and a chance to tour the studio and see lots of art, historical artifacts from the development of the games, and the infamous Keith Parkinson art. The actual oil painting done for the EverQuest box art.

After the studio tour, it was time for our upscale evening dinner at Prado.

It started in the courtyard for drinks and live entertainment.

And just take a moment to appreciate the bards involved. This is Courtly Noise, and they learned the EverQuest theme specifically for our event!

Then it was time for dinner and we poured into the EverQuest adorned banquet Hall for our Fippy Feast.

It truly was a special way to end Day 1 of Fippy Fest.

Day Two was really the main event, with the live broadcast lasting 7 hours!

It was a lot of great information with a Welcome Keynote like FanFaires of the past, and the Panels we all loved from previous conventions.

Mid Day while the attendees grabbed some lunch, the in game Hide and Seek contest was held for EQ and EQ2, and then it was on to the Q&A panels for both games.

The end of Day Two, and the finale of Fippy Fest was a trip to Battlemage Brewing Company for a private event. This was the first tasting of the Corpse Run IPA, which was created with help of Darkpaw Games!

Their own specially designed cans and each Fippy Fest attendee got their own can.

Fippy Fest was truly a special event, and there are a lot more pictures of the event, and swag from the event on EverQuest Show Dot Com, make sure you check it out.

I was honored to be asked to host the event. And despite what some people still seem to believe, I still don’t work for Daybreak, but I’m humbled and honored to be a part of this Fippy Fest Family we became!

I’ll leave you with the incredibly beautiful Day 1 recap video that was created by the event planning company, LoadOut Entertainment.