CCI has finally given anxious attendees a few updates on both how and when the impending preregistration sale will take place, and most attendees are either going to be very happy or very upset by the changes.

According to a new Toucan Blog update, part of the hold-up for the sale has been that CCI and EPIC Registration have completely revamped the registration process. In years past, attendees have been given a start time for the sale and a link to click, which has led to thousands of hopeful attendees overloading servers. In response to that, and to try to curb future problems this year, this year’s sale will see a randomized waiting room.

Here is how the new process will work, as per the Toucan post:

During 2014 badge preregistration, prospective attendees will be given a time frame in which they can log in to the EPIC waiting room prior to the badge sale. Once the badge sale begins, everyone who is inside the waiting room will be randomly assigned to a registration session. Your assigned registration session is not tied to the time you entered the waiting room. There is no advantage in arriving early.

This is a very drastic change to previous years, where attendees were rewarded for being able to click the registration link nano-seconds before their peers. Now, it sounds as if attendee’s Comic-Con chances are mostly being left up to fate, and a randomized number. According to CCI, this should “level the playing field”, as it gives each attendee the same chance to be in the first ‘session’ or batch of those who get to purchase their badges, as it does to be in the very last batch.

CCI also states that they are still in the process of testing the system, and while they give no date for when the sale will inevitably occur, they do state the sale won’t be this weekend, on February 1. Could sales be the following weekend, on February 8? We’ll update as soon as we hear.

From the Toucan Blog, here’s the entire update:

We would first like to thank everyone for your patience while we conduct a lot of tests on the new registration system. We know how frustrating purchasing a badge for Comic-Con can be and while the sheer number of people who would like to attend far outnumber the badges available, we really do hope the new system will make the process less aggravating. We have heard suggestions from many of you, as far ranging as utilizing a fee-heavy corporate ticket broker to returning to the old days of mailing in an order form. While all of the options considered had their own pros and cons, one thing was certain, the everyone-push-a-button-all-at-the-same-time model has been extremely problematic. Working closely with the team at EPIC Registration, Comic-Con has decided to introduce a randomized waiting room. This decision was based on the number of suggestions we received and countless hours trying to find the fairest way to implement changes to what has been a problem plagued process. During 2014 badge preregistration, prospective attendees will be given a time frame in which they can log in to the EPIC waiting room prior to the badge sale. Once the badge sale begins, everyone who is inside the waiting room will be randomly assigned to a registration session. Your assigned registration session is not tied to the time you entered the waiting room. There is no advantage in arriving early. Our hope in creating a randomized system is to alleviate the rush to purchase badges, which inevitably causes technical issues or prevents attendees from purchasing badges at all. Again, thank you for your patience and for sticking with us! We are still in the process of load testing the system and preregistration for eligible attendees will not occur this weekend, February 1. Keep a close eye on this blog for additional tips and details in the following days.

Are you happy about this change? Upset? Let us know in the comments.