quarex wrote:
An excellent chance for me to bust out my catchphrase "if you want to spend all your time at Gen-Con gaming, go to Origins."  Obviously there are boundless opportunities for gaming at Gen-Con, but for people like me whose gaming experiences are tied almost entirely to the people I am gaming with, it is not worth the crapshoot of hoping for a good group,

The solution is to identify the good groups you have played with over the years and keep playing with them, rather than not playing at all. The specific players you get will change, but that's true of Origins too. Find the GMs/groups you like, and play their games. :)