Halloween Event 2016

[Braknar]

Originally Posted by Axlrose [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It was a good thing I was grouped with a druid because outright running from clue to clue would have been quite difficult (and eventually boring) without the buffing of sow and teleports around the world. Even then, how others were able to complete the tasks within the initial hour (or perhaps two) and link prizes while it seemed a great majority of the people were still en route seemed ... "odd".

I'll know more when I go over the logs, but I'm pretty sure no one had completed all 16 until 3ish hours into the event. So if people were claiming they got all 16 in the first hour, they were just trolling. People COULD have gotten SOMETHING in that first 3 hours, but it was not the highest tier reward.

Originally Posted by Axlrose [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The reactions of the non-player characters to the "Boo!" was pleasant (throw into Lake Rathe) to outright deadly ("Here's a 100 point dot for you to eat!"). Fortunately most of the player base was kind enough to rez me back into action. Based upon readings here and knowledge gleamed in game, it would seem the non-player characters were tiered towards being more and more difficult to obtain and thus only the higher level characters would have a fighting chance. Attempting to get to Kael, much less make my way to that clue, would have been outright deadly for my level. While it would be extra work, perhaps have different mobs to tag based upon your level. As an example, the level 41 to 60 crowd would need to go to Kael while the level 01 to 20 crowd would need to go to Spectre Island in Oasis. Of course, the rewards should be scaled appropriately too.

So all you lay out here was by design. The event was not designed for a level 14 to 100% complete it. You COULD complete it with help, but not solo. There were 16 NPCs. I divided them into 4 groups. Each group was intended to be more difficult (and I expected a higher level) to do. So as a lv 14, my expectation is you could prolly find 8ish NPCs, which would put you in the tier2 loot table, and you walk away with something kindda shiny yet only put in half the effort of a top tier reward. The rewards very much were scaled based on how much was completed.

Another thing I'm not sure people picked up on. The boss spawning was 100% scripted, we did not actually spawn it. As people handed in, the hand-in NPCs kept track of how many mobs people found. As that counter increased, some zone emotes went out, and eventually it spawned the boss. So even a level 14 that may have only completed a few tiers still, technically contributed to things heh.

Originally Posted by Axlrose [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Some of these mobs seemed to ignore hails and whatnot unless I positioned myself directly in front of it (no back or sides) and right up into its face before it would respond. This really seemed apparently once I was killed and rezzed And as others have mentioned, the one quest giver near the Plane of Fear entrance outright ignored our lower level group. Short of asking other players for answers, we were stuck for quite some time with how to proceed. By this point, we were about to quit, especially since the timer was announced to be ending soon - thus adding the feeling of being pushed along instead of enjoying the event for what it was about.

So ya this is partially my bad. I setup the NPCs so that you had to target them AND hail. Next time I do something with say triggers, they'll be setup with a proximity say, so you just need to be near them and say things.

Originally Posted by Axlrose [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Overall, it was a pleasant event, though frustrating in ways too.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Kagey]

Had an excellent time with it. It was fun and engaging, unfortunately unlike live it was not for all types of players.. only for those who didn't have families or Halloween plans already and only for 5 hours or so?

sorry for those with kids or euro times. I miss the 3 day/weekend long events.

[Nolui Imbris]

I found the concept of traveling around and scaring NPCs adorable, and the event was enjoyable overall, Braknar; thank you!

Though, I might personally feel some regret over how much time I took ^^; Admittedly, the traveling became a bit of a chore, when ports were not used (especially after the Everfrost dead-end, and I ended up taking the boats from Kunark and to Velious under looming uncertainty of when the event would end). I know, I know, the solution to that is to make friends with a porter. :P

(I'll be one to nitpick the hint for the troll in the 'frozen north,' which sent many out to Everfrost--see http://wiki.project1999.com/images/t...x-Printmap.jpg as there really isn't anything 'north' about the Iceclad Ocean or Tower of Frozen Shadow :P )

[Tetsuo]

Originally Posted by Braknar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I wouldn't say rush.

The loot tiers got kicked down like 3.5 hours into the event.

In the future, I suspect we will have a counter on the high end stuff. After X handouts of high end things the scripts will just silently kick themselves down. We really were seeing LOTS of tier5 stuff. Once I get a few days to parse my logs I'll be posting some numbers on completions/etc.

Having the tier drop of at X amount makes me want to rush even more
and I feel like they would run out really fast.

Some people might hate me for this but if you don't want to give out too much tier 5 maybe have an 80% chance for tier 4 and a 20% chance for tier 5 as to somewhat limit it or ever even just drop the chance to get a tier 5 after X have been given out to give slow pokes a chance to still get something nice.

Also if you don't lower lvl chars to get lvl 60 items maybe have a lower lvl quest line that gives out rewards that will help out a lowbie and not so much a high lvl, like an item that gives greater healing or skin like rock

[Erati]

Thank you Braknar for putting this together as well as the other Dev/GM support that put work into this event.

Was one of the best run events I have participated in and really keep me entertained for several hours...I forgot there was even an NFL game on!

Kudos

[Braknar]

Originally Posted by Nolui Imbris [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

(I'll be one to nitpick the hint for the troll in the 'frozen north,' which sent many out to Everfrost--see http://wiki.project1999.com/images/t...x-Printmap.jpg as there really isn't anything 'north' about the Iceclad Ocean or Tower of Frozen Shadow :P )

Hah you aren't the only one to point that out. Fair point, my bad [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Sorn]

Originally Posted by Braknar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yours had the dripping blood right?

Nice touch!

Yes!

I look forward to the next event of an entirely different format [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

(Also if you ever need some event testers, Tupakk and I are available! We won't give away your secrets AND we can proofread! Or I can proofread...jury's still out on whether or not Tupakk can read or has been to more than 10 zones in the game...)

[Mudson]

I was thoroughly impressed! A much less frustrating experience from last year. I wish I could have stuck around to see if someone killed the final boss. Pras! You made my Halloween!

[Braknar]

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thank you Braknar for putting this together as well as the other Dev/GM support that put work into this event.

Was one of the best run events I have participated in and really keep me entertained for several hours...I forgot there was even an NFL game on!

Kudos

Thanks!

The beauty of the event from my side is except for one hint we world emoted (about the fear mongers and the list). Everything that was the event (world messages, boss spawn, etc) was fully scripted and automated. Which left myself and Sirken free to simply observe how it was going and make small changes, and fix some oops (people death looping due to illusion, no rewards, etc).

[Braknar]

Originally Posted by Mudson [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I was thoroughly impressed! A much less frustrating experience from last year. I wish I could have stuck around to see if someone killed the final boss. Pras! You made my Halloween!

Both bosses died, we're now going through the encounter logs and will do a stream or something where we show the raffling of the winners.

More details to come.