Three Widows event criticism

Zsadist

So, I dont feel like admins get much real constructive criticism when it comes to events.. instead we, as players, tend to just completely bash/complain about the entire thing to some extent. I would like to change that. So please, constructive criticism only.

I really loved this event, it was wide spread, had some decent lore factors to it and really gave the cities a chance to be like 'We da best'. I also loved the whole evil v good thing was a good idea to begin with, sadly it just didnt pan out as much as I would have hoped, but this is due more to IC relations than the admins, I would like to still see an evil option in future events.

That said, I think the next time that there is an event that has a large open pk area, include what I'm going to call PK aura. This will give players inside the affected area an aura that designates them as open PK and also includes shared xp and xp loss as well. This might entice people to either a) keep coming back for times on end or b) get more people to enjoy it. Likewise, this aura would fade after being out of area for 5s.. having such an implementation would (Hopefully) stop the accidental deaths outside area. We did a great job policing ourselves, but I think this would help as well.

Overall 8/10. Keep up the good work guys.

Xenia

I have enjoyed this event a lot as well, if only for the sheer amount of all day PK. Personally I didn't see it as so black and white. I thought the morals of the Dwarves/Trolls were equally as flawed as the Atav. Dwarves are a racist, genocidal bunch forced into alliance with Trolls for survival, Atavs expansionists who enslave the occupants. I guess slavery is more tangibly hatable than the darkened heart of a Dwarf, and I didn't care who my factions supported, to me they were the same. The only motivation in all of this for me was ensuring a shadow aligned faction garnered the highest influence in an area that was 1) on the doorstep of the Keep and 2) Spinesreach back yard, so to speak.

My criticism would be timing -- I wish it'd been unveiled over the weekend versus in the middle of the week. The PK Aura would have been nice, but I also liked the option for both sides to be able to roam out of the PK zone, even in mid fight. I saw it as a tactical advantage to be used by the 'side' with the smaller force; the breathing room this offered was vital in regrouping and preventing any semblance of a chance to make another go at whichever force was dominating the area.

Valingar

I'll preface this with that I really did enjoy the event. I loved the PK I got, which was a lot more than any ylem fight had given in a month. Getting to know Atav culture was interesting. There were some awesome team clashes. Overall, def hope there'll be other events.

But a thing I didn't like? It was how ambigious the reasons to PK became after all the cities turned towards the same goal.

As an Enorian character, I felt I had absolutely no in-character reason to stop Spirean noncombatants from helping out. The logic would've been along these lines, "Oh those assholes from the Spires are saving these innocent citizens from slavers. I better put a stop to that." Sure, I know OOCly a lot. I know points gather for every civilian they help and every slaver they kill in the event. But that didn't change that the Spirean noncoms were essentially doing the right thing by helping out and saving lives.

Even during times when we had complete control of the area, we mostly just watched Spirean noncoms help out the villagers heroically, even while OOCly knowing this gathers points to their city. I removed like Teani once from the area once, but just felt weird about breaking character for points after, so I just went to sleep after that.

Don't get me wrong. I definitely enjoyed the event and all the PK I got out of it. I'm hoping for more. But I'm also hoping there'll be a little more drawn battle lines. It doesn't have to be black and white, but a war event could be about so much more than all the cities helping the same mobs.

Xenia

@Valingar did you guys not get delegates from both sides of the conflict saying they'd give your city special privs if your city helped the most?

Ishin

This shit is so fun I stopped being afk and came to help the old squad out.

As far as criticism...hrm. It's hard for me to criticize something like this, because I'm a competitive gamer and I don't fuss much. I think an aura for something like this would be really handy - not just for us players, but for admin tracking too in the case something comes up with boohoo issues.

Eh...it's not like I need a lot of reason to pk the poop out of people. Right now, it's because guild and city recognition, which is cool. Put a fat ass statue up of some dwarf teabagging an atav and say 'In Honor of Spirean Assistance' or something, and I'll be happy.


Also: HROAGH SYSSIN

Valingar

I'm not trying to flame the event, I want to be clear. I had a lot of fun fighting outside ylem aura for a change and definitely a positive thing for the game. Just suggesting the next war event could offer more viable sides or clear cut reasons to PK.

Something like a three way fight between dwarves, trolls and Atav would've offered more potential choices to pick from.

Edit:
@Xenia: Not to my knowledge. Obviously the announce post did give the information needed, so it's definitely not like anyone was unaware of the points system, though.

Avishai

No one came to Duiran as far as I know @Xenia nor to Enorian, no delegates or people to discuss with, or at least it was never made known that we are being requested to help, we just did so because we felt it was the right thing to do. I think if that was something that Spinesreach got and other cities didn't that could definitely be worked upon.

As for the event as a whole I agree with the aura idea, it would make things alot easier to keep track of things. Though admittedly we have done a really good job policing non-comm vs actual combatant interaction. I think I only killed Zenobia once for autobashing and not responding to RP requests after she numerous times would come into the room and then slowly track around killing Atav without interacting, I finally hindered her, attempted to RP then killed her when she didnt respond for about five minutes of me keeping her trapped.

I love the area and I love the lore in the area though, im definitely not a fighter, so...I am learning a bit and it was a good opportunity to get my feet wet. I want to thank people from the opposing side like @Zsadist and @Ishin as well as @Kheese and @Xenia for interacting, and attempting to RP between our mutual trolling and good fun during PK we managed to iron out some unicornsy bugs and also have some good fights.

Overall A++ Would Three Widows again

Serrice

I think a better example would be not ganking someone like @Feirenz or @Kanivara.

@Zenobia is 100% a combatant in this event. You hit someone on the other side, you're fair game.

Avishai

Either way the managing of us trying to stop folks from getting out of control was pretty good on both sides, and I think that really contributed to it being useful. That being said these events can get long...and make you want a nap, but thats jut the nature of them, was the same with war.

Teani

First off I want to give a HUGE Thank You! to the Admin for holding the event on times I can attend. Seriously, you guys have no idea how much that's meant for me.

Second, I think it's really nice how you took it in stride when we all sort of turned it one-sided and all killed the Atav.

Dristin

Not to hijack this thread - but I just wanted to say that if any org leader wants to know who participated from their org (at least in killing npcs/quests/etc), let me know. I am not going to be giving out group numbers, however, but am willing to provide them individually for those who want to know. Just send me a message in-game or ping me here on the forums.

Avishai

Thank you @Dristin for the hard work and patience with all of us during the event, and any helpers you may have had along the way.
I think I can speak for everyone with that, I know I didn't hear much negativity on our side or the other in discussions.

The new area is super cool!

Tenshyo

Xenia said:

@Valingar did you guys not get delegates from both sides of the conflict saying they'd give your city special privs if your city helped the most?

I didn't hear or see any as a Herald, so I can't say we did.
Though, of course, I am not exactly the 'go to guy' for those kind of things.

But I'm still going to say we likely never got one outside of the announce post.

Kelliara

I'm super impressed with everyone who participated in this event from every angle (i.e. Admin, Players on both sides, etc etc). And while I didn't participate as much as some, I certainly enjoyed the slightly hectic skirmishes that were had.

Many thanks to everyone!

@Dristin: Out of curiosity, is there any consideration given to those people (I'm not sure if there were others apart from me) who fought for their side (PK/PVP'd) in Three Widows, but didn't actually quest/influence/whatever? Or was there already, and I just didn't qualify due to not being involved enough, etc etc?

Dristin

Kelliara said:

@Dristin: Out of curiosity, is there any consideration given to those people (I'm not sure if there were others apart from me) who fought for their side (PK/PVP'd) in Three Widows, but didn't actually quest/influence/whatever? Or was there already, and I just didn't qualify due to not being involved enough, etc etc?

Unfortunately, we're only considering people who did the parts in the announce post for the honors line. While we are glad people got in and helped PvP, trying to do the influence was the primary intended focus.

Faerah

I've already thanked @Dristin.... But to the rest of the team, thank you!

My main suggestion is a better way to gauge how well you're doing relative to other people. I know there were concerns of things getting griefy with real numbers, but when its a game of GRIND GRIND GRIND there's pressure to keep grinding if you don't know how much breathing room you have.

Aishia

I kinda wish things started off/played out along more clear cut lines of conflict, though I do realize it was possibly unforeseen just how it would go. Not really criticism so much as wishing for a more wholesale slaughter and or diametrically opposed goals that aligned more clearly with each orgs predilections. Was fun either way.

Ishin

@Dristin - I already told you in a msg, but I wanted to say it here too. I had a -lot- of fun with this event, so thank you very much. Also a sincere thank you to whoever else helped out with it.

Maybe as a compromise, you could do something like this as far as showing someone where they stand score-wise:

SCORE:
-------
Next person above: 2000 pts
Ishin : 1971 pts
Next person below: 1717 pts

That way it shows where you stand, but doesn't tell you who they are.

Dristin

Ishin said:

@Dristin - I already told you in a msg, but I wanted to say it here too. I had a -lot- of fun with this event, so thank you very much. Also a sincere thank you to whoever else helped out with it.

Maybe as a compromise, you could do something like this as far as showing someone where they stand score-wise:

SCORE:
-------
Next person above: 2000 pts
Ishin : 1971 pts
Next person below: 1717 pts

That way it shows where you stand, but doesn't tell you who they are.

I'm fine with doing this privately, just like with giving the points. That's a totally fine compromise.