The Leviathan: Post-Mortem

RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
edited October 2018 in Aetolia Development
Whew, that was a long month! We had fun though, and we hope you all enjoyed it too! Tiur was away doing weird things like getting married and going on honeymoons for a large portion of this event, which means the task of writing this post-mortem thread has fallen into my lap, so bear with me!

This event had to be one of the biggest group collaborations we've ever had up here. Everyone contributed in some way: @Diogen @Kyna @Antehe @Nils @Raah @Tedrunai @Silena @Ceraen @Tiur and yes even @Keroc contributed a little. I cannot understate what an amazing team we have in the Pools. I want to give @Diogen some extra special mention here, because this project was his baby for the longest time. The Beneath instance was a project that had been in the works for a couple of years, and eventually landed in Diogen's lap after some volunteer turnovers. Without him, this event would never have happened!

Let me first preface the rest of this post by letting you all know that we fully intend November to be an off-month. This gives both you and us time to recuperate from a long event, and gives us time to both prep for the next event and focus on some of other stuff we have going in the background (including the Liruma war wrap-up stuff - we haven't forgotten!). The next event we have planned (Chaos War) is projected for some time in December - though this may change depending on how planning and preparation goes.

This event was a bit of an experiment for us on how to run an event, and we definitely learned a lot from it! Fun fact: All the main points of the event were originally meant to happen in a single day (i.e. seals breaking, Lobyl, Dreikathi, Jox, Varian, Bamathis). As we got further into planning, it became very obvious that it was simply too much to pack into a single day; it would also just not pack the same impact we wanted to get out of this event. So we decided to make the event run throughout all of October, make sure it packed the impact we wanted, and tried to make sure the weeks were filled with little activities to do. For the most part, I like to think it was successful. If we had to change things a second time around, we'd probably shave off a week. It was just a bit too long, and we were all completely drained of energy by the end of the month.

For the most part, only the beginning, the end, and a few key points in the middle (notably Lobyl & Daimoxoth's appearances) had a firm script to it. Almost everything else throughout the event we came up with on the fly. Examples of these off-the-cuff ideas are the Iosyne eggs, the Slyphe leviathan hunt, the Abhorash bloodstone, the bomb making, and so on. We had a blast coming up with all these things and implementing them, and the team really got to flex their creativity here. Here's another fun fact, the script for the final day was being tweaked right up until the final 5 minutes before the event started. We kept finding things to improve!

That's all I personally wanted to cover. So instead of continuing to ramble, I'm instead going to open the floor to you lot. What questions do you want to ask us about the event? Keep in mind we can't answer anything that's going to spoiler future content or story, so frame your questions with that in mind please! As a parting note, the final event post is still be worked on, so please bear with us on that.
TedrunaiDiogenPazradymCeraenStineEllianaZailaLuasIazamatNilsKelliaraFezzixBenedictoPhoeneciaTeani

Comments

  • SaritaSarita Empress of Bahir'an The Pillars of the Earth
    I've said this before, but I'll say it again here: I really liked how you took the time to target specific activities to various orgs. As for the main event itself, I didn't guess where it was going, so I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I haven't gotten to try out the area yet, but I remember the general concept coming up ages ago, so it's nice to see that finally implemented.

    The first question that really comes to mind is one that's been in at least one other thread lately. Will people who contributed to the preparations get any sort of fame/recognition of what they did? I thought that the mitrine war lines were good in mentioning that someone participated, but then also going into the level of participation (by faction rank there.) It seems reasonable to me that there could be other lines for people who fed the eggs, or did the bloodstone infusions, or whatever in addition to the current one about fighting in the battle.
  • PhoeneciaPhoenecia The Merchant of Esterport Somewhere in Attica
    I mentioned it somewhere before, but having been involved in a few of the different events leading up to the final fight with Jox, I do love that there were different things to do and ways to get involved. The leviathan hunt with Slyphe and the Demon Boar hunt with Haern were especially fun, and I loved the puzzle boss nature of the encounters that kept us on our toes. I also really enjoyed the building of the ballistae for the actual leviathan hunt itself - it's not often that you have RP revolving around engineering and building something and then actually have something made out of it.

    For the mechanics of the leviathan hunt and boar hunt, is there a chance those could get reused somewhere? I enjoyed it, and would love for anyone who wasn't able to participate in either of those little events to experience them in some way.
    Luas
  • ImvraImvra Immortal Immortal
    edited October 2018
    Everyone who was around in October got an honours line. Unfortunately, in our rush and movement to make things for people to engage with, we did not prog/code tracking for each activity, so we do not have good references for any further specifics. Additionally, unique honours for the volume and diversity of these localized contributions would dilute how special they were. Some will have follow-up rewards and recognition within their associated communities.

    Some things will be seen again in the future, now that we have had a chance to live-test them and can fine tune. The leviathan hunt in particular will be seen again!
    BenedictoChurchStine
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal

    Rasani uses Battlefury Doublestrike on you.
    You have been slain by Rasani.
    You were afflicted by spiritbrand, confusion, stupidity, shyness, scytherus, impatience, sensitivity
    , wraith, anorexia, dizziness, weariness, hypochondria, loneliness, slickness, magic weakness,
    impairment, mistbrand, faintness, peace, masochism, voyria, aeon, deadening, cold weakness, epilepsy,
    clumsiness, squelched, electric weakness, conviction, windbrand, blurry vision, berserking, a broken
    right arm, vomiting, asthma, soul disease, vinethorns, allergies, a broken left leg, mental
    disruption, crippled, recklessness, patterns, ablaze, a broken right leg, paralysis, self pity, and
    paranoia.
    You use Manipulation Backlash (proc) on Rasani.
    Your manipulation_backlash_field defence has been stripped.
    A humbug loses its grip and drops to the ground.
    By the way, here's the end of Daimoxoth from his point-of-view. You lot really messed him up. Also turns out our code sucks and does not handle ~60 people in the same room fighting well. Something we'll be figuring out where we can make improvements!
    LuasMjollStineKelliara
  • edited October 2018
    To echo what @Tedrunai said above, the finale to this event was probably the most engaged I've been with a world event in a very, very long time.

    I like that it almost felt like watching a movie scene play out in front of us. I was on discord and in web and the amount of times I said "what the unicoooooorns" or similar is too many for me to count. It was so fun trying to guess what would happen next, or find more meaning in some of the emotes or the things Varian would say.

    The reactions from Varian, despite having not been a part of the world in..forever(?), felt so real and tangible. The comments about Dhar/Ivoln, the joy w/ seeing new Iosyne, the neglect of Omei - it gave me (and I'm sure others) so many things to think about and consider all the changes that we may take for granted compared to the beginnings.


    My questions are:

    1) Was there anything that we as players did that completely surprised you in regards to how we handled the event? Not counting the Indorani!
    1a) As a follow-up, was there something you expected beyond a shadow of a doubt but nobody even touched or tried to do?

    2) Did the formation of 'the Accord' change your plans in any fashion?
    IazamatLuas
  • RazmaelRazmael Administrator, Immortal
    edited October 2018
    Stine said:



    My questions are:

    1) Was there anything that we as players did that completely surprised you in regards to how we handled the event? Not counting the Indorani!
    1a) As a follow-up, was there something you expected beyond a shadow of a doubt but nobody even touched or tried to do?

    2) Did the formation of 'the Accord' change your plans in any fashion?

    1) Good question! For me personally, it was the anti-sleep tactics. That was a sheer joy to watch you all put into action. We actually had plans to make our own counters as the event progressed to give you ways of dealing with the vents/sleeping, but your anti-sleep tactics worked so well we just didn't bother.

    1a) There was pieces of lore/things we expected people to ask Lobyl that they didn't. We'll find a way to release the information we had planned there at a later date. I'm partial to the idea of a Grand Library monk publishing 'An Interview with the Ankyrean' work at some point, where said monk had interviewed Lobyl before his ascension.

    2) Not really - we expected cities to work together as they had in the past for such global events. THAT SAID: I don't think we've ever witnessed it formalized like this before and it made us all really happy to see it come together. It was an awesome player-instigated roleplay, and everybody involved in its concept and formation deserves a lot of praise. We liked it so much we made sure to give a nod to the Accord in the 'fought Daimoxoth' honours line.
    StineIazamatOonaghKelliaraLuasBenedicto
  • NilsNils The Pools of Divinity
    There's honestly nothing better than seeing people enjoy your work, no matter how small it is. Thanks to everyone who enjoyed any part of the event. You make Aetolia worth loving!
    DiogenOonaghSteeleKelliaraStineBenedictoPazradym
  • AishiaAishia Queen Bee
    Pazradym
  • Ahem, so, eh, quick question. Varian knocked out Jox, but will It eventually return? I think one big snake every five to ten years sounds like fun... if you like fighting big snakes.
    -The Axeslinger
  • Iatan said:

    Ahem, so, eh, quick question. Varian knocked out Jox, but will It eventually return? I think one big snake every five to ten years sounds like fun... if you like fighting big snakes.

    I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE UNICORNING SNAKES ON THIS PRIME MATERIAL PLANE
    Indoran'i is back baby. It's good again. Awoouu (wolf Howl)
    An Atzob cultist says, "Is a shamatato as tasty as a potato?"
    (Tells): From afar, Mephistoles hisses harshly to you, "Hey baby, show me your ovipositor?"
    The mighty Jy'Barrak Golgotha opens his maw, catches the glowing spear in his many jagged teeth, and chomps down. The Divine spear breaks with a noise like thunder, shards toppling from the Emperor's jaws. "OM NOM NOM!" He declares, then spits the last of the ruined weapon from his lips.




    ChurchEmirKandaraSteeleLuasKoda
  • NilsNils The Pools of Divinity
    DIBS ON OWL-STANDING
    AishiaOonagh
  • AishiaAishia Queen Bee
    I didn't mean to forget @Keroc he can have one too
    Keroc
  • Vyxsis said:

    Iatan said:

    Ahem, so, eh, quick question. Varian knocked out Jox, but will It eventually return? I think one big snake every five to ten years sounds like fun... if you like fighting big snakes.

    I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE UNICORNING SNAKES ON THIS PRIME MATERIAL PLANE
    Unicorning snakes.... Boy o' boy. Eheheee
    -The Axeslinger
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