As we're winding down to the final moments of the Hollow Eve Festival, I wanted to take this chance to throw a huge THANK YOU to everyone involved with making this yet another awesome time here in DragonRealms.
To the GMs who work their rumps off getting it all ready and then pull some long hours working on alterations, making auction items, cleaning up bugs, fixing other issues that arise, and communicating with all us players; You are all amazing. Like, really amazing. I think it's really easy for many players to not realize exactly how much work goes into things, but for me and others, we do. And we're thankful for it all.
To anyone and everyone who played Greeter for this year and ran around directing traffic, handing out gifts, joking and playing with folks, and otherwise keeping some of those dull moments at least a little interesting with your antics and celebration; You are all fantastic. I know I've seen a few of you putting in some extensive work running around the spider and finding people to interact with. It's really amazing you have the energy to keep that up and you all deserve a break now. Go take it! Also, the gifts this year were probably some of the best I'd seen yet. You really can never go wrong with siegery figures it seems.
To the folks who stay on top of Elanthipedia pages, updating shops, tracking inventory, documenting all those little details that we all love to see when we're contemplating buying something, keeping a hawk's eye on the auction items and recording those for everyone who missed it but still want to satisfy their curiosity in knowing how much someone paid for something; You all make everyone's life easier for it and I really appreciate it. Without you folks, I would have spent countless hours and countless amounts of money buying things I really didn't want just to see if I actually did want it. Give yourselves a pat on the back because you've earned it.
To everyone else who were playing the games, providing wonderful conversations, keeping a lid on your rage when some other player was getting under your skin, throwing money at merchants so folks didn't have to worry if they had enough coin to make their dream item come true, sharing or trading prizes to others so both you and them got something you wanted, helping out folks who missed limited items by offering to sell to them at cost; It was rough at times, but we all made it! I appreciate none of you beating me or each other up during some of those frustrating parts.
So, really, once again...
Thank you all for another awesome time!
The Kasto mimic abruptly solidifies, looking very much like Kasto.
>
You say, "What a handsome fellow you are!"
HEXEDBYTHENET
VOLCANUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 08:44 AM CST
I'd like to pipe up with a kudos as well, and this might the right place to offer some subjective feedback.
The Good
* The overall experience. Anything that can make most of DR forget about training for two weeks is amazing.
* The Greeters were lots of fun. Great interaction. Good idea. Fun and sometimes useful gifts. Good stuff. If it wasn't for the lack of communication and long stints of waiting for nothing
* Loved the games. Lots of deaths. Lots of useful rewards. Fun raffles. My favorites were the darkbox (treasure-hunting here I come!) and the game of chicken. I thought the gauntlet was fun, but I think it would be better as an always on type of environment or a flex one. For the latter, you could start with flex, then flex +1 then flex +2 and keep going for x minutes or death. The person who manages to survive the most number of waves wins first pick of the prizes and so on. Either way. Good stuff. I'd love to see more.
* The unique purchasables. Even if everything wasn't there, there was a lot of fest only items that I'm glad I picked up. The pets in Tildi's, the cleric anloral pins and mats, the custom cloaks, the fun siegery sets, the crafting oils/stains/etc..., a few of the rotating items, the high level comprehendiums, and the treasure maps/bonding potions alone made the fest worth it to me. Everything else was just icing on the cake.
* The NPCs. Speaking of icing. I didn't know these guys were around until I showed up, but I love my new depart message, and my arrival/exit messaging.
* The players who updated elanthipedia and the maps. You guys are true heroes. Thanks!
The Bad
* Subpar gear and tools when compared to HCS items. It's unfortunate that I will not be using some of the best looking items in the game because it would be a functional hit to my character. We need a way to resolve this. Forgebinding, please, or we just have to admit that most of the shops are tourist traps with items that are meant to be discarded or vaulted for forever.
* The masks. I like the idea, but I'm not sold on the execution. The timers make them such that you can't consistently rely on them to expand your ability set. That would be fine if the abilities were more niche, and the restrictions on self-cast were lifted. Right now, most of them are best suited for mules than the character you're playing. Maybe let it be so that the masks when cast on others also casts the ability on yourself, but I guess it's too late to change that now. I'm all for experimentation outside of the norm, but I'd prefer that to be done outside of pay-to-play events on top of the standard subscription rates.
* Crafting tasks. Crafting tasks were a lot of fun, until you realize how poor the rewards were if you were looking for that one specific item. Up the ticket returns or let the various vendors provide rewards best suited for their craft. Forgers probably don't care about burlap. While we're on the topic, can we have an alchemy craft master for next year?
* The games encourage botting/scripting. There has to be a way around this so that the games aren't incredibly more rewarding to those who script / bot for hours on end. More efficient, fine. Slightly more rewarding, fine. A difference between dozens to hundreds of volumes of unique and ultra rare mats as well as exclusive rights to unique items in game (ie: crafting book), probably not.
* My favorite shops didn't show up. I've left this one generic as different people may have different favorites, but I for one would have loved to have seen Idons (for the extra large cambrinth) and Natural Beauty (weapon hiders). I have a sneaking suspicion that these may show up in an upcoming quest for an additional charge.
The Ugly
* Communication. This was the first fest for a lot of people, and I think the players and GMs forget that people don't really have experience with these. Multiple communication channels were used, and twitter alerts were great; however, I think a "this is what to expect while you're festing" post would have been helpful before the fest started. Give a quick rundown announcement on how merchants work, make sure everyone knows that it's a gamble and how much of a gamble it is. Remind people that the lists are mutually exclusive, so when you have three lists pop up then you have to pick one. Tell people when to expect ticket sales, and give previews even if you don't have the amounts. Tell people when to expect merchants that will work on their item well before the merchants show up. Pick the full list and put it in order early on. People shouldn't be spending 8 hours, on list A, when you can easily tell them if they will or won't be picked within the first 10 minutes.
* The auction. Speaking of communication. The items were picked and finalized well before the fest began, but it seems like they were intentionally kept back until the fest was nearly over. It was also unclear that some items would be up for tickets, which was disheartening to the crafters. They do their thing, which isn't the most efficient way to get tickets, and they see the thing they want the most given to people who weren't even crafting.
* Limited treasures was a lot of fun, but... it's obvious that half the people there were running triggers which is problematic when something sells out before you can finish typing "shop". There should have been limits put on how many times you could purchase from the shop. At least then people would have needed to be thoughtful about what they bought. That or make it time based where the items are up for 5 minutes so that everyone can get a shot, or make it so that each time your account buys from the shop the price on the next item is doubled. Speaking of which, watching people bot the purchases and then immediately put the items (with a mark-up) on DR Sales was very disheartening. Maybe even make them bond to keep people from doing this.
* The back-biting. The complaining, especially about the dark box (no the irony isn't lost on me). I understand why people want a competitive advantage over something that they are apparently selling for real world money, but it seems counter to the spirit of a festival. It also resulted in a lot more waste, and I fear for future changes to engaging games or the overall experience to make them more clinical and give those people their advantage.
The Good
* The overall experience. Anything that can make most of DR forget about training for two weeks is amazing.
* The Greeters were lots of fun. Great interaction. Good idea. Fun and sometimes useful gifts. Good stuff. If it wasn't for the lack of communication and long stints of waiting for nothing
* Loved the games. Lots of deaths. Lots of useful rewards. Fun raffles. My favorites were the darkbox (treasure-hunting here I come!) and the game of chicken. I thought the gauntlet was fun, but I think it would be better as an always on type of environment or a flex one. For the latter, you could start with flex, then flex +1 then flex +2 and keep going for x minutes or death. The person who manages to survive the most number of waves wins first pick of the prizes and so on. Either way. Good stuff. I'd love to see more.
* The unique purchasables. Even if everything wasn't there, there was a lot of fest only items that I'm glad I picked up. The pets in Tildi's, the cleric anloral pins and mats, the custom cloaks, the fun siegery sets, the crafting oils/stains/etc..., a few of the rotating items, the high level comprehendiums, and the treasure maps/bonding potions alone made the fest worth it to me. Everything else was just icing on the cake.
* The NPCs. Speaking of icing. I didn't know these guys were around until I showed up, but I love my new depart message, and my arrival/exit messaging.
* The players who updated elanthipedia and the maps. You guys are true heroes. Thanks!
The Bad
* Subpar gear and tools when compared to HCS items. It's unfortunate that I will not be using some of the best looking items in the game because it would be a functional hit to my character. We need a way to resolve this. Forgebinding, please, or we just have to admit that most of the shops are tourist traps with items that are meant to be discarded or vaulted for forever.
* The masks. I like the idea, but I'm not sold on the execution. The timers make them such that you can't consistently rely on them to expand your ability set. That would be fine if the abilities were more niche, and the restrictions on self-cast were lifted. Right now, most of them are best suited for mules than the character you're playing. Maybe let it be so that the masks when cast on others also casts the ability on yourself, but I guess it's too late to change that now. I'm all for experimentation outside of the norm, but I'd prefer that to be done outside of pay-to-play events on top of the standard subscription rates.
* Crafting tasks. Crafting tasks were a lot of fun, until you realize how poor the rewards were if you were looking for that one specific item. Up the ticket returns or let the various vendors provide rewards best suited for their craft. Forgers probably don't care about burlap. While we're on the topic, can we have an alchemy craft master for next year?
* The games encourage botting/scripting. There has to be a way around this so that the games aren't incredibly more rewarding to those who script / bot for hours on end. More efficient, fine. Slightly more rewarding, fine. A difference between dozens to hundreds of volumes of unique and ultra rare mats as well as exclusive rights to unique items in game (ie: crafting book), probably not.
* My favorite shops didn't show up. I've left this one generic as different people may have different favorites, but I for one would have loved to have seen Idons (for the extra large cambrinth) and Natural Beauty (weapon hiders). I have a sneaking suspicion that these may show up in an upcoming quest for an additional charge.
The Ugly
* Communication. This was the first fest for a lot of people, and I think the players and GMs forget that people don't really have experience with these. Multiple communication channels were used, and twitter alerts were great; however, I think a "this is what to expect while you're festing" post would have been helpful before the fest started. Give a quick rundown announcement on how merchants work, make sure everyone knows that it's a gamble and how much of a gamble it is. Remind people that the lists are mutually exclusive, so when you have three lists pop up then you have to pick one. Tell people when to expect ticket sales, and give previews even if you don't have the amounts. Tell people when to expect merchants that will work on their item well before the merchants show up. Pick the full list and put it in order early on. People shouldn't be spending 8 hours, on list A, when you can easily tell them if they will or won't be picked within the first 10 minutes.
* The auction. Speaking of communication. The items were picked and finalized well before the fest began, but it seems like they were intentionally kept back until the fest was nearly over. It was also unclear that some items would be up for tickets, which was disheartening to the crafters. They do their thing, which isn't the most efficient way to get tickets, and they see the thing they want the most given to people who weren't even crafting.
* Limited treasures was a lot of fun, but... it's obvious that half the people there were running triggers which is problematic when something sells out before you can finish typing "shop". There should have been limits put on how many times you could purchase from the shop. At least then people would have needed to be thoughtful about what they bought. That or make it time based where the items are up for 5 minutes so that everyone can get a shot, or make it so that each time your account buys from the shop the price on the next item is doubled. Speaking of which, watching people bot the purchases and then immediately put the items (with a mark-up) on DR Sales was very disheartening. Maybe even make them bond to keep people from doing this.
* The back-biting. The complaining, especially about the dark box (no the irony isn't lost on me). I understand why people want a competitive advantage over something that they are apparently selling for real world money, but it seems counter to the spirit of a festival. It also resulted in a lot more waste, and I fear for future changes to engaging games or the overall experience to make them more clinical and give those people their advantage.
TEVESHSZAT
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 10:21 AM CST
>>Speaking of communication. The items were picked and finalized well before the fest began, but it seems like they were intentionally kept back until the fest was nearly over.
My understanding is that they're announced later on because they don't want to commit to X being in the auction until it fully clears QC. The ideas might be approved conceptually well in advance, but the finalized execution is possibly another issue.
Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.
My understanding is that they're announced later on because they don't want to commit to X being in the auction until it fully clears QC. The ideas might be approved conceptually well in advance, but the finalized execution is possibly another issue.
Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.
ISHARON
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 10:25 AM CST
>>Volcanus: Communication. This was the first fest for a lot of people, and I think the players and GMs forget that people don't really have experience with these. Multiple communication channels were used, and twitter alerts were great; however, I think a "this is what to expect while you're festing" post would have been helpful before the fest started. Give a quick rundown announcement on how merchants work, make sure everyone knows that it's a gamble and how much of a gamble it is. Remind people that the lists are mutually exclusive, so when you have three lists pop up then you have to pick one.
It doesn't cover every point on your list, but: Hollow Eve 101: http://www.play.net/dr/news.asp?id=1425
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Vote for DragonRealms on Top MUD Sites: http://www.topmudsites.com/vote-DragonRealms.html
It doesn't cover every point on your list, but: Hollow Eve 101: http://www.play.net/dr/news.asp?id=1425
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Vote for DragonRealms on Top MUD Sites: http://www.topmudsites.com/vote-DragonRealms.html
CHUNGUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 03:30 PM CST
Just a couple of comments:
<<* The games encourage botting/scripting. There has to be a way around this so that the games aren't incredibly more rewarding to those who script / bot for hours on end. More efficient, fine. Slightly more rewarding, fine. A difference between dozens to hundreds of volumes of unique and ultra rare mats as well as exclusive rights to unique items in game (ie: crafting book), probably not.>>
I'm not sure there is or needs to be; as in the rest of DR, as in other games, and even as in life to a degree, more time invested more efficiently = more return. Sure, you could try to throttle that in various ways, but all of those ways would just end up favoring a different group instead.
There's no downside for the average player to allowing people to devote more time to the darkbox. Since they are drawing from an effectively infinite pool of resources, you are not harmed in any way by someone being able to get more out of it than you, just as you are not harming the people like myself that skipped it for most of the fest and ended up not getting anything out of it but some nice gems and a few treasure maps.
Also, amongst my group of friends, the two people who got the most good stuff out of the box were not the ones who spent the most tickets. Luck plays an important roll in games like the darkbox.
In other words, it's probably best to stop worrying so much about things that aren't going to affect you.
THAYET
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 03:41 PM CST
>> There's no downside for the average player to allowing people to devote more time to the darkbox.
Because ticket item prices are (according to GMs) based on how many tickets are being generated and earned by players this isn't actually true. The Darkbox being the only way to generate significant quantities of tickets actually kind of is a problem too.
I'm sure it's something that will be looked at next year though.
Thayet
Twitter: @thayelf
Tumblr: thayette.tumblr.com
Because ticket item prices are (according to GMs) based on how many tickets are being generated and earned by players this isn't actually true. The Darkbox being the only way to generate significant quantities of tickets actually kind of is a problem too.
I'm sure it's something that will be looked at next year though.
Thayet
Twitter: @thayelf
Tumblr: thayette.tumblr.com
SQUANTO
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 03:47 PM CST
Funny, I thought that this was the kudos folder. Great job everybody involved.
"Brace yourselves, Squanto is going to bleh blah fart fart bleh.." -the player of the character formerly known as Pureblade
"Brace yourselves, Squanto is going to bleh blah fart fart bleh.." -the player of the character formerly known as Pureblade
CHUNGUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 03:57 PM CST
<<Because ticket item prices are (according to GMs) based on how many tickets are being generated and earned by players this isn't actually true.>>
I suppose that makes sense, but how would you fix that, assuming it's something that needs fixing? Currently the pricing seems very reasonable; I felt that I got a decent return for what I put in, even if I didn't personally hit the jackpot. Has the pricing changed over the years at all?
THAYET
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:00 PM CST
If it will balm your poor nerves I will post them here (again) too.
I liked the fest. It was good and I had fun. I got way more cool things than I really had a right to. I met a lot of neat people on both the player and the GM side and talked to a lot of people I never would have otherwise. I got to see people be decent and cool to each other more often than they were ugly which was probably the best part. Seven hours of alteration helper wiped me out and I can't imagine how tired the GMs must be after sessions like that, so props for trying your hardest to give people what they wanted w/r/t alterations.
Thayet
Twitter: @thayelf
Tumblr: thayette.tumblr.com
I liked the fest. It was good and I had fun. I got way more cool things than I really had a right to. I met a lot of neat people on both the player and the GM side and talked to a lot of people I never would have otherwise. I got to see people be decent and cool to each other more often than they were ugly which was probably the best part. Seven hours of alteration helper wiped me out and I can't imagine how tired the GMs must be after sessions like that, so props for trying your hardest to give people what they wanted w/r/t alterations.
Thayet
Twitter: @thayelf
Tumblr: thayette.tumblr.com
SEBESTYEN64
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:01 PM CST
What Hexed said.
~~~
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
~~~
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
THAYET
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:03 PM CST
p.s. dang wiki editors take a break sheesh you guys. Isharon, Linett, et al worked their butts off the whole time keeping the wiki updated for us poor dumb butts that just had to see how much they couldn't afford what just got sold in Limited Treasures.
Thayet
Twitter: @thayelf
Tumblr: thayette.tumblr.com
Thayet
Twitter: @thayelf
Tumblr: thayette.tumblr.com
CHUNGUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:05 PM CST
<<My suggestion for improvement would be games that are not scriptable for casual players.>>
Very little in DR is not scriptable, it's just a question of how difficult you want to make it. This would need to be something that is approached with caution, because if you weight one method of ticket generation to pay out more in accordance with being harder to script then you just end up with the people capable of writing those scripts getting more tickets than they would have in the first place.
The darkbox honestly isn't a bad solution; it's easy to script, but that's because it's easy to do by hand. If your total from the fest was 100 tickets then you were absolutely not going for high ticket counts - you can get more than twice that from a single darkbox pouch. In your case the issue of scripting made effectively no difference whatsoever.
DIAME
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:14 PM CST
This fest was bittersweet for me and I feel incredibly lucky that I got to attend [Thank you, Sebestyen's player!] and be a part of things this year. Ciressa got to learn the bracelet for Boobuh. Mandalynn got to put Balfore's name on her memorial chain. I saw some players being incredibly nice to others which always warms the heart. I ended up with a lot of nice trinkets and a ton of herbs to crush and use just because. Plus kittens. Any of us that were jealous of marnets and ferrets in the past now has a kitten of our own. How awesome is this?
===
My spathas at hand,
From the ashes I rise,
With resolve in my heart,
And fire in my eyes.
===
My spathas at hand,
From the ashes I rise,
With resolve in my heart,
And fire in my eyes.
CHUNGUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:32 PM CST
<<How awesome is this?>>
Incredibly awesome! I had a lot of fun even though work kept me away from many of the more involved activities. I didn't get any alterations or the like, but I did get an embiggening and I had a good time!
Incredibly awesome! I had a lot of fun even though work kept me away from many of the more involved activities. I didn't get any alterations or the like, but I did get an embiggening and I had a good time!
VOLCANUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:40 PM CST
> Funny, I thought that this was the kudos folder. Great job everybody involved.
Maybe I shouldn't have put everything in a single post, but I am happy with the fest overall. Definitely will buy again next year.
VOLCANUS
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 04:44 PM CST
> p.s. dang wiki editors take a break sheesh you guys. Isharon, Linett, et al worked their butts off the whole time keeping the wiki updated for us poor dumb butts that just had to see how much they couldn't afford what just got sold in Limited Treasures.
Speaking of this, I want to give props to the wiki editors as well. In fact, I saw Linett give up a spot in an alteration so she could go document and measure for the raffles. If the GMs are feeling generous, I'd say the top 2-3 contributors (I'm not one of them) deserve to be compensated with something. They really do a fantastic job for everyone else when there's no commitment to do the job to help everyone else.
ISHARON
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 05:26 PM CST
>>Volcanus: Speaking of this, I want to give props to the wiki editors as well. In fact, I saw Linett give up a spot in an alteration so she could go document and measure for the raffles. If the GMs are feeling generous, I'd say the top 2-3 contributors (I'm not one of them) deserve to be compensated with something. They really do a fantastic job for everyone else when there's no commitment to do the job to help everyone else.
Linett has been a huge help with shops and items. It is definitely too much work for one person. (I know, because I've tried.)
Because I know I'm not the only one who works on shops and items, I can concentrate first on updating the Genie map.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Vote for DragonRealms on Top MUD Sites: http://www.topmudsites.com/vote-DragonRealms.html
Linett has been a huge help with shops and items. It is definitely too much work for one person. (I know, because I've tried.)
Because I know I'm not the only one who works on shops and items, I can concentrate first on updating the Genie map.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!
Vote for DragonRealms on Top MUD Sites: http://www.topmudsites.com/vote-DragonRealms.html
SQUANTO
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 06:17 PM CST
You gals are awesome!
"Brace yourselves, Squanto is going to bleh blah fart fart bleh.." -the player of the character formerly known as Pureblade
"Brace yourselves, Squanto is going to bleh blah fart fart bleh.." -the player of the character formerly known as Pureblade
SEBESTYEN64
Re: Hollow Eve Festival 417 - Another awesome time!
11/16/2015 09:24 PM CST
What Pinkie said.
~~~
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
~~~
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
