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[EM Event] Meeting with Fynn Barret (Sunday 12th)

Mapper

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WHEN? Sunday 12th of September at 8pm UK Time, 9pm Central European Time
WHERE? TRINSIC Counsellor's Hall (North West Corner)

Meeting with Fynn Barrett at Trinsic Counsellors Hall [North West Corner] 8pm UK time.
[Come prepared to fight and tamers are going to be needed]
Location : Trinsic Counsellors Hall

Event from the EM Website.
 

Adol

Certifiable
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Rapture! The EM's listen after all! Tame-able 5 slot Killer Cows, here we come!

MooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOOO!

Or maybe it's not. But a man can dream!
 

DirectorDoug

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Sigh- I try not to be bitter. Once again an afternoon is lost (not a free afternoon...an hour or so carefully arranged and stolen away from work). I am just about over this series of "events". Notification is seriously wanting, information is non-existent, and while I am willing, as a Yank, to make allowances for the fact that this is a European shard, it would be nice to get just a little consideration.

I never was able to find today's event. I try to decypher the time differences, but apparently there is Summer Time in the UK. I got to the Trinsic Counselors hall, and found nothing...no guide, no note, no book....just a bag full of piles of two gold coins. The only person there (Blend) did not speak good English, and just told me something about lost lands, where I found nothing, of course.

The only time I have managed to actually find one of these events, it ended up being pure chaos, with few people knowing what to do or where to go. Is it impossible to run these events with an eye toward them being playable, instead of simply having most folks read about them later?
 

Adol

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You need to be in the "Event" channel ... there's a few of us who report on what is happening as we discover it to allow others to catch up. I was 20 minutes late myself today, but Mearn kindly directed me to the location, and once there I handed off what I could understand to the others too.

Regarding the Hooby Jooby Birds, they have identical stats to a server birth Greater Chicken, and Greaters can be renamed as such after taming in both clients, so effectively those that weren't handed in are worth nothing except as a personal memento ;)

Nathan took two of mine for the zoo before he ran out of control slots, and the other I gave to Mearn, with Curninir (sp?) giving one to Bride as well. Someone attempted to pass off a normal chicken as a Hooby Jooby Bird during the event, but only managed to name it "Hooby"... they released it when the event was obviously over, and I tamed it before it could be guard whacked in the hopes of saving a true Hooby for another person, but you can tell it's a normal chicken due to the base 1-1 damage. A Greater/Hooby will have 5-10 Base Damage, and Physical resists between 5% (normal) and 7% (more unusual).
 

DirectorDoug

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I have never been much of one for the "channels"...I am enough of a role-player to want to communicate in-game, but apparently I will have to adapt. That being said, I think it is not too much to ask that times be posted in EST as well as GMT (or whatever UK Time is at the moment). I think it is doable to have some volunteer, or EM assistant, or bot stationed at the original meeting spot with some info and a way of catching up. Or maybe this is asking too much. And apparently this is once again an event that, if you are unable to attend, has stuff you can't get. I am praying that someone at Origin has planned a fall like last fall, with an intertwined and interesting arc that is playable for those of us unfortunate enough to reside in the States while playing on Europa (or any of the other permutations for this world-wide game...). I am not expecting it, but I am hoping.

I was asked at the town hall meeting if I had talked to my EM's about certain things, and admitted I had not. I have not found the way of contacting them. The EM site seems to have no feedback/contact/e-mail function. Do I just randomly post here and hope one of them reads it? That seems...inefficient.
 

Nimuaq

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Stratics Legend
I totally agree with your suggestion of posting events in both EST and GMT. We previously discussed a method to broadcast events on certain locations. Maybe a timer can also be added to that system.

You should know that EMs are always on the Event channel of the UO chat during the events and they're frequently online on other times as well. Also, there are two efforts going on for events calendar at the moment, from UOForums and UOGuide. While the main idea behind those calendars is to make players attend the cross-shard events, those calendars might also have event times for different time zones, thus solve this general problem.

There are a total of 5 to 10 players with the exception of role-players who follow the storyline. A big majority are attending the events for the event items and even shout this during the events. However, our EMs are recently organizing events that are not time-specific: a certain code/monster/npc to be dealt with in a remote location for the story to continue, spawning at a random time. This random time is generally late at night where only players from the States are around.

Finally, I want to tell you that you havent missed anything important. We falsely interpreted the 'tamers wanted' phrase as if there would be really difficult creatures around, maybe even a paragon harbinger. It turns out, tamers were needed to tame some birds which doesnt even require taming skill (my archer tamed one). They're at the Moonglow Zoo now, we need their eggs for omelet or feeding the serpents (one of these is true).
 

Adol

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I have never been much of one for the "channels"...I am enough of a role-player to want to communicate in-game, but apparently I will have to adapt. That being said, I think it is not too much to ask that times be posted in EST as well as GMT (or whatever UK Time is at the moment). I think it is doable to have some volunteer, or EM assistant, or bot stationed at the original meeting spot with some info and a way of catching up. Or maybe this is asking too much. And apparently this is once again an event that, if you are unable to attend, has stuff you can't get. I am praying that someone at Origin has planned a fall like last fall, with an intertwined and interesting arc that is playable for those of us unfortunate enough to reside in the States while playing on Europa (or any of the other permutations for this world-wide game...). I am not expecting it, but I am hoping.

I was asked at the town hall meeting if I had talked to my EM's about certain things, and admitted I had not. I have not found the way of contacting them. The EM site seems to have no feedback/contact/e-mail function. Do I just randomly post here and hope one of them reads it? That seems...inefficient.
I have to say, you're letting your emotions get the better of you here. EM events on Europa are almost always at 8pm UK time, and as linked above it's incredibly easy to just google a World Clock and check what time that would be on any day. A quick check of Stratics or the Europa EM site (Europa Event Moderators Website) will let you know usually with at least a days warning an event is coming up... again, it's almost always on a Sunday for weekends, with the occasional mid week. The two Europa EMs will always be in Event chat during an event, and for a while after if you wish to communicate with them; is the main EMs official contact address. Emile tends to give it out often in Event chat...

There was no item given today; I don't think you read closely what I said. The original plan it seems was for everyone to hand their Hooby Jooby birds in to the Moonglow Zoo, which I think was a great idea as we could all have worked together to give something unique to the entire server. But as usual asshats were trying to ruin it for everyone, and guard whacked them as soon as they were released, before they could be made invulnerable (people were also killing the birds when people tried to tame them). As a result most people kept their birds after it ended... however they are nothing more than a renamed Greater Chicken. These spawn constantly in Jhelom Farm pens, and across the woods of Northern Britain. You can rename them in either client to "Hooby Joobie Bird", and you've thus got exactly what any one else did today.

Furthermore, EMs can't leave things behind without having to keep going back to be physically present and update them; even pre-scripted updates would require a manual toggle for the next announcement. And what's more it would spoil the aspect of solving the puzzles if they told everyone where it was... You'd just have to stand at the initial spot and wait for the updates, then pile in for final spawn. Needless to say, that may please the cross sharders, but it would make for lousy fiction.
On top of this, Europa has some exceptionally smart and dedicated players, and in the past we've seen content pre-arranged, made to try and add greater depth, which got solved hours before the event was even due to start, which upset the wider community greatly. Instead you could leave it as a final lottery ticket event, but the perfect damage builds and script looters will always have better chances than you for that; and that's equally lousy fiction too, and encourages people to just be endlessly greedy. So the fairest way then, and which our EMs are adapting too, is for the EMs to actually be there, with a quest that requires some involvement and puzzle solving elements, so you the player succeed on how much you actually take part; but you the player still have to be there too and stay on top of things as they develop as well.
 

DirectorDoug

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I did indeed let my emotions get the better of me. I have been trying to follow the current event string, but the combination of my work schedule and load and the time difference have made it frustrating...which is no one's fault, I know. I will take the many suggestions today and implement them, and I appreciate both the help and the patience. I am not sure what the late-night events are, but I will start looking for that as well. Rest assured that I came to Europa many years ago to escape the barbarism on the US shards, and have never regretted that decision. The people on Europa are civilized and pleasant, and I hope to continue playing there for many years to come.

I am a bit confused (the "my mood" smiley is not by accident...) as to how one finds out basic info about the random, late-night spawns. Do I need to just monitor the event channel whenever I am on? Is it posted somewhere? Do I just comb odd spots in the land and hope? Please feel free to educate this 150 month newbie on these issues... my ego is not wrapped up in what I don't know.

One last thing...I LOVE puzzle solving and role-playing and story-lines...I just have trouble following these. The events I have managed to get to have been big free-for-all's with an abundance of those folks you mentioned who just stand around and yell for prizes or work hard at interrupting the game for the rest of us. I will try harder to track down the information, and hopefully there is enough "guidance" on the Event channel that I can become more involved. Thanks again for all the help.
 

Cailleach

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I don't know if this will make you feel any better, Doug, but I lost track of the fiction a LONG time ago! I just can't keep up with it. Not only that, but the short notice on events means that I can rarely rearrange work/bath & bed time for my kids so that I can attend. I get there when I can, when a kindly guildie or alliance guildie can gate me in late. (thanks Ayara!)
 

SirZ

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I totally agree with your suggestion of posting events in both EST and GMT.
Eemm...
Shard lives in GMT+0 time, so whatever reason here EST?
My time zone is GMT+3, now all events should indicate with my time zone too?
 

Mapper

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Events are always 8pm UK Time, I also post Central European time - Both of which are in Summer time. If I posted EST I would then need to post Pacific, Mountain, Central etc.

It is at least common knowledge to me that UK time is 5 hours head of EST. This only gets confusing when America changes to winter time before the UK. And that's without me using a time converter site.

Sorry you missed out.
 

Nimuaq

Lore Master
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Stratics Legend
Eemm...
Shard lives in GMT+0 time, so whatever reason here EST?
My time zone is GMT+3, now all events should indicate with my time zone too?
I think the reason for having different time zones is quite obivous for we have a player here who plays on Europa no matter what time zone the shard is on. In fact, the whole concept of having time zones is for better synchronization of general events.

Having a GMT time already indicates your GMT+3 time. The players that play on the shard are on different time zones where the majority is around GMT +1 but still there are a lot of players who are on time zones quite far from GMT. So it would be nice to have times posted on different time zones, at least for these players.

I know checking a specific time on any time zone is not very hard using websites some of which have already been posted on this thread. I just want the same luxury of the people who doesnt need to waste their time trying to figure out this in every occasion.

I'm not talking only for Europa by the way: it would also be nice to have town hall meetings and other UO related stuff to be posted in GMT too.It is unfortunate that we have these three letter abbreviations and not a global time like the one swatch uses.

Maybe you were suggesting that there are a lot of these time zones and having rows of time for every event is not practical. This is true and adding event time for tens of different time zones wont be an easy task for the EMs. Thus, I can send a very easy script to be put on the EM website that tells a time according to the web browser's default time zone. This wont be a high tech script and might solve these problems.
 

Nimuaq

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I just checked the EM website, apparently they use Jevents calendar module for Joomla! which is based on php. Since they have php available on their websites, they can use php functions to display a time on the timezone of the computer browsing the page with its local time. However, I think this modification can only be done by the webmaster of the main uoem.net.
 

Adol

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I am a bit confused (the "my mood" smiley is not by accident...) as to how one finds out basic info about the random, late-night spawns. Do I need to just monitor the event channel whenever I am on? Is it posted somewhere? Do I just comb odd spots in the land and hope? Please feel free to educate this 150 month newbie on these issues... my ego is not wrapped up in what I don't know.
Well, in my experience the EMs are moving away from these now, ever since Nimauq and I ran into the Drow Dragons by accident and got some of the "rare" swords before anyone else, and then into the mine by breaking the code much earlier in the day... but here you have a point, because both Nimauq and I have a very large circle of connections in game; in my own case because I converse a lot in General, and try to help others which means others try and help me, but also because I have a lot of contacts in the rares collecting community... And this naturally means I get a lot of information filter back about what is going on in game. This kind of openness to the community isn't for everyone though, indeed it's not even for me as much as it used to be; one reason I took such a long break from the game originally was because of events in game, and on the old UO.com boards filtering back into real life, with disastrous consequences. But those who network widely are always going to have a wider access to information, good and bad than the lone wolves... it's a natural law written into the universe I'm afraid, and not one any dev team can easily challenge (illegal speed hacks etc spread the same way, through guild members who know where you can get a genuine, working one... to real life where it's word of mouth that forms the main part of the black economy).

There are things you can do solo to improve your chances if such events turn up again though;

1.) Always leave General chat on, even if you don't read it constantly; if something happens outside of an event, it'll be discussed there at first.

2.) Apply logical filtering to what is being discussed; you can be pretty certain the obnoxious monomaniacs never talk about anything but who they "pwn", so they can be safely put on ignore for good. However, on the other hand you suddenly see a lot of adverts for an item you've not heard of before... first things first, when are people most likely to try and sell something? When people aren't yet sure of the price, and they may get a incredibly overpriced offer, because people are naturally greedy. Which means the event item may still be, or only just has stopped dropping. So ask questions. What is that? Where did you get it? Even if they are unwilling to say out of personal greed, it'll start others asking and potentially sharing information too... And if something new is happening, it'll rapidly become a popular source of conversation. Even if you miss this item and event, you'll start to recognise the tell tale signs of when one is beginning, and after a while reading the mood of General will become second nature to you.

3.) If the event is going to be a "Hunt the beasty" one, now you can rely upon your own skills, whilst listening to the increasing stream of information as it comes in. You can either search everywhere quickly, or one very specific spot minutely... start with everywhere first because that specific spot may not be the right one. Learn to just weave across the map in one direction, covering as much space as you can at first. And focus your entire attention on the edge of the screen you are running towards, reading the incoming names for things that are different, or suspiciously relevant... This is how I found the rabbit in Hythloth, despite being 10 feet behind someone else seeking them, who ran straight past it during this years Easter event; because it was invisible behind a wall, but I still noticed "Jessica" from the incoming name which was still visible. If it had been "a rabbit", still stop and check, because what's a rabbit doing in Hythloth anyway? They aren't normally there, and it is Easter... And even if you don't find anything yourself, you are narrowing down the search by confirming which bits of information are not true.

4.) Once you've got a sense of what exactly you are looking for, either from hearing it discussed in Event/General chat, or because you've located it yourself, or even you've just gone with the flow and read the direction of the crowds to see where they end up (what I did last night as I was late to the event, and things were moving too fast to process all the information at once) apply that logic to your search from now on. Our EMs tend to have a pattern behind their locations... trust you've identified it, and narrow your search. Last night I got 3 birds (and one fake one) because once it became obvious the holes where the only spot for the Hoobys, I just zoomed my screen in onto a hole and kept pressing TAB whilst watching the target box for the colour grey and the letters Ho... as soon as I saw one, I'd hold down "T" which is my Use Tame Skill > Target Current macro. Why Ho? The spot I was at had a Harpy nearby, but we can ignore those.

5.) Help others! I can't emphasis this enough! Yes you'll help them to things you want at first, but they will help you at other times too, so it all evens out, and everyone benefits in the long run. And you are just not going to be the best at every possible challenge the EMs throw your way; In the Serpentwyne arc alone we had code breaking, lore knowledge, outright combat, and thieving... I don't even have a thief myself, but I know someone who does; and he keeps all the rares he gets on Europa. So guide him in to help him get the item, and you'll at least see the event itself before it ends, and the item after it does. Next time, like last night for me, it might be something you're very good at instead... so they will call you in. But still, don't be greedy! We're all in it together, so let people know this; share what you find (within reason of course!) and the events will remain much more fun, if the poison of jealousy and greed is kept out of it. Give everyone a reason to keep events open, and you'll find they remain open to you as well.

I'm sure others can offer more advice, and this message is getting long as it is; but the above is basically all I do to be so involved; It's just keeping eyes and ears sharp really.
 

DirectorDoug

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Events are always 8pm UK Time, I also post Central European time - Both of which are in Summer time. If I posted EST I would then need to post Pacific, Mountain, Central etc.

It is at least common knowledge to me that UK time is 5 hours head of EST. This only gets confusing when America changes to winter time before the UK. And that's without me using a time converter site.

Sorry you missed out.
I have been so impressed with the outpouring of tips and helpful info that I am loath to quibble, but.......

Just as I expect that most folks in Europe have grown used to adjusting from GMT to their own time, so have we in the States gotten used to EST being the standard, and knowing almost instictively where we are in relation to it. Posting in EST does NOT mean you must post in all the time zones (I am sure Hawaii would take exception to your limited list). I am sure that folks in Colorado might appreciate it, but virtually all of them know where they stand relative to EST, while many of us DON'T automatically know where we are in relation to GMT, and weren't even aware there WAS a BST (which is why I suggested GMT as at least a constant base to work from). I appreciate all the effort, just have a wish list of small things that would make play a bit more inclusive. I regret getting frustrated and testy about all this, but on the other hand, I have seen info and help posted over this that I have never seen here before...maybe it will be of assistance to other folks as well.
 

Mapper

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I have been so impressed with the outpouring of tips and helpful info that I am loath to quibble, but.......

Just as I expect that most folks in Europe have grown used to adjusting from GMT to their own time, so have we in the States gotten used to EST being the standard, and knowing almost instictively where we are in relation to it. Posting in EST does NOT mean you must post in all the time zones (I am sure Hawaii would take exception to your limited list). I am sure that folks in Colorado might appreciate it, but virtually all of them know where they stand relative to EST, while many of us DON'T automatically know where we are in relation to GMT, and weren't even aware there WAS a BST (which is why I suggested GMT as at least a constant base to work from). I appreciate all the effort, just have a wish list of small things that would make play a bit more inclusive. I regret getting frustrated and testy about all this, but on the other hand, I have seen info and help posted over this that I have never seen here before...maybe it will be of assistance to other folks as well.
I'm learning too :thumbup1: I never knew EST was a standard within the US. So I'll post the event times in EST on Stratics too. :)
 

Leto

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I remember when I still ran the Europa Auction; we eventually switched to announcing in CET.

GMT is no good on Europa. The reason is; Brits think they are on GMT while actually they aren't. The UK is on BST (British Standard Time) which does correspond with GMT half the year. GMT however doesn't change for daylightsavings, BST does.
So when we announced our auctions in accurate GMT; the Brits, who make up most of the Europa population, got confused when daylightsavings kicked in.

Timezones are such messy business...
 
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