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.