That speech after killing Tresha was the most out-of-touch thing I have ever seen.

[blinkdog]

Some bare facts:

* The Atlantic mob usually consists of maybe a hundred players plus a third that number of dragons rolling around amid a perpetual cloud of lag and spam. When you put a subtle clue in some character's diary and leave it on the nightstand in their room at the inn, it's not discovered by thoughtful adventurers on a careful investigation. It's buried under a screaming flash mob.

* Dialogue from a scripted NPC will never, ever, ever in a million years resemble anything but a torrent of random garbage because there will always be twenty different people screaming keywords at it. The suggestion that removing capitalization from the keywords will somehow help alleviate this was just staggeringly myopic.

* The aesthetic effect you're looking for with stuff like this will never be accomplished. Slow-paced, careful, lore-savvy examination of hints will never happen when there are a hundred people vying for a potential 100,000,000+ gold prize at the end of the clue chain. It will always be a shrieking mob going as fast as possible as soon as it squeezes the name of a location out of anything.

* It doesn't matter how obscure the puzzle is made since only one person needs to solve it and then blurt out the answer to everyone else. Hoping that this will not happen is futile. It's what happens every single time. Furthermore it's what should happen, since the alternative is a small secretive handful of smarty-pants solving the puzzle, running off to the next location without telling anyone else, and getting obliterated by some boss designed to fight a hundred people while the masses all stand around lost telling you your event sucks.

* The masses just plain will not come to this forum and will not learn the lore. They won't need to, thanks to the previous point, and they wouldn't anyway. Claiming otherwise makes the guy who writes all that WoW quest text nobody reads sit up in his bed and laugh hysterically without knowing why.

* You have limited time. It can either be invested into the event itself in terms of interaction, or it can be spent beforehand setting up inane clue trails for angry rares-hunters to roar through as quickly as possible. I submit that the former is the far superior option. Have a little faith in yourself, you're more entertaining than an NPC spamming three paragraphs of text out of order as a mob of people spam its words back at it like parrots.

* Seriously, a bunch of Crux people cut down a mob of what seemed to be Britannian law enforcement. Civil war is brewing and we spent more time sitting in chat going "WHERE IS BOOK" than we did interacting with Danica, the instigator of the whole thing.

 

[Bennu]

Some bare facts:

I love it when a post starts with 'these are facts' then is littered and totally exuding with opinion.

* The Atlantic mob usually consists of maybe a hundred players plus a third that number of dragons rolling around amid a perpetual cloud of lag and spam. When you put a subtle clue in some character's diary and leave it on the nightstand in their room at the inn, it's not discovered by thoughtful adventurers on a careful investigation. It's buried under a screaming flash mob.

Depends on the event. Atlantic is very good at 'guessing' which events will be OMGRAWR combat fests and slow paced quests which are very much plot driven. All I was saying last night was that I planned on mixing the two more heavily, more often.

* Dialogue from a scripted NPC will never, ever, ever in a million years resemble anything but a torrent of random garbage because there will always be twenty different people screaming keywords at it. The suggestion that removing capitalization from the keywords will somehow help alleviate this was just staggeringly myopic.

Several people still managed to get the meat of the plot. In several instances last night there were 'back up' characters waiting off stage to interact should the event go in that direction. I think I will start using those more often than just handing out hints in chat. An example would be, I had a robed 'figment of Addie' waiting by the book in case people got stuck on the book.

* The aesthetic effect you're looking for with stuff like this will never be accomplished. Slow-paced, careful, lore-savvy examination of hints will never happen when there are a hundred people vying for a potential 100,000,000+ gold prize at the end of the clue chain. It will always be a shrieking mob going as fast as possible as soon as it squeezes the name of a location out of anything.

I disagree totally and think you are simply jaded. We have had very successful large scale events with lots of satisfying interaction in the past, and will have again. This is heavily dependent on the type of event and the crowd that shows up.

* It doesn't matter how obscure the puzzle is made since only one person needs to solve it and then blurt out the answer to everyone else. Hoping that this will not happen is futile. It's what happens every single time. Furthermore it's what should happen, since the alternative is a small secretive handful of smarty-pants solving the puzzle, running off to the next location without telling anyone else, and getting obliterated by some boss designed to fight a hundred people while the masses all stand around lost telling you your event sucks.

This is totally a matter of point of view. If you go into events solo and get ahead of the crowd, you are going to get obliterated by the boss at the end if there is one. If you and your PARTY stick together you will have more of an opportunity to get some DPS and heals up on the boss and have more of a chance at an item if there is one. This is what has been done in the past by many players, groups of 5 to 7 working together as one, and interacting with other groups as needed. Right now the 'fad' is to go in solo, and I want to get us away from that on Atlantic.

* The masses just plain will not come to this forum and will not learn the lore. They won't need to, thanks to the previous point, and they wouldn't anyway. Claiming otherwise makes the guy who writes all that WoW quest text nobody reads sit up in his bed and laugh hysterically without knowing why.

In regards to the first sentence: exactly. The boards and website are 'flavor' and the events themselves should be able to stand alone to some extent in order to understand at least the first/current layer of the plot. There are lots of people that read the fiction... and they have a distinct advantage over those that do not (see above).

* You have limited time. It can either be invested into the event itself in terms of interaction, or it can be spent beforehand setting up inane clue trails for angry rares-hunters to roar through as quickly as possible. I submit that the former is the far superior option. Have a little faith in yourself, you're more entertaining than an NPC spamming three paragraphs of text out of order as a mob of people spam its words back at it like parrots.

I submit that the balance between the two is the best option. Oracle NPCs are a very important tool, as are RPC interactions and quest characters. Some people enjoy a puzzle. I am a storyteller, I am here to tell a story, not inanely link mob to mob with a gate and come up with some random item. I am here for the story, and there are MANY players who are here for the same reason. They are usually the quiet ones, unless they are interacting with the story.

* Seriously, a bunch of Crux people cut down a mob of what seemed to be Britannian law enforcement. Civil war is brewing and we spent more time sitting in chat going "WHERE IS BOOK" than we did interacting with Danica, the instigator of the whole thing.

Finding a magical 'living' diary hidden in a tomb, and then 'relocated' by a bunch of gargoyle explorers was supposed to be difficult.

All in all I appreciate the feedback, we are of very different opinions. I have been on Atlantic a very long time, I know what the people here are capable of and I feel that I have not been allowing them to live up to their potential with the events I have been doing lately. That was all I was trying to say last night. Im working on improving the quality, interaction, and difficulty of events on Atlantic.

It also served to inform the myriad of x-sharders, that when they come to Atlantic I am not going to spoon feed them mobs to slaughter, they and everyone else will have to work and interact within the story to get through the events.

 

[Queen Arya]

Blink Dog,

I bid you welcome to the forums, I see you have joined us this past Wed. I believe you may have dropped a couple of books around our fair cities and wanted you to know I admire your energy, although I do believe you need to do a little more research due to the post above and the info in your lil books.

We all can use a leg up when entering into an Atlantic EM event. What I would like to see is your energy applied to the positive. I wished all that attended our Atlantic events would interact here and research the story arc. I am not saying role play is for everyone, but I do believe it would aid in the ability to follow the in game story by giving some respect and elbow room to our EM and the clues.

I would love to see your toons names and future posts and encourage your positive interaction. These posts and the in game story arc combined give an extra little something, you will see that as you continue to interact & understand we have an exceptional EM team.

I would love to see those dispenser type event items re-introduced again at the end of every story arc also, its the only items I seemed to be able procure as a keepsake other than the books I copy from each event. I believe my tamer is just not the right skill spec to do enough damage. You may want to look up the current leet spec that is allowing others to walk away with the prizes.

All in all, I am glad to see you join us, and hope you pass it on to your friends, to come help us in a positive game experience

 

[blinkdog]

Several people still managed to get the meat of the plot. In several instances last night there were 'back up' characters waiting off stage to interact should the event go in that direction. I think I will start using those more often than just handing out hints in chat. An example would be, I had a robed 'figment of Addie' waiting by the book in case people got stuck on the book.

So a hundred people showed up and "several" of them managed to get the meat of the plot?

I managed to follow the plot because I'm a fast reader, but picking it out of the spam erupting from an NPC driven psychotic by two-dozen people screaming keywords at it was just about the least satisfying way of doing so possible.

I disagree totally and think you are simply jaded. We have had very successful large scale events with lots of satisfying interaction in the past, and will have again. This is heavily dependent on the type of event and the crowd that shows up.

I'll get less cynical when one of these things doesn't end with people asking what the item was, how many dropped, why the same people "always" get items, whether you cyber the people you supposedly "give" items to, etcetera. Speaking of the type of event and crowd, I'll get less cynical when you can put "no fighting/item" in the event announcement without attendance cratering. Not that I'm complaining, those are always the good ones.

This is totally a matter of point of view. If you go into events solo and get ahead of the crowd, you are going to get obliterated by the boss at the end if there is one. If you and your PARTY stick together you will have more of an opportunity to get some DPS and heals up on the boss and have more of a chance at an item if there is one. This is what has been done in the past by many players, groups of 5 to 7 working together as one, and interacting with other groups as needed. Right now the 'fad' is to go in solo, and I want to get us away from that on Atlantic.

Unless you're going to dispense with all preliminary combat and RP and just throw the boss out there for immediate flavorless DPS at every event, the time it takes the rest of the mob to catch up isn't going to make any difference anyway. (Except to make them miss some of the preliminary stuff of course.) I could have arrived at the hedge maze last night, got up to take a pee and make a sandwich, and still been back before the Tresha battle.

In regards to the first sentence: exactly. The boards and website are 'flavor' and the events themselves should be able to stand alone to some extent in order to understand at least the first/current layer of the plot. There are lots of people that read the fiction... and they have a distinct advantage over those that do not (see above).

They'll have a distinct advantage. As long as no one bothers to share what they've learned with the group (So much for working together!) and as long as you've dispensed with everything else and thrown the boss down instantly to let the early arrivals do a little damage before the masses catch up. I don't think any cross-sharders are losing sleep.

I submit that the balance between the two is the best option. Oracle NPCs are a very important tool, as are RPC interactions and quest characters. Some people enjoy a puzzle. I am a storyteller, I am here to tell a story, not inanely link mob to mob with a gate and come up with some random item. I am here for the story, and there are MANY players who are here for the same reason. They are usually the quiet ones, unless they are interacting with the story.

Those pretentiously-named "Oracle NPCs" have scripting way less advanced than the average NPC in Ultima IV circa 1985. At least the NPCs on my Commodore 64 could ask simple yes/no questions and form basic responses.

Look I know you're doing this stuff basically by yourself unless you can get the Non-Bennu EM of the Month to show up and play a part, and your changing "costumes" can't be instantaneous, so maybe there are situations where it's required that we waste time running around looking for MacGuffins while you prepare something else. Short of that though, short of strict logistical concerns, why would having the EM sit quietly in chat while the audience "interacts" with a very, very, very rudimentary NPC script EVER be a good thing?

I don't give a crap about rares. I don't even bother to fight the monsters at these things most of the time. If I want to die forty times en route to getting some widget to sell in Luna, I have the whole rest of UO to amuse myself with. I come to these things specifically FOR the story and interaction, and a crude sub-1980's NPC spewing nonsense because a hundred people are all trying to talk to it doesn't make the cut.

I spent the whole time bumbling along that clue trail wanting to ask Danica about the implications of Crux knights cutting down the brute squad, wondering when something interesting would happen. Going where chat told me to wasn't any "harder" this time than it was during the last half-dozen tiresome clue trails.

 

[blinkdog]

I bid you welcome to the forums, I see you have joined us this past Wed. I believe you may have dropped a couple of books around our fair cities and wanted you to know I admire your energy, although I do believe you need to do a little more research due to the post above and the info in your lil books.

Get back to me about my "lil books" when you figure out what "in-character" means, Arya. You standing up at that trial going "Hello Atlantic shard!" was just JAW DROPPING.

 

[Alexander of ATL.]

Some bare facts:

* The Atlantic mob usually consists of maybe a hundred players plus a third that number of dragons rolling around amid a perpetual cloud of lag and spam. When you put a subtle clue in some character's diary and leave it on the nightstand in their room at the inn, it's not discovered by thoughtful adventurers on a careful investigation. It's buried under a screaming flash mob.

* Dialogue from a scripted NPC will never, ever, ever in a million years resemble anything but a torrent of random garbage because there will always be twenty different people screaming keywords at it. The suggestion that removing capitalization from the keywords will somehow help alleviate this was just staggeringly myopic.

* The aesthetic effect you're looking for with stuff like this will never be accomplished. Slow-paced, careful, lore-savvy examination of hints will never happen when there are a hundred people vying for a potential 100,000,000+ gold prize at the end of the clue chain. It will always be a shrieking mob going as fast as possible as soon as it squeezes the name of a location out of anything.

* It doesn't matter how obscure the puzzle is made since only one person needs to solve it and then blurt out the answer to everyone else. Hoping that this will not happen is futile. It's what happens every single time. Furthermore it's what should happen, since the alternative is a small secretive handful of smarty-pants solving the puzzle, running off to the next location without telling anyone else, and getting obliterated by some boss designed to fight a hundred people while the masses all stand around lost telling you your event sucks.

* The masses just plain will not come to this forum and will not learn the lore. They won't need to, thanks to the previous point, and they wouldn't anyway. Claiming otherwise makes the guy who writes all that WoW quest text nobody reads sit up in his bed and laugh hysterically without knowing why.

* You have limited time. It can either be invested into the event itself in terms of interaction, or it can be spent beforehand setting up inane clue trails for angry rares-hunters to roar through as quickly as possible. I submit that the former is the far superior option. Have a little faith in yourself, you're more entertaining than an NPC spamming three paragraphs of text out of order as a mob of people spam its words back at it like parrots.

* Seriously, a bunch of Crux people cut down a mob of what seemed to be Britannian law enforcement. Civil war is brewing and we spent more time sitting in chat going "WHERE IS BOOK" than we did interacting with Danica, the instigator of the whole thing.

This here folks.... is an example of someone who ONLY comes for either a couple reasons...

1) Oh I'm bored.. nothing to do. Hey, I might get a 100mil+ item to sell
2) Screw Role playing.. I'm here for the item.
3) Cut to the chase folks... give me my item so i can leave.
4) Role playing sucks... its for Trammies... But on a side note, can I have my item now?

See a pattern? I do.
Do any of you know why EM Events were created? I don't think it was for the items. Just for Role Playing, giving entertainment to the players. Or atleast that's my take on it. Listen dude.... If you didn't like the event... Don't like EM events because of so many people... or don't like Role Playing. THEN DON'T GO!!!!
Simple...

The reason for this Events, or atleast how I saw It. This event was for people to learn to cooperate and to listen to each other. I know of a few people who just come for the items, care nothing about helping others or the role playing. And it is noticeable.

Do you know what EM Event Item's are for exactly? Not to make you rich... not for you to boast of your wealth. They were created for remembrance of that Event and Story Arc. Nothing more. Though it has changed.

If you saw my complaint at the end of the event, it was about me not getting an item. Some may say it was hypocritical, and it was. But look at my side, I got to every or nearly every event, because I love the RP, I LOVE IT. I haven't gotten an EM Event Item on Atlantic in 2 years. The only item I got, was that Juror Robe, and that WAS only for Role Playing. We volunteered to be the top 11 for the Court. We had no idea and item was gonna drop, we did it out of pure enjoyment for Role Playing. Back to was I was saying, I sorta knew what the event item was gonna be, and i wanted it so bad. (You can tell what the event item might be if you pay CLOSE attention to the event, the previous event, and the story line.) I wanted that ring before it even dropped LOL.

And I spent so much time building a new template, suit, and such just for events, and didn't get one. But will that stop me from going to future events? No, it wont.

Again Bennu, sorry about my complaint last night.

Just stop complaining dude, if you didn't like it, then MOVE ON. Save us all the headache and leave.

 

[Queen Arya]

You have the advantage sir, you still have not enlightened us to your toons name or names or if your even going to be around long enough for us to bother responding

 

[Alexander of ATL.]

Get back to me about my "lil books" when you figure out what "in-character" means, Arya. You standing up at that trial going "Hello Atlantic shard!" was just JAW DROPPING.

Sir.... Queen Arya did a FANTASTIC job at the trial.. I would like to see you do it.. Sir...

She spent HOURS upon HOURS getting ready for that trial. We all did.

Every.... Single.... One of us did.

And if you didn't like what she said, then I would like for you or ANYONE ELSE that said we did horrible, to take the time out of your day, and do it. hmm?

All 11 of the people who were at that trial... spent atleast... 3 hours a day getting prepared for it. Thats more hours than you or anyone else can dedicate to...

1) Prosecutor - Faeryl
2) Prosecutor - Buck Oily
3) Defense - Casandra
4) Defense - Queen Arya
5) Juror #1 - Alexander (me)
6) Juror #2 - Nightshade
7) Juror #3 - Devola
8) Juror #4 - Gage Mithrandir
9) Juror #5 - Contempt
10) Juror #6 - Solus
11) Juror #7 - Cerys ab'Amudosa

These 11 people.. had so much dedication.. to spend time to do the paperwork to be the top 11 in the Trial of the Century.



And if you think you can do so much better... then do it macho man...

 

[blinkdog]

This here folks.... is an example of someone who ONLY comes for either a couple reasons...

1) Oh I'm bored.. nothing to do. Hey, I might get a 100mil+ item to sell
2) Screw Role playing.. I'm here for the item.
3) Cut to the chase folks... give me my item so i can leave.
4) Role playing sucks... its for Trammies... But on a side note, can I have my item now?

Oh look, it's one of those people here to make the only defense he can think of, even if it's completely the opposite of the facts. Genius, I'd like MORE roleplaying and less running from A to B to C talking to NPCs with embarrassingly simple scripts.

Quick, what's more fun and conveys a story better?

A) Talking to an EM-played dragon who tells us what we're supposed to know and maybe answers a few player questions about what's going on.

B) Listening to a shoddy NPC dragon go "With the rings. With the rings. Hello adventurers. They took it to the library. She's going to alter time. They took it to the library. The world will end. Hello adventurers." because everyone is talking to it at once.

 

[Alexander of ATL.]

If you don't like the massive crowds... then move to a less populated shard perhaps? In a massive crowd, everyone is gonna talk to the NPC, that's how it is on low populated shards as well. The event was well written and well detailed... sorry you were to far behind to realize that. Bennu works very hard at his events, and tries to make everyone happy, Looks like that can't happen after all.

 

[Promathia]

I am 99% sure Blinkdog is Nythrax. EDIT** actually reading the novels written out so far, I guess hes not. But sure does he sound just like him.


Btw Arya, i use a tamer on GL for events and I usually get an item every time. While, I AM a necromage tamer, I DO have vet which I assume you do too. What you should be doing is sick your dragon on the boss, pull the bars of ALL the dragons, and heal them all like mad! (You might wanna go pro so you can heal yourself when needed). Not only will you rack up "points" with your dragons damage, you will also rack up the points for xhealing.

On my tamer on GL, I hardly ever attacked with spells (Sometimes ill throw in some fireballs or something).

 

[Promathia]

Every.... Single.... One of us did.

And if you didn't like what she said, then I would like for you or ANYONE ELSE that said we did horrible, to take the time out of your day, and do it. hmm?

All 11 of the people who were at that trial... spent atleast... 3 hours a day getting prepared for it. Thats more hours than you or anyone else can dedicate to...

Yea, that trial was hard work! I spent hours hunting down certain jurors and paying them off!! Wait...*cough* I mean, preparing what I was going to say...*cough*

 

[Alexander of ATL.]

Yea, that trial was hard work! I spent hours hunting down certain jurors and paying them off!! Wait...*cough* I mean, preparing what I was going to say...*cough*

LOLOLOLOL

 

[blinkdog]

I am 99% sure Blinkdog is Nythrax. EDIT** actually reading the novels written out so far, I guess hes not. But sure does he sound just like him.

Wow, you're a real sharp one aren't you? Can't pull the wool over your eyes.

Anyway, look, the whole trial topic is sort of a tangent. Suffice it to say that I realize being bad at playing video game defense attorney is not Serious Business. Still, that's no reason to pretend that meandering incompetent torrent of nonsense was, you know, any good. Outside of this forum nobody IS pretending that.

I mean, if I were Nythrax, I'd probably have called out Arya's selection in particular before the trial as being complete nonsense. I'd probably have laughed myself silly as she took all of ten seconds to veer wildly out of character and live down to all of my expectations. If I were he.

But that's not the point. The point is, Bennu sitting back and watching us "interact" with a ******** robot instead of interacting with us himself is ridiculous.

 

[Queen Arya]

Well Blinkdog/Nythrax you are role playing-just playing the part of an Ole Grouch.... Guess someone has to

 

[Petra Fyde]

I think this thread belongs here?