[Discussion] 2013 Rares Fest On Atlantic - Feedback

[Alexander of ATL.]

Greetings everyone,

The last time we hosted a fest at Toad Town In 2011, we posted a thread asking for feedback. Some good, some bad, we took everything that was said in that thread and applied it to the fest that we just hosted.

Incase we ever do host another fest in the future, we would like feedback from the community.

- What did ya like
- What did ya hate
- What was bad?
- What we could change to make the fest better?

Things like that we could use. One thing we used from our last fest, was putting the main vendors on a porch-like house instead of inside the house. The rares festival in 2011, we had vendors inside the house because we were worried about Harbingers being popped and people dieing. One of the main problems that we ran across, was that the community would like it to be an open porch to view and buy items. This feedback helped us a lot and we needed it.

Please keep all comments as professional as possible.

We hoped everyone had a fantastic time and we appreciate EVERYONE who helped out with this fest. Thanks again everyone and will hopefully see everyone at the next festival, wherever it may be!

 

[Decadence]

You guys did a fabulous job! Thank you for hosting. All of the staff made the festival amazing! Was a very exciting week!!

The activities were all mega fun!!

A couple things I would like to note on:
1) Some Japanese players expressed that they wished the Silent Auction could have been more to fit the US and Japanese time zones. They felt that more Japanese would have attended, and with their gold influx, it would have been beneficial to the Rares sellers of the Silent Auction house.

2) The Automatic 150m reserves necessary to enter, I didn't quite care for, and a few others expressed the same thing. However, I understood why Nails had it, as he had more items than space allotted for, so I am not sure what the correct answer to this would have been. Perhaps we can hear some ideas, if anyone has some.

3) I would have requested that all harbingers have been gated to a specific area for. Rares fest has a lot of people buying and selling and carrying rares. Going Afk and forgetting where we are is inevitable, esp with children (or tornadoes), electricity crashes etc. Keeping everyone safe at raresfest is an important priority.

Once again, thank you so much for hosting! The amount of work involved to set up what you did must have been extreme! I was amazed at how much thought, time and creativity was put into this event! Congratulations on a more than successful festival!

Sincerely,
Deca

 

[Prawn]

- What did ya like (Events were well thought out, housing arrangement was done nicely)
- What did ya hate (Known scammers were freely allowed to trade and sell bogus items on vendors with no policing)
- What was bad? (same as above)
- What we could change to make the fest better? (keep the fest away from luna, rather has a Britannia feel to it otherwise not much else)

 

[Bon Iver]

Would just like to say, and this was a common misconception to a lot of people, we were not behind the Harbingers being spawned at the Rares Fest. We are not that disrespectful nor stubborn enough to even do that since we ourselves have been victims of the spawning of Harbingers at previous Rares Fests. We do have our claims on who was spawning them throughout the Rares Fest though but we won't point any fingers because we ourselves as Rares Fest staff have respect. It honestly did tick us off, just as it did with our guests, that this tradition of killing AFK guests is still going. It was an estimated 20 Harbingers that were spawned at the Fest and none of them were released by Rares Fest staff. The only Harbingers that the staff released were at Alexander's birthday event and the Harbinger Hunger Games.

We did respect all vendors and did communicate with those of whom were convicted of "scamming" but some things just simply can't be avoided sometimes and if there is an issue with any bogus items, simply don't buy them. We as Toad Town volunteered to have the fest at our home outside of North Luna and I thought it went pretty swell. I don't see why it being by Luna has any difference if not an easier way to gain gold access to some of the guests already existing Luna vendors. Personally, I thought this summer's Rares Fest grounds were incredible, compared to the 2011 Atlantic Rares Fest where everything was all over the place. We put a lot of work in making sure everything was within close range and easily accessible, also Queen Arya put a lot of money into purchasing more front line homes along the stretch so that the Rares Fest grounds were within the same area. I do enjoy more isolated Rares Fests but we weren't going to relocate.

 

[Apetul]

- What did ya like
Everything
- What did ya hate
Nothing
- What was bad?
UO economy!
- What we could change to make the fest better?
People still like to shop saying "vendor browse" next to vendors and that means they are going to block a vendor view while they shop. Something that we did on LS fest 2 years ago was to setup the vendors in a way that there was an empty row between each row of vendors.
Something like..


Well, not EXACTLY as that pic, because there was no wall between vendors but i guess u get the idea what im talking about.
Even with that setup, there was some ppl that still liked to step over a vendor and say "vendor browse" so I remember my thoughts were "next time I would like to place gozas, raise each goza 2 times and then place the rental contracts over the gozas". That way, there is no way for a char to walk over another player vendor and since they have a clear row where ppl can walk you can even still read the book below each vendor and know who is selling that fake no-neon giftbox for 50m
My 2 cents

 

[Decadence]

Would just like to say, and this was a common misconception to a lot of people, we were not behind the Harbingers being spawned at the Rares Fest. We are not that disrespectful nor stubborn enough to even do that since we ourselves have been victims of the spawning of Harbingers at previous Rares Fests. We do have our claims on who was spawning them throughout the Rares Fest though but we won't point any fingers because we ourselves as Rares Fest staff have respect. It honestly did tick us off, just as it did with our guests, that this tradition of killing AFK guests is still going. It was an estimated 20 Harbingers that were spawned at the Fest and none of them were released by Rares Fest staff. The only Harbingers that the staff released were at Alexander's birthday event and the Harbinger Hunger Games.

We did respect all vendors and did communicate with those of whom were convicted of "scamming" but some things just simply can't be avoided sometimes and if there is an issue with any bogus items, simply don't buy them. We as Toad Town volunteered to have the fest at our home outside of North Luna and I thought it went pretty swell. I don't see why it being by Luna has any difference if not an easier way to gain gold access to some of the guests already existing Luna vendors. Personally, I thought this summer's Rares Fest grounds were incredible, compared to the 2011 Atlantic Rares Fest where everything was all over the place. We put a lot of work in making sure everything was within close range and easily accessible, also Queen Arya put a lot of money into purchasing more front line homes along the stretch so that the Rares Fest grounds were within the same area. I do enjoy more isolated Rares Fests but we weren't going to relocate.

Ah good to know, thank you, I realized I misread Alexander's post about the harbinger's at the fest area he said they were NOT spawned by fest hosts. Shows that reading is fundamental ^_^

Thank you again for an awesome fest and all of your hard work!

 

[Ducan IronWeaver]

- What did ya like::: Just about everything! The auctions had some great items, the vendors had some nice items. The staff was wonderful and friendly. I didn't get to attend any of the events sadly tho...
I loved that I got the one item I was hoping to find at the fest for sale. At 1st I was sad b/c i was outbidded on the one in the silent auction.. But then wootsauce made my month(yes month thats not a typo!) by contacting me after the auction that he had one to sell.. After he saw that I was constantly bidding on one and didn't get it... Again thank you for contacting me and working with me! (Also thanks to Nabin for vouching that I was safe to trade with!) Thanks to Wootsauce, I am now a proud owner of the lovely "Who knew a tree so big could grow from a seed so small" tree!! I was also ecstatic that I found the perfect Guildstone for me. "An Honest Armourer", I am a huge crafter and make tons of suits and everything on Catskills. This stone fits me perfectly!

- What did ya hate::: I wouldn't call it hate. But I disliked that the 2nd auction house was announced as a no reserve house. And it actually had a 150 mil reserve on every item.. The requirement was the item had to have a min 150 mil value. If you entered a item that is worth the minimum 150 mil and the reserve is 150 mil. There is absolutely no bidding room their... If u announce a no reserve house you should have a no reserve house. I get that items need to be appraised for atleast 150 mil tobe entered. After the item was ok'd for a value of 150 mil, it should have then been entered with a 0 starting bid. With the abundance of collectors that were in attendance and the billions of gold that was there tobe spent. The items even with a 0 starting bid. Would have still got the price that the mass public perceived as their value.

I didn't like that the raresfest live auction had a 10% fee for items entered.. Every other raresfest live auction that I have attended has never had a fee on items entered.. I know a good amount of players who wanted to enter items and then changed their minds after seeing the fee.. The players that held it did a wonderful job. I do feel that they should have helped guide some players with the reserve that they placed on their items. The players who ran the auction are knowledgeable on rares. For a few items like the "Lucky leaping leprechaun booties" that had like a 30-40 mil reserve. At that price the auctioners knew that it would never sell at that price the moment they received the item.. The players that ran the auction, should have talked to the person who entered them. Could have let the player know right off the bat at that price it would never sell... Again they did a wonderfull job running the auction and heir were alot of good buys...

- What was bad?::: Only bad thing I can think of is seeing that Nabin had a vendor reserved but never placed one.. I always enjoy shopping from his vendors. Was excited to see what he was going to sell... I felt like a child waiting for a Christmas that never comes..
I couldn't think of anything to write here so that will have to do ... I hope that you were able to get your hands on some of those GuildStones for sale Nabin.

 

[Longtooths]

- What did ya like? The ATL community coming together to host and hold all these events for everyone. I think that is awesome! I didn't get a chance to attend many of the events but the ones I did attend were well planned, and fun.
- What did ya hate? Nothing reall, besides not winning a few auctions Grrrrr
- What was bad? Teleporters in the silent auction, toward the end of time for each house the tellys were almost impossible to use because of all of the people trying to use them. I would suggest tellys in three corners of the house to alleviate traffic.
- What we could change to make the fest better? (Above)

 

[Adeka]

BRAVO!!

I had a great time everybody!

What I liked:
The amount of eye candy was indescribable.
Well run auctions, friendly staff, good conversations!
I missed out on the backpack art contest, but after seeing the amazing pieces submited by the community, I will be participating in the future!

What I didn't like:
I lost a set of un-dyed Mesanna masks due to me buying them and leaving them in my pack, then some Harbingers showing up and killing me! My own fault and I blame nobody else than myself for it.

There is certainly a 'clique' mentality involved within any kind of group, and the rares community is one of them. While I met and conversed with LOTS of friendly nice players, I encountered more rude, short players. Maybe it's a language barrier, maybe I'm over sensitive. Or maybe some people just think more of themselves because they have glacial blue hair and sport spendy wearables. I dunno... These comments are not directed towards the staff whatsoever, but to the community. I was sure disappointed in the attitude of some, expecting a much tighter group of people rejoicing the game they love. I know who I will not deal with and who I will gladly give my gold to in the future.

Here's something that has me a little annoyed, and not about the fest specifically but more to do with the way auctions are run. This was brought on by my not winning of an item I have been after for a year now! I don't doubt we have all been 'sniped' by other players both here in Sosaria and possibly on other auction sites as well. I spent several days, putting time into placing an offer on an item, and then checking back on it. Sometimes multiple times a day. Needless to say, I didn't win the item I wanted and it's not the person who bought it out I am putting any of this on. In this environment. Couldn't there be a set rule to award those of us who take the time and make the effort to bid on items from the beginning. My proposition would be something like this: You cannot bid on an item for the last 24 hours of the auction if you did not make two prior bids on said item prior to the final day of the auction. It seems like something to this effect could help other bidders know who they're up against, and also possibly increase the final sales of items by promoting true bidding and not just last minute sniping. Just an idea and a small rant I suppose. I know for myself that these kind of actions, whether done in an auction I am bidding in, or something I see happening around me, it makes me less and less reluctant to want to bid on items knowing that they will just get sniped out from under me.

 

[Angel Dust]

What did ya like = The entire set up, staff, events (even though I did not get to attend any)

What did ya hate = No one was selling a Bunyip Lager!

What was bad? = Not enough liquor for sale!

What we could change to make the fest better? = not much to change, you guys got this down good.

 

[Bon Iver]

My proposition would be something like this: You cannot bid on an item for the last 24 hours of the auction if you did not make two prior bids on said item prior to the final day of the auction. It seems like something to this effect could help other bidders know who they're up against, and also possibly increase the final sales of items by promoting true bidding and not just last minute sniping. Just an idea and a small rant I suppose. I know for myself that these kind of actions, whether done in an auction I am bidding in, or something I see happening around me, it makes me less and less reluctant to want to bid on items knowing that they will just get sniped out from under me.

I actually really like this idea, as I have in the past as well been overcome by a bidder who shot an offer last minute on multiple occasions.

 

[Longtooths]

That idea is great and all for the bidders. What happens if only Bidder A bids once up until the last day when bidder B places a bid. Since neither has bid twice, what happens?

Second problem I foresee is submitters are not going to want to hamper bidding on their items. Sellers want the most they can get for their items. Without them, there is nothing for the bidders to bid on.

Just sayin'

 

[Alexander of ATL.]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Some good points have been proven and are being considered. We appreciate all who participated in the fest as well as those who helped us. I'm glad so many enjoyed the fest and can't wait to attend the next one!!