@Mesanna - EM Accountability Regarding Events

[Lord Frodo]

i dont understand your logic. for example, in real life i collect antique poison bottles. they were always rare because some varieties just werent made much.

I collect all cobalt blue glass items and the reason your poison bottles are so hard to find is because once they were emptied people threw them away because they could not be cleaned and reused.

 

[THP]

i dont understand your logic. for example, in real life i collect antique poison bottles. they were always rare because some varieties just werent made much. its the same with any rare collectables. their rare because not many existed in the first place, and usually become more rare / harder to find over time because of loss, destruction etc (which is actually the same thing when it comes to UO rares) i guess i just dont understand you saying "the rares weren't rare until they were made so" I kinda get what your saying that the EM drops are intentionaly made in limited quantities, while say my antique bottles just happened to be made in rare quantities by chance, but the result is the same. low numbers. never available again. collectable.

Erm .....so a EM makes and gives away 20 items...at a box standard event ....the usual crowd get them and everyone else is left frustrated again and sad and disappointed , some even vent there anger....and these 20 fresh made items are then rares?? not in my book sorry....

 

[MalagAste]

Erm .....so a EM makes and gives away 20 items...at a box standard event ....the usual crowd get them and everyone else is left frustrated again and sad and disappointed , some even vent there anger....and these 20 fresh made items are then rares?? not in my book sorry....

It actually causes more people to end up frustrated, irritated and disgusted not only with the EM's and the EM events and the whole concept but they get resentful of other players..... they get disgusted with UO and they get irritated with the DEVs... really IMO it causes more grief and resentment than it does enjoyment and pleasure.

Many who used to come for the story and the event won't go anymore because it's too hard to try and figure out what is going on and all.

 

[Lord Trollo]

or we could not put the em event items on a huge freakin pedestal and play the actual game

 

[Zandor]

I personally don't see how anyone could attend more than a handful of events and NOT get a drop. I am not even close to being that good of a player and I get them using only 1 account often. If you aren't getting drops I would seriously take a look at your actions during the event cause you aren't doing something right. (Like maybe not paying attention when the boss spawns, having too hard of a time getting the health bar, something) 99% of the time when I don't get looting rights it is my own fault. Also a lot of the times you don't even need the health bar if you just get close enough and have your pet guarding you (in melee you would auto attack). I'm still all for @Restless idea of a point system (maybe he will elaborate). I think there should be a better chance of getting the reward for people who actually HELP get to the end boss, instead of just being gated in for the end or just deciding to participate at the end. Just my two cents, but overall I thoroughly enjoy events even if they get botched sometimes. That's the price to pay for hiring folks who aren't perfect!

 

[Promathia]

Its sad that legitimate concerns always have their conversations devolve into the same old narrative.

"I don't like that person A plays the game for this reason. I think MY reason for playing is how its supposed to be done".


There are players who:
1. Go for the item
2. Go for the story
3. Go just to have fun

There are also players who:
1. Enjoy using the CC
2. Enjoy using the EC

There are also players who:
1. Play only on one shard
2. Play multiple shards


There are ALSO players who:
1. Play for PvP
2. Play for PvM
3. Play for both
4. Who the hell cares? They can play for whatever reason they want


Its your own fault if you let someone else's playstyle ruin your enjoyment. Each and every one of those categories is going to have their share of trolls, rudeness, grumpiness and so on. Each player is paying their subscription and each of them is getting enjoyment for their own reasons. What right do any of us have to say that someone's playstyle is wrong? (And no, being a troll, a scammer, a racist or anything like that isn't a playstyle.

The Internet always devolves into the same ol "Oh you like thing? Well I hate thing. I dont think you should be able to enjoy that thing since I hate it"


Anyways, that's my rant.


As for the main topic:

As for the Calendar, I will say it has taken awhile...But I do believe at this point most of the EMs are indeed posting their events on the calendar. Chesapeake was the long holdout, but they posted for the first time last month. Legends, another shard which never posted, now with a new EM posted this month as well. I believe the only one missing was Baja (But its a brand new EM with their first event, so its a pass).

Spawning a Boss during other mobs is one of those classic "Make them pay attention" tactics. The thing is, it doesn't work. Realistically, who are you trying to make pay attention? The answer is your usual suspects for getting drops. The problem with that is its those people that are the ones who pay attention the most. The casual players on the other hand are the ones who don't know what to be looking out for and end up missing it completely.

 

[Lord Arm]

with most things I don't blame ems. almost everything said here could be solved by stopping the use of all the multi chars. so many people using multi chars, the lag, crashes, so many more summons and pets. this seriously affects peoples ability to play the game. so many things would be solved if everyone brought one chars. the greed is ugly at times. I remember when drops were few but had so much fun.

there are many things that go on at events
-people, summons and pets crowd ems
-spamming, this includes the spam crash trick
-loot scripting, especially the boss
-people using others chars to auto heal with bard song, spells, cleansing wind to cure/heal all and now noble sacrifice ect... what do u think would happen when healing was made to get loot rights?
-chars set to follow, could be a clue lol
-naked chars/new dieing over and over, and yes they get drops
-many chars stand off to the side until boss about to spawn, or gated in just before boss spawns ect...
-I wont mention more waste of time, nothing will be done and will get worse and worse. just my opinion.

just bring one char and try to have fun

 

[MalagAste]

Its sad that legitimate concerns always have their conversations devolve into the same old narrative.

"I don't like that person A plays the game for this reason. I think MY reason for playing is how its supposed to be done".


There are players who:
1. Go for the item
2. Go for the story
3. Go just to have fun

There are also players who:
1. Enjoy using the CC
2. Enjoy using the EC

There are also players who:
1. Play only on one shard
2. Play multiple shards


There are ALSO players who:
1. Play for PvP
2. Play for PvM
3. Play for both
4. Who the hell cares? They can play for whatever reason they want


Its your own fault if you let someone else's playstyle ruin your enjoyment. Each and every one of those categories is going to have their share of trolls, rudeness, grumpiness and so on. Each player is paying their subscription and each of them is getting enjoyment for their own reasons. What right do any of us have to say that someone's playstyle is wrong? (And no, being a troll, a scammer, a racist or anything like that isn't a playstyle.

The Internet always devolves into the same ol "Oh you like thing? Well I hate thing. I dont think you should be able to enjoy that thing since I hate it"


Anyways, that's my rant.


As for the main topic:

As for the Calendar, I will say it has taken awhile...But I do believe at this point most of the EMs are indeed posting their events on the calendar. Chesapeake was the long holdout, but they posted for the first time last month. Legends, another shard which never posted, now with a new EM posted this month as well. I believe the only one missing was Baja (But its a brand new EM with their first event, so its a pass).

Spawning a Boss during other mobs is one of those classic "Make them pay attention" tactics. The thing is, it doesn't work. Realistically, who are you trying to make pay attention? The answer is your usual suspects for getting drops. The problem with that is its those people that are the ones who pay attention the most. The casual players on the other hand are the ones who don't know what to be looking out for and end up missing it completely.

While I agree that not everyone plays for the same reasons the biggest problem of late is the lack of things happening... outside of the new Eodon stuff we haven't had a real "event" much since the lighthouse invasions... The problem is that EM events are only for those that CAN attend when it's there...... that's one time a week or 2 if you are lucky on your shard....

Not everyone has characters on every shard or wants to have characters on every shard.... I play on ONE shard mostly ... I have characters on lots of shards but really I don't care about other shards... they aren't my "home"... many people feel this way... even if my shard were as "dead" as LA or Baja I would still stay there...

Not everyone has all the time in the world to play... life takes precedence... Many folk don't have the best connection .... don't have the best computer and honestly don't have the greatest gear... So EM events with uber mobs that have 95% resists and do 1 hit kill type damage with 50 to 60 other players there the lag is HORRIBLE many play in 2d still and can't get bars that well in all that mess they can't get close to the mob without dying over and over and over again not because they lack skill but because their computer and connection just won't allow it... lag is so intense they can't... so more often than not all they get is frustrated and annoyed but they want to stay and do things their friends are doing so they attempt to keep up but can't.

Not everyone cares about rares. They enjoy the story and would like to have the item to remember the event and the fun... many feel this way. I used to actually write up a book about the event the item came from to remember it and keep that with the item... but eventually it got to be a lot of work since we seemed to get them so often... Not that I don't enjoy them anymore some of them are very neat .. but I know that it sometimes causes others to be annoyed when the same people seem to always get the drop... especially when they know that these people are taking 3 and 4 characters there and running them as One. (multiboxing).... this and those who run other programs often cause some lag for others..

It's not their fault that the game is designed around the top 10% of players who have the uber suits, the best of connections, the time and skills to run 4 characters at once and such...

The truth is the EM thing wouldn't alienate so many players if it were more balanced and did things that weren't over in 2 hours. I know people that have attended events for years and have never gotten a drop... I know people that despite getting looting rights have not received the "everyone" drop. I know others who seem to get one even when they are dead half the time... I also know people who have tried to attend but due to the lag and such just can't. I know others who find that the events are just such a cluster they won't even go anymore...

Those people still need things to do. They would like to get nice items too though...

As I understood it the EM events were more to drive the storyline of the game... not to vendor crap to the Rares Community to snap up like a bunch of Parana's. But what do I know...

 

[Zandor]

While I agree that not everyone plays for the same reasons the biggest problem of late is the lack of things happening... outside of the new Eodon stuff we haven't had a real "event" much since the lighthouse invasions... The problem is that EM events are only for those that CAN attend when it's there...... that's one time a week or 2 if you are lucky on your shard....

It's not their fault that the game is designed around the top 10% of players who have the uber suits, the best of connections, the time and skills to run 4 characters at once and such....

I agree on the aspect that events can be hard to attend based on real life. I realize Ems are just like us and have to plan around their schedule and play time but I would also like to see the event times rotate so that everyone would have an opportunity to attend an event here and there. It would be nice if the Ems could be alternated between shards thus allowing people who work all shifts to attend once in awhile but I also understand that is probably not going to happen.

More global events would be awesome even if there are no rewards!!

 

[RockoNV]

Posting is mandatory on uo.com for all events. could you ease contact me directly so we can be more specific please at [email protected].

thank you

You don't need an e-mail, just go look at the uo.com calendar and see for yourself. I'll even paste it for you: Events for April 2016 – – Ultima Online

 

[Tina Small]

You don't need an e-mail, just go look at the uo.com calendar and see for yourself. I'll even paste it for you: Events for April 2016 – – Ultima Online

Taking it one step further, here's a shard-by-shard breakdown of what's on the event calendar, as of this morning, for the month of April:

ARIRANG

ASUKA
-April 3 Madou Ena-Resolution
-April 8 Meet and Greet
-April 16 170th Yatai Machi
-April 22 TBD

ATLANTIC

BAJA

BALHAE

CATSKILLS

CHESAPEAKE

DRACHENFELS
-April 3 Rainbow/Spring Festival
-April 4 Rainbow/Spring Festival
-April 10 Game Night
-April 17 Up and Away, Part IV
-April 24 Royal Audience & HoF

EUROPA

FORMOSA

GREAT LAKES

HOKUTO
-April 10 Cursed Painting
-April 29 Boy's Day Event

IZUMO
-April 15 EM Nao's Sash Event
-April 29 Boy's Day Event

LAKE AUSTIN

LAKE SUPERIOR
-April 5 April Fool's Maze
-April 14 The Final Orc Casino
-April 19 David Doowit Needs Your Help
-April 27 Kings Meeting

LEGENDS

MIZUHO
-April 29 Boy's Day Event

MUGEN
-April 29 Boy's Day Event

NAPA VALLEY
-April 3 Governor's Meeting

OCEANIA

ORIGIN
-April 3 Fireside Chat and Anniversary Events

PACIFIC

SAKURA
-April 29 Boy's Day Event

SIEGE PERILOUS
-April 9 The Kidnapping
-April 16 The Party
-April 24 Governor's Meeting

SONOMA

WAKOKU
-April 2 Council Meeting
-April 15 My Lady, Calling You. Final
-April 16 House Design Contest Spring 2016 Vote

YAMATO
-April 2 Easter Event
-April 9 April Renkukai
-April 24 The Council Meeting with the King
-April 29 Boy's Day Event

 

[Barok]

If the EM drops were also added as a rare item on the pre-boss mobs, instead of only being on the boss, that might encourage more people to actually get involved throughout the entire event, rather than just waiting for the boss to spawn.

 

[leet]

That's not as great as you'd like it to be trust me... they are then always out just right in the way.

As for the EC we get constant crashing when they use mobs with Nova Blast or severe lag... and insane lag when opening public corpses and game crashing lag trying to open Mob Boss corpses. So both have their advantages..

You must of never been to an event on the classic client

 

[Tina Small]

Again, in order by shard, these are the events from the "EM Event" category on the event calendar on uo.com for January through March:

NO SHARD GIVEN - January 26 6:00-7:00 pm EST Happy Australia Day

ARIRANG
-February 27 Wisdom of the Meers
-March 19 Sentence of Death
-March 27 Enlightenment

ASUKA
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 28 Girl's Day Event 2016

ATLANTIC
-January 14 "The Horrible" (Delayed Christmas Event)
-January 21 "Spiritwood"
-January 28 "Time Rip"
-January 31 "Counseil du Roi"
-February 11 "The Hunt"
-February 18 "A Curious Remembrance"
-February 25 "The Seven Seas of Rhye"
-February 28 "Counseil du Roi"
-March 10 Blackthorn's Castle Courtyard
-March 24 Blackthorn's Castle Courtyard
-March 27 Counsil du Roi
-March 31 Blackthorn's Castle Courtyard

BAJA
February 27 The Last Hoorah


BALHAE
-January 30 One Pirates Event
-February 21 Archery Event 2016
-February 28 Jhelom Maiden Request

CATSKILLS
-January 30 The Mystery of the Meteorite

CHESAPEAKE
-March 13 Governor's Meeting
-March 22 The Forgotten
-March 27 RBG

DRACHENFELS
-January 3 New Years Meet & Greet
-January 10 House Decoration Contest
-January 14 HoF Mission
-January 24 Royal Audience
-January 31 Up and Away
-February 7 RP (HoF) Mission - Juwel Hunt in Ilshenar
-February 11 Game Night
-February 21 Up and Away, Part II
-February 23 Scavenger Hunt
-February 28 Royal Audience
-March 6 RP (HoF) Mission - Craft Night
-March 10 Game Night
-March 13 House Deco Winners
-March 19 Up and Away, Part III
-March 29 Royal Audience

EUROPA
-January 10 Counsil Du Roi (RP only)
-January 24 General Jukan Memorial Archery Competition (RP only)
-January 31 Midas The Troubadour - Love Is In...Felucca (Felucca Fight)
-February 21 Dawn to Dusk Part 1 Declaration of War (RP and small fight)
-February 27 EM Obsidian's; Eye of the Moonlighter (RP and fight)
-March 13 Counsil Du Guerre (RP only) and Rebels Gather (RP only)

FORMOSA
-January 25 The Council Meeting with the King
-February 6 Chinese New Year Special
-February 7 Chinese New Year Special
-February 26 Dart Contest 2016

GREAT LAKES
-January 12 Royal Spy Mission
-January 19 Royal Spy Mission
-January 26 Royal Britannian Guard
-January 30 Brialla's Journey
-February 2 Royal Spy Mission
-February 9 Royal Spy Mission
-February 12 Love a Faire
-February 16 Royal Britannian Guard
-February 22 Royal Council
-February 23 Royal Spy Mission
-March 1 Royal Spy Mission
-March 8 Royal Spy Mission
-March 15 Royal Britannian Guard
-March 21 Royal Council
-March 22 Royal Spy Mission
-March 26 Get in the Basket
-March 29 Royal Britannian Guard

HOKUTO
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 14 Deprived of Chocolate
-March 6 Papua Marathon
-March 20 Pieces of Snow

IZUMO
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 26 Girl's Day Event 2016

LAKE AUSTIN
-January 30 Royal Spy Mission
-January 31 Royal Spy Mission
-February 13 Royal Spy Mission

LAKE SUPERIOR
-January 7 Emergency King's Meeting
-January 12 The Mystery in Moonglow
-January 18 The Vondonts Move Into Moonglow
-February 4 The Pesky Groundhog
-February 18 King's Meeting
-February 23 The Vondonts
-February 28 The Ultimate Maze
-March 8 Escort the Bandit*Fel Event*
-March 17 King's Meeting
-March 25 EM Chance 1 Year Party

LEGENDS
-March 16 Meet and Greet with Erebus
-March 29 Changing of the Guard

MIZUHO
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 26 Girl's Day Event 2016

MUGEN
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 28 Girl's Day Event 2016
-March 31 EM Nao's Test Event

NAPA VALLEY
-January 18 "Missing"
-January 25 "Wrath of the Pig King"
-January 31 Governor's Meeting
-February 15 "The Sculptor"
-February 22 "Crumble Away"
-February 28 Governor's Meeting
-February 29 "That Darn Dom"
-March 28 "The Last Sculpture"

OCEANIA
-January 12 Meet & Greet
-January 15 Governors Meeting
-January 21 Naked Dungeon Race
-January 28 Shan's Year of Reflection

ORIGIN
-January 3 Fireside Chat and Mini Monster Mash
-January 8 Old Style Dungeon Crawl
-January 17 Meeting with King Blackthorn and O.R.G. Boot Camp VII
-January 22 Have Gear Will Travel
-January 26 Tales of the Fuddy Wuddy's IV: The Evil Waterfall
-January 31 Slayers of Scalis SOS Net Toss
-February 7 Fireside Chat and Super Bowl Monster Mash
-February 12 Old Style Dungeon Crawl
-February 16 Tales of the Fuddy Wuddy's V: Catch the Love Bug
-February 21 Meeting with King Blackthorn and O.R.G. Boot Camp VIII
-February 26 Have Gear Will Travel - Mission 8:The Lost Piano Man *Felucca*
-March 6 Fireside Chat and Mini Monster Mash
-March 11 Old Style Dungeon Crawl
-March 15 Fuddy Wuddy Tale VI: Kiss My Blarney Stone
-March 20 Audience with King Blackthorn and O.R.G. Winter Graduation
-March 25 Have Gear Will Travel: The Lost Piano Man Part 2 *Felucca*
-March 29 Spring Fling Fever

PACIFIC
-January 14 Governors Meeting
-January 21 "A Story Untold"
-January 28 "Can't See The Forest For The Trees"
-February 11 "Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one"
-February 18 "I have nothing more to give you than my heart"
-February 25 Governors Meeting
-March 10 "Templum Caeli"
-March 17 "A Spring Breeze to Ease The Winter Silence"
-March 24 "Regal Convictions"
-March 31 King's Meeting

SAKURA
-January 10 The 2016 Lucky Man/Woman Race
-January 22 "Save The Hot Spring"
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 11 Our Funny Valentine 2
-February 21 The Council Meeting with the King
-February 27 Girl's Day Event 2016
-March 13 Spring Fashion Contest #2
-March 26 Nekomata Sakura EM's 5th anniversary event
-March 27 The Council Meeting with the King

SIEGE PERILOUS
-January 23 "Backwards Time"
-January 30 Town Governor Gold Build Day
-January 31 Governor's Meeting
-February 20 "Roes Collector Quest"
-February 27 The Thunder Beast
-February 28 Governor's King's Meeting
-March 1-8 Fishing Contest Week One
-March 9-16 Fishing Contest Week Two
-March 17-24 Fishing Contest Week Three
-March 31 Fishing Contest Results and Party

SONOMA
-January 27 Recipe for Disaster
-February 10 Governor's Meeting
-February 17 Royal Guard Promotions
-February 24 "Imposter!"
-March 9 Governor's Council
-March 16 Hide and Seek, Lucky Style
-March 23 Back to the Past
-March 30 A Trail of Blood...stone

WAKOKU
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 6 Steeplechase 2016 Spring
-February 12 My Lady, Calling You. 1
-February 20 The Council Meeting
-February 28 Girl's Day Event 2016
-March 18 My Lady, Calling You. 2

YAMATO
-January 1 Planet of the Apes
-January 23 A Winter's Tale of Twin Oaks Tavern 2016
-January 24 The Council Meeting with the King
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 13 Remedy for Love
-February 21 The Council Meeting with the King
-February 27 Girl's Day Event 2016
-March 12 A Girl's Best Friend
-March 25-31 NPC Oracle Event "Ancient Gargoyles"
-March 27 The Council Meeting with the King

 

[MalagAste]

You must of never been to an event on the classic client

Haven't really touched that client in over 5 years... though I do have friends who play in it and complain continuously about lag. Though they Nova Blast doesn't usually crash them. They mostly complain about the inability to get the bar of the boss.

 

[Leeda]

Yes, the mass of players, summons and pets are an issue that the EM has no control over. And you can't keep the event mob out of reach for the whole fight... but I see plenty of EM's who spawn the event boss out of reach of the players... up on a roof, up on a mountain, out in the ocean... it stays there for a few seconds... long enough for folks to pull the bar before it plunges into the sea of dragons. Regardless of the size of the mob, I think this approach is WAY better than just spawning the boss and blaming the players for having pets.

I rarely bring a tamer to an event, so I can't speak to the resists of most critters... just the hypothetical that if you give mobs such high resists, you ultimately favor AI even if that wasn't your intention.

@Mesanna

I have some questions/issues related to things I see happening at EM events that I think warrant discussion, and IMO, some direction from the top. I am not going to name any EM specifically, if Stratics users recognize the issue and an associated EM, please just focus on the issue. I will also say, some of these really aren't new.

1. UO.com event calendar: Why is it not mandatory that EM's put their events here and keep it up to date?
2. Event boss timing: Spawning the event boss while other event monsters are still being defeated causes issues. At best, it promotes folks just standing around not fighting anything... just waiting for the boss. At worst, it provides the appearance of the EM popping out the boss so their friends have the best chance at the drop. Some of the EMs are very good about waiting until everything else is dead and folks have had a moment to res and get back to their corpse before the final mob is brought out. IMO, this should be standard procedure. It is fair and avoids even the appearance of collusion.
3. Event boss location: I know that with all the gargoyles flapping, summons wandering about, and herds of greater dragons it can be hard to see the ground, much less find a good open space. That said, spawning an event boss the size of a bloodworm under the pile is kinda lame. Again here, some EMs have been really good about spawning the event boss in highly visible locations (up the side of a mountain, out in the water, or on the roof of a building).
4. Event healers: I am not sure why some EMs wait to put out healers until half way through the fighting. It would seem to me that they should know where they intend to start dropping mobs and have healers in place before anyone arrives. To go hand in hand with that, the healers should be in a place that players would have a reasonable chance at living more than 1 second before getting res killed. Having a small (or large) area with wall to wall monsters and no way out for a ghost leaves dead people in a lurch.

In my experience, some of the EM do an excellent job of their events, even related to the issues above... While some do not. When I, or others I have seen, raise the issue with the EM directly, we are often met with *shrugs* or a "not my problem" attitude. If they aren't interested in constructive feedback directly from the players when there is an issue, perhaps some direction from you would help.[/QU

 

[Leeda]

@Mesanna

I have some questions/issues related to things I see happening at EM events that I think warrant discussion, and IMO, some direction from the top. I am not going to name any EM specifically, if Stratics users recognize the issue and an associated EM, please just focus on the issue. I will also say, some of these really aren't new.

1. UO.com event calendar: Why is it not mandatory that EM's put their events here and keep it up to date?
2. Event boss timing: Spawning the event boss while other event monsters are still being defeated causes issues. At best, it promotes folks just standing around not fighting anything... just waiting for the boss. At worst, it provides the appearance of the EM popping out the boss so their friends have the best chance at the drop. Some of the EMs are very good about waiting until everything else is dead and folks have had a moment to res and get back to their corpse before the final mob is brought out. IMO, this should be standard procedure. It is fair and avoids even the appearance of collusion.
3. Event boss location: I know that with all the gargoyles flapping, summons wandering about, and herds of greater dragons it can be hard to see the ground, much less find a good open space. That said, spawning an event boss the size of a bloodworm under the pile is kinda lame. Again here, some EMs have been really good about spawning the event boss in highly visible locations (up the side of a mountain, out in the water, or on the roof of a building).
4. Event healers: I am not sure why some EMs wait to put out healers until half way through the fighting. It would seem to me that they should know where they intend to start dropping mobs and have healers in place before anyone arrives. To go hand in hand with that, the healers should be in a place that players would have a reasonable chance at living more than 1 second before getting res killed. Having a small (or large) area with wall to wall monsters and no way out for a ghost leaves dead people in a lurch.

In my experience, some of the EM do an excellent job of their events, even related to the issues above... While some do not. When I, or others I have seen, raise the issue with the EM directly, we are often met with *shrugs* or a "not my problem" attitude. If they aren't interested in constructive feedback directly from the players when there is an issue, perhaps some direction from you would help.

 

[Spock's Beard]

The idea of turning EM items into worthless participation trophies is a bad joke. Like I'm sorry every psychotic hoarder can't have every item in the game, but what is actually gained when like 12 people turn up for events and everyone has a chest full of purple sextants and green fishsteaks and crap that are worth like 5k and no one can remember the origin of?

Also, "being there for the story" doesn't somehow make you better or more important than anyone else. Get over yourselves. Maintaining an EM staff to cater to the 7 roleplayers who still exist would be a waste of money.

 

[Promathia]

Again, in order by shard, these are the events from the "EM Event" category on the event calendar on uo.com for January through March:

BAJA
February 27 The Last Hoorah

CATSKILLS
-January 30 The Mystery of the Meteorite

CHESAPEAKE
-March 13 Governor's Meeting
-March 22 The Forgotten
-March 27 RBG

IZUMO
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 26 Girl's Day Event 2016

LEGENDS
-March 16 Meet and Greet with Erebus
-March 29 Changing of the Guard

MIZUHO
-Sometime between January 29-31 Bean Throwing Night
-February 26 Girl's Day Event 2016

Its fair to say these are being used as the "Bad" examples? Lets review:

Baja - EM left Feb 27th, New EM only had their first event on March 30th (Although it wasnt on the calendar, it again is a brand new EM)
Catskills - That event was an EM filling in, Catskills still is without an EM since Barnaby left
Chesapeake - First month posting ever (Perhaps a sign that they understand they need to now post?)
Izumo - Currently without an EM I believe
Legends - The old EM (EM Avalon) never posted. That EM is gone and the new EM as you can see posted their 2 events.
Mizuho - Currently without an EM I believe
Formosa - No EM
Balhae - No EM
Oceania - No EM


So can someone explain to me the UO Calendar issue right now? As I see it, right now all shards that actually have EMs are getting their events posted on the Calendar with no issues.

 

[Merus]

Its fair to say these are being used as the "Bad" examples? Lets review:

Baja - EM left Feb 27th, New EM only had their first event on March 30th (Although it wasnt on the calendar, it again is a brand new EM)
Catskills - That event was an EM filling in, Catskills still is without an EM since Barnaby left
Chesapeake - First month posting ever (Perhaps a sign that they understand they need to now post?)
Izumo - Currently without an EM I believe
Legends - The old EM (EM Avalon) never posted. That EM is gone and the new EM as you can see posted their 2 events.
Mizuho - Currently without an EM I believe
Formosa - No EM
Balhae - No EM
Oceania - No EM


So can someone explain to me the UO Calendar issue right now? As I see it, right now all shards that actually have EMs are getting their events posted on the Calendar with no issues.

To be honest about it though, there have been several (just in the last 2 weeks) that were posted and then changed... but never updated on UO.com. It can be just as frustrating to plan around events, then show up only to find out the event has been moved. I get last minute things happen sometimes, but if you have time to get ingame and update town criers you prolly had time to update UO.com.

 

[kelmo]

Hawker is doing a fine job on Siege. I was able to attend several EM events that fit my schedule. Most folks seem to like Hawker.

 

[Dot_Warner]

GL EMs just posted their calendar today, to their site, but only one of the events is on the uo.com calendar. In the past, I've seen events pop on and off of it when its refreshed. I think the calendar package is just wildly unstable...

 

[Smoot]

So can someone explain to me the UO Calendar issue right now? As I see it, right now all shards that actually have EMs are getting their events posted on the Calendar with no issues.

personally i have issues when the event is posted, but incorrectly:
example: baja - caused me and other players to miss her last event ever.
chessy - event was posted but it delayed last min and that was not ever updated.

i would rather them not post at all then posting incorrectly.

 

[Merus]

personally i have issues when the event is posted, but incorrectly:
example: baja - caused me and other players to miss her last event ever.
chessy - event was posted but it delayed last min and that was not ever updated.

i would rather them not post at all then posting incorrectly.

Missing the last event was VERY frustrating.

 

[EM Obsidian]

To throw my hat in the mix:

I am Baja's new EM. Being new, things are still being set up "behind the scenes"

For example, I did not get access to the uoem.net website until this morning... And am hoping to have my own access to the uo.com events calendar early next week.

I have asked another EM with access to post my upcoming events for me on the calendar until I am fully set up, and good to go.

In the meantime, the town criers in-game are up to date with the event dates and times... as are the Baja Forums right here on Stratics... and the Baja Facebook page as well.

*waves*

 

[Nexus]

To throw my hat in the mix:

I am Baja's new EM. Being new, things are still being set up "behind the scenes"

For example, I did not get access to the uoem.net website until this morning... And am hoping to have my own access to the uo.com events calendar early next week.

I have asked another EM with access to post my upcoming events for me on the calendar until I am fully set up, and good to go.

In the meantime, the town criers in-game are up to date with the event dates and times... as are the Baja Forums right here on Stratics... and the Baja Facebook page as well.

*waves*

Don't forget you can use the calendar here at Stratics as well if you want, you wouldn't have to double post either, just create an event from our calendar, and select the server from the list at the bottom and you'll get a thread in the appropriate forum as well.


btw and slightly off topic, since you appear to be a fan of volcanic glass, what do you think of this chunk?

 

[Gamer_Goblin]

To throw my hat in the mix:

I am Baja's new EM. Being new, things are still being set up "behind the scenes"

For example, I did not get access to the uoem.net website until this morning... And am hoping to have my own access to the uo.com events calendar early next week.

I have asked another EM with access to post my upcoming events for me on the calendar until I am fully set up, and good to go.

In the meantime, the town criers in-game are up to date with the event dates and times... as are the Baja Forums right here on Stratics... and the Baja Facebook page as well.

*waves*

Welcome! Atlantic's EM is great! Kelmo almost has me sold on Siege. Especially looking at that event calendar.

 

[EM Obsidian]

Don't forget you can use the calendar here at Stratics as well if you want, you wouldn't have to double post either, just create an event from our calendar, and select the server from the list at the bottom and you'll get a thread in the appropriate forum as well.


btw and slightly off topic, since you appear to be a fan of volcanic glass, what do you think of this chunk?

View attachment 45874

Very nice indeed =D.

Mine gave out sashes though *grins*

 

[Lady Storm]

I wish to welcome EM Obsidian
Mesanna I see is releasing from class the student EM's... Have a great time on Baja!!

To the rest of you we lost a good handful of EM's to various reasons... Give the new ones a break and hand as well to get into the job...

 

[Scribbles]

I personally would like to see the EM program scrapped and reformed.

Global events are more popular. Global events have better story lines to follow. Global Events can be managed by mesanna better. Global events give every player a chance to actually make the event even if they miss it on their home shard. Global events do not require so many EMs to be on "staff". Global events ensure every shard is getting an equal amount of attention from the staff.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Global events also take way more planning and there is no way they would be able to run 3-4 of them a month. With the EM system you have plenty of them going on almost all the time.

 

[Merlin]

Very nice indeed =D.

Mine gave out sashes though *grins*

I'm not a Baja guy, but please post here whenever you can. It would be a good precedent to set and maybe some other EM's could get on board with doing the same.

 

[Sophia]

In all honesty, what kind of fool event boss has 95 in every resist. The ONLY attack that has any chance is armor ignore. Event mobs should have tons and tons of hit points and about 30 in each resist so that all kinds of attacks have the chance to amass enough damage to get looting right.

All of that said, it makes little difference if it's spawned under a mass of players and dragons so you never get to see it.

You will have the same problem with low resists vs double strikers. mid level resists high hp is best.

 

[Tyrath]

I have often wondered if something like the Ophidian invasion and Despise brit invasion etc could just be coded to randomly go off and run for a week or until beaten back and then go back dormant until a random timer triggers it to occur again. If I understand right the coding for those invasions is still there and attaching a Random timer might take some work but once done it would offer regular and random events everyone has an opportunity to participate and and profit from. Story line pretty simple ogres, orcs, ettins, terathans, ophidians and whatever else hates human, elf and gargoyles and pull random raids/invasions. Since invasions seem to be the more popular past events brought up for wanting returned.................

 

[THP]

If the EM drops were also added as a rare item on the pre-boss mobs, instead of only being on the boss, that might encourage more people to actually get involved throughout the entire event, rather than just waiting for the boss to spawn.

basiacally thats what i see at events 75%-95% players just waiting for the boss to spawn ....as thats were the money is pure...they let the locals wrk the spawn and sit....... sad really

 

[THP]

I personally would like to see the EM program scrapped and reformed.

Global events are more popular. Global events have better story lines to follow. Global Events can be managed by mesanna better. Global events give every player a chance to actually make the event even if they miss it on their home shard. Global events do not require so many EMs to be on "staff". Global events ensure every shard is getting an equal amount of attention from the staff.

bang on the button....

 

[MalagAste]

I personally would like to see the EM program scrapped and reformed.

Global events are more popular. Global events have better story lines to follow. Global Events can be managed by mesanna better. Global events give every player a chance to actually make the event even if they miss it on their home shard. Global events do not require so many EMs to be on "staff". Global events ensure every shard is getting an equal amount of attention from the staff.

Not that I don't like the EMs but I wish they would/could focus more on building up the RP community... working with them to do RP related events and forget the drops and such... the occasional end of an arc something is nice... but heck most RPers even like just some piece of named clothes or something off the mob... nothing fancy.

 

[Spock's Beard]

Not that I don't like the EMs but I wish they would/could focus more on building up the RP community... working with them to do RP related events and forget the drops and such... the occasional end of an arc something is nice... but heck most RPers even like just some piece of named clothes or something off the mob... nothing fancy.

And if participation in the EM program falls to a fraction of what it once was, that's fine. After all, you're a roleplayer and you're there for the story, and that means you're better and more worthy than everyone else, right?

 

[MalagAste]

And if participation in the EM program falls to a fraction of what it once was, that's fine. After all, you're a roleplayer and you're there for the story, and that means you're better and more worthy than everyone else, right?

And like the EM program now serves who? The rares community and the 10% of the population who can be there at that time and lasts 1 maybe 2 hours ..... where regular global events are on longer and allow more of the community to participate.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

10% of the population? The last event on Atlantic had 145 folks at it. I doubt the population of atlantic is 1450. Highly doubtful. But, thankfully it is a moot point because Mesanna is very happy and very pleased with the EM program and she's the decision maker... so the rest is just fodder and noise..

 

[Dol'Gorath]

basiacally thats what i see at events 75%-95% players just waiting for the boss to spawn ....as thats were the money is pure...they let the locals wrk the spawn and sit....... sad really

And that's a problem with the current way loot is handled at EM events. It makes the drops too predictable and you have lazy cross sharders show up and wait for the target. When the EM program debuted EM's were physically able to place loot on any mob themselves an often would hide drops among the normal spawn, forcing people to actually participate because who knows which mob may or may not have loot. Sometimes the boss didn't even have drops, the EM instead choosing to put all the drops onto the normal spawn.

I'd rather it went back to randomly all over the place instead of a boss that everyone knows will have the drops.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

I personally would like to see the EM program scrapped and reformed.

Global events are more popular. Global events have better story lines to follow. Global Events can be managed by mesanna better. Global events give every player a chance to actually make the event even if they miss it on their home shard. Global events do not require so many EMs to be on "staff". Global events ensure every shard is getting an equal amount of attention from the staff.

EM's and global events can co-exist together. My main problem is using EM's for major ingame events and lore and cheating the majority of the playerbase of something to say "I was there!" Like the launch of this past expansion where the expansion lore and related souveniers were all done by EM's which was unnaceptable.

Something major like an expansion launch should have launch events and scripted encounters where everyone can participate and earn a reward. Sadly I don't think they have the manpower to do such big events anymore. The old scenarios we loved had a team of 3 people who their only job was to make events, out of a larger team. We're down to like 5 devs now for UO...

 

[Lady Storm]

First off...
1. EM's are doing what they are hired to do... a set number of events and story line pace keeping.
This mind you is not all some have managed to pull off in a month...

2. Mesanna has been at the training of the EM's for quite some time... some work out... some don't.
Not everyone is cut out to be a storyteller... (contrary to many players idea of their talent.. )

3. A lot and I do mean a lot of the EM's have been harassed, maligned, and down right drowned out at a few events.
This has for some come to a head and they just handed in resignation and some even left the game... due to bad mannered, ill tempered players.
Who by the way scream they didn't get any drops to the 9th degree of the sound barrier!
You know who the hell you are... so don't skulk off.
Best listen up.....
This keeps up I wouldn't blame Mesanna from stopping the drops all together.
Those of you who hunt the EM events for the sake of selling that little trinket have nearly ruined it for all.
One of the main reasons for Events was to promote all (hint ) ALL new and returning players to mingle with those of us die hards... and give the story lines life.

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with trade and making a in game gold. But Making it impossible for the shards own residence to obtain or even attend the events in a peaceful setting is getting out of hand.

Personally I would not mind if more of it was shard bound. Or better yet Account bound. this way you can move it but its no good to anyone but your account...

Oh and don't think that little bit you pulled that made the Easter Poster a super rare was slipping by my notice... I got wind of the treachery cooked up to make it get pulled back to just a few being given out.. I over heard one of your minions telling a friend the whole thing... When Mesanna gets an earful of this .. don't think it will work a second time.
Nice try.
BTW Stratics you were used by them to do it too....

 

[OREOGL]

First off...

Oh and don't think that little bit you pulled that made the Easter Poster a super rare was slipping by my notice... I got wind of the treachery cooked up to make it get pulled back to just a few being given out.. I over heard one of your minions telling a friend the whole thing... When Mesanna gets an earful of this .. don't think it will work a second time.
Nice try.
BTW Stratics you were used by them to do it too....

Well if you're going to make accusations publicly you might as well spill all of the beans...

I mean, hearing it from a friend of a friend must be completely legit.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Ya got my vote for being shard bound honestly. I hate seeing shard "history" wind up on other shards. Just my .02 *shrugs*

 

[Zosimus]

No it was from a friends cousin brothers sister how I heard it

 

[Dot_Warner]

Oh and don't think that little bit you pulled that made the Easter Poster a super rare was slipping by my notice... I got wind of the treachery cooked up to make it get pulled back to just a few being given out.. I over heard one of your minions telling a friend the whole thing... When Mesanna gets an earful of this .. don't think it will work a second time.
Nice try.
BTW Stratics you were used by them to do it too....

Since I was the one who spoiled the childish Easter painting, I can assure you it wasn't to make it "rare." I did it because it was awful and should never have made it past a dev meeting. It was just another piece in a trend of wrong-headed art, much like their ridiculous stance on the perspective issue.

I am personally of the opinion that EM event items should be shard bound and that the majority of them should be given to everyone actively participating, not just whoever can run the largest flock of wraith throwers.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

 

[OREOGL]

Since I was the one who spoiled the childish Easter painting, I can assure you it wasn't to make it "rare." I did it because it was awful and should never have made it past a dev meeting. It was just another piece in a trend of wrong-headed art, much like their ridiculous stance on the perspective issue.

I am personally of the opinion that EM event items should be shard bound and that the majority of them should be given to everyone actively participating, not just whoever can run the largest flock of wraith throwers.

That picture was spoiled before they even had the brainfart of patching it through.

 

[Dol'Gorath]

Well, at least you guys started a new trend. Complain about gift art and make countless threads about how awful it is and the devs will pull it and let the EM;s make them super rare items.

Let's start the campaign for this christmas early so that the em's will have some extra festive drops this year and the people who don't like the art don't have to have the dishonor of having it touch their backpack with their awfulness residue!