Ok, I've had an hour or two with the new event on Europa, running around my home town of Yew, and I can state there is a problem with how they work... as you approach them, you can sometimes see them flicker between a normal NPC identity and the Protesters one, at least in the Enhanced client. There also seems to be an issue with them even when their identity stays visibly consistent; So follow these steps to avoid losing too much gold to them;
1.) Drop either 1000k gold or 25 fish steaks onto them ONLY. If they are actually a different identity at the point you do so, they'll eat an entire pile. I've had one take 14k gold, another eat a pile of 2000 fish steaks despite being a blue Protester, where as about 10 others so far alone have continued to stuff their faces when fed.
2.) After you've done this, in a normal situation, you can drop a single fish steak or gold coin into them. They should normally state you cannot help them any further and refuse to take it. Sometimes though they'll eat it all with no message. In this case they have swapped back to a normal NPC, even if their name is still Protester, so don't give them anything more.
3.) Sometimes however you get the "You are praised" message again and can keep dropping, dropping, dropping it on them to get the message over and over without it being eaten at all. Whether this is allowing extra reputation or not, I'm not sure yet. But eventually they'll flip back to a default NPC and eat the lot again. Don't give them more at this point.
4.) GREY, FIRE SETTING, GARBAGE DROPPING PROTESTERS ALWAYS SEEM TO EAT THE LOT. Don't give them anything.
The rope's seem to work fine, and as a roleplay setting, it's quite an interesting situation, at least to me! Just be careful of the issues around the blue protesters above! Also.... has the banner for Yew always been besides Heartwood portal?
1.) Drop either 1000k gold or 25 fish steaks onto them ONLY. If they are actually a different identity at the point you do so, they'll eat an entire pile. I've had one take 14k gold, another eat a pile of 2000 fish steaks despite being a blue Protester, where as about 10 others so far alone have continued to stuff their faces when fed.
2.) After you've done this, in a normal situation, you can drop a single fish steak or gold coin into them. They should normally state you cannot help them any further and refuse to take it. Sometimes though they'll eat it all with no message. In this case they have swapped back to a normal NPC, even if their name is still Protester, so don't give them anything more.
3.) Sometimes however you get the "You are praised" message again and can keep dropping, dropping, dropping it on them to get the message over and over without it being eaten at all. Whether this is allowing extra reputation or not, I'm not sure yet. But eventually they'll flip back to a default NPC and eat the lot again. Don't give them more at this point.
4.) GREY, FIRE SETTING, GARBAGE DROPPING PROTESTERS ALWAYS SEEM TO EAT THE LOT. Don't give them anything.
The rope's seem to work fine, and as a roleplay setting, it's quite an interesting situation, at least to me! Just be careful of the issues around the blue protesters above! Also.... has the banner for Yew always been besides Heartwood portal?
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