[News] Project Zoo - The Start

[Kayne]

After some insistence from members of the Europa community a new initiative to fill the Moonglow zoo was launched. Cleverly titled ‘Project Zoo’ it involved a group of willing people bringing various characters to the very back of Destard. The first part of this Project started on Thursday 13th March 8PM GMT</p>

The idea is simple some tamers will team up with a few mages and warrior types and go into Destard. The tamers would busy themselves with the Drakes that spawn in the area and the mages and warriors would keep water elementals and wyverns at bay. The drakes would be tamed and then gated with their new owners to the Moonglow zoo where they would be donated in order to gain points and eventually fill the zoo.</p>

Here we can see Miss Piper Lullabie of YF hard at work to tame the latest recruit for the project.</p>

Here she is arriving at the zoo with her new friend who seemed very willing to help in the cause. (Then again maybe he just wanted rid of his new owner as quick as possible).</p>

The evening started with the zoo collection needing around 106,000 points before the zoo would reach tier 3. As we can see here after a short while of everyone working together and the wonderful Europa community coming together we had knocked this total down to 92,547. This works out to be roughly 33 drakes tamed in a short period.</p>

Here is Lord Beltain of T/C who joined the effort as a tamer leading one of his new friends through a gate ready to put towards the effort.</p>

Here he is again in the middle of saying some nice words to try and get the same drake to follow him around.</p>

Finally we have Lord Findecano of SRC with his fiery friend at the zoo.</p>

Here we have what is very likely a rare sight at the zoo, the three gates all at the same time of these three wonderful tamers.</p>

The evening ended with the points having dropped to a nice total of around 76,000 (sadly I don’t seem to have my screenshot of this final total) This was an amazing 30,000 worth of points an amazing effort from all involved. At an estimate this meant that around 75 Drakes were tamed in this one small amount of time. Imagine what could happen if more people got involved in this over a longer period of time.</p>

Our final picture is of everyone who got involved in this, a big thank you to them all.</p>

Big thanks to Piper Lullabie for her pictures from inside Destard that she kindly sent over to me.</p>

 

[Guest]

i sooo want drakes to spawn in purple like what is in the first pic!

 

[Guest]

Thank you Kayne for the excellent coverage of the evening.

The purple colour is my fault. I used to miss seeing stuff turn grey, I notice the purple more. I changed my colours.

 

[Kayne]

Our second evening began with 941,656 points needed before tier 4 was reached thanks to some wonderful contributors that helped during the day. The evening ended with 899,373 points being needed. Thats 42,283 points gained in just a short space of time yet again. This time we improved on the previous Project get together and managed to donate a total of 105 Drakes.

A big thank you to all who turned up and helped tonight. In additon to myself and Piper Lullabie again. We had Tasty Treats of Saor, Kipper Mullen, and Lady Kryssanthemum. The last two of those can be seen below

Dont forget anyone that is in the support group can collect gold, leather and 10th Anniversary Items since they do still spawn.

 

[Fluffi]

This made for a great evening; and is a wonderful example of what the Europa community can do when it decides to all pull together. Thanks all.

I do wonder how much of our efforts will be nullified by the ridiculous zoo decay rate.

@ Ultima...

I sometimes find your purple fetish a little worrying.

 

[Guest]

I saw Kip Mullen gating in last night whilst I was dropping critters off at the donation box (I was on Bel and later on another tamer). I knew my time was pretty limited so I stuck to unicorns and spiced it up a little for myself with the occasional rune beetle &amp; reptalon.

During one drop, I noticed a huuuuge leap in points. Here is where we are this morning:-

To the Zoo's mysterious benefactor:- *I honor thee*

 

[Guest]

if we can hit a tier, we don't get the decay. That's what happened yesterday, and why I kept going all afternoon.

Looking at the total LadyNico just posted we stand a chance of doing the same again today if enough of us go for it.

Runes to Destard, avoiding the dragons are still in a 'anyone access' bag on my doorstep (next to Barian's Mall). You don't need to be an uber warrior to take on the wyverns and water eles and it really is a big help to the tamers, speeding up the number of drakes that can be ferried out.

Plus, as Kayne found out last night, you can get 10th anniversary drops for your kills.

People were also bringing in kirin, unicorn and polar bears that I saw yesterday, every little helps!

Here's the list of what can be donated:

Grey Wolf, Timber Wolf, White Wolf 30 points
Slime 45 points
Polar Bear 45 points
Ki-Rin, Nightmare, Unicorn 250 points
Fire Beetle, Giant Beetle, Rune Beetle 300 points
Dragon, Drake, White Wyrm 400 points
Reptalon 550 points.

Of course if you're one of the shard's uber rich types you could just chuck a couple of checks in the box. That's a big help too, but not so much fun

 

[Guest]

Current points 227k needed for next level.

Kipper Mullen and Terry (Gnu B Fyde) doing the drakes, I'm having a change of scene doing unicorns.

Any warriors at a loose end, Kipper and Gnu wouldn't mind you taking the wyverns and water eles out of their hair I'm sure.

 

[Kiera_II]

I've had to come out for a while. Sharing bandwith with my 8yr old and it's locking me up. . . I'll wait for her to misbehave and have to be sent to her bedroom!

I'll be back later though.

 

[Guest]

Terry's skivved off to watch the grand prix qualifying.

Moving into destard, unis get boring after the first 100

203713 to next level

which means we've knocked off over 100k points since the post Lady Nico made this morning.

But if that timer resets every 24 hours, which I think it does, we're going to lose 80k of those by tea time.

 

[Kayne]

Wow the Europa community is really going at this. Im so pleased that we got so many points just since last night.

 

[Guest]

I'll probably try and log in later for some taming

I was planning on spending the day in garage but suspect i'd screw up what i'm working on

 

[Guest]

currently needed for next level

296656

We just lost the entire day's taming.

 

[Frarc]

Mooglow points are up. Europa is one of the best net gainers of this week.

Mooglow Zoo Points.


I still think doing great even fighting the big decay rate of the Zoo!

 

[Kayne]

A big thank you to all who have been involved in project zoo both in the organised groups and outside of that.

Europa was the second best gainer of the week we managed to gain a staggering 960,271 on last weeks total. This is all due to the work of everyone here and you should all be very proud of yourselves.
Yes the decay rate is hard to beat but if we get increases like that in just a week then we can achieve even better things.

When is everyone free for another co-ordinated get together?

 

[Guest]

Kipper and I are in Destard now

But the darn wyverns are being a total pain in the rear

 

[Guest]

if anyone's near Destard at the mo i could do with a res!

 

[Guest]

Thank you Kayne and Petra

and the very lovely people healing by the dungeon entrance who I was too panicked to take the names of

Going off for a little calm down now. Moral of the story - when everyone else goes home, and you're not on your best fighter, go with them!

 

[Kiera_II]

If anyone is around who can kill the greater dragon in Destard by the shrine we'd be very grateful - my ethy cant take it

Edited: It's gone now

 

[uk_crafter]

What do you get when a Tier is reached and raised?

 

[Guest]

another cage filled in the zoo, and a reset on the timer so you don't lose all you gained.

Starting today at 48641. We should be able to get a tier today. When we hit tier 3 we got polar bears.

 

[Guest]

Starting tonite I will have access to a more reliable computer/connection, and will then be able to help out in Destard with either taming, or wyvern disposal.

Blueberry is quite fed up with unicorns now. Yes, they are pretty and friendly - but the constant neighing *shivers*

 

[Kayne]

Easy solution there ayara turn the sound off.

I've seen you quite a bit with the unicorns. Thank you for your efforts

 

[Guest]

Tier 4!

We've now filled the swamp creatures enclosure.

 

[Fluffi]

Oh well.....



.... rejoins the fray.

 

[Guest]

A question: are you in action tonight (Sunday)?
And an observation: it is specially nice on Europa (and maybe even nicer on Drachenfels) that the word chosen for a level in the zoo is "Tier".

 

[Kayne]

Is there a reason you think that Saunders?

Just to note that is the name that appears in game.

 

[Guest]

IIRC from holidays in Austria many years ago 'Tiergarten' is German for Zoo (literally 'animal garden'). Europa - learning to Tame in 44 languages

 

[Guest]

yupyup! Tier is German or "animal": Tierarzt is "vet, too.

 

[Guest]

827k needed for the next level but I've had it for tonight.

 

[Guest]

and now we're back to 990k

just a note to people who perhaps haven't donated before - you donate your tame by selecting 'transfer' from the context menu, as if you were giving the pet to someone, then target the blue box at the zoo entrance.

also here's a reminder of the zoo rewards

hehe, I was so expecting it to have gone backwards, I only just noticed we have a wyvern in the zoo now, we're on tier 5! Someone must have done some shopping I think.

 

[Kayne]

Wow

Im truely surprised at that. Europa community is really showing how good it is by doing this.

 

[Guest]

853 k until Tier 6. 100 unicorns ferried from Malas today. Sleep needed.

 

[Guest]

967k to tier 6 now
*sigh*

I'm starting to feel that I daren't do anything else in the game but tame day in, day out.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, you´re right there Petra. Logged in my miner for 15 mins last night to get some well-needed ingots for my vendors, but felt guilty for not taming instead...

Anyway, only managed to ship 15 unis during my lunch break today. Hopefully I can do a round of drakes later.

 

[Guest]

hmm


Who else is beginning to feel that this is a chore that's spoiling their enjoyment of the game?

Because if there's a lot of us, I'm going to call a halt. Community effort is one thing, communal misery is another entirely.

 

[Kayne]

Just a reminder to all who are doing this, no one is forcing you and if it is impacting on your enjoyment of UO then please do stop. I would hate to become the reason people stop playing. This was meant to be a bit of fun and community spirit to fill the zoo not a horrible chore that you would rather not do.

 

[Guest]

Well, of course nobody is forcing anyone to donate to the zoo. I have done so only because I wanted to, and because I always have had a soft spot for the zoo, although my usual donation rate was one unicorn a day and not a hundred.

Even though I did feel guilty about not taming last night, I was well aware that it was my own choice. Of course you get fed up of saying: will you travel with me noble creature? X hundred times. But even if the "official community effort" were called off I would continue to ship quite a lot of animals to the zoo, if not only for the reason that I have my eyes set on a certain statue now

 

[Kayne]

Ayara, if you wish to stop and go back to your normal activities your more than welcome to. You have done plenty to help the efforts. We made it to tier 5 from 2 i think it was. Thats a good achievment and one that all involved should be proud to have achieved

 

[Guest]

ehm, no need to feel concerned Kayne... Maybe I didn´t express myself clearly. What I meant was that: yes, I get fed up (maybe too strong a word. English is not my native language and I sometimes miss nuances in what words mean) occasionally, in the same way a lumberjack might be bored chopping wood, or a miner hacking stone. But that doesn´t keep me from enjoying doing it anyway, as a whole, so to speak.

I´ll continue to donate pets to the zoo because I´d like to do it, and because I´d like to get that elusive statue. So, no need to worry that I´m doing something I don´t want to. My earlier "complaint" was not intended to be taken too seriously. *Reminds self not to try to be ironic in a foreign language

*

 

[Kayne]

Ayara, that is something ive noticed after aquiring a Dutch friend that it becomes difficult to express things when english is not your first language. Dont feel that it is your fault i missed what you were trying to say, neither of us are at fault on that.
Being a Native english speaker i find it fascinating when people who are not native english speakers look at some words and their meaning compared to meanings in other languages. As a for instance when talking to my dutch friend a while back and telling her about my baby nephew she pointed out that in Dutch the word was Neef (i may be spelling that wrong) and that there was no seperate word for Cousin in Dutch so it was the same word.

However I dont want anyone to be stuck donating and i've told petra the same as she was taming most of the day and not feeling very good about it. My intention was to bring our community together and hopefully have fun and if that isnt happening then it is silly to continue.

 

[Fluffi]

<blockquote><hr>

967k to tier 6 now
*sigh*

I'm starting to feel that I daren't do anything else in the game but tame day in, day out.

[/ QUOTE ]



We could always establish "warred" relations between Yewdale Fellowship and Timid Creatures so that the evil Piper could sic her drakes on the wonderful, polite, stunningly good-looking, all-round-good-egg Beltain.... Just for the amusement of the other inhabitants of Destard, of course. *huge grin*



.... back in the real world....


This is why I consider zoo donation to be an exercise in futility.

It was good for a fun night-out with the boardies, but given the current game mechanics, unless we camp all drake/dragon/unicorn/kirin/reptalon spawns for 48hours solid, we're on a hiding to nothing.

edits

.... although I can see some merits in camping the "Barian" spawn with the PvP fencer.

 

[Guest]

<blockquote><hr>



It was good for a fun night-out with the boardies, but given the current game mechanics, unless we camp all drake/dragon/unicorn/kirin/reptalon spawns for 48hours solid, we're on a hiding to nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to mention **** blue beetles.

 

[Guest]

Well, I gave myself most of the day off, result of that is
we have 899k points to go to level 6. We've failed to regain what we lost to decay.

I now have 544299 points myself - Trouble with that is, there's nothing in the zoo collection I want. The armour isn't as good as my characters have already got and everything else is just an infringement on Terry's carefully hoarded lockdowns.

 

[Guest]

*pushes the points over the target*


kekeke hit tier 6 now XD


*edit*

just 884,884 points till tier 7 now

 

[Guest]

I've had another bash at taming animals for the zoo .. I'm still of the same mind .. I still dont like taming :-/

I admire those of you that are taming gazillions of animals each day

as I can't/don't/won't contribute that much taming wise (sorry peeps I keep trying) I've donated a few more checks

537809 points needed to tier 7 now

 

[Guest]

RTLFC
Well done, all!
I will try to return to unicorns, given time and no other distractions, later in the day. It has given me 6 taming gains so far when I had got to a point of CBA, so it has been a positive experience!

 

[Kiera_II]

I am beginning to feel a little odd as I actually enjoy taming!

I still get a tinge of excitement each time I see the 'It seems to accepts you as master' message, even if it is the 49th drake I have tamed that day.

Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't do it all day, every day (well I 'may' if I didn't work and have a family!), but it's good to put my skills to use other than for killing endlessly.

I've been camping the dungeons trying to get the Virtue armour set for my hubbie so the taming has been a nice alternative for me.

I'm have my sights set on a nice reward statue too

 

[Guest]

Here's the Zoo score as at almost Noon today after a brisk morning of white wyrms from me, drakes from Kipper Mullen, and unicorns from Lucy of Kenton (and those are just the peeps I actually saw at the donation box):-

 

[Guest]

Zoo score at almost 3:00pm! Well done!