Poll Time -- Events past and Present

[Lady Mana]

Just a quick poll for all you past, present, and (future?) Ultima Online players! The theme is... events and fiction! What do you prefer; Player-run events, Event Moderator Events, or current EA Story Events? Basically, what would you like to see more of, or what do you enjoy the most?

Feel free to explain why you vote the way you did, and why... and of course, why you DIDN'T vote the way you did!

I'll go first. I'm tied between EM events and EA Arcs. I think EM events are a lot like Player-Run events, except they have the control and versatility that players just can't do. EA Arcs are awesome because ofthe dedication to new content they can attribute -- I really liked the effects leading up to time-warped Moonglow. I *don't* like how all the shards get the same events, because I still believe that since all shards are unique after the shattering, they should have their own unique history... but I guess some things have to be parallel at some point xD

 

[Salty Pete]

Player run events.

 

[Farsight]

All of the above. All things out of the ordinary just make my UO day.

 

[Lady Mana]

All of the above. All things out of the ordinary just make my UO day.

Right... I think I prefer EA or EM events just because they make things more out of the ordinary than usual.

 

[Black Sun]

All of the above. All things out of the ordinary just make my UO day.

I've got to agree here. Some of my fondest memories in UO are from events that I've participated in. No matter who runs them. The each have their own special feel/features. I don't think I could honestly pick just one.

 

[Harb]

All have their contribution, pros and cons. I voted EA events due to duration and accessibility, but EM events were more personal, had more flair, and generated unique items. Player events build stronger bonds, but can't operate in any "unusual" way per se. So all in all, it's really a close call if you have to rank them, and I suspect a "thin line" for many of us.

 

[yanaki2]

all but EM events.

sorry but i believe that if a event is run everyone should have the ability to participate and not just have a reward one or a very few players for being lucky enough to be around when the EM felt like running the event.

 

[Gildar]

Event arcs, because everybody can participate and have fun... but I only prefer that as being the backbone of what is going on.
Having live events with additional details (able to be learned about by everybody, even those who do not know somebody who was there) that kick off lengthier events would be best.

The Melissa thing, for example...
Live event (could be automated, or mostly automated, but should only happen once per shard):
Unannounced, the royal council moves into the meeting room, kicks out anybody who might be in the room, and locks the doors. They talk (same conversation that was posted in the news), and get murdered. Sole remaining guard runs off while the assassins sneak away. Guard comes back with the investigator and some more guards. After checking the area, most of the guards leave, one of which heads to a Town Crier passing along a call for help.
Players show up, offer to help, go out investigating.
Each part up until Casca is found can only really be completed once (with the exception of things that were never taken, but always left behind - the notes could be found many times over), but those attempting to follow the trail would always have some indicator as to where to look next if they get there after somebody else. Once Casca is found, a group of royal guards heads off to bring him back, and the investigator tells people that Casca has been found, and they believe they have all the information they need. The investigator sends those who ask to Ulrich, who sends people off to the Wisp Dungeon to search for FoA members (which guides people toward Melissa).
After Melissa is defeated once, Avery gets captured and put in Jail.
Ulrich now indicates that Melissa is still at large, but Avery has been arrested as a suspected FoA co-conspirator. Ulrich continues to send people to Melissa (and maybe to some other FoA hideouts) to hunt for Melissa (and maybe some other FoA members), but they seem to slip away just before being defeat, but have the guts to return later to fight again.
Throughout the next week (or 2... or 3... or whatever), people can continue to return to the hideouts and fight Melissa and other FoA members, with one or two "major" rewards per character per NPC, and a chance at getting minor rewards once per spawn.


To keep things all together, past events would have at least one book written about them kept in a special chronologically sorted section in the Lycaeum.

And of course players would continue to run their own events as they so desire.

 

[Sarphus]

I prefer the current events over any other events that have been run in UO's history. Everyone who chooses to can participate and the events keep the game fresh.

I also like how the storylines are consistant with Ultima lore for the most part. I love how we're reliving the events that occur in the old ultima games. I never got to play those games, but I am enjoying the rich storyline that was gleened from them.

 

[Lady Mana]

Event arcs, because everybody can participate and have fun... but I only prefer that as being the backbone of what is going on.

.....

And of course players would continue to run their own events as they so desire.

If I had things my way, I'd love to have the EA storylines going but also have a couple dedicated EM staff members to make it even more interesting. Same storyline, same events, more involvement and personality. If only the two could merge xD

 

[galefan2004]

I voted EA fiction and arcs, but what is going on now is a poor example. What you didn't put on the list was scenarios so I assumed that you included them in fiction and arcs. The juka invasion was probably the best event that ever happened in this game because it wasn't so extreme that people couldn't get easily involved, but it was extreme enough to provide a challenge for the veteran players of the time. Also, it was just fun, and a lot of new items came out of it. It gave us dragon scale, swamp dragons, and later when the solen part hit it even gave us seeds. Yew was left blemished for years because of the same scenario and plague beasts started to lurk in our swamps. Plague beasts were one of the best creations ever in this game. In the early days I used to hunt them for the silver chests that they dropped if you got them fed enough. I kind of loved the concept of feeding a creature in order to make it stronger in order to make it drop more loot.

 

[galefan2004]

Player run events.

Player run events would be a second for me, but I don't like the way that a lot of the player run events are set up to take advantage of the community in some way.

 

[galefan2004]

all but EM events.

sorry but i believe that if a event is run everyone should have the ability to participate and not just have a reward one or a very few players for being lucky enough to be around when the EM felt like running the event.

Because of the way the EM system was operated normally the people that bennefited from them were the guilds or the friends of the person that was the EM for the server. That was never a good thing.

 

[galefan2004]

Live event (could be automated, or mostly automated, but should only happen once per shard).

The problem here is that instead of coming right out and saying what is actually going to happen the EA staff drops stupid hints of what might happen. In some other games, the staff is upfront and dirrect about what is going to happen and when. If EA swtiched to that policy and put out information far enough in advance of what would happen (exactly) and when then I would gladly welcome once per server events.

 

[Gildar]

The problem here is that instead of coming right out and saying what is actually going to happen the EA staff drops stupid hints of what might happen. In some other games, the staff is upfront and dirrect about what is going to happen and when. If EA swtiched to that policy and put out information far enough in advance of what would happen (exactly) and when then I would gladly welcome once per server events.

I do not think the once per server aspects of events should have unique rewards, and I do not think those who don't get to actively solve the puzzles in the once per server aspects should be left out of any information. I also think they should still be able to try to solve most of the puzzles themselves for a few days, but be able to simply learn the path and solution if they just want to know what happened.
The benefit of being at a one-time event should simple be that you are the first to know what has happened, and you got to see NPCs actually moving around instead of hearing about things in past-tense. The main attraction should be what happens for 1-4 weeks after the one-time event.

The problems with giving advanced notice to one-time events are the lag and the difficulty of those who show up to enjoy it and actually understand what is happening due to the large crowd.
The problem with not having any one-time events is the lack of immersion.

 

[eve]

Best ever were the seer events.....

The EM events fell short, generally boring, either (or both) because of lack of support from EA or lack of imagination on the part of the EM's.

The recent events go on way too long, understand the current one was planned to last a year (wish I could quote the dev that said that) -- and it seems to have fallen into a deep, dark, hole someplace (maybe died in the pit in Moonglow?) Not sure any but a few care anymore.

Darnit, pay the Seers, give them some responsibility and set them loose....... the small frequent events, held in different locations, unannounced, are so enjoyable, but the Seers have been gone for a long time

thanks for asking, tho.......

 

[Corrupted Goblin]

Seer events were THE BEST. they were actuall events with a goal that could be achieved. They were random, and technically a player ran event as seers were players.

 

[Lady Mana]

Best ever were the seer events.....

The EM events fell short, generally boring, either (or both) because of lack of support from EA or lack of imagination on the part of the EM's.

The recent events go on way too long, understand the current one was planned to last a year (wish I could quote the dev that said that) -- and it seems to have fallen into a deep, dark, hole someplace (maybe died in the pit in Moonglow?) Not sure any but a few care anymore.

Darnit, pay the Seers, give them some responsibility and set them loose....... the small frequent events, held in different locations, unannounced, are so enjoyable, but the Seers have been gone for a long time

thanks for asking, tho.......

Yeah.. it's really unfortunate that EA didn't give EMs the freedom that Seers had. Otherwise, I'm sure things would have been really epic... but then again, it'd have to be small in number, or else we'd get complaints of favoritism that were actually right for a change.

I THINK... they should have a group of 3-5 dedicated EMs, trustworthy, who don't have "shard wide" events (leave that to EA arcs), but instead do all those little things that we love so much. Of course, it wouldn't be about items so much as the experience. . . you know?