tanithryudo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tanithryudo) wrote2012-11-19 09:58 am
tanithryudo) wrote2012-11-19 09:58 am
Entry tags:
Thoughts on the Lost Shores event
So after the dramatics of the event weekend (half week?) is finally over, I thought I'd just put down my few cents on the issue.
(The tl;dr version: Halloween created some high expectations. Anet was able to add some great things this update, but they were generally less advertised and drowned out by the more controversial stuff. On the other hand, they may have also bit off more than they could chew in some areas as well.)
The Game Update
The event technically started off with last Thursday's update. There was actually a great amount of stuff with the update that was not actually related to the Lost Shores event. It's just a pity that these things just got buried in the anticipation/speculation for the event and were not highlighted on. Were there no event, I think there would've been much more talk about the update. Some of the good changes:
- New rewards and revamped dungeon rewards. Even though I haven't played any dungeons, I can still call this a good thing.
- Increased drop rate/rarity for world bosses (champions, veterans, WvW). I do note that I will actually get drops off of champions now, as opposed to no drops previously. That in itself is an improvement.
- Drop rate and quality improved for downscaled players. Again, I've definitely noticed the improvement.
There was also a list of skill updates. They looked like a huge list, until you realize that 90% of it was just tweaks that only affect PvP, fixes to the text/animation, and other minor stuff. Nothing really to squee over or boo about, really. (And I'm still waiting for the promised ranger class update.)
Lost Shores Phase 1
The event itself actually kicked off on noon Friday. There was a short cinematic of a giant karka (crab) jumping into Lion's Arch, and then everybody fought off a mass crab invasion thing. the cinematic itself you can find on youtube, and the mass invasion thing I hear was very laggy and difficult to play due to the sheer number of players in the area (causing that culling problem where your machines won't render the mobs and other player).
So I'm not sorry at all I missed the noon event, really. Though I have to wonder at Anet what they were thinking of when they designed this. You're basically squeezing the entire server's population into the same zone (and that population can have only grown since release) and then throwing in a bunch of extra mobs (and moblets) and then particle effects on top of that? I really doubt there is any way for them to stress test this kind of thing, and am not surprised at the resulting performance.
But that was just a one time thing, right? For the people who couldn't (or didn't want to) make it, they also added a quest chain that's supposedly similar to the mad memories quest chain from Halloween. Except... the NPCs for the quest were pretty much all bugged, and remained bugged until Phase 2. That I couldn't understand. Anet was quick to fix any issues with the Halloween quest chain mobs, and indeed I don't even recall any issues after the first day with those mobs. Why couldn't they have done the same for these? It was the same root problem (too many simultaneous clicks to interact) wasn't it? Plus, apparently there were two quest chains that could be run simultaneously. Though most people thought they had to be done one after the other. So when Phase 2 rolled around and they found out only one of them had been extended...people were not happy.
Complaints aside, there were some good things that came out of Phase 1:
There was a new PvP map. While I'm not into sPvP, all the feedback I've heard about that map were positive.
There was a new dungeon series. There are concerns about gear treadmill and elitism, etc. But in terms of pure gameplay, the general response I've seen on the dungeons are positive as well. Also, many of the new dungeon rewards are not bound, so they do come up on the trading post.
The fountain in Lion's Arch got a slight update with the beginnings of construction, instead of the fountain plopped back in. This is great, and it's also exactly what people have been asking for - a gradual construction leading up to the return of the fountain (in time to be destroyed next Halloween XD).
Some other things that may or may not have come with Phase 1, since they were not explicitly noted anywhere:
There are a bunch of back items now available on the trading post, of various levels, quality, and cost. Not sure if these are drops from the new dungeon or new world drops added with the previous patch, but it's a wonderful addition.
The commendations guy - I think that's an attempt at "fixing" the market. I have no proof of this of course. But I do notice that a lot of items on the trading post are selling for more sensible prices now than before (when they were selling for a loss). Still not so for all items, but it's getting there. Then again, this might just be a long term effect of anti-botting efforts.
Lost Shores Phase 2
This opened up the new mini-zone. There is a series of events that basically follow the population of the zone, setting up forts and waypoints, etc. I left early cuz I was getting my butt kicked whenever not in a zerg. I figure I'm not up to lvl 80 zones yet and I'll work my way up the levels at my own gradual pace. What I did see of the zone was pretty nice though. And anything is better than the risen that I've already gotten tired of and I've not even reached Orr yet.
Lost Shores Phase 3
Again a huge zerg that focuses the entire server into one zone (the new island zone), starting at 12 PST. I heard reports that even with the huge zerg, it was taking upwards of 3-5 hours to complete the final event, with full party wipes (of how many hundreds of people?) very common. There were also overflows that were still running/farming the event up til Anet forced a reboot at like 9 PM.
The reason why people endured the lag, the crashes, and the pain of running this (more than once for some) was the rewards. They get a account bound exotic earring, a 20 slot container, and a few rare/exotic items. Lucky folks got Legendary precursors, severely dropping the price of those items on the trading post.
Am I sorry I spent my time exploring Fields of Ruin instead of participating in the final event? Not really. It would be nice to get rich instantly from doing the event. But... I play this game to relax. Not to work or stress myself out. If I don't get rich...I don't get rich. I'll eventually save up and get or craft my own 20 slot containers. In the mean time, I can get by without.
Do I think, in principle, that this finale was the right way to go? That's a more iffy question. I think Anet is setting a dangerous precedent. Already people who live in Europe/Australia/Asia are unhappy about the hours for the event, and many were not able to attend and thus not able to get the bling that US players could farm for if they got lucky with multiple characters. If people stay up late/early or blow off real life in future events with the expectation of better bling, and don't get what they wanted, they are going to be very vocally unhappy. But if future events do also give bling, I don't think that's a good practice either, since the time zone will always be inconvenient to some. And, there's the danger of power creep.
In contrast, the Halloween event/finale was fun and cool, but didn't drop a bunch of bling and didn't create the expectation of more bling. If the finale for this event was more in line with that, with maybe just the 20 slot bag and the unique earring, I think that would've been much better, from a balance perspective.
On the other hand, I also have the suspicion that the rampant giveaway/rewards with the exotics and precursors are actually another economy adjustment tactic to bring down those prices. That idea is good. But I'm just wary about attaching that to time-sensitive events.
In Summary
There were some good ideas that came out of this update. There were event some good implementation... New maps for PvP, general PvE, and endgame PvE. New crafting materials, including cooking (though Anet still needs to add in the crafting material slots for them before I'll do new zone). General PvE has been tweaked improved and nothing has been nerfed.
However the presentation has been partially ruined by the execution and general business of things: Anet really needs to write down the lessons learned from this and previous mass events and make sure they take into account the load that they will need to handle server-side when the majority of the population are in one small area and clicking on the same NPC. They should also expect the encounter issues and be ready to perform immediate patches/fixes, especially if it's going to be a time-limited event.
Either that, or do what Halloween did correctly: Have the quest be largely non-combat, and restrict the number of people in phases involving combat. Also, not every phase needs to require players to be online at a specific time, and they shouldn't be punished for not being able to make it. The only "timed" elements should be stuff like cutscenes (where people can review on youtube). Anything that actually rewards an actual item needs to be designed that people from all time zones have a chance at it without having to stay up all hours.
If they're not doing anything this weekend for Thanksgiving, then the next big thing to look forward to is Wintersday. I really hope that the team that did Wintersday is the same team that did Halloween (Anet has 2 festival event teams), since I think that one was the much better one.
In Other News:
Not related to the above. But I have finally gotten enough influence for the guild storage. It's under construction and set to finish by sometime 1-2 AM tomorrow morning. 50 slots for non-account/soulbound items only. I'll probably drop in some of my extra cooking stuff in there (not the interim ingredients I still need since you can't craft from the guild bank like you can from your personal bank).
(The tl;dr version: Halloween created some high expectations. Anet was able to add some great things this update, but they were generally less advertised and drowned out by the more controversial stuff. On the other hand, they may have also bit off more than they could chew in some areas as well.)
The Game Update
The event technically started off with last Thursday's update. There was actually a great amount of stuff with the update that was not actually related to the Lost Shores event. It's just a pity that these things just got buried in the anticipation/speculation for the event and were not highlighted on. Were there no event, I think there would've been much more talk about the update. Some of the good changes:
- New rewards and revamped dungeon rewards. Even though I haven't played any dungeons, I can still call this a good thing.
- Increased drop rate/rarity for world bosses (champions, veterans, WvW). I do note that I will actually get drops off of champions now, as opposed to no drops previously. That in itself is an improvement.
- Drop rate and quality improved for downscaled players. Again, I've definitely noticed the improvement.
There was also a list of skill updates. They looked like a huge list, until you realize that 90% of it was just tweaks that only affect PvP, fixes to the text/animation, and other minor stuff. Nothing really to squee over or boo about, really. (
Lost Shores Phase 1
The event itself actually kicked off on noon Friday. There was a short cinematic of a giant karka (crab) jumping into Lion's Arch, and then everybody fought off a mass crab invasion thing. the cinematic itself you can find on youtube, and the mass invasion thing I hear was very laggy and difficult to play due to the sheer number of players in the area (causing that culling problem where your machines won't render the mobs and other player).
So I'm not sorry at all I missed the noon event, really. Though I have to wonder at Anet what they were thinking of when they designed this. You're basically squeezing the entire server's population into the same zone (and that population can have only grown since release) and then throwing in a bunch of extra mobs (and moblets) and then particle effects on top of that? I really doubt there is any way for them to stress test this kind of thing, and am not surprised at the resulting performance.
But that was just a one time thing, right? For the people who couldn't (or didn't want to) make it, they also added a quest chain that's supposedly similar to the mad memories quest chain from Halloween. Except... the NPCs for the quest were pretty much all bugged, and remained bugged until Phase 2. That I couldn't understand. Anet was quick to fix any issues with the Halloween quest chain mobs, and indeed I don't even recall any issues after the first day with those mobs. Why couldn't they have done the same for these? It was the same root problem (too many simultaneous clicks to interact) wasn't it? Plus, apparently there were two quest chains that could be run simultaneously. Though most people thought they had to be done one after the other. So when Phase 2 rolled around and they found out only one of them had been extended...people were not happy.
Complaints aside, there were some good things that came out of Phase 1:
There was a new PvP map. While I'm not into sPvP, all the feedback I've heard about that map were positive.
There was a new dungeon series. There are concerns about gear treadmill and elitism, etc. But in terms of pure gameplay, the general response I've seen on the dungeons are positive as well. Also, many of the new dungeon rewards are not bound, so they do come up on the trading post.
The fountain in Lion's Arch got a slight update with the beginnings of construction, instead of the fountain plopped back in. This is great, and it's also exactly what people have been asking for - a gradual construction leading up to the return of the fountain (in time to be destroyed next Halloween XD).
Some other things that may or may not have come with Phase 1, since they were not explicitly noted anywhere:
There are a bunch of back items now available on the trading post, of various levels, quality, and cost. Not sure if these are drops from the new dungeon or new world drops added with the previous patch, but it's a wonderful addition.
The commendations guy - I think that's an attempt at "fixing" the market. I have no proof of this of course. But I do notice that a lot of items on the trading post are selling for more sensible prices now than before (when they were selling for a loss). Still not so for all items, but it's getting there. Then again, this might just be a long term effect of anti-botting efforts.
Lost Shores Phase 2
This opened up the new mini-zone. There is a series of events that basically follow the population of the zone, setting up forts and waypoints, etc. I left early cuz I was getting my butt kicked whenever not in a zerg. I figure I'm not up to lvl 80 zones yet and I'll work my way up the levels at my own gradual pace. What I did see of the zone was pretty nice though. And anything is better than the risen that I've already gotten tired of and I've not even reached Orr yet.
Lost Shores Phase 3
Again a huge zerg that focuses the entire server into one zone (the new island zone), starting at 12 PST. I heard reports that even with the huge zerg, it was taking upwards of 3-5 hours to complete the final event, with full party wipes (of how many hundreds of people?) very common. There were also overflows that were still running/farming the event up til Anet forced a reboot at like 9 PM.
The reason why people endured the lag, the crashes, and the pain of running this (more than once for some) was the rewards. They get a account bound exotic earring, a 20 slot container, and a few rare/exotic items. Lucky folks got Legendary precursors, severely dropping the price of those items on the trading post.
Am I sorry I spent my time exploring Fields of Ruin instead of participating in the final event? Not really. It would be nice to get rich instantly from doing the event. But... I play this game to relax. Not to work or stress myself out. If I don't get rich...I don't get rich. I'll eventually save up and get or craft my own 20 slot containers. In the mean time, I can get by without.
Do I think, in principle, that this finale was the right way to go? That's a more iffy question. I think Anet is setting a dangerous precedent. Already people who live in Europe/Australia/Asia are unhappy about the hours for the event, and many were not able to attend and thus not able to get the bling that US players could farm for if they got lucky with multiple characters. If people stay up late/early or blow off real life in future events with the expectation of better bling, and don't get what they wanted, they are going to be very vocally unhappy. But if future events do also give bling, I don't think that's a good practice either, since the time zone will always be inconvenient to some. And, there's the danger of power creep.
In contrast, the Halloween event/finale was fun and cool, but didn't drop a bunch of bling and didn't create the expectation of more bling. If the finale for this event was more in line with that, with maybe just the 20 slot bag and the unique earring, I think that would've been much better, from a balance perspective.
On the other hand, I also have the suspicion that the rampant giveaway/rewards with the exotics and precursors are actually another economy adjustment tactic to bring down those prices. That idea is good. But I'm just wary about attaching that to time-sensitive events.
In Summary
There were some good ideas that came out of this update. There were event some good implementation... New maps for PvP, general PvE, and endgame PvE. New crafting materials, including cooking (though Anet still needs to add in the crafting material slots for them before I'll do new zone). General PvE has been tweaked improved and nothing has been nerfed.
However the presentation has been partially ruined by the execution and general business of things: Anet really needs to write down the lessons learned from this and previous mass events and make sure they take into account the load that they will need to handle server-side when the majority of the population are in one small area and clicking on the same NPC. They should also expect the encounter issues and be ready to perform immediate patches/fixes, especially if it's going to be a time-limited event.
Either that, or do what Halloween did correctly: Have the quest be largely non-combat, and restrict the number of people in phases involving combat. Also, not every phase needs to require players to be online at a specific time, and they shouldn't be punished for not being able to make it. The only "timed" elements should be stuff like cutscenes (where people can review on youtube). Anything that actually rewards an actual item needs to be designed that people from all time zones have a chance at it without having to stay up all hours.
If they're not doing anything this weekend for Thanksgiving, then the next big thing to look forward to is Wintersday. I really hope that the team that did Wintersday is the same team that did Halloween (Anet has 2 festival event teams), since I think that one was the much better one.
In Other News:
Not related to the above. But I have finally gotten enough influence for the guild storage. It's under construction and set to finish by sometime 1-2 AM tomorrow morning. 50 slots for non-account/soulbound items only. I'll probably drop in some of my extra cooking stuff in there (not the interim ingredients I still need since you can't craft from the guild bank like you can from your personal bank).
no subject
From what you've told me, the event sounds like a bit of a cock-up. Anything that is timed on an MMO that has a ridiculously large international audience need to take into account timezone problems. Because yeah, this is a game, it shouldn't require people to be chained to the server at all times to enjoy the game, even if it is an online game. If they insist on giving the event a sense of time-limited uniqueness, then they need to repeat the event every 1-3 hours so that everyone around the world can enjoy it, and block it off when the event is finished. I just don't get it, GW1 seemed to run events that are far better implemented in terms of timing.
And wow, that was a lot of yapping for not a lot of content. I'm going to shut up now. ^^;