Events... bitter sweet content.

[THAC0]

Hi folks,

I'm just curious, and I have my own opinion on the DDO Events that pop in game from time to time which I'll share in a moment.

I wanted to ask all of you, What you think of the DDO Events that have been put in game? Do you like them? Do you grind them for the loot? Do you explore them so you get the experience of it once then move on? Or, do you just take a peek and move on?

As long as I've been in the game, the 1st event I can say I had a blast with was the End of Beta. The Devs randomly spawned critters in the quad right by Dirks Got a Secret area. It was fun. All sorts of monsters and it was a LIVE event. +signDevs were ingame dropping MOBs on us. Very cool and the best one I have in memory...aside from AC 1 and AC 2... :)

Eventually after Mod 9 hits and F2P was going, Devs took time to do snappy events to (I think) draw more attention and players to the game. Basically, relaunching DDO to capture a larger market. Which, was good for them and us, as DDO is still here for all of us to play!

Anyhow....events... ugh.

The Risia Games (after the Olympics idea) was kinda neat...but then after a little time I spent trying to do the slide/jump thing, I said "scr3w this" and moved on.

Then the Easter Eggs hunt... I tried the run once (even used a route map) and after I did 1 run, I said "scr3w this" and moved on.

Then repeat events of Risia which I just totally ignored... until the most recent one, where I actually spent DDO points, time and a few days farming coins and doing the jumps...and watching the YouTube videos on how to... and still can't get the Purple Coins I need....and said "scr3w this".

Then we had the Mabar event out in the graveyard. Wow... I thought at first this was going to be cool, then a lot of you got banned for something totally lame. I had only popped in for a brief moment and while it looked fun, didn't want to spend time there grinding something out on that particular day(s). So I never got the chance to say, "scr3w this". But in retrospect, I bet those of you who got banned did. ;) I don't understand why they just didn't keep that area active... what I saw was way better than the normal graveyard out in Delera's area.

And now, DDO hits 5yrs. wow. Very cool... and I like the celebration idea... BUT... another event that will come and go. REALLY? Why not just keep the area out there and leave it as something that will always be there. My quick run thru Crystal Cove looked really cool. Punny's video of the event also had me cracking up. So I was at first excited about it, but after thinking it over... the sexiness of it kind of diminished.

Why remove it after all the time/effort was put in to designing, coding, testing, tweaking...just to let it run and remove it? Again, why not leave the Crystal Cove there? Why not leave the Mabar area active? Why not put the Risia games out in the Sonami Gardens..or whatever the Icy area map out in Reaver Refuge is (the name escapes me at the moment)? Why are Devs taking time away from developing permanent content to develop these one-offs that come and go in a short period of time?

Now I appreciate all the efforts Devs go thru to make this game interesting... but ****, leave the content in game... we all continually ask for content don't we?

I've pretty much decided already not to get too involved in "Events" as they really don't 'do it' for me. I'm frustrated as hell with Risia ****. Icy Burst kits .... sure I'd love to get my hands on about 5 of them ( i just need (5) reciepe 5s....) ...but what about other types of 'burst' kit options?

I love the Big Top, Lords March and Chronosphere. At first I was not too sure about those areas because of the way they were presented...but those are really very good areas. And Sands, Vale & IQ are my stomping grounds.

But these brief events, I just can't get excited for to go spend time there knowing they are going to vanish. Which is probably a loose - loose, for me and the Devs.

I'm not trying to bash the Devs, I just would like to understand why the do the things they do sometimes. :)

T.

( I do like my snappy Red Pirate hat though, thanks!...)

[westudi]

I love the Risian games (wish there was something like that for fire and shock additions to weapons).

Did Mabar. Kind of liked it, but bored quickly.

Have no inclination to do the current event.

I like the egg hunt the first time, but not as pleased with the blessing rewards this time (Lasting supreme ability pots?).

Essentially, if it doesn't require a ton of grinding, I like it. So, I like the egg runs and the Risian games (I have little struggle getting the purple coins), but the Mabar deal was a tad tedious, and this one seems on par with that one.

I like that the events are there. It spices things up for people.

[Antheal]

I'd prefer it if the developers spent more time making permanent content than temporary content.

What, after all, does the player base pay Turbine for?

[BoolZ]

The player base pays Turbine for access to DDO. If DDO has temporary events then temporary events are part of that access.

And I love them. I was horrible at the Ice jump, but can grind Kobolds New Ringleader/Durks/Haverdasher like a mad man for those gold coins. And it took 3 Risia's but eventually my main had collected enough plat to buy the kits I wanted. It's all good.

This is my first egg hunt, and I'm skipping it entirely. rez cakes and +2 pots dont interest me.

Mabar was loads of fun for me, but I enjoy explorer zones too. Got 10-20 minutes waiting for the wife to get ready? I can log in, and run around a bit. Got my motes, made a few trades, and got what I wanted. Did get grindy to make sure I got the scales I wanted too.

And Smuggler's Rest is just fantastic. Everything is cheap enough to make what I wanted with a bunch of spare ingredients. The dragon shards are the bottle neck, but a few good groups, with the Crystal Cove at least on Argo firering as frequently as it does and it shouldn't take more than a few hours to finish a tier3 upgrade. The fact you don't even have to run around smugglers rest if you trade in your excess gems is just gravy.

I could see them leaving the zones active on a full time basis though without the event or even just a modified event.

Crystal Cove for example could just be a quest to save the Kobolds from attacking pirates that takes place in the caves. That way we still get to visit Smuggler's Rest, see the cave, and hear the Kobolds. Then when Turbine wants the event going they switch it over to protecting the Kobolds while they mine and placing torches. Kinda like turn the event and crafting off, but leave the zone active with a new quest.

[Alaudae]

/this. Make use of good work, upgrade for events.

[Morningfrost]

I skipped the Egg Hunt, and I don't even consider the Risia Games an event, since they keep respawing. I don't like them, personally.

I enjoyed Mabar for while but got bored quickly.

Smuggler's rest is fantastic! I laughed hard in Crystal Cove and loot is nice. The idea to leave it as a part of permanent content is good, I'd like to say that it is exactly what the dev needs to revamp Three Barrel Cove. Please, integrate the low level items and the treasure maps there.

[phillymiket]

I love them.

I suspect in a way they are kind of permanent events in that there will be the Risia event every year around the New Years, the Egg thingy at the end of March/start of April, the Maybar event every year around Halloween and the Crystal Cove on DDO's birthday every year.

Why not have some things to spice up the calendar?
It's probably good for the games to have the selling point of regular holiday special events.
If these events didn't come and go they would not have the same appeal and not be as effective because there would be far less of the population running them at any one time.

The ice games take a bit of practice but Maybar and Crystal Cove anyone can do.
(of course some classes do better for Maybar and some would say that is true for CC although I am grinding on a healer and am raking in items because the Cave is where you get the ingredients the pirate slayer area where I'm at a disadvantage brings in far less)

I'm a Gear Ho so I grind these events to the exclusion of all else while they are on.
The items are great,I find the events fun and I like the "race" to get everything crafted before it ends.

[Zharfie]

sure I suppose it would be cool if the quest part of the event was always accessible BUT, it should not give those items as freely as it does now... or at least downgrade the items a *lot*, they're way too good for how easy it is to get them... I would actually like to see similarish quests in the future which are not just zergable and actually require coordination and thinking...

[bloodyrag]

the big problem i see with the events is some of the items are so superpowered and so stupidly easy to make that for ppl who farm a lot of epic items they feel let down. some ppl spend months farming for that 1 item to have an event come along that means every man and his dog can get it in a day or 2. its just more of the easy button for ppl so turbine can make more money from them. the game is too easy

[Sirea]

the big problem i see with the events is some of the items are so superpowered and so stupidly easy to make that for ppl who farm a lot of epic items they feel let down. some ppl spend months farming for that 1 item to have an event come along that means every man and his dog can get it in a day or 2. its just more of the easy button for ppl so turbine can make more money from them. the game is too easy

Nice of you to stop by, Timp :p

[Ganolyn]

I only really like the Risia games because that is the only one that requires any skill to get the best coins. You can get very good at it and learn all the tricks, but those **** ice ramps have their own mind and will throw you for a loop sometimes no matter how good you get at it.

To me, the rest are just glorified wilderness areas with better time:loot ratios. I started a thread in the Suggestions forum sort of on the same topic of why waste Dev time coming up with new areas when we already have under used ones now.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=303766

[elujin]

I only really like the Risia games because that is the only one that requires any skill to get the best coins. You can get very good at it and learn all the tricks, but those **** ice ramps have their own mind and will throw you for a loop sometimes no matter how good you get at it.

To me, the rest are just glorified wilderness areas with better time:loot ratios. I started a thread in the Suggestions forum sort of on the same topic of why waste Dev time coming up with new areas when we already have under used ones now.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=303766

i buy my icy burst kits some mad skills needed for that.

[KillEveryone]

I like the Risa games idea for an event. I haven't done any ice jumping though because I'm not all that hard up to get anything from there but I do like the concept for the event itself.

Mabar was just meh. I did it and got all the items I was wanting but it was a bit tedious. I did like using different spells that normally I wouldn't use but it was easy to get more sp so I didn't have to be conservative.

Haven't run in this one.

[voodoogroves]

The saving grace to the events is that they each can appeal to a slightly different player and character mix.

I personally hate jumping / movement / twitchy stuff, so Risia and Easter Egg I find un-fun. While I also get bored of reptition, sometimes just blowing stuff up for a bit can be fun. I like the puzzle aspect of the new one, and really enjoy that a good group can work together in the cove to great success. I love the divide-and-conquer aspect of it. Mabar was much less puzzle-solving and more "everyone on their switch ... now pull".

Mabar also I found much easier on my divines. My PM and arcanes are shining in this new event, but the melees seem to be doing well too.



Thankfully, I'll have what I want done reasonably fast and be able to spend some time working that 25% bonus too.

[THAC0]

Yeah, it would be nice if they had left the Mabar area and now the Crystal Cave area in game. Both are beautiful as far as design goes and the critters are funny and decent.

The only way I see them leaving this in (if they did), would be to 'turn off' the ability to pull / grind that named loot..and just get 'regular' stuff. But, that would probably involve hours of programming tweaking.

I'm really torn with these events. They are cool I will give them that...but I'd rather spend time leveling up than be teased with cool new stuff that is gone in a blink. :)

[floating]

The mabar area as far as that horrible 4 quadrant dragon box ? or delera's tomb as is?

[THAC0]

The outside area. :)

I'm staying clear of that Ban-trap quest. lol

[westudi]

I have to admit that I have spent more time on the event than I expected. It's nice being able to get xp via the quest aspect of the event, and the items are worth a look to be sure.

[hityawithastick]

I like having events, at least ones that repeat every year.

I came into Mabar with my main still too low-level to really grind it, and I completely missed out on getting him the epic robe :( This time, I learned from my mistakes....I got one of everything, epic, and an extra cutlass and dagger :D


But now I'm done, and my wizard will have more gear than he knows what to do with. :eek:

Next year, I'll be champing (chomping? chumping?) at the bit to grab that sweet robe off the Mabar event. After that....meh.

Risa...never really liked it. I grind out the recipes, use some of them, sell the rest, and then go back to questing while the loot bonuses last.

[MsEricka]

Ratings = good, bad, don't care

Events: good
Gear: good
Change of pace: good

Mabar: good
Smugglers Rest: good
Risia: good
Egg hunt: don't care

[jurzey]

I love the new event. But i do not want the ability to get epic loot from it.

Epic loot should come from epic level quests, In the groups i have been running CC with we have all of our crystals on level 25 with 5-10 minutes remaining.

1 Wiz can clear all the undead solo. Doesn't feel epic to me.

[spinks]

Regarding the events, Risia games are a bit dull, and it is essentially a grind fest, same as Mabar, except that was more annoying, as when you are trying to get to Delera's Tomb to actually do your quest on a low level, and end up either being killed, or partially wounded was a nuisance. Entering a quest without full HP and SP is irritating, since you dont get full HP and SP upon entering a quest. I think if there was a way to make the Mabar event accessible by level like the Crystal Cove quest, would be better, that way groups of lvl 20 toons running around wouldnt spawn high lvl monsters on low lvl toons.

One big issue I have is that items are either Bound to Character or Account (I am a premium player, bought all content, WF and FvS, extra slots etc. But I wont buy shared bank out of principle as i think this should be free as it is a fundamental game mechanic) Bind on equip would be so much better, that way you can play on your favourite toon, rather than being forced to play on a specific one.

This birthday event I have enjoyed, it has been good fun, and I love the Kobold comments in the quest - make me laugh every time :) Whilst you could argue it is also a grind fest, it does not feel that way. Killing some beasties in order to get a compass, thats fine, the quest is fun and achievable by probably almost any toon, not too long, and nothing special required to help you achieve it e.g. raid gear, or GS items etc. it's fun rather than an impossible challenge to complete the quest (not managed to get the 200 extra crystals though - that is a good optional challenge). Good work devs.

As an aside, could you have event quests/activities that provide toons with a pre-set skillbar, HP etc. to level the playing field, as has been done in other games? Just a thought.

As to whether they should be accessible year round, personally, I would say no. It is nice to look forward to a special event, rather than have it all year round, otherwise it is no longer a special event. Having more special events more often would be good though :)

[Kriogen]

Risia and Egg hunt I like. The other two not.

Risia/Egg are ok as event because they are casual. Nice if you have nothing else to do. Causal.

The other two, mabar/cove, should be permanent quests.

I find it very unusual that such a powerful loot is available only in rare event. Some nice cookies for newyear are ok, its a consumable, but epic toys ...

[Samiusbot]

I'd prefer it if the developers spent more time making permanent content than temporary content.

What, after all, does the player base pay Turbine for?

Both.

I spent more time this weekend in the cove and buying a compass or two when switching to a new grinder. When the cove happed to open and my group was ready and running. As well as a few coffees and even a grog or three.

If it was just a new set of quests I wouldn't have spent a dime. I would have ran it and had a good time but it wouldn't have made Turbine a dime from me.

The event like this is a good way to target everyone Vip - F2P.

It would even be great if they tweaked the cove's drop rate down a hair, made some adjustments for hats and what not and made the area permanent.

[Drakos]

One big issue I have is that items are either Bound to Character or Account (I am a premium player, bought all content, WF and FvS, extra slots etc. But I wont buy shared bank out of principle as i think this should be free as it is a fundamental game mechanic) Bind on equip would be so much better, that way you can play on your favourite toon, rather than being forced to play on a specific one.
The problem is that then the items could also be sold. There is certain game that the Devs do not want to be "sellable" so the BtA was added. I would go so far as to say that the Shared Bank was added to facilitate the BtA for the most part (and of course to generate money to pay for further game development).

[Chai]

I like the events. I feel they bring the community together when otherwise they would be on their three day and one day grinds.

As far as why they dont leave it there perminently, they dont do it because the quality of the loot would flood the servers. Right now there will be alot farmed inthe few days its up, but after that the number of toons you will see with this loot will be fewer and fewer as time passes, depending on the frequency they run the same event of course.

I wish there was enough dev power to never have to run the same event twice. It would create an atmosphere where there would be alot of cool items in play, but not alot of the same item in play.

[Cyr]

I'm not a big fan of events. The crystal cove quest is enjoyabl, but events as a whole are not my cup of tea.

The things I really hate about DDO events are...

a) Power creep through events seems silly. Particularly when the power creep occurs due to easy content and the new items have the danger of making existing content less desirable to run.

b) Limited time only means less bang for the buck for development.

c) Every event seems like a new way for Turbine to sell suckers err customers junk for the event. How many NPC's do I need to talk to that are just trying to hawk me stuff that I would be far smarter off just running the event to get...

d) Spawn killing is NOT FUN. It is mindless repitition and not challenging. Games already exist that do this sort of thing 1000 times better if I wanted to do that I would be playing those games.

[THAC0]

So a couple guildies got me to try this out. The event is fun... and the Kobolds had me cracking up. Loot seemed cool once I figured out the whole gem/dubloon thing.

But... I still stand by my original opinion: Events don't do it for me. Short term stuff like this while very cool, just doesn't float my boat.

I would LOVE it if Turbine left this area in the game. Then heck ya, I'd invest a lot more time there possibly.

The random spawns... sorta sucks. At a minimum, a slayer count would be nice... but hey, just my opinion.

Anyhow, Thanks for all the comments folks... looks like I'm not alone in this event content vrs permanent content dilemma.

Nice work Devs, but consider keeping the area in game...permanently.

T.

[Nephilia]

Never gone on risia... I've tried some run but I found it too much boring... I've a lot of plat so better to buy my icy kit or offer a large stone for three of em (usually) and go on leveling or in epic contents.

Played mabar just for a pair of hours and then skipped it but... now I'm really sad about it. It was funny but I dislike to spend TP for it so I leave it. And now I'm full of regret for missing the cloak :( I really wish they set it up again soon and this time I'll be in! :)

Smuggler rest was a lot of fun and it was completely free (maybe u need to buy 1 compass and than, selling gems for doubloons , u could run without spending neither a single TP) :) The killing area was fun, lot of money for treasure chests and even more for selling rod at the end and, obviously, a bunch of very good epic items!
And who will forget the kobold's voices inside the quest? even after 20+ run they are still amazing and pleasant!!!
I've spent few hours on it and I've full crafted 3 items for my new toon and I'm just sad cause I had no time to craft a second brigand's cutlass ;)

In future I'll surely spend more time to get info on events

[Molotov]

I love events, mixes things up a bit for a few days before going back to the same ole same ole.
Hate the risia event.
Love the mabar event.
Absolutely love the smugglers rest event.
Oh yeh, the devil invasion event was also fun but it was super laggy and that really dropped the fun factor.
Don't like the egg hunt this year, biggest draw for me were the teleport rods and I haven't seen one yet this time around.

[Daedalis]

I've been in 5 events that I can remember.

1. House P event where you could be the first "pirate" luck hat. It was something to past 15 mins.
2. The explosion of the marketplace tent....that was fun, lag not so much but a great event in my opinion.
3. Risia games, made a ton of plat off the icy burst receipes :). Monk + house p trinket + house p jump buffs = purple coins...1 every 2-3 mins depending on how many harbor selections there are.
4. Mabar.....honestly the rewards for doing this type of grind is great. I just don't have the patient to spend 4 or 5 days grinding out no XP for a item that I might possibly could only use at level 20.
5. Crystal Cove...see # 4....I spend 3 hours running around the island and never got a compass. I know you can buy one (no thanks, my TP is used for better things), and I really had no fun running round killing things for no XP and no items that I could change into plat or use outside of the cove. I had several guidies that did the grind and they got 1 or items for the time spent over 5 days. At least with shroud crafting you get mulitple chest and xp :).

2 - I liked
1 - so so
2 - Not so much

One day there will the be the one....and it will be great...but it will last only for 1 minute between the time of 1200 am and 1201 am during maintenance cycle. Ooopps :o.

But after 4 yrs of playing....this is still by far the greatest game on the market!

[jurzey]

5. Crystal Cove...see # 4....I spend 3 hours running around the island and never got a compass. I know you can buy one (no thanks, my TP is used for better things)

They were dirt cheap if you used Dubloons to buy them. No TP needed.

I spent no more than 3 hours in the wilderness and ended up with over 25 compasses. Were you killing anything or just running around asking for handouts?

[JayDubya]

I think the CC quest is quite good - it is unlike any other quest in DDO, and it takes a fair amount of teamwork and coordination to do it well. Which is exactly what you want from a quest.

I'd love to see the quest stay, but instead of crystals as a reward, more XP. And instead of emeralds and diamonds, reknown.

[Daedalis]

They were dirt cheap if you used Dubloons to buy them. No TP needed.

I spent no more than 3 hours in the wilderness and ended up with over 25 compasses. Were you killing anything or just running around asking for handouts?

Yeap I was killing anything and everything I could including the red named lady that like to stun you every 2 seconds. They don't last very long in a maximized BB.....I don't run around asking for handouts....broccoli bites maybe but not handouts (I'm allergic to homework assignments) :). My guildies I was running with had 20 something of them, but I didn't get a single compass the entire time. And yes, I know that you can buy them with doh'bloons....but still after 3 hrs of killing **** and not a single compass....Really!....I swear my loot modifier is like a -100000000 that is after any rolls of -20^100. :) I had plenty of gold, silver, and not so many copper doh'bloons. And had 45 map pieces and 3 full maps.

[davemm]

i like the yearly idea especially if the events become more like crystal cove. If u play just one character shure your gunna get the items you want for him then be done, but.. If you play alot of characters then it could take a few years to get all the items you might want from that quest . especially if they add a few here and there. it keeps me interested in my characters build aswell. id be like "man if i get that item next year i need to build him like this" giving me a sense of anticipation, and keepeing interest. but the craftables have to span a wide range of class types for us who play multiple characters. plus i think a person who participated in a live evnt should get a pretty well powered wepon for it especially if its a long grind

[Zorack00]

Yeap I was killing anything and everything I could including the red named lady that like to stun you every 2 seconds. They don't last very long in a maximized BB.....I don't run around asking for handouts....broccoli bites maybe but not handouts (I'm allergic to homework assignments) :). My guildies I was running with had 20 something of them, but I didn't get a single compass the entire time. And yes, I know that you can buy them with doh'bloons....but still after 3 hrs of killing **** and not a single compass....Really!....I swear my loot modifier is like a -100000000 that is after any rolls of -20^100. :) I had plenty of gold, silver, and not so many copper doh'bloons. And had 45 map pieces and 3 full maps.

I do not see the problem if you, in fact, knew that you could buy the compass for doubloons...