How to fix the mimic event and appease the Angry Mob™

[Grace_ana]

So Turbine...if you did the following, you would pretty much immediately make 80% of the angry people much happier:

1. Give everyone a card bag. Seriously. Making people buy the bag for an anniversary event is bad form. Last year we got a bag and starter cards for free. Before that we got free cake with free items. See the pattern? An anniversary event is supposed to be a gift to the players. You don't make people buy their own presents.

2. Make the mimic bait double motes instead of create one mimic. Because 95tp is not worth it to skip two runs through Haverdasher. It's ridiculous. The sales for the bait as it stands will likely be anemic at best, whereas people will actually buy double mote potions like they buy slayer boosts and such.

3. Make the mimics also drop whatever loot they were going to drop after you kill them. This keeps people from griefing one way or the other. Everyone gets what they want.

4. Make higher level mimics drop more motes. This should have been obvious.

5. Fix the threshold for the mimic frenzy. I've been on most of the day on a relatively well-populated server and there hasn't been one yet. It should happen at least three times a day.

I'd prefer random random random items not be btc, but at this point with the table on the wiki up it probably doesn't matter all that much. It will matter to the many players that don't read the forums or the wiki, but I'd imagine recoding all the items to be bta would not work well.

Get crackin'. You only have a week and a half before it's over. Or pull it down, fix it, and put it back up. I like the idea of random mimics for sure. It's fun. I'd even love for something like that to be in the game all the time. But the rewards system is pretty messed up.

[General_Gronker]

3. Make the mimics also drop whatever loot they were going to drop after you kill them.

Uh, they already do this one.

[Grace_ana]

Uh, they already do this one.

Then it's wonky, because it isn't always.

[ExaltedDarkness]

1: Just because you can buy inventory slots & bags with TP: it does not make it okay to design additions to the game that shift them from a quality of life issue toward a necessity. You know how much of your player base are pack rats, this tends toward exploitative (especially when you did the right thing with a 40th anniversary assuming you HAD to add that many items to the game).

2: Doesn't really concern me, I wouldn't buy bait. A single mimic guarantee is terrible. Double Mote for a duration is a more interesting offer though I'd still probably go without (seeing as I can't predict frenzy and it is super easy to miss the starting bell).

3: I second General: Every time I've interacted with a chest that transforms into a mimic, a pile of gold forms containing the loot from opening the chest; and I got a sigil piece from the end chest turned mimic someone else opened so I don't understand this complaint. When does loot not drop from a mimic?

4: is a valid observation, though subjective. The result of not scaling rewards makes haverdasher and irestone good farming grounds at any level (and preferred for speed by high levels). It allows any level to gather the items without necessarily blockading a group who would otherwise be stuck running quests light on chests to farm.

My main complaint is the lack of information about how many mimics remain til Frenzy or how much longer is left on Frenzy. How does the guild announcement system work? could you create a mimic specific alert that counts down every 100 or however many mimics are killed before frenzy and if frenzy is active currently.

Also I imagine one of the goals is to increase trade among the player base but The RNG of the turn-in does feel unfair if it only runs for two weeks. You specifically design it to require multiple 9 cards for the most valuable items (I mostly just wanted 2 ruby of vampire slayer which would have required only 4 days in the old mabar); this is better than the 40th in that I can actually obtain multiple cards a day (so i actually may get +5 tome this time) but in a way it is just another lottery. Farming and Lottery aren't really fun mechanics separately, mixing two meh mechanics doesn't make a good one.

[Hephaistor]

I kind of like the angry mob, pehaps DDO makes it in a game blog that way. Because every attention is good attention. No?

[Lonnbeimnech]

How is the card bag different from the cookie jar? Why is no one upset about the cookie jar?

[Hephaistor]

How is the card bag different from the cookie jar? Why is no one upset about the cookie jar?

Because the card bag we got with the trading card event was free and when I remember it right some people were upset about the cookie jars in the store too.
And people got a bit more sensitive the last updates.

[ExaltedDarkness]

I believe festivult gets a buy because that was a legacy issue. You are correct it was an equally bad design decision (perhaps worse at the time) to clutter inventory with that mass of seasonal items.

Festivault started in 2006, where as collectable, ingredient, and gem bags themselves weren't introduced until September 2007; The Cookie Jar even later. So yes while I said nothing about the cookie jar, i'd already had a dedicated bank tab to them so I wasn't loosing something when the bag was introduced (it entered the game as a inventory solution to a previous problem). Where as now you've got acknowledgment that inventory space is a problem (the bags exist and mentioned the inventory issue when they were added) and a similar event(D&D's 40th, DDO's 8th Anniversary) having addressed it before it was a question. This triggers loss aversion in the player base and looks like negligence (or if so inclined, conspiracy,) on the part of the devs.

Edit: also the cookies were designed to be consumed; if this is Mabar's replacement the expectation is the motes and cards will be reused so it isn't only the hoarders who would seek to keep them.

[Paleus]

The flaw in this logic is that any "fix" to the mimic event will appease the "Angry Mob." Let's be honest, Turbine changes something about the event some people in the angry mob will be appeased, some people in the angry mob will get angrier, and some people will now join the angry mob. Maybe we'll get to the point where the angry mob is smaller (hopefully not because they leave the game) but I don't think we can have a forums without an angry mob.

That said, the one thing I'd suggest (because yes I like proposing hopeless things) is for Turbine to give up on the Hall of Heroes. I don't know about you, but I rarely go there, its out of the way, too large, and kinda just meh. So what have they done, increasingly placed important things in there hoping I'll be enticed to show up, when what usually happens is I don't even know something new is in there. Instead, just make a Chester NPC and have him appear in the places that the Jester NPC appears. If I need to go somewhere to turn something off, make it somewhere that I'm likely to just walk by and see.

[RD2play]

How is the card bag different from the cookie jar? Why is no one upset about the cookie jar?

cookie jar is a choice for ppl who want to farm cookies and keep them for use year round, the bag is part of an Anniversary event and should be free, at least give everyone the 10 slot bag and tell them if they want the bigger one to buy it, would be better imo

[RD2play]

So Turbine...if you did the following, you would pretty much immediately make 80% of the angry people much happier:

1. Give everyone a card bag. Seriously. Making people buy the bag for an anniversary event is bad form. Last year we got a bag and starter cards for free. Before that we got free cake with free items. See the pattern? An anniversary event is supposed to be a gift to the players. You don't make people buy their own presents.

2. Make the mimic bait double motes instead of create one mimic. Because 95tp is not worth it to skip two runs through Haverdasher. It's ridiculous. The sales for the bait as it stands will likely be anemic at best, whereas people will actually buy double mote potions like they buy slayer boosts and such.

3. Make the mimics also drop whatever loot they were going to drop after you kill them. This keeps people from griefing one way or the other. Everyone gets what they want.

4. Make higher level mimics drop more motes. This should have been obvious.

5. Fix the threshold for the mimic frenzy. I've been on most of the day on a relatively well-populated server and there hasn't been one yet. It should happen at least three times a day.

I'd prefer random random random items not be btc, but at this point with the table on the wiki up it probably doesn't matter all that much. It will matter to the many players that don't read the forums or the wiki, but I'd imagine recoding all the items to be bta would not work well.

Get crackin'. You only have a week and a half before it's over. Or pull it down, fix it, and put it back up. I like the idea of random mimics for sure. It's fun. I'd even love for something like that to be in the game all the time. But the rewards system is pretty messed up.

1, yes!
2, yes!
3, loot remains! check the quest loot pile (looks like gold!)
4, dunno about this
5, Yes just make it every 3hours, thus 8 per day, so most people will get at least one frenzy during their play session!

well the loot has been coded, better luck next year I guess....

[Qhualor]

How is the card bag different from the cookie jar? Why is no one upset about the cookie jar?

its not any different but people are gonna complain regardless just because.

[MadCookieQueen]

Morning Mobbers!


Okay let's fix this event. I think we have some great ideas and let's sit down and work them out!


1. Like any other event give it it's own area...use a challenge area and set a bunch of chest around and some monsters to fight...make it a goal to open as many chests (not everyone has a mimic make it a 75% chance) and slay as many mimics as you can in like 10 minutes. Higher the challenge...more motes it's hands you. If we went this route then mimic bait should work like a minor slayer pot and last for at least 30 minutes, pause in public areas. Have it activate every other hour or two hours but don't make me collect more things to start it. There you go...Mimic Fenzy indeed!


2. The card bag should have been free...end of story


3. Mote turn-ins should have allowed you to select the card you want (sliding scale of motes required for the card)...this way you can work towards a goal and get what you want...not hope and pray Example: Card 1 = 1000 Card 9 = 10,000 motes card amounts would scale based on the average amounts of motes that can come form the challenges. So if you're likely to see 25 motes per challenge, then scale it back to half or less but if you're going to see about 200 per challenge then keep it at 1000. - adding this in for clarity...those were example numbers.


4. The gear should not have been Mabar...they should of edited and tweaked last year's table...left a few things in and edited the rest...upgrade skill tomes to +5's or new ever lasting potions (GH or Greater Restoration)...new augments (true seeing or HA +10% anyone?)...you get the hint

That's my initial thoughts...some really resonate with the OP and some are different.

Come on Mobbers! Let's get our "Mimic Frenzy" going!

[Ghlitch]

The flaw in this logic is that any "fix" to the mimic event will appease the "Angry Mob." Let's be honest, Turbine changes something about the event some people in the angry mob will be appeased, some people in the angry mob will get angrier, and some people will now join the angry mob. Maybe we'll get to the point where the angry mob is smaller (hopefully not because they leave the game) but I don't think we can have a forums without an angry mob.

That's why I joined The Apathetic Mob.

Mimics spawning from your chest? Meh, kill it and move on.
Don't like the event? Meh, those motes only take up one green bag slot. And they don't cause server-wide lag.
Traded in motes and now you have cards taking up inventory space? Meh, at most you're out 10 spots. Stuff them on an alt.
Like the event but not getting enough motes? Meh, if it's that important, go farm for them.
Don't like the random nature of the cards? Meh, most things in DDO are determined by a dice roll.
Don't like the rewards? Meh, not gonna kill you to not get rewards you like for a limited time event.
Think pugging will be hurt because someone might not like mimics? Meh, these mimics are easy kills and it's not like there's a ton of chests per quest anyway.

In conclusion: Meh.

[MaeveTuohy]

4. Make higher level mimics drop more motes. This should have been obvious.

This is not obvious, because it isn't a good idea. This favours players with high-level characters, which not everyone has.

Even linking the drop rate to level range (say, making Irestone only drop for characters no more than level 7) would just see players run their level-relevant characters, or roll up a new one just for farming.

No matter which way you run it, players who want to farm will aggregate to the level bracket that best suits farming, so to make that out of reach to some just seems spiteful.

[MaeveTuohy]

Morning Mobbers!


Okay let's fix this event. I think we have some great ideas and let's sit down and work them out!


1. Like any other event give it it's own area...use a challenge area and set a bunch of chest around and some monsters to fight...make it a goal to open as many chests (not everyone has a mimic make it a 75% chance) and slay as many mimics as you can in like 10 minutes. Higher the challenge...more motes it's hands you. If we went this route then mimic bait should work like a minor slayer pot and last for at least 30 minutes, pause in public areas. Have it activate every other hour or two hours but don't make me collect more things to start it. There you go...Mimic Fenzy indeed!


2. The card bag should have been free...end of story


3. Mote turn-ins should have allowed you to select the card you want (sliding scale of motes required for the card)...this way you can work towards a goal and get what you want...not hope and pray Example: Card 1 = 1000 Card 9 = 10,000 motes


4. The gear should not have been Mabar...they should of edited and tweaked last year's table...left a few things in and edited the rest...upgrade skill tomes to +5's or new ever lasting potions (GH or Greater Restoration)...new augments (true seeing or HA +10% anyone?)...you get the hint

That's my initial thoughts...some really resonate with the OP and some are different.

Come on Mobbers! Let's get our "Mimic Frenzy" going!

While I don't agree with you card costs (1,000 for a single card 1, my goodness, even 1/100 of that might not be worth it) I like your ideas much better than the OP.

Add in that the event needs a countdown to the next Frenzy, ather than just some players getting lucky.

[MadCookieQueen]

This is not obvious, because it isn't a good idea. This favours players with high-level characters, which not everyone has.

Even linking the drop rate to level range (say, making Irestone only drop for characters no more than level 7) would just see players run their level-relevant characters, or roll up a new one just for farming.

No matter which way you run it, players who want to farm will aggregate to the level bracket that best suits farming, so to make that out of reach to some just seems spiteful.

Cove does it this way...depending on your level range it gives you collectibles based on the level...Rubies versus Stolen Star Rubies (for example). The trade in amounts to convert are downward only and at a 3:1 ratio...so your level 28 could in essence "farm" for low level gear. So no matter what you do if you only have a level 12 toon, you aren't saving up for that epic swashbuckler during this pass.

That being said...perhaps if the cards were at different levels (like a set for 1 - 10, 11 - 20, 20-28) then it could be done. and you'd have flexibility to run it at your level range getting the best that you can for you, now.

It's not perfect, by any means, but the idea that harder the challenge = more rewards is as old as gaming itself.

[Kylstrem]

That's why I joined The Apathetic Mob.

Mimics spawning from your chest? Meh, kill it and move on.
Don't like the event? Meh, those motes only take up one green bag slot. And they don't cause server-wide lag.
Traded in motes and now you have cards taking up inventory space? Meh, at most you're out 10 spots. Stuff them on an alt.
Like the event but not getting enough motes? Meh, if it's that important, go farm for them.
Don't like the random nature of the cards? Meh, most things in DDO are determined by a dice roll.
Don't like the rewards? Meh, not gonna kill you to not get rewards you like for a limited time event.
Think pugging will be hurt because someone might not like mimics? Meh, these mimics are easy kills and it's not like there's a ton of chests per quest anyway.

In conclusion: Meh.

Stop using common sense! Everyone knows angry mobs have no common sense.

Dammit! Turbine created an event to give some stuff, but it doesn't do everything awesome enough, therefore it's ALL bad and people just can't ignore the event. Dammit! They are entitled to have everything awesome all the time for their own personal fun... and a bonus that's not perfect for them is a detriment.

(Note, the card bags being a Store item, should let you know just how "on its last legs" this game is... you can bet that was the decision of a bean counter and not a game developer)

[MadCookieQueen]

While I don't agree with you card costs (1,000 for a single card 1, my goodness, even 1/100 of that might not be worth it) I like your ideas much better than the OP.

Add in that the event needs a countdown to the next Frenzy, ather than just some players getting lucky.


It was just an example...I figured the card amounts would scale based on the average amounts of motes that can come form the challenges. So if you're likely to see 25 motes per challenge, then scale it back to half or less but if you're going to see about 200 per challenge then keep it at 1000.

[Powskier]

angry mobs are for real problems..like when child molesters are set free..save your rage for a real problem ,or a nice slayer pit!

[arkonas]

honestly, im not bothered by the event. just like any other i just do my normal thing. sure some numbers could be adjusted like the mimic frenzy. i would assume we would see it a few times a day. in the off peak ours at least once for our other countries to get in on the fun.