Blessings of (removed), are these SSG PR event?

[Poppastump]

Recently there has been a character running around the Harbor, Marketplace, and Korthos of various servers engaging with players and giving them advice and Experience Stones, and making them members of a secret order called (removed) Fellows. The character contacts a player or players and asks them if they know what it calls the Blessing of (removed). The character talks like a fantasy missionary for some mysterious order or Deity in a pretty tongue&cheek fashion, and urges them to become their best selves, etc.. so maybe more Tony Robbins then missionary Ha!

It has struck me as the type of underground Marketing common ten years ago, and while I haven't been able to catch up with this character some family and friends have and I'm pretty impressed.

As I related elsewhere, my Grandson and his party were each given a herotic xp stone after they agreed to dance with the '(removed) Fellow' on the tables in the lobster. Then he said he was making them all members of the '(removed) Fellows' whatever that means and joined them on the butcher's path adventure. Here is the part that made me laugh, the character got killed right away and then spent a couple of mins doing a melodramatic 'death scene' urging them to 'leave me behind...', 'it's getting dark', 'go be grand fellows!', etc... it was the most fun my Grandson has had in weeks playing, and they got xp stones. He hasn't stopped talking about it since and he and his friends started handing out healing potions and loot to new players to pass it on and 'become (removed)".

It's been a bit of a discussion topic among my parties, raids, and guild as well. Mostly whether this is an official campaign to keep the player base engaged and surprise them or if it is some nutjob with too much money, or a cheater who had a change of heart. The way that toon is everywhere and not secretive in the way you would expect a cheater to be as well as the way all the comments and actions are so scripted and polished make me think it's SSG. Some of the names in public chat are part of the ddo lexicon and loot, and the way the character roleplays within parties suggested a voice actor or street busker. What I can say? if this is not a PR stunt by SSG, it should be.

To hit on the effect of the interaction again, I think my little guy will remember questing with the character long after he has forgotten about the xp stone, he keeps trying to role-play in voice chat now as well, very funny, you haven't lived until you have heard one of his new death scene monologues.

[Bjond]

This is the first I've heard of something like this in DDO. It's pretty cool whether it's SSG or not. I only did minor RP stuff back in EQ1 on FV (the RP server), but I still have a lot of good memories of interactions with the die-hard 100% in-character population there.

RP'ers always lift up an MMO.

[korgzz_bloodaxe]

Those xp stones are probably not genuine.

[timmy9999]

Recently there has been a character running around the Harbor, Marketplace, and Korthos of various servers engaging with players and giving them advice and Experience Stones, and making them members of a secret order called Grand Fellows. The character contacts a player or players and asks them if they know what it calls the Blessing of Grand. The character talks like a fantasy missionary for some mysterious order or Deity in a pretty tongue&cheek fashion, and urges them to become their best selves, etc.. so maybe more Tony Robbins then missionary Ha!

It has struck me as the type of underground Marketing common ten years ago, and while I haven't been able to catch up with this character some family and friends have and I'm pretty impressed.

As I related elsewhere, my Grandson and his party were each given a herotic xp stone after they agreed to dance with the 'Grand Fellow' on the tables in the lobster. Then he said he was making them all members of the 'Grand Fellows' whatever that means and joined them on the butcher's path adventure. Here is the part that made me laugh, the character got killed right away and then spent a couple of mins doing a melodramatic 'death scene' urging them to 'leave me behind...', 'it's getting dark', 'go be grand fellows!', etc... it was the most fun my Grandson has had in weeks playing, and they got xp stones. He hasn't stopped talking about it since and he and his friends started handing out healing potions and loot to new players to pass it on and 'become GRAND".

It's been a bit of a discussion topic among my parties, raids, and guild as well. Mostly whether this is an official campaign to keep the player base engaged and surprise them or if it is some nutjob with too much money, or a cheater who had a change of heart. The way that toon is everywhere and not secretive in the way you would expect a cheater to be as well as the way all the comments and actions are so scripted and polished make me think it's SSG. Some of the names in public chat are part of the ddo lexicon and loot, and the way the character roleplays within parties suggested a voice actor or street busker. What I can say? if this is not a PR stunt by SSG, it should be.

To hit on the effect of the interaction again, I think my little guy will remember questing with the character long after he has forgotten about the xp stone, he keeps trying to role-play in voice chat now as well, very funny, you haven't lived until you have heard one of his new death scene monologues.

Rob from the rich and give to the poor, maybe he would do better in a RPG guild. Sounds very amusing though.
Put him on the players council, I like this guy.....oh is there a players cancel...that's right they sacked them all because they were ranged bow users ..

[Poppastump]

Those xp stones are probably not genuine.

The stone did work for my Grandson, but we don't know whether it was an SSG provided xp stone or otherwise. That really is the unanswered aspect of this, isn't it? I'm no spoil-sport, but I am curious and cautious enough by nature to want to put it out there to find out if it is an SSG marketing tactic or not. I saw that character running around on multiple occasions yesterday and again today. This morning my party and I watched it interact with Half a dozen PCs while we were waiting on our tank.

[kanordog]

Ibtl

[HungarianRhapsody]

I'd think it kind of has to be an SSG marketing thing at this point because they've known about this for months/years now and it has still continued, so what other explanation could there really be?

[Poppastump]

No, it isn't.

Right, thanks for that. How did you find this out? I have been asking around and GM couldn't even tell me.

*Huh? you changed your post?

I'd think it kind of has to be an SSG marketing thing at this point because they've known about this for months/years now and it has still continued, so what other explanation could there really be?

I guess cheaters have been doing that 'thing' you are referring to for a while, I only heard about it in the really long thread from last week. But the Blessings of Grand event/scene seems to be an entirely different stripe of cat from that. Not to mention all the roleplay aspects and interaction, curiouser and curiouser.

[kanordog]

Right, thanks for that. How did you find this out? I have been asking around and GM couldn't even tell me.

- SSG advertises their promotions on forums&launcher
- SSG do live events and it is usually Cordovan broadcasting it on twitch
- https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...iate-attention

[GramercyRiff]

I cannot help but be very amused at this. I am sorry.

[acemonkey]

Right, thanks for that. How did you find this out? I have been asking around and GM couldn't even tell me.

*Huh? you changed your post?

Common sense. 2 possibilities, the dupers are having fun with what they have (and maybe trying to muddy the trail), or SSG decided to do a very limited giveaway of something they last gave away in IIRC 2012, by a different method, and to an extremely limited audience instead of just spawning one in people's inventories and announcing it like a company trying to do something nice for their playerbase would.

I'm already not paying for the game since January due to SSG just being bad at managing DDO, but they aren't quite that laughably bad.

[Dnarth]

A blessing from Grand.... a SSG PR stunt.....


I am one for a good conspiracy theory even it backed by a mere thread of reality.

How do you make a illegal action unenforceable? Make everyone guilty of the action. Classic rules of subversion.

[Poppastump]

- SSG advertises their promotions on forums&launcher
- SSG do live events and it is usually Cordovan broadcasting it on twitch
- https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...iate-attention

Thanks again Dog and monkey, I'd just point out that it does have some of the hallmarks of an underground marketing campaign. I remember years ago Microsoft hired quite a few counter/marketing companies that ended up spraying the X symbol for the Xbox all over sidewalks and streets in major cities around the globe to great effect, which some cities tried to charge microsoft for the clean up.

The way this Remremi character keeps operating in the open public areas, of various servers for a couple of weeks now with no stop and advertising on LFMs and in General chat make me think there is at least a small chance this is an SSG backed or at least approved event, and an effective one I might add. I've heard of the character appearing as lots of different races, free and pay types as well.

Either way hopefully Cordovan will let us in on the joke, or I guess drop the boom on the involved parties (hopefully not my grandson) at some point.

[HungarianRhapsody]

I guess cheaters have been doing that 'thing' you are referring to for a while, I only heard about it in the really long thread from last week. But the Blessings of Grand event/scene seems to be an entirely different stripe of cat from that. Not to mention all the roleplay aspects and interaction, curiouser and curiouser.

Oh yes. The duping of Otto's Boxes has been happening for years now and this latest wave of duping that used a method which has worked for quite a while but just got more popular and well known has been going on LOUDLY since May.

SSG knew about the duping since before May and they've known about the massive increase in duping since May. At this point, I have to imagine that they're joining in and turning it into a media stunt because it's not a secret who is selling heavily discounted Otto's boxes and other expensive DDO Store items.

[Poppastump]

Oh yes. The duping of Otto's Boxes has been happening for years now and this latest wave of duping that used a method which has worked for quite a while but just got more popular and well known has been going on LOUDLY since May.

SSG knew about the duping since before May and they've known about the massive increase in duping since May. At this point, I have to imagine that they're joining in and turning it into a media stunt because it's not a secret who is selling heavily discounted Otto's boxes and other expensive DDO Store items.

Oh. I. Can't help but think that it would be better to say cheater than using that word or going on to outline nefarious timelines in this thread please? I started this thread because of the other questions the ongoing event has raised such as engagement , roleplaying and experience and it would be sad if SSG or tbe creator backed away from ownership because posts like yours seek to shame them with a really broad brush... Just a request please, as I'd really like to get to the bottom of what is a pretty intriguing event. Thanks

[HungarianRhapsody]

Oh. I. Can't help but think that it would be better to say cheater than using that word or going on to outline nefarious timelines in this thread please? I started this thread because of the other questions the ongoing event has raised such as engagement , roleplaying and experience and it would be sad if SSG or tbe creator backed away from ownership because posts like yours seek to shame them with a really broad brush... Just a request please, as I'd really like to get to the bottom of what is a pretty intriguing event. Thanks

Okay. That’s pretty reasonable and I’m happy to do anything I can to encourage this kind of awesome entertainment.

[kanordog]

... years ago Microsoft hired quite a few counter/marketing companies that ended up spraying the X symbol for the Xbox all over sidewalks and streets...

What you describe here is advertisement and that is a really different thing than giving away Xbox games or Xboxes. The xp stones are actual products and selling them is a source of revenue like the games or consoles for microsoft.

If you want to roleplay there are guilds who do just that. Some of them so good they knock your socks off


ps.: How do You know that the guy is on different servers and different races? Just wondering...

[Cordovan]

My understanding is this is some form of targeted harassment against a player, and may also involve people engaged in violations of our Terms of Service. We will not be promoting this activity here, as it is in violation of the rules.