Feedback on the invasion event.

[aylwyne]

There were a lot of posts early on in the event complaining about the claw/token mechanics, but now that the event is finished, I wanted to create a thread where we can (hopefully) provide constructive feedback to the events team about what we liked and didn't like in this event. Please feel free to add your views on the event. I only ask that we try to keep the rants to a minimum and be constructive in our criticisms in an effort to create even cooler events in the future.

First, let me say that overall, I had a blast in the event. The most fun I've had playing Ryzom to date was last Tuesday in Bounty Beaches when we tried to set up a supply chain where the harvesters got secretion and turned it in for the crafters to get mats. I want to thank the event team for their hard work in setting this up and executing it for us.

First, some of the things I liked (by the way, I'm a Tryker so most of my views are based on what occured in Bounty Beaches):

1) People of all skill types could contribute. It was nice to see harvesting and crafting included, and in fact very important, to the event.

2) Noticable effect from our efforts. It was cool to see guards created when we turned in armor packages. Also, throughout the week we saw a noticable change in the kitin population, both due to the guards we created and us killing them directly.

3) It was nice to have some duration rather than it being a one-night event. This allowed many more people to participate.

4) Responsiveness of the event team. I imagine this was a busy week for them but even so, Takashi took time to talk to me about the relative difficulty of Bounty Beaches compared to the invasion layout in other lands. He agreed that the positioning of the camps and level of the mobs was not consistent with other areas and took some steps to help balance things as much as he could.


Now the areas I would like to see improved:

1) Reward vs. Contribution. The people most likely to get the big rewards were the ones that put aside the tasks required to complete the event and went to Verdant Heights to farm low level kipee for claws. As a result, those people had their 120 token rewards after the first night. I think there should be some reward for participating (items, titles, etc.) but you shouldn't end up getting these before any of the major tasks for the event are even started. The reward system needs to favor those that are actually doing the missions and advancing the event and I think the rewards should come after the event is successfully completed.

2) Noticable outcome. As soon as the Kipucker boss was killed, all of our guards, camps, and towers just vanished. These major events need to have a lasting effect on the landscape. At minimum, the buildings should have remained. Maybe the cutes could have occupied the war camp after we withdrew our forces. Perhaps a guard or two could have remained here and there. Heck, an NPC should have remained that became a rite giver that would give a rite telling the story of the kitin invasion. That'd be a cool way to have the events we participate in the game be integrated into the lore.

3) Risk of failure. I don't think there was ever any risk of failure in this event. It seems like it would have just gone on until we make enough guards and then went out and killed the boss. Frankly, I didn't expect that there would be a chance of failure. I understand that this is the first event of this scope and we needed at least one run to get the mechanics sorted out. However, in future events, I think it's important to have two possible outcomes. If the players rally to the cause and complete the tasks in a given amount of time, then they successfully complete the event. However, if they ignore the threat, I think there needs to be consequences. For example, if we didn't create enough guards and kill the boss in time, the kitins could have invaded further and destroyed Windermeer. All of the NPCs in Windermeer could have fleed and taken refuge in other cities or camps. While this wouldn't prevent any gameplay as the NPCs would still be available, just scattered about, it would certainly not be desireable and serve as a tangible reason to fight the invasion. This could lead to a future event where we could retake and rebuild the city.

4) Duration. Yes, I know that I also listed this as a positive, however, I think the invasion drug on a little too long. This ties into my point about risk of failure. It seems as if the event would have drug on until we finally got the boss killed. I think there should be a set time limit before the kitin make their final push and if we're not ready by then, we lose. I think 4 or 5 days would be a good duration, maybe starting early or mid week and then culminating on Saturday or Sunday.

5) Communication of tasks and goals by NPCs. A big reason this event got off to a rocky start was that the NPCs didn't fully communicate the goals to us in a clear and concise manner. There should have been a commander NPC in the capitol of each land that gave us the big picture (harvest mats, craft arms, and deliver packages to craete guards). This NPC could also provide updates and intel on what's happening. It would also serve as a more immersive way for the events team to give us guidance and information rather than using the MOTD or forums for that. If my previous idea of having a chance of failure was implemented, I think this becomes even more important. It would be incredibly frustrating to fail when we didn't even know the goals or deadlines. The commander NPC could say things like, "Our scouts report that the kitin are closing in and we expect their overlords to arrive in three days," to let us know how long we had to get our act together.

6) Balance between lands. After 5 days of struggle (and only 9 claws) in Bounty Beaches, I went to Verdant Heights to check things out there because I couldn't understand the posts where people said it was "too easy". I was pretty annoyed to find there were kitin as low as L16 and elites as low as L50 that would give 40 claws. I also was able to walk between the war camp and craft camp with only these low level kitin to bother me. In Bounty Beaches, we never saw a kitin lower than L150 until the very end of the event when we neared the kitin camp and they sent the waves of patrols at us. Most of the patrols were lower level. We had to fight through several groups of L150+ kitin just to make the trip from the craft camp to the war camp. There's no need to make each land be an exact copy of the next, but they shouldn't be so wildly different in their level of difficulty.

7) Include all levels of player. As stated above, the level of difficulty was pretty different between lands so this doesn't hold true to everyone. In Bounty Beaches, if you were a fighter lower than level 100, there really wasn't much you could do to help. Low level crafters could certainly help and low level healers could help some, but overall, it was really geared towards high level players. Perhaps the event team thought low level players could help in matis while the high level players helped in Tryker or something. The problem with that is, travel is difficult and many low level players can't get to the other lands. Also, loyalty to your own race would prevent that in many cases. It should be possible to have each land have areas of differing levels in the event. The NPCs could give out missions based on your actual level rather than letting you pick. Also, the claws could have been based on your level as well. That way, the higher level characters would be forced to deal with the higher level mobs in order to progress and the lower level characters would be left to deal with the lower level mobs.

8) Better mass combat tools (larger groups, better tactical interface, etc.). There's been many a post about this so I won't go into it.


I'm sure there's many more ideas to come. As a first major event that encompassed all skills, I think it was a great success. I really can't wait to see the events yet to come because I'm sure the team will learn from this one and make even better ones.

Thanks again to the event team.

[ackir]

I also think this was a great event, and just wanted to reiterate some of the things to improve on. Lasting effect on the world, be it failure or victory, would be awesome. After trying for a couple days to rouse the Zorai forces to liberate our craft camp, and being turned down constantly, I found myself wishing that the Kitin would move forward as a consequence. Other than that, I thought the event was executed well (even if we didn't really understand it until later).

[angus858]

I agree with Aylwyne in almost every regard. In particular it was nice having a role for the foragers and crafters. I'm glad the event ran several days so that almost nobody missed the entire event.

suggestions for improvement:

Again I agree with all of Aylwynes suggestions except for her criticism of the MOTD. I think the MOTD was a good way to let players know what was happening. Most low level players would not have known about the event otherwise. Perhaps the MOTD could also have directed players to an npc who could give all the details about how to participate. Every useful explanation of how to participate was posted on these boards when it should have been comming from the mouths of the npc's in-game.

Low level players should be able to participate more. Low level kitins should be present on each continent. In the Zorai lands there was nothing a young fighter could fight and all the elder Zorai who participated were doing so in other lands it seemed. I foraged a great deal of Q50 secretions but did it matter? No. The kitin never attacked into the settled regions. The guards weren't needed. Zora should be in flames right now. But it's business as usual. As Aylwyne mentioned, there was no way to lose and players actions had no effect on the world.

Despite all that the "invasion" did infuse the game with an atmosphere of tension and drama. I had fun because of that.

Indobi

[brackish]

I also thought this was a great event, even with its shaky beginning, which was definately due to the lack of or miscommunication of directions for the event. Given time we may have been able to figure it out on our own... but i think most were used to those short, quick events and gave up and went to farming claws.

The length of time it took to complete allowed more homins to take part and understand what needed to be done. This was definately a plus and it seemed like after the first night everybody knew what was going on, even if they didnt know what to do.

Reccomendations
1.Possible missions for lower level homins. I.E. Delivery missions from front to main cities. (Local Messengers)
2.Increase the range in materials that could have been crafted for the war effort. I.E. Jewelry, Ranged, etc.


Again, I think the Dev team did a great job overall and this definately gave me hope for this world and its future.

[Takashi]

Hello folks! It sounds like you enjoyed this overall and I'm very glad to hear it. I wanted to let you know that we appreciate your feedback and I'm listening. It's great to get constructive criticism and I hope we'll hear some more!
Thanks again!

Takashi
Ryzom GM
Windermeer Events Team

[mrshad]

I think there was enough for low level players to do. The trooper kipee were really weak, and one on one, they preseneted little threat to a 20-50 melee or magic character.

For harvesting and crafting you had to be able to gather and craft q50 items, but that only requires that you be at level 40 or so, and I don't think that was unreasonable.

The whole exhchange claws/tokens/super tokens routine must never EVER be repeated again, unless we can do it in batches of 50 or so.

Although the informaiton as to what was really going on got out, there was no place in game that someone could piece it together easily. If on e of the NPCs would have said "We need more guards, and those guards need equipment. Go and fill the orders the Master Crafter has, and return the packages he gives you to me. For every five packages I get, I can outfit and deploy a squad of guards." That would have cut down on a lot of confusion.

The kitin, even when they had an obvious and unnoposed advantage, did nothing to advance thier line. Conversley until the final battle, we could not drive them back in any meaningful way. In Matia, depsite legions of guards, and piles of kitin corpses, the towerbridge outpost remained infested. At the times when there were very few guards, and almost no resistance, the wall of Yrkaniss remianed unchallanged.

All in all, I like the event. Certainly one of the better ones I have seen in an MMO.

[aylwyne]

I think there was enough for low level players to do. The trooper kipee were really weak, and one on one, they preseneted little threat to a 20-50 melee or magic character.

In Tryker, there were no Trooper mobs. Everything was a Reaper which were 150+. In Matis lands, there were definitely low level mobs (and perhaps in Zorai and Fyros as well), but not for us little people.

[aylwyne]

I just thought of one other thing that I'd like to see changed...

I don't think the final boss should drop anything special. It always ends up that one person (whoever can grab the fastest) gets everything and everyone else gets nothing.

In my opinion, either everyone that hit the boss, cast a spell on it, or healed someone who did gets something, or no one should.

[vguerin]

In Tryker, there were no Trooper mobs. Everything was a Reaper which were 150+. In Matis lands, there were definitely low level mobs (and perhaps in Zorai and Fyros as well), but not for us little people.

As far as the low level kitins, they WERE in a level 50 zone, at the border of KoD and MG the line was clearly drawn and higher level mobs existed.

I think it was just a matter of geography, Tryker invasion was immersed in a level 150 zone so there was no spillage into a lower level area for similar mob types. Now the "Elite" class dropping 40 claws was not such a good idea...

Good posts !

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[raynes]

I think what has been said is what needs to be worked on. My only hope is that the events team isn't really the invasion team. What I mean by that is I hope there are some large major events (not just finding a nps) in the future that aren't centered around invasions. A major part of the game history is the fact that much of the homin history has been lost. It would be really nice if we had an event that involved uncovering some of that history.

I do applaud your effort with this event though. You clearly put thought into it and tried to make it for all players.