Hope that title was descriptive enough, as you infracted and deleted my last post for that reason. I was not, in fact, going to bother posting again, but I figure maybe these ideas could save some aggravation in the future for someone.
I see three issues with the event, the first being rewards. The rewards for the quest side of things seemed a bit disappointing, especially after the headache of it breaking and having to wait and stress, as it was a one time event and time is a commodity. However, that isn’t really an issue for me. What was an issue for me was the final event.
Imagine you have friends in town, so you schedule a block of time in the afternoon to try and make it to the “big event” in your favorite game. You log in a bit early, and as the event starts, you realize that it is starting at a location you haven’t discovered yet. You find your way there however, and eventually catch up to the group of demolitions experts and fellow heroes fighting their way toward the enemy hive. The fighting is thick and difficult, but despite heavy losses your group finally plant the explosives and are ready to celebrate with their much earned reward… Well no not yet I guess. So the group trek across the island to find the next part of this event and begin battle with the enemy forces. Battle is fought, war is waged, repair and waypoint bills are paid, and finally the group reaches the goal, ready to recieve… Well not much of anything. So you begin what appears to be the final phase, pushing the enemy back into it’s hive, destroying webbing of some sort as you go, only a few left and then…
You run out of time, and your visiting friends pick you up for dinner. You leave yourself logged in, hoping that maybe having participated will count somehow. When you come home you find out that the reward was a chest full of great things. So after 4 hours, 30 silver in repair and waypoint bills, 5 or 6 Instant Repair Canisters, 1 Instant Self Res Thingy (pink sphere of ressiness?), and time away from close friends you wont see again for a long time… You get nothing.
The chips fall where the chips fall, and my bitterness will eventually fade. But may I recommend a tiered approach to rewards? So you wanna give a chest with 5 things? Why not 1 chest after each portion of the event? Not with 5 things of course, just break it up and spread it out. Thus people who participate in only part of the event, are rewarded for only part of the event. People who completed the whole thing, are rewarded for the entire thing. Sure it would still sting for folks who ran out of time like I did, at least we would have walked away with something.
Next up is the “One Time Event”. Just don’t. I could have participated easily at various points throughout the weekend. But not during prime daylight hours, it is the weekend after all, my wife is off work, and as mentioned before, we had company. Do the event, by all means do the event. Then instance it, and allow entry through a given point, such as the boat guy in Lion’s Arch. Then players can group up and repeat, or in many cases complete the event for the first time. Sure some will still miss out, but the number will be far less, as would the strain on the server I would imagine. Use those overflows!
Lastly, more of a personal request…
Think of the melee? We play melee because we like to get up close and hit things, or in some cases absorb the thing’s hits. This event saw most of us having to switch to a ranged weapon, or be forced to run around trying to res people. I don’t mind these options except that isn’t what I built my warrior for. I wanted to punch things, and take a few punches in turn. Sure at a few points we got to smack inanimate objects, like gas vents or a rock wall, but that is about as satisfying as it sounds.
So that’s all I’ve got, sorry if I come across as sarcastic or “pissy” as some would say, but I don’t like getting infracted when I am trying to be helpful.