Feedback on latest Admin (Jack's) quest

[poulter]

TLDR:Would benefit from a context and a reason for running the quest.

Quest worked apart from the end /turn in, when the message contradicted itself i.e. you are one of the first 30 - and I wasn't. (I did the Advanced path).

Concerns:

Context /Purpose:
Not much of a background story, or reason why people should complete the quest e.g. 'Your annual tax is due and you owe the State the following items <list>. Failure to comply within x days (played) will result in loss of access to Council Storage facilities'.
As such, it felt like it was just removing inventory from the game.

As a result, no relevant reason to repeat the quest should it ever be offered again.

First 30:
The first 30 to turn in the quest could lead to competition and decrease co-operative behaviour
Some people might consider it unfair (due to time zone, etc.)

Materials required:
The quest required a lot of materials and in terms of rewards received versus material and time required was a 'loss'.
The items from the Sewer were particularly onerous to gather.

[mrwarp]

The main purpose of the event was to test mechanics and stability of the new system. As was the purpose of all of the events that have been so far, and will remain the purpose of events to come for at least the next couple of months.

Some will be more interesting than others. Some you will want to do and some you won't. Some you will be able to do and some you will not be able to do. There are lots of different scenarios to build and test before we are ready to do anything really serious with the new event system. Not to mention Lemons and myself have to figure out how to do it all first!

That all being said, giving feedback about it is also fine. We can use it when the next pass for it comes around. As far as participation, that is your choice to make. As with any event, live or otherwise, that has ever been in this game, participation is always optional.

[Vish]

i think that you should use <Normal mode> name in <Easy Mode> place
difficult difference between <Easy> and <Advanced> was not so big, Easy mode was only slightly easier than advanced version of quest

Quest work fine for me :)

BTW few of possible reward for future may be: random recipe that player character don't know (may be hard to code) exp in random battle/no battle/ production skills (3 option to choice) that characters can level (not maxed on this character)

[Mbaums]

Reward wise: Some people i've talked with did not feel like the rewards were worth it. They felt 'jipped' from the lvl 80 recipes. I think they were hoping for the recipes that on paper exist, but have not dropped yet. This would be like some of the mushroom teleportation abilities people are missing. I dont have enough of the quality phlog to make the lvl 75 and 80 armor option worth it, so I decided to gamble and pick the exp potions. I figured, yeah the gems are safest for $, but I can farm them myself but if I were to get a gender studies or phrenology skill potion? jackpot. With the size of this quest, two of the reward options would have been nice.


Mechanism wise: I think what could be added is the ability for admins to make a quest that updates like other quest in the game in the quest journal. Maybe if every player had ~5 invisible admin quests that were turned on from admin-objects. I figure thats down the line, where other background systems need to be hammered out first. I get that the quest was 20 items to test out a large quest size. It did however feel like a small sized guild quest. The rattus roots were a bit of a pain, but some people had them hoarded. Risk vs Reward wise, 5 instead of 15 would have been alright, because it 15 literally took folks ~2 hours and thats 1 item. The skins were also a bit much for people who did not have them hoarded.

I think in the future once the testing is all done a mix of hunting existing common items and ground clickies would be best. It would also be interesting to see a 'go to X region' type of admin event, but I figure that is ways away, and I would not want to see that unless the quest would be in the journal.

[Celler]

Despite doing the advanced quest twice kind of, I somehow missed the quantities and collected one of everything and needed to redo properly.

I still managed to be one of the first 30 to complete and there for had 2 rewards and extra holistic wellness exp.

I don't like these race type things, it makes the spawns needed even more important especially when there non elite and can only lead to trouble if many are there. Secondly it seems lame to reward folks for where they happen to live , cause that is basically what you are doing.
It's also weighted towards those longer term players that have stored stacks of items for me the quest consisted of getting malingo skulll the chap book and 4 fairy wings everything else was just a case of picking up from storage.

The value of all the items as mentioned above was far greater than the reward which was disappointing.
The hollistic exp was welcome, but there are those that have it maxed. Some transparency before hand for those handing over stuff would of been better or an optional skill exp reward instead.
To find out you have no reward as you have already done the lvls must of sucked.

Don't want to sound negative, am grateful these are being tried out, but feel if too many are like this one they will not get tried in the future.

[Yaffy]

I don't like these race type things, it makes the spawns needed even more important especially when there non elite and can only lead to trouble if many are there. Secondly it seems lame to reward folks for where they happen to live , cause that is basically what you are doing.

I agree, the "Race" aspect really turned me off from it. When I logged in and heard about the event for the first time, 27 out of 30 of the rewards were already taken. At that point I just decided to not even bother because I didn't want to go to the trouble of doing the event and then potentially being number 31+ and wasting my time. If the rewards were really good/unique it would just make a lot of people upset.

[Alopias]

I’m relatively new to playing Project: Gorgon, having only started 6 weeks ago or so. I have a several combat skills at 50-55. I’ve mostly spent time in Serbule Hills, Serbule and Eltibule, with a little bit of time in Kur Mountains and Sun Vale.

I decided to try out the easy mode version of the event. I had a good chunk of the required items stored up and went out to farm the rest. Most of the items were relatively easy, but a few (perfect giant snail shells) were fairly time consuming – which is fine.

My biggest frustration with the event, however, was that one of the items - Enchanted Holly Seeds - I had never come across or heard of before this event. I had no idea where to get them. Scavenger Hunts usually have clues, not just a list of items. So I really had no idea what or where I should be looking. The entry on the Wiki only states “drops from monsters” which is not exactly helpful. After doing some googling, I came across the Wiki entry for the fairy in Sun Vale that will barter for them. This led me to believe that they must drop in Sun Vale. I spent a good 5+ hours farming anything I could there, sand dogs, ranalon, trolls, boars, etc. No seeds. I also kept checking the market but no one had them listed. I asked around a couple times and never got a response on where I could find them.

Finally, last night, after spending all of my in-game time for 2+ days trying to complete this event, someone had them listed in the market for 650 councils, so I bought them and completed it. Even though I turned it in Monday night, I apparently was still one of the first 30 and got the bonus chest.

I don’t mind farming and going out and spending the day collecting a bunch of stuff, but being somewhat new to the game and not having any hints or clues on where to find some of the “scavenger hunt” items was a bit frustrating.

Still, I think the mechanics of the event were good. I just wish there would be hints on where to find some of the more unique items.

[RedSlave]

Enchanted Holly Seeds - I had never come across...

This was the reason I also didn't do it. I've come across maybe two of these in 100+ hours of play, and I have no recollection of where I got them. Also, having no idea what the reward was, it was hard to decide if it was worth my relatively small amount of time I have to play.

[Dibbuk]

I did the advanced part, and found the rewards to be FAR below the value of the items turned in, not to mention the time and effort wasted. The entire reward was not worth even one of the 20 items collected. I was completely disgusted with it.

[Jester]

I don't remember where I got enchanted Holly seeds specifically, but I am pretty sure they weren't dropped. I'm almost positive they were given as a reward, like a quest or hanging out. I remember receiving them and being like damn, can't wait til I can plant the--oh. Then I stuck them in storage and forgot about them until literally right now lol. I could totally be wrong tho and they dropped from a boss or something that I forgot. Point is, I've never come across them again.

[Daguin]

I don't remember where I got enchanted Holly seeds specifically, but I am pretty sure they weren't dropped. I'm almost positive they were given as a reward, like a quest or hanging out. I remember receiving them and being like damn, can't wait til I can plant the--oh. Then I stuck them in storage and forgot about them until literally right now lol. I could totally be wrong tho and they dropped from a boss or something that I forgot. Point is, I've never come across them again.
[Ice blocks in Kur]

[Jarlaxle]

I had a great time with the quest. I thought the race aspect of it really motivated me to get off my butt and do it right away and I enjoyed the competition aspect of it despite logging in almost 8 hours after it started. The holistic wellness exp was great and I felt the rewards were worth it especially at the chance of earning level 75 yellow gear. It was also fun for me racing to find those items, you can't really put a cost on fun right? haha. The competition aspect was a nice change from the norm. Even though I didn't actually receive yellow this time around, I did in the previous event.

[Golliathe]

Having an event to do is nice.... and I want to say thanks for that!


I agree, the "Race" aspect really turned me off from it. When I logged in and heard about the event for the first time, 27 out of 30 of the rewards were already taken. At that point I just decided to not even bother because I didn't want to go to the trouble of doing the event and then potentially being number 31+ and wasting my time. If the rewards were really good/unique it would just make a lot of people upset.

This echoes my feelings exactly.

Moreover I will add what someone else said about this scavenger hunt:

"It is laughable to have a scavenger hunt containing valuable items that older/wealthier/hoard minded players will have in their inventory".


I know for example of someone who had 99% of the items on the list in their bank. You can solve that by either making the required drops be completely worthless drops that nobody saves for anything (pottery shards and other junk items), have the event drop all new limited time items, or have the hunt be for things like the eggs from a previous event.

[mrwarp]

I'm really surprised nobody caught the easy holly seed score that was sitting right under everyone's noses.


Kill Tyxr the Guardian Elemental in Serbule and loot his chest. A guaranteed Enchanted Holly Seeds every time.

[Xaradas]

Ways to get Enchanted Holly Seeds
Guardian Elemental in Serbule - chest drops 1
Kur Mountain Ice Blocks have a chance of dropping them
Biting Vines in Sun Vale can drop them
Heartshroom can be traded to Yagreet in Sun Vale for them

[Tagamogi]

I'm really surprised nobody caught the easy holly seed score that was sitting right under everyone's noses.


Kill Tyxr the Guardian Elemental in Serbule and loot his chest. A guaranteed Enchanted Holly Seeds every time.

I know you should know that better than I, but I thought I killed him several times in the past without getting seeds? My very fuzzy memory is that I was trying to get seeds for favor gifts and when I tried to actually farm them, they turned out to be much more difficult to get reliably than I'd imagined.

Also, a single mob with a respawn timer isn't necessarily easy - I still remember the Mr Squeaky conga line at the beginning of the Ri-shin festival when everyone wanted to get his drop. Sure, eventually everyone got the drop, but if it had been a race things could have gotten a bit heated.

( I didn't participate in the scavenger hunt but holly seeds are a very important topic, so I had to jump in. )

[mrwarp]

I know you should know that better than I, but I thought I killed him several times in the past without getting seeds? My very fuzzy memory is that I was trying to get seeds for favor gifts and when I tried to actually farm them, they turned out to be much more difficult to get reliably than I'd imagined.

Also, a single mob with a respawn timer isn't necessarily easy - I still remember the Mr Squeaky conga line at the beginning of the Ri-shin festival when everyone wanted to get his drop. Sure, eventually everyone got the drop, but if it had been a race things could have gotten a bit heated.

( I didn't participate in the scavenger hunt but holly seeds are a very important topic, so I had to jump in. )

To be clear - the seeds drop in the chest that you open with the key that he drops...not directly from the mob. There were a few options to get the seeds, but I saw Tyxr as the "low hanging fruit" of those options.

[ErDrick]

Tyxr's chest does not give you a seed every time, most people would never know unless they killed him multiple times..and why would you. ( I knew though).

[Tagamogi]

To be clear - the seeds drop in the chest that you open with the key that he drops...not directly from the mob.

Yes, that's what I meant, sorry. The chest would have been my top pick for the seeds, too, except I don't think it's a guaranteed loot for it, just a fairly common one.

Also, after thinking about all the options Xaradas posted a bit more, I think holly seeds were actually a great scavenger hunt item. I like the barter option - it's not a barter I'd normally want to make but for a special event, sure... And Kur at least seems possible as an alternative too, if potentially time-consuming.

[Daguin]

I didn't participate in this event, but everyone should just be happy it didn't require enchanted mistletoe instead I suppose....