Just wanted to provide my own feedback about todays invasions, mostly because I did not enjoy the interactions.

The character I used was a 150th circle Moon Mage that is probably a bit weak in combat skills (he hunts mountain giants but has an easy time doing so).

First he tried to help with the invasion at the moon mage guild. Everyone was looking for a cleric to uncurse the invaders but no one seemed to know that sovereign destiny is a great alternative. He survived long enough to start casting SOD for about two seconds before dying. I tried a second time and he died pretty much immediately on entering the door to the moon mage guild.

Later, during the Haven invasion he arrived and noticed that the goblins were beneath his notice. He was using TKS to kill multiple goblins with one cast. Suddenly someone stepped up the difficulty and within one cast of TKS he went from Insta-kllling the enemies to a stun-lock death.

I have to say that I did not really enjoy either of these events because it seems like showing up just leads to deaths and lost favours, exp and downtime. I want to participate but ending up dead instantly is a turn off.

The more roles that can be created in invasions the better, IMO.

There were some really fun mechanics during the run-ups to an HE fest, for example. War totems would appear in town and periodically sound a gong that would injur people and fling them out of the room. PCs had to attack the totem to destroy it, and each totem took many attacks, but in order to attack the totem the character couldn't be in combat with anything else. The whole thing set up a really nice puzzle where the players had to time the pulses to withdraw before the gong, while attacking the totem, and clearing the creatures. Lots of roles for different people and not all of them involved tanking creatures.

It would be cool, for instance, if PCs could erect and man barricades that would keep creatures from wandering in the barricaded direction. They could use the barricades to create safe areas or corridors. It would be cool if there were civilian npcs who players could escort to safety. Things like that, to give people things to do that aren't directly tied to combat.


Mazrian

>>GMs say that player interaction does shape the event, wildly in some cases, but it's difficult to see from our end.

Well, I mean, this entire event happened because of player actions, and the way it wrapped was accomplished by a second, entirely different group of acting players?

I'm having trouble understanding where the complaint is coming from in the context of this event.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino

>>GMs say that player interaction does shape the event, wildly in some cases, but it's difficult to see from our end.<<

TLDR event summary 'cause I'm at work:

A group of PC Moon Mages decided to hold a group prediction in the astral plane in order to get a vision of the past concerning a mysterious Obelisk. Group predictions are forbidden by the Moon Mage guild because, basically, they have a high probability of turning out like this one did.

Another group of PCs decided "wow, this is a really bad idea, we should do something", so they organized a prayer meeting to pray to Harwep (the spinner of webs, connected to the skeins of fate in some sort of way) for her intercession when things inevitably went sideways.

The group prediction happened, as planned, in the Astral Plane. Pelag ai Aldem showed up in the Astral Plane, went "smh dudes what are you even doing..." and to drive the point home released a starlight Harbinger that pulped all the moon mages present at the event. No visions of the obelisk were had as far as I'm aware.

For Reasons such as being ticked at moon mages, zenics, starlight whataretheycalled, and the gigantic scary starlight harbinger then spilled out into the Plane of Abiding outside the Moon Mage guild and proceeded to wreck everyone and everything there. Everyone sent against the Harbinger died horribly and often. It was grim. If we'd had to kill the thing the conventional way it would probably still be sitting there.

However, Harwep heard the prayers directed at her (or,comedy option, was in on it from the start and figured people had learned their lessons) and immolated the participants in order to generate enough pain juice (I guess?) to fuel whatever process it took for her to mop up the harbinger and make the world safe for moon mages once again.

tldrtldr - The whole event started with PCs doing a thing, developed with PCs responding to that thing, and wrapped up based on the actions of the players. All in all about as reactive as a thing can get.

Mazrian

Never mind.

I'm not in the mood to argue with any of you over what I said vs. what you read.

Events are perfect, yay.

Speaking for myself, I'm interested in what you have to say. If people are interpreting you wrong then explain what you're saying. =)

People are going to have different experiences of the same events. It's good to get all perspectives out there.

Mazrian

>>> I'm having trouble understanding where the complaint is coming from in the context of this event.

I really didn't intend my comment to be a complaint, so much as feedback. My experience was that I showed up to two consecutive events, discovered that participating wasn't a productive use of my time and went back to (essentially) farming experience. That is fine by me, I guess, but I am pretty sure that it is now how the GM's wanted the experience to go.

>>My experience was that I showed up to two consecutive events, discovered that participating wasn't a productive use of my time and went back to (essentially) farming experience.

First off, I'm sorry that you had a poor experience. I think we've all been there. Let me just say that you are always welcome to contact Navesi in game. Even if your character doesn't know her, she is a relatively famous news reporter at this point and I think most people would know that she might have some hint about what's going on if a big Zoluren event is happening. As long as you aren't a blatant Necromancer or Sorcerer, she will gladly get you up to speed.

I should also mention that in a lot of events, especially lately, there is a lot going on and it isn't necessarily all about combat-stomping critters. In this case, there was a big vigil being held at Harawep's altar with lots of fun stuff happening there too. There was also the option of trying to find and interact with the rogue moon mages, or seeking out the Necromancers who kept showing up for their own reasons. If what you really wanted was just to murder some invasion critters, I'm sorry that it didn't work out. It seems this event was geared such that the creatures were meant to be ultra-hard.

Finally, as a moon mage, you might consider making heavy use of Contingency and Whole Displacement. You are excellently suited in this regard because you can essentially stay perfectly safe at missile AND get teleported away if something manages to stun you. I understand that maybe you weren't thinking goblins could pose that kind of threat, but these days the invasion threats can and do ramp up pretty quickly.

Good luck next time!


- Navesi

> These days, I just pick a place to start loosely based on what I'm hoping to accomplish and run with it. :)

It's working!

~Hunter Hanryu
>Everything Rangers have is just a lame version of something cool.~Morkim