whoever planned dardante/jurthe LE's

[Thadda Al-Munik]

more epic battles please. thats what uncontrollably pulled everyone into the game and story line. It was like a black hole and everyone was sucked into it.

[Geneva]

What do you mean by epic battles? Monsters with tons of health that hit like a truck? Dev controlled monsters that will run you down and hop on up to your "safe" perch spot to lay a beatdown on you?

Please elaborate on your idea. There's no such thing as too much information.

more epic battles please. thats what uncontrollably pulled everyone into the game and story line. It was like a black hole and everyone was sucked into it.

[KrystalTkoi]

I'm pretty sure he is suggesting something like my first live event idea - epic battles against godlike beings, against nearly all possible odds. The more involvement of legendary characters such as Asheron, the better, to satisfy the parallel plotline needs.

The most memorable occasion I can think of in the history of Asheron's Call was when Bael'Zharon, the "Hopeslayer" was released upon the world. Events which forced the unity of the players to achieve ultimate victory.

This is the sort of thing that gets excitement stirred up in the hearts of most players, gives them that tantalizing thrill that sends shivers down their spines, that could even give them a sense of satisfaction even if they did die many times in the process. It gives a feeling of accomplishment and in general will make a player happy to participate.

Edit: Sum it up in two words, I can: Team Spirit.

Dereth rules, evil drools!

[An Adventurer]

What I liked about the jared kurth/dardante events, and what I think most liked, was players could make a choice. Try to Kill Kurth, or buff and heal him. And it didn't require you to be red or pink. Some didn't like that (they wanted to kill the healers) I liked it though because playing on a white world, I hate forced PK events.

It also helped that there was a clear line on who would help him and who would hurt him. It was basically a WB vs. RM live event. Also during the kurth raids I saw tons of people roleplaying, speaking in character to eachother and the +characters. Thats something I've only seen before at special events like when asheron showed up back in the gaerlan arc.

The only bad thing about the kurth events was there were no rewards. Dardante would talk for a bit, hand out some viamontian propaganda, and maybe inscribe an item or two.

[Atarax]

What do you mean by epic battles? Monsters with tons of health that hit like a truck? Dev controlled monsters that will run you down and hop on up to your "safe" perch spot to lay a beatdown on you?

Please elaborate on your idea. There's no such thing as too much information.

<3 +Turbine Geneva.... Come back to Solclaim we miss you :)

(Sorry for calling you an envoy LOL)

[Thadda Al-Munik]

Basically Geneva, being able to make the choice to fight or join the enemy in a huge battle. For example, the kurth events were fantastic for these following reasons.

1. Kurth came and annihilated just about everyone. I wish he could come back to gauge how much stronger I've become.

2. Dardante came afterwards, proposing the viamont and varricci. He also talked smack to players which really roused them up. These events were essential for the hurricane of interest that blew in. EVERYONE got sucked in

3. Another thing too outside of kurth. When Grael came, I remember him spawning tons of mukkir/shadows on SC at some gharu town. It made quite an epic battle because the mukkir were picking off the people on grael and those fighting the mukkir couldn't handle 3-4 at once solo. I was luckily saved by a friendly mage who kept healing me and I slew what was left in a building i was hiding in. Most of the people there were slaughtered not jsut by grael but by the mukkir. Tough minions makes a great storyline go that much better. It adds to the feeling of victory!

One last thing, a poster who made a great quote which is what means so much to players, including me. It is in my sig. My time on dereth is waning this month and before I go, I would like this advice to be taken, because it is greater than any patch the team could probably offer.

[William the Bat]

Ahh, those were the days!

People were writing inspired recruitment posts on VN boards, people who hadn't played in ages were logging on to join the excitement, people were holding meetings to make strategies and form lines of communication.

Can you recapture that? I just don't know. A couple things come to mind that would help:

The live event boss needs to be tied in with the storyline. A Very Mad Cow is lots of fun, but noone will try to banter with it in white chat.

We have to know somethings coming so we can prepare for it and generate excitement. Maybe the first time the boss shows up it can be a surprise, but the excitement comes when the players are discussing it and strategizing over it and generally making a big deal over it.

[Thadda Al-Munik]

Ah yea. To clarify my post Geneva, these type of events really should be tied into the story.

[Gustaive]

Geneva,

This is what we mean. May 5th 2006. Morningthaw Server. Paraduck and I had agree to start a sort of war of words, bombarding the VN boards with propaganda posts trying to get peopel to join in the WB/RM story.

It was awsome .. people thought I was a Turbine employee as I ran people through the WB quests for a week straight. at least 50 runs I made.

It all ended with the best night in AC (at least for me). You can watch it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX66Ymc_oS8

[Heideggar]

1. Choices to influence the outcome.

2. Strong storyline to build up the various sides of the conflict, and the main characters.

3. Let players have a good chance of at least seeing these main characters; in battle or not. Many short events is much better than one big long event when you're trying to expose as many players to the main characters of the game.

4. Players should never feel like they 'always win', so much as they should at least have a chance of winning. Defeat is a normal health thing. What makes a hero such a great hero are the great foes they've vanquished. Strong foes -do- win. "Dumb Evil", and 'all evil is easily defeated', are things parents tell their children when they have nightmares.

5. "Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Spaceballs, Lord Helmet. Generally, the forces of good are easily manipulated with shiny objects and promises of fortune and fame. I think this gets back to #1 about choices.

6. I'm not a big fan of stuff that can kill you faster than you can heal yourself. Smites, and huge damage creatures fall in this category. I can understand you want risk vs reward, and to make something tough, but I think there could be other ways of making it tough and epic for players.

An example could be like the Saving Asheron quest, where you kill the minions to weaken the boss. This could allow a wider range of levels to do -something- to participate at events.

7. Perks for allegiances who swear oath to Storyline bosses?

8. Shades of grey for factions/sides. Sometimes people do evil things for the good of the whole. Is one side truly evil, or truly good!? I think the RM & WB factions tried to get into this a bit, and it was good.

9. While this is more of storyarc/patch stuff, I know that coming across super tough creatures on my advetures around Dereth was pretty crazy. Back during the BZ storyarc, you might come across a shadow LT, and 20 minutes later be calling your patron for help lol. Umbris Shadows in dires... great loot... real tough... Of course, I was always a fan of the original Crystal Lord, and not this POS Crystal Lord you've got now. Nothing like calling in a bunch of friends to take down a huge boss like that, and get lagged as you opened the corpse.

10. Storyline character vs Storyline character, to show conflict and stuff.

[Thadda Al-Munik]

i think this thread has the best feedback for storyline events. ever

[Geneva]

I love what I'm seeing so far, you have definetly got some solid ideas and logic in there. Thank you.

Oh, just because I like your ideas doesn't mean the "Attitude Adjuster" won't be making a visit to the side of your Heaume in the future Mwahahahaha! :D

[wussy_woy]

Please bring Bael'Zharon back =\

[KrystalTkoi]

Please bring Bael'Zharon back =\

I, too, have thought of this many times before...

I became a PK once on my Archer/Tinker char to see the "Bael'Zharon" NPC, whom seems to be a poser or wannabe.. Or perhaps a human incarnation of the Hopeslayer.

Bael'Zharon was a powerful entity.. I am certain that the possibility could exist, storywise, that Bael'Zharon could return through some twisted means. Would certainly be "epic".

[Overdrive]

As the months go on, it seems Turbine is trying to throw as little effort into monthly updates, and we keep getting dragged into new, pointless story lines.


I want Asheron, I want BZ, I want Elyssa.

I'm getting really bored with these new lame quests that end up with me turning in the items I pick up for xp because they're beyond useless.


ISO: AWESOMENESS!

[jeremiahac]

Just my Idea....

Everyone wants another BZ versus some other leader.....

So i think we should have isin dule against, say, high archon of the raven's hand, or some other human leader.

This could include such things as
*the Famous epic battle(s)
*dungeons for low level characters that have high relevance to the war, such as a level 100- shadow dungeon
*invading the enemy leader's keep, having only a set amount of time to retrieve something important before the leader shows up and kicks the $*@! out of everyone.
*improved shadowfire/weeping weapons depending on who you decide to help, which would probably be decided by your monarch, such as:
Shadow armorer tells you, "Isin Dule's greatest mage-servitors have been working on a way to enhance weapons infused with the power of human slaying", and vice versa for shadowfire weapons
a week or so after the event, people could start handing in their relevant stoned isparian weapon for an upgrade. this upgrade could be made into a quest post-LE
*The players would have to make a choice between 2 evils.....but are they both really evil?
*both sides would have to work on a way to defeat the boss monster, which isnt just limited to "do a couple of quests, and the next time the boss is spawned he can be killed". It would have to be something like destroying the source of their power and THEN fighting a VERY hard but still possibly winnable battle.

Anyhow, that's just my idea.

PS: I <3 AC

[Multiplicity]

That's awesome, but I think after all these years the best thing to do is pretend we DON'T want it, that way Turbine will actually do it.

[Stabeh]

I dont want BZ...please dont bring him back...
Psst is it working?
But its true that the time when BZ was around and when Burun Kings were first introduced, they were fun because people jumped out of dungeons just to come to find out what is happening. Everyone had a fellow randomly just so they can complete part of the quest and be able to communicate with others.

[Kalazar22]

In depth story lines with boss fights or group battles that need teams or player unity is what makes AC. Though it has died off, and needs to be brought back.

[Kala Bon]

These are whole story arcs, with planning to do for months in advance, and while I know that our friends in that eastern state DO have it in them, i do not know if the business end will let them put the time in.

I hope they do, and I look forward to the day when my mettle gets tested again in the epic battle !

[Coped]

I think it'd be cool if you set both Asheron and BZ on everyone and let them decide who they fought with. You could allow it to be dev controlled or something and make it so the players who sided with BZ turned red and the Asheron people were white.

However, if it's in the tech, you could let BZ cast some special spell on his crew that allowed the red players to attack and kill the white players. The point of the battle would obviously just be... who can kill the other crew--mainly the leader, Asheron or BZ, first.

I think it'd be fun.

And since on white worlds if you wanted more involvement, make everyone just pink/white and not drop loot. This would allow for it to be a battle that everyone could join and no one would go crying and get screwed in it and it wouldn't matter if you never PvPed before.

At least keep vitae in though, need SOME penalties... and also allow for the deaths to take away sticky buffs. So it'd be a PvP death, without the loot dropping.

This possible?

I think it'd be pretty epic and could be done with other characters in the lore too. Just something to bring the whole community together like this would be great and really fun.

[Raui]

I think it'd be cool if you set both Asheron and BZ on everyone and let them decide who they fought with. You could allow it to be dev controlled or something and make it so the players who sided with BZ turned red and the Asheron people were white.

However, if it's in the tech, you could let BZ cast some special spell on his crew that allowed the red players to attack and kill the white players. The point of the battle would obviously just be... who can kill the other crew--mainly the leader, Asheron or BZ, first.

I think it'd be fun.

And since on white worlds if you wanted more involvement, make everyone just pink/white and not drop loot. This would allow for it to be a battle that everyone could join and no one would go crying and get screwed in it and it wouldn't matter if you never PvPed before.

At least keep vitae in though, need SOME penalties... and also allow for the deaths to take away sticky buffs. So it'd be a PvP death, without the loot dropping.

This possible?

I think it'd be pretty epic and could be done with other characters in the lore too. Just something to bring the whole community together like this would be great and really fun.


That sounds like a great idea, Coped. It isn't unlike the first time Bael'Zharon was around. Players were able to choose sides and compete for the ultimate destruction of the other's leader. Though my involvement was minimal, I know for a fact there were campaigns against Bael'Zharon, though I'm unsure how many, if any, there were against Asheron.

There is one point that I feel I should make ... You do know that Lifestones are a part of Asheron's Protection... Theoretically, if you truthfully dedicated yourself to Bael'Zharon, you would sever your tie from the Lifestone and death would be permanent.

Naturally, that won't happen (or will it?), but the idea you have is good. I don't foresee Bael'Zharon coming back anytime soon though, but two different major leaders would be neat to see.