Events.

Astrelli - Sanctuary

I read somewhere that the reason there are so few in-game events is that virtually all ideas that come up result in massive lag because they bring players in the server to one area. This doesn't have to be the case, as I'm sure other ideas have been mentioned before.

For instance - I read somewhere else (sorry to OP, I forget where I saw this =\ NOT my idea but don't remember who to credit) that, instead of spawning mobs (like snowmen? I think that was what was mentioned) in ONE city (e.g. Archosaur), spawn them in various towns across the world. That would spread out the population some; also make them level specific such that a level 60 would get nothing out of hogging mobs in a level 30 "town."

Town would be defined as any place where a teleporter exists, for the purposes of this example.

Other things that could be done:

Add event mobs all over the map and have them spawn at an "uncommon" rate. This would mean that player population isn't concentrated in one area, again. The mobs could drop event items (little grab bags, whatever), or event quest items (if you get a quest from an event NPC, e.g. "collect X of Y in return for a special event item!).

OR the event items/event quest items could just drop from normal mobs - add to the drop table at one maintenance, take them out in the next maintenance if you want a shorter event (or hold a mini-maint to take them out if the desired duration is less than 1 week).

Give players a CHANCE during recognized holidays to get (for free) things that would normally be bought from the boutique by doing things like quests, or by grinding. The chance does not have to be high, but the fact that it is there would alleviate this whole "money-mongering" impression people have started to get. Instead of doing sales and such, or in conjunction with sales, hold events like those.

It looks like there's no hope of a Christmas event now, but as an example, something like this can be done for Christmas:

* All normal mobs have a chance of dropping Christmas-themed event items.
- Common: candy canes, peppermints, ginger ale, Christmas cookies. These could be restorative items (with approximately the same restoration/cooldowns as NPC-bought pots; level appropriate, of course. OR make them heal a % of HP/MP over a length of time, at which point you don't have to hardcode a number, thus no need to create a TON of new items just for the event in order to be level appropriate).
- More uncommon: A variety of wrapped presents. They could be the exact same item function-wise, but have a few dfferent icons to spice things up. These would essentially be grab bags (kind of like the 1 gold boxes in boutique, but with somewhat less costly items) with a chance of giving you anything from something not very valuable but still useful (low or mid grade materials for example) to something valuable (which would happen rarely, 1-3% of the time at max)
Another uncommon drop could be timed (e.g. 7 days) Christmas-themed items, like candy cane weapons, etc.
- Rare: special boxes that would give Christmas-themed *permanent* "just for fun"/collectible items, like candy cane weapons, Santa hats (if hats could eventually be a fash item u_u), even a mini-Santa pet? =x Other items in the box could parallel what you get from the variety wrapped presents, or slightly better items considering the rarity of the box.

* Event quests. NPCs around the world (level appropriate) have "lost" Christmas things to mobs, and it's your job to get them back! Example: you have a Santa in each major city/town, the dialogue is very similar (minimizing development work), essentially saying that Santa has lost a bag of presents to surrounding mobs (they tried to eat Santa and he distracted them by throwing the presents overboard Dx). It's now your job to retrieve X presents from mobs (amount can vary depending on level, if necessary).. in return, Santa can grant you a random gift from his stash!
The rewards should probably NOT be too valuable such that the economy doesn't break as an effect of the event, but relatively valuable/desirable items should have a chance of appearing. Maybe, for example, Santa can give you stockings at a 8% chance, and you can trade in stockings for various gifts (kind of works like tokens and PW boutique agent).

This would also avoid the issue of too many people crowding into one place and thus causing too much lag. Rewards would of course be level appropriate, and the rare rewards should not be tradable (not even across account/through account stash) -- prevents people from gearing up newbie characters just to farm the event items. Stockings could come in level appropriate categories (relying on where the quest was completed), or just make them 100% untradable.


Things like that should be VERY doable for a company that PAYS developers to .. well, develop things. I've seen similar events occur on free games where developers volunteer their time working on the game, so there's no excuse when trained/skilled developers are paid to do their job at PW.

Grippieluver - Lost City

very good point

Astrelli - Sanctuary

(to the devs)

Okay, I see now that the old Christmas event has similarities with my suggestions, but please consider using normal mobs for event quests/drops as well. You could keep 2 drop files - the event file (with event drops/quest drops) and the normal file, which could easily/quickly be restored when the event ends. It would be perfect for week-long events (which is what big holiday events should be =P), since there's weekly maint anyways.

This would allow people to keep playing normally instead of sitting around staring at the same mob all day just to participate/get event items =( Would also be much more interesting than having to compete with 324908032 other people to run close enough to one-shot event mobs ><