The Number of GM EventsFollow

I really really dont like events. I play on Maelin Starpyre and the last GM event we had was this total BS thing where a 'Ward of Ro' asked us to bring him 10 items from a long long list of foodstuffs for a banquet they were going to have. The problems were these.

1) The items were all dropable so basically it was just a run from lavastorm to the bazaar and back.

2) The only way to get the items other than the bazaar was to farm them from extremely obscure camps which wouldnt be a problem i kinda like a good scavenger hunt but...

3) WE ONLY HAD ONE HOUR TO DO ALL THIS. One hour is NOTHING in eq! In fact i spent most of the hour just trying to zone into the places where we had to be! By the time i had gotten two of the ten items 35-50 minutes had already gone by.

I think the reward for all the bs was just an Insence Burner of Ro like the kind you can buy in the bazaar but i never bothered to confirm it with anyone. These events just bring out the absolute worst in people.

GMs don't do much unscripted stuff for lowbies much anymore. Years ago werewolves were set lose around Kelethin. I got smacked hard and was chased around some trees. Quite fun.

Lowbies scattered for miles around. Then the higher-ends had to beam down and spoil the chaos.

There are to many unimaginative events. The gnome races, the fishing contests, the burn contest last night...there are too many of these dumb events.

The war between the evil and good mercenaries was pretty cool. There should be more of those kinds of events that use game resources, NPCs that enable player interaction to help them get rewards.

Once a week would be cool. They hardly do crap anymore.

They need to promote more GM events like the Butcherblock Hammer event way back in the early days of EQ, which involved the Dark Elves in Unrest, to the Cauldron, to BB, to GFay, and ending in Crushbone. There was actually quite a bit of lore also, ending in Kaldim with the King rewarding a deserving Dwarf Paladin the hammer. It was an event played entirely by GM's, not just some random spawned event to kill Mob A and loot Items A-C that seem to be occuring now.

Edited, Mon Sep 5 16:51:55 2005 by ayonley

I am not even aware that these are done anymore. They used to be common, I think, but not anymore.

The last one I know of, I was actually in by pure luck, about 20mths ago. I was in EW around the zone in for the Sleeper's Tomb hunting drops for the Prayer Shawl. Being a lvl 52 Ranger I was not too concerned about getting wacked.

Out of nowhere comes this 30' high purple dragon (no Barney jokes, please. I heard them all that day) who proceeds to hit me for 250-350. I later learned he was about lvl 60. I snared him, which took. I rooted, which failed. I put all 3 DoTs on him and backed up. Send out a zone message to see if anyone knew of a rare spawn as I never heard of him (still can't remember the name).

As I healed up, I noticed messages being sent out by him were inconsistent. His behaviour was odd too. I asked if anyone knew of a GM event going on in server wide chat (my mistake).... In 1-2mins, 10 peeps were around me like a swarm of vermin stacking up to declare looting rights.

We killed him in about 2mins. He hit really slow, but hard. He had tons of HPs, probably around 50K-100K. He had a habit of porting peeps about 200yds away too. He also has 5 really nice drops and about 250pp on him. I got Silver Chitin Hand Wraps (as all the other guys were lvl 65 and did not want them) and a Wrapped Entropy Serpent Spine as my selection for being the first one there. I loved the weap. It proc'ed like freakin crazy, at least 3-5 times during longer fights. It was THE agro machine. I'm sad that I don't have it any longer.

I had a blast and I'm sorry that the events are so rare (basically nonexistant). Bring them back. Bring back the Halloween Event too, it was the best of all.

I've seen many GM events. Many of them are fun stuff like the Cyclops Fight in West Commonlands, and the Day the Aviaks got their revenge. Problem is and I can understand why the devs don't do them more often, is the crowd of people who show up expecting 'uber lewtz' and then **** and moan when they get cookies and milk.

My only complaint is think up something new besides a level 1 halfling jump.

Yeah, I was accepted into the Guide program long enough to get the book (then Luclin was released and the game was unplayable for me for a month so I dropped out). The amount of red tape people had to go through to run an event was obscene.

I've seen a very few GM events in about 4 years of playing, bu t rather than the actual rarity of said events, i'm more concerned with the who is actually allowed to play them. Nowadays (at least on Maelin/Vazaelle), the only "events" are the PVP tourneys. The notice says anyone 55+ or 60+ ... but it's a guarantee who's going to be winning it. Point being, the events are constructed so that only an Anguish geared 70 character has a snowball's chance in hell of winning, and generally it's going to be for a title or prize they really couldn't give a rat's *** about.
Just my two cents ... if you're going to have an event designed (i hope) to bring the server together and have an all-around good time, make sure EVERYONE can participate in some form. Hell, the best "event" i was ever at was a player-made newbie race from Freeport through Kithicor and all over the map completely drunk off summoned ale. It was a blast, and there was zero skill required, just luck dodging the undeads (TY old-school Knights of the Green Mist).

then again it must be harder to run them from india

Legends service offers, on average, three events per day. They are scheduled, so you know when the next one will be and if it's for your level. Anyone can browse the calendar here (http://legends.everquest.station.sony.com/month.jsp).

Currently, Legends is facing a low population problem. If only half the people voting for more events were to try Legends for a month or two, that problem would be solved. More word of what is offered on Legends would get out. The population would go up dramatically as people, bored with the static content of EQ after 6 years seek out something new. If this happens, then Legends will get the attention it deserves from within SOE as well. Legendary item, spell and quest requests to development might be granted a higher priority.

The Legends team of GMs are hard working and doing all they can to keep this amazing service going. They are quest-writing, role-playing, item- and spell-inventing actors, dedicated to making the dynamic events of the Stormhammer server the best they can be. (For the person that mentioned GM Viianixis - he learned how to do it from these people.) (For the person that mentioned India - the entire Legends Team is in San Diego.) They listen to and adapt to player feedback to improve things the next time. The Legends GM Team understand game balance and the old "Vision" of what the game should be about to be fair and enjoyable for everyone. They work toward that goal every day. They care. They make it worth the price.

What is hurting the service these days is not the higher subscription price; it is that people not on Legends don't fully understand what it is they'll be getting for that subscription price. Word does not get out and SOE public relations has been woefully inadequate in regards to this fine service.

You may notice that the web page for Legends is outdated and promises features that are not (and sometimes never have been) available. That is the fault of the other departments within SOE that have forgotten about Legends. But the GM Team is there. They have not forgotten and they offer as much as they can, always looking to offer even more. Here's a bit of what you DO get on Legends...

*An average of three daily dynamic events (four scheduled time slots).
*Persistent and recurring NPCs you get to know.
*Recurring and new dynamic events that build an ongoing lore and history of the Legends world.
*Every character on Legends gets use of ALL veteran awards.
*Occasional Legendary items and granted titles (these are rare, but possible).
*Near constant GM presence in server-wide chat channels and wandering through zones (sometimes as themselves or as impromptu quest NPCs).
*A GM team dedicated to keeping the Legends service clear of exploitation, cheating and harrassment.
*Average of 20 minutes or less wait time on petitions being answered.
*Low population currently means almost no competition on camps.
*As population increases, GM-run camp reservation and rotation through high level content.
*Guild recruitment events
*Town Hall Meeting player feedback events
*Fabled NPCs have been seen on Legends as recently as yesterday. (GM's whim of when and where to spawn or set as randomly spawned)
*"The Agency" events usually 2X per week, working on raid-level flagging where the players organize and run the raid, while GM-actor characters look on and support the leadership.
*Rewards for all events ranging from multiple AAs for everyone, regular XP rewards, XP x2 potions, unique legendary items, items from zones comparable to the risk of the event, titles, personalized side quests, and yes, upgrades and twinkage.
*Those staying for a consecutive paid 6 months on Legends service may transfer that character to any other standard server upon leaving.

Throw down an extra $30 for one month (minimum stay on the server) and go find out. PvEnvironment is fine. PvP is a completely different flavor and fine too. But there is NOTHING like a good PvGM.

GM events were great, unfortunately they are usually grab fests for drops, and/or lag fests but I have been to a few in my time in EQ and they were pretty fun. I liked the one on the beach with the troll armies in GoG, that was really fun.

Some one mentioned "GM quests", how about some quests period, for EXP I mean. Not to go too far off topic, but have you tried lvling a new toon lately. Groups are non-existant, atleast on Prexus.