Which of the Following Recent end-year (Big story arc) climaxes did you like the best?

Tully

Since FB is not getting much response, I figure I should post here:

Which of the Following overall story arcs (and mostly the event climaxes) did you enjoy the most. I've gone back to the past four years.

Marcella

Goloths, but only because it included the ur'Guard in a big role

Zouviqil

I was only here for two of those, and I hate Goloths because of the spam-i-ness of it.

Daraius

Even though I wasn't actively playing at the time, my favorite plot was the Wheel of the Goloths. That's the one with the visions of the apocalyptic alternate timeline, right? And the Xenthos clone wars or whatever? Maybe it's because my only exposure to the game during that time was reading events posts and forum posts about the visions, but it really felt like the stakes were high.

I have fond memories of the Gnafia one, even though Daraius was locked in the family manse for nearly the whole time to avoid the plague. Hallifax was bustling with Shevats and Skyplumes around then, which inspired this painting of Ileein, Phoebus, and Ridley:

The Heroes of Hallifax

Cast in the vibrant golds and violets of a blazing sunrise, three intrepid figures gaze out from this canvas with expressions of stalwart determination. Perched atop a rocky promontory, a humbly-attired human stands with his arm outstretched, flanked on either side by his two companions. On the left, a tall female trill holds a static-wreathed crystal staff at the ready, her form wrapped in a concealing robe of fine emerald silk. To the right, a handsome male trill surveys the unseen vista below, dutifully recording his findings on a shimmering crystalline tablet. The human at the center points boldly towards the horizon, so full of adventure and inquisitiveness that the skin sloughing off his arm is easily overlooked. Likewise, the weary bloodshot eyes, grotesque facial tumors, and heavily molting wings of his companions are barely even noticeable. Even the unsightly calcification of the subjects' skin has been rendered with the greatest care and discretion, such that it is only slightly repulsive and but a minimal detraction from the generally hopeful tone of the piece. Painted in precise silver script in the lower right-hand corner of the canvas are the initials D.S.

Tacita

I feel like my answer is self-explanatory.

Ssaliss

Tacita said:

I feel like my answer is self-explanatory.

It's because you got twice the lovings, right?

Anyway, the Goloths was a very fun event. I really liked the buildup to the Red Star though, but... it ended way too abruptly for my tastes. I would've loved to see more interactions with Grimbach, Dumaliel and the Army of Love. I'm guessing that's because there is a lot to do with the combat overhaul and whatnot, so I'm not complaining too much though.

Vivet

Muud was actually my absolute favourite, but Icewynd easily trumps the others listed here. Great twist to events between the Forsaken and Ice Angels, good historical reveals, and a simply enormous area release to go with it.

Munsia

Surprised there isn't an 'Other' or 'Meh' option...

Kaimanahi

Poll should also include the earlier Ascension plots (everyone likes some Kethuru tentacle action), but the Gnafia event was definitely pretty great. Icewynd is a close second... having to drain all of Astral was awesome.

Everiine

None of the above. I'm never around when anything big happens, and I have a tough time following the stories, so I don't get much enjoyment out of the end-of-year big events.

Orti

The whole Goloth thing was good. Alternate realities and two (TWO :O ) Xenthos are always good. Also Tainted BDSM Psychic Krokanis are fun in small doses. But I have to agree, the spam was annoying

Munsia

Everiine said:

None of the above. I'm never around when anything big happens, and I have a tough time following the stories, so I don't get much enjoyment out of the end-of-year big events.

I don't get any enjoyment because every time a major event happens. People's claim to RP goes out the window in their effort to participate. People who should not be cooperating are suddenly cooperating with no other reason then 'I wanna see what this does'. We were able to prevent most of it this time around though. 

Rivius

I enjoyed draining nodes for the icewynd invasion. Felt very involved and very tanky.

Lavinya

I remember at the time there was complaints about the slow build up, but looking back it came together so well. I missed some parts as can't be helped, but the ice motes thingys and the super crazy xp and gold from random larvas resulting in giant squads that had everyone levelling happily was great.

I really liked the story in the love army, though the reveal of the lovers and then the army seemed to be almost over and done with before we registered what was actually going on. I would have liked to see the army stretch out a few more days, let people actively support or reject it. I like that while it was centred on the cosmic beings somewhat, it didn't actively exclude the other orgs. There was no need for anyone to travel to Nil to be involved, for example.

Leading to my big gripe about the Dominators. The story was exciting as it built up, but when so much of what looks to be important plot line is happening within one org, effectively shutting out anyone enemied, which is essentially half the game, it's really not fun, unless you're one of the lucky people in that org. Standing at the Megalith and occasionally seeing world wide emotes is not as fun as it seems, when that's about all you get, for a good portion of what is vital storyline for the overall plot.

I wasn't here for Gnafia or anything earlier, alas.

Kiradawea

Gnafia was utterly horrible and taught me to despise Hallifaxian families and nepotism. I *still* have a hard time saying any part of it was enjoyable.

Love Army was interesting, but the denouement was way too fast and left me with questions unanswered. There might still be more, and the buildup wasn't bad, but it can never go higher than third place if this is all we get.

Which leaves me with Icewynd vs Goloths. Honestly... it's a tough one. The twist with the Icewynd was wonderful, but the Wheel prophecies were really great as well. I think in the end I'll have to let the Icewynd edge out though, simply because Climanti is .

Xenthos

I feel like "Glomdoring" and "Kepherans / Illithoids / Undervault" should also be options.   I have many fond memories of the stuff leading up to the Undervault release, and the first time the Nature Seal broke...

... and when Daevos put the fixed Seal in the Megalith...

Tully

I said "recent", which means the last four years, and "end-year climax", because for the past several years there's been a pattern of an year-long interconnected storyline ending in a huge climax that kicks off the Ascension event.  I know there are other historical events, but I'm trying to figure out what people liked about the year-long epics and their climaxes.

Tacita

Orti said:

The whole Goloth thing was good. Alternate realities and two (TWO :O ) Xenthos are always good. Also Tainted BDSM Psychic Krokanis are fun in small doses. But I have to agree, the spam was annoying

I feel obliged to point out that there were a lot more than two of them at one point

Daraius

That wink makes you seem really gross gurl.

Tully

For me, I guess there's some subjective stuff about the Gnafia event that makes it my favorite.  I got a lot to do, I could've even saved the Basin if I had thought ahead...but there are other reasons why I liked it so much, that I feel I should bring up here which might help with the next event.

• Slow buildup--Each Day (Lusternian Month), something new happened.  It was a slow buildup and things got more and more weird.
• Admin dynamicism--Things like my shouts and news posts were reacted to.  A lot of stuff was done that day "on the fly".  I love that emergent gameplay that was done during that event
• Chapters--There were specific chapters involved in stopping the build-up--all the underbosses had a climax to reverse the changes before the final chapter.  Let's just say that weekend was pretty busy and if you missed one phase, you could partake in another phase.
• Ideal time for the players--This event happened at what I believe is the best time for events--the time just before the Holidays--it ended on Dec 21st, and started about a week before it.  This is something that can't always be controlled and is up to the staff to coordinate--but I feel this coincided with holiday vacations (before family obligations) and I can't remember the population ever being that big since for these events.

Of course there was stuff that was more specific to me--taking gangs out to aetherspace, being the guy who brought everybody into see Guido, having Dwarves visit my manse, even getting enemied to Hallifax (just for having an opinion) and Celest (my stupidity)--I even had fun with all the chaotic weather/beauties/creatures, and there was something whimsical about it which plays to my character's personality--we even got to save Solstice!   I kind of suspect ol' Eventru and Lyreth were behind some of the more fun stuff--just a guess (will miss you both!)

If I had to rank the other epic year-long events, I think the Goloths event was the second best, as it revealed a lot of lore immediately and had some of that emergent gameplay, especially with the Xenthos thing and the dreams.  I actually like the Love event perhaps 3rd--though I haven;t been as around much as I wanted--though I think timing and the lack of the buildups I mention above hurt it (not to mention a weekday climax), and I know the resources have been working a lot more behind the scenes on a major overhaul--but stuff like the Interactivity helped a lot and I just wish I could've stuck around.  Icewynd was fun but I felt a lot of it was combat oriented and just not as engaging for those not in the top tier of combat, but that was the nature of the environment.  

Just putting out this critique so we can keep improving with feedback!  I appreciate all the hard work involved by all.

Tully

Tacita said:

Orti said:

The whole Goloth thing was good. Alternate realities and two (TWO :O ) Xenthos are always good. Also Tainted BDSM Psychic Krokanis are fun in small doses. But I have to agree, the spam was annoying

I feel obliged to point out that there were a lot more than two of them at one point

What's even weird is Xenthos has 4 choices and he hasn't voted for the obvious one yet...

...I think he's been replaced by Xynthin again...

Daraius

Ooh I gotta say I liked the Yomo-whatever visions and interactions and all the speculation surrounding what the entity was.

Tacita

Daraius said:

That wink makes you seem really gross gurl.

Aww yeaaaaaah.

Karlach

Daraius said:

That wink makes you seem really gross gurl.

You haven't seen the TacitaxXenthosxXenthosxXenthosxXenthosxXenthosxXenthosxXynthin slashfic she writes...

Munsia

By slashfic you mean snuff erotica?

Xenthos

Tully said:

Tacita said:

Orti said:

The whole Goloth thing was good. Alternate realities and two (TWO :O ) Xenthos are always good. Also Tainted BDSM Psychic Krokanis are fun in small doses. But I have to agree, the spam was annoying

I feel obliged to point out that there were a lot more than two of them at one point

What's even weird is Xenthos has 4 choices and he hasn't voted for the obvious one yet...

...I think he's been replaced by Xynthin again...

Part of it is that I don't really know why you decided to pick the ones you did.  You said it was because of the "year long build up," but the buildup for the Undervault and Illithoid/Kepherans was (to me) far more compelling than the Gnafia and beat out this year's by leaps and bounds (I didn't get to see the conclusion for this year but the leadup events were a fair bit less compelling to me).

Rialorm

Everiine said:

None of the above. I'm never around when anything big happens, and I have a tough time following the stories, so I don't get much enjoyment out of the end-of-year big events.

Same here, all the good stuff goes on when I can't be logged in, so I just avoid the whole thing. I know I can read up to the event posts but I don't feel motivated to. I am actually glad to discover it is not just me, I used to be afraid it was me being bitter or something. I have this with other games too so don't take it too personally. Maybe one improvement I could suggest would be to have an event summary, in addition to the lengthy posts. Yes, I am pretty much asking for a tl;dr in a text game, go ahead and hate me for it *shrug* 

Tully

I think they do summarize the events perfectly. You can't reduce an event post to a sentence or even a paragraph. They also usually post a simpler summary on the Web site.

Rialorm

*facepalm* I forgot all about the website. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. 

Moi

I voted Gnafia, but Goloths was definitely a close second. I guess what it ultimately comes down to is that the visions were awesome, but the actual dominators plot line was kinda weird.