invances, invasions and special days

[CherUT]

I hear a lot of people complaining about invances, invasions and positive days always happening outside their timezone.

I would like to say my thoughts on this.

I have noticed alot of 120+ invances being ran while the Americans were at work. I would log on after work and hear how I missed another invance. Thanks to Aislinn on 08/03/2011 she offered to start a 120+ invance for us which was at about 8PM central time. We entered the invance and were waiting for the mobs to spawn, The #day changed to peace day right before the mobs spawned.

We sat patiently and Radu agreed to change the #day for us. After 3 tries of removing peace day it was changed to Day of healing. A couple days later someone asked in channel 6 if Day of more grief still existed. [Aislinn @ 6]: I think the more grief day is broken,Radu tried to start it the other day and it kept going to peace day, probably why you haven't seen it. So we learn that while in an invance with mobs all around us Radu tried to give us day of more grief. Personally I would not enter an invance on day of more grief. I play many hours a day and except twice the only invances I was able to take part in were the ones on my days off. To my knowledge there has been about 3 120+ invances ran while the Americans were NOT working. There was a day that Aislinn had planned to run a 120+ invance later that day and knowing she had one planned others pm'd Radu to have him start one. So while the Americans were still at work a 120+ invance was done.

 

Now about invasions, I understand that it takes a mod to start an invasion. From what I see most of the invasions lately have been from USL and Thyralax as we all know these have not been in US timezones while the Americans were not at work. I also understand that invasions are normally ran when most players are online. I know there are not as many Americans playing as there are others now. So does this mean that the few of us Americans who have stayed in EL are not entitled invasions? I can honestly say I know of a few long time players from the USA who have left EL due to the lack of invasions during our timezones. We spend months even years training character to be able to do high level invasions then there are no invasions for us to do. This is Very frustrating to me. I log on hours after an invasion starts, sure usually there are a few mobs left. We hunt them, lose rosto's, no biggie gives us a little fun. Those who were fortunate to be on when the invasion started killed what they wanted and left the rest for us. You know the ones that eat resources and drop very little example Ice Dragons.

 

Special days, I understand most special days are random. Others are from stones used either from killing the Neno, Badaran or gathering supplies for stone. I will not complain about this. Instead I am taking it up on myself to gather some stones to use.

 

There is nothing I can do to start invances, invasions or I would. I can gather supplies to get stones which I am doing.

Somewhere, Somehow there needs to be some fairness in all this. This post is not directed to anyone its just a post asking for something to be done to make EL fair and fun for everyone not just a select few. I do understand that all timezones complain about this same thing.

[evilmangopie]

I have also seen a lot of people complaining about invances, special days, invasions etc.

 

And I think they should shut up.

 

Whenever these things are some people will whine "OH NO I MISSED AN INVANCE COS I WAS AT WORK/WALKING DOG/WATERING MY FICUS" etc. etc. The game is on a global scale, so it is impossible to please everyone all the time with these matters. It's just like babies in a pram crying because another baby got a toy and they didn't.

 

Ya wanna know a little secret, I believe mods don't like everyone complaining at them, it makes them LESS likely to give you invasions/toys/sweeties. You'll just annoy them to a point where they get no enjoyment from sacrificing THEIR time to benefit the community. Mods have stopped doing invasions for these reasons before, and I'm sure it'll happen again. People don't learn it seems.

 

In all honesty, i have heard people from EVERY timezone playing at different times of day saying they get no invasions/invances etc. Is this possible? No, it's just people complaining due to greed.

 

I'm sure many will hate me for this post, people allready serp me ingame because i said 120+s aren't entitled to an invance on sun tzu. Really don't care, broken record gets old fast. And it was already old years ago.

[saxum]

Well if there was a calendar of events which occurred it might let people know more what has gone on rather than word of mouth which is often loud and wrong.

Invasions, special days and special events could be put on calendar.

 

I like invances even though I do not attend since they generally replace invasions which are a lot more disruptive to those not participating. Invasions are especially annoying when an ice dragon or other special creatures are left behind because 'not worth effort' but *NO* amount of effort will allow me to clear map and do what I was planning on whether it was training, harvesting or a quest.

[Wizzy]

I have had just as many Euro players complain to me as American players about this, and to be honest the Australians that complain I will agree with a bit. They are certainly in a difficult time zone for these things. But as much as we try to do our best to give everyone fair invasion/invance time, it is next to impossible. And WE do try our best! But do remember, out best, is on our own time. When we get a a chance to play, and have the energy to have events. No one is personaly favoring one time zone with the attitude "screw so and so and let the euros have all the fun" or what ever the case may be. I have suggested that perhaps the invances could be random, to help make it more fair. I have no idea what the devs have in plan at the moment, invances are still pretty new. I would suggest positive suggestions towards this, we would all hate to see the invances go the way of the one click harvest.

[CherUT]

First off I understand the mods do all this on their own time and it does take from their playing time. It is greatly appreciated. I don't have a suggestion as I stated. I never singled out a timezone. I only stated what I have personally noticed. I don't see many in my time zone begging for invances, maybe this is why. Random is a great idea I agree. As far as a positive suggestion the only one I can think of is have them random. I will agree 100% the Australians have the most reasons to complain.

 

My post was in hopes of getting positive suggestions to make it fun and fair to everyone.

[Entropy]

I am usually online during all time zones, and I get invance requests usually during European evening/American afternoon hours only. Or sometimes American evenings. Never got a request outside those hours.

[ZootNerper]

I live in Thailand. Imagine how many invasions happen in my timezone and outside work hours.

 

Oh bums I rarely do invasions and never done instance or the new fangled inv-thingy. And special days I sleep through.

 

Just jesting, but I like Saxum's idea of putting all in a calendar so we can see what is what for sure. Random would sort out any complaints too, though may take considerable work to implement.

 

-- Zoot

[nathanstenzel]

I imagine complaints would still be made even if there was a page on the EL website that logged each invance request, each invance start/end time, each invasion start/end time and who was involved. Such a thing could be a bit of a conversation piece and flesh out the game a little bit though. I am also sure that such a page on the website might take a little bit of coding to set up.

 

When it comes to invasions and invances, I have noticed a number in the last month or two for me at GMT-6 (US Central) between 7pm and midnight. The invasions have slown down a little bit, but I have heard a few invances were going on. Perhaps the invances are offsetting the invasions. I have not noticed what skill level the invances were. I imagine that the 120+ bracket would be hard to fill though.

 

A pretty graph with number of characters per 10 level (a+d)/2 block would probably help Radu monitor the current state of the game and invance/invasion/instance chances at any particular time, but setting it up would also require a bit of coding.

 

If people were wondering, I process data for a living. That is why I come up with ways to analyse it.

[Entropy]

As I was saying, ask and thou shalt receive.

[Dchels]

There is always the option of getting your own instance team together and entering that whenever you want, that is your own personal invasion, always here of nice drops etc in those.

 

imo invances should be randomized like GIWS invasions letting AI determine what lvl and what time the invasion will occur. This will take pressure of the mods who get a rather hard time from ppl moaning at them about missing invances or wanting one to be run. That way it may be that 100-120 invance may get run 3 days in a row or only once in a week, totally random no recall to moan about.

 

I feel no matter what way things pan out there will always be someone unhappy, thats life i suppose. Im still waiting on finding my first nexus removal stone anyone suggest a good time zone for me to do that in?

[Aislinn]

I've made a habit of running invances when there are enough people for a given level to stand a chance to win.

I also have tried hard to not favor one level over another but as everyone knows, the 60-80 and 120+ are the biggies. Hopefully that will balance out after radu's update.

 

That said, I've tried very hard to accomodate everyone. But there are several problems I've run into with that:

 

1. The time periods that have a legitimate complaint, usually it's because there aren't enough people interested.

 

2. The 120+ gets all the undercappers too so that is always full and I refuse to run that multiple times a day so people can farm it even worse than it already is. I'm not even thrilled with it running once a day with the situation as it is now. Same problem with 60-80, it's getting the lower levels too, yet I can't get enough ever in the 40-60.

 

3. People can't control their schedules any more than I can mine. I've run invances in specific time slots to suit specific people's lack of involvement, just to have them not be online or say "oh shoot, no fair, I have to leave now!". Sorry but I can't control that and it's not fair to complain.

 

I am seriously considering giving up the 15 minute warning I do, and just randomly starting invances for the heck of it. No more requests, no more asking in @6 if anybody is interested. All that does is start the "no fair!1111" and "monkey see monkey do" wars, and I for one am getting tired of it.

 

Also an intersting thing to note, even though both radu and I are in the same time zone, we tend to keep somewhat different hours. I have attempted to run invances from the time I get up until the time I go to bed and scattered everywhere in between. Meanwhile, radu is up and available most of my sleeping hours. There may be a 2 hour gap neither of us is around. So there really is no excuse there on that count.

 

If you are in a "problem" time zone and problem level range, see if you can get enough together in your range that warrants one run. Although I have a really hard time believing 120+ and 60-80 has a legitimate problem in any time zone.

 

And remember, you aren't supposed to be farming these every day. That really wasn't the point.

[Zenphon]

There is a difference in instances, invasion, and invances. The major difference is that instance and invasion are mainly for the drops, while invances are mainly for the exp. You can not compare invances with the either instances or invasions. Also, I think the first post was not only about invances, but that the same time zone that are getting most of the invances is the same time zone that get almost all the invasions.

 

Now, as far as the time zone thing...It seems that those that hound Radu and Aislinn the most get the most invances. Is that what we really want? We really want a hounding contest? Do we really want to see which time zone can bug Radu and Aislinn the most? I would just like to see things made fair for everyone....no easy task....Good Luck!

Edited August 11, 2011 by Zenphon

[forum_andy]

hmmm mybe I understand something wrong. But isn't the way invances were run like this:

 

Someone tries to get a team (like in instances) of at least 15 people.

Then someone out of the team pms radu or aislinn and asks friendly one of the both, if they could start the invance.

 

Maybe I'm wrong but this is how we did it the last time.

 

So I don't understand why some ppl complain about the current situation that there aren't invances in their time zones.

It is also hard to gather a team in the timezones were the majority of player is in game. I often needed 1-3 hours to get a full team

(for 100-120 cap), but I do that because invances are a lot of fun.

 

I wonder if some ppl think that the invances are randomly announced by radu or aislinn. Out of my experience this is not true (as mentioned above).

 

If you like an invance, set up a team.

[Aislinn]

I'd also like to add that many times I've refused to run certain invances upon request because I was hoping to do that same level at a later time to accomodate people who were saying they were having troubles getting into one.

 

I do TRY to plan them fairly and evenly, but it is not always possible to do if people aren't here to participate. And I can't control that. I COULD run one even if only 3 people say they're interested but it's a sure loss.

[Zenphon]

Someone tries to get a team (like in instances) of at least 15 people.

Then someone out of the team pms radu or aislinn and asks friendly one of the both, if they could start the invance.]

Done this way, only those 15 players get the exp for that day. Aislinn and Radu have both said only 1 invance per level may be ran each day. And it has also been said that each day is too much. Is it really fair that only those 15 players in that group can get that exp for that day? Should we start bugging Radu and Asilinn for an invance everyday as soon as we log-in just to have a chance at that exp? And if it has already been ran that day then you are SOL. imo, that isn't fair to anyone, least of all to Aislinn and Radu.

Edited August 11, 2011 by Zenphon

[korrode]

*yawns*

 

These issues are so easy to resolve.

 

Just let players start them and don't have a limit on how often.

 

So what if they're "farmed" and basically offer a (possibly faster) replacement for 'traditional' a/d training. How is it actually going to hurt anything?. Traditional a/d training in EL is the most boring shit there is anyway, having invances be a full blown alternative would make the game better.

 

The only outstanding issue would be policing people who try to just sit in the fort and not contribute.

[Scorpion_King]

I happen to agree with Korrode. Finally placing something in the game that people overly enjoy is a good thing. While Radu was gone i think that Aislinn did a fine job at running them no complaints here. But what i don't understand is why Mods are in control of anything other then keeping the hacks and macros out. There has to be a way to allow players to enter no more then once every 24 hours and allow them to create there own teams of say no less then 15 players or something. As far as farming goes who cares this game is old now the people have been here for ever. More importantly its a Game allow people to Play the game.

 

Plus if you look at it like i do. I often like to think of things as USD. With a idea of this game the creators should be living in mansion. This game is a great idea. I search other game all the time but come back to EL cause of the skills.

 

The last instance i lost 2 rostos. I usually loose 1 every invance. Hmm that means usd to radu cause i buy them from his shop. I used to spend alittle more usd then i have over the past year. but im sure if i were loosing more rostos id be buying more.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Scorpion_King

[Wizzy]

*yawns*

 

These issues are so easy to resolve.

 

Just let players start them and don't have a limit on how often.

 

So what if they're "farmed" and basically offer a (possibly faster) replacement for 'traditional' a/d training. How is it actually going to hurt anything?. Traditional a/d training in EL is the most boring shit there is anyway, having invances be a full blown alternative would make the game better.

 

The only outstanding issue would be policing people who try to just sit in the fort and not contribute.

 

I happen to agree somewhat also, have an npc that will start the invance, a command like #iv you last visited invance ~23 hours ago and you have 1 hour to wait. And let the players organize thier own teams. If people want to hide and afk on fort wall, have a monster that will shoot arrows at them. Take away the protect the fort aspect and let them spawn anywhere on map. Also, have the invances level dependent If you are 60-80, you can only go to 60-80. And since it is such nice xp, maybe reduce the drops as Radu sees fit from the mobs?

[Starlite]

First of all I would like to thank Aislinn for doing a wonderful job in giving EVERYONE a chance to do an invance, I actually managed to do do 3 or 4 (had done non previously) Im very sad to hear that she now she won't be running them anymore. I can only speak for myself here, but the reason I have never tried to get a team going in the Aussie time zone is because I understood they are run only once a day for each level, whenever I ask friends/guildies, you guessed it.....already run today. Also the difficulty of getting a team of suitable players when most are going to bed or just waking . I do not want to look like like a whinger and constantly beg/ask for something that has almost certainly already been run while I'm sleeping. This also applies to most invasions as well, either they start at 3-4am or I just get the tail end as Im waking up. If I'm lucky i see an invasion once every 6 weeks or so and again, thanks to those who run them at odd hours to give us a chance.

I guess some of you people should learn to accept the fact that you are luckier than some of us and be grateful for what you do get.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Starlite

[Vidriel]

Just a lil remark to automated/random invances idea (I don't want start more flame war, just cannot help myself):

Did you think about how the control of who is helping or just sitting there for exps would be handled?

The mods control is good enough as it is at the moment.

You don't want full wall of people doing funny damage with trainings, Morath-personality around or whatever not comfortable in your invance - all those getting free exp reward or causing problems.

In my opinion no other change except the prepared one solving undercappers problem is needed.

Peace!

[purplehaze]

I like being able to utilize our own strategies, the freedom to learn by trial and error, while PARTICIPATING in the invances. I love the idea about making the invances automatic; not random, but similar to the instance, rather, in that each player has their own limitation (accrued hours). I think more people will accept this or the idea that they are pre-arranged (scheduled) and advertised as such. Maybe that way, there is no finger-pointing and if one misses out, they accept it as part of life. I am grateful for the opportunities I had to participate and when I miss one, life goes on. There are plenty of other ways to level.