Category: Suggestions and Improvements
Topic: Complaints
Author: DR-TREVERI
Posted: May 04, 1998 02:17:22


I am not going to respond to everything posted here. It would be
pointless to do so anyway. I would like to make some points however just
to set the record straight since some people seem to be convinced of some
things that simply aren't true.

A) There were no changes made to the combat system for this event. I am
not even aware of any changes made, although there is enough talk about not
being able to do as much damage as previously was possible that we need to
investigate if something has changed. I sincerely do not know if Zoha made
a change to combat or not...if he did, it had nothing to do with this
event. If we needed tougher critters we would simply make the Gorbesh
twice as high level and skill than they are we wouldn't mess with combat.

B) No battle fought during any of the three day's events were absolute. We
intentionally (in fact went out of our way) to make sure the players could
change the turn of event. Of course the Gorbesh had a battle plan, of
course the GMs we the generals behind the Gorbesh, but it is a fact that
the players themselves changed the course of events several times.

Yes, there were events that took place to set the stage, and create the
circumstances, that were beyond your control. That's what GameMasters do
be it here or in a table top game.

C) It was not destiny that the alters be destroyed. The players were able
to save two alters that were targetted to be taken out.

D) New players could not be engaged by the Gorbesh. We are very aware of
the problems of a new player logging in and walking out the Arch to
encounter a an immediate death. The Gorbesh were programmed to ignore any
new player that did not engage them first. We obviously allowed them to
defend themselves.

Yes, the Gorbesh targetted the armory and the weapons shop. What smart
General wouldn't?...and we made sure that didn't happen until there was
only one day left in the event.

E) The crashes were not caused by the event as can be noted by the crashes
prior to and following the Gorbesh event. Did the event amplify what is
causing the crashes? I don't have that answer for you, we're still looking
into what is causing the crashes. Two of them happened while we (the GMs)
were having a meeting and there was absolutely nothing involving the event
was going on except an occasional game message that the Gorbesh were doing
something.

F) We were very aware there would be some who did not like this event. You
are simply not going to get everyone to agree to agree on anything. It
would be my suggestion the next time something like this is going on, if
you are not interested in participating logoff or go sit with friends that
share your feelings in the Taverns. THe Gorbesh intentionally did not
attack the taverns or the Inns. Losing 3 days out of 90 to a special event
is not a big deal in my opinion, especially when there are obviously so
many others having fun with it.

G) We were aware there would be people who would walk the starry path. That
is not to say we wanted ANYONE to walk the starry path. But the fact of
the matter is, favors are one of the challenges of this game. It is part of
it. Just like avoiding Park Place in Monopoly, or having the cash on hand
to deal with landing on it is part of that game. If people didn't watch
their favors, then they paid the price. When they were down to 2 or less
favors they should have logged and brought in another character or just
stayed away until the event was over.

While we are all very attached to our characters, and all of you have a
great deal of effort and work invested in your characters...your character
is still part of the game...and and part of the game is making sure you
don't walk.

H) Any character or item lost as a result of any crash will be replaced.
This is Simutronics policy and nothing about it has changed.

I) Did we know the Gorbesh would be too high for the lower levels? Of
course we did. But we knew a war with Goblins would be a yawn. If we had
mixed goblins with Gorbesh, we'd be getting complaints that players were
killed trying to critters they could fight. Who here would have been the
least bit concerned about 30 Goblins crashing the west gate of 'Haven? And
what use would the Gorbesh have for Goblins when they just marched into
your realms with 8 divisions of highly trained soldiers?

It was our hope the lower level players would help drag, manage stock piles
of weapons and armor, run messages, do some scouting. Things that need to
be done but that didn't require you to be 30th level.

In conclusion, some very dedicated GMs worked very hard to bring you
something you have been asking for...for a long time. We introduced some
things that had never before been tried in any Simutronics game, in
particular the catapults and the units. Was everything perfect? No, we
made some mistakes and we learned from them. Next time we'll do better.

If you enjoyed the event, please let your GMs know it. They worked very
hard at it. If you didn't enjoy the event, you have my personal apology.
We will try to do better next time.

Treveri, Senior GameMaster