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ReplyI'm making a note here: huge success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Thank you staff AND players for making this my favorite Gemstone day I can remember. Thank you Wyrom for making this work without requiring an additional dollar purchase. It makes it feel like our silvers have real value, rather than an in-game prop that accompanies dollar payments for the good stuff.
What went well:
* The items were not just powerful, but so creative, too. I feel like Elanthia is a more enchanted place now. It wasn't simply "items you're used to, +5". I saw so many news scripts that are both mechanically impressive and full of flavor. I'm looking forward to seeing them in action when I stumble on other characters while hunting. The non-combat stuff was solid as well - I was so happy to see Raelee win the universal translator, and for Bekke to get a girl-on-fire dress.
* Good range of item power. Not everyone could participate, but you didn't need 100m.
* The "everyone be quiet" mechanics kept the game from lagging to a halt and kept the auction from being swamped with noise.
* The auctioneers were fun, engaging and helpful (though I wish we could've interacted/heckled a bit more, see below).
What could go better:
* The "everyone be quiet" mechanics were a bit draconian. It would've been fun to see who was in the room, or at least how many. I think I would have preferred a throttle like Kenstrom used in previous WL storylines, where everyone gets to speak or act, but only once every minute or two.
* Everything could have run more smoothly/more quickly, and without the small minority of extremely disappointed players, if auctioneers had comprehensive notes to share on every item before questions/bidding began. If some things were truly intended to go unrevealed, fine, but most of the time it was just an auctioneer not sharing everything they could potentially share up front. Comprehensive notes would've helped keep things moving on duplicate items, too - it got less-than-fun to see the same Q&A occur over and over on some stuff.
* Half of the gemstone population could really only spectate this time. One stretch idea would be a low-end auction tent, run in automated fashion, selling stuff like +22 runestaff with 2x acuity. A nice 15/15/15 could make the items still feel special even if the mechanics weren't exceptional. If that's too much to take on, maybe someone could pop in to do GALD. Or staff could take an item or three out of the auction hopper and raffle them instead… or just epic deepening or something.
>> * Half of the gemstone population could really only spectate this time. One stretch idea would be a low-end auction tent, run in automated fashion, selling stuff like +22 runestaff with 2x acuity. A nice 15/15/15 could make the items still feel special even if the mechanics weren't exceptional. If that's too much to take on, maybe someone could pop in to do GALD. Or staff could take an item or three out of the auction hopper and raffle them instead… or just epic deepening or something.
This is one of the reasons I am a big fan of the tokens.
-- Robert
A powerful whirlpool is suddenly overtaken by a windy vortex!
This is one of the reasons I am a big fan of the tokens.
-- Robert
A powerful whirlpool is suddenly overtaken by a windy vortex!
>>* The "everyone be quiet" mechanics were a bit draconian. It would've been fun to see who was in the room, or at least how many. I think I would have preferred a throttle like Kenstrom used in previous WL storylines, where everyone gets to speak or act, but only once every minute or two.
These draconian mechanics saved us a lot of trouble though. The room silencer that you're familiar with activates on 125+ players in a room. GMs can use it too, like you mentioned, to do minimal actions. But these auction rooms approached 200+ players quickly. We sustained 600+ on throughout the auction, which is impressive considering it wasn't the same accounts for the duration. We topped at 693, but I wasn't checking in the early afternoon.
As the auction went on, we started making notes on things we'd like to update should we use these mechanics in the future. Some way to know how many players are in the room is a good idea. But seeing everyone in the room, even if it was via some other mechanic than look, would bring us back to what causes a lot of the issues and possible crashes.
>>* Everything could have run more smoothly/more quickly, and without the small minority of extremely disappointed players, if auctioneers had comprehensive notes to share on every item before questions/bidding began. If some things were truly intended to go unrevealed, fine, but most of the time it was just an auctioneer not sharing everything they could potentially share up front. Comprehensive notes would've helped keep things moving on duplicate items, too - it got less-than-fun to see the same Q&A occur over and over on some stuff.
Yeah, this was a sore spot. We had notes, and we had planned for there to be more player discovery. But we ended up giving more information out and slowly becoming more and more OOC as the day went on.
>>* Half of the gemstone population could really only spectate this time. One stretch idea would be a low-end auction tent, run in automated fashion, selling stuff like +22 runestaff with 2x acuity. A nice 15/15/15 could make the items still feel special even if the mechanics weren't exceptional. If that's too much to take on, maybe someone could pop in to do GALD. Or staff could take an item or three out of the auction hopper and raffle them instead… or just epic deepening or something.
The old auctions did do more segregation, but level doesn't always mean less silver. A "low-end" auction would just have big banks in there too. A +17 runestaff with 2x acuity have been sold at festivals, so it wouldn't really be much more than a live-action shop.
As for GALD, we didn't have many hands at the auction, those that worked Saturday put in 10 hours all day. We were all in a Skype voice chat, and while we switched on and off as auctioneers, we were all still there helping each other. It was a brutally long day, and that doesn't count the 72 hours prior of crunch work with 6 hours a night QC sessions. And then we did it all again on Sunday in Platinum. Without scheduled GM time, there just wasn't a way to offer GALD.
Wyrom, PM
These draconian mechanics saved us a lot of trouble though. The room silencer that you're familiar with activates on 125+ players in a room. GMs can use it too, like you mentioned, to do minimal actions. But these auction rooms approached 200+ players quickly. We sustained 600+ on throughout the auction, which is impressive considering it wasn't the same accounts for the duration. We topped at 693, but I wasn't checking in the early afternoon.
As the auction went on, we started making notes on things we'd like to update should we use these mechanics in the future. Some way to know how many players are in the room is a good idea. But seeing everyone in the room, even if it was via some other mechanic than look, would bring us back to what causes a lot of the issues and possible crashes.
>>* Everything could have run more smoothly/more quickly, and without the small minority of extremely disappointed players, if auctioneers had comprehensive notes to share on every item before questions/bidding began. If some things were truly intended to go unrevealed, fine, but most of the time it was just an auctioneer not sharing everything they could potentially share up front. Comprehensive notes would've helped keep things moving on duplicate items, too - it got less-than-fun to see the same Q&A occur over and over on some stuff.
Yeah, this was a sore spot. We had notes, and we had planned for there to be more player discovery. But we ended up giving more information out and slowly becoming more and more OOC as the day went on.
>>* Half of the gemstone population could really only spectate this time. One stretch idea would be a low-end auction tent, run in automated fashion, selling stuff like +22 runestaff with 2x acuity. A nice 15/15/15 could make the items still feel special even if the mechanics weren't exceptional. If that's too much to take on, maybe someone could pop in to do GALD. Or staff could take an item or three out of the auction hopper and raffle them instead… or just epic deepening or something.
The old auctions did do more segregation, but level doesn't always mean less silver. A "low-end" auction would just have big banks in there too. A +17 runestaff with 2x acuity have been sold at festivals, so it wouldn't really be much more than a live-action shop.
As for GALD, we didn't have many hands at the auction, those that worked Saturday put in 10 hours all day. We were all in a Skype voice chat, and while we switched on and off as auctioneers, we were all still there helping each other. It was a brutally long day, and that doesn't count the 72 hours prior of crunch work with 6 hours a night QC sessions. And then we did it all again on Sunday in Platinum. Without scheduled GM time, there just wasn't a way to offer GALD.
Wyrom, PM
Loved this auction. Seriously amazing work. The items were inventive, and it was shockingly smooth given the scope of it all.
I definitely think that having an all-silvers auction was a good call- we needed to drain some of the silvers out of the economy. I know it wasn't a huge dent, but it was a healthy one.
10 years from now, when we do this again though- might be a good idea to have a token tent like the '06 auction. That sort of depends on whether or not we need a silvers drain again.
I definitely think that having an all-silvers auction was a good call- we needed to drain some of the silvers out of the economy. I know it wasn't a huge dent, but it was a healthy one.
10 years from now, when we do this again though- might be a good idea to have a token tent like the '06 auction. That sort of depends on whether or not we need a silvers drain again.
> These draconian mechanics saved us a lot of trouble though. The room silencer that you're familiar with activates on 125+ players in a room. GMs can use it too, like you mentioned, to do minimal actions. But these auction rooms approached 200+ players quickly. We sustained 600+ on throughout the auction, which is impressive considering it wasn't the same accounts for the duration. We topped at 693, but I wasn't checking in the early afternoon.
I certainly prefer draconian uptime to permissive crashes :-) I'll take your word for it on what it takes to keep things alive, but hopefully some tricks will make it easier to relax some restrictions in the future.
> The old auctions did do more segregation, but level doesn't always mean less silver. A "low-end" auction would just have big banks in there too. A +17 runestaff with 2x acuity have been sold at festivals, so it wouldn't really be much more than a live-action shop.
Yeah, I mean, I remember seeing as much as 4x/4x acuity off the shelf, I guess a unique desc is all that might set low-end auction items apart (which then probably increases the load on QC... I see how it's problematic). I really can't say how it would be received by the folks with smaller bank accounts, either.
> we didn't have many hands at the auction, those that worked Saturday put in 10 hours all day
I certainly do appreciate the marathon effort.
I certainly prefer draconian uptime to permissive crashes :-) I'll take your word for it on what it takes to keep things alive, but hopefully some tricks will make it easier to relax some restrictions in the future.
> The old auctions did do more segregation, but level doesn't always mean less silver. A "low-end" auction would just have big banks in there too. A +17 runestaff with 2x acuity have been sold at festivals, so it wouldn't really be much more than a live-action shop.
Yeah, I mean, I remember seeing as much as 4x/4x acuity off the shelf, I guess a unique desc is all that might set low-end auction items apart (which then probably increases the load on QC... I see how it's problematic). I really can't say how it would be received by the folks with smaller bank accounts, either.
> we didn't have many hands at the auction, those that worked Saturday put in 10 hours all day
I certainly do appreciate the marathon effort.
I am one of those that had a small bank account and could not afford 99% of the items. My first reaction was that i realize how truly poor i really am and that there is no way due to how I play i would ever gain enough coin (i refuse on principle to buy coin).
After the initial reaction and realization i will not be able to afford what i want i sat back and enjoyed the whole day. Well executed well paced and well split between great items in silver and gold. As a player who sometimes feel like premium benefits well outstrips us standard account i felt like the split this auction was perfect so major kudos.
I brought up the idea also of maybe having some lower level items for the poor to bid on. More i think on it i doubt it would have helped. I think the bidding fever thanks to so many awesome items would still carry over to the low items that they too would be sold at a beyond high cost.
Either way thank you for a wonderful day and major kudos on a great event.
Pups player
After the initial reaction and realization i will not be able to afford what i want i sat back and enjoyed the whole day. Well executed well paced and well split between great items in silver and gold. As a player who sometimes feel like premium benefits well outstrips us standard account i felt like the split this auction was perfect so major kudos.
I brought up the idea also of maybe having some lower level items for the poor to bid on. More i think on it i doubt it would have helped. I think the bidding fever thanks to so many awesome items would still carry over to the low items that they too would be sold at a beyond high cost.
Either way thank you for a wonderful day and major kudos on a great event.
Pups player
>> I brought up the idea also of maybe having some lower level items for the poor to bid on. More i think on it i doubt it would have helped. I think the bidding fever thanks to so many awesome items would still carry over to the low items that they too would be sold at a beyond high cost.
Right there with you!
Maybe a Plain Brown Tent that didn't let anyone in with more than 7m silvers on them?
:)
~L
---
Rohese: "... the TownCrier (tune in if you haven’t, it’s without doubt the best thing to ever happen on LNet)
Right there with you!
Maybe a Plain Brown Tent that didn't let anyone in with more than 7m silvers on them?
:)
~L
---
Rohese: "... the TownCrier (tune in if you haven’t, it’s without doubt the best thing to ever happen on LNet)
My pipe dream idea was whatever the lowest winning bid item went for, everyone that attended could buy that item for that price. giggle Make sense? No. But I would have killed for one of those homenode amulets and hesitated on it because it came out so early and then every one of the following ones went for three times that price. I was kicking myself THE WHOLE DAY LONG.
But I still had a great time watching it, and there were a bunch of times it was really satisfying to see particular items go to particular people who have long invested in RP that dovetailed nicely with what they ended up taking home.
>>>>These draconian mechanics saved us a lot of trouble though. The room silencer that you're familiar with activates on 125+ players in a room. GMs can use it too, like you mentioned, to do minimal actions. But these auction rooms approached 200+ players quickly. We sustained 600+ on throughout the auction, which is impressive considering it wasn't the same accounts for the duration. We topped at 693, but I wasn't checking in the early afternoon.<<<<
I actually loved and appreciated these draconian mechanics. It was a huge relief to be able to watch and participate in the auction without the usual nonsense from PC's that feel they need to be the center of attention at every possible event, all the ambient messaging from items/pets etc. As a result I was able to follow the auction, listen to the auctioneers and see the descriptions of each item without any issues, and overall it made MY experience so so much more pleasurable during the whole event.
I would actually ask that you add the weird beard mechanics that some PC's seem to have to the silencing as well, I think those were the only ambient messaging I saw during the whole auction.
I would love to see these mechanics used more at large scale GM Merchant/auction events.
But yes it would have been nice to see either the total number of people in each tent or the full list of people in each tent.
I personally found one of the most annoying issues (I think Ledirth dealt with it best, and Baroque and Spente the worst)was the huge number of repetitive questions and the constant repetition of what the auctioneer had already revealed about each piece because the audience was not paying attention during the auctioneers spiel. resulting in long periods of exposition between items especially for repeat items like the gem eating runestaves.
I actually loved and appreciated these draconian mechanics. It was a huge relief to be able to watch and participate in the auction without the usual nonsense from PC's that feel they need to be the center of attention at every possible event, all the ambient messaging from items/pets etc. As a result I was able to follow the auction, listen to the auctioneers and see the descriptions of each item without any issues, and overall it made MY experience so so much more pleasurable during the whole event.
I would actually ask that you add the weird beard mechanics that some PC's seem to have to the silencing as well, I think those were the only ambient messaging I saw during the whole auction.
I would love to see these mechanics used more at large scale GM Merchant/auction events.
But yes it would have been nice to see either the total number of people in each tent or the full list of people in each tent.
I personally found one of the most annoying issues (I think Ledirth dealt with it best, and Baroque and Spente the worst)was the huge number of repetitive questions and the constant repetition of what the auctioneer had already revealed about each piece because the audience was not paying attention during the auctioneers spiel. resulting in long periods of exposition between items especially for repeat items like the gem eating runestaves.
>...especially for repeat items like the gem eating runestaves
As much as I would have loved to have said, "Hey, this was auctioned previously. YOUKNOWTHEDEAL..." that wasn't particularly fair. Some may not have heard the previous explanation. I wasn't going to assume that they had, especially with the amount of silvers items were selling for.
Honestly, we moved through a TON of items between 11 and 7. If things had been particularly slow, the auction would have dragged on until 10pm. :P
>...I think those were the only ambient messaging I saw during the whole auction.
We were trying to catch all the culprits during the auction. Huge thanks to GM Vanah for her amazing multi-tasking abilities!
~ Haliste ~
The Forest Gnome of Silverwood Manor
ASGM, Events
As much as I would have loved to have said, "Hey, this was auctioned previously. YOUKNOWTHEDEAL..." that wasn't particularly fair. Some may not have heard the previous explanation. I wasn't going to assume that they had, especially with the amount of silvers items were selling for.
Honestly, we moved through a TON of items between 11 and 7. If things had been particularly slow, the auction would have dragged on until 10pm. :P
>...I think those were the only ambient messaging I saw during the whole auction.
We were trying to catch all the culprits during the auction. Huge thanks to GM Vanah for her amazing multi-tasking abilities!
~ Haliste ~
The Forest Gnome of Silverwood Manor
ASGM, Events
The second of the homenodes was the least expensive item the whole day, that I saw, at about 6M. I think the buyer lucked into the perfect mix of:
- AFTER another of the same ability, so there was some feeling of, "Okay, we've seen this before", but
- BEFORE (by several hours) the wave of, "Oh crap, I better buy now or I'm shut out."
:)
- AFTER another of the same ability, so there was some feeling of, "Okay, we've seen this before", but
- BEFORE (by several hours) the wave of, "Oh crap, I better buy now or I'm shut out."
:)
I totally concur, this was a blast and extremely well-conceived/executed!!
I'm honored to have been able to attend such a rare event, after all. Many thanks to the creators of all those awesome items, and for those running the marathon auction session; it was pretty long, but it was also nice to have it wrapped up in a day. And from what I've heard, most everyone seems to really like their wins... as they should!
-- Wheels & Skulls Department
"Bring me your suffering. The rattle roar of broken bones. Bring me the riot in your heart... Angry, wild, and raw. I am not afraid of the dark." -- mia hollow
[ https://carrionkissingchaos.wordpress.com ]
I'm honored to have been able to attend such a rare event, after all. Many thanks to the creators of all those awesome items, and for those running the marathon auction session; it was pretty long, but it was also nice to have it wrapped up in a day. And from what I've heard, most everyone seems to really like their wins... as they should!
-- Wheels & Skulls Department
"Bring me your suffering. The rattle roar of broken bones. Bring me the riot in your heart... Angry, wild, and raw. I am not afraid of the dark." -- mia hollow
[ https://carrionkissingchaos.wordpress.com ]
>actually loved and appreciated these draconian mechanics. It was a huge relief to be able to watch and participate in the auction without the >usual nonsense from PC's that feel they need to be the center of attention at every possible event
I can't agree more. I probably wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't spoken up, but I wholly endorse the silence system used here for the very same reason.
I can't agree more. I probably wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't spoken up, but I wholly endorse the silence system used here for the very same reason.
