Automated in-game Events

[Senja]

As much as Phoenix is a hardcore server, there are players who thrive on social interaction in-game.

Events are a good way to bring players together, both new and seasoned.

New players who are otherwise "hidden" (they either keep to themselves or overlooked by other players) can be sent guild invitations and/or meet other new players to play together with during events.

I understand that a lot of time and manpower from the developers will be required to host events on a consistent basis. Which is why I am suggesting that automated, time-triggered events be added to Phoenix.

These events should be "newb" friendly. The first type of event that comes to mind would be jump quests (JQs). I reckon custom JQ maps are unnecessary, at least in the short-to-medium term from the time of its implementation. There are existing JQ maps that can be used - be it from past events, Sabitrama's Sleepy Wood JQ, Sumi's Subway JQ, etc.

These JQ maps can be in a pool in either a fixed or random rotation, which will be entirely up to the developers' discretion.

The second type of event that I came up with is hunting events. Keeping in line with the idea of keeping these events newb-friendly, an instanced map where all players inside will be limited only to melee auto-attacks with the same damage output regardless of level and weapon type can be implemented. In this instanced map, the monsters will have low drop chance items in their loot table, which will be required to turn in the event quest. Again, existing game assets can be used. Maps such as Henesys Hunting Ground, Ant Tunnel Park, Land of Wildboar, Excavation Site (1-4), Cloud Park, etc. can be used in these instanced maps. These are some examples of maps that can accommodate numerous players at once.

In terms of the frequency of the events, I propose for them to be held twice a day, seven days a week. Both times, the same event with the same rewards.

The aim of holding the same event twice in one day at different times is so that they happen as close to every time zone's prime hours as possible.

The first event can be held at 9AM UTC. At 9AM UTC, it will be between 4-5PM in SEA and 6PM KST.

The second event can be held at 9PM UTC. At 9PM UTC, it will be 5PM ET and 11PM CET.

It will be 2AM and 2PM PST during the start of the first and second events respectively. While these are certainly not considered prime hours, the above event start times can be further optimised.

The event rotation can be done in the following way:

Monday - Jump Quest
Tuesday - Hunting Event
Wednesday - Jump Quest
Thursday - Hunting Event
Friday - Jump Quest
Saturday - Hunting Event
Sunday - Jump Quest

The event rewards can be limited to only the top 3 players, i.e. first 3 players to finish the JQ and the first 3 players to hand in the required items during the hunting event.

The rewards should be attractive enough to make it worth while for players to forego other in-game activities in order to participate in these events.

The rewards can be tiered in the following way:

1st - 1,000 NX/Maple Points
2nd - 500 NX/Maple Points
3rd - 250 NX/Maple Points

One thing for sure is that MapleStory players from any version love chairs. Perhaps unique chair rewards can be limited to only 1-2 days of the week (e.g. Saturdays and/or Sundays). Whether or not these chairs will be tradable is again, entirely up to the developers.

In summary, having automated events can indirectly help introduce new players to other players. It also provides a method to gain NX/Maple Points within the game. And in the event that unique and flashy chairs are added as occasional event rewards, I reckon just about anyone in Phoenix will be incentivised enough to participate in these events.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Senja

[twerp]

+1 

 

I don't have any ideas to add to this, but I'll say that back in December when we had in-game events happening the active users number was x3 more users than what we see these days. Mind you it was Christmas and there were Maple equips dropping, but I recall there still being a lot of engagement when I joined the whack-a-snowball event. 

[sewil]

+1

[Alucard]

Agree. Maybe the events could be only during weekends?
Everyday sounds too frequent and the events could get old really fast.

[opman]

pretty sure he's for events but in the future
also take a look at the chairs here

[Kradia]

I think automated events are definitely a good idea if there aren't GMs around to host them personally. However, I do think that events shouldn't occur more than 1-2 days per month. If events are a daily thing, they stop being exciting because people get used to having them available every day. This wouldn't be the first time an automated event system would be implemented. Other servers have done this previously and the events would eventually go completely unused.

But definitely, automated events would be super cool!

[opman]

i feel at least 1 event (at least) per week is fine. events shouldnt be too many nor too little