EG complaints

[Ker_Thwap]

TLDR version. Shitty Information Sharing. Continue on with your busy schedule.

Lowlights from my festival experience:

- Stealth merchants. The ones who showed up without an announcement or with minimal information on where to be found.

- Being one room away on the carousel from a merchant (No announcement) and arriving 28th in the line.

- Merchants who waste everyone's time. How hard is it to say, I'll be working for an hour, or thirty minutes, or for 10 customers, or everyone here, and I'll lock the door? Basically any method where the customer doesn't have to wait around for an hour or two before being sent away empty handed would be acceptable for me. Just sharing a bit of information early on, so we can make a choice on the likely odds of being chosen vs the time invested.

- The key quest, took me about 8 hours to complete the first time. The website wasn't up and no one really had the information to share. Three hours into the festival there was a merchant announced on the carousel.

- One merchant locked the door within a few minute, then did 4 rounds of alters for the people inside (At least she made an announcement.) This same merchant also took steps to help out players who hadn't gotten services, go figure.

- Festivals pretty much suck for people who aren't in the special clique sharing information with each other. I even tuned to the EG station, everyone was begging for information, but no one was sharing it.

- It was frustrating arriving late to find IC friends sitting in rooms with merchants who hadn't let me know something was happening, because clearly better odds at a merchant service is more important than IC friendship. It's just gave me an OOC vibe to the whole festival.

- Grinding on games. Probably 20 to 30 hours for one T4 prize. Trying to amuse myself by chatting with friends through horrendous screen scroll. Yeah, I was too lazy to squelch all the crap.

- The two hour stealth raffles.

- Interrupting my schedule to be at a raffle drawing where the ticket said YOU HAVE TO BE HERE AT THE DRAWING TO WIN, and finding out the the rules are really more like guidelines.

- I ditched the festival early and had the bowels practically to myself for two weeks, thereby raking in the loot.

- No calendar of events in advance. The costume thing was on the opening night, not prepared, thanks for that. A few days into the festival a few events made it onto the website, listing the day they were being held. Thanks for narrowing it down to the day. I'll gladly sit around from 2:00 PM to 1:00 AM for the cable repairman to show up.

So much effort by the GMs put into this event, and a few lazy GMs and a bunch of clique'y players turned it into an OOC competition/time wasting event.

[Elgrim]

- Festivals pretty much suck for people who aren't in the special clique sharing information with each other. I even tuned to the EG station, everyone was begging for information, but no one was sharing it.



This is very true. And kind of sad. One of the reasons you see some people posting about 30+ services, and others that got 5-6.

The worst part is, those of us who aren't in these "cliques" because we either are new, recently returned, or just outsiders are generally the ones who need the most amount of work done. We want work for items we need or want, not things we are selling. Just look at the amount of permanent ranger boxes for sale, altered goods, max light/deep containers. Most of the people chasing merchants do it to make money. Many of us wearing "off the rack" stuff and un-altered or lightened gear are the ones who would benefit from this the most, and would actually keep and cherish the items we had worked on.

But, it is the nature of the beast, and there really isn't anything you can do about that. Chalk it up as part of the game.

[Gweneivia]

I couldn't disagree more. I felt that most of the merchants announced, and was able to find where they were using a combination of Nilandia's site and the EG map. The FESTIVAL verb listed exactly when and what events were scheduled, such as the costume contest, as well as these days and times being listed on Nilandia's. Yes I heard of a few merchants from friends but I far more often saw people sharing the information on lnet or the EG channel, usually to include room numbers.

You said you weren't squelching...I'd bet cash that if you went into your logs for most of the times you say they didn't announce, what really happened is the announcement was lost in your screen scroll. Not all of them were huge and they didn't come in monsterbold so if you weren't paying attention and had a lot of scroll going they were sometimes easy to miss.

Could simu (the company) do better in terms of keeping the players posted? Yes. But to say that the resources to find information simply aren't there except for a few "cliques" is simply not true.

[Elgrim]

200 people in EG see system wide messaging - "Merchant XXX will be doing YYY at ZZZ"

160 players start scrambling around, trying to find out where the hell ZZZ is. Many hardly know how to get to a specific shop, let alone places like a tavern, gazebo, etc. Many ask on LNET, mostly greeted by dead silence, because to share a room ID is to lessen your own chances of getting work done.

40 players share with each other "Hey, thats Lich ID XXXX". 40 ;go2 commands fire off.

20 or so of the 160 players searching actually make it to the room at some point. See 40+ people ahead of them in the room order. Most leave, guessing they won't get picked.

That is how it works today.

[WRoss]

If you think certain GM s don't tell people when and where they'll be, you are mistaken.

[Cyphier]

One thing I did this year was actually go through and highlight all the merchant names that they posted on the EG page on the site. When I was at the fest I had Nilandia's page and the map up in two different windows. When a merchant announced I would see the highlight with the shop name so I would use the find field to find it on Nilandia's page, get the room number and shop type (wagon, pavillion, hut), then consult the map, and most time I made it in time to get spun.

I also used a gold ring to get from wherever I was to a launching point close to the bank.

[Elgrim]

If you think certain GM s don't tell people when and where they'll be, you are mistaken.

This has been the case for as long as I can remember. No shocker there. But that is a completely different can of worms that is best left sealed. I could go on and on about GM/player interaction and favoritsm. Why some people ride an RPA almost 100% of the time and others have seen 1-2 in YEARS of play.

[Gweneivia]

If you think certain GM s don't tell people when and where they'll be, you are mistaken.

I'm not saying that there isn't ANY favoritism, or tip offs, or even cliques, I'm just saying that you don't HAVE to be a part of that to get work done. If you set up your squelches, highlight merchant names, pay attention, and have the site/maps up, you will be a lot better off. If you're not willing to do any of that, then yes, you're going to be left out sometimes. Gwene is most certainly NOT one of the "privileged," not in any particular cliques, and has had like...maybe 3 decent RPAs, ever, yet I managed to find plenty of merchants and get plenty of work done.

[Allereli]

When I was at the fest I had Nilandia's page and the map up in two different windows. When a merchant announced I would see the highlight with the shop name so I would use the find field to find it on Nilandia's page, get the room number and shop type (wagon, pavillion, hut), then consult the map, and most time I made it in time to get spun.

this.

also, the schedule was in the FESTIVAL information, which you are clearly informed of when you buy your ticket. It was updated before the Plat fest started with 12(?) pages of info.

There is no clique, just experienced festival goers who know preparing is more than just designing ideas. Several of us were filling up the EG folder with all the important GM posts from the officials, did you read any of that?

edit: most the EG info was given out on the main LNET channel because that's where most ppl's default chat is set.

[audioserf]

This is more or less the thread I would have ended up posting had I gone to EG. Some people have luck with merchants, some don't, and I've fallen into the latter class for as long as I've played GS3/GS4. Pretty glad I saved the cash and some aggravation.

[Cyphier]

Having a list of what you want to have worked on is also helpful.

I analyzed all my gear to see which I could lighten, or deepen, typed out alteration ideas next to some, and pretty much had it ordered by priority.

I actually set alarms for the raffle drawings on my phone. With so many different raffles at different times I knew exactly when, where, and what was being raffled an hour and 5 minutes before the ones I actually entered.

[tallkris3]

I can't stress how helpful it was to highlight the merchant names, that alone was huge. I'm not in part of any cliques, have a handful of close friends that helped me with locations, but for the most part it was largely just myself. I made note of every room that a merchant showed up (Heck if you just made note of Aliantta's room that was worth like 10 services over the 2 weeks) and had the number handy so when they showed back up I could go running right there. I got more services then I could care to count... and I even went 3 straight days spending all day sitting on front of merchants not to get a single bit of work done... later I had much better luck. Be prepared (Highlights, maps, room numbers), don't have dick friends and a little patience.... you'll do just fine.

I thought LNET did a decent job of sharing room numbers, multiple times I got information from completely random folks.

[rolfard]

For me it was;
a) wait for caller on the west walkway (where there isn't a lot of noise and you can hear the caller)
b) check nilandia for a room number
c) check map for the location
d) RUN LIKE CRAZY

I also spent about a day just checking EVERY shop thoroughly (even if listed on Nilandia) for my own eyes. It was time consuming but in the past 16+ years of gemstone, this is how I get to the merchants I want to see. Check every room, jot down the interesting items, signs and services (even without an LNET number, after a while you know where to go when the "Sword Swallower" say's come to my wagon). I almost consider posting this a spoiler if it did not seem like common sense in order to get the services you want best. Also, I know for a *fact* that those who camped (besides in Bazzel's pavilion) were the ones who got the imbedded clothing unlocked to recharging status (something I wanted and did miss), so sometimes it's a matter of preference and perserverance (insert demotivational poster of AFK scripter with highlights, bells and whistles that all go off when 'so-and-so' arrives in lands).

[BriarFox]

People have already said it, but to reiterate, merchant-hunting is a skill, and it takes effort. You can't go to a festival and just expect merchants to show up and hand you things, though some kind ones do do that on occasion.

Tips:
1. Highlight merchant names (a list is always provided on the website of the major ones)
2. Scour the EG folder beforehand to get tips and info and dates.
3. If you're in Prime, know, love, and make extensive use of Nilandia's list.
4. Make a list of where merchants are, what their shops are, and what they do.
5. Write a script, if you like, to run you to any merchant's shop. People are usually sharing those scripts anyway.
6. Use the festival verb.
7. Use the ;raffle lich script.
8. Keep your amulet on.
9. Pay attention to IG announcements.
10. And most importantly: Don't sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom until the festival is over.

[DCSL]

I got quite a few services but.. EVERY LAST TOOL that I use to get services is available to absolutely everyone else. For future reference, here's what I do:

Be prepared with ideas. I cannot stress this enough. There is absolutely no reason not to have acceptable ideas ready for the things you want to alter. Even GMs who like designing for others are kind of tapped out towards the end. Be nice. Be ready. If you don't have any ideas or you're the tiniest bit not sure about it, please ask. There is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS someone with experience with alters/the GM/the merchant willing to help. If you can't get someone else for some reason, please PM me or find my characters in game.

Go through the listed merchants on the website and highlight every one of them in the game.

Go through the merchants listed last year on Nilandia's website and highlight every one a those too. (I'm on a newish computer and don't have my highlights from last year already.)

Turn on your logons/logoffs so you can see when they sign on if they don't have silentlogon on (sometimes they don't) and open up the logon/logoff window so those things won't get lost in scroll.

Read the FESTIVAL verb. It has the times listed for all the contests. I usually only go to the storytelling contest so that's always my focus. Sometimes the costume contest too. Anyway, find out what you want to participate in and tell your friends IRL you'll be dead that night so don't bother calling. (Nilandia's shop and inventory list ALSO has these times on it.)

Join the AIM Prime chat. There was far more sharing of information there than anywhere else (and no, we are not all friends IC or OOC so it's not some buddy-buddy crap.. it's for everyone) that I observed. Join the Lnet one too just in case, I guess, although that wasn't helpful as much as entertaining.

Have a map of the grounds up on your browser at all times. AND print one out.

Have a shop and inventory list up at all times. Don't need to print this one out.

When the festival first opens, run around and find the wares and services you're interested in. Read the signs. Many merchants will put their name on their shop signs. Now you know that that merchant works here (or could work here... sometimes they have more than one shop so they can bounce around).

Mark on go2 or put an alias down for the merchants you would kill for in those shops. For instance, I really wanted nail polish. So I had ;alias add polish=;go2 (number of the room her shop was sitting in) so that as soon as I saw her sign on or saw her announce, I could be there as soon as I typed polish.

Anytime you do manage to catch a merchant, mark it down on the map you printed out. If/when they come back, you don't NEED to ask around unless they switch locations and only a few did that.

If a merchant is choosing people by dropping certain items into rooms that will teleport you to the merchant for work, immediately highlight that item. This fest it was a hammer, a dagger, some thread, a bauble... I think that was it. If you're good at scripting, run a script to grab it as soon as you see it. (I'm not good with that, so I never try for the drops.)

Make friends IC as well as OOC. You said something about seeing IC friends at a merchant but that they didn't share information. There could be a few reasons for that. 1. They're greedy selfish pigs like you think. 2. It's a mad scramble when you're trying to find a merchant and they're busy/confused. 3. They didn't know you'd want that merchant. A lot of people don't go to every merchant that announces. I never say Balbaroy. Didn't try for him at all. Don't need that stuff as much as others do. 4. They might have no way to reach you. A lot of merchant rooms are anti-magic and if they don't have their amulet running all the time, they can't turn it on there. If they're OOC friends, they could hit you up on Lnet or on AIM at least.

Last but not least, if there's a certain merchant it would make your festival to catch... camp where you know they work. Anytime nothing's going on and you don't have anything better to do, sit and shoot the shit with your friends at the merchant's workroom.

People bitch all the time about how services always seem to go to the same people. Those are the people putting forth this kind of effort. I've never had a GM tell me when/where they're going to log in a merchant. Maybe I'm making friends with all the wrong GMs! But I am a pretty good merchant hunter, if I do say so myself. Yeah, it sucks that services aren't just handed over to you on a silver platter but if you work at it, they're not impossible to get. Just.. try, geezus.

[WRoss]

My key to winning services and pissing off people is to follow whoever is the flavor of the month from Solhaven. It's worked with quite a few different characters over the year.

[DCSL]

10. And most importantly: Don't sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom until the festival is over.

Pfft. Some of us have laptops.

[Whirlin]

Kinda to piggyback off of Briar's comment

It is worth noting that if you're going to pay some money for a merchant, you should take the time off work and make sure to be fully invested to ensure that you can maximize the services received. Take the time off work, send wife to inlaws, destroy phone, kill friends, etc. Your looking to be WOW-Cartmen-esque for the duration of the festival.

If you're paying for 240 hours of potential GM fanservice, you don't want to be away from your computer for 60 of those hours, that's just lowering the value of what you paid for!

[DaCapn]

It sounds to me like some people are in the habit of relying upon others. When they find out that they can't always depend upon others, they blame them instead of themselves. You may be one of these people. Don't feel insulted, seek to better yourself (it's a problem that's bigger than EG & GS). Personally, I'm in the habit of telling people how to not have these sort of problems.

I'm not in any kind of clique. I never received any private message from anyone giving me a heads up to any kind of service. I had 1 ticket and got selected for 24 (>15 the first week) services and never camped out in any wagon. This was my first ticketed festival. In the time leading up to the festival, I just thought about what would make it easier.

This was my EG prep:
(1) Gave Nilandia's list a skim to familiarize myself with the format (10 minutes)
(2) Highlighted the merchants indicated on Nilandia's list (5-10 minutes)
(4) Updated my lich map database (10 seconds)
(5) Set go2 aliases for central locations for easy manual movement (1 minute)
(6) Paid attention to the range of room IDs of the map database used on the EG map

This is what I did to get a service:
(1) Kept Nilandia's list and the EG map open, waited for a merchant to announce
(2) If room is listed, Ctrl+F on Nilandia's list for location, click link, read EG map number & room description, cross-reference with EG map, go2 nearest alias, navigate
(3) If no room is listed, Ctrl+F on Nilansia's list for the merchant's name (in many cases, this will get you the room), proceed as described in (2) once the room is known
(4) If 2 & 3 leave me high-and-dry, I tried to use go2 using some key phrase
(5) If all of that failed, I asked for help finding the room (maybe a half-dozen times)
(6) If finding the room was at all difficult, I wrote it down on a pad on my desk
(7) If there were a ton of people in the room, I didn't get discouraged and bail (of my 24 selected services, 9 were spinners, I witnessed 386 spins overall)
(8) When coming back to the computer, before asking "anything going on at EG?", I scrolled back in the LNet & game log for announcements

For instance, Eosten would always announce "Eosten the Sword Swallower..." There's a merchant's wagon called "Sword Swallower’s Wagon." Another example, Bazzelwyn always announced that he'd be in "Cypress Grove" which was not on Nilandia's list because it's a side room. However, look at #3 here:


>;go2 cypress grove
--- Lich: go2 active.
4 matching rooms found:

1: [Fethayl Bog, Cypress Grove] (10152)
2: [Feywrot Mire, Banyan Cirque] (20156)
3: [Cypress Grove] (20282)
4: [Feywrot Mire, Misty Shore] (20318)

select a room (;send <1-4>)


Here are some more die-hard measures that I might employ next time:
(1) Watch the log on list for merchants
(2) Set up go2 aliases for each merchant by name
(3) Make use of the FESTIVAL verb (I wasn't aware of this)

If you don't think players are sharing:
(1) Look at Nilandia's list
(2) Look at the quest walkthroughs
(3) Look at the lich map database
(4) Look at the EG map
(5) Stop ignoring all of the info shared by players

I saw people shouting out raffle schedules ("here is a list of raffles & locations that end today, let me know if I'm missing anyone"). The only reason I ever made it to any unannounced merchants was because someone announced it out in the open on LNet (and I made it to several). I didn't ask for much help, but every time I asked, I got it and there's a decent group of people who would probably be really happy to tell me to go fuck myself when I ask for help.

[Velfi]

I think most of what I would say has been posted already, but I strongly disagree with the OP. I've been playing a little under a year now, this was my very first EG, and I took advantage of the resources available to everyone and got a ton of work done. I highlighted merchant names that were posted, as well as new ones I found when I heard about them/saw them, I utilized Nilandia's page as well as the other one on google sites, kept a map of the grounds open as well as the shop list with the room #s, and just paid attention to where people showed up. Alianatta announced services almost every day, and she was always in the same spot, and seeing people asking where she was working late in the 2nd week of the festival was just silly. Almost all of the merchants tended to be in the same spot most of the time.

In addition, I saw numerous mentions of merchants and rooms they were in, or at least the name of their shop (which was easy to find given the above resources) on the EG and lnet channels.

If you were only able to attend for a couple hours a day, sure, you probably won't get a lot of work done... but if you did your homework and were there a lot, there's no excuse to have not been at most of them, and even if the spinner didn't go your way that often there were plenty of room order merchants.

[milesalpha]

While there is a lich clique, there has always been some sort of clique at festivals who actively work together. Friends work together in any situation. I had little problem navigating EG by doing a little groundwork; watching Nilandia's development, Platinum reports, etc. on the PC well in advance of the festival (detailed maps, descriptions of shops and inventory, listing of all merchants and what they would do/raffle). I don't lich or script, but made it to the majority of the merchants who came while I was there, just wasn't lucky enough to be picked much (obviously some sort of anti-Canadian bias).
I shared all of this on the regular net with anyone I thought I could help but I was shocked at how quiet the net was.

Ever had a pair of aces cracked? Same reason we had a crappy EG.

[crb]

People have already said it, but to reiterate, merchant-hunting is a skill, and it takes effort. You can't go to a festival and just expect merchants to show up and hand you things, though some kind ones do do that on occasion.

Tips:
1. Highlight merchant names (a list is always provided on the website of the major ones)
2. Scour the EG folder beforehand to get tips and info and dates.
3. If you're in Prime, know, love, and make extensive use of Nilandia's list.
4. Make a list of where merchants are, what their shops are, and what they do.
5. Write a script, if you like, to run you to any merchant's shop. People are usually sharing those scripts anyway.
6. Use the festival verb.
7. Use the ;raffle lich script.
8. Keep your amulet on.
9. Pay attention to IG announcements.
10. And most importantly: Don't sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom until the festival is over.

This. I don't think anyone would accuse me of being in a clique, unless being one of the 90% who use lich is a clique. I do fine. I ignore many merchant announcements (all those girlish scripty unlocky hair whatnots).

There were some short notice raffles this year which I disliked, and the GMs did not make use of twitter, forum, or calendar scheduling like they've done in the past which I disliked, but it certainly was not hard to get services. This EG was very high on services, highest EG in awhile IMO. Last year sucked by comparison.

[milesalpha]

Wow did this thread fill quickly.

[Ker_Thwap]

Lovely suggestions, but most of them utilize out of game means/third party software. I won't tune to the general lnet station, nor prime. It's a wasteland that makes me hate my fellow man. Not happening. I do indeed find the vocal lnet population to be a clique, one I want no part of.

I did have Nilandia's site open the entire time. I did highlight all the merchant names. The FESTIVAL verb was fine for scheduled games. I did check the Player's Corner and found some useful info.

However I shouldn't have to rely on out of game means, scripts and third party software just to compete. I shouldn't even have to compete at all. It's supposed to be a Festival, not scripting/racing contest. Is it too much to ask that GMs put stuff on the calendar on the website? That they make prominent announcements that include their name (highlighted) and location? Seems like the GMs (some) are just content to let the chief means of communications to be outside of the game.

Yes, I do realize the hypocrisy of posting on a third party site. The official forums are pretty much useless. There's always some fool who misconstrues what I'm saying, get's all offended and gets the post pulled.

[Jhynnifer]

- Stealth merchants. The ones who showed up without an announcement or with minimal information on where to be found.
The only two merchants I saw doing this were Veola and Sophella. Which, if you highlighted their names, and ran to their shop whenever they logged in, chances are you got work done. Because both of these merchants were a high priority for me, I would camp out in their rooms during the times the had previously been around working... on the off chance that they would log in. Its really just merchant hunting.


- One merchant locked the door within a few minute, then did 4 rounds of alters for the people inside (At least she made an announcement.) This same merchant also took steps to help out players who hadn't gotten services, go figure.

I'm assuming you mean Alianetta. She would usually do a game and then lock the winners in her tent to do work. With the amount of overall work this merchant did, I can find absolutely no fault whatsoever with any method she chose.


- Festivals pretty much suck for people who aren't in the special clique sharing information with each other. I even tuned to the EG station, everyone was begging for information, but no one was sharing it.

I beg to differ here. A fair number of us announced merchant rooms on lnet. That having been said, keeping up the Mire map, Nilandia (Ctrl+f) and just being aware of where certain merchants habitually show up is a great way to get work done. I do have a very small network of people I will macro information to or IM when I find it. But overall I've really stopped the whole mindset of "If I don't tell people I have a better chance of getting spun" mentality.


- It was frustrating arriving late to find IC friends sitting in rooms with merchants who hadn't let me know something was happening, because clearly better odds at a merchant service is more important than IC friendship. It's just gave me an OOC vibe to the whole festival.

Sounds like more an issue with your friends than the event. =(


However I shouldn't have to rely on out of game means, scripts and third party software just to compete. I shouldn't even have to compete at all. It's supposed to be a Festival, not scripting/racing contest. Is it too much to ask that GMs put stuff on the calendar on the website? That they make prominent announcements that include their name (highlighted) and location? Seems like the GMs (some) are just content to let the chief means of communications to be outside of the game.

Sorry, but it sounds to me like you really just want merchant work handed to you without any effort or work on your part. If I'm mistaken, sorry... GMs aren't going to put up every single time they merchant on the calendar, they tend to be spontaneous. Most of the GMs who announced it would say "so and so in their <shop name>" ... without actually giving you the room number of their shop in the message that's pretty straight forward. Yes it requires you to do a little work on your own, but then merchant hunting has always been that way.




I am sorry you didn't enjoy yourself and that you left early. I had an absolute blast despite the 7 million spent on games without a T5 or a raffle win. I met new people and was able to re-establish some rp.

[audioserf]

Here they misconstrue what you're saying, get offended, and neg rep you.

Internet!

[Ker_Thwap]

I only got one neg rep, and it wasn't even clever. I feel so unloved.

[Allereli]

While there is a lich clique, there has always been some sort of clique at festivals who actively work together.

the word clique implies exclusivity. Lich is available to everyone and it's your choice not to use a popular tool

[DaCapn]

I thought I might also throw this out there...

The more people rapid-fire unnecessary questions, the more people get irritated with answering. I remember a specific character on LNet being told to shut up several times. Personally, I just started ignoring the queries when they got to be too much. It didn't really bother me.

Here's a log of that one person's LNet chats during a 5 day period that contain the phrase "GALD." There are 87 chats. Not all are requests for info, but the vast majority are. Say only 70 are (I don't feel like counting) and assume that this list is comprehensive. That's 14/day. That's one person. That's a lot.

"Is Ivires doing GALD now?" (11:45:44 AM)
"any GALD going on?" (02:11:10 PM)
"any GALD? 100k to first person that whispers" (02:15:26 PM)
"any GALD?" (06:30:02 PM)
"100k note goes to anyone that tells me about a GALD going down" (06:31:09 PM)
"any GALD going on?" (06:34:25 PM)
"GALD and hood for armor concealers" (06:47:31 PM)
"boss hog thondalar just got 100k for hooking me up with a GALD location...that's the precedent i'm setting for the entire festival if you want to make some coin" (06:55:35 PM)
"any other GALD going down?" (07:10:19 PM)
"100k to anyone who tells me about a GALD" (03:01:48 PM)
"any GALD?" (03:21:30 PM)
"okay where the GALD out son" (03:26:40 PM)
"any GALD?" (03:36:27 PM)
"any GALD?" (04:28:28 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (04:37:41 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (03:29:36 PM)
"ay, where the GALD be" (03:42:48 PM)
"where that GALD at" (03:56:08 PM)
"get at me GALD" (03:56:10 PM)
"paying 150k for GALD room #, at least that does't seem completely effed" (06:04:55 PM)
"paying 150k for GALD room #" (06:19:09 PM)
"paying 150k for GALD locations" (06:40:27 PM)
"any GALD going on?" (07:21:15 PM)
"GALD going down?" (08:37:29 PM)
"paying 150k for GALD room #" (08:38:18 PM)
"any any GALD going on?" (08:51:07 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (09:24:49 PM)
"any GALD?" (08:33:01 AM)
"150k today to any GALD room # info" (08:36:04 AM)
"any GALD?" (09:17:00 AM)
"any gald?" (10:33:44 AM)
"any GALD?" (10:46:00 AM)
"any GALD?" (11:03:06 AM)
"any GALD?" (11:17:56 AM)
"any GALD?" (12:34:33 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (12:41:59 PM)
"paying 200k for GALD locations" (12:51:11 PM)
"200k for GALD merchant room #s" (12:56:33 PM)
"any games or GALD going down?" (01:11:22 PM)
"where tha GALD at, sonnnnnAH" (01:23:10 PM)
"GALD?" (01:59:19 PM)
"paying 150k for any GALD room #" (02:24:59 PM)
"where tha gald at" (02:40:35 PM)
"paying 150k for GALD room #" (03:04:31 PM)
"aight, where tha GALD at" (03:27:00 PM)
"daddy want GALD" (03:49:41 PM)
"daddy want GALD" (03:49:57 PM)
"any GALD?" (04:15:05 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (04:38:07 PM)
"and it's not GALD" (04:38:42 PM)
"anyone know where the GALD at? paying 150k for room numberz" (08:00:18 AM)
"any GALD no in the carousel?" (08:35:46 AM)
"any GALD?" (09:56:03 AM)
"any GALD?" (10:10:17 AM)
"hey, uh, any GALD around?" (10:17:54 AM)
"paying 150k for GALD location" (10:29:52 AM)
"what's the GALD situation? 150k for room numbaz" (01:24:40 PM)
"any GALD?" (03:12:36 PM)
"any GALD n shit?" (03:25:12 PM)
"GALD about 40 minutes" (03:34:07 PM)
"funny how people piss and moan when i ask about GALD but when i supply the info...(no offense to those who asked, i'm happy to help)" (03:34:38 PM)
"anyone gots a GALD location for me?" (05:36:22 PM)
"any GALD goin down?" (05:48:45 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (06:19:54 PM)
"any GALD going down?" (07:20:07 PM)
"paying 150k for GALD room #" (07:32:54 PM)
"where tha GALD at?" (07:50:41 AM)
"typical offer of 200k stands for GALD info today" (07:51:13 AM)
"where tha GALD at" (10:34:19 AM)
"any GALD?" (11:00:46 AM)
"paying 250k for GALD locations today (room #)" (11:37:36 AM)
"where tha gald, where tha gald, where tha gald at" (11:48:55 AM)
"GALD?" (12:22:20 PM)
"or gald, either one" (12:40:21 PM)
"any GALD?" (01:37:26 PM)
"any GALD up this bitch?" (01:52:02 PM)
"speaking of, any GALD going down?" (02:17:23 PM)
"any gald?" (08:49:54 PM)
"any other GALD going on?" (10:06:18 PM)
"any other GALD going on?" (11:16:59 PM)
"any GALD?" (11:38:08 PM)
"any GALD?" (09:00:26 AM)
"any GALD going down?" (09:47:07 AM)
"any GALD going on?" (10:40:38 AM)
"people that try to RP at merchants and take up their time from GALD make my ass twitch" (04:46:43 PM)
"i wouldn't be that callous, though i'm sure that's part of it, i just think about 99% of the people are there for GALD, so why take up their time" (04:48:25 PM)
"any merchants doing GALD?" (09:05:55 PM)

[audioserf]

It's the same as people refusing to use AIM in the 90s GS3 days. It's a choice, but purists are the exception and not the rule, so it's a choice with consequences.

[Ker_Thwap]

... and you'll notice that person didn't share a bit of information he found out himself.

[Some Rogue]

More tedium, less fun!

[Archigeek]

the GMs did not make use of twitter, forum, or calendar scheduling like they've done in the past which I disliked, but it certainly was not hard to get services.

This was really my only complaint. I got a bunch of twitter notifications during the plat run, but zero during the prime run? The only reason I'm signed up for twitter is for GS notifications.

Actually I have a second complaint: the trend towards disparate pricing for armor padding from one ASG to another blows. It makes no sense to base the price on the value matrix for the item, especially since alot of items have wonky values, and padding is more valuable to lower ASG's (which generally cost less on the matrix).

I did ok at this EG, but would have done much better if my schedule had allowed me to spend more time playing.

[DCSL]

Lovely suggestions, but most of them utilize out of game means/third party software. I won't tune to the general lnet station, nor prime. It's a wasteland that makes me hate my fellow man. Not happening. I do indeed find the vocal lnet population to be a clique, one I want no part of.

I did have Nilandia's site open the entire time. I did highlight all the merchant names. The FESTIVAL verb was fine for scheduled games. I did check the Player's Corner and found some useful info.

However I shouldn't have to rely on out of game means, scripts and third party software just to compete. I shouldn't even have to compete at all. It's supposed to be a Festival, not scripting/racing contest. Is it too much to ask that GMs put stuff on the calendar on the website? That they make prominent announcements that include their name (highlighted) and location? Seems like the GMs (some) are just content to let the chief means of communications to be outside of the game.

Yes, I do realize the hypocrisy of posting on a third party site. The official forums are pretty much useless. There's always some fool who misconstrues what I'm saying, get's all offended and gets the post pulled.

This sounds like the consequences of your own choices, then. People try to help but if you won't take the help... well. Your lack of services is really your own lookout. No one in GS is assigned as your advocate, making sure you get what you paid for (and really, all you paid for was access to festival shops and the OPPORTUNITY for merchants) or that you get treated "fairly" or anything silly like that. If you don't want to look out for your own interests with every tool available to you to do so, then that's really your own fault. Too bad, so sad.

[Allereli]

... and you'll notice that person didn't share a bit of information he found out himself.


Here's a log of that one person's LNet chats during a 5 day period that contain the phrase "GALD."

It was a pretty limited search of one annoying person, you're seriously just looking for anyone or anything to blame but yourself. It's not 1990, people now are intolerant of tedium and will use Lich, join in or lose out.

[Gelston]

Hey DaCapn, any GALD going on?

[Kitsun]

It was a pretty limited search of one annoying person, you're seriously just looking for anyone or anything to blame but yourself. It's not 1990, people now are intolerant of tedium and will use Lich, join in or lose out.

Lich isn't necessary.

I did fine without it. I do know what I'm doing and have friends, though.

[Shimeria]

My suggestion which is not a complaint because most did this... The Merchants should all have signs with services offered which helps walk-ins get prepared in case they get spun. Several times they would get picked and it would slow down the services while they buy an item from the shop or figure out what they want done.
I agree that there was a ton of Merchants and even if you weren't prepared in advanced most of the time people would share their location on lich.
Finally getting an extra week was great! I had power so it allowed me more time to shop, merchant hunt and play games. (spent way more than planned, though)
I hope that people who were affected by Sandy at least got 2 weeks of fun & got some work done from the Merchants.

[Warriorbird]

Lich isn't necessary.

I did fine without it. I do know what I'm doing and have friends, though.

Pretty much that. Friends and multiaccounts is even better.

[Kastrel]

- Stealth merchants. The ones who showed up without an announcement or with minimal information on where to be found.

- Festivals pretty much suck for people who aren't in the special clique sharing information with each other. I even tuned to the EG station, everyone was begging for information, but no one was sharing it.


This isn't a criticism, but as someone who was not in any of these cliques . . . keeping in mind I do NOT use Lich at all, nor do I use AIM/MSN/Yahoo to talk out of game, and having only a handful of IG friends who I could even ask if there were merchants around . . . I was able to get a large amount of service. I think I got lucky, but there are also tricks to it. I recieved something in the realm of 20-30 services, and was spun at least half a dozen times for those services. I had perhaps 1 or 2 of these services pointed out to me by another player, and only after I had specifically asked if anyone was around when I logged on for the night. I am not in the cliques at all, didn't use scripts or Lich, and I made out amazingly well.



Lovely suggestions, but most of them utilize out of game means/third party software. I won't tune to the general lnet station, nor prime. It's a wasteland that makes me hate my fellow man. Not happening. I do indeed find the vocal lnet population to be a clique, one I want no part of.


As I said, I have never used lich, nor did I use ANY out of game means except for Nilandia's website and the map.

One trick that I used, and admittedly, if you are a Warrior/Rogue/Bard/Monk you are out of luck, but use Locate Person on the "merchant chasers" when things seem "too quiet". I had a handful of people who I ALWAYS saw at merchants who I regularly located just to see what they were doing. As a result? I probably got at least 5 additional merchanting services (and showed up at probably 15 I wouldn't have known about) that I would not have otherwise gotten because I logged in "after" the annoucement, or located someone at a stealth merchant. I didn't list Wizards in the "out of luck" list, because their familiars could do the same thing. But half of the professions in the game can use this.



- Merchants who waste everyone's time. How hard is it to say, I'll be working for an hour, or thirty minutes, or for 10 customers, or everyone here, and I'll lock the door? Basically any method where the customer doesn't have to wait around for an hour or two before being sent away empty handed would be acceptable for me. Just sharing a bit of information early on, so we can make a choice on the likely odds of being chosen vs the time invested.

This did annoy me, though I saw less of it later on. It was less so with spinners and more with room order people, who basically said "I'll work till I get tired" and I was in that grey area bracket that is more than 15 but less than 40 . . . where you know that you may well get work, but you might not as well. The spinners would usually annouce if they spun again, or at least spin in sets of 5, and you could leave for a bit.

That said, a few merchants like Alianatta were so disgustingly devoted . . . I'm pretty sure I got service from her once when I was around 60th in line (logged in during the middle of it). She in particular gets huge kudos for what must have been mind-numbing sessions of alterations.

[Candor]

Hmm no one complained about STEAL working in the digging area.

Whoops, did I give it away?