Hey guys, I'm making this announcement as a way to help improve the main event situation a bit. As has been noted by players and and staff alike, events have seemingly gotten longer while we have been on Draenor and it is causing some frustration among people. So I'm going to be some posting some new decisions the staff has come up with in a way to try and make events more manageable and less time consuming.
Before I begin, as the main event runner for the main storyline, the optimal event time seems to be between 3-4 hours, with anything beyond that becoming very tedious. Now obviously this doesn't count dungeons, raids or extremely lore heavy events. Those events will be given the time they are needed. But those are not the vast majority of events. Instead, main events usually consist of the build up to said events. While important in their own regard, they shouldn't be insanely long.
There has been an issue recently with people AFKing or not paying attention during events. One issue that has cropped up is people missing their turns because they were away at the time. This has never been a general rule on Freedom, rather a guideline, that the groups emote turn should only be at max 5 minutes long. We haven't really strayed past this limit but it begs being mentioned that it should only take 5 minutes for everyone to post their replies to allow the DM to respond. If you don't have your emote out by that time and the DM responds, you have missed your opportunity. Its solely up to the DM at the time if they want to respond to your emote if you post it after the time is up.
However, this is a much bigger issue. People not paying attention or afking without saying anything when targeted for counter attacks. When targeted for counter attacks you have two options, roll or dodge the attack(unless under special circumstances). But more and more I've noticed I have targeted people who are not paying attention or have afked without saying to anyone and thus it drags the event. I'm not looking for an immediate response but from now please try to respond within the first 30 seconds or so of being targeted. If no response is given you will skipped, someone else chosen and you risk losing on other opportunities for counters during events if it becomes a noticeable habit.
I'm not saying everyone has to give the event 100% of their attention. I just ask people be aware and keep an eye on it. Be mindful when a group turn is ending and a counter attack could be coming up. If it helps, the normal flow of things is: AoE/Special Attack first turn, Counter Attack ability second turn. Obviously that's the normal state of things and could change depending on the event and boss. If you do have to go AFK please let the raid know and do /afk so the DM of the event can at least be aware you are gone for the moment.
Recently we have seen an upsurge in dual boxing for events. While it is good players have a chance to progress two characters at the same time...it is the second major cause of why events have become so long despite efforts to shorten them. Dual Boxing artificially enhances the raid size and adds groups that would not normally exist, thus lengthening the event due to extra emotes and responses. It also, some saying unfairly, gives some players to emote twice per round while non dual boxers can only emote once.
I don't want to ban dual boxing outright. I don't believe that is fair after letting it happen after so long. But I do believe it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Your characters do not need to attend every single event. If your worried about missing the opportunity for something or losing out, don't be. There is nothing wrong for taking a character out of the event chain for an event or two to play another. It won't be held against you for items such as the rings or artifacts. We do care about activity but we also understand not everyone wants to play the same character 50 events in a row.
In any case, we are going to be adding some new rules to dual boxing.
When we start the event invites, I will invite everyone's main character first to to get a handle on how big an event will be. If the raid reaches 25 unique players(5 full groups), then I will not allow dual boxing for the event.
If the raid doesn't reach 5 full groups by the time we are 5 mins out from the event, I will then call for all dual boxers to whisper me for invite. There will be no limit at that point.
Now the first part of this ruling will NOT effect major lore events, dungeons or raids. Those will go on as they have been. This ruling will also only be effective for WoD. Legion may have a different ruling or revert back to the way we did things before. This is because it is very likely we will have people who have two characters in different order halls with artifacts.
Before I begin, as the main event runner for the main storyline, the optimal event time seems to be between 3-4 hours, with anything beyond that becoming very tedious. Now obviously this doesn't count dungeons, raids or extremely lore heavy events. Those events will be given the time they are needed. But those are not the vast majority of events. Instead, main events usually consist of the build up to said events. While important in their own regard, they shouldn't be insanely long.
Emote turn time and AFKing during events
There has been an issue recently with people AFKing or not paying attention during events. One issue that has cropped up is people missing their turns because they were away at the time. This has never been a general rule on Freedom, rather a guideline, that the groups emote turn should only be at max 5 minutes long. We haven't really strayed past this limit but it begs being mentioned that it should only take 5 minutes for everyone to post their replies to allow the DM to respond. If you don't have your emote out by that time and the DM responds, you have missed your opportunity. Its solely up to the DM at the time if they want to respond to your emote if you post it after the time is up.
However, this is a much bigger issue. People not paying attention or afking without saying anything when targeted for counter attacks. When targeted for counter attacks you have two options, roll or dodge the attack(unless under special circumstances). But more and more I've noticed I have targeted people who are not paying attention or have afked without saying to anyone and thus it drags the event. I'm not looking for an immediate response but from now please try to respond within the first 30 seconds or so of being targeted. If no response is given you will skipped, someone else chosen and you risk losing on other opportunities for counters during events if it becomes a noticeable habit.
I'm not saying everyone has to give the event 100% of their attention. I just ask people be aware and keep an eye on it. Be mindful when a group turn is ending and a counter attack could be coming up. If it helps, the normal flow of things is: AoE/Special Attack first turn, Counter Attack ability second turn. Obviously that's the normal state of things and could change depending on the event and boss. If you do have to go AFK please let the raid know and do /afk so the DM of the event can at least be aware you are gone for the moment.
Dual Boxing
Recently we have seen an upsurge in dual boxing for events. While it is good players have a chance to progress two characters at the same time...it is the second major cause of why events have become so long despite efforts to shorten them. Dual Boxing artificially enhances the raid size and adds groups that would not normally exist, thus lengthening the event due to extra emotes and responses. It also, some saying unfairly, gives some players to emote twice per round while non dual boxers can only emote once.
I don't want to ban dual boxing outright. I don't believe that is fair after letting it happen after so long. But I do believe it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Your characters do not need to attend every single event. If your worried about missing the opportunity for something or losing out, don't be. There is nothing wrong for taking a character out of the event chain for an event or two to play another. It won't be held against you for items such as the rings or artifacts. We do care about activity but we also understand not everyone wants to play the same character 50 events in a row.
In any case, we are going to be adding some new rules to dual boxing.
When we start the event invites, I will invite everyone's main character first to to get a handle on how big an event will be. If the raid reaches 25 unique players(5 full groups), then I will not allow dual boxing for the event.
If the raid doesn't reach 5 full groups by the time we are 5 mins out from the event, I will then call for all dual boxers to whisper me for invite. There will be no limit at that point.
Now the first part of this ruling will NOT effect major lore events, dungeons or raids. Those will go on as they have been. This ruling will also only be effective for WoD. Legion may have a different ruling or revert back to the way we did things before. This is because it is very likely we will have people who have two characters in different order halls with artifacts.