[EVENT] Hours of Frost

[Sarsilas]

_____
As the days get colder, citizens of the Empire begin preparing for the celebrations and general survival of the long, cold months ahead. However, this winter is different… the temperature drops sheerly out of nowhere, hitting below zero in a matter of days. Everywhere but the hottest regions in the world is blanketed in a coat of snow.
To make matters worse, treants angrily march out of the forests, attacking settlements and destroying the stockpiles of firewood! These are not the only angry monsters out there, however… mysterious presents have been spotted in the wild, bright and shiny in their holiday wrapping.
Every time someone has run after these mysterious presents, they have not returned.


The weather is not getting warmer. If anything, it’s getting colder. An abnormal winter is out of the question; something worse is at hand here. Something is forcing these treants into action and unleashing these mysterious killer presents, but what?
_____

• From the 20th of December till the 21st of February, the world of Istaria will be overhauled for a Winter Event Special.
• This event will take place on the Live Shards. (Chaos & Order)
• Malluira is lending her knowledge of these strange happenings to any gifted willing to listen in Bristugo.
• The first 3 quarters will have little Event GM involvement, but it all culminates into a Blight Event on the 18th of February

_____

Notes

• The new mimics added in the event, sadly, due to how their regions are set up, have the uncanny ability to survive underwater. This is not something that can be fixed in a short amount of time, but their spawns reset every maintenance.
• The winter effect can be easily removed by any player because of a new file structure; any event files related to changing the world will be in the ‘Resources_Event’ folder.

[Guaran]

Cool.

Blighted Treant mobs please! (You guys could just do some manual spawns if you want, that's how Amon did them the first year or two of Gnomekindle)

Looks fun!

[photon wyvern]

This will be fun! >

[Romirez]

i think i spy Lem the Cold. (it would fit)


the hatchling at the end was hilarious.

[awdz]

Looks wonderful! I can hardly wait to shred the wrapping paper. :-)

[Sarsilas]

Shivering in his bed, an early-bird Saris finally pulled back the light covers and stepped outside, bleary-eyed after a bad night's rest. Expecting slightly cool sand after a chilly desert night, he nearly fell forward when his furred foot sank into a deep bank of snow.

Fully awake now, he pulled boots on and trotted fully outside, looking in awe and horror at the heavens. A light snowfall flutters down from the sky, undeniable evidence of weather gone horribly out of whack.

All across Istaria, this scenario plays out over and over, with mixed cries of anguish and horror. Gnomes shiver in New Rachival; the various united races of Istaria huddle together next to fires in Tazoon. Animals press together for warmth all across the western continents.

Even the most steadfast doubters have been convinced now; this is no abnormal winter. Something sinister is pulling strings behind the scenes and we are all but subjects in its cold, wintry experiment.

[Sarsilas]

While the humans of Dalimond hide in their homes, bracing themselves against the blizzards that have whipped up across most of the land, the Lunus in Dralk step out of their caves only to gasp in horror.

Once thought the last safe haven of this magical ice age, Dralk now suffers the same fate as the rest of Istaria; the volcanic land is covered in a blanket of freshly fallen snow. The only exceptions are where magma rises to the surface, melting away any snow that touches the immediate area.

With the horrified Dragons on board, the best mages of Istaria are combining their efforts to end this frosty nightmare. Ice Disciples hone their skills to find the source of the magic while various fire-oriented mages work to create magical wells of flame that require no wood to keep freezing citizens warm. The Helian work to guide the "naka'duskael mages" in their efforts, offering protection from Treant ambushes and digging through their own archives to find any possible clues. Even the Lunus grudgingly pitch in, letting those less fortunate than they camp in the volcanic regions around Dralk. (Of course, no puny two-legged is allowed in the glorious city that is Dralk!)

Now, previously only appearing in the night to steal firewood, the Treants of Istaria grow more angry and rebellious, attacking towns and cities directly as well as ambushing Gifted in the field. Those who escape these encounters don't do so unscathed and tell tales of giant Treants chasing them down across half the land.

The Empire is a dangerous place.

___

Note: With this update came a toned-down and revised sound for the blizzard effects. Previously, it looped every ten seconds and was louder than most other in-game sounds; now it's more of a background noise and loops every twenty seconds.

[Drakarius Shadows]

Thanks for the great event..
Had a lot of fun....
Can hardly wait for the next event..

[Liseth]

Thanks to all of you for joining and giving us such positive feedback, it really encourages us to keep events like this going!

For those that weren't able to make it, we'll be posting a recap, as well as summary of all the dialogue that was said in the event chat.
______

A little female gnome pops up from the teleport pad, clutching a rolled up papyrus sheet to her chest. She startles at the amount of Gifted surrounding her, her glasses knocking slightly off her nose. Gathering herself, she straightens out her glasses and puffs out her chest. Behind her is a large Ancient Dragon, head held low and scales dulling from age.

"Hello, Gifted! I am Zebrie, a gnomish astronomer! I'm pleased to meet you! As you all know, we've been cursed with a terrible winter for a long time now. The Empire also now knows that this winter has to come from somewhere in the Realm of Ice, perhaps started by a malicious being.

This has been confirmed as many of you may have noticed; a small piece of this... elemental being has been sighted across Istaria, attacking anyone who goes near it or its army of ice golems. The plan is simple, but it's all we got: we open a portal to the Realm of Ice itself!

This powerful portal might tempt the monster to step into our realm in its natural state, allowing us to destroy it once and for all. If it is the true weaver of this icy magic, then that should conclude this horrible winter... or so we hope."

Zebrie falls silent for a long time, the howling wind underlining the desperation of the situation.

Noticing the silence from the little Gnome, the Dragon lifts his head and speaks up for once. His voice is old and scratchy, showing the costs of age. "I spend most of my days asleep now, as many of you spry, young dragons will when you get to my age..." He begins, trailing off, blinking a few times, and then continuing.

"This winter has kept me awake for ages now. At least it helps you; back in my age, the Gate of Embers was new! Not some artifact or mystical device. I remember the creation of the old gate and the process to link Realms together! Or... or so I think. I may have heard it from my father...

Nonetheless! I'm here to help you Gifted fix this... mess of magic. However, I need a very clear image of the constellations that represent the Realm of Ice." The old dragon explains, trailing off while staring up at the sky, seemingly losing his train of thought.

"So that is why I'm here! We will build a brand new telescope that can see through these dreadful clouds. I know we had that dragon fly up and make a star map, but while it's detailed, it's nowhere near accurate enough for these purposes! We need to find the exact constellation the Realm of Ice lies in to unlock a portal to it."

"Let us begin! First, I'm going to need a bunch of tinkering components. This is a BIG telescope, after all! 480 Springs, Hinges, Gears, and Struts from *each tier* for the internal mechanisms! 1000 Glass Nodules for the lens! For the enchantment, we also need 100 Construction Sources from *each tier*!

Please be careful! Adventurers, partner up and defend a crafter if you can; it's dangerous out in that blizzard and we don't know what might happen. Any other idle claws or hands; please scout the area. I have a feeling we're not safe here... "

TASK 1: 480 Springs/Hinges/Gears/Struts from each tier. 1000 Glass Nodules. 100 Construction Sources from each tier. DRAGONS & ADVENTURERS - help your fellow bipeds! Gather raw resources or provide protection.

Discuss amongst yourselves who will be put onto which resource to avoid frustration and overlap.

Zebrie jumps up and down in excitement at the mound of things next to her. "Yes, yes, thank you! Thank you so much!" She quickly sets to work building up a large telescope. She works fairly quick, getting the thing twice her height standing in a matter of fifteen minutes. Other gnomes in New Rachival step out to help her assemble it and, before long, a large telescope stands before the Gifted.

"Let's see if this works..." Zebrie sticks her eye against the eyepiece, angling the telescope upwards, the gears grinding and scraping. Thankfully this contraption has no potentially explosive magic on it... as far as you know. She frowns and turns the scope this way and that before sighing. "Nope, nada. I can see the stars, I promise! But they're blurry."

"What about the magic that dragons use, little Gnome?" The ancient says impatiently. "Our magic is far more in tune with this world, it being of the prime and not your silly elemental stuff. We don't use Construction Sources; we use *Primal* Essences of Melding! We don't use nodules; we use Azulyte! Why don't you try using something a little less... useless?"

"Oh… Oh that might just work! Thank you!" She seems startled by his interjection, the large beast nearly forgotten about. "Gifted!! Do as the old dragon sa- AH! WHAT'S THAT?"

Zebrie peeks out from behind Karvanoth's large forelimb. "Is…is it over? Oh no, we're in trouble... this beast is on to us! Quick, do as the dragon says; fetch me 1000 Focused Violet Azulyte and 100 Primal Essence of Melding of each tier, please!"

TASK 2: 1000 Focused Violet Azulyte. 100 Primal Essences of Melding from each tier.

"Okay.. thank you, Gifted, thank you so much!" She looks nervous and tired by now, but is still excited. "I sincerely hope this works…" She mutters, fixing up her telescope and building in the new pieces with a few extra pair of gnomish hands. In a short while, once again, it is done, with the telescope standing proud once more.

Does anyone have any ink or papyrus on them?"

TASK 3: 50 Papyrus, 10 Squid

"Thank you! Now let me mark the stars down annnd… done!" With a short curtsy, she scampers off through the portals.

End of phase 1, 15 minute break.

"Here you are! One fresh, giant duplicate of the star chart! I hope it's to your liking?" The gnome places a papyrus sheet nearly as large as a full-grown dwarf in front of the dragon, laying it out on the ground.

"Hmm... " The ancient examines the image in front of him and nods slowly. "Yes, this will do. Thank you... little Gnome," he says, reluctantly.

"I'm glad to help! Gifted... fix this winter. For the Empire! For New Rachival!" She cries, jumping in the air before, once again, scampering off.

"Good riddance... Gnomes are fun to toy with but they are irritatingly confident in their skills," he growls before lifting his head. "Okay, Gifted... to open a portal to another Realm, we need more than just stars. We need everything and anything related to the Realm itself. In this case, ice-related things. Pieces of living creatures that are aligned with the Realm of Ice.

From here, that'll just be a hassle to do; let us move to the naka city of Summit; it's far closer to the various beasts you'll need to take pieces from than this pitiful desert and tiny town," he says with a snort, standing and moving his old body towards the portal. "Come on now!"

"Are we all here? Good, good. Now... spread out," he commands, coughing a few times and staring expectantly at the Gifted. "Adventurers; shoo. My fellow Dragons, fly far into the distance for your contributions. Naka'duskael and young hatchlings, hunt in the nearby area.

Bring at least twenty of whatever you wish to collect and be sure that it is ice related! Sapphire Shredders, Ice Golems, Ice Beetles, Nix Beetles! Any of the nearby ogres or pygmies! Go!" He spreads his wings, sending you all off. "Now, crafters!" He turns to address those remaining.

"Bring me a few hundred Frozen Essence Orbs... any tier will do, just make sure I have a couple hundred," he commands. "A portal needs power."

TASK 4: Spread out and gather 20 components, trophies, or a mix of the two and come back to Karvanoth. Be sure the contributions are ice themed. You have twenty minutes to do so. Crafters, bring Karvanoth 500 Frozen Essence Orbs total of any tier. Everyone else; be on guard...

"Excellent." Karvanoth examines the sizable collection of loot and orbs in front of him and looks to the crowd. "Now, I need one final object; something imbued with the power of ice magic itself, but not from an immediate natural origin like you just provided. "I just can't remember for the life of me what that could be!"

TASK 5: Offer Karvanoth ice-related magic objects to jog his memory. Don't think too complex; it's likely something you have on you.

"Ah.. ah yes! A crystal! A crystal of ice magic! Thank you, this is exactly what I needed. An ancient craft from Dragon claws. Yes, exactly... " Karvanoth examines the crystal before looking around again. "Now... we must go somewhere there is a high concentration of Ice magic. Come, Gifted; follow my lead."

TASK 6: Follow Karvanoth to the final zone. If you get lost, set your sights on 25188 / 28840.

"Here we are, Gifted! The heart of one of our most icy regions. A large flat expanse ready to house a portal! Are you ready to see the magic of only the most ancient of Dragons, Gifted?" He grins like a young hatchling. "Let it... begin."

Karvanoth pulls out the star chart and stares unhappily at the sky. With the other donated items surrounding him, he begins to swirl primal magic in his paws, pulling and pushing the star chart and lifting the objects up. Surprising amounts of powerful magic spin around Karvanoth, hiding him in a ball of blue-white light.

Then... it appears.

"There she is!" He roars joyously, flapping his wings in excitement at the large portal ahead of him. "Oh my beautiful creation; I would have not thought it pos-" With that, Karvanoth hits the ground, speared through the back with a splinter of ice.

The denizens of Ice are not pleased.

_____
The full recap will be posted on a later date.

Now to answer any questions asked during and after the event:

Will we see any mementos of the structures of the event on live?

We have discussed this and have been given the greenlight to place a telescope in New Rachival, and a broken down version of the portal on the ice lakes, look forward to this in the future!

When will the loot be distributed?

We have some small paperwork to do post-event, but the raffle rewards will be distributed as soon as possible, the participation reward will be a new item, and thus will have to wait untill the next live delta. Do not fret as we recorded all names of those who participated around the time of the portal being raised, as well as all of those who requested to be recorded.

If you have a specific character you would like to see the rewards on please contact us as soon as possible with which character you participated with in the event, and on which character you would like to see the rewards.

how many ornaments do I need to collect from them if killing hundreds does not get me the red pet loot?

Every 100 ornaments you will have a roughly 10% chance to get a present pet from the new "Growling Presents" on the gnomekindle cashiers. (currently only on blight)

[Sarsilas]

That being said, I want to pose a few questions to you, the community!

Finale-specific:

How do you feel about the use of the Event channel for dialogue, updates, and tasks? Specifically, do you feel this is a better alternative than using local chats or global for such things? Do you feel the story and dialogue was better delivered in this event than the Halloween one?

What are your thoughts on the live world building that was introduced in this event? The two cases of this were when the telescope was built and appeared and when the portal appeared.

How do you feel about the integration of crafting and adventuring together?

If there was anything you would change about this event (minus the lag issues), what would it be? What did you like most? What did you like least?

Were the issues present in the last event, in your opinion, addressed well and fixed in this one? Lag is not something we can manage, so please leave this out of consideration. The prior complaints were lack of comprehensibility of the storyline, no breaks, too dragon-centric, and general chaos.

After attending this event, do you believe you will attend future ones?

__________________________________________________ _________

General:

How do you feel about the global changes like the progressive snow and cold? We know many were frustrated with the howling wind, but the concept of changing the world visually is what we are curious about. We understand the blizzard wind complaints. If unsupportive, if there was a way to opt out of these effects via an in-game menu, would you change your mind?

Do you enjoy the idea of cosmetic items obtainable only during specific slices of time to be retired forever later? The mimic pets are considered cosmetic since other pets in the game fulfill the exact same role; the only difference is the looks. While knock-offs will be available via the ornament cashier, they will lack the "Event 2016" bit in their description and have a different overall description / name.

[Guaran]

The event channel worked really well this time, now that players could not longer talk in there.

The only possible downside I can think of is when you CTD and log back in, that chat is lost. So you can lose track of the current task. The occasional update on what is left to do with the current task in market really helps not only with someone who disconnects, but also helps the different groups to be able to see what's left. So either in market, or possibly in a second event related chat channel where players can talk would help, so the groups can all chat together in regards to the task completion. We did have some duplication of efforts.

The live world building was nice. Perhaps having an actual structure to be completed would be neat too for future events.

The crafting plus adventuring is fine... but it can drag the event out. For normal events that would run simultaneous on both shards, that would span a few weeks, having some construction is fine. For the combined shard events that are meant to last a few hours, perhaps a bit less of that is best to keep the event length a bit more manageable. (But we did manage all the crafting tasks pretty quickly in any case).

One change might be to run the attacks in some way that the players are spread out enough to keep the lag under control. So have say 4 fronts/npcs/etc that all need defending, and the players must spread out over several hundred meters. The attacks can stream in from multiple directions, maybe even each have their own boss, suitable for a group of 20 to handle, and be positioned 130m away from the other groups/bosses in any direction.

I will try to make it to future events.

The progressive changes in the world was great. Finally felt a little bit like the first year, where our actions as players had direct effects and benefits to the world. We saw Feledan go from being blighted and overgrown to being a nice clean city. We built bridges opening up new settlements. The world changed. This event felt like the world finally had some change, even if only temporarily, from being essentially static for many years.

Cosmetic items are a nice reward. Hopefully some of our other ideas can be used in future events, such as armor dye kits with particle effects

[Machaeon]

How do you feel about the use of the Event channel for dialogue, updates, and tasks? Specifically, do you feel this is a better alternative than using local chats or global for such things? Do you feel the story and dialogue was better delivered in this event than the Halloween one?
That was by far the easiest way I've seen to coordinate a massive number of people over several groups. Global updates were also welcome and helpful but it's much more neat and compact when the instructions and updates are all in one nice channel.

What are your thoughts on the live world building that was introduced in this event? The two cases of this were when the telescope was built and appeared and when the portal appeared.
F***ing impressive. I had no idea things like that were possible with the game and man... that really livened things up and gave us a visual reward to all of the work we put in. I'd be thrilled to see more of this in future events!

How do you feel about the integration of crafting and adventuring together?
I love the idea of having parts of the event that only crafters could advance forward and parts that only adventurers could advance forward, it gave those of us who love those largest parts of the game a bit of pride to say "Yeah I helped advance the story of this event in multiple ways!" while giving people who only craft or only fight ways to contribute.

If there was anything you would change about this event (minus the lag issues), what would it be? What did you like most? What did you like least?
I don't think there's much I would change about events like this. But a suggestion for a possible improvement would be to have a portion of the event that relies on adventurers and crafters simultaneously to keep everyone interested. I loved the event as a whole and my only (albeit constant) complain was about the lag, which can't be helped too much when there's that many players and that many mobs all fighting at once.

Were the issues present in the last event, in your opinion, addressed well and fixed in this one?
I was only able to show up for the tail end of the Halloween event so I can't say much here other than I enjoyed what I experienced of both.

After attending this event, do you believe you will attend future ones?
I'd do my darndest to attend all future events after this roaring success.
__________________________________________________ _________

General:

How do you feel about the global changes like the progressive snow and cold?
It was refreshing to see the world change as much as it did after so many years of a largely static world. I loved how the sense of threat and urgency kept building as the winter progressed until even the hottest areas of the world succumbed to the cold.

Do you enjoy the idea of cosmetic items obtainable only during specific slices of time to be retired forever later? It's certainly a good incentive not to miss the events!

[Malicore]

That being said, I want to pose a few questions to you, the community!

Finale-specific:

How do you feel about the use of the Event channel for dialogue, updates, and tasks? Specifically, do you feel this is a better alternative than using local chats or global for such things? Do you feel the story and dialogue was better delivered in this event than the Halloween one?

What are your thoughts on the live world building that was introduced in this event? The two cases of this were when the telescope was built and appeared and when the portal appeared.

How do you feel about the integration of crafting and adventuring together?

If there was anything you would change about this event (minus the lag issues), what would it be? What did you like most? What did you like least?

Were the issues present in the last event, in your opinion, addressed well and fixed in this one? Lag is not something we can manage, so please leave this out of consideration. The prior complaints were lack of comprehensibility of the storyline, no breaks, too dragon-centric, and general chaos.

After attending this event, do you believe you will attend future ones?

__________________________________________________ _________

General:

How do you feel about the global changes like the progressive snow and cold? We know many were frustrated with the howling wind, but the concept of changing the world visually is what we are curious about. We understand the blizzard wind complaints. If unsupportive, if there was a way to opt out of these effects via an in-game menu, would you change your mind?

Do you enjoy the idea of cosmetic items obtainable only during specific slices of time to be retired forever later? The mimic pets are considered cosmetic since other pets in the game fulfill the exact same role; the only difference is the looks. While knock-offs will be available via the ornament cashier, they will lack the "Event 2016" bit in their description and have a different overall description / name.

I personally enjoyed every aspect listed above. Though I do not want to see it all the time.. Each event has been different, lets see about keeping it that way. Some aspects can remain as with any event type situtation. Thank you all for the work and effort you all put into this event. I did get a bit eyesore, looking at all the snow constantly (headaches).. Let's just try not to go overboard.. but all in all.. it was Great, and My deepest Thanks to all involved.

It is good to have some things that aren't detrimental to the game like cosmetics as you mentioned.. to be gone from game on perm basis. If we get into formula's, weapon's and such, that would be another story.


Yes. I will be attending more events.

I had no issues with the game play.

[Liseth]

For those that feel uncomfortable with changing anything in the files themselves, this file can also be downloaded and placed in Istaria/Resources (not override!), and should work the same.

[gkoster]

thank you for this the blizzard was getting on my nerves and tiring me out.

also the blizzard is I think bad for epileptic people.

[Kerech]

Don't suppose there's anyway the pets could be made purchasable for ornaments? For those of us whom the Random Number Generator is abusing quite heavily... Close to 400 red ornaments and still no red pet

[Liseth]

Don't suppose there's anyway the pets could be made purchasable for ornaments? For those of us whom the Random Number Generator is abusing quite heavily... Close to 400 red ornaments and still no red pet

While they will not be exactly the same, there will be present pets available from the gnomekindle cashiers through another, slightly more forgiving RNG system, once the event is over.

All I can say is hang on to those ornaments...

[Malicore]

hmm, now she tells us.. my dragon hoarded all the ornaments. he's a hungry feller..... Though I have already managed to get about 12 mimics so far anyway. Also been hunting with others when I've gotten or seen others looted, and I give them the pet.. or tell them I have plenty of my own, when asked if I wanted any of them