Staff Question: Why Unclassic Variance on Shady Goblin?
 

First off, this is purely a request: you all have already given me a great server with stellar CS that I enjoy playing on, and it'd be selfish and short-sighted to demand anything further.

But, a simple explanation of the Shady Goblin variance would be really nice, as it seems to fly in the face of the Project 1999 goals. By that I mean ... does anyone remember buying their OT hammer as a puppet string charge in 2000? Does anyone remember their main tanks clicking mallets to gain agro? Does anyone remember recharges and multi-quests being as common as they are here?

No, because all those things are unclassic experiences, but classic mechanics, and P99 has time after time after time chosen classic mechanics over classic experience. Midnight mallets, puppet strings, re-charging and multi-questing all existed as mechanics on live, so they exist here, even though their use here is anything but classic. This is the P99 way: as classic as possible mechanics, unless there are technical limits or CS limits.

The shady goblin doesn't fit that profile: it's unclassic, there is no technical reason, and it doesn't make the staff's job any easier. The stated reason why GM Cyclock requested changing it was because players knew how it worked, but player knowledge has never (to my knowledge) mattered before in P99 history, with the sole exception of ZEMs. What's worse, this change creates more discord and acrimony among the players. The community has worked really hard to establish a roll for Shady, and the variance has by far been the biggest thorn in our side.

In short, Shady variance is unclassic in a way nothing else on P99 is (except maybe ZEMs). It also creates more drama, not less. All I'm asking, as respectfully as possible, is ... why? Why create drama to fight the stated goals of this project?

+1 please remove variance from shady goblin....it serves no purpose.

Well, at this point I'm really just focused on the why myself. Maybe the staff had a great reason for this I'm just not realizing?

Or maybe it wasn't thought out fully and my post will change some minds, but really this wasn't a "please can we change stuff" request: I just wanted to understand why this one mob was handled so differently from everything else in the project (except, again, ZEMs, which I think have a much better argument for being an exception).

The bearer of entry is lowered when the timer is exact on mobs like this and scout.

Its lowered even more when it becomes a roll.

having 20-80 people show up on timed intervals to roll dice at a chance of loot doesnt feel classic at all.


As I mentioned in another thread staff could get creative with ways of not only breaking this up, but also punishing those who are breaking the rules by using autofire as a means to secure their turn ins. (https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...&postcount=132)


The other option is to really really fuck with variance and or spawn location (this isnt classic, but we do have unclassic things here already)


If this 24 hour mob had a variance more like 12 hours - 36? 48? hours you would set the bearer of entry back to what it was on live after the initial rush of neckbeards power gaming their way through the shitty windows. (this would most likely take a few months) after that you may actually find people logging in to randomly find it up like live...

You would actually have to ask around to find the timers for last spawn and do work... instead of just showing up at an exact x time, or x time +/- a few hours

Which is a simple repetitive action. Scout rolls which have been established for a long time show how this plays out exactly.

having a million level 60s and a million lvl 60 alts all wanting this one quest isn't classic either. New server?

I wasn't aware there was a non-classic variance for shady goblin. Likely, it is something I either tested, or encountered doing research for the quest.

If it is not classic, it can be changed.

goblin variance was premature guys

Now someone just needs to find the proof that the variance was added on the June 5, 2002 patch like the Zam posts suggest.

It's hard to remember the day I wrote this quest, almost a year and a half ago, much less the details.

Willing to fix it if it's wrong. I'm not sure how to interpret the last 2 posts in this thread if someone wants to translate.

A lot of the Zam posts suggest it was nerfed on the June 5, 2002 patch and was a 24 hour spawn before that but I didn't spend much time other than that looking. I referenced it in the other shady goblin thread my bad my post didn't make sense without the context.