[falkun]

It sounds like you are basically asking for the coldain shawl and ring war quests to be combined for a single reward that will only be seen once-ish on this server. The devs, in implementing Velious, are already hard at work coding the shawl and ring quests. Personally, I'd like to see the devs focus on getting the real quests implemented before they start implementing bastardized versions for one-off items. Let this item/event be something post-Velious, not between the two. There's really nothing after Velious planned for this server anyways, but we already have things to do through the Velious timeline.

As for your specific event:
Event 2 (Random ambushes): Avoid tight zones for these. No ambushes in High Pass Hold, Beholder's maze (if they go that route), etc. where fatties can block the entire rest of the raid during the ambush.

Event 3 - Headpiece 3: Completely unclassic raid mechanic, but so standard in today's MMO environment. Personally, I can't believe it took EQ/WoW devs that long to develop the mechanic and I really like it, but its completely out of scope of classic raid mechanics.

Event 3 - Headpiece 4: Add possible drops in different zones so it is more difficult for a single entity to monopolize the drop. Think something to dissuade TMO from perma-camping CoS again (not to bash TMO, but its the best example in existence of camp-hogging).

Event 4 - Wave 3: Here is where your "make it accessible to all" falls apart. Few guilds have resists stacked like that, TMO being the most likely, followed by FE with BDA sadly back even farther. You'd need to nerf the event too much for TMO to enjoy it if you make it accessible to Full Circle or other "just-planar" guilds.


Now, instead of being completely negative, I'll provide my own ideas...

The Discovery of Velious

The Gnomish astronomers of Ak'Anon have determined the mass of Norrath is greater than the current amount of known land-mass would indicate. Thus, they have deduced there is either EXTREMELY dense material deep within Norrath, or there exists undiscovered continent(s). They have formed an exploratory committee to investigate these claims.

Event 1 - The Investigation
The Hunt for a new continent
Think of this like the WoW Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. The players fan out to the far beaches of Norrath searching for evidence of another continent. On the beaches of Butcherblock, Qeynos, the Deserts of Ro, the Oasis, Toxxulia Forest, the Overthere, Warsilks Woods, the Field of Bone, and Firiona Vie (and any I may be missing), players may find chunks of ice that won't melt (Velium fragments). Gnomish researchers have been dispatched to strategically important sites (read: accessible to L1-15 charaters) to collect these fragments for study. For their troubles, low level characters will be rewarded with lightstones (chance for greater lightstones as incentive) so they may continue their searches at night.

To the depths of Norrath!
The Gnomish exploratory committee needs to determine the existence of super-dense material on Norrath to account for additional mass. They have dispatched players to investigate the deepest recesses of Norrath: The Hole, The mines of Nurga and Droga, the depths of the mountains of High Pass (HighKeep goblin area), Runnyeye, and the depths of Kaladim and Ak'Anon (and any other mines I may be missing). By killing creatures in these recesses, players discover "notes of mining progress" that do not reveal any new, super-dense material. Players return these notes to Gnomish researchers stationed at wizard spires for level appropriate-spells (with lower chances for research-only or high-ticket spells depending on the level of the turn-in. No, I do not expect killing a rat in Kaladim's mines to yield Torpor, but a note off Yael might).

Once a significant amount of evidence for a new continent and against the dense material theory has been collected, Event 1 concludes with the Gnomish exploratory committee determines a new continent must exist and the quest to find it can commence.

Event 2 - Preparing the Expedition
Gather resources
The Gnomish exploratory committee will need to manufacture a ship to explore the oceans of Norrath for this new continent. The shipyards of the Overthere Outpost, Butcherblock, and Qeynos have been commissioned to collect the materials for the Icebreaker.
1. They will need wood from the forests of Norrath (Gfay, Lfay, Kith, Toxx, Nektolus, Warsilks and BW).
2. They will require metal from the mines of Norrath (already outlined in Event 1).
3. They will require magic from the magicians, wizards, and necromancers of Norrath to power their vessel (drops from named mobs in Mistmoore, Beholder's Maze, Najena, Nagafen's Lair, Permafrost, and Sebilis).
4. They will require food stuffs and sturdy drink for the Voyage (baking and brewing tradeskills).

Turning items in should result in level-appropriate rewards, and newbies to max-level players can go to level-appropriate locations listed and farm items. With the materials gathered, the Gnomish exploratory committee determines the Northern Desert of Ro as the location to launch their expedition for the new continent.

Event 3 - Protecting the Expedition
Vast quantities of materials are coming in from all over Norrath to the once-peaceful shores of Ro and the constant ruckus at the new dock has angered the Sand Giants. Their commander, Cazel, has declared war on the Gnomish exploratory committee. It will take a raid force to stop the waves of Sand Giants and finally Cazel himself from destroying the new expedition location. Here is your Ring war Xasten. It culminates with a beefy Cazel charging the raid after waves of Sand Giants have fallen to the players. Extra items are rewarded for protecting special members of the expedition.

Event 4 - Establishing the Beachhead
With the expedition safe, the Icebreaker may leave Northern Ro and the players are able to enter Velious. However, they cannot get to the main continent yet because the dragons of Veeshan do not want these interlopers on the shores of their continent (read: you cannot zone from Iceclad to Eastern Wastes). Advanced scouts from the Coldain and Kromrif have also spotted the Icebreaker as it makes landfall on the eastern edge of the archipelago of Iceclad Ocean. Guild leaders and officers ONLY will be able to speak with representatives of the Velious factions to initiate an event for their raid force/guild:

Coldain
This is the "lowest level event". Coldain scout forces have been repeatedly ambushed by Ry'gorr orc raiding bands. A force averaging 3 groups L40-45 will enjoy this "ring-style" encounter culminating in defeating the Ry'gorr chieftain and the oracles he calls to his aid. All participating members will then receive a small boost to their Coldain faction, giving them a jump on that faction grind.

Kromrif
This is one of two "high level events". The Kromrif raiding party encountered has been hunting a dragon terrorizing their eastern flank. A force averaging 4 groups L50-55 will enjoy re-taking individual islands in Iceclad as waves of dragonkin (drakelings, wurms, wyverns) assault their captured islands. The force will hop from island to island, defeating a wave or two of increasingly difficult wurms. They cannot leave the island they are on, they must defend a location/NPC on the island, and when successful they will move to the next island, pushing the dragons westard. While fighting the dragonkin, the main dragon will unleash AE on the portions of the tiny island that are best avoided rather than healed-through. When they reach the end, they will fight the main dragon. Loot incentives for keeping the NPC that must be defended healthier (50% thresholds maybe?), meaning heals diverted to NPC from PCs might be the way to win. All participating members will then receive a small boost to their Kromrif/Kromzek faction, giving them a jump on that faction grind. (Think scowling to threatening or possibly not even that much).

Skyshrine
This is the second of two "high level events". The dragons preventing your access to Velious have seen your prowess, and would rather befriend you than have your allegiance go to another faction. A force averaging 6-7 groups of L60 will enjoy this encounter. The dragons have an injured elder on the far western island of the zone, and the Kromzek are planning to slay her before she can recuperate. It is the raid's duty to heal the elder dragon while defending her from the Kromzek hunting party. The Kromzek get progressively more difficult as she nears full health, culminating in a Statue of War type encounter when she reaches full health (think Avatar of War spawning on Statue, or bee boss in Sky). If the raid force is taking too long to heal the elder dragon, an elite Kromzek team will most likely wipe the entire force out, forcing them to start over. Loot incentives for how quickly the elder dragon reaches full health. All participating members will then receive a small boost to their Skyshrine faction, giving them a jump on that faction grind. (Think scowling to threatening or possibly not even that much).

ONE of these events MUST be completed to completely unlock Velious and allow players to zone into Eastern Wastes. All encounters are in different locations in Iceclad so one of each may be in progress at the same time. After the initial one is completed, all players may access Velious but the encounters will remain active for a short period (think TD binding long) so other guilds may get a faction jump-start and a one-time loot boost. No guild may complete an encounter twice, but they can complete the other two encounters.