Disregard this if it’s already gonna be in Part 2 of “Plotting a Plot”, but if “Events” were/are more engaging than “Plots,” how did you make The Faerie’s Ruin as engaging as an “Event?” If you were able to? You mentioned you had some “tricks up your sleeve(s)” to get participation numbers up.
snarkie
Not a robot... probably.
I’d planned for a bit of that to be in a future breakdown—if I ever actually get to that point ?—in my patented rambling format but the super short answer:
We literally stole some event mechanics like achievements (which were in other Plots but still, extended in TFR) and recurring/high max rewards to encourage “endgame” participation, plus the combo plot/war approach to extend reach, plus “multiplayer” steps to encourage teamwork. Not to mention more extensive puzzles not only to make the challenges more fun but that also required more discussion/strategization with fellow players to figure out mechanics. And the NC bit had its own mini version of the same types of engagement. Overall, we wanted to get more people re-engaging with the puzzles/challengers multiple times (while not feeling too grindy) and encouraging people to work together and help each other for the social aspect, which always keeps people engaged.
It didn’t match what could have been done with Events over that same timespan but it did much better than we anticipated. Part of that was by design but, to be fair, part of it was also just PLOT HYPE too.
In response to OP. What do you consider events vs plots. (ive always called them the same haha)