Hello,
So, I have just read the Saving Santa event information, and I had some interesting psychological observations about the event that I wanted to share and get feedback on.
1.) Freeing Santa.
A freed Santa gives gifts for 4 hours... IF you are out there fighting things. The Turkey also spawns every 4 hours and sticks around for as long as 30 minutes.
Does the Turkey spawn every 4 hours (like noon, 4:00, 8:00, etc) or does it spawn every 4 hours after the previous Santa is freed?
If it is the former, then it means that there could be a period of up to 30 minutes where there is an overlap between a spawned Turkey, and a previous Santa giving out gifts.
Are you going to do Rock-Scissors-Paper for as long as 30 minutes (where are you not in combat getting XP and hence not eligible for a Santa gift during this timeframe), or are you going to grind for XP AND possibly get a Santa gift?
I can see some players just grinding all the time, figuring that someone else will go and free Santa. Why take the time away from grinding (and diminish your chance of getting a Santa gift) in order to help improve everyone else's chances.
2.) Population
Does Santa give out a fixed number of gifts each 4 hour cycle that he is free?
If that is the case, it is to your best advantage to play when there are few other players online. When there are numerous players on, the odds of your name being picked from the large pool of characters is much smaller.
3.) Turkey spawn location
As I understand it, the Turkey spawns in only 1 area... Frozen Valley.
It would probably make sense for most players to visit the Turkey with a low level character, since I can see some high-level player-killer clans running to the Turkey site regularly and killing all the people trying to free Santa. It happens frequently enough on my server in regards to Raid Bosses. Some clans will try to disrupt the raid by PKing the other players.
4.) It looks like NC removed the "grinding solo" requirement to be eligible for a Santa gift.
That being said, it would be most advantageous to log in multiple accounts (if you are a dual-box or more player) and have them on team, so that it increases your odds of getting a Santa gift.
Please note that the above are not necessarily my personal beliefs or positions on the matters. Rather, they are thoughts I had as to what some other players may think or behave.
remember that this game is about community. M stands for Massive. also Mobile, but thats a horse of a different colour.
youre going to need to give a little to get a little. nobody is going to make it in Lineage2 completely solo. hell, even bots are mostly buffed by a second account proving the point - youll need someone in your circle of friends to make everyone else's chances better. always. be that in this event or in general playing in the form of buffs, heals, etc.
SOMEONE will have to do rock paper scissors every 4 hrs in order to free santa. at that time, my guess is those people will quickly go about pveing or hunting wartags while santa makes his rounds. i'd assume massive PK sprees EVERYWHERE to kill bots to make sure they arent in combat taking our gifts.
this event sparks a lot of need for pvp. you cant be in town and get gifted! risk your exp going hunting outside, or loose out. i'd assume no arena fighting qualifies as combat. cause then youd just get people smacking the NPC's outside town (or smacking safe NPC's like antharas lair guardian, sones for CCQ's, etc) collecting gifts without risking death.
not in a group
in a combat stance
in a nonsafe zone/seige zone
which means you have to be either leveling or smacking some passive npc out in the wild where you are able to be killed.
Do we get anything permanent? Last I checked, my gifts from Santa all stuck around long after the holiday until I either broke or outgrew them. If we get to keep something, fine, I'm all for doing the RPS thing. But if not, I could give a rat's a** about saving Santa, his non-union elves or his enslaved reindeer. And the fat bast**d better stay out of my cookies and milk! If I catch him stuffing himself down my chimney again, I am going to pop a cap in his a** and let the authorities sort it out. ("Yeah, Merry Christmas to you, too, mutha....POW!!!")
not in a group
in a combat stance
in a nonsafe zone/seige zone
which means you have to be either leveling or smacking some passive npc out in the wild where you are able to be killed.
I think they already said that the group restriction has been removed a few days ago.