Crystal Faire 2015 Feedback

[Corsair]

Greetings Roleplayers! The Canterlot Events Team and the rest of the RP Help Staff want to get your feedback on our most recent RP event, The Crystal Faire. Did you enjoy it? What did you like or not like? Did you have trouble keeping up? Is there anything you would have changed, or anything you'd suggest for future events? Please let us know! We want the negative feedback, as well as the positive. Keep things polite, but tell us what you really thought!

[QuickLime]

I loved the first half of the event, it had been a long time since we had a meet and greet, gather and mingle sort of thing! I was enjoying having Kalime interact and be social with other ponies!

...I HATED the second half, in my thread it started off with a SUICIDE BOMBER and extreme violence, not to mention the second half KILLED the thread for those of us who didn't want to participate in a rather shockingly graphic violence driven plot?

Cadance being shock tortured, the thing with Twilight, far too much blood, violence, and such for a site like this, it honestly made Canterlot.Com feel like MLP Forums

If the attack threads hadn't consumed all of the event it really could have been fun, but I found the new lore out of nowhere, a bit confusing, the Caribou overpowered, and the overall event leaving me feeling uncomfortable with how DARK it went.

Anyways those are my 2 cents.

[Blueblood]

Hm, I guess for my feedback I'll have to split it between the basic idea of the event, and how it ended up playing out.

As for the basic idea, I'll start with the positives. I really like the fact that it was set in the Crystal Empire; having major non-Ponyville events really fleshes out the whole world much better, and helps to drive momentum in the other places it highlights.

Having an action/social split was a good attempt to have those who wanted to play either have their own chances.

Introducing a new playable race, also a good idea. Had the bonus of also highlighting more of the available RP locations.

On the other hand, like QuickLime said, this one was DARK. If it hadn't been an official thread, it likely would have been relegated to the 18+ section by the moderators, if we still had one. I don't mind playing with those themes myself, I actually enjoyed them, but most emphatically NOT FOR EVERYONE. It definitely clashes with... pretty much the rest of the site, and all previous events.

That brings us to execution.

-Can I ask that we just not do the whole "Surprise Invasion" thing anymore? I think a lot of us saw that something like this was coming, but considering how dark it actually was, I think you definitely should have given OOC notice in advance, with advisory.

-Second negative, the way it was introduced just basically killed all momentum in the "Social" threads. Just a quick one-line post with a link to the "Action" thread would have been much better. As it was, I had no idea what to do with those 7-8 paragraphs of death and destruction that just turned up and expected to be ignored. You can't just do that!

As for the caribou themselves... I don't think they were too OP, but then all three of my event characters were effectively non-combatants, so weren't going to ever go toe-to-toe with them anyway.

With Blueblood, I had a blast, as usual. I'd been wanting to develop some virtues in his character for some time, and this was a good opportunity for that. Sure, he didn't actually accomplish much (although he did rack up more kills than most combatants, ironically), but I always had fun writing his posts, and I'm looking forward to how I move forward with him in the future.

With Kahz, again, he was always going to be a "sideline" character. I liked his interaction with his fellow changelings, and with Tourmaline. Nothing too major here; I doubt his report will affect Chrysalis' plans much.

With Earth Writer... I don't know; I wasn't sure how to handle him in the best way, I guess. The Bass Cannon idea wasn't quite understood as well as I hoped it was (I was trying to find a resonance frequency for the crystal prison, rather than trying to brute-force anything). I wouldn't have minded it if it didn't work, it was a long shot, but I don't know if it quite came across.

Wish I hadn't lost track of the Crystal Heart; I kind of still prefer the idea that the caribou put it back after being hit point-blank with its magic. It makes more sense, thematically, with the spirit of the original material.

TL;DR - Loved the idea, enjoyed it very much personally; but not sure giving half the site PTSD without prior consent was exactly called for.

[QuickLime]

I also didn't care for the idea that Anything that DIDN'T happen in the combat threads was "Non Canon"

[RedCedar]

Well, it was a wild ride, that's for sure. Let's see if I can sum it up here.

Pros:

1. Using an event such as this as an introduction to a major addition to the site's map and lore is great, as we get immediate interaction and a "feel" for how such characters would come across when we create OCs based on it.

2. Getting the event out of Ponyville for a change was good, too. A change of scene was great, especially for those whose characters were from the Empire.

3. Having some actions overlap between all three threads was also neat to see, as it reminded us of the interconnection of the whole event.

4. Separating the threads so those who wanted to continue mostly in interaction could, even while saying the main event would be what was remembered.

Cons:

1. The level of violence depicted went way, way, way too far. Most of the civilian characters and half the soldiers should realistically have PTSD after witnessing something like this. The caribou as depicted are too strong. I get that this was meant to be something a bit edgier than what has been shown in the show, but this was over the top. Not all of us are into things like "Cupcakes" and "Fallout: Equestria".

Suggestions:

1. More events in other locations, especially those not seen in the show. Even smaller events held more frequently to flesh out locations would be awesome.

2. More story, more solutions through roleplay (and not just by event staff). Less gore.

3. One entire thread that does not follow the broader narrative, for those who would rather interract than problem solve.

4. Now that we've had two separate invasions, we should steer towards something else.

[RarityDash]

Enjoying the feedback so far. Thank you all for your words about the event.

A word about the content. The plan was by design to go much darker than usual. Following our last shift in administration, the site moved from being an all ages site to one with more of a PG-13 and we introduced the Canterlot Chronicles section of the board to accommodate content beyond what we saw in the show or allowed in World of Equestria. Our last few events have been joint events open to both WoE and CC, but they've been in general more in line with WoE standards, a little horror type darkness in some of the Nightmare Night invasion threads aside. I think the impetus for us with this event was to push the envelope, and make it more in line with what might be expected in Canterlot Chronicles. Well, that, and launch all of the new lore the lore team has been working on for the past several months, including the new map. I can acknowledge that we did, however, perhaps at times go a little too far, losing ourselves in the moment. There is one moment in my thread I kind of regret making happen in retrospect, I know at least.

You all are making some fine points. I can see a lot of areas where our approach was clearly flawed. We split the invasion parts of the thread off from the initial threads out of courtesy to people who did not want to engage in darker, more intense RP, which I think was the right idea, but our execution was not the best and I can wholly understand why only one of the threads really continued very far beyond that point. We should not have posted the whole invasion OP in the original thread. We definitely shouldn't have said anything insinuating what is canon; you can feel free to ignore that. What is canon to your characters always will be for you to decide.

We also definitely think there should be more communication with events. We are already planning on having open OOC threads for future events, so that things can be discussed clearly between staff and users and there is less confusion and frustration. And while we do tend to believe there is value in a good surprise for an event, some kind of content advisory does seem like a very reasonable and good idea if you ask me.

Anyway, thanks again to those who have commented so far. Looking forward to reading more feedback!

[brianblackberry]

I also didn't care for the idea that Anything that DIDN'T happen in the combat threads was "Non Canon"

I can say with confidence after chatting with the event planners that the non-combat threads are canon unless you don't want them to be for your character(s).

[Elderflower]

Time to give some feedback! Keep in mind this is a response in part to the second half since it’s more controversial and the first half was pretty standard mix-and-mingle stuff that I don’t have much to say about. It was very fun, but not something that really needs feedback so I’ll just stick to the attack stuffies.

So, I think it's very safe to say and not a surprise at all that I found this event to be, overall, a huge success! I had a ridiculous amount of fun, enough so that I wound up bringing four characters into the mix. I started out just using two characters in two separate threads, but once the attacks and action began I wound up joining another thread and bringing a second character into the Party's End. So I'm going to highlight some major successes that I really really enjoyed:

High paced action. It was really cool having such a conflict on such a huge scale that was basically left up to the little guys to solve. The attack threads were super exciting and the stakes were high and it was quite thrilling to work towards a resolution!

Promoting new lore. For anybody who was talking to me on skype throughout the course of this event you know well that I love caribou. They're a pretty important animal where I grew up so I was pretty excited to see them in the event and it didn't take long for me to app one. I think that RariPhillyDash deserves some serious praise here because he created multi-faceted characters on the viking side the further into his thread we went and I found them extremely endearing and wanted to know more about them and their lives. Giving the caribou seriously engaging qualities turned a "kill the enemy!" thread to something more for me, and made me three times as eager to app my own bou. This thread also had victory through bagpipes, pies, bows, glitter...fun fun fun!

Character Development. Ryx and Lilac are two characters of mine that had some life-altering things happen to them during this event. For Lilac it was smooching the love of her life and for Ryx being a part of something bigger is likely going to shift her entire character direction from the peace-loving scholar to a gryphon who wants to actively do more good. The battle and her interactions with Fráljs had a major impact on her and is going to drive her to totally new places in RP that I never expected. It actually took me by surprise because her character is modeled after a gryphoness I’ve been roleplaying for years in different boards and she’s always maintained the fluffy peaceful scholar personality. I’m really excited to move forward from this event with these two characters!

And even though huge changes never came for Sugar Star and Frostlace, they both made new friendships that I’m equally as eager to continue through roleplay.

The things I would change for next time are pretty simple: we keep the non-attack and attack threads entirely separate. No posting the initial attack in the more peaceful threads, as that can really jar what’s happening there since there will definitely be people posting who don’t want to join the attacks/fight.

Secondly I think the best successes of the threads had absolutely nothing to do some of the darker details. I know I’m guilty of carrying on with the violence in some of my posts, but I don’t think the death and darkness that people are upset about really added anything to the stories that were built on. I would feel the exact same way about all of the positive highlights without it and think we would benefit by just...not going into the gritty details. It would help to make board-wide events a little bit more accessible for everybody and not turn anybody away from the really exciting action.

I’m going to draw things to a close here, though, because Rackenhammer said most of what I had on my mind before I got a chance to post this!

Overall I feel really positive about my experience in the event but definitely think there are things that need to be improved upon for next time. If anything, I’m just really looking forward to the next one because once the kinks have all been worked out we’re going to have some really incredible events on our hands!

[Bellosh]

Since some users have called my decision to have Sombra electrocute Cadence into question, I believe some explanations are in order. Basically, I introduced that element for two reasons:

1. Increase the dramatic stakes with a villainous act that's not uncommon in PG-13 material, and to establish King Sombra as someone who really had an evil heart as black as night.
   
2. Prevent RPers from instantly kicking NPC caribou butt without resorting to making player characters feel utterly powerless.
   

Could I have found a better way to threaten Cadence without causing offense for some members? Possibly, if I planned things out more ahead of time. Overall though, I'm satisfied with how well the Attack thread I managed did. Especially since I haven't helped run an Event since NMN back in 2013! In many respects, we were all a bit out of practice when it came to running a large-scale event. As we in RPH start cranking things up again around here, expect our Events to run a bit more smoothly.

[Hawkeye12]

Okie dokie! As a still-sort-of-newb that hasn't been around here as long most of the other people who participated, I suppose I can offer my two bits.....er, cents.

So, I'll get the elephant out of the room first. I wasnt in any of the action threads. I wanted to, but life kept pushing me away from putting a post in there, and by the time I had a chance, it was too late. But I did read through them, and I can't really add to what everyone else had said about them getting a little too dark, a the villains being too OP. The Cadence shock torture really bothered me, but maybe that's because I watch way too much Criminal Minds which is filled with that stuff XD. And the fact that it turned to a full on war at the end was just....meh. We can play caribou now though, nice

Anywho, I really enjoyed the social threads! Got to flesh out Dusty a little bit, and meet new people. Always good! It helped me spark some ideas for new plots and characters, so yay! It also helped me get a little more comfortable as a newer RPer here. Kudos to that.

But really, especially having not been in the action threads at all, I can't add much more to what people had already said. Oh, and apologies for any weird typos, I typed all of this on my phone Anyway, all and all, I had fun with what I was in. I hope to be in more roleplays soon!

[DerpRavener]

I should start by saying that I had a lot of fun with this event. Maybe it's because my main character plays well to it, maybe it's just because events are still new to me, but whatever the reason it worked for me.

That said, there are a few things I found sort of questionable about it.

As others have mentioned, it did seem more gruesome than necessary. I think the attackers could still have been portrayed as threatening, and the event could have functioned, without the need for bloody beheadings and the like. It caught me off guard, and while I do enjoy that sort of things at times I'm not sure if it's the most appropriate here. I thought it was pushing things a bit with the site rules. I didn't mind it too much one time, but I'm hoping future events wouldn't be quite as brutal.

While I get the idea behind splitting the timelines, so that people can participate in the event and still get to choose whether or not they want to deal with the attack, I don't think it worked out that well. In theory people could participate in both, but the way things seemed to work (at least in the thread I was in) was that most people abandoned one of the timelines for the other. I know I didn't want to deal with multiple, simultaneous timelines, particularly if they're completely disconnected from each other. Alternately, the thread ends up split, with significant numbers of people attaching to each thread.

And on that note, an event that also featured more non-combat elements would probably be nice. It wasn't an issue for me personally, and I know it can be kinda tricky to build that sort of thing in, but it seems to me that the alternatives are either non-combat oriented characters get relegated to the sidelines, or attackers have to be weakened enough that any character can assist.

So, overall: I enjoyed participating in it, though I have mixed feelings about the event itself.

[moonshineTheleocat]

I did enjoy this event. But at some point it brought me to the point of ripping my hair out as I am reminded of so many other RPs that I had endured, both over the forums, and LIVE in Second Life. While the problems quickly abated towards the end. The ending was where the option of freedom was just released. Most of them were just design choices I found awful.

Carbibou

The Caribou were depicted to be a bit Super-Powered and overbearing. While yes, it's vikings, yes it's a trained army, but saying that one is too powerful to be over taken by two or three earth ponies? That's going a bit too far. Sure... in the show gaurds are shown to be constantly over taken without much effort, but really that was just a set up for plot. In the comics if there ever is a fight, the REA shows to be incredibly competent, and even civilians are capable of fighting back. I can understand some of the grievances that I was told about the design choices. But it shouldn't have to resort to each and every single Caribou is capable of countering all three breeds of ponies.

Caribou, while warriors, they were able to take out swarming guards without any problems. On their own? Now... Vikings didn't use formations... they often broke formation and fought one on one. A lot of guards swarming in on you... with pointy things... you wouldn't be able to win that fight. Not to mention the description of their average level of power. This clearly made an Earth Pony rather worthless unless he/she was a tank of some kind, or had plot protection. The lack of magics basically limited them to doing what earth ponies are known for when it comes to fight. Unprecedented strength, and stamina, and pragmatic levels of fighting. Except... the viking completely over-powers an above average earth pony. But keep in mind that Apple Jack would be your above average Earth Pony. With Pinkie likely being your average.Their feats were impressive all together. But I found this acceptable as it does exploit a single species weakness. Other's should be able to fight back right?

Well... onto the unicorns. It was mentioned that Magic was a problem. But it apparently wasn't an impressive factor to the Vikings. Especially when one unicorn made a brilliant use of ice. Only for that to quickly get smacked down with a counter. Thrusting and puncturing weapons had been tipped with diamonds. Seems legit. When moved at the right speed it tears through anything. That... seems legit. It'd be impossible to throw something at such a high speed that it's capable of ripping through a thick wall of ice. Except, it was later shown that it's very possible... and didn't require much effort as it also tore through the ground. Now... my major isn't physics... but I know what a razor sharp diamond can do... and it's definitely not that. It would have fell apart the moment it punched ice at that velocity. It certainly wouldn't make it half way through. But it happened. That makes unicorns useless, unless their magic is broken to high heaven. Or they use telekinesis to fight. See the paragraph above to get an idea on how that turns out. Fire also apparently didn't scare them either.

Pegasai... I think that's where any idea's eventually just faded away. The only real threatening one in the RP I was in wasn't that much of a threatening flier and was as terrifying as an earth pony.

And for their airships? Well... the only real thing I am curious about is how a viking ship was able to knock out the REA ships in the sky. That actually confused me greatly...

Now... I do have a few suggestions. Tone down the racial advantages! It's like staring at violent elves in every single fantasy universe. Most importantly, give them faults.

I can understand that players have a tendency to flat out destroy the opposition. But if you want to make sure players know that if they try anything, they aren't going to get out without some heavy damages. Tell them that when you introduce them. There's going to be some players whom won't be able to recognize the might of any army, and have their character go assassins creed. That includes them making enemies take turns to attack.

I'm not going to lie though. It's an interesting concept to have vikings added into the universe. But right now they are OP compared to all other species except Alicorns. And I really don't understand why they got involved. The best I can tell, W.R.A.I.T.H. Mercenary. But why are they in WRAITH?

EVENT 1

Loved it. It was my second event on this forum. There were no problems to be had here. A good number of OC's and Canons whom you don't get to see often showed up. Even reminded me why some players might never be defeated in being the best controller for said OC's.

Perhaps making this known in advance would have been better. It'd give players time to RP out their characters getting ready. Similar to the event of the Galla.

EVENT 2

I was actually excited when I read the first post. Dark swirling clouds. Crystal Kingdom. KING SOMBRA! KING FRICKEN SOMBRA! He's back with a four course meal of vengeance. He's learned from his mistakes and is ready to take his throne back! I was happy. That character alone would be able to terrify all of my characters, and hopefully others! BUT. That moment was unfortunately short lived. I was hoping for so much... but began to scratch my head when Twilight got suicide bombed. I didn't know what to say that point. The explosion was powerful enough to knock a hole in the wall. Which... honestly confused me. Because for the first time since I've been on this forum... something actually died. And it wasn't the princess. I immediately assumed, with some very tiny amount of doubt, that the princess wouldn't be dead. Which... didn't add much in the way of suspense to me. But the fact that it was a guard that whispered "Hail Sombra" Actually got me excited again!

Then you got REA ships falling out of the sky. YES! Then the enemy approaches... and it's vikings. Confusion number 2... and suddenly falling excitement. If this was falling along the lines and head cannon of Sombra being a nordic stallion, and often alone in frozen waste lands... PERFECT! He's ruling vikings! But... they were mercenaries. MERCENARIES! MERCENARIES! Why does a character as powerful as Sombra need mercenaries!? It would have been more terrifying if there were actually ponies within the empire whom were loyal to Sombra! Or if Sombra had conjured his own army with his magic! Crystal Golemns! An army of physical shadows! After all, only a magic relic could stop him! The possibilities were endless... he was based off of Lord of the Rings' Necromancer King!

But it went into a B rated criminal. Why does the most powerful unicorn alive, need to work with an outside party? And how is W.R.A.I.T.H a part of this?

Now... onto deaths. Honestly... I wasn't disturbed by the fact that there was death. I was incredibly confused by it. Due to the web forums nature of keeping violence down, keeping grimdark characters away, even limiting the fact that your parents might have died, or how they died... I never even bothered to think that there were NPCs actually dying.

It wasn't until it was mentioned to me directly, twice had I noticed it. And likely this was other players' same thinking. It wasn't really adding anything to the event. It'd be more impressive if by a show of might, that the vikings had forced the Gaurds down to their knees or forced them to surrender. But any sentient ones left were just slaughtered without any real forethought. Which actually brings us back to player mentality. Killing isn't really a show of power. It's just something normal to see in a fight.

The other bit was... for the RP I was in... it really didn't feel like we had much in the way of options. We could ask about WRAITH, yes. But I didn't bother because I doubt it's just something anyone's going to tell. Or we could fight... and thatd be the worst option to do, due to cannons in the background, over powered creatures, and impossibly sharp weapons. Or we could just surrender to an enemy... when we had mostly unicorns, two earth ponies (one capable of turning a rock into a nuclear explosion) and a beef cake Pegasus.

Final Thought

Most cases... I actually wish I was in one of the other two Rps. The Heart with King Sombra. And the Party Ends with something who’s possessed, and using giant eagles. Even reviving them. Both of those really gave the characters a REAL good reason to be terrified and haul out.

But I still had fun. Just not what I was expecting.

[RarityDash]

I should start by saying that I had a lot of fun with this event. Maybe it's because my main character plays well to it, maybe it's just because events are still new to me, but whatever the reason it worked for me.

That said, there are a few things I found sort of questionable about it.

As others have mentioned, it did seem more gruesome than necessary. I think the attackers could still have been portrayed as threatening, and the event could have functioned, without the need for bloody beheadings and the like. It caught me off guard, and while I do enjoy that sort of things at times I'm not sure if it's the most appropriate here. I thought it was pushing things a bit with the site rules. I didn't mind it too much one time, but I'm hoping future events wouldn't be quite as brutal.

While I get the idea behind splitting the timelines, so that people can participate in the event and still get to choose whether or not they want to deal with the attack, I don't think it worked out that well. In theory people could participate in both, but the way things seemed to work (at least in the thread I was in) was that most people abandoned one of the timelines for the other. I know I didn't want to deal with multiple, simultaneous timelines, particularly if they're completely disconnected from each other. Alternately, the thread ends up split, with significant numbers of people attaching to each thread.

And on that note, an event that also featured more non-combat elements would probably be nice. It wasn't an issue for me personally, and I know it can be kinda tricky to build that sort of thing in, but it seems to me that the alternatives are either non-combat oriented characters get relegated to the sidelines, or attackers have to be weakened enough that any character can assist.

So, overall: I enjoyed participating in it, though I have mixed feelings about the event itself.

Thanks for the feeback.

That said beheading is the one moment I mentioned that I really kind of regret doing. I did it because I wanted the act of giving an order to kill to a mindless weapon to have consequence and it seemed a quick and easy way to go about it. I purposefully gave no detail of the blood and gore for that, saying the caribou just lost his head, but really its just such an inherently violent image that I really think I should have gone about it another way. if given the opportunity, I definitely think I could have done the thread without that moment of violence. Sorry to those who took part in my thread for taking it a step too far at that point.

I also get what you're saying with the dual timelines. It does create a conflict of interest. I still think it was a move in the right direction from Nightmare Night, where we sprung the changeling invasion in threads and didn't even provide the space for alternate stories where it didn't happen, but it is definitely something for us to reassess.

As for the last point, personally, I think having non-combatants getting involved in a dangerous situation creates a lot of the fun of this kind of thing. If it's an announced combat thread from the start, we're only going to get characters looking to fight, which will mean it's just fighting, which might not be as much fun. What we really want to see, I think is problem solving, going for innovative ideas in response to a situation and not just going straight to the fighting. I was really pleased that in my thread we had stuff like the fillies throwing pies and eventually using music and fireworks to help rally everyone and turn the tide, not to mention Flux's fun sort of Pinkie Pie-esque approach to facing her opponent. I fear we might lose that if we start to draw more clear cut lines between combat and non-combat events.

[tacobob]

I liked it...Mostly...I just WISH i had more free time to participate like I wanted to. (SIGH). I would have joined a few other topics....Shame it did not last a little longer..Give time to enjoy the pre-war Crystal Kingdom before all heck broke loose...

Fighting/battles always seems rather odd in an open RP...I'm used to RPs with stats (D&D, Pathfinder, Champions, etc) to back up everything. I tried to avoid power-gaming..I didn't mind the dark, since even the comic has shown the horrors of war in Equestria

I do hope this storyline continues..Those silly reindeer don't get to come over to our house, mess things up and then trot their fuzzy behinds back home without any pony-payback! I do hope Celestia gets involved...

[Bellosh]

I do hope this storyline continues..Those silly reindeer don't get to come over to our house, mess things up and then trot their fuzzy behinds back home without any pony-payback!

Look no further than here:

[tacobob]

Look no further than here: http://www.canterlot...ideas-planning/

Yep! Just noticed it!

[IceStorm]

Alright, most of you here have already heard my rantings and ravings about this event and how it was handled via skype, but I'm going to take the time to explain them here. I apologize in advance if I come off as blunt but things need to be said and issues need to be addressed.

First of all, I would like to point out that the first half of the event was amazingly fun. I was looking forward to coming home every night and posting, and for myself, the last quarter of the event was fun despite everything else that happened beforehand. I loved that I could just have Ice mingle with her friends, and start setting up shops and the like. (Only to find out later that the shop would have never been opening because of the attack.) And the over all feel of the event at the time was light and cheerful. Completely within the realms of the show and what we'd come to expect from MLP. Sure we've seen some pretty epic fights within the last couple seasons of the show, but in general, despite having some rather dark lore, the show itself is rather cheerful.

Now comes the negative part of this review and once again, I apologize for the bluntness.

The caribou were flat out over-powered. I understand that you wanted to make the enemies seem like a challenge, but come on guys. The Caribou were, especially in the opening to "Attack on The Spire" were heavily G-moded. The Caribou in the Spire had a counter for everything. you couldn't touch them in melee because they were too skilled, they had unnatural reflexes, (the jarl was capable of deflecting a diamond, thrown by a pony who can out-throw rainbow dash by miles), they had weapons that could slice through thick layers of Ice like warm butter regardless of what the density of the ice was. (Naturally, ice itself has different densities. The more packed and condensed the ice is, the denser and stronger it is. So super condensing it through a means of, let's say magic, would be able to create ice denser than any natural diamond can get without using a lot of force to do it with,) Oh, and this diamond could pierce through about 2 ft of solid crystal as well. Oh, and the caribou had an entire ship full of canons that was a counter all to everything.

The biggest thing here, though that I will take away from this event, was the constant advisement from event runners against doing what our characters would realistically do given the situation, or practically telling us what we could or couldn't do with our characters when we were being well within our character's abilities of doing so. We had users literally threatening to leave the event, and users that were brought to tears because the event had gotten so frustrating for them, that they couldn't do a single thing that they wanted their characters to do. They felt like they were completely written out of the roleplay. Once again, all of the counters come into play from the previous paragraph. The caribou were miraculously prepared for every single possible occasion that could have arisen in the spire thread making us literally unable to do anything thing in the thread until a certain event happened. Once again, I understand you wanted to make the characters seem like a threat, but this was completely the wrong way to do it. It was extremely god-mode-like and if any one else in any other thread had played to the extent as the Caribou were, they would have received warnings for God-moding their character in unrealistic situations.

The second biggest thing that I disliked about the event, was how we were forced to basically follow a scrip. Everything had to go a certain direction, and absolutely nothing could be done that our characters would have reasonably done until after the event took place. I'm sorry, but this is a major no-no. I don't care what type of event it is, the event is run by the players of the event, not the creators of the events. And this is true for all threads, not just events. The creators of the events needed to be way more flexible with their ideas and more willing to work with the ideas of other players so that it didn't have to turn into the bloody gory mess that it ended up turning into. If you want events to be roleplayed out, that's fine. Give us, the players the power, and ability to roleplay the event and determine how the event goes.

If things are brought in a way that forces everyone in the event to work against the next major plot-point of the event, work with the players and cater to their ideas, because no one has the right to tell anyone else how to play their characters because they have an event that they want to go a certain way. Asking someone to edit a post because they ignored or missed something is one thing, but just saying, "Your character shouldn't do that," is a major no-no. We are not here to follow a script or a story, we are here to make the script, and make the story. Bottom line, if you want an event to be roleplayed, then let us roleplay it. If you want the event to follow a certain story progression that the players ultimately have no control over, (Cause said event happened regardless of what everyone else in the thread wanted) then write it as a short story. If a story is not negotiable, or not flexible in the slightest to allow players to be there character, then it has no place on a roleplay board. This also applies to the thought, "The original poster has the power to determine how the story goes," once again, this is wrong. the story is determined by the players. Let them play it.

Once the main event holding everything back in the Spire went off, we were finally allowed to exercise the plans that our characters. Then everything started becoming fun again and we were actually able to move forward with the plot instead of being stuck in a stalemate because we were faced with an enemy that we had no possible means of defeating without outside force, even to the point where a well executed plan meant absolutely nothing.

But even then, once things started moving forward, violence is one thing. We've seen violence in MLP before. We've never seen blood and gore to the level of which were displayed in the event. I intentionally ignored a vast majority of the gore because it was too much. We didn't need guards exploding, or being shredded into pieces, or a floor that had more blood than carpet. That's not MLP and while I understand that you can't really have a combat event like that without injuries like that happening, they didn't need to be explained in such detail. I'm all about making detailed posts. I started and cut my roleplaying teeth on forums where by rule of the forums, your posts had to be at least 200 words, or you received warnings. It was a no BS, know what you're doing Roleplay board. I'm all about descriptions. But there are certain things, that, especially given the rules for the contexts in this board, that should have been done as "Fade-To-Black" where you can reference what happened to them without going into detail.

Example listed in Spoiler due to graphic descrition:

"The bomd went of while the guards were standing next to it, killing them instantly," rather than, "When the bomb went of, a red mist filled the room while entrails were strewn about from the explosion" gets the same message across.

Now, that's not to say that there shouldn't have been any blood either. It was a war-zone. It's completely unrealistic for any character to get out of a war-zone completely unscathed. They will at the very least be shaken, bruised, or have some wounds. Some of these wounds, in fact most of these woulds in a war-zone would realistically be enough to draw blood from a pony. Their coats are magic protect alls that will keen anything from harming them. So when I see a character get a cut, that they describe is bleeding, that's fine. I even did that myself when Ice Storm took off her armor and revealed a cut she had sustained earlier in the combat. Injuries happen and we can't be afraid of them, but they aren't things that have to be heavily detailed.

In conclusion, I would have to call the event a partial success. The event itself, once it straightened itself out, was a lot of fun, but the hiccup in the center of the event will always be a tarnish on the event to me. It could have been handled a lot better and a lot more professionally from the event organizers. I've been doing this for the better half of two decades, and because of that one hiccup that was in the center of the entire event, I would have to say this is one of the most chaotic events I've been in, roleplay wise and otherwise. But I'm not just going to dump this wall on you guys without adding some advice.

Some things to keep in mind for future events:

• Don't be so hard-wired to your events that everything in them is set to stone. Be flexible, and allow your players to do what they want with their characters.
  
• Don't create enemies that can't be beaten under normal means
  
• Don't God-mode enemies to have a counter for every possible thing that they wouldn't have realistically known was there.
  
• Never under any circumstances tell a character they can't do something because it doesn't fit what you want to happen in the event.
  
  • This applies to players as well. Make sure to ask or plan out your intentions with others so that things are or are not getting done, and never assume someone is going to just let you do something. Leave posts open so that they can respond in a way that may directly counter your intentions but still allows them to stay in character.
    

  [*]Perhaps let the soft pace of more intense events like this one last a bit longer so that everypony who doesn't wish to be involved with darker events like this can enjoy them longer.

  [*]Don't give players an option to decide what's canon based on what thread they were in. I know that this seems kinda unfair, but at the same time, this creates paradoxes, where characters that were seen at the event, having two different memories of the event could cause conflict. I can understand the desire for this because of how dark this event was though.

So yeah, I don't really have anything else to say about this event in particular. I did really enjoy event, don't get me wrong, and making the Ice Slide was fun and all, but still. When I think back to this event, I'm not really going to remember all the fun I had with it. I'm going to remember what happened when the attack first happened, and what shouldn't have happened. I do look forward to the next event, and I hope that whatever major catastrophe is thought of for that event, is handled much better.

[Zealot]

Right, well, I think you guys know what my view was. Quite a lot of things I was going to say have already been said, so I can only reiterate really.

Suffice to say I really enjoyed the first part of the event, which is why I was quite angry when it turns out my interactions weren't canon unless I participated in the battle threads. I intended to post there just to get my character out of that situation and to make my interactions canon, because they were good interactions, but no you guys backed me into a corner that I just couldn't get out of while keeping to the original character idea. I realised in order to survive I'd basically have to turn her into Lara Croft or something. Suffice to say many video games were played somewhat angrily afterwards, hehe. Not to mention it was very jarring. I suspected something was going to happen, but not this. It felt like you'd turned an Agatha Christie into Black Hawk Down in the space of about three posts. (Hehe, Rambo Poirot. That I would like to see.)

The second part of the event just went way too dark. There should have been warnings, notice on what was going to happen from the get go. Not to mention I had quite a few problems with the dark being made canon. After all, this is My Little Pony not Gears of War. Hehe. I have no problems if you guys want to roleplay dark of course, it just shouldn't be canon because it definitely isn't to everyone's taste. Events should be for everyone after all and should correspond with the feel of the site. Not to mention, considering current events, I question whether some of the themes were appropriate for the times. I roleplay to get away from all the crap going on, I shouldn't be made closer to it.

Don't get me started on technoviking caribou mercenaries. (Whenever someone says airship I default to steampunk, hence 'techno')

Your communication definitely needs to be worked on. Why weren't there OOC threads? I've seen plenty of RP events, all the better ones have them. You need that back-channel when roleplaying so everyone is clear on what is going on. *awkward shrug* Something to keep in mind for the future.

So yeah, lasting impression will be one of distaste. I've seen and been in quite a number of big events and this one will definitely be one of the worst in my memory. I was having fun, then fun was ruined. I think that sort of describes my experience in a nutshell, even if that is a little rude. I apologise for that. But still, as a newbie this was definitely not a good experience. After all this was my first time actually roleplaying with you guys, and it's set a bad president. So I'm sorry, but I'm hesitant to roleplay with anyone who did take part now. I know that must sound like I'm being funny, but ultimately my confidence in this site has been shaken. First impressions are lasting and all that. *another awkward shrug* I'm willing to give folks another shot of course, but I definitely won't be roleplaying in another event any time soon unless I'm told exactly what is going to happen and what to expect. After all, events don't have to be big battles. I will always say that slice of life is the best roleplay experience and I think perhaps the next one should be aimed more along those lines.

So yeah, not good. Not to mention I'm sort of on the fence with this site now. Sorry if I caused offence there, the whole thing proved quite stressful for me so I'm a bit wound up about it. Suffice to say I'm not getting at you guys, nor do I want an argument. I'm just providing my feedback here, alright? Hehe. Lower crosshairs please, I can feel them just about here. Hehe.

[Corsair]

Thanks for the feedback you've given so far. We are listening, and are willing to make changes for next time.

I'm still curious, though, what would people like to see in future events? We've done many of the special event days that have been featured in the show, and those were fun, but we don't want to get too repetitive. Was there some event you liked that you want to see return? Any ideas for a new, different event you think people would enjoy? Hit us with it! We can take it! ... Ok, I'd prefer you hit SteelEagle, but anyway...

[Solaria]

Well dang, it sounds like I would have enjoyed every bit of that. I should pay more attention next time.

[Mojo]

All I can say about future events is, if they're going to be like NMN and Crystal Faire, I'll probably choose NOT to participate.

[Blueblood]

For future events?

Hm, well, having visited its IRL counterpart, I would love to see something done in Saraneighvo. Possibly an International Arts and Culture Exhibition (uninterrupted by invasion!)

I also had a vaguer idea about doing something with dreams. I'm kind of curious how other, non-pony cultures treat the Dreamscape.

[Bellosh]

I don't think we'll be using the "LOL SURPRISE INVASION" plotline for a very long while (we've done it twice already), so the next couple of events should be safe for you, Mojo.

[Zealot]

Well, nice to see we're still being civil. That's encouraging. Sorry but usually this is the point threads like these break down into lots of little arguments or something, hehe.

Anyway, since you asked nicely. Well, you don't have to put on show specific. Think of an event that brings lots of people together, ask if that would happen in Equestria, then it's a cut and paste job. Hehe.

Few things that come to mind:

National holidays and celebrations (Might be something like the 4th of July for Americans. Independence day I think it's called. Maybe a celebration of the Princess's defeat of Discord?)

Competitions (Ok, already have the Equestria games and the Young Flier competition. But you could do other things like a joust, or horseracing and the like. Hehe.)

Comicon? (I always wondered if there would be an Enchanted Comics Comicon or something. There are already the power ponies and the like, maybe there is a comicon? Hehe. I kinda like that idea, so long as there's no silly twist like 'the comics suck everyone in, fight for your life' kind of deal.)

Cultural events (Rackenhammer suggested an art and culture exhibition. There are other cultural events though. Flower and Gardens show? Grand summer markets? Mayday? Germany has big winter markets in the lead up for christmas. Just spitballing here.)

So yeah, those were the things I could come up with off the top of my head. If you think about it, there's actually quite a lot of possibilities. Just yeah, no invasions... Please... Hehe.

[RarityDash]

If we were going to get defensive and argumentative over anything, I don't think we'd have had Corsair start this thread in the first place. I think everyone involved acknowledges that there were some problems in the execution of this event, and we are genuinely interested in hearing feedback from our users so that we know how we should adjust for events in the future.

So thanks again to everyone for the feedback. Every post and every perspective we hear helps us get better at this.