Small Problem Change

[Cranjis-of-Orien]

Alright, I did not experience it myself but I have heard from many people that Small Problem suddenly ceased to spawn water elementals in the middle of the quest. How was ssg able to sneak in and shut down this function without closing the game? And with no warning, too.

[Scortius]

It's really infuriating that so many known issues drag on for months and years, but when the players are having fun with a new event, turns out changes are possible without even a server shutdown.

[Annex]

It now appears that the discussion of the best ways to run the event resulted in a multiple things getting turned off over the last hour or so. We can safely presume that the people at Standing Stone Games did not anticipate the best farming possibilities of their own event.

*sings off key* I fought the law and the, law won. I fought the law and the, law won.

As far as I am concerned, this event just went from boring and grindy with very good rewards to very boring and horribly grindy with terrible rewards. I also just wasted 200 gold coins.

I guess I am done here.

[TitusOvid]

Dear SSG,
can we get this kind of initiative on lag, chat issues, communication, bugs, CS and probably 12 other things? Things that are not fun?
Seriously you overdid it. Slow the spawns for all I care but don't pull the plug entirely.

Thanks.
Titus.

[Marshal_Lannes]

It now appears that the discussion of the best ways to run the event resulted in a multiple things getting turned off over the last hour or so. We can safely presume that the people at Standing Stone Games did not anticipate the best farming possibilities of their own event.

*sings off key* I fought the law and the, law won. I fought the law and the, law won.

As far as I am concerned, this event just went from boring and grindy with very good rewards to very boring and horribly grindy with terrible rewards. I also just wasted 200 gold coins.

I guess I am done here.

Wasted? And the event now sucks if you can't use an exploit to run it? Gonna have to disagree there.

[redoubt]

Dear SSG,
can we get this kind of initiative on lag, chat issues, communication, bugs, CS and probably 12 other things? Things that are not fun?
Seriously you overdid it. Slow the spawns for all I care but don't pull the plug entirely.

Thanks.
Titus.

This is how I feel about it. Chat is so broken we don't run public raids anymore and rely completely on discord for voice chat... but you can turn this off in the blink of an eye.

[Annex]

Wasted? And the event now sucks if you can't use an exploit to run it? Gonna have to disagree there.

To be clear:

I never used the method mentioned in the original post to obtain keys. In fact, I never used it during the Mimic Hunt or to collect Mysterious Remnants, either.

Our definitions of, "exploit", very obviously differ in dramatic fashion. I do not consider killing Water Elementals in A Small Problem to gain Champion chests an exploit. Players have used that spot for years to farm Mimics and Mysterious Remnants. Obviously, the people at Standing Stone Games have now decided to change the behavior of such spots to slow down event item acquisition. That is their right. However, characterizing long standing game behaviors and resulting player interactions as exploitative because the developers suddenly and without warning change their minds is grossly unfair and unnecessarily inflammatory. You are completely wrong to use such language.

Finally, if I play an event to obtain a reward and the developers subsequently remove the reward such that I cannot gain the desired benefit from my time invested, I have, with absolute certainty, wasted time. In this case, the developers committed an egregious breach of my trust and I do not like them very much right now.

[dennisck2]

To be clear:

I never used the method mentioned in the original post to obtain keys. In fact, I never used it during the Mimic Hunt or to collect Mysterious Remnants, either.

Our definitions of, "exploit", very obviously differ in dramatic fashion. I do not consider killing Water Elementals in A Small Problem to gain Champion chests an exploit. Players have used that spot for years to farm Mimics and Mysterious Remnants. Obviously, the people at Standing Stone Games have now decided to change the behavior of such spots to slow down event item acquisition. That is their right. However, characterizing long standing game behaviors and resulting player interactions as exploitative because the developers suddenly and without warning change their minds is grossly unfair and unnecessarily inflammatory. You are completely wrong to use such language.

Finally, if I play an event to obtain a reward and the developers subsequently remove the reward such that I cannot gain the desired benefit from my time invested, I have, with absolute certainty, wasted time. In this case, the developers committed an egregious breach of my trust and I do not like them very much right now.

This, only not sounding as smart if I posted it.

[Thrudh]

Finally, if I play an event to obtain a reward and the developers subsequently remove the reward such that I cannot gain the desired benefit from my time invested, I have, with absolute certainty, wasted time.

What reward did they remove?

[Micki]

Alright, I did not experience it myself but I have heard from many people that Small Problem suddenly ceased to spawn water elementals in the middle of the quest. How was ssg able to sneak in and shut down this function without closing the game? And with no warning, too.

If this, as well as the cosmetics vendor disappearing is true, I am mostly disappointed in the lack of transparency from SSG. They made a very obvious change to the live servers without posting any info about it here or on their social media platforms. This is bad form and leaves a bad taste. How hard can it be to post some info when they make noticeable changes?

[cru121]

Hmm, I got some keys from there ... like 12 hours ago. You guys say it's no longer possible?

[Rykka]

To be clear:

I never used the method mentioned in the original post to obtain keys. In fact, I never used it during the Mimic Hunt or to collect Mysterious Remnants, either.

Our definitions of, "exploit", very obviously differ in dramatic fashion. I do not consider killing Water Elementals in A Small Problem to gain Champion chests an exploit. Players have used that spot for years to farm Mimics and Mysterious Remnants. Obviously, the people at Standing Stone Games have now decided to change the behavior of such spots to slow down event item acquisition. That is their right. However, characterizing long standing game behaviors and resulting player interactions as exploitative because the developers suddenly and without warning change their minds is grossly unfair and unnecessarily inflammatory. You are completely wrong to use such language.

Finally, if I play an event to obtain a reward and the developers subsequently remove the reward such that I cannot gain the desired benefit from my time invested, I have, with absolute certainty, wasted time. In this case, the developers committed an egregious breach of my trust and I do not like them very much right now.

Apparently they've removed other easier sources of scourges as well. It would be nice if the devs could post a list of all the quests that were modified to preserve their event's arbitrary drop rates.

[myliftkk_v2]

We can safely presume that the people at Standing Stone Games did not anticipate <insert anything, yes anything>

ftfy

These guys step on a rake more often than a blind dancing gardener. Do they ever get tired of it hitting them in the face I wonder...?

[redoubt]

ftfy

These guys step on a rake more often than a blind dancing gardener. Do they ever get tired of it hitting them in the face I wonder...?

Oh dang, that's funny. Thank you, I needed the laugh!

[mikarddo]

What reward did they remove?

I second that question. Which reward was removed?

[Annex]

What reward did they remove?

They removed the Glammerdust trader, Aelonwy Maelodic.

Until a few hours ago, it was possible to purchase an Ice Robe cosmetic item (I forget the name) for 50 gold coins, take it to Aelonwy Maelodic, and convert it to Glammerdust. I believe at least one other item also worked for this purpose. Then, using the Glammerdust, it was possible to create various 2013 era cosmetic items. I thought it was really awesome for the developers to allow that but ... it now appears it was just another, "we didn't bother to test this and ... Mulligan!".

In the past, one could perform a similar process during Festivult but, if I recall correctly, the Ice Robes were much harder to come by. I have not played much over the last few years and no longer remember the details. I am sorry.

Also, one can purchase or farm game shop points, use them to purchase Top Hats (preferably at 75% off), and convert them into Glammerdust. (I have something like 2,000 points on my various accounts reserved for a Top Hat sale.)

This event was the easiest way yet to play for those old cosmetic items but, now it is not.

To be clear, the developers are completely within their rights to adjust game mechanics as necessary so that their game rewards players in a manner they deem reasonable. If they do not want anyone playing for items to convert into Glammerdust, they can build their game accordingly. I understand that sometimes unwanted play options slip into the live game because of mistakes they make. Fine.

It still sucks to get excited about something and have it yanked.

[kanordog]

NOTHING of the rewards are stacking, so it doesn't matter you got 1 or 1000 CHA augments slotted, it will give you exactly +2 CHA. You can't wear two robes either.

Wasted? And the event now sucks if you can't use an exploit to run it? Gonna have to disagree there.

RNG (to get key) on top of RNG (to get winter champ) on top of RNG (to champ spawn) is everything but fair. And it is not like duping boxes...

Unfair vs Exploit
GO!

ps.: I DID NOT farm small problem but I do not care if someone did. Ill get the few augments I want anyway.

They removed the Glammerdust trader, Aelonwy Maelodic.

Cosmetics apparently are OP and break the game.

[LightBear]

I did my usual runs throughout the game yesterday evening and got about 8 keys and a couple of gold coins along the way.

Did a few slides down the ramp stopped once I had 20 gold coins.

Traded it in for a Ruby of the Snowpeaks that I slotted into my Ratcacher.

I'm happy.

Not going to bother with the cosmetics.

Have the other augments on my list to acquire as well.

[Seph1roth5]

People can argue semantics all they want but it's pretty clear this was not WAI lol. It'd be like last mabar if keys were suddenly dropping 50% of the time and then a day later they fixed it.

I was leveling with my static group today so none of us tried any of the shenanigans, but cmon, you have to be pretty dense or (more likely) pedantic to say you had no idea it wasn't wai.

If it's raining $$ outside, most people are going to go out and stuff their pockets, but then don't get mad if the cops show up later and ask for it back, that's stupid.

Tbf, I totally agree that they should've tested it better, or at the very least kept an eye out so they could've made the change ASAP, not 24 hours later.

[shores11]

To be clear:

I never used the method mentioned in the original post to obtain keys. In fact, I never used it during the Mimic Hunt or to collect Mysterious Remnants, either.

Our definitions of, "exploit", very obviously differ in dramatic fashion. I do not consider killing Water Elementals in A Small Problem to gain Champion chests an exploit. Players have used that spot for years to farm Mimics and Mysterious Remnants. Obviously, the people at Standing Stone Games have now decided to change the behavior of such spots to slow down event item acquisition. That is their right. However, characterizing long standing game behaviors and resulting player interactions as exploitative because the developers suddenly and without warning change their minds is grossly unfair and unnecessarily inflammatory. You are completely wrong to use such language.

Finally, if I play an event to obtain a reward and the developers subsequently remove the reward such that I cannot gain the desired benefit from my time invested, I have, with absolute certainty, wasted time. In this case, the developers committed an egregious breach of my trust and I do not like them very much right now.

Exploit [exploit] - NOUN
1) a bold or daring feat.
"the most heroic and secretive exploits of the war"
synonyms: feat · deed · act · adventure · stunt · escapade · maneuver · enterprise
2) a software tool designed to take advantage of a flaw in a computer system, typically for malicious purposes such as installing malware.
"if someone you don't know tweets you a link, it's either spam, an exploit, or probably both"

Applying bullet TWO would more apply to DDO. In general an exploit is taking advantage of an action that is not work as intended (WAI). I personally applaud SSG for correcting these exploits if they in fact did. As long as what the developers/planners game play is WAI then there is no issue. But if it is not WAI they should take action.