Announcement Poll for GM Event Time

[Haterslayer]

Hello Team,

The GM event currently takes place at 6PM EST on Saturdays. I have received multiple requests to change the time. However, due to this game spanning across multiple timezones, I will be using the below poll to determine GM event times. **NOTE** This does not mean GM events will be changing times. There will be an announcement IF this happens. so do not go spreading rumors. I can do the event up to 3 hours earlier.

30 Days to decide, thanks.

 

[Seiichi]

Explained the reasons for why the timezone should not be changed on Discord, but will post a TLDR here.

6PM EST: Every Time Zone Converter
4PM EST: Every Time Zone Converter

Moving back timezones only benefits EU, and punishes other regions where there is an active player base. Due to the latency that APAC players get, they have higher disconnection rates and more issues with maintaining stability while idle in game; EU players can idle for a few hours before the event and likely have no issues, whereas APAC players would need to idle for at least 6+ hours.

Also staying up slightly later (12PM for Germany, 2AM for Russia (sorry Russia, your timezones suck)) is less onerous than it is for players to have to wake up at ~4-5AM (for Asia).

 

[Barracuda]

(sorry Russia, your timezones suck)
we have too many of them xD

 

[Adamas]

Or u can do multiple events ^^ jouking but rly will be nice ^^

 

[Lingerie]

I agree with Seiichi. In my opinion the PRESENT GM event time is the nearest fair one for all players wherever they are on our beautiful planet. And let us not forget, the GM event is a goodie by Adept - it can be cancelled any time. And for that to stay up late or get up early I think is reasonable.

Only the short-notice cancellations by Hater is annoying, if one stays up long or get up earlier (even worse).

 

[Breagha]

I voted for 1h earlier, but I am fine if it stays like it is now. 2h earlier kills my Saturday night plans with the family.^^

 

[Seiichi]

I agree with Seiichi. In my opinion the PRESENT GM event time is the nearest fair one for all players wherever they are on our beautiful planet. And let us not forget, the GM event is a goodie by Adept - it can be cancelled any time. And for that to stay up late or get up early I think is reasonable.

Only the short-notice cancellations by Hater is annoying, if one stays up long or get up earlier (even worse).

Cancellations are generally unavoidable as Hater is currently moving into a new house, and also has family or relationship commitments.

GM event takes up a minimum of several hours every Saturday for Hater (even if you do not see him on, he is usually preparing for it on an alt).

 

[Nam N.]

Could it be a rotating time slot? Eg Week1 06:00, week2 14:00, week3 22:00, then restart to 06:00 again (the actual time slot is not 6 14 or 22, but they should be the outcome of some other timeslot polls, the rotating s weekly or monthly depends..). Yes it s harder to organise and the crowd's size will be reduced since any time slot works for some players and doesnt for others players, but for sure that everyone in the server will has chance to catch the event at least Once per month. I ve been here for few months, but got 0 GM event and 1 Dragon Tournament because they r both at my 3-6 AM.

 

[Seiichi]

Could it be a rotating time slot? Eg Week1 06:00, week2 14:00, week3 22:00, then restart to 06:00 again (the actual time slot is not 6 14 or 22, but they should be the outcome of some other timeslot polls, the rotating s weekly or monthly depends..). Yes it s harder to organise and the crowd's size will be reduced since any time slot works for some players and doesnt for others players, but for sure that everyone in the server will has chance to catch the event at least Once per month. I ve been here for few months, but got 0 GM event and 1 Dragon Tournament because they r both at my 3-6 AM.

We tried doing a rotating weekend event for about 1-2 years previously, but people have a hard time remembering when event is now much less an alternating schedule. It just creates confusion and frustration for players, which then creates frustration by staff having to answer the same question every week.

It is not a matter of organizing events being hard, but more that they are time consuming. The current event takes around 3 hours each Saturday (from setup, to pre-event, to post event), and this is at a time that Hater would normally be spending with his girlfriend or eating dinner. Adjusting his schedule one day a week for a specific block of time is manageable and reasonable, but asking more than that is not. It creates uncertainty for him for scheduling things, and would just lead to greater cancellations. I am more inclined to cancel events entirely than to put that pressure on Hater again.

Adding an additional GM to run those events is not applicable either. For one, the staff we currently have have their own tasks, and Hater is the one that has the most experience with doing events. For two, recruiting and training a new member is more difficult due to the fact that the access level required for doing event stuff is the same level as having access to development tools.

Ignoring the access level needed, recruiting staff requires a level of trust I do not have for most people; the history of abusive/corrupt GM on Dragon's Prophet is pretty ridiculous. If I do not personally know or trust someone, they do not get GM, and even if they have GM that is generally with restrictive access. There are also very few people I trust on our network to have any form of authority without abusing it, and those few people do not want to be GM. One of our requirements for GM is that you do not actively play the game, and that is a deal breaker for many people.

 

[Nam N.]

It s all good since the option s already been experienced. ?

 

[Catstyler]

Either way I just go afk at the event because I cant stay awake until 1am every time. So time doesn't really matter though I chose 3 hours earlier so I can be a part of the event :3

 

[Namsious]

for us EU, the gm event is very late, for me its in 1 AM. i agree with Cat as i'd like to be in event