The first day had its issues, I have to admit. It appears as though none of the thing was tested with players who didn't have /op on, because initially we weren't allowed to interact with the pressure plates, which kind of broke a few puzzles. From my understanding vine growth also almost broke a puzzle, though I'll be honest and say I never got far enough in it to feel its effects.
I didn't stick around to see the retrieval of the first Bastion Stone because I got slightly bored after the dungeon branched out again past the doors. It's entirely possible that it was just me, but I still get a hunch that it was at least partially the size of the dungeon outstaying its welcome just a tad. We spent long enough gathering those six keys (or was it 8? I can't quite remember) and it was a little disappointing that beyond those doors lied more puzzles.
With that aside I have to give a few good points about the first event. I definitely had a sense of fear when that bloody Poison Ivy grabbed Demitrius's arms (whoever that was, congrats because that was terrifying.) It also led to some very interesting character development that I'd never actually expect, especially not from a mass event like this. No offence but you must understand that on a greater scale the individual usually gets slightly overshadowed by the grand scheme of things. This might possibly be why I got bored of the event afterwards, actually, because I do not believe that anything could have topped that 'fight' with the Poison Ivy Groot.
The second day was done a lot better than the first day, I have to admit, and was really fun. To me the dragon was actually the low point of the event simply because it felt like a poorly conveyed puzzle. There was a solution to getting rid of the dragon, that much seemed apparent, but said solution wasn't really presented. I'm not saying neon signs should've been posted around the solution saying "this way to do this," but if you look at the best of puzzle games such as Portal you'll note that the mechanics are clearly explained, and the player is left to their devices when it comes to application of the mechanics. You might disagree with me, and that's most definitely fair enough, but to me the dragon seemed a bit odd. The rest of it was awesome though. A labyrinth sequence is always solid, and this time it was spiced up a little with holes connecting different parts of the maze. The fight with the drake seemed quite fun but my character chose to stay back because he's an ass. On that front my only real complaint would be the use of rolling, but in many senses I understand the usefulness of application of rolling, especially in a setting with many people at once. Things can be sorted quickly this way, so the rolling wasn't really an issue in this scenario.
The inside of the volcano was beautiful and it gave both my character and me a sense of wonder I've not felt in a while. Both him and I started drawing up theories as to what ancient civilisation built what I assume was once a massive city, and how it came to its demise. (My theory is that it was once a mighty Dwarven city that was destroyed and fell to ruin after the Dwarves dug deep enough to open up a flow of magma. It likely didn't help that they were in a volcano. That's just my theory though
)
Finally the clash between the Elementals and the Sea of Storms. THIS is exactly what I've been talking about in my recent thread about why no one likes Superman. To see two mighty powers fight each other like this was amazing, and although I feel like it was basically just a cutscene, and no interaction was really allowed, the whole sequence was pretty incredible. The giant spires of water fighting each other, the special effects (which I believe should be mostly accredited to
Spear but everyone involved deserves a special mention) and we got to see the crossroads inn sink, which was always fun.
Overall two very solid and fun events with some very interesting ideas. While there are some flaws I have to say that overall I'm very impressed, especially considering the extremely short notice period we, and likely the event organisers, were given. Huge thank you to everyone who was involved in this event, especially
Faelin for organising the whole thing. Great job guys, this actually makes me excited for future staff events