There is a crispness to the air, which means it’s time for falling leaves and some Fall Fun!Grab your thick socks, hot cocoa, and some snacks! You’re going to need them for the adventuring and running around you’re about to do all over Norrath. Much like years past, we’re heating up bonus chances to rare spawns, faction gains and losses, lockout timers, and experience gains. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect from this year’s event: All times for when specific bonuses start is 12:00 a.m. PDT, and they all end at 11:00 p.m. PDT. 100% bonus chance for rare creatures to spawn and to faction gains and losses – September 12 to September 25, 2023 50% reduction in lockout timers – September 26 to October 9, 2023 150% experience gains – October 10 to October 23, 2023 Fall Fun is all about fun, so get out there and have . . . well, fun! Be sure to follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Discord.
I recommend you change that to 50% bonus experience gains, since people get confused and you will get people asking if that means 150% bonus xp. Yes, I'm aware that 150% xp is the same as 50% bonus but people are people.
This is a common mistake they make, and people are rightfully confused. You can say 150% exp, or 50% exp gains, but you can't say both together unless intended. The gains indicates an addition. y * 1.5 = x y + (y * 0.5) = x and y + (y * 1.5) = z The extra life page is saying gains too ...
It is just mind boggling that after ALL of these years, they still can't hire a copywriter that "gets it".
Why not leave it at what it says, 150% experiance gains, which is like your normal 100% you get when you have no bonuses and 150% gains so you get 250% experiance starting October 10th. Why not?
Because it's wrong. Words mean things. As written, it is not consistent with what is seen in game (or, will be, when the time comes).
People also forget that a mob which only has a 1% chance to spawn to begin with will during the event have a 2% chance to spawn, mobs wont suddenly have a 100% spawn rate from placeholder npcs.
No, they aren't making a mistake... With no bonus, you are getting 100% xp gains. As in, you are GAINING xp at 100% of the normal rate. When they run a 50% bonus like this, you are GAINING xp at 150% of the normal rate. So their statement that you are getting 150% experience gains is completely correct. The ones making the "common mistake" are the ones that don't understand the terms being used which have been used consistently and have always matched the actual reality of the bonus given.
There is no question that, "150% experience gains – October 10 to October 23, 2023", is correct mathematically and grammatically. The point is that for clarity purposes, "50% bonus experience gains", is more clear. If I say that a liquid is inflammable, it means that it is combustible and flammable. However, it generally is not used any more because, to quote https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inflammable: The purpose of language and communication is to convey information. If the person you are communicating with gets the incorrect information, it doesn't matter if you told them correctly, they still have the wrong information. Now, you can blame them, but they have the wrong information and thus your goal (of telling them something) has failed. If you fail at your goal, you can just sit back and blame the other party. Or you can clarify your statement and you will succeed. As the proverb goes, "Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness".
No, it is not more clear. Adding the term "bonus" can be understood by some to mean "additional". In actuality, 150% experience gains is effectively multiplicative. You get 1.5x what you would without the effect. Even though 50% bonus experience gains could mean the same thing, adding the extra portion of "bonus" can only confuse the terms. As it is, the statement is as concise and accurate as it can be. Adding extra terminology can only make it less clear. How did they fail?? The vast majority of the people they're conveying the information to are getting the correct information. On top of that, they've been consistent in using the same terminology repeatedly so changing it to pander to the few that have trouble understanding it would only cause issues with the many that don't have trouble. Changing a consistent terminology implies a change in the effect the terms refer to. It makes much more sense that the few who don't understand should use the reality of the effect to gain the understanding that they lack. Not that the many who already understand should be confused to no real purpose.
I deal with people all the time who think 150% experience means they will get 250% because they add 150% to the current experience. I'm not making up the idea that it is confusing, I'm talking about my direct experiences with people. See the original post: If it was consistent as you say, the first line would be: "200% chance for rare creatures to spawn and to faction gains and losses – September 12 to September 25, 2023" Which would be correct, since the chance for rares is 100% of the normal chance plus a 100% bonus. Also for consistency, see https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/labor-day-2023.292448/ where they say: If it was consistent with the Fall Fun post, it would instead say, "From now until September 5, 2023, at 11:00 p.m. PDT, get 200% experience gains in game."
Percents are always going to have some level of uncertainty and confusion because we can never be sure if the writer and/or reader understands the correct way of how percents are supposed to be written. It's like those viral math problems where people argue over what "1 + 10/(1+10)" resolves to. It would probably be better to not mention percents at all to avoid this sort of confusion. Perhaps the ambiguity could be reduced by phrasing it more like: "Rares come up 2x as often, faction changes are 2x normal, exp is 1.5x normal, lockout timers are half of normal". Perhaps it's not as concise and exact as using percents, but it avoids the confusion around understanding the correct syntax for communicating percentages.
