I'm very new to the guide events and understood from the posts in the Freeport events that there was an event in Butcherblock? I was on time and for 20 minutes afterward but didn't see any guide on the docks, up the ramp or in the irontoe area. Was I in the right place and a guide did not show? Or was I not in the correct place? This is the second time such a thing has happened to me in game, and my guildmate said it's the third where he's shown up and no one was there. I'm not sure what's going on and would like clarification. I did find a guide event recently but it was by accident. I'd love to see more specifics of event+time+location on future events, and that a guide is there when they say they'll be there so we're not left with a question mark about what's going on. Thank you!
Hi there Orionza, first of all thank you for your feedback, and also thank you for your desire to support our events I am sorry that you missed the event last night. I checked the reports and I can say that the event did run in that particular zone and at the announced time. Unfortunately, as I was not there I can not tell you details about the actual event. But I will try to explain a little bit about the way the program works - and how this may or may not have related to your experience last night (for good or for worse). DISCLAIMER: I am not speaking as a voice for the program, this is my own opinion from my time in the guide program. In the old days the only way to run into a guide event was to 'be there at the right time'. There was no prewarning on the forums or any other way for players to know when or where an event would take place. The idea was that guide events was to be special and if you were so lucky to run into one it should be a unique experience with unique rewards. That position has been softened considerably since then and today (and also in the specific server forums when they were still live), guides can announce upcoming events on this forum. Not all events are announced for a myriad of reasons. This has two main effects: now the players have a way to know when/where events will take place and the guides will (potentially) get more participants to their events (which we find great - nothing worse than preparing an event and have no one show up to enjoy it ). Now, this new way to announce events has a backside to it also - and it is a severe one. When players read that an event is to take place they (rightfully so) expect to be able to take part in it if they show up at the announced time and place. But since guides are volunteers that also have real lives where a ton of things can go wrong, not to mention technical problems - sometimes events are not performed at the announced time - or sometimes the event is not performed at all. Of course it is stressed (within the guide program) that events are to take place at announced times and all guides take a great deal of effort into making sure that it does happen this way. I have no statistics on what percentage of announced quests are not performed as promised, but I do know that some are not for the above mentioned reasons. And as we all know - those are the experiences that people remember So that brings us to the big question: Is it better that guide events are kept completely secret and only a few people will ever know about them, but the risk of actually upsetting anyone is minute, or is it better that they are announced in advance with the risk that mishaps do happen and some players will be disappointed and upset, but give many more players in general a chance to participate in guide events. You might also argue that it is better to do away completely with guides and only use NPCs, but a LOT of the guide events are not well suited for NPCs so that will mean that most of the quests will just go away. Now, back to your situation. For what I can tell you were in the zone and this time the quest was also performed in the zone as announced. As I was not there I can only speculate here. Guides have ways to announce quests in the zone at the outset of the quest, but they are not forced to make a zone wide announcement if there are interested players in the nearby area. I would say that it is rare that quests are not announced zonewide, however - to my experience. You may have missed the message, or the guide may have started a few minutes early and you might have arrived a bit later, etc. Or the guide may not have announced in the zone where exactly there were to be found at all. I will make a note to ask guides on the Freeport team to make zonewide announcement in those cases, where the event has been announced here on the forum, as I can see some complications otherwise. Also it should be known that quest characters are always 'in character' - so the announcement might have been something that could have been confused with something a (rp inclined) player might have blurted out - and not been identified as an actual event announcement. Again, I was not there so I can only speculate. I am however sorry that you missed the event and I would also have been upset if that had happened to me. I do hope that my post here will give you a little insight in the way (and restrictions) guides operates under. The program is ever evolving and feedback such as yours is the only way that the leaders and SOE can move it towards something that works. Again remember that all this is my humble observations and is not a voice for the program as such
I'll give the shorter answer... Yes, it was run.. I saw them does it, and they were out there for a good while after the advertised start time. However, just because it's a "Guide" Quest doesn't mean there will be someone named "Guide Soandso" on. So don't be looking to see someone with that title around. If you do see someone with a Guide title, chances are they are jusy roleplaying and chatting and not doing a Quest. If a Quest is done by a Dwarf, for example, we make a Dwarven character to run it. You have to watch in the given zone (assuming you know it) or sometimes in the chat channels. It won't be something like "Come to xxx zone for a Guide Quest". The ingame stuff is done in character. So if it's some poor fae seeking help from some vicious trolls, it might be "Oh won't someone save me from these trolls following me around <insert area here>?" As Cyph said, we is sorry if you missed it, but unfortunately there's no way for us to put up a neon sign pointing at us. (And yes, I've asked). At best, sometimes you might see a little green feather floating over someone's head.
