“Events, dear boy. Events.”.

As Harold Macmillan rightly proclaimed, nothing can send a government (or guild) off course like an unexpected event. Even one that was foretold in the patch notes.

I am hurt.
A plague o’ both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?

Mercutio, on the other hand, was just rather annoyed about getting a rapier stuck in his chest. He had every right to be upset. Yet very soon he cursed no more, for the sword is an efficient killer.

Which is more than can be said for the Septicemic Blight that is sweeping Norrath at this time. It causes greenness of both flesh and clothing, some unsociable coughing, and, well, that’s about it. And therein lies the problem, for it leaves its victims alive to complain.

The plague has spread to every corner of Norrath. Priests can only heal themselves and those willing to group with them, and countless Typhoid Marys have carried plague to every instance of every dungeon. Even the undead and the inanimate have fallen prey to this most insidious pestilence.

With such a vast reservoir of germs, untouchable by player healers, there is nothing I or any other priest can do to stem the tide. We can only hope that the tales of an alchemical cure are more than mere rumour.

In the time I’ve spent writing this far I have been infected with the blight 12 times. I have, to my shame, given up offering to cure anyone. I fear we are all doomed. But perhaps, should any survive, their descendants will find the following suggestions helpful:

1) Events are a good idea. They tend to be shortlived, and as such need to have a real game-changing reach in order for everyone to notice. The plague has certainly done that!

2) No matter how innocuous you make the event, someone will complain that it is affecting their gameplay adversely. The lack of adverse effects from being infected is exactly why so many people are running about spreading disease. Pay no heed to those who consider turning green to be a reason to quit.

3) Try to make it fit in better with the existing world. I was horrified, upon visiting the temple of Rodcet Nife, god of healing, that not only did they have nothing to say about the disease, but they were all infected! By having NPCs (and tents and statues) be infectable, infectious, yet not curable, you have removed any possibility for the players to control the epidemic.

4) Of course, the disease won’t be defeated until someone’s completed some fancy quest somewhere. So far the only static one I’m aware of is for Alchemists, in Nektulos. Which is of course fine, but there probably aren’t all that many tier 3 alchemists out there. Don’t you think that it’s a tad specialised?

5) The other quests I’m aware of are initiated by GMs playing NPCs. I love that idea, but what proportion of the population is likely to encounter such wonderful sounding content? Any information vital to the storyline needs to somehow be available to anyone of sufficient level without needing to be playing in the right timezone at the right spot.

Anyhows, it’s daftly designed, but I’m still glad our first Event has come. Though let us hope that brave adventurers are rising to the challenge of curing the land, or this Event could outstay it’s welcome.

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