The incessant clanging and whirring that has echoed throughout Joquil Cavern over the course of the last two weeks has finally quieted down. While some stragglers are still hard at work installing their remaining connectifiers and electronomers into place, most stand back and admire the monstrosity of a machine that their paws helped create.

Sprocket walks along one of the thick, coiled tubes that runs along the cavern floor, nodding approvingly as he checks screws and bolts. Turning to face the crowd, he claps his paws together and says, “Marvelous! I had every faith that all y’all hard workin’ Mycenians could pull this t’gether.” He gives a moment for the applause and self-congratulating cheers that erupt from the crowd. When the racket finally subsides, he adds, “O’course, there’s been a minor change in the overall plan.”

Placing his paws behind his back, he paces along the tubing and surveys the crowd. Finally, he seems to spot the individual he’s looking for and beckons for them to join him—and then steps forward to pull the Bleeding Heart Dove ineki from the shelter of the crowd. Aliza huffs in annoyance and straightens out her hat, scowling up at the kelph before doing her best to ignore the gathered crowd.

“Meet my dear new friend, Aliza Montaigne.” Sprocket says. “Seems my plan t’ free the Cave from its reliance on impractical, outdated, unreliable magic spooked the poor dear, bless her heart.” He reaches to squish the hat down onto her head and she deftly ducks out of the way, her tails twitching in irritation. “An’ since she’s become a rather stubborn thorn in my side an’ refuses to move along and mind her own business, I regret t’inform y’all that it seems my Meteorological Machine an’ its wondrous effects will be confined to this here cavern.”

Confused murmurs escape the crowd, but Sprocket signals for silence once more. “I know, I know. Dissapointin’, ‘specially after all your hard, back-breaking work. But don’t be too upset at sweet Aliza.” He throws an arm around her, and by some miracle she doesn’t sock him in the snout. “After all, she’s been so kind as t’make my ‘rehabilitation’ her number one priority. Worry not, Professor Sprocket has plenty’ve ideas cookin’, an’ when one of ‘em is finally simple enough for Aliza to wrap her lil’ noggin around, I’ll be back to grace y’all with my presence.”

Aliza finally pushes him away and hisses something that sounds an awful lot like wrap it up, Sprocket. He grins at her and shrugs, then turns to regard his machine once more.

“I’ll give y’all until 12:00 ST tomorrow (April 23rd) t’finish installin’ any parts left layin’ around. After that, they’ll crumble into sprockets, which can be traded for prizes ‘til the end of the day on April 28th. Anythin’ left over after that point’ll just be swapped for whatever else I got layin’ around—and after that, 100 nuggets per sprocket.”

With the event at its conclusion, we have opened up a feedback survey in order to gather your opinions on this event’s activities. You can find this survey here!

For every 20 survey submissions we receive, we will be raffling off 1 random prize shop item from the event! In order to be eligible for the raffle, please be sure to include your username on your survey form. Of course, you are more than welcome to remain anonymous if that is your preference.

This survey will remain open until the prize shop closes at 23:59 ST on April 28th, and the results will be compiled and summarized shortly thereafter, with the raffle soon to follow.

• now: feedback survey opens
• 4/23 at 12:00 (noon) Server Time, spare parts crumble into sprockets
• 4/28 at 23:59 Server Time, prize shop closes, boxes are autobought & the rest of the sprockets turn into nuggets
• 4/28 at 23:59 Server Time, feedback survey ends
• ~4/29, feedback raffle drawn & raffle prizes get handed out

I’ve always played send-as-you go, since I want people receiving items to get the time reduced benefit.
I saw a difference this event, and it allowed me to play more leisurely than past events~

alsdals I forgot to put this in my feedback form but I actually quite liked having the event end at noon rather than midnight?  did that used to be a thing?  I can’t remember, but I liked it.

anyway!!! great work everyone!! can’t wait to see the post-survey wrap up <3

Did a double-take because I saw my birthday amongst the listed dates. lol I see it’s listed as the correct date everywhere else, but just thought I’d mention it!
“This survey will remain open until the prize shop closes at 23:59 ST on August 28th”

Uh I assume this isn’t meant to happen? I’m a bit confused XD

*growls in annoyance at auto-buy*

I was saving to get items directly on last day the shop was open instead of boxes but I ended up being too busy to notice the date and it auto-bought a mushroom box instead of backgrounds. Would’ve preferred pretty much anything other than the blue box.

*annoyedly runs in circles*

Items are pretty though. And was fun.

e/ ALSO I didn’t see the survey until JUST NOW so I missed this too ugh. But yes, event was fun and the items are fantastic. The only reward complaint I have is that Sunny Day and the Clock Tower Background should’ve switched boxes. Opening what seems to be a background box to get a non-background item FOUR TIMES is rather annoying, especially since Sunny Day was the one item I didn’t like from the event rewards. (And why I didn’t just buy a bunch of boxes right away in the first place.)

It’d be nice if we could somehow set a preference for auto-buy so it would get what we want it to get instead of just buying the most expensive thing. I will never use whatever mushroom this is because I already got the pets I want, and it’ll be a pita to sell until way later probably, since most who wanted one probably saved to get one. Just annoying that that’s what I ended up with, since I wanted more items, not the single item and coat I got. (Not to mention the one item I got was ANOTHER Sunny Day in a box. >_>)

The feedback raffle will be here at noon Server Time today!

In total, we had 157 responses to our feedback survey for this event (about half of players that participated in the event).

• The majority of respondents, 68%, felt that the event’s duration was appropriate (rated as a 3), with the majority of the remaining responses, 24%, indicating the event was a bit too short (rated as a 2).
• 80% of respondents felt the amount of effort to earn event prizes was appropriate (rated as a 3), with most of the other respondents rating it as a bit too much effort (12%, rating of 4) or way too much effort (4%, rating of 5).
• 83% of respondents think that future events should also have fully equal (items + coats) probabilities of being pulled from the bags, 9% think that the items should have equal probabilities but the coats should be based on species rarity, and 8% think that probabilities should be predictive (Items that staff predict will be the most popular have greater probability of being pulled).
• 68% of respondents feel that market prices for event items are appropriate. 15% think prices are too inexpensive (rated 1 or 2), and 17% think prices are too expensive (rated 4 or 5).
• 50% of respondents got all the prizes they wanted, 24% got the prizes most important to them, and 26% did not get the items they wanted.
• Of the players who were affected by the altered drawing algorithm, 27% felt a strongly positive effect, 55% felt a mild benefit, 9% did not notice much of a difference, and 10% felt that it had a negative effect. 21% of people crafted in batches and as such were not affected.
• 71% of respondents reported that they would have sent modules as they go, regardless of the two-minute bonus. Half of the remaining participants (who would otherwise have waited until the end) switched to sending as they went due to the increased bonus. Those who waited until the end to send modules (14% of respondents) where roughly evenly split between doing so out of simplicity and doing so because the incentive not to was insufficient.
• 69% of respondents enjoyed or greatly enjoyed the event’s mechanics (rated 4 or 5), 24% were in the middle of the road (rated 3), and 7% did not enjoy the event’s mechanics (rated 1 or 2).
• 80% of respondents enjoyed or greatly enjoyed the event’s activities (rated 4 or a 5), 13% were in the middle of the road (rated 3), and 7% did not enjoy the event’s activities (rated 1 or 2).
• 59% of respondents found the event coats applicable and/or inspiring new characters (rated 4 or a 5), 24% were in the middle of the road (rated 3), and 18% did not find them applicable or inspiring new characters (rated 1 or 2).
• 75% of respondents found the items to be useful (rated 4 or 5), 15% were in the middle of the road (rated 3), and 10% did not find them to be useful (rated 1 or 2).
• Most motivating aspects of the event:
  • Collecting specific prizes for pets and characters (120 out of 157 players, 76%)
  • Discovering and playing the side activity (76 out of 157 players, 48%)
  • Earning one of each prize for collecting purposes (65 out of 157 players, 41%)
  • Sending modules to friends and community members (52 out of 157 players, 33%)
  • Collecting components and crafting modules (50 out of 157 players, 32%)
  • Earning prizes to trade now or in the near future (38 out of 157 players, 24%)
  • Earning prizes to trade much later when their value increases (31 out of 157 players, 20%)

A unique theme mixed with some universal items was well liked.
Art direction and theme was unique and well received for the most part (some players mentioned that steampunk stuff can be pretty niche so the more steampunk heavy items weren’t as useful), and players especially enjoyed the inclusion of the weather-related backgrounds. A few players mentioned that this is one of the few events where they needed one of everything!

Flavorful characters and a heavier story component was engaging.
Heavier presence of story was appreciated and Sprocket was very fun and memorable. Since we were unearthing Aliza from way back when, it would have been helpful to have her NPC page filled out with more info about who she was.

The side activity was great! Make sure everyone can easily find it.
Aliza’s investigation was very exciting and players really enjoyed it, probably moreso than any side activity we’ve ever done before! However, it was easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention to the collection image or to the forums so a general heads up about a side activity would be appreciated. We’ve noted that down and will take that into account in the future.

More behind-the-scenes!
Players gained insight by reading through the behind-the-scenes thread and are interested in seeing more behind-the-scenes posts.

Ending events when most players are awake was appreciated.
A few players mentioned that ending at noon was really nice (as opposed to midnight like usual). Noon usually works better with glitch’s and my schedule too, so we can consider that for future events.

Were the coat odds really even in the mushroom bag?
Was Alley Cat mushroom hiding? Was Sprocket enacting an evil plan by making his Simulacrum more common? A few players commented on how alley cat was hard to get while simulacrums were everywhere. While each mushroom did have a 1/3 chance at being pulled, here are the actual results for what ended up being pulled out of the mushroom bag:
27% of the mushrooms pulled from the bag were alley cat mushrooms
34% of the mushrooms pulled from the bag were clockwork construct mushrooms
39% of the mushrooms pulled from the bag were simulacrum mushrooms
Simulacrum did end up being the more common coat, and alley cat the least common coat pulled from the bag *eyes Sprocket*

The altered mechanics and prices fit player’s schedules better.
Compared to past clicky events, players felt like this event fit in their schedules better due to a combination of the altered algorithm, time bonus, and prices—the prizes felt more obtainable.

Two minute bonus receives two thumbs up.
Players voiced their approval of the two minute bonus. A few mentioned that they wish that the timer bonus wouldn’t be lost if they were sent modules while they were offline.

Altered algorithm was hit or miss.
Many players noticed an improvement with the altered algorithm, but there were plenty who felt that something was still off. Some players kept getting the same parts again and again with the altered algorithm, and they tended to be able to make the lower tier module but nothing else. A couple players commented that they still ended up with a bunch of extra parts they couldn’t use or needed to wait hours before they had something to send. Overall, it sounds like the algorithm could use a few more tweaks.

There are some ways to make send-as-you-go less tedious and/or more appealing
Here were a couple of the repeated suggestions:

• Finding a pet to send to can be very tedious, to make it less tedious we could
  • Include a “send back” option to easily send a module to someone who just sent one to you
  • Include a “send to a random pet” option so the player doesn’t need to look up specific pets
• Increase the time bonus even more
• Time bonus + a sprocket or two

We will consider which of these suggestions we should implement!

Still many fans of the recipe-style event.
This continues to be many players favorite type of event, though some players continue to find them to be too tedious to be fun.

Another great batch of feedback! A reminder that the summary hits on comments we hear echoed by multiple players, so if you didn’t see your comments reflected in the summary, it’s not that they weren’t important or that we aren’t taking them into consideration. We always gain useful information from these feedback surveys, and use them to make changes to future events. We really appreciate the time you take to fill these forms out every time. <3

Thanks again, everyone!

Also, I will hand out the raffle prizes later tonight after I’ve had some noms. 8)

Myla
I just want to say thank you to the staff for being so receptive to feedback, and for running these events! :D