Alright! I just found out earlier today that one of my entries in the Adventure Story - Forum MVP Event was selected as the top prize. Surprisingly, it was my first entry, my Leviathan's Nest Poem that earned the honors, not the story I had posted in last week's blog entry. Wow, who knew?
If you were curious, this was my winning entry:
A Journey to The Nest
A calm clear day just like any other,
Who knew the horror that we’d discover?
A Secret Basement, a forbidden stair,
Led us down to this monster’s lair.
Creatures of legend, enemies of the light,
It was our duty to end this fight.
With axe and wand and hammer and bow,
We journeyed down a path we did not know.
A monstrous turtle with some crafty magic,
We refused our journey to end so tragic.
Avoiding the hardened shell our focus on the head,
With a thunderous boom, the turtle slumped dead.
We continued on, minions falling left and right,
Nothing could stop us, Keepers of the Light.
Then with claws so large they could crush a man,
The King Crab tested our mettle, yet nobody ran.
With timing and coordination, the giant creature fell,
We laughed about starring in those stories they’d tell.
Our laughter was silenced when we first heard that hiss,
Our Fighter lay dead, a shot that did not miss.
We struggled to recover as feeling left my legs,
Our fate was sealed in a room full of eggs.
Our tale ends here not exactly as planned,
As oftentimes happens when warriors take a stand.
A calm clear day just like any other,
Who knew the horror that we’d discover?
A Secret Basement, a forbidden stair,
Led us down to this monster’s lair.
Creatures of legend, enemies of the light,
It was our duty to end this fight.
With axe and wand and hammer and bow,
We journeyed down a path we did not know.
A monstrous turtle with some crafty magic,
We refused our journey to end so tragic.
Avoiding the hardened shell our focus on the head,
With a thunderous boom, the turtle slumped dead.
We continued on, minions falling left and right,
Nothing could stop us, Keepers of the Light.
Then with claws so large they could crush a man,
The King Crab tested our mettle, yet nobody ran.
With timing and coordination, the giant creature fell,
We laughed about starring in those stories they’d tell.
Our laughter was silenced when we first heard that hiss,
Our Fighter lay dead, a shot that did not miss.
We struggled to recover as feeling left my legs,
Our fate was sealed in a room full of eggs.
Our tale ends here not exactly as planned,
As oftentimes happens when warriors take a stand.
I liked it, but I didn't think it was good enough to win considering the other entries. I think mine may have been the only poem in the lot, so that may have been a factor. It's always good to get your entries in early! You can get your ideas cemented in place for the other participants to see (and hopefully not copy) and gives you ample time to consider revisions.
So anyway, that means I now have 3 of the 4 pieces necessary to win one of the White Cat Permanent Bundles! I still have a shot to win the 4th piece as part of the 2nd Screenshot Event which had a Summer Themed requirement. I think my two entries are solid, original, and good enough to at least warrant Honorable Mention status.
Here are my two entries for the Endless Summer Event:
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| Summer Survivor Series I - Forest of Tides |
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| Summer Survivor Series II - FBZ 3 |
It took quite some time to get my guild mates together for the screenshots. I had the idea a few days prior and just hoped and prayed that nobody else would consider doing the same. I had brainstormed multiple themes relating to summer including - The Beach, Camping, Back to School, Road Trips, etc. I finally settled on using the traditional Summertime treat of Ice Cream as the focal point.
Once I got my idea, I went around and took some test shots in various locations to try and visualize the end product before I asked everyone to come join me. I didn't want to waste their time after all. This was one of the test shots, just a simple lonely ice cream out in Forest of Tides:
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| Test Shot #1 |
From there I tried to map out where I would be placing the other players without them getting in the way of the Ice Cream itself. It's definitely not easy when you're dealing with 7-8 other people and everyone's screen doesn't always quite jive. But we got it done. I had wanted some dead bodies and stuff, but unfortunately we couldn't arrange a war because of some other circumstances surrounding our Cleric Event over the weekend. So I had settled for them just simply casting skills and using the 'Charge' emote. I think it still turned out fairly well despite the concessions I had to make.
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| Epic effects and action here, but weird brown square glitch appeared. Q.Q |
I wanted to enter this screenshot into the competition because it really just showed so much action and aggression. It also had a great effect of the Lightning Blast Skill just behind Akarii's leaping Knight. Sadly there was some graphic glitch just in front of the boxes where my Ice Cream is positioned so I decided not to enter it. It was an awesome shot otherwise though don't you think?
Taking these shots in FBZ3 was a lot harder than it looks. I had to position the camera just right so that the boxes wouldn't get in the way, and also zoom in enough that the Ice Cream was clear enough to see despite the action alongside it. The camera got a bit wonky too as you rotate around some objects like these crates. It zooms all the way into your body and you are unable to zoom back out without first rotating the camera back. Still, I'm happy with my two entries, I wish the 2nd one had the Ice Cream a bit straighter, it's tilting since it sits on my character's head.
Sadly, there were also some changes made to the prize pool in the event. The GMs, upon discussions with OnsOn, found out that the exclusive title 'Isya Explorer' couldn't be added in, so they have since removed that portion of the prize package. They have not yet announced what the replacement prize will be, but I really do hope that it is something truly exclusive. I think all of the winners would be appreciative of most any prize, but something truly unique and not up for further release (cash shop, Remi's, bundles, future events) or otherwise would truly make this whole event special. Some players have suggested the Honeying Hat or Simian Circus mount, but I would really prefer something else (especially since both of those items were offered in a single bundle a few weeks ago).
I do not know what is available as a permanent piece that the GMs could possibly offer. Personally I would love a permanent version of either of the Boop sets, or one of the colored Elderine Uniforms, but if I had to choose something unique for this contest alone, perhaps the Sleepwear set (the girl's top looks like a chemise, the guys' have a pajama shirt with Honeyings) or the Yellow Tiger (Lum) Set.
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| The Pajama Set - Female |
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| The Pajama Set - Male |
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The Yellow Tiger (Lum) Costume |
Personally, I like the Pajama set better, but the Tiger one is fitting to the theme of the Event since it's an 'Explorer' theme... think safari. =)
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