Jeelvic the Jawa merchant for Rakghould World Event....

So because YOU have a job, BW should bend over and let you have more time (even though you had a week) to let you sell your DNA at a premium....I mean exchange your DNA at the vender for goods?

Like other users told me to do regarding the 2AM downtime killing my playing time: DEAL WITH IT!

You assume all servers have a large enough population. Through the whole event I NEVER saw this in my fleet. Nothing in chat. Nobody talking about it. I noticed the new news kiosk and clicked on it, but thought it was just for show, like an added element for fun and immersion. The PA announcements told you NOT to go to Tatooine. Why would anyone pay attention to the login client? It always has the same old usless info and advertisements repeated over and over. I can vaguely remember seeing a picture of a rakghoul, but why would that make me think anything more than they were advertising the existing intance, as usual. I didn't know anything until three days after the event started, and that was only because I came to the forums and saw a thread where someone was complaining about not being able to get the full set of armor or something. When I first heard the fleet announcement telling people NOT to go to Tatooine, the next day I went there to see what I could see, thinking if there was anything happening, there would be a quest giver or something toward the beginning. Nope, nothing. I turned around and left. Two days later I saw the post I mentioned above and searched around to figure out what the hell was going on. That's something I should NOT have to do. I PAY for this game and all content in it. I'm not obligated to subscribe to various twitter feeds and check this or that website to figure out what's going on in a game I pay to play. It is Bioware's responsibility to let their paying customers know IN GAME. Could have gotten a mail from someone on Tatooine requesting my help to investigate a crash in the northern dune sea, or something to that effect. How the hell are you supposed to find that tiny area in the dune sea blindly, when all you have to go on is the fleet PA annoying you with messages every five minutes to NOT do that very thing? What about the crimson rakling quest? How in the world would you EVER figure that one out and find all the pieces? Don't sneak major content in, content that I payed for, and then not give me a quest, or announcement in chat, or in game mail, so that I miss out on three days of the event. I can't help that I play on a low pop server where the fleet is always in single digits and nobody talks in chat. There are a lot of servers like this, and Bioware knows this. They handled this event poorly. Put the vendor back so people can spend what they already earned. I'm surprised it's gone. You people harping about others not knowing how mmo's work would do well to remember OTHER mmos leave the damn vendors in the game AFTER the event is over. In Rift or WoW, you sure as hell know when an event is going on, they make sure of that.

Not only that but they actually had communication devices in-game that they I guess, forgot they had, decided not to use? So last night, "the plague is still spreading, yadda yadda." This morning, surprise, it's gone. But oh wait it isn't gone because people are still asploding. How does a huge spreading plague suddenly disappear? There wasn't even an ending.

I don't care about the DNA, I didn't get to finish my suit. One piece away. One quest. Probably going to aggravate me for a long, long time.

Man this's more upsetting than I thought it would be. I thought we had another week at least.

This leads me to believe that a second part is going to spring up later. Hopefully then I can finish my suit at that point.

I had to work the last two days leading up the end of the event. By the time I would get home from the gym and running, I'd take a shower and crash. Yeah, it's my fault for not turning in my DNA but they least they could have done was keep the Jawa merchant there a little while longer. I'm a casual player like many other people, so I don't see any imbalance or hardship by keeping a simple NPC around for a few more days.

You're absolutely right.

The only blow back is from people who want top dollar for the crystals they plan on selling.

BW has no obligation to bring the vendor back, but it would be a great gesture since there clearly was some misunderstandings about the event vs. event vendor end time.

If they don't, I won't feel ripped off or anything. The current situation just leaves me with a bad taste.

Well I'm not going to disagree with you there. I personally felt that having it both be random AND bound made it really hard to get everyone or even the one you wanted the most. I personally was hoping for Quinn and never got him. I know that it sucks for sure.

The only thing I was pointing out was that a lot of people were taking getting duplicates as a sign of a RNG. And while it is possible the RNG wasn't working well, it is also possible that they just got the raw end of probability.

Hm. Well, if I were BioWare, this is what I would do:

1. Script and run a debuff that removes Rakghoul Plague from every player in the game (after all, the event IS over, right?),

2. Figure out some kind of compromise for folks who (whatever the reason) didn't make it to the Jawa on time (You have no idea how hard it was to type that without doing some kind of "get me to the church on time" joke); perhaps a scientist with interest in the recent plague asking for samples of DNA at the respective fleets?

3. Set a hard deadline on how long that compromise NPC will be present and in-game mail players stating that once this scientist's research and case report on the recent plague is complete, they are no longer interested in hearing about it ever, again, from anyone (heck, this could be an interesting conversation itself).

I think the in-game mail likely would be the best way to ensure that anyone who logged in has a reasonable chance to discover/hear about it; to be sure, it is certainly both logical and reasonable that you would have done everything but hand them a pocket scientist to try and accomplish it. As much in-game mail as players get for quests, I cannot quite understand why they didn't get one for event start as well as deadline for finish... but that's just me. (Yes, I can see the "surprise and delight factor" of the unannounced happenstance event beginning... but day two or so, there's really no reason that couldn't be worked in.)

I also think that all the second-guessing and baiting in the world won't overturn the simple reality that was demonstrated by the following conversations happening pretty much non-stop/repeatedly through the week I was doing the event myself:

[1 - General:] [Random Person #1] ***? What is this mass of green exploding people?
/1 It's the Rakghoul Plague event. Check the forums or the official site for information.
[1 - General:] [Random Person #1] Orly? What is it?
/1 It's an event involving a major outbreak of plague. Get infected, suffer the sickness, die from it, receive Rakghoul DNA; collect and turn it in for rewards to a wee lil Jawa NE of Thorozan outpost on Tatooine.
[1 - General:] [Random Person #1] What can you get?
/1 Well, armor (social, light), collectible crystals, pets, "zombie" customizations for a companion, and of course, legacy as well as regular experience and credits. There are also dailies.
[1 - General:] [Random Person #1] Cool! Where do I pick up the dailies?
/1 Tatooine.
[1 - General:] [Random Person #1] Thanks!
[1 - General:] [Random Person #2] Um. Someone just blew up on me as I logged in. What's happening?
/me sighs

(Rounds of this conversation snipped both because you can safely infer it as well as I'm too darn tired to type more.)

To wit, some folks don't do forums or, if they do, they only "lurk" and only then in class areas. Some folks don't like reading long posts (Actually, most people don't really "read" online at all, they "scan"; http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html - as true today as it was in 1997). Most folks turn to the players online and the general chat... it's no surprise to me that many didn't see the various announcements. Why would it be... I don't make the mistake of thinking everyone acts and thinks (or should act or think) the way I do.

Assumptions and accusations and projections of ill intent and craven mercenary interests aside, think a moment how you would feel if you missed it (whether it was for lack of attention or not) and then, really, ask yourself, "Would I want folks to act like I'm stupid when all I really want is to enjoy it, too?"

I have no more DNA. I actually destroyed a stack because the vendors don't buy it, I had everything I wanted from the Jawa, and it was taking up space that Grade 6 mats need. Yes, I read the forums and announcements and launcher (I'm an egghead that way). Yes, I get it that some folks rather like the notion of others missing out because it heightens their own sense of specialness for not missing out.

All that said, I can't see insisting that others miss out just to keep some "specialness" that demands an inference of superiority that you and I both know doesn't inherently exist. (That means it's manufactured, you know, like... in a game.)

Finally, it doesn't seem to me that BioWare is a company that necessarily buys into "someone must miss out for someone else to have status". There's plenty of places for that in this game and they're made especially for that.... this doesn't have to be another one of those.

C'mon, BioWare... let 'em turn in DNA over a weekend or something. It's not that much and it would really mean a lot to a lot of folks.

OMG people....it is really that hard to write on chat: when event ends? Or google it?
After I found out about the event (hi launcher info!) in 15 minutes googling i had all the info about event, all quest bosses rewards and so on.
Its really not so hard. I myself got a wife, kid, work (with late shifts and had a working weekend) and FFS i managed to get two crystals, full armor set, infected quin, red rackling and do all daily quests and kill all bosses but bantha...
Just few minutes of looking for info each day. If wasnt THAT much of work to get it but if a family guy like me managed so why anyone else couldn't? Snif snif...lazyness in info looking?
And getting all those DNA's and not turning then...come one that is just an overkill....

And if you were abroad/sick/whatever...like all other say deal with it and hope that event will evolve into some future form and you guys with 70/80+ dnas will be given head start.

The quality of people MMOs attract...It's amazing. What kind of person derives pleasure from making sure other people don't get to enjoy the same thing they did? They show about the same level of class as a crowd in New York yelling for the guy on the ledge to jump. I hope I never have to encounter a person like that in real life under any circumstances - the waves of toxic gas pouring off of their skin would kill the roaches that would survive nuclear fallout, much less a real human being with the remotest modicum of empathy.

I'd be very interested to know where you get your advance information from, as it was my understanding that the actual event was only announced 24hours before it went live. That being the case, how could you possibly have known the end date "for weeks"?

My only previous MMO experience was three and a half years of playing the MMO that shall not be named (think black and white furry creatures, and you should be close). Every player had an in game calender, on which the start and end dates for events were automatically added. Players could also add their own guild events, etc.

WHY ON EARTH DO WE NOT HAVE SUCH A FACILITY IN SWOTR?

Unfortunately RL got in my way on Monday evening, I was unable to play that night and am left with 160 odd DNA samples. I am not going to insist that the vendor return, however, those are the breaks, I was unlucky and shall move on to other things.

I will keep the DNA handy though, just in case...