Because I'm busy setting up the last details, I'm not going to make this all pretty. But here's a basic guide to the event scheduled for Today, Wednesday, November 28th 2012 at 6PM Pacific.
1. The event is being held in the RWZ. There will be announcements in the zone as to what's happening and when, mostly in-character.
2. So people know what to expect, here's what's going to happen in brief.
- RulaCole is going to be in the zone attempting to transform the Battalion Barrier into a Dreamspace shield to protect Primal Earth from the Coming Storm
- Prometheus will also be in the zone, calling the defenders of Earth to rally to the defense of the zone. Prometheus has a special surprise for primal earth defenders: to face this ultimate threat to Primal Earth he has agreed to unlock all incarnate potential in all who have such potential. Anyone, whether they are an already Incarnate hero or just a beginning security level 1 villain will be empowered by Prometheus to their full potential. Prometheus will be in the Rikti War Zone about an hour before the event begins to give defenders of Primal Earth some time to adjust to their new empowerment.
[Note: that is exactly what it sounds like. Prometheus is going to grant everyone who enters RWZ full incarnate status with all the incarnate slots and powers. If you are not level 50 Prometheus will buff you to 50. But you will still have to train to 50 to actually use Incarnate powers, and you will still need to actually slot incarnate powers before using them.]
- While RulaCole is busy with his task, the players will have to take out the Rikti Mothership, which contains the Rikti homeworld portal generators. This time, its for keeps. If we have enough players, we will conduct a raid on the mothership as a warm up activity. Don't worry about it taking a long time: the Rikti Mothership Shield is no match for the power of RulaCole. Meaning: players will not have to run around destroying portals. Someone in the zone will be organizing a league to do this.
- If there are not enough players to form a reasonable raid on the mothership, RulaCole will expend some of his vast power to destroy the mothership.
- Either way, we're not going to be just blowing up a few grates and taking out a few Rikti. When the players finish off the Rikti defenders, someone will set the mothership's reactor to overload, permanently destroying the portal to the Rikti homeworld. Its unclear what happens when a Rikti Mothership reactor overloads. Might be interesting to see.
[Note: i.e. I'm not sure what we've planned will work, but if it does hopefully it will be memorable]
- Neutralizing the mothership and destroying the Rikti homeworld portal will alert the Battalion that humanity is up to something. They will push their advance team to secure a beachhead on Earth and accelerate their invasion of the planet. Expect to see Shivan assault squads attack. They will focus their attention on RulaCole, so players should seek to engage those forces at that location. RulaCole will be in near the heart of the crater and not hard to spot. Rularuu is usually not easy to miss.
- The initial Shivan assault will be reinforced by Kheldian slaves, and then the Battalion themselves. An unknown number of Battalion soldiers will be there commanding the advance forces. Unlike the Shivans and Kheldians, they are immensely powerful Incarnate-class foes with exotic powers. Players should try to team up to take them on.
- Whether the players defeat the invasion force and the Battalion or not, RulaCole will continue his task to render Primal Earth shielded from the Battalion. When he succeeds, the Battalion on Earth will be cut off from much of their power. They will then be much easier to defeat.
[Note: perfect balance is difficult under these circumstances, so the players may be able to beat the Battalion we have cooked up, or they may not. Either way, there's a specific cutout designed into the story to make it easier for the players to take them down at the appropriate time.]
- Mender Silos also has one last trick up his sleeve. He's made a deal with Hamidon to assist in the defense of Earth. However, Hamidon no longer trusts humanity. Hamidon will come to Earth and attack the Battalion, but will not be friendly to humanity either. Players can decide whether to engage Hamidon, or leave him alone.
- Once RulaCole completes his task, he will vanish, returning to the Shadow Shard. This will conclude the event.
- Of course, players may choose to continue on past that point if they wish.
Lastly, this is all happening without a lot of practice or testing due to technical and time limitations. Please be patient if we have technical difficulties or if we have to change things at the last minute. We will do our best to make this as smooth as possible given what's actually possible.
