You completely misconstrued what I said. I never dismissed those features as the server grasping at straws. I outlined them as examples for why player count might fluctuate. Events help add variation to PSO's gameplay, and when the event is over, the gameplay is closer to the vanilla experience. Many core features of Ultima revolve around the aspect of being temporary events with limited, exciting, and even new items to incentivize playing. The events don't exist to bring players back; players come back because of the events.