So a large number of people participate in the event, with 50% landing on the pillars in the circle and waiting for the rest to do the event for them.
It’s enough to stand and afk. Is it taking part in an event?
Maybe, for it to make basic sense, these people should stay between combat and non-combat max 15s to get essence.
So much.
I get stuck so often on quests that are not understandable that it is better to just AFK. Or when i try to participate, everything is dead before i can even tag the mob.
You know your game is fun when people would rather AFK through it.
I got that task yesterday you mentioned. I think yours must have bugged, it is a pain when that happens but nothing you can do if something won’t complete. I used to get tasks on alts to buy things for the feast at Iskaara where the supposed vendor had no vendor option for me. So you’re running around hoping you can just grab other things to complete the weekly quest. Did loads of bug reports but it kept happening.
As for AFKing in events, that has been happening since the dawn of time. You get more rep and currency if you take part than if you afk. I am half way through the final stretch of the rep grind and it is just boring at this stage, I do understand why people just sit on pillars and wait for the time rift portal at the end.
I am just tired to run around to try to tag something before it is dead too. I am not even trying to get the reputation though. DF made me stop maxing reps. I hate the current grinds so much. My main is on like 10-12-12-16 repu. I have still no idea how to get to 3000 per week without insane grinding.
I just want this over and done with now. I think this is all I do in game atm is log on for the odd time rift or swap back to my main to get it done in between doing profession stuff on alts.
I agree a lot of the time it’s a struggle getting tags on mobs, especially at the start when everyone seems to be in one tiny section.
I’m doing the same as you, just persevering to get the rep to exalted. I’m abit behind you currently 3000/18000 - trying to get it out the way asap as groups are getting smaller and yes I see the people AFK on the top of the pillars - just grit my teeth and tell myself to kill the mobs as it’s rep for me 
They honestly should have given us more rep for the mobs we actually do kill. 1 rep each is very stingy.
I think the event is great.
But i also seem to be taking a much more relaxed approach to it than others.
Ill do one, maybe 2 of them a day. Assuming ive logged on. Ive skipped several days of it.
I think one of the strengths of the event is that there is no rush or pressure to get it done.
Its just good chill fun.
They need to make it like when the Sentinax invaded the Broken Shore - bombs come down one shotting you if you didn’t move.
My concern, like others, is that it won’t be having much interest once everyone has their rep grinds etc done or when the next content comes out. So I want to get it done and out of they way.
There are still enough people engaging in the event at the moment, unless I am unlucky and get plonked on an empty shard.
I do it whilst working.
Just log on, sit there whilst I work then after 9 mins run into the boss and tag it.
From what i understand, it scales based on how many players are there.
So even when i get bad sharding and hardly anyone is around, we still at least get the second chest but normally still all 3.
And ive heard people say they got put in to a shard against the boss on their own and could solo it. And from watching the bosses health shoot up with each person who tags it, it seems to track.
So im not toooo worried about the event when no one really cares any more. It seems they took that in to consideration when designing it.
Only the boss scales. Filling the bar to get the boxes in an empty shard is impossible. If you’re lucky you can make the first one before the rift opens up. But you can’t do all three.
We were like 8 people 
I tend to try to shard hop now if I get stuck in one of those.
It seems about as easy to get all 3 chests with 10 people as it does with like 50.
But maybe it has reverse scaling instead and just lowers the amount each player contributes if lots are around haha.
Or maybe it just depends on what tasks people get. Some are way more solo friendly than others
I guess we have very different experiences. Who knows what the factors are or whether they’ve done something to fix that issue since. I’ve avoided low pop shards like the plague since.
Pro-tip: Do it once, get the reward and save the rep tokens you get for next week’s quest.
Events are usually good rep too. Like the Researchers under Fire etc.
Oh yeah definitely.
I certainly don’t think any kind of ‘insane grinding’ is required whatsoever.
But that little trick gets you there a lot faster every week.
What rep tokens?
About this rep farming. I have no clue why the 5 heroic dungeon quest can’t be finished in mythic. The season 1 the 2 weekly dungeon quests were able to do in mythic.