It really only gets worse as time goes on. It's like the NPC level is static and they get one shot, but the monsters scale up and up. I only do the events because of the density for XP.

Thats the real reward, the resplendent would just be a bonus if you got it.

The trick is... you don't get the mastery.

I found another I found in a cellar that seemed impossible - there's a guy trying to absorb some creatures or something (hey, I wasn't paying attention!), but they only seem to spawn one after every wave, and the guy has to do some long animation thing after you get the creature to 20% health or so. I only managed to get 2 of 5 done by the time the timer ran out. Maybe it'll be easier if I ever see this event again at a higher level, but I've only seen it once so far since release.

Yeah this event needs tweaking. And I hope they introduce more events soon

I don't think there's a trick. Even if you kill the enemies really fast the NPC's seem to be dropping from some AOE splash dmg or they stumble and suffer from a fatal ankle sprain. Let's face it, these people are too soft for sanctuary. Even if you saved them in this even they'd get shredded 5 minutes later. Lilith was right all along.

Events like this are really just a dps check. Most events even on t4 once your build gets going you can kill stuff fast enough to keep them safe. The only time it’s impossible to keep npcs safe imo is when you’re in a dungeon with lots of spiders, because the poison just destroys them while the enemies are already dead regardless of how fast you are.

Yeah. Turn around whenever you hear the "You there! Help us get out of here!" …
On higher world tiers they just died way too fast to be worth the time and effort.

There's a similar one in cellars with the 3 people chained up, and I guess the world events with the spiders or the three carts. Although the last two aren't quite as bad, but still not worth the hassle.

I have just assumed it’s bugged tbh.

Play in a party

For me, I just spam frost nova when the crowds get super close to them and then ice shard them to death. Each of my kills also explode in fireballs so they all pop off like little grenades killing each other. It's all about DPS and killing them fast enough versus luring them away.

It's very random, if the enemies are doing a lot of AOE, your pals will not survive that as we have no way to protect them from that, or maybe if you have that protection dome aspect, it might help. But if they are standing in any hazard, they'll die quickly. So, it's not your fault. They stand in the fire...