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POLL: Festivals, Seasonal Events, Oh my!
Plastic-Metal
Member Posts: 405
If you've played Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online, or even World of Warcraft, you've probably logged in while a festival or seasonal event is occurring in some form or fashion. In DAoC, the moon would always be a pumpkin during halloween. In WAR, you could participate in seasonal events that progressed the game's lore and provided an additional reason to join the combat zone. In WoW... well, they honor pretty much every holiday, even festivus for the rest of us.
So, what type of festivals, seasonal events, and anything in between do you want to see? Things related to popular culture or just lore? or a mix? PvP/RvR oriented or also allow non-combat events?
Comments
First of all, you brought a quick, unexpected smile to my face when you mentioned the pumpkin moon.
Anyways, I loved the holidays in DAoC and even more so in WoW. Having brief periods of change to break apart the general play that you are used to can give you a second wind when you are feeling slightly stuck in a repetitive groove. Unfortunately WoW introduced a bit too much grind (okay, far too much grind) into their holidays, but even then they were fun and CU is trying to avoid grind, so if there were to be holidays, I have faith that they would also be free of grind.
I have no ideas as to what type of content could be released for these holidays, but I'm sure, given a little thought, the team could think of something enjoyable, but not required to participate in.
'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.' -Sherlock Holmes
Personally, I'd rather see less "grind" season stuff and perhaps just some good random events/fun tings to do.
Since CU isn't PVE focused I think if they have any "seasonal" things in it, that it wouldn't be like your usual "quests to go fetch/kill x and grind for the new season reward" but rather something more cosmetic/fun.
Maybe just some wacky fun things, like having weapons/clothing for that holiday, have costmetic changes to a city or decorations you can get for your house/keep.
Bascially just "fun" things that ADD to the enjoyment of the game and nothing that requires "grinding" in hopes that you get/unlock it.
Pretty much this is what I would also like to see. As I said, I got a smile just out of the mention of the pumpkin moon because that was my favorite part about Halloween. The small things are what people remember years down the road. No one wants to remember collecting one thousand eggs during Easter in an MMO, but a giant pumpkin floating in the sky will stick with you.
'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.' -Sherlock Holmes
DAOC Live (inactive): R11 Cleric R11 Druid R11 Minstrel R9 Eldritch R6 Sorc R6 Scout R6 Healer
Currently playing: GW2 (Maguuma), DAoC (Uthgard), & Aion
Waiting For / Watching: TUG, CU, Black Desert, Archeage,Wildstar, and ESO.
Personally, I think all the seasonal stuff in mmo games is just a lot of fluff , and replaces REAL content.
I'm all in favour of seasonal weather, day/night (love a good sunrise and sunset!) but Halloween, Christmas, Gnome Week etc. is just boring and something to do when you've run out of other stuff to do.
Scripted special events.. perhaps. There were some good ones back in DAoC, but the GM's were very present back in those days. In newer games, no-one ever sees the GM's, and hardly ever hear from them unless they have a problem.
And of course, if there's movement in the overall lore, yes, of course we should have scripted events.
Just leave out the fluff! :P
I would mostly agree with you, in that the current trend for seasonal activities produces vast amounts of "fluff". However, I think the point of the OP is not what you are envisioning. Seasonal festivities can be atmospheric and fun without becoming silly. Tasteful is a word I suggest.
I am for the idea. I always find festivals break up the game in a light-hearted way for a brief time.
[mod edit]
I don't envision Mark to be the type of developer that wants to add a bunch of useless fluff like hunting for easter eggs, or catching torches in a major city. WAR included lore based content that entwined non-combat and RvR elements into seasonal events.
As an example, CSE doesn't have to add festivals/seasonal events that we as people recognize as holidays, but could also add in historically influenced "holidays" specific to the Britons, Celts, and Vikings.
Britons were influenced by pagan, highlanders, and the Romans; LOTS of stuff to pull from King Arthur's associated legends, and of course anything from a mix of germanic tribes that migrated to the land mass during historical events.
Celts celebrated the change of seasons, renewed their reverence to the land and dead, and participated in regional festivals that influenced increase trade, marria,ge and devotion to their beliefs. http://www.packrat-pro.com/celts/celtholidays.htm
Vikings celebrated the change of seasons, honored their Gods, and participated in regional festivals that influenced increased trade, marriage, and devotion to their beliefs. http://www.helium.com/items/427603-guide-to-norse-paganism-holidays
As you can see, it would be exceptionally easy to incorporate incredible festivals/seasonal events while maintaining immersive lore-based happenings; you could do it via non-combat and/or combat oriented. Personally, like another poster mentioned, if it were mostly outside fo the combat zone it would draw away from the very purpose of the game itself: murdering the opposing realm.
Then, of course, you could throw in popular culture holidays and such to continue to provide interesting events. The most important element of this, in my opinion, is that despite CSE being a small development team.. it would be an absolutely amazing experience to have events that were directly influenced by GMs/developer team.
By example, Vikings fear Ice Giants; during the Winter Solstice, CSE could release a torrent of massive Ice Giants that could literally obliterate everything in their path if left unchecked. Not only does it directly place the attention inside the RvR zones, it also introduces the "x" variable that is, of course, the chaos that Mark wants in the game. ( NOTE: The Ice Giants, for kicks and giggles, are played by developers :P )
Maybe have some celebrations occur at different points of time for each realm. Vikings have a celebration while TDD and the Arthurians are just going on like normal, and so on. Not every celebration and not too many of them that the developers are actually taking an indecent amount of time and work for flair, but a few of them in order to give a feeling of being unique to the realms.
'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.' -Sherlock Holmes
Great idea and sort of what I was hinting at without coming out and saying it. Obviously, someone is bound to point out, "This will draw attention of one particular realm from participating in RvR while the other two wipe the floor with us! NERF EVENTS!" but like you pointed out, it provides realm pride/unity to accomplish said goals and makes each realm individually unique.
The idea of "Thanksgiving" occurs both in The United States of America and Canada, but each country celebrates it at different times; november and october respectively.
camelot-rp.enjin.com - A hub for roleplayers in Camelot Unchained!
This.
Anything more is a waste of dev resources.
The only seasonal events that I truly enjoyed are the ones that had a good reward at the end of the grind like a sinkable fashion item.
But what I would like to see is seasonal environmental event changes like tiny little goblins that invade "safe" zones and bite everyone for no hit points but keep you in combat mode.
Seasonally, in the winter, the snow slows everyone down (decreased movement speed outdoors). In the spring the pollen in the air creates havoc on all spells cast (percent chance of failure or varied results). During the heat of summer, all drinks have shorter duration/effect etc.
Or more meaningful Holiday events like at Christmas where you have to buy a gift for a stranger that contains a random item (may be quite valuable).
Just saying the events have to be more meaningful for the character and the community
Nanulak
I healed Mistwraith and all I got was this stupid tee-shirt!
All of teh things!
These things can contribute greatly to communities so ofc I think they're a good idea.
I personally would rather see CSE focus on polishing the core game and then consider adding additional fluff for players. I would actually be very surprised if Mark launched with some of these features.
It's just a poll to show CSE some long term stretch goal possibilities and community interests.
I would like to see some seasonal events, but post-release I think. I prefer they use the money to make and polish the game in the first place, and if some money are left, use it to do that.
If added: having some item to put on the structure we built like pumpkin and spiders on halloween as a reward of the events could be fun.