Reserving districts/Canthan New Year... huh?

I noticed some threads on the Community News forum taking about Canthan New Year and guilds reserving districts... and collecting items?

This will be my first CNY obviously... so I'm really clueless here. Why are guilds reserving districts? Does that mean if I'm not in a particular guild, I can't enter certain districts in Factions during the festival? And what is all this about collecting items...? Is this not like Wintersday & Halloween where there are collectors in town collecting pre-defined trophies for pre-defined rewards as outlined in the Wiki?

As with a lot of conversations around here, these threads seem to expect readers to already have some knowledge/understanding of these events. Something I'm utterly lacking in *laughing*

Is there a clue fairy around? *holds up a gold piece*

As part of the Canthan New Year celebrations, 5 chefs prepare a feast for the celestial animal who is being revered - this year it will be the rabbit, last year was the tiger. The chefs ask players to provide them with their ingredients - the more ingredients supplied, the more prizes players receive. This obviously requires forethought and farming, so many guilds club together and get several complete sets of ingredients either to provide for their own members or the general populous across the finale events.

Guilds are reserving districts in advance to stop 2 of them laying claim to a particular district and conflicts occurring. Some are also doing this to invite others to their events - GW-EN for example.

Yasha said it, that means if you spot a reserved district, you're sure to see the end of the event. (And get the gifts that comes with it)

Reserving districts is not so guilds can have private parties, anyone can enter any district at any time. When a guild/alliance reserves a district, that means that they intend to play "host" in that district. By hosting, guilds provide all of the ingredients for the Celestial feast. When all ingredients are given in that district, everyone in that district gets a hat! Woo hoo!

It's been a long time since I've been in a district where the feast failed (the first CNY), and everyone got turned into pigs!

Dont worry, the reservation of districts doeon not apply to players wanting to enjoy the celebrations.

Every year the Canthan new year (Timed to correspond more or less with the Chineese new year) festivities in GW require players to gather collectors items for the Imperial cooks to make dishes for the Celestial animals (They also change every year to corespond with the Chineese new year horoscope (This year is the year of the tiger so the Celestial Tiger was being "Fed" and the upcomming year is the year of the Rabbit).

Guilds and gaming societies are giving the items to the cooks for the duration of the festivities. So as to stop any conflicts with more than one guild covering a district they are spreading out beforehand and reserving districts so that others know which districts are taken and which still need sponsors.

In a way the New year festival is even more populated than the Wintersday festivals because you can also AFK on the 9 Rings game to collect Lucky / Unlucky points while you are away if you have the necessary cash to buy enough tickets. (Smal tip for you, if you want to improve the Lucky title for better Lockpick retention and salvaging without breaking the original item )

aye m8, im hosting euro english d1. and of course ALL are welcome!
its kind of impossible to hose a certain district for just a guild alone, people could still enter and get rewards against Our will. so whats the point eh? im doing it for the community, and to have fun.

This will be my first CNY also. So although I don't belong to a guild, I should still try to obtain the ingredients? Or should I let the guilds gather the ingredients?

Let the guildies take care of it. They have the experience and also grinded all of the neeeded things for it.

Thanks. I hope I won't come across as a parasite to the guilds, though, if I'm not contributing enough. Hopefully CNY isn't like a fraternity rush or something, where the player isn't welcome if he's not planning to join the guild.

most guilds just sponsor the districtsfor fun and welcome anyone to visit it. You will not find any of the guilds having a problem with it.
It is way fun and perfect chance to get to know lots of people. Don't worry about it mate.

You may still want to farm a few ingredients, since whenever you turn one in, you get a small reward. But the quests are much better for that purpose.

Dont worry, you wont come across as a parasite. Its basicaly guilds giving to the community and having fun at the same time. If your interrested in joining the guild, then just ask. If not. Then dont ask and have fun anyways .

The only parallel between CNY and a Fraternity rush is that loads of players will be out of their minds (AFK) gambling in a corner (9 rings) and working on getting extremely drunk (Drunkard title) at the same time.

Last year i was running a dist for my guild but not fully - was around 6 rounds i think but someone with 5 others from same guild said they were taking over. I went and joined the dist my wife was running and we fouind out via others from my previous dist that the person who took over did nothing and made whole dist fail - luckily on my part that what that guild had said was in local so i wasnt blamed but it still sucked an we did feel sorry for those in the dist.

If your new to cnya then find a dist , ask whos sponsering it and have fun - if dist isnt sponsered then jump up a dist and recheck .Players wont mind being asked ( you`ll get it constantly regardless and is only question they dont mind - Has it started yet usually gets the brunt of players moaning lol ).Mind you tho last year i think ae 1 - 10 was full for the 24hrs.

if you want to find out more about how the canthan new year is run, take a look at the wiki page from last year...it will have a list of what they chefs want, the rewards for completing x amount of dishes as well as what quests and such will be available for the celebration (here is the link for last year: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Canthan_New_Year_2010 )

2009 was my first CNY (I had only been playing a month), and I missed out on a lot of stuff (no mini for me that year ). 2010, I made sure I was prepared to take full advantage of it. Some tips:

Read the wiki page about the festival (obviously).

FINALE FEAST:
* Keep tabs on the threads where people say they'll be sponsoring. Bear in mind that low-numbered districts will probably be full. Have a back-up plan (or a dozen).

* Show up early! Know when the events start and get there about 1/2 hour prior so you know you can find a sponsored district (it doesn't hurt to ask upon arrival) and that you can get in.

* Don't be afraid to move. Some reservations fall through. Some districts are not as organized as they should be. Some are full. Flexibility guarantees success.

TITLE TRACKS:
* 9 Rings is the best/fastest way to gain Luck/Unluck. You'll need to invest a chunk of change, and you will probably end up in the red by the end, but it can be a worthy pursuit. ETA: You can sell any unused festival tickets back to a merchant after the event at no loss -- so don't be afraid to buy lots of tickets.

* Party points can be gotten from the crafter outside Shing Jea Monastery. If you've got wood, dust, and parchment (can be crafted from wood) lying around, you can craft bottle rockets, if you're desperate for spammable points. (Caveat: This may not be the cheapest method, considering the current market for party items/dust.)

MINIS:
* Farm the quests, on all your characters. Have empty character slots? Make new characters now and get them to level 5 (at least) and accessible to Istan and Shing Jea isles. Seriously. They're easy, they're relatively quick, and the payoff is wonderful. 2009, I did no quests, and got no mini. 2010, I did the quests on multiple characters (~5+) and got three mini tigers from the rewards. A friend had similar results. It's not a guarantee (random number generator FTW), but the odds are in your favor.

This is a great festival with lots of activities. Have fun!

Think of it more as "sponsoring" than "reserving".
Basically, the only reason that the guilds "reserve" a district is to make sure that each guild sponsors a different district so that as many districts as possible are sponsored.

In order for everyone in a district to get a hat (and prizes), at least one of every required item has to be given to the chefs in that district.

After the first one of each is turned in, then any more that are turned it only give the player turning it in a lunar token -- in other words, there is no benefit for the district as a whole once each item is accounted for once.

Basically, if Guild A and Guild B (the two are not connected in any way) are each deciding to sponsor a district, then they will coordinate so that they each reserve a separate district. That way, two districts are sponsored instead of just one.

So yeah, that was a long-winded way of saying that these guilds collect the stuff to make sure that EVERYONE -- including the guildies/friends/whatever along with anyone in the district -- are sure to get the hats.

If a guild sponsors a district and only, say, three people are in it, then it's a real waste.

So enjoy! In fact, most guilds will ANNOUNCE that they are sponsoring the district you're in in all chat, as a way to let people know that they're taken care of.

Enjoy your first Canthan New Year!

Thanks everyone for the detailed and helpful advice! It sounds as if Canthan New Year will be fun.

This is what I love about this forum... there are always people around willing to fill in the blanks. I'm excited about experiencing my first CNY, and I think it's really cool that the community seems to work so hard to make this fun for everyone. That's pretty darn awesome. I've seen a lot of people talking about doing their own little giveaways for the festival and such... it's rather inspiring to a newer player like me to see that happening.

This is my Favorite part of CNY tbh:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Rolle...e_Racing_Arena

I missed last year but the year before (Year of the OX) They Had Dodge ball too

Mm, yeah! The Boardwalk has lots of games besides 9 Rings. Lots of people love Rollerbeetle Racing (I suck at it). Rings of Fortune is a good 9 Rings alternative if you don't have a lot of cash. Dragon's Nest can be kind of fun, too. And I think they still have the "dodgeball" -- Dragon Arena.

Also, it doesn't hurt to scrape inside the Boardwalk if you're working on Cartography.