Put Festival Hats in Store

This.

You weren`t there. Not my fault. I was there. That makes it so special. Deal with it.

I want cat ears, so signed =)

Its not like anyone looses something from it, basically all will benefit if Anet makes some more money^^

I'd like to see hats made available. There are a couple that I missed that I regret and I certainly miss the ones I had but died on deleted toons prior to the festival hat maker..

/notsigned

I didn't get my 2005 hats, despite being a player back then for various reasons.. But part of what makes the hats awesome is their uniqueness and that you had to be there for the event to get them, even if the event is exactly the same every year.. at least you have the hat. Letting you buy them would severely discourage people from showing up for them.

Even if it meant I could finally get those damned 2005 hats, what would be the point? Everyone would have them, and then they're no longer quite as fun. I really hope this carries over to GW2 as well. Keep the festival hats special!

/notsigned

In a time where everyone is walking around in black/white dyed obbi sets with mo zing/blindfold and chaos gloves I like being the only one around with a furious pumpkin crown and a red dyed elite set to match.

Not having it does not give you disadvantages in any way.
And if you really really want to have it just use that dressup thingie.

Maybe not

Also, "being there" as a requirement making hats so special: I aknowledge this point. Yet, this thread has pointed out that afk'ing is a pretty common method to get these hats. What's so "special" in afk'ing during a game event?

I would agree if only actively partecipating to the festivities was mandatory to get a special reward in the form of a hat: you didn't contribute to the party, you don't get any prize.

As for now, hats only show your account was logged in that day. Nothing special, to be honest.

/Signed, mainly for the above reason :\

I would like the option to be able to get them in some way.

And kind of agree and see the point of both sides. They showed you were there then, but so many people afk during events.

It has been already stated that not everyone that 'was there' have them.


Again, we have both cases of people that have some hats without having been part of the actual event (bought them afterwards form an NPC, or during a redux), and people that don't have hats from events in which they participated (accidental loss during character delection, or mouse slipped to the trash, or anything like that).

People being able to pay for them won't affect us that have them. We already got them for free. They'll have to pay for them.
Imagine if they didn't allow to purchase the BMP. Many people would miss the opportunity of enjoying it.
This is something similar.


If people want to pay for vanity items so we can keep having more GW:B chapters, let them. It will do more good than harm, and the only harm will be to the kind of 'anal-retentive' people that go "This is mine, mine, mine, you can't have it!".

Sharing is good. They teach you that in kindergarten.

Agreed - pretty much sums it all up - but you can also add "lost due to account being hacked" as well.

Really? So you wouldn't show up for the festival if the hat were to be made available elsewhere (either via store or NPC in town after the event)? Well, for me, the events are more than just to get the hats - they're to enjoy the event and also to get any of the other freebies that go along with them. Being able to get the hats after the event, well, that's just a little bit of a piece of mind where I don't have to worry about outside events affecting my ability to attend the event (such as power outages, ISP muck-ups, or hackers nailing my account and deleting everything - including those oh-so-special hats).

Anet has already set the stage for allowing this to happen - the addition of the Halloween Hat Traders are just another instance where the Live Team doesn't seem to put much weight into "your account is logged in on that day and time" thing, which seems to be the only argument against it. On top of that, they have also shown a history on adding things to the store either to make them easier to get or to allow for acquisition when one normally couldn't:

Zaishen Menagerie - allows anyone to procure a pet of any type and level (i.e. Dire, Aggressive, etc.). Something that prior to being available in the store, one could only get by spending much time and effort into carefully leveling your pet.

Another example would be the bonus weapon items - I believe these were based off of some Coke contest or something in Asia, therefore, not able to be acquired by anyone outside of those areas prior to being placed in the store.

Even the changes to LS and LDoA could be included as part of the "easier acquistion" department. In short, Anet clearly wants to be able to allow players as many opportunities to be able to do and get things in game that they normally weren't able to do before.

At this point, we need to think about the future of the game. Anet has clearly shown (and stated outright) their desire to support the game as long as possible. However, Once GW2 is released, we can certainly expect the current player-base to shrink dramatically, making it even more difficult to acquire many items in the game than they already are now. I think the best solution for not only this, but for the issue of the hats is to add another Token system to the store.

Much in the vein of the Makeover credits, we would be able to go to the store and buy a set amount of tokens. These tokens then would appear in our in-game inventory and can be used to trade for in-game items at specially designated traders (which would have to be added to the game). These new traders could then be the opportunity to be able to acquire anything that Anet programs for them to have in their inventory - such as all the Festival Hats, Bonus and Pre-order items, mini-pets, and even things like Armbraces and such. Naturally, the number of tokens required for such items would have to reflect their current rarity and in-game value - thus a green mini-pet would require many more tokens than a common one.

Hanok

Frankly speaking - the only things I have seen against having hats available stem from selfishness and the status hoarder who need someway to look down on others. There is no argument I have seen against making previous hats available in someway that is justifiable morally or for business reasons.

/Signed

/signed :3

WANT

Hats are a sign you were there, when they were given out. If everyone has them that's not true anymore and they lose their value.
Why not put Crystalline Swords or Titles in the Shop? Anet makes money, more people have sth they like and the only people hurt will be the kind of 'anal-retentive' people that go "This is mine, mine, mine, you can't have it!".
Actually the only people this would do good are the kind of 'anal-jealous' people that go "You have it, so I must have it too!".

/agree x ____

probably one of the last ways to distinguish someone who has or has not been playing since the beginning or whenever someone started. Maybe you should have bought the game earlier, or don't delete the hats.

I got all the hats. I was there. Well, I wasn't there, my character was, afking in town. I was away, enjoying the festivities. That makes me special and a bunch of pixels are there to prove it! Twice as special, actually, since I've been playing since 2005 and I also have those early hats. I've rarely worn them, as I had to do without heeadgear before the introduction of costume slots, but when I did, I felt special because people could tell I've been playing since 2005. Can't you feel the specialness in this?

Oh, almost forgot. I bought like 20 characters slots just to have storage characters in order to hold my hats before the hatmaker and the storage expansions. That later turned me in an altoholic, so I'm even more special.

Can't beat this.

Nevermind. That was sarcastic.

We have already stated that hats are not really a sign you were there, thanks to things like the Hat makers being added late, and the Hat collectors after festivals.
If you had your account hacked before the Hat trader was added, or suffered an accident that kept you away from your computer, or didn't have Internet connection until later, so you couldn't play GW at all, or many other reasons out of the control of the players, you'll NEVER, EVER be able to get them again.

That comes to "some people have them without being there, and some people do not have them even though they WERE there".
And makes any "They are a proof you were there" untrue.

Crystalline Swords have an use in battle, they are not vanity items like costumes. The skin may be a (gradually decreasing) prestige one, but unlike vanity items, you can't show them in outposts.
Also, unlike costumes, you can permanently get them in-game. It may take time, but you'll eventually get them.
Crystalline Swords can be traded too. Vanity items can't be traded.
Anyone CAN get a Crystalline Sword.
So comparing crystalline swords with hats it's like comparing apples and hypotenuses.

tell me, what bad would it really do to get them all returned?

i mean, no store as that's weird, maybe if those hats had something extra, but they dont, they're not even as big as costumes, so i'd rather see this on the events themselves to get from a collector with certain items like candy canes or such

i saw we had such npc's last time at halloween, they asked for items to get a mask
now do this for all old ones too, but JUST at that certain event, and its still a feeling about that event
so dont let us be able to get them all year, only a week or so around that event

people who dont care or have those hats and say "no, you should've been there" are IMO not really thinking about others who like them as a small extra

i missed the first factions dragon mask as i bought it and put into my 2nd account, wish i didnt do that
its not that i want it just cuz others have it
i mean, i didnt even bother getting those goggles, cuz i dont like them
but that dragon mask is more special to me, and my 1st account is my main

give me 1 good reason how it'd hurt the game to do something like that

i can give 1 good reason to do it: this game is old now, still good, but so many people left the game, and so we should be able to get every little bit of fun we can get
not JUST the feelings of "i was there and got this mask " but also "i got a mask i never could get from the old(er) times, glad Anet still gave me a chance to get this "

even though the game is dying, slowly but still, we could have fun our own way, like getting older masks we couldnt get before for any reason

i saw newbies who asked me: how did you get those cat ears? i told them and they were: will it come back? i like those
and i had to say: afraid not, and had to explain you cant wear other people's hats

its not like its their fault they werent there
i dont really give much about that dragon mask anymore, but still think newbies and those who have busy lives should still get the chance to get the hats they like

it sounds kinda heartless if you say "NO, you werent there, so you dont deserve them"

ps. i'm NOT calling anyone heartless, it just SOUNDS heartless imo

I've been playing since the beginning, but I only have hats starting at Ice/Wreath Crown.

Yeah, there's a small inaccuracy. Big deal. You probably don't look at clocks either, because they're off by a fraction of a second. When you see a huge muscular person and a small skinny one fighting you're not assuming the big one will win, because he small one may be a world class martial artist. If you want to cross the street and see an oldtimer 1 km away, you wait, because there may be alien technology in it that accelerates it and runs you over if you do try to cross it.


So? Fact is the vast majority of players will never get a Crystalline Sword, but ebay gold is proof that people would be willing to pay for it. So you make people happy and give Anet money. The only people hurt will be the "anal-retentive" people. That's your argument. I don't see what these details change.

My argument is that people can't have hats they missed, but CAN have crystalline swords.
The people 'hurt' would be those that took the time to get the sword. Because anyone can get it with enough time. The prestige of getting the item is lost by letting them be purchasable with cash.
But what's more important than 'prestige' of getting things, is giving anyone a chance to equally enjoy the game.

With a crystalline sword, anyone can eventually enjoy one, it may take time, it may take luck with monster and chest drops, it may take a lucky friend that "leaves" the game and is giving away their stuff, it may take some time wasted farming to buy it from someone else, or again breaking the EULA with some creative scamming or purchasing gold or the item themselves, but yes, you can, ALWAYS.


With hats, no matter how many time, as of now, those that for any reason missed a hat, can ever enjoy them. There's no potential to get them, no chance, no possibility, no way. You can't trade them, you can't sell them, you can't give them away, you can't get them if you missed them. no chest will spawn that may have them after defeating a boss, no locked chest may have them when you open it with lockpicks, no creature will drop them, no festival had them (excepting the Lion Mask), no more collectors will have them after the post-festival collector is gone...
You got them because you where during the finale, or talked to the collector afterwards after making some festival quests, or spent the whole festival farming and then used drops to either get the trophies for the collector, or used the festival trophies dropped by monsters while farming, or left the character AFK, or broke the EULA and lent the account to someone else so they get it for you...
And if you didn't you won't be able to get them again, EVER.