Official Dragon Festival Feedback & Suggestions Thread

1. I definitely prefer having the event accessable for everyone, all day. I have to work. I was at work most of the final day of the event, It was nice that I didnt have to either stay up too late waiting for the event, or miss the event. It was wonderful that the event was still there for me when I got home. Thanks guys.

2. I think the games were great. I learned a lot about kiting from the dragon arena. I learned quite a bit about targeting in the dragon's nest. I guess I am not a very creative person, I have no idea of other games.

3. I was unable to complete the captains missions, I tried with my canthan monk, and with my canthan necro, but with no success.

4. I Have 21 presents...I didnt get time to open them. But It was fun picking them up, except for people becoming teritorial...

5. What i liked best was the availibility of everything. I dont have to be on at midnight to get my mask, The supplier will be around for a while still, that is great. I had nothing that I didnt like about the festival, I wish i had had more time to play. I might have been able to accomplish more.

Thanks again guys.

I thought the Festival was very entertaining - the decorations and masks are beautiful! (I'm already a big fan of the Oriental graphics in the area and the decorations were excellent) I wanted to get the new titles, but I wasn't willing to skimp away the gold i'd saved so far, so that was a little disappointing. Would be nice perhaps if there is a way throughout the year to work on those titles at leisure... The Dragon Arena was lots of fun for me, who never engages in PvP normally.

My only real criticisms would be #1 the little bugs people have mentioned (pets gone, multiple kisu's, etc.) and #2 The reward for the high-end quests was way out of proportion to the effort involved. I never did manage to get in a group that won, which was disappointing in itself, but if I had managed to complete the quest after two hours and got 50 orbs, i'd be a little irked. How about 100 tickets or 50 presents or something - better yet, how about a quest item like the Amulet of the Mists which you can turn in for your choice of rewards? (100 orbs, 50 tickets, or 30 presents perhaps?)

Anyway - thank you for the effort you put into giving us a little diversion that was very fun. I look forward to the next one!

Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?
Final day FTW... this should be a no-brainer based on the fact that the game is globally based.

Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?
I felt the "AFK" game was great for 2 purposes only. Can we say GOLD SINK, and something for my character to do while I was AFK. I managed to rack up 295,133 tickets won and 21,680 games lost over the event. Still I managed to play PvE, PvP, the event quests and one of the mini-missions. It would have been nice to see other interactive games like whack-a-wurm. Since you gave it a carnival feel, I would suggest more games of skill. Example: have a bow game. Shoot a ridiculously fast moving target or as may targets in "X" time and win a prize/prizes. Watching rings got boring after about 3 rounds.

Were you able to complete the Captain missions?
Put together a 4 man balanced guild team and spent over an hour on the first mission to get 50 orbs. No way was I going to waste even 1 second on another mission. Difficulty was perfect for a 4 man team.

Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?
Didn’t try, the people that act like ten year olds piss me off regularly!!! I managed about 20 presents. Right place at the right time. Bean cakes have no use outside the event, as they seem to have been intended for the sole purpose of out running the grasps. The 1K rewards were cool. After-all, A-net scored big on gold this event with the tickets and rings.

What did you like Least?
Bugs, Bugs, Bugs... what exactly is a code=059? I NEVER DC... EVER!!! Over the last year, maybe 6 times. This was the biggest gold sink in Guildwars history, and I would bet over a billion gold was returned to the economy with the ticket sales from rings alone. Yet, the rewards for the 4 orb quests and the mini-missions sucked at an all time high level of suck. The suckinisiosity of the rewards was shall we say... CRAP! I enjoy PvE and PvP, not much dampens my spirits including spending a lot of time doing something. However, the difficulty of the mini-mission left me with the empty feeling of "that’s it". Lastly, I understand that there isn't much excitement in having all the answers up front, and don’t want them. Please post a general event itinerary with when key events will occur and utilize only GMT as the time keeping base. There seem to be a lot of confusion with regard to the end of the event.

What did you like best?
Overall the event had a good feel to it. Having 30 or so alliance members camping on a ring in dist 26 made me feel like the event promoted a positive atmosphere and improved OUR alliances interaction. I had the opportunity to play with many new individuals in the alliance then ever before. Most of the time we have 8-10 people on our TS server. We averaged over 30 at most times during the event. We even invited 2 new people into our guild as a result. Finally, I am really glad that a new "candy cane" wasn't introduced. The economy is finally stabilizing and the introduction of another "uber" item into the game is totally unnecessary. Thank you for no new greens, or materials in presents. Let’s not even talk about Lump of Charcoal dropping in value 80% during the Wintersday event. Good job. I give the event a "B"

Overall this event was great to be a part of. I and the people I play with really enjoy the opportunity to do something different. Each event revitalizes the energy in the game. Many people complain about "problems" and "Bugs", me included, but not once have I paid a monthly fee to play and I have had my share of enjoyment from hours of game play.

Keep up the good work; we look forward to the next event.
Thank you!!!

I like the day long event, but agree with other posters that it was not explained very well. I took the initial message to mean one could ONLY get masks on the 5th, with the emperor attending on the final day. A line as simple as "The emperor will be in attendance every 2 hours from 7am to midnight GMT July 4th for a series of events each concluding with treats for everyone in attendance" would have cleared up much of the confusion.

Orbs/Collectables
I have stacks and stacks of useless orbs now, have all the masks I want, and nothing to do with them. Perhaps a NPC that will trade 10 orbs for a monastery credit, salvage orbs into glittering dust at least (or Jadeite) ... something to do with them.

Games
I did like the minigames but would have MUCH rather had Festival Prizes as rewards rather than orbs for Arena and Nest. I also liked the Rings games and the chance to earn a title while afk. 2.5 million may have been a bit much for a max title, I think I spent about 70k and 40-ish hours there and have only attained lvl 2 on each title.

Here are some suggestions (assuming the next event will be in chapter 3 with an African theme):

- Wildlife Sanctuary: Poachers are loose in the sanctuary and you must wound them up before they can deliver their pelts to a merchant. Pretty much a reverse of the Grasp game, touch a poacher to gain a point. This may work as an Arena game, play Poacher or Protector.

- Safari: Take pictures (by touching) some rare animals that have been summoned for the festival. Game ends when one player gets pictures of 10 different animals or has the most at game end time. You only get 12 pics on your camera, so be careful about duplicate images of an animal.

- Desert Arena: Arena type game where one team cultivates/irrigates the desert and the other attempts to keep arid to mine a mineral which can't be mines in cultivated areas. Use spells to extend streams or to dam them up.

- Pyramid Raid: Raid the pyramid of a long buried king for loot and prizes, watch out for animated mummies that can steal all your loot from the trip. Must make it out alive to get anything? Give everyone running and evasive spells.

Quests
The Rujiyo quests were great but the rewards were horrible (unless we can use the orbs somehow now .. see above). I do like the idea of Event specific greens, even golds that only drop in the high end quests ... I'm Wielding an Insightful Roman Candle of Fortitude, I'm Wielding a Sparkler and a Jug of Sunscreen!

Prizes
Nice ideawith the grasp game, but anything you come up with will have some ill mannered fools harassing others. I think a game like the way the Wintersday event was handled (pick up a present (Charge), give it to a child (Sorcerer), get a present (Prize) in inventory) is better. It was constant and not tied to a timed event, so you did not have as many people in each district at all times trying to hoard prizes.

Only real complaint: I missed the special npc collectors that would trade area drops for festival items (like 5 mantid pincers for 1 rice wine). Please bring that back!

This was my input as well. Overall, I had a lot of fun with the event! I enjoyed the variety that you did between the 4 events that I have participated in now. But I did miss the collectors. Other than the obvious issues with code testing (everything went crazy on the 5th), it was a successful event!

Im gonna have to echo some of the people here. But lets do it in "easy to read" format XD

All day final event = Good
Getting Chased by grasps = Fun ^^
Grabbing pressies from other players = Unfair for some T_T
Mini-Missions are SUPER HARD = Good
Mini-Mission crap rewards = GOREDING BAD!!!
New Titles = Good
Needing to AFK for a long ass time for titles = Bad
Dodgeball = AWESOME ^_^
Whack-A-Worm = So so
Dialogue/Humor of some of the quests Especially "Unusual Request" = Great
Dragon Masks = ~~~~~~<3 *love*

Ideas:
Bring back the "bring me 5 Body Parts from some common enemy and i give something you only get during the event" !!!!!!

Less glitches please :P

Better rewards for the "hardcore" mini-missions.. Something like 20 presents and 50 orbs would have been better >.< Or ecto! I mean these are UW bad guys o.O;;

I liked the Captain’s missions - they were challenging and it was really cool to see the zones re-done (an battle in towns, no less). I agree with everyone else that a better reward would be nice.

I loved the mask. If they continue to be this well crafted, I would love to see some way to make them while fighting (at least base collector stats).

The end was great fun. I would keep it spaced out throughout the day so all can join.

I was not a big fan of the gambling games. I would suggest something with a chance of a bigger prize that can not be AFK farmed.

I missed a couple of the things from the wintersday event: the mini game with the imps running around chasing presents all through the event and the collectible items that you had to go farm random things for. Whenever I end up with a level 20 helping on the first couple missions I make them play the thing with a candy cane sword (or wand, if they're a W).

Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?
Didn't attend the finale, so no comment.

Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?
No, was never good a "whack a worm", and this only high-lighted my ineptitude for such games. Going afk on a ring for hours on end, as many people appeared to do, also did not appeal to me.
Suggestion: With the enhanced speed imparted by the bean cakes, I would have liked to see an obstacle course that players could negotiate using these speed enhancers. Similar to the Challenge Missions, where best times would be posted with the player's name. Each visit by the Emperor would initiate a new round of these races.

Were you able to complete the Captain missions?
Tried only a couple of times with a PuG, and managed to die right near the end. When we heard what the "reward" was, we decided not to bother going a third time.
Suggestion: a more fitting reward for the effort invested.
Side note: I initially attempted this quest with my Survivor (and no teammates), thinking it was similar to the previous quests I had completed for the orbs. Thankfully, I saw the nasty phantoms ahead and left.

Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?
There were so many idiots screaming at any presumed interlopers that it kind of the took the fun out of the affair. I found a quiet spot and managed to retrieve an average of 20 presents per visit. The 1k prizes were a pleasant surprise.
Suggestion: A moderator be present during these free-for-alls (or several cycling through the different districts), who can warn/ban players who threaten/harass others for "intruding on their space", or who are acting in offensive ways in general.

What did you like best? Least?

Best: Defeating the Graspings (running the Charges) was fun, as were the early quests to obtain orbs. The masks are also awesome, and the fact that you can dye them was a great idea.

Least: The unregulated behaviour of a large group of players who felt compelled to ruin the experience for others. I didn't even bother attending the last visit, nor the finale, because it just didn't seem worth it.

Overall, I think the event was a success. There was a wide variety of activities available so everyone could find something they enjoyed.

The thing that has always bugged me about the events is getting the holiday headgear at the end of the event. The fun-factor of the headgear would be increased if it could be worn during the event, instead of just the last day. Everyone looked silly wearing Yule Caps, Horns of Grenth, and Pumpkin Crowns at the Dragon Festival. You don't go to a party and get a hat as you leave - you get it as soon as you get there because it adds to the festivities. I realize that the headgear is being used to make the finale special, but I still think it would be more fun to get it at the beginning.

my 2 cents,

For it being a big holiday weekend, I had time to go out of town for 3 days, work around the house and run errands and I still had time to get the Dragon Mask for my 3 main characters.

I thought the quests for the orbs were reasonable and enjoyable and were not too time consuming.

I did not try the elite quest with the rifts simply because I did not think the reward was worth it.

The carnival games of chance we so-so, both games were exactly alike. I wold like to have seen more variety and more games but I am not sure how you would impliment them.

The "dodge-ball" game was a lot of fun. I loved it and the snowball fight for wintersday. Lots of fun although I think some would like to have them all the time, I think the few days they are around is enough to keep them fun and people not get bored with them.

The "whole day" end event was fine with me as well. I didn't have to sit at my computer all day and was able to participate a few times and still had time to run around and get things done at home before going back to work on Wednesday. I would hate to see a specific "one time only" event to get the mask. Although for those that do just hang out all day it would be cool to give them a end event like the dragons at the end of the FPE to make them happy and add "closure" to the event.

All in all it was a very enjoyable holiday event and I really appreciate Anet taking the time to add it to the game for us. I love that Anet does special things for its players and a sign of apprecitation for playing their game. Most companies would not even consider doing something like this.

So THANKS ANET for a fun weekend!

Has anyone yet griefed in this thread about not being able to participate because they're still waiting for their Factions CE? What a kick-in-the-teeth this was being restricted to *watching* the festival on someone else's screen! Will the mini-Kuni really make up for this?

Luckily, I was able to play on a friend's account to collect enough orbs for 1 mask for myself...assuming I actually get my CE before the mask trader disappears.

The constructive part of my criticism is that I suggest the festival last longer (not likely), or at least that the mask trader stay until we can all get our (*preordered*) CEs!

Also, it would have been a nice gesture to us prophecies-only players to at least make the Dragon Arena accessible to us via the Isle of the Nameless.

PS. The Hanso quests were astoundingly boring - way too much retracing my steps.

Welp,
As background for my perspective, I bought GW:Factions about 1 month ago and have only been playing for 3 weeks. I went into the Festival not knowing what to expect. And, pretty much finnished up at 3AM the morning of the 5th in the same condition. I have 3 characters Lvl 20 R/Mo, Lvl 6 Rt, & Lvl 3 N. I had no problem with the 4 quest with the R/Mo. Couldn't finnish the 4th one with the Rt, and couldn't beat the 1st one with the N. I used the Lvl 3 henchies for all of them cause I could not find a PUG. On the 4th I found the other quest/missions and did finally get on with 2 PUG's. Both got wiped after only closing 1 portal, so I don't know too much about them. I was not going to try with lvl 3 henchies after watching 4 lvl 20's gettting wiped out. lol..
I was trying to get enough orbs to get a mask for each character. I ended up getting 2 mask on the 6th when the "Trader" finally showed up. Which, by that time, the Festival was over. So, I don't don't know what good the mask are now??? Except, they are taking up storage space I need to finnish building my characters with. But, I now know every square centimeter of the monestary because I went over it sooooooooo many times looking for what was going on. And from the conversations I witnessed, I was not alone in trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.
As far as your other questions.
The all day finale' would be great, if everyone knew that is what it was. I'm 50 years old, and staying up till 3AM pretty much screws up my whole day... And, I also think that by everyone knowing that the event would keep repeating all day they would not keep sticking around to go through it over and over thinking that they can't leave without missing something. Which caused a LOT of lag and I got bumped of your server 17 times on the 4th. I think at midnight CST, I was in American District 224. That is a lot of people on at the same time, and it had become obvious your system could not handle the load.
This was my 1st time with the fireworks and presents. I thought it was fun. I also enjoyed the "dodgeball" arena. Actually learned some new skills in moving my characters around. I didn't play any of the "games" because they all worked out to losing odds, as far as I could figure out. And, I have better things to do with what gold I have in furthering the characters I am working on. I read several comments about "bugs" when I was running around the monestary, but, the only thing that really jumped out at me was when I went to see the Emporer at 6pm and the were 8 of him??? Anyway, did not get a mask from any of them... People kept telling me he came every 2 hours, and I kept coming back, till 3AM when they told me it was over. Which seemed funny because everything was still going like the other times except no more fireworks and present and there was this "Fury" thing in front of the stairs. Guess I got bumped of ya'lls system every time they were giving out the masks???
Overall, looking back at it, it was a pretty good event. With better communications to everyone about what is suppose to be going on it would have been perfect, for me. All I know is I'll never stay up like that again no matter what event you have going on....

The Final day ending, without a doubt, Even though I got booted in game, WHILE ACTUALLY PLAYING, and wasn’t able to get back on, I’m not bitter.

Final day, because the midnight GMT, just doesn’t allow those that have to go to work, or school, or training, or whatever participate. Well, at least the ones that are responsible.

Dodgeball was beyond cool and the mini-games were alright. The money sink for the lucky/unlucky titles was done very well, probably the best money sink yet.

Not even close, total pwnage. I think my butt ‘ole is still bleeding, after the 1500 stitches it took to close the wound. The rewards were so weak for this type of difficulty that it wasn't in my interest to pursue them anymore. I couldn't afford the emergency room bill anymore. This one was botched.

Average I guess. My problem with the presents being pre-determined was that people could tell which ones contained the 1k. The quests provided 240 orbs, enough to get the Dragon mask. I went outside and used /Boo followed by /Flex, and finished with /Taunt to get my remaining 10 orbs, so orbs being offered for the rewards for the presents and mini-games, not so good. Tickets or Wine/Cake instead would have been better. I have mixed feelings about including the Rice wine and Bean cakes on the venders. You get a YAY! and a BOO! for that.

The Least, by far is the 6098230947597034957823 million times that people asked "What are the orbs for...", "When is Kisu coming...", “How do I get a mask..”. This isn't a joke, review my chat logs. The BRIGHT GREEN link on the right hand side of the chat login screen wasn't in a large enough of a font to attract the attention of your masses. I think only 5 people actually read it, me being one of them.

I liked the system alerts that were implemented alerting me that Kisu would arrive in 15 minutes. This let me continue to play the game, rather than sit in town and have to deal with masses of stupidity we allow to exist in the world. Honestly, I can't believe stupidity hasn’t been eradicated yet, how hard is it to quarantine stupid people and torch them with Napalm? For that matter, why are the majority of these people on AOL, and why do we even allow AOL on the Internet.

Well, at least until you read mine…

My suggestions for improving the next event, you should seriously implement these.
For the next event, please omit the Perma-Ban grand finale SURPRISE!! that was included in this event. Focus on Perma-banning AOL chat room pedophiles (you know the caps lock types), the people under the age of 27 (history shows that the maturity level just isn’t there), the scammers, the people that harass other players, people using All chat to WTB, WTS, or WTT, etc. Yea, that’s right I said Perma-ban for using all chat for your merchanting. There is no argument that can be made otherwise, period, Perma-ban for this serious offence. SHH, I have spoken the truth, now you must just accept my infinite wisdom.

For next event, implement middle of the screen 28pt font lettering messages that explains the event. Repeat this message every 15 seconds, for a minimum of 72 hours, even if the event is only 24 hours long. Let this be by passed only by those that read the updates, circled every other letter on the webpage, called an automated 1-800 number and entered the 1600 digit number found hidden on the webpage (broken up and randomized, of course), and submitted no less then 120 posts in All Chat (with at least a 1 minute gap between posts, so as to not add to the spam already there), that information about the event can be found at www.(GW FoTM website).com.

Tone down the difficulty just a tad, and increase the rewards, a tad. The biggest problem I have with this kind of difficulty is that only a couple of builds could do it. This shut out most of the other classes. Even though I have an Assassin (can you say re-roll?), and I say that 98.99% of all PUGS are 100% inferior to henchmen (this is not a request to nerf henchmen), I saw no love the Assassins in this event. Actually seems only B/P Rangers (WTG!! Rangers finally get tossed a bone, after getting beating down by every single nerf), monks (you know I noticed that monks have no problems getting into any group nerf the crap out of them, take away their heals), and MM (a little bit for the SS builds), got any love for these quests.

Force players to take an online exam on time zones. If you don’t pass you don’t get to play the event. Only 1 out every 4500 people knew what time zone they were in. I even say this question asked more than a dozen times.
“If I am in CST and the event stats at midnight GMT, and it is raining in Idaho, what time is it currently in CST?”
At first I thought these to be a joke, but they weren’t. Go look at a clock, you F**ing tard! I’ve come to realize that far too many parents are allowing their children to skip school, and they are not learning “Dumb stuff” like time zones. There could not possibly ANY FREAKING reason to ever know anything about time zones…. Sad very very sad. I cried my self to sleep.

This isn’t my first event, seen all of them. And I know this occurred with all of them.
Education is must; stupidity must be eradicated at all cost.

Yea, I know ya’ll love this post.

This festival I must say, was just awesome. I've been playing since Nov.2004, missed weeks here and there, but this festival was great! I got well over 500 prizes that I picked up for free! This helped my bank account a lot =)

I think having the all day finale was a wonderful idea on the part of A.net. Any kind of free items that are given to us is wonderful. Whether they are crummy or not (someone complained earlier in the thread), heck I still have halloween items just because I might never see them again.

I would however recommend a non-pattern type drop area. I noticed the pattern of prize drops after the first time and earned over 70 each time and easily earned upwards of 90. I also saw many others running their own patterns as I had. Less of a pattern would mean more of an equal opportunity for others.

I didn't complete the side mission, I went into it once and thought.. Ok this must be a quest or something, I'll do it later because the emperor is here. Apparently the one time I went was it, and I didn't get another chance.

People who actually had money got to use it towards their rankings, congrats to those. The mini-game was awesome, I played it only twice because of the weak prizes, but it was really a great idea. More of those next time, another one at least would rock, instead of AFK-get-your-title-up games. I think something like dolls (worm dolls) or dragon dolls for winning that mini-game would have been really cool, just something different instead of another wind orb. Scrolls that give 20 minute buffs or something..

I think there also should have been dragon costume NPCs.. like a big mob that is a dragon costume, and you can see the people's feet under it, etc..
Like they have in countries that celebrate dragons and whatnot. They should have been running around the monestary like crazy.. dragon people?

I have a small collection of dragons, pewter peices, posters, some drawings.. So I was expecting to be thrilled and you guys did awesome with the finale. 1 finale is history, not everyone lives by the same hours, this really opened the festivity up to the entire world on the finale day, instead of 2 in the morning or something.

I hope my ideas were of some sort of assistance. Continue #1 leet game ever hehe

WoW got owned by Guild Wars before it was even thought of.

This festival I must say, was just awesome. I've been playing since Nov.2004, missed weeks here and there, but this festival was great! I got well over 500 prizes that I picked up for free! This helped my bank account a lot =)

I think having the all day finale was a wonderful idea on the part of A.net. Any kind of free items that are given to us is wonderful. Whether they are crummy or not (someone complained earlier in the thread), heck I still have halloween items just because I might never see them again.

I would however recommend a non-pattern type drop area. I noticed the pattern of prize drops after the first time and earned over 70 each time and easily earned upwards of 90. I also saw many others running their own patterns as I had. Less of a pattern would mean more of an equal opportunity for others.

I didn't complete the side mission, I went into it once and thought.. Ok this must be a quest or something, I'll do it later because the emperor is here. Apparently the one time I went was it, and I didn't get another chance.

People who actually had money got to use it towards their rankings, congrats to those. The mini-game was awesome, I played it only twice because of the weak prizes, but it was really a great idea. More of those next time, another one at least would rock, instead of AFK-get-your-title-up games. I think something like dolls (worm dolls) or dragon dolls for winning that mini-game would have been really cool, just something different instead of another wind orb. Scrolls that give 20 minute buffs or something..

I think there also should have been dragon costume NPCs.. like a big mob that is a dragon costume, and you can see the people's feet under it, etc..
Like they have in countries that celebrate dragons and whatnot. They should have been running around the monestary like crazy.. dragon people?

I have a small collection of dragons, pewter peices, posters, some drawings.. So I was expecting to be thrilled and you guys did awesome with the finale. 1 finale is history, not everyone lives by the same hours, this really opened the festivity up to the entire world on the finale day, instead of 2 in the morning or something.

I hope my ideas were of some sort of assistance. Continue #1 leet game ever hehe

WoW got owned by Guild Wars before it was even thought of. =)

1. Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?

- I did like the fact that it came at intervals, perhaps every hour would be better for people with a limited ability to play

2. Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?

- The games were great very good and something for everyone


3. Were you able to complete the Captain missions?

- I found them to be extreamly challenging, not necessarily the missions themselves, but the finding a group to complete them with. The henches were too low level to even think about doing it with and most of the people in Shing Jea were
a) Un-Interested at the time
b) too low level to complete the mission
c) too selective about who can / cannot be in the party


4. Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?

- The loot was good, I like the orbs for those who had trouble getting them and didnt like the games


5. What did you like best? Least?

- Best: The decorations and Atmosphere
Least: glitches

My Analysis: (Haven't read previous responses.)

1.) I would prefer either-or, so long as it's more appropriately indicated by the annoucements.

2.) Yes, the games were fun, so long as you didn't stand there grinding them for a title. But that was a player choice, the games themselves were fine.

-The dragon arena was boring to me. Insta-gib sucks. Snowball arena was better because you didn't die in 1 shot.

-Suggested Game: A shooting gallery sort of game. You have to stand on a pads to fire the shots at the targets. Except the whole time you're being chased by mobs. More mobs enter as the game goes on, the game ends when you hit a capped score or die.

-Would require a balencing enchantment, like that of the Dragon Arena.

3.) No, I wasn't. But that's because the majority of the community in the game don't know how to play. The difficulty was a bit extreme but not more then people a few months ago could have handled.

4.) The ratios of Orbs:wine:cakes:gold seemed relatively balenced.

But the gripe I have is that they cost 25 tickets which was expensive, and the end event with them falling from the sky really screwed dial-up users. I mean you could click a gift immediately and still have someone pop up from the other side of town and take it. That was with the player camping the spot no less, not running around. Less "competitiveness" next time, all connections aren't created equal. (I'm getting DSL soon so this arguement won't effect me, but just for the other people.)

5.) I loved the design of the rice wine, very stylish. The ring game/title was very nice too.

I wasn't pleased about, again, the end day event. I also kinda didn't like the profiteering (gauging for orbs), that that, again, is a player issue.

On a scale of 1-10....this Festival gets a 7.

Yes. More should be permanent games of chance that allow the titles to be maxed.


Didn't bother trying since the reward was not worthwhile, hence doing the Captain missions had no point.


Yes, but only because I was able to scope out a sweet spot and pick them up faster than the others near me. However, Guild Wars gameplay is not supposed to be based on who can pick stuff up the fastest. I thought that was the whole point of customizing item drops?



Best = titles.

Least = the festival items are not worth their cost hence not worth collecting. They should have made the loot actually be worthwhile, and farmable (besides just orbs was was the most useless loot of all).

Also tied for "least" is that the dragon helm has no armor hence cannot be used during actual gameplay. Makes having one rather pointless, for the most part. There is no good reason to keep armor and stats off the holiday helms, so that "tradition" should be broken.

Also tied for "least" yet again is that the titles were not maxable. That's very uncool.

I already posted a reply way back on page 2. I don't know if anyone else has posted this idea for a minigame for a special event (didn't feel like reading all 5 pages at the time of posting).

IMO, it would be kinda cool to have a footrace game. There would be no way to successfully afk this one (much like the whack-a-worm). There could be multiple ways to get from start to finish (forks in the road etc.) and then there could be random crippling trap spawnings, monsters casting crippling spells, slow-down spells or KD and other things to block the passages every-so-often so that there's not 1 difinitive route to win each time. Let us use speed skills and things like the rice cakes. I think it would be a blast... especially since there are so many "runners" in the game as it is...

Prizes could be handed out by place... or how much you beat the other players by...

just a thought

K, Here we go:

Festival contests were fun to play! The scenary wasn't so lively though. For example, on Wintersday we had Dwarves telling jokes and carollers and such. It would have been more fun if it felt like most of Cantha had turned out for the Festival.

To the mists with complaints! I liked Captain Rujiyo's missions! I never completed one with the pugs I was in, but we had a great time, got some decent drops, and generally got in the old PvBig Monsters spirit (First time in a long time I played a mission just for fun with people). The reward was an afterthought for me in this regard. I considered this the highlight of the event, Dragon Masks and all.

Speaking of which, masks are obviously beloved by many. One comment I did hear during the festival a lot was that people wished the other holiday helmets were dyable. Perhaps next Halloween (can you say black dyed pumpkin heads?).

Kuunavang should have made an appearance. It was the Dragon Festival after all. Every holiday needs its mascot.

The present drops: uh ... not the brightest moment. Lots of antagonism there. Holidays should be fun. Wintersday had people cheering you on as you ran about delivering presents. The Festival had people cursing you out if you failed. Wintersday had plenty of gifts for everyone! The Festival was all about how many gifts you could get for yourself. Perhaps this was just a very agressive holiday, I dunno.

Oh! The gifts! Very nice! But there should have been FIREWORKS!!! Wintersday gave us portable snowmen. We know Cantha loves fireworks. Why not boxes of fireworks next year (maybe for completing missions to quell the complaints of some ).

One little concern: tickets. They cost money. New players (real ones, not ebayers) have little money. Factions brought in a lot of new players. I feel bad for those new players who couldn't afford tickets to play all of the games (especially since this was their big event). Perhaps next time you could exchange orbs for tickets on a 1:5 basis or something. Or maybe you could get gifts by delivering essences to the sorcerors. Either way, new players would benefit.

And ... that's it! By the way, very nice touch, making the dragon masks naturally gold like that. I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but it was neat.

Ejoy the games? Sure, but I like more skill-based than luck based games...or games with an element of both. Whack-a-worm = good fun. Suggestions for more? Why not rock/paper/scissors for prizes...we have the emotes...why not use em? Or my favorite carnival game as a kid "pitch a penny" get a prize for tossing a Gold peice in/on a square/dish/ring, whatever and have the option to trade up for larger prizes after winning small...in the lingo of this event say 5 won cakes can be traded up for 2 rice wines...all the way up to some fabulous grand prize(s).

Captain's Missions? Last ones I quit trying because the difficulty level vs. the reward seemed scewed...groups kept giving up early or were hard to find because few thought it was worth it.

Did I score a lot of loot...no. The potemtial to was there...If I hadn't had my real world life to deal with, I'm sure I'd have made out like gang-busters...still, for only hitting a few games and a couple districts for present drops (plus selling off a few unneeded orbs) I came out with 10k...about the same $ to time ratio as I get for farming...so no wasted time...since it was kinda fun.

I liked the carnaval atmosphere and the goodies the most.

I liked the lack of obvious in-game information the least...It didn't affect me personally ( I check the GW website regularly), but a lot of poor folk became flame-bait for asking questions with answers that were easily accessable out-of-game..."read the f-ing website you noob!" was often the mantra in many a district...So much so that I felt compelled to become a town crier..."NOTICE: Masks may be obtained by collecting 250 Jade Wind Orbs and listening to emperor's speach in Monestary"...I spammed it about 3-4 times in each location I visited and got so many PMed "thank-yous" it was almost embarrassing...a town crier NPC for this kind of info (or Public Notice tablet of wisdom) may have been helpful to the poor slobs who maybe don't access your website for in-game info...gives folk more time to be IN-game instead of researching info...you already have a few such NPCs in the game...but most of what the decry is...ummm...non-informative.

Overall impression...fun! Wish I had more time to gamble away my gold...

I enjoyed the final day and being able to repeat it. It was nice to be able to relax the first time and just enjoy the effects and use the rest of the time to catch presents.

The Captain's quests were unplayable for me. I've spent enough time in FOW/UW with poorly played groups that I did not feel the need to expose the fun I was having to all of the paper bullies that play Guild Wars. I don't care so much about the rewards, it would have been cool to have the challenge alone but at the same time I am not on this earth to have my time wasted by idiocy. But I guess these are caused by my own selectiveness.

Oh! Almost forgot! (Sorry to ruin the 100 post perfection!) I DID have an idea for a game! Remember those old Simon Says toys that would light up and make sounds that you would have to press in the same order? Do one of those, except larger and using Bloodstones (because it's GW). Have players put down tickets to try and keep up with the glowing, musical bloodstones, hopping from stone to stone to keep up with the pattern. The more your succeed, the more complex the patterns get. The more complex patterns that you solve, the greater number of tickets that you get! You could even have an individual and a team version. Skill based fun and nostalgia all at once.

everything was cool.

the rewards for the captain missions were really lacklustre though. they were little gems of missions, nice and challenging. i would really love in the future to have challenge missions (maybe in chapter 3/4?) that limit the number of members in the party to 4-6, with some nice little rewards for beating them. it would add a spark of interest into pve that it is really missing at the moment. the challenge missions are good and fun with 12 players, but you dont need to make things bigger to make things harder, you proved this with the rujiyo missions.

the 'last day' finale is great. longer events are also great. having crafters after the event for people who missed the finale are great.

dodgeball is awesome. the snowball arena too. many petitions have started about keeping both these games in the game proper, so theyll remain popular over the years, and im looking forward to more creative minigames in the future.

the gambling... well, everyone has mixed reactions on that. regardless, games of chance need to make a return, but possibly with a small chance of winning a 'jackpot', a large reward, rather than the house ALWAYS coming out on top. as it was, there was no point in even bothering with the rings games unless you were specifically out for the titles. it was extremely rare that you would actually WIN anything (i know it was meant as a goldsink, but you know what i mean. a goldsink that actually gives you a chance, however small, to make some money > house always wins).

• Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?
  I must say, final day is the way to go with this. I couldn't do a one-time-only thing, but with a whole day to get in on the festivities, it all works out! ^_^
  
• Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?
  Dodgeball was really cool. The ring game was alright. Wack-a-worm was fun for a few playings. Definitely a neat way to change things up a bit!
  
• Were you able to complete the Captain missions?
  The quests were cool, and about the right difficulty level for the event. Unfortunately, they all had to do with demensional invasion storyline as opposed to something more thematic like delivering fireworks or some such. I found the special missions with the rifts and things to be far too difficult, but I'm not really hardcore or anything, so I might not count.
  
• Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?
  I managed to snag a fair amount. This definitely worked out better than the Wintersday drops--randomization of drop locations was a good call. Give that dev a cookie.
  
• What did you like best? Least?
  The dodgeball arena and the helm were really great. As was the game with the grasps and the essence.
  I was more than a bit underwelmed with the presents though. It's not that I felt they were useless--they should be. The candy cane was a mistake, imho. But after Halloween and Wintersday, I was expecting more flashy one-shot things with cool particle effects (like one-shot dragon fireworks or something). The bean cakes were cool, but the rice wine was really nothing special. I really missed prizes along the lines of the squash serum, and the ghost box, and the snowman summoner. Those were cool prizes.
  

Final day sort of ending.

Not really, I preferred the Halloween event's.

Didn't bother once I heard that you only receieve 50 Jade Wind Orbs.

Yea I did.

It produced a sizeable amount of cash in my inventory.


You're welcome.

I liked the event, though it was not up to the greatness of Wintersful.

There is one thing I'd like to say which a lot of people are complaing about which is the rewards for the Captain missions... I really wasn't bothered at all. The mini-missions were great fun, and while I only got to play 2 (finished 'em both, Jaya Bluffs and the Harbour) they were very good fun and a good challenge. As far as I'm concerned there is no need for a good 'reward' when the missions were that fun. The fun had in the missions themselves is the reward.

BTW, I really liked the Dragon Arena, and I normally stay clear of all PvP besides 12 v 12. I'd love to see the Dragon Arena made a permanent addition, and while Anet are at it, include the Snowball arena too!

Yeah a gw casino or a pernament themepark, or maybe just more to see next time lol.

I liked the captains missions, the mini grasps were kinda funny but it seemed to look very toombish, couple of new enemies or monsters I hadnt seen before which was fun.

I wanted to fight "THE FURY" necrid horse lord dude you had sitting in the monastery when the grasps came at the end, He looked awesome but he didnt do anything hopefully he is in a future chapter/quest maybe he would make a good bad guy.

It's a shame people only play cookie cutter builds so it was a goodchange to see people attempting different things, anyway good work on something different.

How about both?!? If I had to choose though, I would pick a "day long" finale that way, no matter where in the world you are, everybody gets a chance to attend.

Personally, I didn't like the ring games (no skill, just a money sink), really enjoyed the dragon arena (would love to see more of the wacked out pvp-lite mini games) and thought the wack-a-worm was "okay".

I did complete the initial selection of the missions, the majority of them I did solo - just to see if I could - but the latter missions defeated the few pickup groups I tried them with, considering the reward was just more orbs they either need toning down or upping the reward, perhaps a event only green?

A bit, from the 29 presents I picked up I ended up with about 6k in value, not bad I thought, and the wine and cake was nice too


Best? Dragon Arena
Least? Ring Games

[*]Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?
I liked the final day ending over the single one time only finale.
[*]Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?
I enjoyed them could use a permanent place for them like a casino? Perhaps a slot machine style game and a wheel of fortune. Dragon Arena was the most fun.
[*]Were you able to complete the Captain missions?
No I wasnt. But then again I usually play solo or with henchies. No one in my guild logged on for the entire event
[*]Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?
I did alright. I didnt really care what was in them I just liked to open them up and see. To bad there was a lot of fighting over players claiming they "owned" this or that spot.
[*]What did you like best? Least?
Loved the decorations and the attention to detail. This is my second event after the Tengu one. I missed winterday and the halloween one. Love the Dragon Mask. The games were fun finale was pretty sweet as well. Only thing I liked least about this event was all the WTS orbs spam in local


All in all I give this event an A I just wish there was more events. How about a monthly carnival to utilize the festival games? One month in Cantha next month in Tyria?

This was my first GW event. I think the all day finale is the only logical way to handle this on a global game. As always I'd like the wording of announcements to be chosen more carefully to avoid misunderstandings.

The festival games seemed like total afk fests and that made the titles so lame that I didn't even want the title to be started on any of my characters. So I never actually played those.

My son played some dodgeball and seemed to like it. I didn't really care.

It was easier and faster to farm orbs than do the captain's mini missions. However, if Kango would accept orbs in trade for wine or cakes instead of just masks, that would have made it much more desirable to get as many orbs as possible rather than the "oh no more freakin' orbs"

I only missed 2 of the finale present drops and averaged about 35 presents per so I ended up with a pretty good haul of loot (almost 40k worth of wine and cakes and another 20k of cash) Can't complain about that at all

I would have liked the event to actually end when it was supposed to. Glitched emperor and grasps running around well into the next day and orbs still dropping from monsters just seemed sloppy and was really quite annoying. Now I think you were maybe just leaving it up so you could track the bots? Luckily I could go play prophecies until it all got sorted out.

Thanks for an overall fun experience though! I'm looking forward to the next one.

Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?
The logical choice seems to be final day sort of thing, but perhaps every six hours instead of 2, makes it slightly more special but still allowing people to get the rewards and such.


Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?
The games were a ball, at first, then it was AFK for title time, which was interesting to joke about and stuff over alliance and vent chat, but quickly became grind. Dragon Arena was fun as well as the wack a mole/worm thing.

Were you able to complete the Captain missions?
The ones I decided to play, yes, normally pretty easy because I was with an alliance group instead of pugs. It was extremely disappointing to know youd come out with 50 or so orbs, when if you did the quest you would already have 240 orbs for your mask...

Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?
I was happy with it, I didnt horde the present drops and only took a few...Fun though.

What did you like best? Least?
The best part was the anticipation...at some points it was feeling like the day before christmas...least was it seemed kinda glitchy on some points(7 emperors =\) and the seemingly miscommunicated event ending.

Overall I loved it, It was the first time I could get a special mask(wasn't playing for halloween, moved during wintersday) And it was fun, I use my mask on my 55 monk now.

Overall suggestions would be this:
-Make the reward for missions fit the mission. 5k XP and gold + tickets would have been nice, or something to that effect.
-The game of chance titles were fun until everyone realized you can just get 5 or 6 stacks of tickets and go to sleep leaving GW running, no more afk title farming, perhaps....dwarf slot machines or jade card games....Am Fah 3 card montie :-D..visit vegas for some ideas on how to waste money
-Keep the anticipation up for the entire event as much as possible.
-Clearly communicate how the ending is gonna be, I was hoping gwen was gonna rain fire on the emperor or something.


Thanks Anet, designers, Gaile, Frog...all those people for making the event fun, as well as the GWG and in game communities

no way on the One-time-only final...... I'm 100000% on the final day ending. Someone said it here on GURU or GWonline. but 12 GMT is different all over the world. I'm not staying up/getting fried for an final hurra!
ya they were pretty cool. i like them all.

1) some sort of "punching bag". You zone ( or unlock in town) this area were your skill are not locked and use some sort of build and whack a wooden dummy? be cool to watch and see who's the best!

2) rid a dragon? rid around town on a dragon? 1 ticket? well not really a game thoe. hate to get stuck in a wall. ouch!

3) a relay.... 2 rings. both 100' part or however far a part. you have to run item A to ring 1 then back to ring 2. the catch. You have 10 or however many rice wine bottles. The idea is be drunk and win! of course make the two end points random. Also you could waste gold/tickets and just sit there drunk and the effect doesn't end when the game ends or there is a winner. oh ya and the rice wine would be removed from your inventory (to avoid the stock up/cheap price ) **it's like that relay where you have a stick and have to spin yourself and carry water in a straight line**

4) guess who the fake guard/empire/person is. like out of 16 rings? stand next to him/her and you have 10 seconds? random like always. just suck because all you have to do is look for the biggest crowd. but it's an idea.

5) oh snap a maze! every 5 mins the walls move. if you try to body block the wall you get ponwed! (your die and get rezed is what I'm trying to say.) there would be an announcement that you have use "close view" to make it through

6) sort of like a maze but it's like ideal above but you keep moving through doors and find the right exit. there would be an announcement that you have use "close view" to make it through

7) hide and seek at Minister Cho's Estate -p

8) cap the flag. touch skill to kill/capture you. make the flag like glass or if you drop it, it only responds at base. each round is 2 mins? game ends after 5 pts? game kicks both teams if no neather reaches 3 pts after 2 rounds?
Some skill.
you begin bleeding until your life reaches 0 and you move 50% faster.
enhancement - 5 life, touch skill that touch you are all fail but you move 50% slower and not carry the flag
enhancement -2 life target ally moves 25% faster

This would be awesome! 1 team on 1 team! or HOH style 4 team on 4 team!

i guess more games where people could be spectators.


no i was busy farming for the two new titles. but when i gave it a try w/ and w/o a PUG i keep dyeing. needed more time to get a good build and learn/get a feeling for it.... but i like them over all! very challenging!
ya my first 50 some gave me like 3k and lots of rice and wine.
the best? the night sky. decarations. scenary

Least? every one asking when, WHEN the Emperor is coming but i was thinking even if you stuck a gif/bmp or banner of the time and pace and how many orbs on the wall people are still NOT going to read it. besides that? didn't like how i running up past the two games of rings and lost tickets. for some reason if you see the count down on your screen better move away! i would like it if some of the decorations were still around.



Glad i can give it and know it's worth something to someone -)


Other odds and ends if you have time to read Gaile
what was that strange gray looking fountain thing next to the storage area?
would of been need/funny
--To see some of them "Cantha peasant" walking around w/ comments
--Some lux/kuz walking around also.
--Those two street performers out side of that one town on that main island? would been need to see them preform here at the festival.
--if the Emperor would randomly hand out mirrors (like that one quest) to the people who keep clicking him -)
--the Emperor trip going down the stairs.
--see Kuunavang

**Edit**
Forgot this idea. Give people a in Prophecies a chance to join the festival. I mean in the story you have kuz and lux settling outside of LA right? i mean the few people that have settled should of gotten snail-mail about this dragon festival or remember this festival every year right? So i think it would of been cool to give prophecies access to the Monastery only and the dragon arena and the few mission outside of town. But not access to any other part of Cantha.

My thought was some sort of ticket or charge like 25k or more for some sort one day pay (12/24 hours) per ticket you buy. i also thought of a time like "you have 30 mins before the boat leaves back to Tyria." or just when you log off or err7...etc...

just thought it be cool to market factions like this. Have the dude in Lion's arch (that boat guy) announce. he is taking/traveling to Cantha and is taking Tyria passengers. that do not have access to join in the Festival .

Would you prefer we have a single one-time-only finale? Or do you like the final day sort of ending?

I felt the final day ending let a lot more people participate in the event, however, it put folks who hadn't participated in the event before at a severe disadvantage. I think I missed two rounds all day and couldn't believe how many comments about 'noobs' went around whenever a district was not scoring fast enough for someone's tastes. Then again, this problem is present in a lot of PuGs too.

Did you enjoy the games? Do you have suggestions for more?

I really wish they hadn't turned into an AFK fest. There was no way I was going to watch my character earn enough for Lucky/Unlucky titles though, so AFK ended up being a way of life for me a couple of days.

Perhaps more active games that happen at your own speed? Rows and rows of slot machines that you sink money into? I would say that I prefer games of skill, but that doesn't fit with a games of chance title.

Were you able to complete the Captain missions?

I had a lot of trouble finding a competent group for this due to the level of the mission. If you haven't done Tombs runs, the creatures could really be a surprise since you go from Lesser Grasps which are relatively easy to beat to the full-sided variety and their typical companions. (I'm guessing a bit here due to group commentaries since I've done my unfair share of Tombs runs.) Overall, I think I was able to find groups that were capable of completing 3 of the missions. Don't get me wrong, I loved them...just a little past the level most people expect. On that note, it also became almost impossible for low lvl characters to continue with the quests after the first four 'Lesser Grasp' quests, which gives older players an unfair advantage for orb collection.

Did you score a lot of loot from the present drops?

Indeed I did. The first round I didn't do so well but after that I began finding a few tricks of the trade and did quite well. Maybe this was part of the reason I got banned. (Luckily, that was rectified quickly.) I felt compelled to compete for presents, but I agree that putting them in inventory would probably be a better way to go about it. I'd rather just get them then have to worry about fighting for my own and others.

What did you like best? Least?

Best: Dragon Arena (a.k.a. Death Dodgeball)
Least: AFK at the Games

having the finale last all days is a much better way of doing it and the best part had to be the grasp mini game at the end with the present drops for the win. It was so much fun picking up the little presents but there seemed to be a lot of campers that got more then most people.

The whole present thing could have been better. People were screaming and cursing about not getting enough presents and there were was some unequality there that I didn't like.

For example I, who got almost 300 presents total, visited the middle districts that barely have enough people and had the whole hench-present-farming spot to myself while others that went to auto-selected districts got only a few presents. I think present should either be assigned or appear in the inventory rather than be a cuththroat competition.

I liked the whole festival! The whole thing was cool!

The missions were hard, but in a good, fun way. Altho I wish they had better prizes... The prizes aren't worth how hard it is. I just played for fun. By the time the missions were released, I didn't need any more orbs anyway, I already had enough orbs for masks for all my characters.

The quests were fun at first, but they got a little tedious after doing them so many times... I would have liked more quests or ways to get orbs that were equally fast so I wouldn't have to repeat the same quests a lot.

The dragon arena was fun, but I wish there were a couple more skills and a couple less rez sigs...

The new look in the cities were awsome!

One of the main problems I had with the event, is there was really only one mini game I could do because i didnt have enough money to buy many tickets for the rings. The worm mini game was fun, but I wish there were more mini games that didn't require such large amounts of money. Also, there should have been mini games that don't cost much, but yet still give out titles. Poor people deserve titles too!

The other problem was that the ring mini game, not only was expensive, but also was basically a AFK game... I'm not saying get rid of it. I'm just saying change it so you can't go AFK and still be playing it (if it is possible to make it like that) and add another mini game for the poorer people, that way the rich can do both and try to get multiple titles, or have different forms to get one title, and the poor people can at least have a chance of getting some title.

Overall, the festival was really fun and I really liked it! Plz make more cool festivals!

And next time plz make it more clear on the GW web site. It said "The conclusion of the Dragon Festival will be marked with surprises true Canthans won't want to miss." It misled me and made me think that there would be a special thing at the very end for faction born characters. I ended up staying up untill 2:00 in the morning on my monk waiting for this and ended up going to bed because I was too tired to stay up anymore and was literally falling asleep while playing... (plz also dont use GMT time or give us some way to convert it to our time! I wasn't sure when the event started or stopped because of this. I would have went to bed earlier if I knew for sure)