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A Holiday Compromise

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H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Let me start by saying that Holiday Events are a classic part of the RuneScape experience that I feel has certainly been lost with several advents, starting all the way back with being able to trade limited time holiday items - so when others look at a holiday event today and think negatively of it, I would like to call out the playerbase for engaging in trivial commercialism that has made holiday events less "celebratory" and more "working overtime" in order to feel like you've successfully gotten enough of the event and ensure that you have...at least a puncher's chance at all of the rewards.

On top of players in later years being shamefully won over by the possibility of winning big amounts of GP, the amount of love and care that seems evident from these events on Jagex's end has slipped too - because Jagex's design schedule is now bound tightly to the "content season" or active storyline that they are releasing in a pretty serial, episodic cadence.

Finally, a lot of things Jagex does lately pour cold water on the celebratory mood because EVERYTHING is about player engagement. This is how Jagex can claim to care about all of their players, even the ones that take long breaks in one breath - and then release an event like this one, where players are going to lose their collective minds and try to log in for multiple hours a day just for 100% completion.

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My personal favorite holiday events....are the ones RuneScape used to do. An NPC would set up shop somewhere in the game world, you'd do menial task for a good 5 to 10 minutes, and you would get a cosmetic item that you could only get at that point in time, which made it special, I'd argue in some respects even more so than the earliest examples of such items, which ended up being tradeable and how now just become big ole wealth flexes as opposed to badges of honor for playing the game at certain times.

Now, not every player is the same - so how do you make a holiday event that serves everyone?
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

18-Oct-2023 05:45:36

H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I'll start with Treasure Hunter and how it's become integrated into the holiday experience... and this might shock some people, but I
don't hate having TH-specific holiday items.
I would prefer that they were purely cosmetic, and I'm probably all alone in hating the fact that these items tend to be tradeable - but I'm a gal who can respect getting lucky, and while TH is something I'd rather see die in a fire -
Treasure Hunter is a valid way to market items - so long as the item is ONLY on Treasure Hunter, and does NOT provide additional perks other than being cosmetic.


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What about non-Treasure Hunter methods for obtaining holiday things?

Much more important than TH in my opinion, is that Jagex needs to strike a perfect balance between players who remember the old style of events that are quick and sorta like mini quests, as well as those whose favorite kind of holiday reward is.....experience, and we also need to keep in mind that Jagex is working on a tighter schedule centered around episodic content.

The difference is important - because the pro-XP holiday folks do get interesting concepts, such as the Beach Event or other such festivals that they can spend a lot of time training and getting xp in unique ways. While there has been a lot of pushback from the rest of the playerbase against this type of event due to its frequency, it clearly does have an audience.

Suggestion:
There should be festival "seasons", which allow players to gain experience and older reward items for multiple months at a time. For example, you could have the Beach Event all summer, a Spring Guthixian festival - all spring, the Halloween festival at Draynor Manor all fall, and a winter themed one all winter.


(cont.)
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

18-Oct-2023 05:55:33

H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Having a cycle of in-game festivals does RuneScape an interesting favor in that it feels livelier, and would encourage different types of gameplay without inducing a fear of missing out because these things would last longer than usual.

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Now, for shorter events, the REAL holiday events. If the above clients are taken care of with longer seasonal content that addresses the want for XP and community building, that just leaves the players who want to celebrate single-day holidays the old fashioned way, and Jagex being able to find time to squeeze those targeted holiday updates within their episodic cadences.

I want to turn your attention to one thing the current event does really well when it comes to getting these two groups, Old-heads and Jagex, to come together. The current event, a third of the time,
takes place within the walls of Fort Forinthry.


What if,
Jagex wrote quests so that the holidays that are happening at around the time of the content are represented, and part of the quest reward was a classic holiday bauble?


For example, let's take the recent quest we got - Ancient Awakening. It takes place partially in Fort Forinthry. We could have had this quest open with Pumpkin Pete hilariously interrupting the meeting about his pumpkin head issues, which would have had the player begrudgingly add Pumpkin Pete to the Ungael expedition party in order to make time for Pete's issue to be addressed. The rotten pumpkin head mask could have been a reward from the quest completion screen - and upgrading the mask (all the way to Ensouled!) could have been an added feature to the Ungael Arena combat activity. Pumpkin Pete also would be a party member involved in the activity with a unique halloween attack of some kind.

Silly? Absolutely - but having holidays and whims occur in the midst of serious quests makes the world feel lived in even when time is moving and stakes are being raised.
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

18-Oct-2023 06:07:20

H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
So, here's the CLIFF notes.

1. Treasure Hunter -may- award seasonal items, so long as they don't hold gameplay elements (like the Ensouled Head does.) Happy Christmas, Whales. Spend Away. May the odds be ever in your favor.

2. XP-based holiday content (Beach Event, etc.) should be stretched out over entire seasons, which allows players to avoid FOMO and engage with the event over longer periods of time.

3. Jagex should integrate upcoming holidays into the actual storyline when it is applicable, and if not, should be prepared to release holiday-specific short quests/activities that reward holiday baubles.


This would take care of every type of holiday event preference while also respecting Jagex's direction for the game.
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

18-Oct-2023 06:11:25

Jeremy Cheng
Aug Member 2013

Jeremy Cheng

Posts: 25,679 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
1. I agree. More cosmetics that have no gameplay impact like a new skin of th santas, more xmas jumpers, untradeable plushies would work for rewards on th for this year's christmas event.

2. Exactly. Beach should last multiple months as that does make sense that a summer beach area would be around for the whole summer.

3. I would like this to give us holiday miniquests for untradeable holiday cosmetics whether it's a physical item or a override.

18-Oct-2023 06:27:36

Roddy Piper
Jan Member 2011

Roddy Piper

Posts: 13,757 Opal Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Do 'whales' even want to win GP jackpots? To me the whole idea is they want things BEFORE everyone else. 1 or 2 days doesn't cut it. The more time they have for exclusive access to those rewards, the more valuable those rewards are. Long-term, they don't care if everyone else gets it too, because they are ready for something new. In fact, one could argue they should be happy when everyone else catches up.

The events should also be more generous with the rewards. If you are inviting everyone to participate and that is the intended outcome, there is nothing wrong with balancing it high. Instead we get table scraps.

Also, this game IS silly. Or at least it should be. The overly serious and sad tone doesn't appeal to me. It's funny to me, because in this last quest I immediately lost all confidence in the characters and brought the turkey Mackers into the story.

That's my lore, and all the sad bits were met with a wave of the hand. Mackers brought us home, or we would all be left there. In my lore, no other player managed to escape. :P

18-Oct-2023 15:04:50

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

Posts: 30,311 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
"but I don't hate having TH-specific holiday items. I would prefer that they were purely cosmetic, "


What TH-specific holiday items do we have? NOTHING!

All the TH holidays items are obtainable from doing this year's Pumpkin Pete Halloween events. This is just a fact we can all see from just checking the reward list from Pumpkin Pete.

18-Oct-2023 17:41:05

H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Thank you guys - it feels nice to have your own personal thoughts validated by others. Hopefully an eye gets turned this thread's direction.

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Don't whales pay for early-access more than anything else?
Hilda you dummy, you can get everything from playing the game, why talk about Treasure Hunter at all?


Well, Roddy, if exclusivity isn't really enough for the treasure hunter whales, you probably already know that my courtesy doesn't extend much further. That TH rewards items from the event itself causes the most criticized points of this current event to occur.

1. Players feel like Jagex is encouraging them to celebrate whatever holiday is being celebrated through the time honored tradition of pulling out their wallet.

2. Players feel like their alternative is to spend said holiday in their mother's basement playing RuneScape for the off-chance they can somehow get every item possible.


We just came off a terribly timed MTX push through Hero Pass (a feature that was buried by player disapproval), which players still have a bad taste in their mouths over due to recency.

Part of the reason that update died however (in spite of what I know you will cry about some more later, Dilbert - the fact that Jagex tried their best to reduce) is the demand on a player's time, not just their money.

If you want to make an update that is ultimately unfavorable with players, including a holiday event - you should try to force players to donate money, or a whole lot more of their time.

Add in RNG icing - where players can ultimately fall short of getting all the rewards -and you have a whole disgusting cake of an update.
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

18-Oct-2023 21:31:17 - Last edited on 18-Oct-2023 21:33:33 by H 1 L D A

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