Why is there no Starlight Celebration in Ishgard?

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Originally Posted by "Starlight Celebration Crier"

The Starlight Celebration can be traced back to ancient Ishgard.

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Originally Posted by Aymeric (EN)

As you well know, the observance of Starlight traces its origins to my homeland, where it remains a much-beloved tradition to this day.

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Originally Posted by "Aymeric (DE)"

Das Sternenlichtfest ist eng verknüpft mit der Geschichte meiner Heimat Ishgard. Deshalb ist es eines der wichtigsten Feste unserer orthodoxen Kirche.
(The Starlight Celebration is tightly linked to the history of my homeland Ishgard. Which is why it is one of the most important holidays of our orthodox church.)

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And yet, there is not a single green twig or snowflake or gift in Ishgard, let alone a tree or an area where the Starlight Celebration theme plays.

Wouldn't it be perfect to celebrate in the wake of current events? With the Dragonsong War coming to an end and the return into the Eorzean Alliance, joining in the celebration would only be natural.

Granted, festivities are usually kept at a low level and you don't want to give wrong impressions to people coming to Ishgard for the first time in their MSQ, but Ishgard could at least have what the two cities without the quest have: An open place with all the decorations and the music.

Although I wouldn't mind a few quests around it...

Most likely reason: Ishgard is an expansion area, and they don't want to lock ARR only players or newbies out from experiencing it.

The same thing happens with every holiday event.

They could at least add decorations to make it more lore friendly. It doesn't have to be were the seasonal quest is.

People loiter around in Ishgard enough as is. One of the draws of seasonal events is that it gets people out of the 3.x areas, which we've spent the vast majority of our time in since 3.0's launch. Going back to appreciate the old world is never a bad thing.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

People loiter around in Ishgard enough as is.

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Most people on Balmung loiter either:
- In Limsa, because the Aetheryte, market board, repairs, company chest and retainer are all in the same area (lower decks)
- In Ul'dah, because the quicksand is a RP hotspot
- In Idyllshire, because tome and crafting vendors

I dunno. Ishgard tends to be comparatively empty. So forgive me if I don't quite get that argument with that perspective. I personally wager SE simply forgot about it.

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Originally Posted by Zojha

Most people on Balmung loiter either:
- In Limsa, because the Aetheryte, market board, repairs, company chest and retainer are all in the same area (lower decks)
- In Idyllshire, because tome and crafting vendors

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This. Ishgard is usually almost empty on my server.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

Most likely reason: Ishgard is an expansion area, and they don't want to lock ARR only players or newbies out from experiencing it.

The same thing happens with every holiday event.

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This is probably the real reason - you only have to look to FFXI and see the same thing occurred there - none of FFXI's expansion pack cities like Aht Urhgan Whitegate or Kazham ever had special event decorations or npcs either, it was always just either the three starting cities or Jeuno (especially the later for the Starlight event - Jeuno would be the only city to get a special Christmas-themed remix of it's BGM and the other three cities had decorations and featured the special event npcs). SE are simply following tradition here in FFXIV.

Also, given Ishgard is still in ruins from the Dragonsong War, I think they have more pressing matters to attend to than putting decorations up.

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Originally Posted by Lunaxia

This. Ishgard is usually almost empty on my server.

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I believe this is a fairly recent development, as I recall Ishgard still being fairly crowded up until around Patch 3.3.

The crowds will go wherever it's the most convenient to carry out patch-relevant activities. I'm quite happy, for example, to see tranquility return to Wineport and Fallgourd Float, as the raiding community moved on.

It's a bit ironic, though, that Revenant's Toll has become so quiet just after it's fully built up. On the other hand, Idyllshire will live up to its name, soon enough. :p

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

This is probably the real reason [...]

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If anything, it would be the real "excuse", seeing as SE has no qualms locking ARR only players and newbies out of experiencing the zones as a whole. They're already missing out on the entire scenery, story and gameplay, so claiming missing out on a few additional decorations that aren't even unique to the area as reason not to do it has very little substance to it.
If it's indeed intentional, the "reason" would be cutting corners here - it's one less area to work with, plain and simple. And indeed, far from a first in business - at least they aren't selling the celebration as DLCs per city.

What makes it especially ironic is that the backstory for the Starlight Festival shows that the holiday ORIGINATED in Ishgard. A devastating dragon attack produced record numbers of orphans, and in spite of being expressly forbidden from doing so, Ishgardian soldiers would smuggle them into their barracks to shelter and feed them, wrapping them in their red uniforms to hide them whenever superiors dropped by. As adults, these orphans remembered their benefactors' kindness, and performed a kindness in turn by dressing in red garb and distributing gifts to children themselves, thus starting the tradition that lead to the holiday as it is now known.

It certainly wouldn't be inappropriate to have dressed up Ishgard for the holiday, even if none of the actual holiday events took place there!