Are Seasonal Events getting a little, ur - *boring* - to anyone else?

I started reading a forum on the last All Saints Wake having the same issue, and though I agree with both sides of the argument (too short/too fetch-questy vs. short and sweet with high rewards), this year's Starlight Festival was a bit of a let down for me, and I'm gettin' worried...

So, here's my whine: too short, not much to do, and the rewards aren't all that mind boggling (or complete, even: Where's the rest of the uniform?)

I'm not asking for grind heavy FATEs or ginormous, Eorzea spanning fetch quests (though I'll admit I enjoy that from time to time). But I enjoyed last year's Starlight Celebration WAY more than this meager...whatever it was. I was done this go around after logging on for 10 minutes, and now there's nothing more to do.

I guess I'm askin', don't we want seasonal events to be, I don't know...ACTUAL EVENTS!?!

<sigh>...I'm the second post on me own thread...oh well.

Just did the new Heavensturn quest, and my fears are well founded, it seems. It was once again crazy short (talk to a guy, do a FATE, talk to a guy...10 minutes gone, yer done - again.), not much fun, and the "rewards" might be glamoured by five people per server (okay,maybe more, but still...pretty flimsy...).

It feels to me like SE is weary of providing worthwhile seasonal events, perhaps to focus more on providing other new content that's permanent to the game. While I can understand this, it begs the question - why even bother doing seasonal quests at all?

For the past year, even though there were a few less than fantastic events, every single one had something about it that made it worth doing. Starlight Celebration was actually fun, provided a shweet minion and other cool stuff, and was even repeatable, and worth repeating. You could put in as much or as little time as you wanted. Heavensturn may have been a "talk-to-a-bunch-o'-people" quest, but the minion at least was worth it for the collectors. Valentione's Day made you think, and for those who enjoy that sort of thing it was brilliant, and encouraged players to work out the puzzles together. Little Ladies Day was an interesting event, the entire server working together towards a common goal, and inviting new players to seek out veterans to accomplish it was a stroke of genius (well...it was a cool idea, at least). Again, repeatable, and you could put in a little time, or a lot, up to you. Hatching Tide had a cool story and was hella fun to do, despite the rewards being minimal, plus you could repeat the FATEs and still get rewards if you wanted to. Moonfire Faire...oh, Moonfire Faire...that sucker could last you a month if you wanted it to, weeks for most, and the rewards are pure glamour-er bliss. So many swimsuits...not to mention that the FATEs were varied, AND you could choose to craft for your rewards, and help others earn their stuff as well. Grinders paradise, and at least an amusing diversion for those who don't want to grind. The Rising was an amazing experience, total nostagia/novelty (talk to the devs in-game?! That's cool.), and you got two cool minions and a permanent mini-game just for shites. Even All Saint's Wake, the beginning of my worries (very short/not much to do), rewarded us with an awesome mount. And then...<sigh>...

I guess my point is, if we're not going to have unique experiences with worthwhile rewards doing these seasonal quests, why should we do 'em? And if SE doesn't have time to provide those experiences because they're trying to provide a better core, do we really want them to waste time making a speck of a quest that none of us care about, even if we want to?

I want better seasonal quests, but if that's impossible, I'd rather just have a festive setting and be done than expect something fun and rewarding and get punched in the gut for doing so...

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Originally Posted by BlatantPyre

...it begs the question - why even bother doing seasonal quests at all?...

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TBH, for the achievement, and moreover, the unwanted item will be put on mogshop for $5 next year... ^^;

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Originally Posted by Nicobo

TBH, for the achievement, and moreover, the unwanted item will be put on mogshop for $5 next year... ^^;

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Achievement's are, uh...nice...but it isn't really a reward, not on their own accord anyway. I prefer to earn my stuff as well, I'm not looking "just to own it", but to experience getting it and having it as a souvenir. That may just be me. But none of that has anything to do with my point. I'm looking for FUN. The rewards just make it sweeter.

I was a little confused when i finished this last one.. Like "That was it? O_o"
Hopefully they're putting time into something worthwhile? Would like to see more interesting events as well ;___;

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Originally Posted by Tokochan

I was a little confused when i finished this last one.. Like "That was it? O_o"
Hopefully they're putting time into something worthwhile? Would like to see more interesting events as well ;___;

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Oh, I agree. I guess I'm just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. In doing a little research, apparently the last Starlight Celebration was headed by a newcomer to the team, one with little game development experience. He posted as such on one of the DEV only forums. As much as I'm glad for new blood, maybe he needs a little more mentoring before he goes hands-on, his inexperience really shows. I don't know what happened with Heavensturn...

To clarify, my "if that's not possible" comment is really to show how nonsensical it would be without being too contrary...we have enough of that on here as it is. Besides, it's technically possible that the reason behind this recent lackadaisical event development really is because they've diverted faculty to core content...but it's just speculation. Whether it's okay or not is up to the individual player. Me...I'm on the fence, but my legs are swingin' on the "not so okay" side as I stare at all the disappointment...

Just played Valentione's Day event...and I'm okay with it. Still short, the rewards were okay, but - it was fun, the concept was pretty cool. And that's all of what I was askin' for.

I may retire this thread soon, but if anyone wants to start up a convo, I'll keep it.

Well christmas and this year's events thus far i kind of find they are not as good as they have been in the past. Decorations and what not are still top notch however :)

Actually I thought this Valentione's Day event was sweet - the only thing I wasn't sure about was the whole fortune-telling mechanic - exactly how did it work? I formed a party with my bf (whose character is happily married to my character), and most of the results were... either utterly wrong (the fortune stated my boyfriend's character was a frigid ice-maiden to her, which nothing could be further from the truth!), or so totally vague as to seem more like a generic 'this response would probably suit most adventurers' (namely, gaining money). And the last one seemed to be a subtle hint to me to actually follow the rest of the sheep and do the stupid anima weapon quest (which I've been holding out on doing)! :p

Ah well, it was still fun anyway and it was nice to see

Lisette and whatshisface actually earn their happy ending, after the last few years where it showed nothing but doomed attempts at match making.

Who says romance is dead? ;)

As far as I can tell, it was based off of certain characteristics of the two characters' profiles (they kept mentioning Nameday, current class, and the like), probably cross-referencing some variable generator chart based off of those characteristics. It was a cool idea, I've attempted it with multiple characters, and haven't seen the same outcome yet. That being said...it's just random stuff, so I wouldn't expect anything coming out of it that should affect your game directly, or any potential "relationship" (or in Enkidoh's case, relationship) between the two peeps involved. It's just for kicks.

To respond to Maero...your point is well taken. I did say I enjoyed this Valentione's Day - but I did enjoy last year's far more. Like I said on another thread, there's still room for improvement. Guess I should'a said that here, too...

I think I made it pretty obvious that I absolutely love this year's Valentione's Day event ;)

Generally I'm satisfied with seasonal events as a whole. I prefer them actually over most MMOs' events that have you grinding stuff every day just to get any decent reward.
They are short, sweet, and the decorations all over town put me in a nice holiday spirit :)
Valentione's Day this year surprised me, because it encourages to incorporate the event quest into social interaction, and because it keeps some replayability that way, which goes way beyond my expectations already.

Valentione's Day was actually kind of fun. It is the 1st event my wife and I did together. It gave us all positive reviews, which we were happy to hear. Personally my favorite event is still one of the 1st ones, the Egg hunting event. I was totally enjoying myself exploring all corners of the world looking for those eggs. That was the most fun event in the game in my opinion, which I would like to make a return. I played everyday hunting for eggs to see what I would get. I actually made a friend doing that quest, too.

Just did Little Ladies' Day, and again, I'm glad my fears are unwarranted. This event seems to address everything I've seen players bring up in many of the forums, including here (short and sweet if you want it, heavily repeatable if you want it, rewards are worth getting, fun to participate in). I thoroughly enjoyed watching the story progress as more and more players participated in the event, and listening to people campaigning for their favorite Songbird was just a hilarious side effect. Even though the reward is the same no matter how much of a grind you choose to make it (not counting vendor items), the fact that the people who did take the time to grind "fully" helped advance the plot faster, making the grind worthwhile for story, was a great idea.

I have only one complaint, and it's minor. In the past, even though repeatable content was repetitive, it was generally fun to repeat to some extent due to variation and involving some sort of skill. This time, it would have been nice to have that, especially since it encourages us to repeat it so much. Even though the NPC's rhetoric changes as the story progressed, reading the same stuff over and over again (or ignoring it because you've read it so many times) is not fun. Doing it 40 times? Even more so...

events should have more bardings

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Originally Posted by rjspencer4

events should have more bardings

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....and more minions and more mounts!

I think the reason (pure speculation here) that we haven't seen any mounts, minions, or bardings is due to the devs not wanting us to get one every time there's an event - essentially, they want it to feel special when we do get one of them.

Minions in the past year or so: Starlight Celebration 2014 (Hoary the Snowman), Heavensturn (Tender Lamb), The Rising (Wind-up Yugiri, Wind-up Iceheart), All Saint's Wake (Pumpkin Butler) - 5 in the span of a year.

Mounts in the past year: All Saint's Wake (Witches' Broom) - 1 in the span of a year

Bardings in the past year: Valentione's Day (Paramour Barding) - 1 in the span of a year

Minions, mounts, and bardings so far this year: ...

Okay, so maybe we could do with one such reward come next seasonal event... -_-

I just wish that the Songbird cutscenes were in the Unending Journey

was there going to be anymore to little ladies? I was lil sad i couldn't get more trees or blankets though the event.

Each event typically has unique items each year, with only a few exceptions. We may see the cherry blossom trees again eventually, but the fact we didn't get them two years in a row doesn't surprise me. The rarity factor helps add to the cool factor, so I don't mind. Just make sure to get as many of each item you can every event - you may never have another chance.

So the event is gone.. was there a point to voting at all? I mean who even won. The story seemed to just trail off and not finish. Did i miss it? I'm confused so much.

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Originally Posted by Chiapet

So the event is gone.. was there a point to voting at all? I mean who even won. The story seemed to just trail off and not finish. Did i miss it? I'm confused so much.

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The point of the vote was to help the Songbirds become popular. Changing their costumes and unlocking more dialogue options for the repeatable quest. That quest contains the bulk of the story, changing as more and more people vote, and has what I think is the "True Ending" when all three are in the suikans. The problem is because it doesn't have anything to do with another video game character or the Rising, the cut-scenes cannot be viewed on the Unending Journey and the journal entries themselves paint less of the complete picture than usual as a result. I hope SE will at least add the Little Ladies day scenes to the Unending Journey (Among others) and that the Songbirds make a reappearance in something like the Hildibrand quests or something related to the Dancer Job if it were to be implemented

If SE does bring the Songbirds back (I would be horribly surprised if they don't, I got the sense they put a lot of thought into the character development), I would hope they do put the cutscenes into the Unending Journey. That being said...I fear they will not. Look at Valentione's Day as just one example: Every year the story between Lisette and...erm...her boy-toy progresses, they even recognize you if you have participated over the years, but do we get the cutscenes in the UJ in the off chance we don't have a perfect memory for an event that occurs once every 360 or so days? That we don't...

I'd be nice if SE did bring back seasonal event cutscenes for those of us who have done them, especially since it seems they are telling an overarching story per each one, but I don't know the minutia of what that would entail, or if it's even possible. Here's hopin' they see this thread...

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

The point of the vote was to help the Songbirds become popular. Changing their costumes and unlocking more dialogue options for the repeatable quest. That quest contains the bulk of the story, changing as more and more people vote, and has what I think is the "True Ending" when all three are in the suikans.

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Ok thank you for taking the time to explain this. It felt like it was really hard to see on my server. I obviously didnt even understand what i was looking for. Very weird event.

After all my years on xiv this was the first event that really went well over my head meh

HATCHING TIDE IS HEREEEEEEEEEE

An as expected, Papaya ear-worms its way through Orchestrations like an epidemic

An epidemic I'm glad to participate in...Hatching Tide is freaking awesome, screw my typical attempt at eloquence and analytics. I dare not use the word perfect (only reason: someone'll go "nuh-uh!"), but this is by far my favorite seasonal event I've ever participated in. And just as proof, I'm done getting all the novelty stuff that I needed (which is all great, by the way), but...I'm gonna grind this one out for as long as I can for shards, crystals, and ventures...oh, the genius of it all. So, I'll be enjoying this one for a while...high-five, SE.

Sidenote: I know a lot of people are going to applaud the possible brevity (as do I, really) of this one and the ones before it, but...SE, please go to town on Moonfire Faire. Remember, as much as the short-and-sweet people want what they want, those of us who don't mind a grind for many rewards still want what we want...you've been finding perfect balance so far with these last few, giving us options. Is it possible to lean it a bit in the grinders favor, just for the next one at least...?

I love that they added the Spriggan Cap to the rewards, XD. Now I have it if ever I want to wear it

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Originally Posted by Eloah

I love that they added the Spriggan Cap to the rewards, XD. Now I have it if ever I want to wear it

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Where DID that cap come from anyway. It's clearly not an event item (I'd have it in the Armoire if that was the case)

NVM, found out it came form maps

Haven't posted in a while...Make It Rain, Moonfire Faire, The Rising, Yo-Kai Crossover Event, All-Saints' Wake, and Starlight Celebration have all taken place since my last post, all having various degrees of awesomeness (or lack there of) that I'm not going to comment on - they've passed, and in general they were all pretty darn good, some more-so than others. That being said...

I'm getting back on here because the last two events, Heavensturn and Valentione's Day, were practically non-existent. My original concern is back times ten. I know not everyone is into the seasonal events (though based on how many people show up to these things, I think more are interested than not), but I'm sensing SE is done with them. Stormblood's coming out soon, maybe that's why they practically skipped these last two, but...seriously, if they're just going to repeat last years bad Heavensturn and then have Valentione's Day be "talk to NPC, talk to NPC, emote to NPC, travel, emote to NPC, travel, emote to NPC..." then why bother?

They were doing so well, too...

The Halloween one was pretty legit...but other then that, idk...yeah they are kind of boring.

The rewards have gone down hill as well. Imagine if they gave us a mount, hairstyle and outfit...instead of housing items. Shoot, I have a large LB house and even I don't want the furniture anymore. There is no point when they don't give us additional space. At least with hairstyles/mounts those don't clog inventory...and the outfits are usually able to be stored instantly.

Personally, the Christmas event made me tear up. And, I found the Valentine's Day event cute and silly. I like events that don't drag, while still keeping your attention. I prefer short and sweet over anything else when it comes to events... at least seasonal ones. Of course, there is *always* room for improvement, however. I would rate the Christmas event a solid 9 out of 10, and no other comes close to it for me. I forgot a good half of the events I participated in, but that one may last me for a lifetime.

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Originally Posted by BlatantPyre

I started reading a forum on the last All Saints Wake having the same issue, and though I agree with both sides of the argument (too short/too fetch-questy vs. short and sweet with high rewards), this year's Starlight Festival was a bit of a let down for me, and I'm gettin' worried...

So, here's my whine: too short, not much to do, and the rewards aren't all that mind boggling (or complete, even: Where's the rest of the uniform?)

I'm not asking for grind heavy FATEs or ginormous, Eorzea spanning fetch quests (though I'll admit I enjoy that from time to time). But I enjoyed last year's Starlight Celebration WAY more than this meager...whatever it was. I was done this go around after logging on for 10 minutes, and now there's nothing more to do.

I guess I'm askin', don't we want seasonal events to be, I don't know...ACTUAL EVENTS!?!

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They are a waste of time except for the housing decos to me. Even a few of those I wouldn't use.

I've never found the seasonal events fun except for the Halloween event last year. I really enjoyed the instance and atmosphere during the event.

The Valentine's event we have right now is pretty lackluster. I was expecting more than just talking to a few npc's and getting a reward, and I was actually surprised by how short it was... If the rewards were a bit better, it wouldn't be so bad, but lately all we've been getting is furniture or reskins.

I think their doing a great job here, I loved last years Hunted House, but now I think they have set up a new standard for us ; ; we want more lol For this event in Feb. I would have probably made it as a co -op trail. Something to strengthen their bond. For example a 2 man mission such as defeating evil spirits who weaken the hearts of people and only by re igniting their appreciation could they be defeated. I would have liked an evil cupid minion, and perhaps made a heartless minion. Kind of like a KH cross over. would have probably made it as a co -op trail. Something to strengthen their bond. For example a 2 man mission such as defeating evil spirits who weaken the hearts of people and only by re igniting their appreciation could they be defeated. I would have liked an evil cupid minion, and pehaps made a heartless minion. Kind of like a KH cross over.