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!

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Originally Posted by Zojha

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.

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Newbies not getting to Ishgard makes sense within the context of the story - the nation is isolationist and it's only because Lord Edmont is willing to let you become a ward of House Fortemps that you're allowed entry. (NPC dialogue says other adventurers are as well for their assistance during the Steps of Faith.)

There will never be DLC for this game unless you consider expansions to be as such. That's what the subscription fee is for.

There is no real reason they didn't add Starlight decos to Ishgard, but personally I'd rather they cut corners on that and finish Stormblood on time (or early!) than put some decos up in Ishgard for a few weeks.

In other words: unpleasable fanbase is unpleasable. Nothing to see here, move along.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

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!

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I think you can hand-wave it because the origin story was specifically about knights disobeying orders, which the Church would frown upon, so Starlight celebrations in Isghard evolved to take place entirely behind closed doors. So even now, with the Church's power broken, celebrations are still small and private but more now because that's just how Isghardians have always done it.

I don't know if it can really be relied on as a source but dream Amyeric says that the festival is still held in Ishgard to this day. It can be handwaved away by simply saying though that in Ishgard it's a much more private indoor affair. After all not many people are going to be gathering outside on the coldest nights to celebrate it and constant war would probably incline Ishgard to keeping most festivals outside tournaments low key. Even then they seem to be rather invitation only.

Not even Fortemps Manor has any decorations up, so it's not even an indoor affair. Granted, no one visits the Manor when not on a quest, so decorating it seems a bit futile.

Seeing as last year's Starlight Celebration was all about the Ishgardian history of it, and this year we even get told by dream-Aymeric how it is an important and beloved holiday in Ishgard, I just had expected a little bit of festivities - at least the kind of decoration the other cities have. Ishgard is my favourite city and seeing it empty while the rest of Eorzea is celebrating Ishgards own festival, is just disappointing.