Events need a massive overhaul

[Khryseis_Astra]

Other than the crossover events, most of the “story” is just “slice of Eorzean life,” and that’s fine. I’m also fine with the gameplay being fast and easy. But the rewards could be better…

Ideally I’d like to see an outfit for each event, and for them to get more creative! We didn’t need yet another Santa suit for Starlight, and we already have reindeer and snowman costumes. So how about a nice casual winter outfit? Or a fancy holiday party outfit? We have witches, werewolves and pumpkin heads galore for All Saints Wake, but that would also be a good place for some more goth-looking outfits. Even though I didn’t personally care for the Wake Doctor’s outfit, at least it was something different! Moonfire has probably been the best for summer outfits, other than the Phoenix Riser suit I will literally never wear! If they’re running out of ideas, throw a fashion design contest. I’m sure everyone has at least a few ideas of things they’d love to wear!

The emotes in some of the recent events have been really good… I loved the magic wand, and the Valentiones heart emote. As far as mounts go, I loved the Phoenix, but didn’t really care for the pink Goobbue.

Personally I’d want an outfit and a housing item each event. There’s a backlog of furnishing contest winners a mile long! (And failing that, there’s still seasonal decor in the event areas that’s never been made available as housing items.) The emotes and mounts can be less frequent, I’m sure those take a lot more work to put in-game.

[littlehobbit13]

Ideally I’d like to see an outfit for each event, and for them to get more creative! We didn’t need yet another Santa suit for Starlight, and we already have reindeer and snowman costumes. So how about a nice casual winter outfit? Or a fancy holiday party outfit? We have witches, werewolves and pumpkin heads galore for All Saints Wake, but that would also be a good place for some more goth-looking outfits. Even though I didn’t personally care for the Wake Doctor’s outfit, at least it was something different! Moonfire has probably been the best for summer outfits, other than the Phoenix Riser suit I will literally never wear! If they’re running out of ideas, throw a fashion design contest. I’m sure everyone has at least a few ideas of things they’d love to wear!

The emotes in some of the recent events have been really good… I loved the magic wand, and the Valentiones heart emote. As far as mounts go, I loved the Phoenix, but didn’t really care for the pink Goobbue.

But that's the thing: the quality of rewards is a bit subjective to the player. You didn't like the Pheonix Riser suit, but plenty of other players LOVE that thing. And you think Moonfire has the best summer outfits, but personally I can't stand a lot of them because female versions always end as glorified lingerie which I'd never wear. Everyone's tastes will differ, and the very fact that not every reward will please every player is why they vary them.

Personally I’d want an outfit and a housing item each event. There’s a backlog of furnishing contest winners a mile long! (And failing that, there’s still seasonal decor in the event areas that’s never been made available as housing items.) The emotes and mounts can be less frequent, I’m sure those take a lot more work to put in-game.

The problem with housing items is that they breed resentment for any player without a house. If an event gives outdoor items, you're screwed if you don't have a house. It goes into storage to satisfy the "maybe someday" itch (so you don't get stuck having to buy them off the store if you want them later), but then every time you look at it you feel resentful that "someday" is not today. Resentful that you were "rewarded" with an item you legit can't use. You've pitched the idea that emotes and mounts can be less frequent, but those are the rewards any player can use.

The overall problem with providing a whole outfit for every event is how much work that is. There are quite a few events through every year. If you offered outfits for all of them, you'd run the well dry really quickly. That's not even touching on the amount of work it takes to create the glam in the system: designing the look in the game physics, fitting it to each race, styling it for each gender, determining how it will interact with dye colors, etc. That's quite a lot of work to take on in order to do an outfit for every event.

[Yshnal]

Other than the crossover events, most of the “story” is just “slice of Eorzean life,” and that’s fine. I’m also fine with the gameplay being fast and easy. But the rewards could be better…

This. I've always liked FFXIV's take on events because they are small side stories (which somewhat continue from one year to the next, instead of being static and boring) that are fast to complete and usually not grindy at all, so I can finish them without the FOMO preventing me from doing other things in the game (or out of it) if I want to. I hate being stressed doing an event that's supposed to be fun.

And I also agree that the rewards have been disappointing sometimes lately. Not in regards to the quality, which is something that can be a matter of different tastes, but in regards to the quantity or extreme simplicity in several cases.

I could also add another complaint related to how the rewards worked before the cash shop, but that's something that I complained about aplenty and I don't want to get back in the same neverending discussion. But I still haven't forgotten about what you did, SE!