Winter Magic Event Feedback

[DeletedUser5616]

Why for all the ribbons to be had do I want to "WIN" a Second Gingerbread Mansion in the grand prize rotation before I've received the 10th artifact?!

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

Why for all the ribbons to be had do I want "WIN" a Second Gingerbread Mansion in the grand prize rotation before I've received the 10th artifact?!

Because you only need 9 Artifacts to evolve a building to max L10.

 

[DeletedUser21166]

MinMax Gamer wrote, "I am pretty sure that their analytics shows that the vast majority of players would never make it to the bonus section."

If that's true, then they made a big miscalculation. I've been in the bonus section for a week and I'm still 2 artifacts away from a fully upgraded building. Did they plan on most players only getting their gingerbread house to level 5 or 6? I've spent somewhere in the vicinity of 200 enchantments to get this far. That's saying a lot, given that I've hardly used any enchantments at all in the year I've been playing. So, that means I have a lot of them in stock. Still, the difficulty level on this event went up by more than a notch or two.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

If that's true, then they made a big miscalculation. I've been in the bonus section for a week and I'm still 2 artifacts away from a fully upgraded building.

Not really. At the end of the regular quest section and with maximum collection of dropped ribbons for 1-2 weeks an average player would end up with about L9 gingerbread house, that's pretty much how it is designed. So you've had somewhat below average luck, but these numbers are not particularly surprising (especially if you didn't max out ribbon collections from the city). As you found out by now, spending a week in the bonus section doesn't add to the ribbon count that much unless you're really aggressive with boosts.

And 200 enchantments sounds like a lot, are these MMs, PoPs, timeboosts? I am pretty sure I didn't spend nearly as much, but if you're in lower chapters where workshops/manufactories are smaller (so you need more of them), I suppose enchantment utilization would be worse than for high-level buildings.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

If that's true, then they made a big miscalculation. I've been in the bonus section for a week and I'm still 2 artifacts away from a fully upgraded building. Did they plan on most players only getting their gingerbread house to level 5 or 6? I've spent somewhere in the vicinity of 200 enchantments to get this far. That's saying a lot, given that I've hardly used any enchantments at all in the year I've been playing. So, that means I have a lot of them in stock. Still, the difficulty level on this event went up by more than a notch or two.

All I have to say is that the (maybe) randomness of the bricks got you bad. My experience, and that of many other players, is being maybe two grand prizes short of a maxed building once the normal quests are finished and all ribbons have been spent. I think I finished the normal quests on day 7 or 8 of the event and it took me another 4 days of bonus quests to get that 9th artifact. So my Gingerbread House has been maxed for at least a week now.

 

[Jackluyt]

I have a very large Facebook group, and feedback from virtually everyone is totally negative and most express major disappointment.

My personal feeling is that the new quest list is the most 'do-able' ever - but the shuffleboard is a dismal failure. Combine these quests with the last three-chest version and you have a total winner!
There is so little 'control' for players with the Shuffleboard - no ability to pick the 'filler items' that you personally need to stock up on.
Also the Daily Exclusives are really wasted with this system. All that Artwork that goes into developing them - and the chances of actually getting the one you want are close to zero.

 

[DeletedUser24264]

This event has a lot of changes that I don’t like but I accepted them, such as that every brick cost you 50 ribbons even if you only get one brick which is not fair because you pay 50 ribbons for 1 and 50 ribbons for 2 or 3 bricks. The reshuffle I don’t like either but I would have said nothing and accepted.

However, the bonus quest there I have to say that its sucks. The 20 ribbons for every quest it’s not a fair distribution for the work you put in. While in the normal quest line I also had to sometimes produce thing that took me a whole day or more, at least at one point, I got 30 or more ribbons for it.

It is my first time saying anything here but this one really is annoying and I hope they will change it. At least they could have restart the ribbons from the start with the linear increase when you hit the bonus quest but only 20 ribbons for 1 or more days’ work, is not right.

 

[The Unbeliever]

I have a very large Facebook group, and feedback from virtually everyone is totally negative and most express major disappointment.

My personal feeling is that the new quest list is the most 'do-able' ever - but the shuffleboard is a dismal failure. Combine these quests with the last three-chest version and you have a total winner!
There is so little 'control' for players with the Shuffleboard - no ability to pick the 'filler items' that you personally need to stock up on.
Also the Daily Exclusives are really wasted with this system. All that Artwork that goes into developing them - and the chances of actually getting the one you want are close to zero.

While the quest system overall is a slight improvement, there's still the major issues of;
1. 'random' is still full of 'randumb'...
Too many players are getting trapped into 'samey' loops of things like 3 variations of 'gain/produce supplies' or else the horror of constantly alternating 'buy kp/gain VV's'.
The system needs to be overhauled and simply re-organised by quest difficulty so that it's much, much harder to have instances of every other quest repeating the same damn thing over and over and over and over again, ad nausium!

2. Whoever came up with the goods requirements for Ch1-4 quests needs to be sent to remedial pre-kindergarten math!!! (or better yet, just give them a colouring book and a quiet corner to sit in!)
I mean c'mon, did the devs honestly think these totals are in any way sane? Did they even bother to rub two brain cells together to think that maybe Ch1-5 players are still;
a) working on maxing out their relic boost bonus
AND
b) have few if any max-level factories and instead are having to use multiple smaller factories due to the limitations on population & space in the average pre-guest race chapters.

Granted the quest system overall IS an improvement over the previous two events it's been shoved down our collective throats, but there's still a looooooooong way to go to polish up this stinking turd.

 

[Pheryll]

But what is truly revealing about this is that these differently worded quests that ask you to do the same are actually on a cycle. I get them on every second or third quests, but I get them in order!! Do you know how likely it is that happens? It is already pretty unlikely that this would happen once (say a cycle of ~12-15 quests in which every 2nd or 3rd is one of those listed under #2 above, but that they would repeat in the exact same order), but it keeps happening. The way I noticed this was that I realized that I knew which quest is coming! And not because I tried to guess, but because it has been repeating so much that my brain learned the pattern. So, this is telling me that this "fix" is a deliberate attempt to make the quests unnaturally hard. I get the idea to make the quests hard, but this really ruins the game. And, in any case, shame on the developers for doing this behind the scenes machination!

ps: By the way, how is it possible that we only see quests that take a long time to finish repeat (on every other turn) but not those like "produce beverages x number of times" or "give neighbourly help x number of times". These all point to those "random" quests being not random at all...

A true random system has less potential for abuse than one that targets people with harder quests. Definitely targeting with the harder quests does more to the population in reducing performance, but the higher potential is still there. For example, in the Autumn Zodiac quests, some players were targeted with 24 hour production and VV quests (all of which could be shortened significantly with time instants), however, the large number of scouted but not completed provinces they had kept the game from seeing the solve encounter/relic quests as the harder ones. Thus the cycle of 24 hour workshop, VV quest, etc. became an source of nearly unlimited gains while the game thought that the harder quests for them were being given. If the developers do not want aberrant performance to pop out of nowhere, then a truly random quest selection is much better at preventing this than one that targets players with the harder quests for them.

 

[DeletedUser3468]

This event has a lot of changes that I don’t like but I accepted them, such as that every brick cost you 50 ribbons even if you only get one brick which is not fair because you pay 50 ribbons for 1 and 50 ribbons for 2 or 3 bricks. The reshuffle I don’t like either but I would have said nothing and accepted.
...

This is the part that I like the least about this Event. While it may not be completely reasonable, it is, nonetheless, human nature to feel cheated by getting a single brick rather than 3 when they all cost the same number of ribbons. In past events we chose, based on the odds of getting a prize we wanted, how many "ribbons" (or other event currency) to spend and how many "bricks" (or other event point items) we'd get. WE made the choice. It wasn't based on some random draw, which we have seen is not really random. So, yeah, reasonable or not, when I get a long run of just a single brick per hammer, I feel cheated.

 

[GlamDoll]

@InnoGames ,
The biggest plus side, or positive of this event? I know the next event will make this one look good.

Pro tip. Your algorithm is beyond lackluster. If you want ME to gamble, like I am in Las Vegas, you need to step up your game!

 

[mucksterme]

This is the part that I like the least about this Event. While it may not be completely reasonable, it is, nonetheless, human nature to feel cheated by getting a single brick rather than 3 when they all cost the same number of ribbons.

It is interesting how different people view this.
I see it as one hammer = one brick, and if the hammer manages to break two or three it's a bonus.

 

[DeletedUser24133]

I just won and placed that Ghosts of past, present and future building and I deleted it on accident. uuurrrggghhh!!!!

 

[DeletedUser19980]

150 bows from a crafting orb - about double what I have had since the bonus quests started.

...and a 5 day+ scout quest finishes in 30 mins for 20 more...

it must be Christmas!

Happy Christmas to you all - even the devs [grudgingly...]

 

[DeletedUser2870]

That's gonna be tough to do. I'm well into the bonus quests and still don't have enough artifacts to max the first building (though I'm close).

I wouldn't have made it this far with only regular play either. I am well into the bonusquests and only got enough artifacts to max the first building after that, despite the fact I've bought the eventbuilding to give extra red ribbons each time I collect them from the ground. Without that I would not even be close.
But then again, I've been getting far more 1-brick hammers than any others, so it took bloody forever to get this far.

See, that is the "random, not random" crap still slowing some people down. I think I still have only had to scout/research four times in the entire event, not just the bonus quests. The goods production ones are still what slow me down the most. I think between last night and today I got Produce 112k marble, something easy, Produce 112k marble, something easy, Produce 112k marble. I am still burning MMs and pet food for my Storm Phoenix, and sometimes time instants, to get them done at a reasonable pace.

So I should say I have been averaging completing 4 per day, with some days only one or two, depending on timing, and 5 or 6 easy ones in a row on other days.

I on the other hand seem to get that freaking scouting/crafting quest regularly and it sucks. My scouting is up to about 90 hours again. And though I don't mind having to craft stuff I only want to craft things I want, while most of the crap offered I don't want/need and definitely feel pissed about having to craft them to move on, spending valuable CC spells on crap I will disenchant about as soon as I collect it, only to be 'rewarded' with 20 ribbons, which is way out of synch with the effort.

 

[DeletedUser2870]

For the benefit of others who find this later, this is confusing "instants" and "instance."

In this context, an "instance" is a copy of a building, either built, or in inventory waiting to be built, while an "Instant" refers to the artifacts that evolve the building once built.

Sorry, I will use BUILDING where I mean a building and INSTANT where I mean instant (or artifact since that is classified under the instants in your inventory). INSTANCE to me is something I will not use in this context period since it has no bearing on anything and is not registered in the inventory anywhere. One has SPELLS, INSTANTS and BUILDINGS.

 

[DeletedUser24264]

This is the part that I like the least about this Event. While it may not be completely reasonable, it is, nonetheless, human nature to feel cheated by getting a single brick rather than 3 when they all cost the same number of ribbons. In past events we chose, based on the odds of getting a prize we wanted, how many "ribbons" (or other event currency) to spend and how many "bricks" (or other event point items) we'd get. WE made the choice. It wasn't based on some random draw, which we have seen is not really random. So, yeah, reasonable or not, when I get a long run of just a single brick per hammer, I feel cheated.

Yeah that’s the way I see it; however, that’s one aspect I accepted and went with it but now with bonus quest it’s just too much. I understand they are trying to fulfill all the wishes of every player and each of us plays differently but just 20 ribbons for quest that takes 1 day or longer it’s just really unfair. I mean it’s called a bonus quest and not punishment for accomplishing the quest line too fast or?!? It’s just annoying because probably today I will not get the daily price, since I won’t be able to get 50 ribbons and that would be only for price, which not necessarily will be the daily price.

oh well, I guess that’s how effort nowadays will be rewarded with less ribbons.

 

[qaccy]

@Dhurrin what Ashrem was replying to was a post you made that sounded like you thought having any artifacts for a building in your inventory would prevent that building from showing up as a craft, which isn't the case! Artifacts are completely unrelated to that. The only thing the game checks to determine whether an evolving building can show up in crafting is whether or not you already have at least one of that building. Whether you have 0 or 100 artifacts, if you don't possess the building that those artifacts belong to, it's possible to obtain it via crafting.

 

[Stormlord15]

I personally dislike this event strongly. If the daily prizes had been at all attainable I would have tried for some of them, but the style of this event was entirely unenjoyable. I didn't bother to participate. please go back to the other style with the three chest choices that let us choose between focusing on grand or daily prizes or KP etc.

Also, i don't like the evolving buildings, sets are way more interesting to me. Regardless, this grand prize reward wasn't tempting at all stats wise.

 

[DeletedUser3468]

It is interesting how different people view this.
I see it as one hammer = one brick, and if the hammer manages to break two or three it's a bonus.

I might have viewed it that way too if it hadn't been for previous events where we were able to choose how many of the event currency to spend on how far the meter moved. (steps = bricks) We could choose to pick a single "step" (or in this case "brick") for a lesser amount of event currency or we could choose to move 3 or even 5 "steps" by spending more of the event currency. We could use a strategy to decided which was better for us, the item that gave just 1 step but didn't cost much and had a chance at something we wanted or we could spend a lot of the currency for a chance at something else (usually including a better chance at the daily prize) and get 3 or 5 "steps" ("bricks"). This leads to something else I haven't mentioned yet... in the previous events, because we could choose items that had better chances of getting the daily prize, we could get multiples of the daily more easily than we can with this event. (I have to just say "more easily" because today I got 3 of the wishing wells daily because I got one, then got the reset, got the 2x and another of the wells for a total of 3 wells. This means it's not impossible to get more than 1 daily prize, but it is much less likely unless you're lucky.)