Your thoughts on Easter?

Easter Event, overall - success or failure?

Success!	50.0%	[ 50 ]
Failure...	13.0%	[ 13 ]
A little of both? (Please elaborate!)	37.0%	[ 37 ]
Total Votes:			[ 100 ]

[Red Kutai]

With our much-anticipated Easter Event finally wrapping up, I thought it might be worthwhile to compile a little feedback thread, here. What did everyone think of the Event? And, more importantly, what could be done to improve upon it? What difficulties did we have? Was there anything particularly frustrating?

While all viewpoints are naturally welcomed, understand that constructive critiques are considerably more helpful than mere opinions - the focus here is to pick out the parts of this Event that could be made better, with (rather lofty) hopes of making future Events even more successful.

So, what did we think? sweatdrop

[Red Kutai]

It's worth mentioning, this discussion has been touched on briefly in the Guild z!magine. For the sake of discussion, here are some points that were brought up:

Red Kutai

To get started, something that we had similar troubles with at Halloween: please remember to tag new Event loot as zOMG! items. As it is, items aren't showing up in our in-game inventories, or the zOMG! Tab of our main inventories - they show up only under the All Tab. This leads to a lot of confusion when players expect to be able to find the loot they found in zOMG! in their zOMG! inventory... whee

Thard_Verad

I have a somewhat... labor-intensive suggestion. It's neat that VG gets the pastel touch at Easter, and Barton goes into Halloween mode, but maybe other areas could get a little holiday touch as well. Little touches like decorating some of the trees around Bass'ken Lake or dressing Caruthers in his most festive holiday socks.

Memory Haunts You

Normal eggs
I really love the egg hunt. I'm enjoying it very much.
What I found a bit inconvenient, is that we could not follow how many eggs we had found (because the badge didn't show in the "in progress" list).

I'd really have liked a counter, and would actually like it if that counter could go beyond the first 1000, or if there were badges for higher amounts than the 1k one. Maybe even a leaderboard - or does that sound unhealthily competitive?

Golden egg
I was very glad to see that the amount of gold the Golden Egg gave out, was kept within reasonable boundaries, so that it didn't become something like in the horror stories I've read about Jack.

I know that the fact that the Golden Egg was rather easy and fast to kill, was a good thing to avoid all too much lag. I do think it would be exciting if some risk was involved in attacking the egg. Unlike Jack, who puts up a nasty fight and goes as far as changing people into pumpkin fluffs, the Golden Egg is extremely harmless. How about it sending out burning rays of sunlight, or having some animated guard it and defend it? (Don't just hide, you radioactive rabbits, help me!)

Of course it would have been awesome if the Midas Touch badge had actually worked, but hey, stuff happens. I am torn on whether event badges should be re-used or not. On the one hand, it is great to be able to get those badges. On the other hand, there could be different ones for each year, with the year on it. I, as a rather new player, would not find it offensive or annoying if there were badges I could never acquire because they were time-bound, and if there were other players who had a badge that I haven't because they had been playing since longer. In my honest opinion, there is nothing wrong with a bit of "bragging rights" for "having been playing since xyz year"!

Items obtained in-game
Going by the various topics about this in the forum, my personal opinion which leans towards "loot was too easy to find" is being contradicted by people who felt they had trouble finding loot. Going by the marketplace, I would still dare to say "rather easy".

As for the plushies, I would have liked to see them have an I-am pose.

The fact that the Sundae sweets weren't re-released disappointed some people because they were expecting it when they were told the event was being recycled. Then again, if they *had* been re-released, some other people would have found reason to complain about that. Just like with Fortune's Favor, but the other way round. In the end, it's impossible to please *everyone* when it comes to giving out items.

Buddies
The chickies are cute, but I would personally have liked to see some bunnies. whee
Contrary to what the loud minority of haters in the site feedback screams out, I think the random hatching was good for sales - but I am merely going by the amount of chicky buddies I see running around in-game to say that. I would be very interested to hear what it has actually done to the sales.

The rare recipe as a chance item of the buddy egg *can* be a good thing to draw attention to recipes and zOMG! - though I am wondering if people who do not play zOMG! yet, are actually interested in the item to begin with. Personally, I am not super fond of the "Bunny Brigade" item, but that is just a matter of taste. When I hear "bunny brigade", I expect bunnies, lots and lots of cute bunnies.

Promoting the event

I was thrilled to see Gaia actually made an announcement of the zOMG! Easter event. It would have been nice to have something more permanent about it in the header, though - like the time when the first buddies were released. Wouldn't hurt to see it on the home page, either.

Quintafeira12

It's a pity that there's those glitches btw. I guess it would have to happen eventually, but this was the time I finally got excluded from event rewards in some way, specifically, gold from 2 golden eggs.

Still, I see 20k as a passable mention, as well as a badge. What bothers me the most is the fact some people aren't getting the regal adornment bundle. Fortune's Favor is arguably, the second best prize to get from the event, the first one being bunny brigade out of sheer rarity.
The golden egg is, in its own right, an obstacle to most people, that can be overcome by interacting with others on the site. As far as it goes from gaia's point of view, promoting interactivity is to be considered a success. That users would have grudges against the process is therefore, not a good thing at all.

Also, speaking of bunny brigade. Soulbound or not, there isn't much of a difference other than market value (which should tend to stay higher with two listings), as long as the recipe is easy to craft. The fact that it was a recipe inside of a RIG however, interests me. I find this to be a really good way of advertising zOMG!, as long as the item retains the kind of appeal bunny brigade has.
If it was harder, on the other hand, there would be two effects seen. First, a major outcry from users who find it inconsiderate that they have to both pay for the RIG and be lucky, and then even have to work their asses for the prize on a game they might not play (ignore the fact that it was a buddy RIG, some people ARE in it for bunny brigade). On the other hand, people holding the recipe would probably give it a chance, since the item itself would be more valuable than the recipe, in all ways.
I'm not actually promoting to make it harder, that kind of thing should be made with non-cash event items, so that more people would be affected, and not just a couple of members. It's just an hypothetical scenario. Also, I'm happy the recipe is unsoulbound now.

[DrQuint]

you shouldn't make threads like this on noon weekdays xp

[Darikka]

i loved looking for the normal eggs. i wish there were more treasure hunt type quests/activities, where you had to be observant instead of just killing things until your loot dropped.

i do wish that we had counters for everything that had cumulative badges, not just holiday events like the eggs but the regular mini-events as well. if there's not a petition about that already, i should probably go start one...

and it would have been nice to get some official word on whether the midas badge is glitched or was not intended to be awarded this year.

i don't know how much of a problem high-leveled people hunting in low-leveled areas is, but for future egg-hunt-like events, i think it'd be worth considering having maximum CLs that could attack them, kind of like the giftboxes in bassken or most mini-events. if eggs were set to require an area-appropriate CL before you could attack them, then the 10.0 people would at least have to suppress to a range where they'd be attacked by the local animated too.

[rimedragona]

I thought it was fun, and it ran very well. The servers cycled enough, imo, to keep the whole thing fresh and minimizing droughts.

But the whole badge thing... I don't like that we couldn't get the Midas badge this year, and I hope that it is fixed.

[DrQuint]

bumping

[II_iMuddy_II]

It's pretty bad. The event was just a Halloween 2010 redo, except with eggs and chicks. The game was glitchy and bugged. For a few times, I got repeatedly logged out 5 times.

[xXAzarielXx]

With these wings...

^
y-....you.....what are you even doing here?! D:> it seems like you dont even like zomg!

I shall fly to the moon...

[Red Kutai]

Darikka

and it would have been nice to get some official word on whether the midas badge is glitched or was not intended to be awarded this year.

That was one suggestion I was considering: announcing exactly which Badges will be available from the Event on the launch screen. There's no need to explain how to obtain them, if they're interested in keeping them secret, but it would be beneficial to those interested in Badges to know which ones will be attainable, over the course of the Event...

[RafiCat]

I'm a little disappointed.

There seemed to be very few regular eggs, and not enough of them had loot. I got on every day and went entirely thru zomg, and usually found fewer than five eggs.

I have all the recipes and not nearly enough loot to make them.

On another note, I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that there seem to be many people who got over 100 golden eggs. I think they should use a sliding reward system for things like this and the jack event. Say the first time you get the regal bundle, and 2nd 9k gold, third 8k, ets. After you get 10 your down to zero gold reward, and you go away if you're not into doing it for fun.

I know people will stomp on me for this. I don't care. It's what I think. It's what I would think even if I had time to get 100 golden eggs.

EDIT: Thanks to some generous people, I got enough loot to make one of each recipe! biggrin

Thank you Neecra and fantasymonk!

[DrQuint]

RafiCat

I'm a little disappointed.

There seemed to be very few regular eggs, and not enough of them had loot. I got on every day and went entirely thru zomg, and usually found fewer than five eggs.

I have all the recipes and not nearly enough loot to make them.

On another note, I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that there seem to be many people who got over 100 golden eggs. I think they should use a sliding reward system for things like this and the jack event. Say the first time you get the regal bundle, and 2nd 9k gold, third 8k, ets. After you get 10 your down to zero gold reward, and you go away if you're not into doing it for fun.

I know people will stomp on me for this. I don't care. It's what I think. It's what I would think even if I had time to get 100 golden eggs.

I disagree with letting it go all the way down to zero.

However, I'm behind you on adding a curve. as long as it has theres that lower limit on gold granted and takes a bit to get there. 10 seems fine.

[Darikka]

RafiCat

On another note, I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that there seem to be many people who got over 100 golden eggs. I think they should use a sliding reward system for things like this and the jack event. Say the first time you get the regal bundle, and 2nd 9k gold, third 8k, ets. After you get 10 your down to zero gold reward, and you go away if you're not into doing it for fun.

I know people will stomp on me for this. I don't care. It's what I think. It's what I would think even if I had time to get 100 golden eggs.

sounds good to me. why anyone needs to kill that many eggs i do not know. i only helped kill 3, and i only joined in on the last 2 because i was the person who discovered the egg.

i didn't have a problem finding normal eggs, but the loot/recipe ratio does seem a little weird to me. i have far more recipes than i have ingredients to make them with. it just seems silly, like it should be the other way around...

[yami_lith]

RafiCat

I'm a little disappointed.

There seemed to be very few regular eggs, and not enough of them had loot. I got on every day and went entirely thru zomg, and usually found fewer than five eggs.

I have all the recipes and not nearly enough loot to make them.

On another note, I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that there seem to be many people who got over 100 golden eggs. I think they should use a sliding reward system for things like this and the jack event. Say the first time you get the regal bundle, and 2nd 9k gold, third 8k, ets. After you get 10 your down to zero gold reward, and you go away if you're not into doing it for fun.

I know people will stomp on me for this. I don't care. It's what I think. It's what I would think even if I had time to get 100 golden eggs.

There was a gold reward curve. There were people, whose gold reward dropped down to 2-3k, but then after a while the reward resets again. I don't know what are the specifics about that.

[WideEyed]

On the whole, I honestly have to say that I was less than impressed.
It's probably because there was actually very little for players who had participated in last year's Easter Event.

I already had a batch of Bassketh 'Loo and Cheepz Recipes, as well as all of the Badges.

I would have liked to see the Bunny Fluffs have an "I Am" pose, simply because Fluffs don't really do it for me as Avvy Items.

I'd also like to have seen new Badges for this year.
Someone already mentioned "Bragging Rights", and there's no bragging rights when you can get a 2010 Badge in 2011.

I also question the drop ratios, and wonder a) why so many recipes when it's completely impossible to ever get enough loot to make them, and b) why do all the loot items drop at roughly the same rate, when the numbers required of the various recipe constituents vary so dramatically.

I'd also like to see an Egg counter. So people could know where they stand in their Badge hunt as well as what their final total is.

And, I agree with some sort of "Area Appropriate Level Capping".
I ran through on one of my Newbie Accounts, and it is extremely tough with a low cl and very limited Ring set, to make much progress in Egg collecting when you're limited to VG and Bill's while higher level cl's run through and wipe the areas clean.
If we're looking at Events as an opportunity to attract new players to zOMG!, having them falling prey to greedy older players is not going to make their first zOMG! experience a positive one, and may actually turn them off the game rather than entice them into it.

GE spawns.
I'd like there to be more of them.
Lower the grant rate if necessary, but if you can spend five hours in the same area, and never have a GE spawn, it's more of a frustration than an inducement.
More spawns with a lower grant rate might also reduce Server hopping.

I also didn't like the fact that the new Buddies were released as yet another Chance Item.
The rate at which new Items are being released in this format is really starting to bug me, and I quite frankly find it to be rather abusive.

Timing.
I know it's been said and discussed beyond reason, but how do you expect to draw attention to zOMG with an Easter Event that starts the day before the Forum Easter Event ends?

Honestly, after all the hype and anticipation, coupled with memories of last year's Event, this year's Event was a let down.
From the initial excruciating delays, to the glitches, to the lack of substantive content for longer term players, to the scaled back version of an already recycled Event, to the real absence of any hype on the main site, to the sudden, unannounced ending of the Event itself, I'd have to say it was a fail.

Hopefully Halloween will be better, but considering the current state of zOMG! within the larger Gaian scheme of things, I'm not going to hold my breath.

[Zyqi]

I had just as much fun as last year. >w<