Guild Wars 2

Im looking forward to the Wintersday event despite the fact im not sure i’ll be around for most of it. I have just one issue with this event and those of the past however:

Telling us what is going to happen in the event makes a mockery of the event itself.

I understand the need to tell people roughly what is going to happen to encourage people to come on but actually telling people the exact activity that will be available? This breaks the realism which is something I thought GW2 strives to accomplish. Why is it necessary to say what the Toypocalypse is going to be about for instance? How does whoever it is know what is going to happen in the future?

Please stop telling us exactly what is coming up- the Karka event was good but it couldve been special had I not have known that a huge karka would invade Lions Arch. Just say that an unknown sea creature (or whatever) has been seen in the waters off xyz and looks to be heading towards Lions Arch. Current estimates suggest —:-- as the time it will reach. As for the Toypocalypse event just say something like ‘Tixx may require an extra few hands to help tidy up his crazy contraptions so volunteers are needed at —:--’. It adds suspense and means youre not ruining the surprise which, in my opinion, would make these events even better.

I agree with you. I know a play by play of whats to come now. haha.

Justwhere and when butnot everything. Dont be a scrooge mc duck so early. Wait til its released and then see how much they gave away :p

OMFG! When they make suspense in LS event and get all the problems because people thought that the only one event was only a cinematic there are a torrent of players whining about ANET not informing them.

Now they inform people about what will be for them so they adjust their times and be in the events then people whine because they are telling too much.

ACH! when people will stop to be so annoying?

Jumping puzzle, Snowball Fight, Random musical bell thing, Weapon skins, Armor skins.

Tixx shows up in The Grove and has a toy. Tixx shows up in Divinity’s Reach and has a different toy. Tixx shows up in The Black Citadel and has a different toy. Tixx shows up in Hoelbrak and has a different toy. Tixx shows up in Rata Sum and has a different toy. Tixx shows up in Lion’s arch and the toys rebel.

Aside from the last one, the details are incredibly vague. If knowing there will be new skins (spoiler: there will probably be new skins for EVERY holiday) or knowing where Tixx will be on each day “ruins the event” for you, you have a problem. Go outside, get some fresh air, and try to calm down. Everything will be ok, I promise.

TL;DR: In the words of Mr. Schwarzenegger, “Stop whining!”

evolverzilla.2359:

OMFG! When they make suspense in LS event and get all the problems because people thought that the only one event was only a cinematic there are a torrent of players whining about ANET not informing them.

Now they inform people about what will be for them so they adjust their times and be in the events then people whine because they are telling too much.

ACH! when people will stop to be so annoying?

You read maybe the opening sentence of my thread and then replied…let me summarise for you:

Its okay to give the location and time of events and its okay to give away things such as ‘Mr xyz is visiting zyx at —:--’ because those things, in terms of realism, can be explained. But why give away the exact activities? The only reason is to bring the maximum amount of people into the game but surely keeping it more of a secret will bring in just as many people? You’ll get people moaning about the event either way (which shouldnt happen if its good). I dont see the point in giving huge spoilers.

HunterFox.2578:

Justwhere and when butnot everything. Dont be a scrooge mc duck so early. Wait til its released and then see how much they gave away :p

I thought the same thing. Halloween had many of us trying to figure out where to go and what to do because it was so unlike other games of our past that it was completely a chore to figure things out and people weren’t so nice about it either.

I think it’s actually an improvement to do this this way so that we’ll know where to go at the very least and who to talk to in order to begin.

What was a huge spoiler? I thought it was all fairly vague. I mean of course Tixx is going to give out gifts, for example, there was no mention of what the gifts were. I’m slightly confused about this complaint.

Thereon.3495:

evolverzilla.2359:

OMFG! When they make suspense in LS event and get all the problems because people thought that the only one event was only a cinematic there are a torrent of players whining about ANET not informing them.

Now they inform people about what will be for them so they adjust their times and be in the events then people whine because they are telling too much.

ACH! when people will stop to be so annoying?

You read maybe the opening sentence of my thread and then replied…let me summarise for you:

Its okay to give the location and time of events and its okay to give away things such as ‘Mr xyz is visiting zyx at —:--’ because those things, in terms of realism, can be explained. But why give away the exact activities? The only reason is to bring the maximum amount of people into the game but surely keeping it more of a secret will bring in just as many people? You’ll get people moaning about the event either way (which shouldnt happen if its good). I dont see the point in giving huge spoilers.

How is telling you there will be toys in the toymaker’s toy factory HUGE spoilers or the EXACT events? I think I’m still missing something here.

Wow, this is hilarious. People cant make up their minds, do they want information? Or do they want it hidden? Last time I checked people complained the exact opposite about the Halloween event. LOLOLOOL

ANET won’t win this one. Some people think more information is needed, others think less information should be given. But the beauty of providing information is that it’s up to the individual if they want to read it or not.

I’m very happy with this level of detail. For me it spoils it no more than going to some forums or a fansite to figure out on the day where the action is, which is what I was doing for other events. I’m able to see what I can do and where I have to go to do it. It gives me confidence that I’m able to see the whole event despite travelling halfway through the celebration period – which makes me very happy.

Good communication is the best way ArenaNet can manage their player’s expectations and prevent outrage and confusion which have troubled their previous events. I’d prefer spoilers to these outcomes and emotions.

@Thereon
And what made you think that there will be no surprises? Saying someone that he will get a surprise party when they go to their homes don´t tell them WHAT surprise they will have.

Someone can have a pie in the face and SURPRISE! Someone can see their wife with another person in bed and SURPRISE! Someone can get a sport car from their dad SUPRISE!

Sorry, I don´t see anything that can give the surprise off. Just I can only hear is the annoying sound of people that wait for everything to get to forum and complain about ANET.

Speaking for myself, I am VERY glad for the amount of information ANet is providing about Wintersday. Under the OP’s suggestion, the Lost Shores event would have simply been “something special is happening on Day X at Y time”. There would have been no indication of how long it would take, or that you would get something very valuable at the end. Can you imagine how much more outrage there would have been if the Lost Shores finale had not mentioned there would have been a chest at all? Thousands more players would have missed out on their chance to get a Precursor.

No, I prefer this “information overload” approach. If avoiding spoilers is really an issue for you, I’d recommend not looking at the page at all, and then asking your friends to give you details on dates and times without the spoilers.

Some more people who havent read my post properly. Lets use the example that Zaxares talks about- the final Lost Shore event. Here’s how I wouldve changed that to work with my ideas:

The event would take place over a week, not a few days. Word would be released that a giant sea creature is heading towards Lions Arch and its ETA is —:--, and so everyone is asked to be in LA at this time. This wouldnt differ from what actually happened, but it gives no indication as to what is about to happen.

Phase 2 would happen soon afterwards, say a day later and would progress as it actually did because finding out information about the Karka is a great idea.

One day after this word gets out that LA plan an offensive to happen in, say, 5 DAYS. This would give people 5 days to plan for the Karka event. In the meantime you could introduce another small event which involves collecting materials for terraforming Southsun. Not a grind, just something like a 1 per character scavenger hunt for items with a prize at the end.

Five days later(or whatever) the teraforming begins and you meet the Ancient Karka, doing battle using the tactician’s plans. Other than the time difference it would play out the same as it did but with more suspense. Just the same amount of people would turn up and just the same amount of people would moan about the event.

For those that have said ‘just dont read it’ nowhere did it say there would be spoilers and ive no problems whatsoever with the bulk of the info given on Wintersday. The ‘toys’ part is great, doesnt give away anything. Its just the final event annoys me as I really want to have some surprise in GW2 and im not getting it.

Thereon.3495:

Here’s how I wouldve changed that to work with my ideas:

-snip-

I actually do like your ideas, and upon reflection, I can see how it would actually be feasible for ANet to satisfy your camp and mine. They just need to provide date/time details well in advance (5 days, while pretty generous, is actually still not enough for people like me with busy schedules or families to look after. We typically need at least 2 weeks advance notice to properly arrange our schedules), but without going into too much spoilers about what will happen. In the case of Wintersday, it might simply be a case of saying something like “Toymaker Tixx arrives in Lion’s Arch for the grand celebration! This is the most complex of all his efforts yet – let’s hope nothing goes wrong! Visit his airship workshop and lend a hand to ensure everything goes smoothly!”

There is an easy solution for the OP.. Don’t go looking!
I haven’t a clue whatsoever beyond the dates what will be going on, because I haven’t looked for it, and don’t plan to. I just saw the new category for wintersday on the forums, and clicked this thread because of the title. I’m probably going to move on now to the discussion category, still blissfully oblivious to what’s in store for wintersday.. silly complaint.

I’m fine with the info they gave out now about Wintersday, it’s definitely an improvement. I also don’t see the huge spoilers. Most of the things the info they released is just a small confirmation of our expectations. Who didn’t expect a JP, Snowball fight PvP, a dungeon/instance, BLTC items and gifts? They didn’t even say anything about “the big finale” or the Candy Cane weapon skins and many other things that will most certainly be present.
Plus if you want it to be a surprise, just don’t read the event page until the event starts next time.

Zionka.6897:

There is an easy solution for the OP.. Don’t go looking!
I haven’t a clue whatsoever beyond the dates what will be going on, because I haven’t looked for it, and don’t plan to. I just saw the new category for wintersday on the forums, and clicked this thread because of the title. I’m probably going to move on now to the discussion category, still blissfully oblivious to what’s in store for wintersday.. silly complaint.

Post after post saying ‘look at the details for the new event’ with no spoiler alerts and youre saying ‘bury your head in the sand’? Plus youve not read or understood my posts which is typical

tl;dr version of my posts: you can satisfy everyone by giving the time and dates of events without spoiling the surprise of the event just by tinkering with the event story a little.

Zaxares.5419:

Thereon.3495:

Here’s how I wouldve changed that to work with my ideas:

-snip-

I actually do like your ideas, and upon reflection, I can see how it would actually be feasible for ANet to satisfy your camp and mine. They just need to provide date/time details well in advance (5 days, while pretty generous, is actually still not enough for people like me with busy schedules or families to look after. We typically need at least 2 weeks advance notice to properly arrange our schedules), but without going into too much spoilers about what will happen. In the case of Wintersday, it might simply be a case of saying something like “Toymaker Tixx arrives in Lion’s Arch for the grand celebration! This is the most complex of all his efforts yet – let’s hope nothing goes wrong! Visit his airship workshop and lend a hand to ensure everything goes smoothly!”

I don’t know the exact date but didn’t they tell us about two weeks before the event from when until when the event would be with almost the exact amount of info in your example? The only thing they could improve is releasing the updated info a week before the event starts. I think that would be a nice timeline. Also the approximate dates weren’t a big surprise if you’ve played GW1.

Wesley.4590:

Zaxares.5419:

Thereon.3495:

Here’s how I wouldve changed that to work with my ideas:

-snip-

I actually do like your ideas, and upon reflection, I can see how it would actually be feasible for ANet to satisfy your camp and mine. They just need to provide date/time details well in advance (5 days, while pretty generous, is actually still not enough for people like me with busy schedules or families to look after. We typically need at least 2 weeks advance notice to properly arrange our schedules), but without going into too much spoilers about what will happen. In the case of Wintersday, it might simply be a case of saying something like “Toymaker Tixx arrives in Lion’s Arch for the grand celebration! This is the most complex of all his efforts yet – let’s hope nothing goes wrong! Visit his airship workshop and lend a hand to ensure everything goes smoothly!”

I don’t know the exact date but didn’t they tell us about two weeks before the event from when until when the event would be with almost the exact amount of info in your example? The only thing they could improve is releasing the updated info a week before the event starts. I think that would be a nice timeline. Also the approximate dates weren’t a big surprise if you’ve played GW1.

Oh I know. I was predicting a GW2 Wintersday event ever since release. My “2 weeks notice” remark was in response to Thereon, where his system had a 5 day heads-up from one phase to the next. If we didn’t know how many phases there would be prior to the event starting, it would make planning and setting aside weekends for these events quite difficult.

what makes you think you exactly know that these are the actual details? you actually don’t.
the world doesn’t revolve around you

what anet doing is good
we should try to appreciate it

Thereon.3495:

Post after post saying ‘look at the details for the new event’ with no spoiler alerts and youre saying ‘bury your head in the sand’? Plus youve not read or understood my posts which is typical

tl;dr version of my posts: you can satisfy everyone by giving the time and dates of events without spoiling the surprise of the event just by tinkering with the event story a little.

But what parts of this updated info do you consider to be spoilers? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this info out if you’ve participated in the Halloween event and played GW1. Also the realism in the person knowing all this while it’s in the future is all over the game in events and stuff aswell.

I’m pretty sure that there is way more to all the events then the vague info they just released tells us. They just highlighted some of the major parts of the event so people can decide if they want to be there or not, not only based on the time and place but also a bit on the event that’s going to happen in general. A lot of people were disappointed with the cinematic one time only thing during Halloween because they expected too much of it.

OMG all the whiners. Not everybody are satisfied no matter what is given to them. At least the MAJORITY are happy!

Providing adequate detail slightly ruins the event for you.

Providing no where near enough detail ruined past events for many, many others.

Suck it up.

Anthony, I think your brain was too fast.. in your first sentence you meant “Wintersday” instead of the first written “Halloween”?

And speaking of Toys… maybe for the toy slot?
Combined with race… a racial toy can be equipped in its own toy slot?? :p

They are building the sixth elder dragon out of toys??Arghhh

The toys could be miniatures, that would be cool xD

sylvari: mini Trahaerne (:D)
human: mini Countess Anise
charr: mini Tybalt
asura: mini Tixx
norn: mini Kodan
….

and Xmas gift would be: mini quaggan O.o <3

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Thanks Navi.

And as far as the toys go, I think you’ll all be pleasantly surprised.

polymock, calling it now.

Nemui.6753:

polymock, calling it now.

Good one! Seems plausible considering Tixx and the fact that we still only have one of the promised activities so far (that’s also been bugged for a while now). That would be a nice little gift

There are people that work, they need some info in advance to prepare themselves, people forget about Real Life.

One thing I should state- I used the word ‘ruining’ because I had a limited number of characters! Id love to be able to put ‘Providing too many details on future events detracts from the impact and surprise of the events and disappoints me a little’ or something along those lines!

Thanks for the reply Anthony, im glad that you/the team have seen the need for some secrecy in the events. I would like to say that it would be nice to have some kind of spoiler alert for the final event….maybe the main event(or anything with spoilers) could be minimised and you click the title(with time and date) to see the exact details. That way people who want to know could look and those that dont want to know, but want to read the schedule can do so on the same page while keeping the details under wrap.

Wesley.4590:

Nemui.6753:

polymock, calling it now.

Good one! Seems plausible considering Tixx and the fact that we still only have one of the promised activities so far (that’s also been bugged for a while now). That would be a nice little gift

Oooh, that would be brilliant! So on each of the days, completing the dungeon gets you a polymock piece, meaning you can collect up to 6 different polymock pieces (one for each city) that can be used as a starter set for the newly available Polymock Arena! I like.

If this turns out to be true, they must be pretty bummed out right now that you guessed it within an hour :P

I really hope we won’t be trying to craft mini-legendary’s like holloween….

I’ll be happy with whatever’s thrown our way. Game’s awesome, events are always exciting, items on top is cherry on the cake.

Yeah the crafting recipes for holiday skins could be lowered a bit. I can’t imagine anyone actually crafting the Halloween skins.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Thanks Navi.

And as far as the toys go, I think you’ll all be pleasantly surprised.

Depends on how bug/server issue infested this event is. When looking back at the halloween event you can only get better because it’s virtually impossible to get worse unless you try to.

Navi.7142:

The toys could be miniatures, that would be cool xD

sylvari: mini Trahaerne (:D)
human: mini Countess Anise
charr: mini Tybalt
asura: mini Tixx
norn: mini Kodan
….

and Xmas gift would be: mini quaggan O.o <3

if ‘Trahaerne’ does show up, I’m sure most players would want to kill him..

VeralFixen.3142:

Navi.7142:

The toys could be miniatures, that would be cool xD

sylvari: mini Trahaerne (:D)
human: mini Countess Anise
charr: mini Tybalt
asura: mini Tixx
norn: mini Kodan
….

and Xmas gift would be: mini quaggan O.o <3

if ‘Trahaerne’ does show up, I’m sure most players would want to kill him..

OMG MINI TYBALT!! I would do everything in my power to aquire that!

Thereon.3495:

Im looking forward to the Wintersday event despite the fact im not sure i’ll be around for most of it. I have just one issue with this event and those of the past however:

Telling us what is going to happen in the event makes a mockery of the event itself.

I understand the need to tell people roughly what is going to happen to encourage people to come on but actually telling people the exact activity that will be available? This breaks the realism which is something I thought GW2 strives to accomplish. Why is it necessary to say what the Toypocalypse is going to be about for instance? How does whoever it is know what is going to happen in the future?

Please stop telling us exactly what is coming up- the Karka event was good but it couldve been special had I not have known that a huge karka would invade Lions Arch. Just say that an unknown sea creature (or whatever) has been seen in the waters off xyz and looks to be heading towards Lions Arch. Current estimates suggest —:-- as the time it will reach. As for the Toypocalypse event just say something like ‘Tixx may require an extra few hands to help tidy up his crazy contraptions so volunteers are needed at —:--’. It adds suspense and means youre not ruining the surprise which, in my opinion, would make these events even better.

…Or you could just avoid reading the patch notes about events? It’s not like there are NPC’s standing around screaming whats going to happen in the event… Just an idea.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

We tried our best to leave in some surprise without leaving the majority of players feeling lost and unaware of what activities are available for Wintersday (as was very much the case with Halloween). There’s one major missing piece of information that I’m sort of surprised no one has taken note of, which is exactly what toys the toymaker will be making.

Ok so each race has a toy and by their powers combined, Captain Planet shows up to rid Orr of the pollution that is the risen hahahah. Its either that, or we create a creature and battle it out like godzilla against the dragons XD!

hmmm i had a similar feeling reading this write-up as it was a LOT more detailed. though, as the saying goes.. you can’t please everyone! wait, is that even a saying? anyways.. with Lost Shores event – people felt they didn’t know enough and voiced out. those who were fine with it, of course didn’t have anything to say. now with Toymaker and Wintersday completely laid out (though i still feel not in excruciating detail), people who feel too much was given away, are voicing out. And again, of course, those who have no problem with it and like the extra info, won’t have anything to say.

i guess, what ANet and Devs need to do is have a further option when “introducing” new events. one overview page. where you can CLICK to find out more, and be warned, that may give away potential spoilers. so for those who want to know more, can click the link and read more. for those who DON’T want to know more, simply won’t.

but after that, if those who didn’t click the link cry and say they weren’t given enough info and are missing out, or vice versa, those who clicked the link and said oh my surprises are ruined… then, well..

but in all seriousness, that COULD be a good compromise. though in my mind, it’s a bit silly. but the best way to cater to all who feel so strongly about these events. which is a good thing! it shows that people care. : ))) and hopefully gives ANet more incentive to do bigger and better.

Personally I don’t think just giving times and dates would be enough. I normally play as and when I have time, being on at a specific time takes planning. Whilst I can do that for actual events I want to participate in I don’t want to find I’ve rescheduled real life events for an “unmissable” 30 second cut-scene I could have watched on Youtube at any time.

Personally I think they’ve got it exactly right here. They’ve given us times and durations for each thing and told us what catergory of event it will be (jump puzzle, dungeon, PVP map etc.). They haven’t actually gone into any more detail than that, except for saying that the last one will involve defending something from waves of something else. Which isn’t exactly a surprise, it was basically going to be either that or taking down a giant something before it kills you and/or a timer runs out and it destroys something.

Zaxares.5419:

In the case of Wintersday, it might simply be a case of saying something like “Toymaker Tixx arrives in Lion’s Arch for the grand celebration! This is the most complex of all his efforts yet – let’s hope nothing goes wrong! Visit his airship workshop and lend a hand to ensure everything goes smoothly!”

Except anyone with any experience of video games will read that as “We’re presenting this as a party because it fits the theme but something will go wrong almost immediately. It will involve combat as players save the day and earn the reward they will be promised at the start.”

They may as well just say it.

@ OP come on really Tixx is an Asura , don’t tell me you didn’t see a toypocalypse coming!

I am glad u provide all the information about the event, the activities and whatnot. Not like the Halloween event. Dont listen to the whiny minority, if they want to solve super hard puzzle, and strain their brains, there are enough puzzle games out there

Toys made by an Asura…. maybe something like the film TOYS (with Robin Williams) will come up, with the toys trying to kill everybody? XD
p.s. I’m an Asura and I did see it coming ^^

hrmmm i think the toys will maybe be minis? or maybe a moba style game with them? hrmm