Guild Wars 2

In a dataset of people who completed the 2013 Wintersday meta and have at least one Wintersday 2014 achievement (unwrapping presents is a good choice, since it’s basically guaranteed if you’re doing the dailies), what percent have completed the 2014 meta?

Additionally, in that same dataset, if you split people by whether they have the 2013 Bell Choir achievement (have the timing, ping, understanding, patience to complete) and those who don’t (chose to do dailies or other achievements), what percent have completed the 2014 meta and each of the individual achievements?

In all, I’m curious how the removing freedom of choice affected completion of the 2014 Wintersday holiday. Specifically, I’m wondering if forcing players to complete an unfamiliar activity has the effect of bringing them into the activity or causing them to abandon the entire holiday. The second part could be repeated for other achievements (Tixx, Toypocalypse), but the Bell Choir is so divergent from standard GW2 game play that it’s the most likely to show a significant effect.

They’re not going to hand out this information. The best you will be able to get is some of the people who post in these forums, self reporting and giving their reasons. But zero chance of ANet posting their metrics.

Did get the meta last year, didn’t even bother this year. (didn’t do any of the Tixx stuff)
I did get the daily every day I had the time, but never with the JP.

I got the 500 notes achievement to complete the meta this year… but ONLY because I had everything else that wasn’t simply a purchased “achievement” and I figured I’d give it a chance, even if I was pretty sure I knew what I enjoyed and what I didn’t enjoy and that the bells would be in the latter category. (I was right.)

If they pull the same trick next year, I won’t be participating – I’ve got an Ultimate Wintersday Gift from the Wintersday PvP track waiting to be turned into the last miniature of the Tixx set, and 100 giant wintersday gifts just isn’t worth it (I could get close to that in one Toypocalypse run).

I did it all three years, including Choir. But not including the JP, which I haven’t even entered this year because I simply cannot do rapid timed jumping and don’t need to frustrate myself with it. I never beat it in a lot of trying first year and some last year, so enough already! (I am very glad it exists, though, and I cheer on my friends who work at it and make it to the top). I also haven’t bothered with the PvP since in past years trying it over and over meant I managed just once to return a gift. Otherwise I lost pretty thoroughly every time, being a terrible PvPer in any game.

Choir’s easy for me so long as I don’t care about a perfect score. I do a full round for each daily, and I’ve gotten 596 but always seem to miss at least one note somewhere. So I don’t mind it being part of the meta and am super happy I could do the meta without touching the JP or the PvP!

Didn’t do it the first year (wasn’t paying attention), completed the meta last year. Didn’t this year - I just didn’t have the inclination to do it (and sometimes time escaped me as well, it depended on the day). I did actually get 8 on the chain, and if it had allowed for some of the other things listed to count towards the meta (or just even the dailies), I would have had it.

I don’t find it inspiring to have to do something I’d already decided the previous two years wasn’t something I wanted to do. I mean, I can be relatively flexible with a lot of things, but most of the time I do know my own mind (the jumping puzzle is out, and the Bell Choir? Despite holding a university degree in music and playing various instruments for 30 years, I cannot do it! Lights coming down a line and flashing things don’t agree with my brain, so for my health’s sake, I can’t spend long enough on it to even make the daily). Further, after Christmas/New Year is over, I don’t really want to be dragging the equivalent gaming activities out. I’d rather they started December with the Wintersday stuff and resumed the standard programme in January.

Anyhoo, never mind me. Just stopping by briefly. Back to Baldur’s Gate and butt-kicking for goodness!

I got the meta last year with little issue doing mostly dailies and Tixx, and nothing else that I can recall. This year I managed the meta without Snowball Mayhem or the JP, neither of which I’m interested in, which means I had to do the Bell Choir (seemed the “best” option for me). Turns out it’s pretty easy after you let some muscle memory kick in after several rounds. I managed the achieve and a few perfect 600s over several days. While I didn’t have an issue with it, I didn’t want to do it, as I don’t care much for any of the mini-game activities outside of Sanctum Sprint. It became very monotonous and I only do it now for the W. daily and some extra rounds for easy prezzies. But I wouldn’t do it just because I enjoy it. I’m not a Guitar Hero baby and wouldn’t touch those games with a thousand foot pole unless someone was paying or forcing me ( which is kinda the case here ;-) ).

I MUCH prefer more latitude to complete the metas (there was just enough this year, but more options would be far better). I prefer to be able to repeat things that I like doing (and have them count) rather than being railroaded into things I don’t want or like to do just to accomplish the meta (which is usually a nice toy everyone wants). Essentially, if I like doing Snowball Mayhem, I feel I should just be able to do that for the entire event and eventually achieve the meta if that’s what I enjoy most and want to go that route. How I get there doesn’t adversely affect anyone else’s enjoyment, but it does affect mine. And isn’t maximizing fun, which is entirely objective, the point of a game?

Perhaps ANet thinks they need to direct players this much so as not to feel they’ve wasted their time on certain content. Or perhaps it’s a means of creating a forced illusion that you’ve got a lot more to do. That some of it isn’t what you want to do is less important. I expect they’re following some sort of pyschology research that shows that more strict guidance of players to “expand their horizons” results in a better long term result for the business/game, if not for every player.

Got the meta every year. This year’s was the fastest and easiest so far.

I got the meta this year. It was actually fairly easy to complete, by my standards (got it within a day’s play). However, the repeatable achievements were a MAJOR grind compared to previous years, and I hope ANet scales it back for next year.