Originally Posted by
Sakrysta
First, the good:
The Tuneful Tiles and especially the Poinsettias are very pretty, and I was happy to put them out in my few available spaces for decoration for the Christmas season.
I did - barely - manage to get the FaLaLaLamb on all three of my accounts. My baby account had to spend 7 gems at the end (and I think I sped a couple things), but I probably could have avoided that by playing a little more aggressively. So now I have a Winter element in all of my accounts to test with - yay!
Now, the constructive criticism (aka, BAD):
Decorations that have no function are not prizes. They are not rewards. They are nuisances that stand in the way of the items that players really want, and they end up just cluttering our storage or getting sold. Let people buy them for coins, or even gems if you think you can get people to spend gems for them. But don't pretend they're something worth working for in an event.
There is no point in having community prizes if most of the community cannot achieve them. It is defeating and demoralizing for the good prizes (I can't believe I'm calling food and runes "good prizes") to be out of reach to the lower-level players who could actually use them. High level players who are committed to spending money on the game are not going to spend money for food and runes. That's just stupid.
Prizes need to be ALMOST attainable if you want people to spend gems. No sane person is going to happily shell out $20-$40 PER EVENT just to complete a collection of virtual animals. And by putting great prizes so far out of reach, you end up frustrating and alienating your loyal customer base. However, if you make it so that the really dedicated players can get within, say, 50-100 gems' worth of the end goal, that's motivating! That's doable! Those who are hoarders can still decide if they like the final prizes enough to deplete their hoard to get the prize. And those who are spenders will HAPPILY buy a value pack or a small gem pack for the satisfaction of completing the event and adding another animal to their forest.
Overview:
I like the World Event as a format. I loathe the changes that have been made in recent months. It used to be a lot of fun and a community builder. Now it's just making people mad.