Castle Story: 08/07/15 Update World Event: Midsummer Pyre Festival

[HpyTrails]

I plan to collect oversized items until I can fill a whole kingdom, then one day I'll pull most of my normal-sized stuff and create a Land of the Giants, with pergolas and gazebos big enough for the Gods and reindeers the size of elephants. Over it all will shine my Beacon of Light left by space aliens. What I need now is a few monster-sized trees instead of just a couple of faerie flowers. It sounds like I'm being sarcastic but I'm really going to do it!

Agree with zenobia42. Love it!

[Jennerwein1]

Agree with zenobia42. Love it!

Land of the Giants! Sounds like fun! All I need is 346 whisp lanterns, 27 permits and 4,415 M coins to make more room. Piece of cake ! Onward!

[room27]

GNW - wow! Well said. Ditto to everything you said. I can think of nothing else to add. Thank you.

[freesiawoods]

I think not TL but the Castle Story team listens and responds and also communicates with us. If only there were more like Glimmergate on other TL games where we seem to be talking to a blank wall.

[perry5]

55Lee55: Please don't waste your time being sad for me, dear. I, too, know how "business and real life work." I think most of us on this forum probably do as well. However, as one of the more vocal opponents of the "pink pony" icon, I choose to believe that CS is listening to us. Am I fully satisfied with the "new" new icon? Of course not. But CS DID hear the complaints of the many and made an attempt to correct it. I appreciate that and told them so on a different thread. Do they listen to and implement every suggestion? Of course not. Nor do I expect them to. I have no delusions of grandeur and am not so addicted to this game (yet) that my life will be devastated if any future event fails to meet my (or even NWK's) lofty ideas and suggestions. For me, it is as much about the interaction with my AWESOME neighbors that makes even the most mundane events ("Sister, Sister," anyone?) fun and entertaining. We can laugh about them and at ourselves. THAT is why I play. That is, in fact, the sole reason I came BACK after briefly leaving the game in protest over aforementioned pink pony icon. So I will get excited thinking about what the future events may hold. I guess that's just my human nature. I am hopelessly, helplessly,happily, and unashamedly a glass half full type of person. It's all for fun, folks. If isn't fun anymore, might be best to just walk away. But if you do, be sure to stop by NWK's on your way out for one last panty raid! 😘

[froltojo]

I love this game, too, and I also think TL does a fantastic job of trying to keep things balanced and playable. I think they are very responsive to player concerns, with ONE notable exception. Their indifference to gem traps borders on, if isn't outright, fraud. Knowing this, we all tap very carefully in order to avoid them. Other than that, this is the best game around.

DITTO!
And
I wish Sister Sister was finished, so fed up with it.

[mahen3012]

Well put. I, too was attracted by the beautiful Old European style art, not elsewhere found ( except one other game). The new art is the cartoonish kind found in Asian influenced games. Nothing wrong with that, I play them, too. But that is not why I like CS best. Have TL by any chance consolidated their art department, so now all their games look kind of alike? Whatever the reason, it is not working. This is an adult game, there are plenty of others out there for kids. So please return to the classy, classic art from before. If the cartoons keep up, I won't be buying any more gems. If I am to spend some
money, it needs be be on something eye pleasing.
Hoping the final prize will be worth collecting sun stones for 18 days ... ( kitchen?, Alicorn breeding station?)

I have been clicking pyre tent more than 10 times and it never dropped anything. I had to purchase the flame flag with gems. Is there a problem with my tent, can it be fixed?

[Blanche_Lady]

{WARNING: Looooong post ahead....meant for TL staff. All others who dislike reading long posts can just bypass. Please & Thank-You. lol}
I looooove Halloween & Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) - it's actually my fave holiday-time of the year - so another community event for it DOES sound like a lot of fun & really exciting....IF it's done right. I really like the concept of the World Event and for the most part, this one was a good *introduction* to this type of deal (although 18 days was a bit too long for it). It also contributed to more of a community feel, which was really nice -- it's been a blast to have something in common with all of my neighbors & to have something fun (or funny lol) to talk about on our walls. I threw festival parties & we joined in on all kinds of fun frolicking festivities during this event! lol

But, I'd like to share some thoughts on the Pyre Festival before we move onto the next update tomorrow & also offer some ideas for the H'ween event (if it's not too late):
1) I realize it was purposely the focus of this intro event but please don't make decorations as the majority of the prizes for future events. We've said it ad nauseum already, but we just don't have the room, even for the ones we already have! When both individual AND community prizes are mostly decor, the entire event just doesn't create as much fervor as it *could* have created if there had been more variety, incrementally bigger prizes and then a HUGE prize at the end for us to work towards (like something akin to the LOVE SHACK or a third kitchen!)... Some gems, energy CRATES, treasure troves or trade tickets along the way that ALL players could use (and wouldn't miss cuz they're maxed out on) would have been nice, too. An expansion permit would have been uber schweet!!!
2) When making decorations, PLEASE lose the troll snot & keep our lack of space in mind. Relegate them to single plot items or possibly just ONE decor that is 2x2, max. Lately, scale has just gotten nutty! lol (The sundial & festival spire are wayyyy oversized & will probably stay in storage for most players due to lack of space &/or difficulty finding somewhere to harmoniously place them.) Also give some consideration to making the prize decorations ANIMATED. ... My fave decoration in the game is Greselda's Fountain, simply for that reason! How much cooler would it have been if the bonfire actually looked like it was burning (or at least smoldered some lol) and the pyrefly glowed in its cage like a firefly does (instead of looking dead & stuffed into a too-small cage lol).
For H'ween, please think about "activating" some decorations we already have so they drop something. Permanently would be optimum but it'd be fun even if it's only for the event itself... Pumpkin hutch drops pumpkins!???
How about a new pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice latte recipe? A short (under 8 hr) spooky adventure somewhere?
3) When allocating & listing ways to acquire sunstones (or whatever future item we're going to be collecting), please make sure ALL corresponding ways are included & active before going live. In other words: If they come from adventures, then make sure it's ALL adventures...If from busting rocks, then ALL rocks...If from battling monsters, then ALL monsters. And if they drop from mythical beasts, then make it ALL mythical beasts. WHY was the pink alicorn excluded for the entire duration of this event??? ...*confused*
4) If Ivy isn't going to get a black cat as part of the Black Cat Guild brewing lessons from Greselda, then Halloween is the perfect time for a black cat pet... Or an owl or raven or wolf or dire boar or fangbeast or SOME kind of new animal/pet as a reward!
5) If there is a haunted house, graveyard or some other special Halloweenie-type building for the next event (like the pyre tent), please please please PLEASE don't make it useless after the event has ended. What a huge let-down of disappointment. We already have plenty of buildings that only drop coins.
6) The visible timer (with seconds included) was an AWESOME feature & it was so nice not to have to GUESS how much time was remaining, like we often have to do when the timer is overlaid on the corresponding page in our quest books.
Attachment 15140
I would have liked *that* sun as a prize or memento from the event! In fact, I would have traded 4 tiles that when placed together made ONE 2x2 festival sun like the one on the timer (how a true mosaic works) in exchange for the FORTY "mosaic" sun tiles.
7) The Thursday update with mini goals to get extra sunstones was really fun! The bundles? Not so much. I'm guessing their sales probably tanked because there weren't really any great, useful prizes to warrant the expense.
8) The ability to craft sunstones in the workshop was cool. I just wish there had also been a longer option requiring more resources than 5 minutes for one stone.
9) The rainbow pot event from St. Patrick's Day was a HUGE success & TONS of fun for all levels!!!....please consider doing another event like THAT one sometime soon (especially if it's gonna be for 18 days! lol)!
10) Pop-up dialogue at the end of the event would have been nice....something to say the Solstice Wanderers were packing up & moving on & thanks for the fun festival. Or just a pop-up announcement to say the festival had officially ended and congratulate us on all of our hard work. Just *something* to mark the end. Instead, the sun-timer ran out & simply disappeared off the board & then....then.... well, then nothing, except sunstones continued to drop for no reason. lol

Thanks for the opportunity to discuss our opinions (& for reading them! lol) & thanks a lot for giving us a common goal with this event! It truly improved the camaraderie amongst all of my neighbors!
I hope you will take some of our constructive criticism from here & back into your designer meetings for further consideration & discussion.
HERE'S TO BIGGER & BETTER AT HALLOWEEN!!!
(Just not bigger decorations, please lol)

Just realized that many things you said are now in this Halloween event!
Cheers!

[CuteTali]

I have a question about the Pyre tent. Does it ever drop anything besides coins once the event is over?

Also do the sundial and the glowing light pole thingy ever drop anything or are they purely decorative?

[meme1098]

Just decor unfortunately & coins are the only drop from the tent.