Do you agree with Intrepid's plan to include holiday events in Ashes?

ArchivedUser

I rather they didn't emulate western/pseudo Christain seasonal/holiday events that are regionally attributed to seasons that may not be appropriate for the global and ethical views of its player base.

However knowing the is a cash shop, there is no doubt in my mind that seasonal holiday events will occur and be capitalized upon.

ArchivedUser

As long as it suits the lore. I don't really want to see people running around in bikinis or Santa hats!

ArchivedUser

Azathoth said:

That said, if they do holidays, I TOTALLY ENCOURAGE a holiday from every major religion, no government holidays, and no capitalism holidays (*wink wink nudge nudge*).

ArchivedUser

I think this is an amazing idea, as it'll allow the community to learn more about the people they play with, and holidays they celebrate, ofc that's a lot of work on Intrepids part and a lot of research too. But if they can pull it off with out forgetting anyone's then it would be a ton of fun o/

ArchivedUser

I second that, immersion in a fantasy world is very important. How about making up their own big events and not copying them from other games. I'd like that! Also, avoid making too much of em. Rarer they are, more special they feel!

ArchivedUser

Love the idea.. i always look forward to seeing Halloween and christmas or whatever festival they replace it with to appease the PC crowd. I thinks its fun to have holidays in game. Thats when i typically spend money is to buy special mounts for the holiday or costumes .. ESO had special purple recipes that you could only get by playing through the Holiday quests and they gave some ok meal and drink buffs. 

ArchivedUser

Azathoth said:

That said, if they do holidays, I TOTALLY ENCOURAGE a holiday from every major religion, no government holidays, and no capitalism holidays (*wink wink nudge nudge*).

That's a very sensitive subject though. Just imagine they make good event in Christmas but a less good one in Ramadan Eid and Hanukah... Eventhough they mean no harm, it would put a bit bad reputation onto company.

ArchivedUser

@Dolphin I understand and agree. That could lead to unfortunate and unintended tragedy through player interactions as well as backlash to IS. My main goal was include everyone, not everyone wants to celebrate only Christian holidays.

There has been a lot of positive feedback for "make their own" and "I love Christmas and Halloween." The community all seems to be on board to support IS in whatever that decision may be.

My vote, again, would be make their own. If they have to use what they are familiar with for inspiration I understand. I would personally not like an Evil Santa or Evil Gourd-Headed bad-guy to show up just bc of RL holidays. However, saying that, it sounds like it would be fun for those that did participate. 

ArchivedUser

IRL events are non-inclusive by default. I know for a fact that we have players from entirely different countries just on this forum. Imagine that but on a scale of a fully launched game.

IRL events will be held in the US for sure (because that's where Intrepid is), with a very small chance of them sending a person or two to a single country in the EU. This means that players will have to spend extra time and money just to get to the event, which I don't appreciate.

However, I don't feel like me or someone else being in another country should stop people from having fun. However, this means that these events better not include anything that can't be obtained in-game (via loot or cash shop), or this would very quickly turn these events into nothing but "I live in the US and can attend, and you cannot, peasants" vanity fair.

ArchivedUser

I think it's possible to take real life religious holidays and translate it to a immersive experience in the game though. I'm certainly for the idea of creating inclusivity of different cultures. 

From the short time I was in WoW, they had some pretty cool events relating to the Chinese Lunar New Year, Christmas and Halloween. I feel like other races/religions should get a shout out too. 

I think they key here is to really understand the holiday, the values that they are celebrating, and not blinding replicate actions in-game that translates from the superficial understanding of the holiday. There are some really cool aspects of different religions that are based on what should be universal values. 

Of course, this would require a certain level of planning through Intrepid. Committing to such a high standard is going to be difficult. I would rather see holidays emerge after the launch than risk it being implemented haphazardly. 

ArchivedUser

I love the holiday swag! When you would finish an event and get that candy, snowball, or hat. I love hording it for months (sometimes years) and then using it in some random party. people are all "whoooa what was that?" 

Sometimes if it was a buff or heal you can turn a pretty profit selling them. Events boost the economy and the developers income. 

ArchivedUser

Holidays would be quite nice addition to the game. Hope they make it snow on Christmas day. 

ArchivedUser

Cyreph said:

I think it's possible to take real life religious holidays and translate it to a immersive experience in the game though. I'm certainly for the idea of creating inclusivity of different cultures. 

From the short time I was in WoW, they had some pretty cool events relating to the Chinese Lunar New Year, Christmas and Halloween. I feel like other races/religions should get a shout out too. 

I think they key here is to really understand the holiday, the values that they are celebrating, and not blinding replicate actions in-game that translates from the superficial understanding of the holiday. There are some really cool aspects of different religions that are based on what should be universal values. 

Of course, this would require a certain level of planning through Intrepid. Committing to such a high standard is going to be difficult. I would rather see holidays emerge after the launch than risk it being implemented haphazardly. 

You are absolutely right sir, on the condition that intrepid does an even better job than Blizzard in making the holidays more immersive. I believe that the holidays in WoW weren't immersive enough yet.

I have also been thinking, would it not be a cool idea to create a few holidays purely related to in-game religions? Perhaps as a means through which believers in Ashes can access religion-specific content, barred for people who do not follow said religion in-game? Of course, these events couldn't be necessarily game changing (as that would make following a religion a must) but they could act as a fun and immersive addition to the religious system!

ArchivedUser

Meh, I think it'd be nice if AoC had it's own holidays completely separate from RL holidays and backed by lore.

ArchivedUser

Lilem said:

IRL events are non-inclusive by default. I know for a fact that we have players from entirely different countries just on this forum. Imagine that but on a scale of a fully launched game.

IRL events will be held in the US for sure (because that's where Intrepid is), with a very small chance of them sending a person or two to a single country in the EU. This means that players will have to spend extra time and money just to get to the event, which I don't appreciate.

However, I don't feel like me or someone else being in another country should stop people from having fun. However, this means that these events better not include anything that can't be obtained in-game (via loot or cash shop), or this would very quickly turn these events into nothing but "I live in the US and can attend, and you cannot, peasants" vanity fair.

@Lilem;

Sorry, my poor choice of title was a little misleading. This was one of the threads I made when half asleep, so it was a bit sloppy lol. 

I didn't mean real life events where people meet up outside the game. I just meant real life holiday events being applied to the game and the world of Ashes. E.g. Random portals open and monsters flood out across the world of Ashes during October to reflect Halloween in the real world. 

However, I think part of what you said applies even to in game events, as some of the others have been discussing. It's difficult to represent the players from all over the world fairly. There are so many different religions and cultures. Intrepid would be better off only loosely making events overlap with the timing in RL (e.g. There could be a spirit festival around October but Intrepid would have to make sure the lore in Ashes distances the event from it being too Halloweeny).

ArchivedUser

@Solarion oh, I guess I misunderstood the topic then In this case I don't mind having holidays in the game at all, but I'd like these events to be immersive, so they don't shatter the world lore by merely existing. Intrepid will have to be very selective about them.

Also if I'm not mistaken an in-game year equals 1 month IRL, so timed holidays like New Year are out of the question, or we'll have to celebrate them each month lol. It'll have to be more like "spontaneous events", like opening portals that spew demonic monstrosities, etc.

ArchivedUser

Final Fantasy XIV has lore based holiday events and they can be pretty fun. I do sometimes choose to take part and there are times that I'm just like "nah". However, I don't like it when games place in holiday events that have 0 lore to them. They are there for the sake of being there.

To me, a video game that has holidays should have holidays based within that world's belief, not within our own. You go to a video game, such as an MMORPG to immerse yourself in its world, with fellow players who are doing the same, and to explore that environment as a new world to be explored. As such, the holidays within a video game should fit that video games lore; Not ours.

I do think it would be fairly cool as well, given the nature of how the world changes based on our actions, if the Devs also add in Holidays based around perhaps in game events. If they, you know, ever become something so large to be remembered by history (Looking at you Eve Online and that massive battle in space that got remembered as wreckage by the dev team for those willing to explore that site).

ArchivedUser

If they have holiday events, I don't necessarily think they should all fall on real life holidays around the world.

Since the is religion in the game I would like to see some LORE fitting holidays, not just some weird take on Xmas with presents.

Also make it meaningful, not just doing the same 5 activities each day for the whole month to get a stupid elf looking hat.

ArchivedUser

From an RPG point of view, why not? It's good and folks will no doubt celebrate seasonal events regardless. Having said that, I hope the holiday items aren't so ridiculous that they look out of place in the persistent universe.  

ArchivedUser

I always love doing the Holiday events in other games and hope they do them well in Ashes.  I do hope they do not go over the top with some of the items you can obtain that would cause too much of a break in immersion.

ArchivedUser

Some great ideas here.