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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
How much of an impact would you like real world holidays/events to have in Verra?
Maezriel
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
We already know that there will be real world cultural references but I'm curious as to how far you guys would like to see that go?
Do you want them to remain as little Easter Eggs like the Eleanor?
Or full on, realm-wide, holidays like WoW's Winter Veil?
Do you want them to remain as little Easter Eggs like the Eleanor?
Or full on, realm-wide, holidays like WoW's Winter Veil?
If I said something that you disagree w/ feel free to say so here.
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Comments
It's silly to watch people go around in santa hats, decorating with trees and snowmen.
Doesn't necessarily have to be Santa hats, but we could see a Verran style Christmas that's thrown every year w/ it's own unique twists.
There are really easy ways to put your spin on thematics to make it feel like Verra. Free example IS can take. Xmas is instead The Birth From Ashes. A week long celebration of life's cycle of death and rebirth. Each day represents a different part of the journey of a flame The Monday of wicks, the Tuesday of oils, the Wednesday of flames, the Thursday of wax, the Friday of smoke, the Saturday of darkness and ash, and the Sunday of rebirth. The days and length are less important than the theme. Its all about making a metaphor represent something important to the world build and making it festive. I would love to see this in December or even xmas plus new years time frame since it does a good job of both holidays.
Even more cool would be having the different religions trading their own holidays and takes on the different seasonal holidays. We don't know anything about the religions as far as I know but it'd be cool if there was like, chasing a phoenix festival for the temple of the phoenix, and a harvest bounty led by the temple of prosperity or w/e.
A rebirthing festival is an incredible idea. My initial thought was maybe having it around the Summer Solstice. Could easily hold it at different times for different realms so those in the Southern Hemisphere aren't celebrating it at the wrong time.
I would prefer the effort be used for almost anything else that is productive.
Bah humbug!
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Obviously you and I are very aware of each other's stances on roleplay elements, but you can't deny that something like seasonal (re: holiday) events could be used for interesting mechanical things. For example, maybe a specific weapon/armor can only be made during a time when the stars align or the mating cycle for a unique Animal Husbandry mount/pet is only during a specific week of the year.
Obviously I'd expect rare bosses/mobs as well...or even take existing bosses and perhaps the time of year changes their abilities so they're suddenly more unpredictable in a fight.
No reason we for holidays to be solely for roleplayer purposes
I agree that having Santa hats kind of breaks the immersion
I would prefer to see each culture and god within Verra have their own holidays.
I think adding some race specific holidays could add some depth to their lore for sure. I do agree that it's a shame holidays are usually restricted to American ones I'd like to see Intrepid try to branch out as it'd be an excellent bridge to learning about some other people's traditions
I would totally be on board for in game holidays to draw inspiration from many nonchristian. Timing of the events on the other hand... Non-christian holidays tend to be on a lunar calendar (obviously there are exceptions but still.) While this translates perfectly fine to a fantasy world, realistically most people use the gregorian calendar these days (at least in business) and festive 'seasons' tend to conglomerate up those time periods, (again due to globalist business.)
I will repeat I would very much like mostly in game lore holidays/festivities, but the time frames I would much rather be consistent and line up with admittedly western centric timings for core religion driven holidays.
Racial holidays on the other hand, it would be extremely cool to have holidays based on the holidays of the cultures they draw their architectural cultural inspirations from, roaming holidays be damned.
Yours truly doesn't mind a couple of seasonally-available quests and rewards.
I just don't like them being around for a whole month and becoming anything paramount.
It's something unique to MMO's that lobby games can't quite capture.
Yes,
It is not about role-play this time. I just prefer when live games don't do holidays. If they want to mark the passage of seasons every week or whatever in Ashes, that is fine to me as a game mechanic.
If I have see a bunch of Christmas stuff every December and get guilted into doing the content by disproportionately good rewards for the effort. I would rather we just did not go down that path.
I have played a lot of MMORPGs and never once thought the holiday event was a good trade off for potential bug or exploit fixes.
You asked how much of this stuff we would want. For me, the answer is just none.
This is my personal feedback, shared to help the game thrive in its niche.
Debby downer poopin on Santa's cookies...
Look at the timing it would have in Ashes. An event that is yearly for us would happen every 13 years in game. Even from an RP perspective, it just makes no sense.
I'm fine if Intrepid decide to add in Verra specific holidays - things that would come around every 4 weeks our time. That's fine, it will get enough repeat use to be of worth.
I think that would come down to how Intrepid explains the lore behind the seasons.
Seasons aren't necessarily related to the speed of which we travel around Verra's sun. Maybe Verra just has a really wonky axis tilt? Or maybe there's a dietic reason for the constantly shifting weathers?
While this is true,it would require a hell of a lot of explaining in order to add in something many people dont want there at all.
To me, these events are like daily quests. Everyone runs them while they are active because there is a limited time to do them and the rewards are usually fairly good.
That doesn't mean everyone enjoys doing them - most people feel compelled to do them. The fact that everyone does them should not be confused with the idea that everyone enjoys them.
If Intrepid add in holiday events, they may as well also have daily quests.
None.
Xmas and Halloween knock-offs in MMOs just feel contrived.
I'd rather festivals be designed from the lore and try to avoid resembling anything iconic in the real world.
Basically, I don't want there to be any "impact". I want holidays to be purely decorative. There can be fun, no-reward activities and minigames like beer brawls and snowball fights. Things that would encourage social interaction and pure enjoyment.
I'd like it if the in universe holidays didn't necessarily share the same dates as real holidays either. I prefer in universe holidays because they don't enforce real standards to the game world. They give opportunities to build the game world uniquely.
I wouldn't be opposed to giving the first people who get a castle the ability to make a holiday. Then if the idea isn't completely **** and proofread by the developers or someone with that authority then it has the opportunity to be a in game holiday. So there is only as many holidays as there are castles in the game.
U.S. East
Either way, these sort of events can give a lot of cool shit that could make the game feel special during the holidays. It would be a waste not to do
Some have mentioned that it can lead to people just feeling bad for having to miss out on collecting seasonal items due to spending time w/ family.
Do you think the length of WoW's events is a good way to handle something like this? Or would you suggest a different system?
I cant remember how long wow events of this sort last, but they should have more time so that people can get the seasonal stuff if they have family stuff happening. So like an extra week or something?