OK, so to stay on topic here is my feedback on the event so far:
I'd go one step further and say that this event actually takes out some of the things that were more useful for me (if not exactly exciting). Just like Ashrem said, there are several events in the row where I am not going after the evolving building at all. That in isolation is fine - being in the end game means there are not that many things that can be truly that exciting, and be good for the rest of the playerbase and the game itself.
But look at the things that were lost:
- Other "grand" prizes: it's not that filler items in GP rotation were overpowered before. But the new ones are really a joke. You can't farm them, so I really don't get that nerf.
2 of those "grand prizes where wishing well and the tradepost both buildings give out rewards that are now placed in the tower which they are trying to promote. in the old days we did everything for a free 20 diamonds an forum event where you could win that much was extremely popular.
Removing some PP sources and diamond sources from events to the tower makes it more valuable.
- No wishing wells (so far): OK, I am trying to be reasonable and can even see that WWs in dailies with infinite quests can be excessive; perhaps even with limited quest line. But not even a part of GP rotation?
See above
- No time instants: again, not necessarily a breaker in itself given the Spire, but yet another piece that was lost. And no, barracks unit instants are not a good replacement.
Again spire indeed, those barracks unit instants will be amazing for beginnen players. it really doesnt hurt us much and is great for others.
In the past you could see in the tournaments when people had done there event, there was a moment of improved results (because of time boosters) en then it died out again untill the next event.
Spire is a more stable source creating a more stable result while there is still catering towards players who are relative new to the game.
- No unlimited quests: even with poor value bonus quests, active players were able to push just a little bit farther - perhaps to round up 9 artifacts, or push for a few more dailies etc. Sure, could have been abused back in a day, but now we don't get infinite quests nor do we get time instants. Overkill much?
Give us an option and we use it, the last time I spend money on an event was the harvest event. that last tiny bit I needed to get kirit and karat complete.
Since unlimited quest I never bought an Outpost anymore why would I, just push for a few more quest and you saved yourself 10 bucks.
I am still a huge fan of an "event city" appraoch. it's more unique, creates a soft "hard border" to balance what you can possible get ect.
Let use produce sky essence by using several buildings to produce it. sprinkle some random essence on our city and give us some hourly quest for a few essence.
It also gives us a challenge to design that town to be efficient as possible especially if there are obstacles in that city (squares we cant build at)
It's takes a while to make it, but FoE already has "support cities" so its doable, It's the best of both worlds.
Dailies so far have not been amazing either; this may or may not change still. While this is nothing new really, but so far I haven't seen even relatively vanilla things that were useful even if no buildings tickle your fancy: AWKPs, PPs, expiring buildings such as WWs, Monuments, Trading Outposts, CLs etc. So far, there are no dailies that I can even use as a decent sink for event currency. I may want to get a few Phoenix Cults, but these are very early so unlikely to absorb a lot. Burning Pools would be good if you want mana, but mana is something I overproduce by a lot. I wouldn't be able to use any of the other dailies in my city.
Obviously, this may still change, but give us at least something like AWKP day to sink the currency!
Yes dailies could use some work, it should be a nice combination of funny, some good and some sink items.
Similar with grand prizes which should in general be grand, On the recently opened worlds of last year we do have that grand prize and it will make me spend some money (outpost) because I want that fire feniks we could nog get last year.
I also don't mind to see more "power pet food" buildings, the more we get the more we need to balance our pet food expenditure, it's lone and boring at the top in the tournaments, they currently lost some of there revenue streams there as well, as no one is challenging mee with diamonds.
Another side benefit is that in the past people spammed the "refresh" button on the crating menu just to get more combat buildings, if pet food is a limiting factor some people will again spamm that button for pet food again.
I just wonder if all these changes we currently see are making it work, I think one of the main flaws of Elvenar atm is there extreme focus on big spenders ignoring anyone else.
Unlike FoE this game has no "small expenditures" only the spire with 25 diamonds has that option, but at the same time it rewards diamonds.
FoE rewards diamonds also on a regular bases but at least has some ways to spend it on small things as well something elevenar lacks.
I think what elvenar really needs are a lot of super cheap spending options stuff you could buy for a few penies to max 1-2 euro.
Why dont we have special paid avatars yet? as a mere example, a nice skin for our houses that we can buy and apply to spice thing up, look at the game for "cheap" options where you can entice us to spend more on the game.
And don't price them at big spenders terretory but at the average user.
There is a huge untapped market in elvenar thats totally ignored just because most money currently comes from a small userbase.
As elvenar noted in there keynotes that half the playerbase is womans, entire games which are financially much more successfull than elvenar float on these small "woman" targetted microtransactions. many of them like to spend 1 or 2 euro here (and do that more often than they like to admit) but that option is here totally absend.
There are enough options in game that target the 1%, now please start catering to the other 20% who might spend some money on this game.
Dare to ask 2 euro for a special avatar, 50m cent to have it carry a santa hat (as cristamas option) 10-25 diamonds to reskin a buiding giving it a different color option.
Do not let them cost 5, 10 or 20 euro. we got enough expensive stuff now.
Cosmetic changes are all the craze for the past 10 years or so, you don't always need to offer any in-game benefit.
These are changes I love to see at elvenar, and I think this will work a lot better than current changes we see in game including events.
Options like the 25 diamonds in the tower are perfect, I love to see more 25 diamond options.