Feelings Toward Annversary

[goodspeed]

lol I dont think option 4 quite summed up the wording id describe it to be haha.

[Livmo]

One stop shopping. I'm even recalling not worried for party favour or exp after first dozen runs.
Thank you for the easy farm.

[Uska]

Should have gotten the cakes per server at least

[Vint]

I have no real complaints about the event. I've been playing for 11 years now, so what looks like junk to me could make some newer players day. I'm in the process of doing heroic lives so I will likely just take the xp and be happy with it.

[trekroller]

Should have gotten the cakes per server at least

no to easy buttons.

[noinfo]

I disagree with him too, but you did ask for input. No need to be rude to someone who does not share your opinion.

I was excited about the upcoming Anniversary. When I learned of the 2/account limitation, my heart sunk. I try to tell myself that D&D is about hard choices. At best, assuming I choose the BtA items, I can share the wealth with my characters on 2/8 servers.

It helps to remind myself that most of these items can be easily farmed, but I have always been the kind of kid who would rather unwrap five boxes of five crayons instead of one box of 25.

I am glad you posted because it gave me an opportunity to review what I wrote because sometimes things can be taken out of context and I may need to apologize however

" Quote Originally Posted by karatemack View Post
Free stuff is free stuff. Nothing to complain about or see here."

That last bit is pretty much telling others that they have nothing to complain about, there are plenty of other threads that devolved into that (I got roped into one myself) and am trying to avoid it here so my response to vote or not and move on was probably the appropriate one, its not about my opinion or defending my position which was in the OP.

[Uska]

no to easy buttons.

The stuff they are giving is no easy button

[Full_Bleed]

Admittedly, part of the disappointment was compared to the 10th anniversary list having so many good items on it. I can understand not wanting to top it

Nothing personal, but I've seen this lame talking-point parroted a few times now.

And it does not fly. Who purposefully throws a lame party because they don't want it to be as good as the last? If you do, don't expect people to be lining up for the NEXT one or singing your praises for THIS one.

For a game that's getting OLDER and inching ever closer to maintenance... EVERY YEAR is a year to be CELEBRATED. And every OPPORTUNITY (like an Anniversary) to promote and create buzz should be exploited.

[Annex]

EVERY YEAR is a year to be CELEBRATED. And every OPPORTUNITY (like an Anniversary) to promote and create buzz should be exploited.

It was an opportunity to promote the company, to promote the game, to promote Reaper Difficulty, to promote the upcoming Update, and to promote Ravenloft. Anniversary type events often pull back people who have taken extended breaks from the game. If they see something they like, if they see other people playing, it encourages them to stay and play, too.

Maybe their internal numbers show different behavior from players. Maybe the vocal minority, complaining about Raid Loot appearing in the 10th Anniversary Gift Box, unduly influenced the decision making process for this year. Regardless of the gift, it just seems intuitively obvious to me that new things to do plus exciting things to _earn_ equates to happy players.

They could have done something like this:

Welcome to the 11th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons Online, the first under Standing Stone Games! We have turned on the Anniversary Dungeon! To celebrate, trade 10 Party Favors to Miss Tolero in House Phiarlan and get your very own Bound to Account Standing Stone Games themed Cosmetic Robe! The Robe features the Standing Stone Games logo and a permanent +1 Good Luck enhancement bonus!
To promote the upcoming Ravenloft expansion, we have added a Bound to Character on Acquire Vampire Bat Creature Companion treasure item to all dungeons associated with The Catacombs, the Necropolis, Rest for the Restless, Mirra's Sleepless Nights, Dead Predators, The Graverobber, and The Enemy Within! Run those dungeons during the Anniversary to find your very own Vampire Bat!
In addition, we have added a new Vampire Hunter's Stake dagger to the Anniversary Party rewards trader! Trade Party Favors to Miss Tolero in House Phiarlan to prepare for your coming journey into the lands of Barovia!
To promote our new Reaper Difficulty, we have added Reaper Creature Companions to all quests! Run any quest on Reaper Difficulty during the Anniversary to tame your very own Reaper!
Dragonborn are coming! We have added a new psudo-dragon Creature Companion to the Anniversary Party! Trade 80 Party Favors to Miss Tolero during the Anniversary to gain a suitable companion for your future Dragonborn friends!

They may not want to run with some of those items for various reasons but you get the idea. How hard is it to add an SSG logo to a robe, reskin a Bat Companion, reskin a Wraith Companion, reskin a Pseudo-Dragon Companion, and make one new treasure item? I do not know the answer to that question but it seems to me the effort, even on a lesser scale, would generate a whole lot more interest in the event and the game.

[sirgog]

I voted for 'added nothing' because that was the closest option to what I felt.

I'm somewhat aware that it is happening but have hardly noticed it.

I'd be happier with it if I was planning a TR, as 100k XP is quite nice on a level 1.

[Mofus]

It was an opportunity to promote the company, to promote the game, to promote Reaper Difficulty, to promote the upcoming Update, and to promote Ravenloft. Anniversary type events often pull back people who have taken extended breaks from the game. If they see something they like, if they see other people playing, it encourages them to stay and play, too.Maybe their internal numbers show different behavior from players. Maybe the vocal minority, complaining about Raid Loot appearing in the 10th Anniversary Gift Box, unduly influenced the decision making process for this year. Regardless of the gift, it just seems intuitively obvious to me that new things to do plus exciting things to _earn_ equates to happy players.They could have done something like this:Welcome to the 11th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons Online, the first under Standing Stone Games! We have turned on the Anniversary Dungeon! To celebrate, trade 10 Party Favors to Miss Tolero in House Phiarlan and get your very own Bound to Account Standing Stone Games themed Cosmetic Robe! The Robe features the Standing Stone Games logo and a permanent +1 Good Luck enhancement bonus!To promote the upcoming Ravenloft expansion, we have added a Bound to Character on Acquire Vampire Bat Creature Companion treasure item to all dungeons associated with The Catacombs, the Necropolis, Rest for the Restless, Mirra's Sleepless Nights, Dead Predators, The Graverobber, and The Enemy Within! Run those dungeons during the Anniversary to find your very own Vampire Bat!In addition, we have added a new Vampire Hunter's Stake dagger to the Anniversary Party rewards trader! Trade Party Favors to Miss Tolero in House Phiarlan to prepare for your coming journey into the lands of Barovia!To promote our new Reaper Difficulty, we have added Reaper Creature Companions to all quests! Run any quest on Reaper Difficulty during the Anniversary to tame your very own Reaper!Dragonborn are coming! We have added a new psudo-dragon Creature Companion to the Anniversary Party! Trade 80 Party Favors to Miss Tolero during the Anniversary to gain a suitable companion for your future Dragonborn friends!They may not want to run with some of those items for various reasons but you get the idea. How hard is it to add an SSG logo to a robe, reskin a Bat Companion, reskin a Wraith Companion, reskin a Pseudo-Dragon Companion, and make one new treasure item? I do not know the answer to that question but it seems to me the effort, even on a lesser scale, would generate a whole lot more interest in the event and the game.

Nicely said, they should hire you as soon as possible.

[Memnir]

Not the worst Birthday, but also not the best.

And while I can understand the rationing of the cakes, I also think it was a misstep and found it a let-down. It didn't have to be that way - it never has been in the past - and in my opinion the choice SSG made in going that route was in error. Not that I wanted more free stuff; I've been around since before the game launched so I am swimming in stuff. I just feel that it was a needless tonal shift in the anniversary gifts - one that seems needlessly stingy. It was a choice that only served to suck a lot of the fun and festive feelings out of the room.


Other folks' mileage will vary - but that's my take on it. Not the worst - but it was designed to not be the best, either.

[Rykka]

It made me feel the game can't afford to give anything good away. Like butter that has been scraped over too much bread...

[Livmo]

Be thankful DDO survived Turbine's divestiture and we can still play

Be thankful that SSG gave us this wonderful event and something for free.

Keep in mind that I've been playing on Orien allot with new players and what may be trash to you, can be someone eles's treasure when they are new with no tomes and little resources. Perhaps folks forget we still do draw new players that are just starting out. It's been a fun and positive experience with the new players on Orien.

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund (see if you can find the gold?)

[GrayScioto]

I was also kind of bummed out that we can't turn in the 10th Year tickets. Even if they are only for this years prizes or a handful of party favors that would be nice. Last year I waited to turn in my tickets because of the list was not finalized and then I wasn't able to get back to the game because of other reasons. So I had hope that I would get a chance to redeem them this year.

Oh well

[airbornerangers]

yet another way that ssg has slapped old players is that f2p didnt get the gift! so,

[Tscheuss]

yet another way that ssg has slapped old players is that f2p didnt get the gift! so,

Get your cake!

11th Anniversary Cake - Get yours with coupon: HAPPY11TH (2/account)
Now - April 2nd


Use the code, sir.

[RoberttheBard]

yet another way that ssg has slapped old players is that f2p didnt get the gift! so,

My F2P account did indeed get the gifts. You do, as mentioned above, have to go to the store and enter the code for the cakes, you'll have to do it twice, just as both of my VIP accounts had to.

[blerkington]

I didn't think the anniversary gifts were much good this year and voted accordingly. SSG has some very strange ideas about how to show long term customers they value us.

Last year was problematic because it gave away raid loot, but the solution to that is not to offer junk instead. There's a lot of territory between too much and not enough but somehow they missed it again.

As for the people who are saying we shouldn't complain about free stuff, might I suggest boxing up a pile of dog droppings and taking it to a friend's birthday party. I'm sure explaining that it's free will get you a smile, a hug and the biggest slice of cake.

Apart from the crappiness of the gift itself, the problems with the way it was done this year include:

* Two gifts per account is no good for people who are still running numerous characters.
* I don't think receiving it only upon logging in is great; I doubt it acts as much of an incentive, and it needlessly ****es off people who are away for a few weeks causing them to miss out. Even worse if those people still have a sub running and just aren't playing right now.
* The short expiry date for the cake suffers from the same problem as above. All it does is **** off people who are taking breaks, some of whom are long term customers.
* The xp reward should give a stone, rather than conferring the xp upon selection. Duping is apparently solved and we have other xp stones in game that can be stored for when it's best to use them, so why not make the xp reward similarly useful?

The whole thing seems very half-hearted and thrown together at the last moment. Frankly I don't know why they even bothered.

Thanks.

[RoberttheBard]

I didn't think the anniversary gifts were much good this year and voted accordingly. SSG has some very strange ideas about how to show long term customers they value us.

Last year was problematic because it gave away raid loot, but the solution to that is not to offer junk instead. There's a lot of territory between too much and not enough but somehow they missed it again.

As for the people who are saying we shouldn't complain about free stuff, might I suggest boxing up a pile of dog droppings and taking it to a friend's birthday party. I'm sure explaining that it's free will get you a smile, a hug and the biggest slice of cake.

Apart from the crappiness of the gift itself, the problems with the way it was done this year include:

* Two gifts per account is no good for people who are still running numerous characters.
* I don't think receiving it only upon logging in is great; I doubt it acts as much of an incentive, and it needlessly ****es off people who are away for a few weeks causing them to miss out. Even worse if those people still have a sub running and just aren't playing right now.
* The short expiry date for the cake suffers from the same problem as above. All it does is **** off people who are taking breaks, some of whom are long term customers.
* The xp reward should give a stone, rather than conferring the xp upon selection. Duping is apparently solved and we have other xp stones in game that can be stored for when it's best to use them, so why not make the xp reward similarly useful?

The whole thing seems very half-hearted and thrown together at the last moment. Frankly I don't know why they even bothered.

Thanks.

I was actually glad it was only two, and I had only open the DDO store for 'em. Last year it took me two days, one per VIP account, to get all the rewards, and I managed to miss a couple somehow anyway.