Curse

Tullzinski · Jan 02, 2009, 01:08 PM // 13:08

Just wanted to post a Well Done to ANET for changing the finale present drop to go straight into inventory instead of on the ground in town. No lag at all, no orphaned presents in Kamadan. In Grenth won districts the suicide presents were funny also.

Were there new firework animations? Usually so busy trying to pick up presents that I never had a opportunity to look up at the fireworks display.

thral · Jan 02, 2009, 01:35 PM // 13:35

Yeah it was good, got 165 for free XD. Even had time to stop and look at the fireworks. Only my hat kept dropping on the floor o_O.

silavor · Jan 02, 2009, 02:20 PM // 14:20

Oh, and I'm not sure if it was intended this year or not, but for the first time ever I came back from a night of AFK'ing with only a single copy of each hat in my inventory! The rest just never appeared, which is a big plus.

Konig Des Todes · Jan 02, 2009, 02:54 PM // 14:54

silavor, I do think that was intended. And I like that too! Yay no lag! Yay less deletion of hats!

Mister_Smiley · Jan 02, 2009, 03:17 PM // 15:17

I agree that hat change was great and of course the presents going to you rocked. The best part of the presents that where droped and you pick them up and you die, now that was funny.

Coraline Jones · Jan 02, 2009, 03:55 PM // 15:55

I will agree that dropping presents straight to inventory was absolutely the way to go. To be honest, I got tired of the "Present Wars" that happens when presents randomly spawn and people go ape crap trying to hoard presents from AFKers.

I'm not a giant fan of the hats this year, but at least used some effort into making them.

As an aside, I'm surprised that there hasn't been a return of the Party Time environment effect during these holiday finales. I would think that it would encourage people to use their items more.

Takeko Nakano · Jan 02, 2009, 04:16 PM // 16:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coraline Jones

I will agree that dropping presents straight to inventory was absolutely the way to go. To be honest, I got tired of the "Present Wars" that happens when presents randomly spawn and people go ape crap trying to hoard presents from AFKers.

Agreed. Having them go into inventories is much fairer - they should make that a feature of all other events where "presents" are handed out.

Parson Brown · Jan 02, 2009, 04:39 PM // 16:39

OK, I'll be the one to say that I miss the present drops. Sure it created lag, but everyone who was there got their presents and I enjoyed the "present wars" that came after the presents assigned to AFKers became open game.

Sure, 160+ free presents was great this year, but it can't touch getting that many during EVERY finale!

tasha · Jan 02, 2009, 04:44 PM // 16:44

While I'll agree that dropping them directly into the inventory is the way to go (so much fairer overall), the event did seem a bit lacklustre for not having to run around and pick your presents up. For me it was a bit like 'turn up, stand afk for 20 mins, jump town and repeat' and seemed to lack a little of the excitement of previous years.

I really don't have a solution to that though and as I said initially, dropping the gifts into your inventory is the best solution.

And a very nice touch with the Grenth presents - a few guildies and myself were making a point of dying near to Vehemus and getting remade into bone horrors ^^

Tullzinski · Jan 02, 2009, 05:15 PM // 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parson Brown

OK, I'll be the one to say that I miss the present drops. Sure it created lag, but everyone who was there got their presents and I enjoyed the "present wars" that came after the presents assigned to AFKers became open game.

Sure, 160+ free presents was great this year, but it can't touch getting that many during EVERY finale!

I sorta miss that also, but I hated clicking on my present and waiting, go two steps, wait, go three steps, wait, bend over, wait, repeat... On my regular computer not too bad, but my laptop sucked hard.

By the time last finale came I would fall asleep in between getting presents

thral · Jan 02, 2009, 05:17 PM // 17:17

About presents, does anyone know how they worked?
I seemed to get anywhere from 10-28 presents each finale. Does it depend on number of people in each district :S?

Nessar · Jan 02, 2009, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Lol the afk pressie wars were fun. But last year the lag was unbelievable :S.

I do like that pressies drop in invts now. Didnt they do this for halloween also...?

hallomik · Jan 02, 2009, 05:40 PM // 17:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by thral

About presents, does anyone know how they worked?
I seemed to get anywhere from 10-28 presents each finale. Does it depend on number of people in each district :S?

If you are standing one one of the nine rings that is randomly selected and you have candy cane shards in your inventory, you get an extra present, shards, and lucky points per shard. If you are next to the selected ring, you get fewer shards and lucky points. If it misses you entirely, you lose the shard and get unlucky points.

If you get lucky and are on the ring that gets selected a bunch, you will have extra presents. When the betting part is over, everyone gets 10 or so extra presents at a rate of one each minute whether they had shards in their inventory or not. I know it's one per minute because I was doing the drunkard thing.

BTW, unlike the 9 rings game in Cantha, this one isn't "rigged". On average for the Wintersday game, you will win back the same as you bet. In the Canthan games, you will lose an average of 1 every 9 bets. Therefore, it definitely pays to have shards in your inventory. Also, like the Canthan games, standing in the corners maximizes unlucky with no impact to lucky.

Mournblade · Jan 02, 2009, 07:10 PM // 19:10

you can still turn candy cane shards into the collectors for presents.

Tullzinski · Jan 02, 2009, 07:24 PM // 19:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seymore Boo Bays

Im just so mad I missed this again, second year I missed it and I have 15+ stacks of cc shards, D: I guess I'll have 15+ stacks of dust now lol or wait until next year.

I did that last year but was able to turn my CCs in during the Winterdays in July event to the Gift Giver in Snowball Arena. Hope you get to turn em in this weekend.

DoomFrost · Jan 02, 2009, 07:30 PM // 19:30

300 presents here. Got them by afk'ing the entire day though all 9 show ups on two accounts.

So in the end it was a good day yesterday.

Operative 14 · Jan 02, 2009, 08:01 PM // 20:01

It was a very nice surprise in some ways. I didn't feel as tied down to the computer as I have for all the other events with present drops, which was a nice change.

Though I do think that the finales missed that festive air of running around, dodging the grentches, and grabbing up your presents. As tasha_darke pointed out, it was sort of turned into an AFK festival; show up, AFK in the center ring with a few CC-shards, then come back 20 minutes later and do the same in Kamadan.

Overall it was a nice change, but it took a little bit of the festivities out. I'm not sure how it could be done better though, so kudos to Arenanet for such a nice change.

**cosyfiep** · Jan 02, 2009, 08:16 PM // 20:16

yep it was the way to go---a lot less lagg than last year (dont think there could be as much as that time)....though , yeah miss the 'extra' presents too.

I found out that you get 13 packages for just being there (no cc shards needed---had my hubby afk in la so I found this out). Also found out that the kamadan ring closest to dwayna (middle) got me 3 or 4 extra gifts each time (between the center being chosen and the 2 corners back there--it seemed to be picked more often....I tried it 3 times and got 4 extra gifts that way). Got some more lucky points from this as well, so overall pretty happy.

Also noticed the last finale I got double gifts--wound up with 28---3 for the rings and 25 for the drops...I would get 'you get one gift', and then a 11 seconds later, another one....not that I am complaining mind you......(yes I timed it, was drinking and had nothing better to do).................

hats, uhm, yeah....guess with gw2 in the works only 2 this year {sigh}. but at least they were, uhm, different than previous years!

beanerman_99 · Jan 02, 2009, 08:31 PM // 20:31

I afk'd and got my hats and presents and all is good with me.

However, I think it would be ok if they had unassigned presents drop for those who are not AFK and are actually participating in the event. Kinda like a small bonus for those who are playing vs. those who are afk.

The few times I checked in to make sure I got my hats I found the town erriely devoid of "life". Not much conversation was going on, there were very few characters even moving around the town. I go the feeling that everyone was AFK. And it was like this in many districts.

So yeah, I think some unassigned presents dropping for those who are actually playing would be a nice bonus.

Lycan Nibbler · Jan 02, 2009, 11:54 PM // 23:54

I liked the assigned gifts, if for no other reason than that my computers were working overtime running multiple GW accounts and so finding and picking up pressies would have been a serious pain ^.^
I was around for most of the events (missed one due to snowball AT) , but never thought to go to kamadan to try and get extras each event. There were a couple of times an account got double presents like Cosy above, but it just seemed random (maybe a glitch getting on the list twice somehow?).

It was great seeing only one hat in inv too (Ive had 6 before when coming back to the comp).

As far as the lucky/unlucky points is concerned, they are soooo few for this event that even being at every finale made about a drop in an ocean needed for the titles.