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Ramsgiving 2019 was great. We got our first contract quest ever for Benson's Basher, and while the objective was boring (800 hp xp), it was a new and exciting development in how players could earn rewards. Old supporter rewards came back, which annoyed us beta supporters, but was exciting for new players. We could buy a funky new helm cosmetic in the store, as well as a cute new lantern cosmetic. It was a completely new event, the fourth added to the game after Dark Harvest, Frostfall, and Saint's Bond, and it was an exciting time in dauntless' development, with escalations right around the corner and a mysterious new dragon behemoth being teased.
Ramsgiving 2020, however, follows in the tradition of this year - it sucked (well, sucks since it just started a few hours ago). It fails to meet the bar set by every other event, and it fails to live up to Ramsgiving 2019, for reasons including the following:
- Ramsgiving 2020 lacks any new quests, which every modern dauntless event has had.
- Ramsgiving 2020 lacks any new rewards in the event shop, besides a title and two curiosities. It lacks any new cosmetic rewards in the event shop entirely.
- While Ramsgiving 2020 lacks any compelling additions to the event shop, several additions were made to the platinum shop, including barely modified versions of last year's rewards, and repackaged supporter items, which supporters were told would be exclusive after they were removed in the beta. Once was defensible since it was a new event, twice feels like a betrayal and a cash grab.
- Ramsgiving 2020 lacks any new or unique ways to earn event currency - it is just an additional reward for quotidian grinding.
- Ramsgiving lacks any event hunts, as Springtide 2020 and Dark Harvest 2020 (and a few of the oldest events) had.
Dark Harvest 2020 faced some criticism, but it introduced many new items in its event shop, and several new ways to obtain the shop's currency. Portals and effigies weren't amazing, but at least they were something, and the Shrowd ritual event was actually somewhat fun and had a great secret reward, despite the criticism it faced from some sects of the community. Ramsgiving 2020, on the other hand, lacks uniqueness or identity, and just adds to the boring grind. It does not entice me to play the game any more than I would usually play it and does not excite me at all, and thus it has failed at the most basic level. For new players, maybe it isn't so bad, but for any of us who have been playing for more than a year, this is a monumental letdown.
I have heard from devs who I have spoken to that everyone is focused on hunting grounds, and that y'all aren't thinking about anything else until that is out. I understand that, and I appreciate your work to make hunting grounds as good as possible. It is understandable to make this event a small one and not add much since y'all are working on a bigger project, and also have two more events coming over the next three months. What isn't okay is hyping the event and then dropping this on us. If it's gonna be small, let us know. A simple sentence along the lines of "for players who enjoyed last years' Ramsgiving, there won't be many new rewards this year in the event shop, but peruse the premium shop for revamped versions of last year's goodies!" It would be a letdown, but it would be a small letdown. Y'all have been talking a lot about transparency recently, and this didn't feel transparent.
tl:dr - Ramsgiving 2020 fails to live up to past events and last Ramsgiving, and while a certain amount of that is understandable due to development focus elsewhere, it feels bad.
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