There are so many things that are unfair and downright infuriating about this event. Most I can deal with simply because I am a realist. Am I insulted that one server got an incredibly awesome gem sale that was never given to anyone else before? Yes, but that is a minor issue compared to these:
1) Whole point of Phase 1 was to test for Phase 2 and basically give the dev team 4 days to find & work out all kinks for the "real" 20th Anniversary Event.
First off, never before have we ever directly tested an event on our home servers. Testing new stuff belongs on the test server; it's why it exists. This tells me that this whole event was cooked up at the last second with little thought in mind.
2) Results of Phase 1 being used to determine "fairness" for Phase 2.
Almost 40 servers participated and earned their ranks based on the hard work of the players in Phase 1. Logic tells me to keep the playing field even and thereby giving everyone a fair chance at hitting the various markers first the best course would be to pair up 1st place with 39th, 2nd place with 38th, and so on and so forth. So why is it that the two US servers(respectively 14th & 30th places) are paired together. Ares(US 2) should be partnered up with Poland 4 and Zeus(US 1) should be with Poland 7.
Ironically enough, I see that German Servers 2 & 14 have been put together, and that is probably the closest thing to fair pairing I've laid eyes on(their places are 4th & 37th). Spain, Greece, Italy, Brazil, & Mexico all got thrown in 1 group(very unfair since all ranked in the bottom 10 for Phase 1) so why could there not be more multi-country partnerships? It certainly would end this frustration of having to compete and compare my server's work with servers 8 hours ahead of me because of the timezone difference. I am not seeing anything remotely close to a "fair chance for all." Has End of the World taught you nothing, BB?
3)Incentive for participation, or rather a lack thereof.
Here is a quick tally of what we get for each marker, I have abandoned all hope of getting to 200% first and donating the most balloons:
100%: Settlers 2 HQ, 100 gems & 10 skin change buffs
150%: 200 gems, 1 The Shaman adventure & 20 skin change buffs
200%: 300 gems, 2 The Shaman adventures & 30 skin change buffs
The amount of gems to be earned is extremely pitiful, especially since BB gave us the boost for the weekly gem reward(btw, thank you again for increasing that). Hell, we can earn two thirds of those gem rewards just by logging in each day and do nothing. A rare adventure that most people did not like from what I gathered on the various chat channels. Doesn't help that I already have a spare Shaman sitting in my star menu from a freebie code that was passed around. The skin change buffs... honestly there is no point to those. They turn the normally beautiful graphics of your buildings into ugly splotches of color. Nothing redeeming about them. Only thing worth-while is the Settlers 2 HQ building, and even that is a stretch because it only gives the player a 20 settler population boost. In short, the prizes suck. Personally, I am only aiming for the building because it is a new pretty to add to my island. All who have been to my island can vouch that it is a work of art.
To sum it up I am seeing a very poor performance on BB's part that is just plain appalling both in terms of planing this "event" and it's calculation of determining fairness between the servers. To simply put it, you, BB have given us players a very hard task, offering very little reward to motivate us. At least in End of the World, there was those Mother Tree of Life buffs that looked like they'd be fun to use.
I am very disappointed and outrageously infuriated by this event simply because I know you can do better, BB. You have brought us fun Christmas Events and even threw us a World Cup, where is that same dedication and perfection now with your 20th Anniversary? There is really no excuse. But you know what, I am still participating in this damned farce of an event. I donate anywhere between 50-80k of balloons each night. I really hope you can find some way to make up for all of the injustices we players here have had to endure.
\
Reply With Quote
