Halloween QoL changes

Discussion in 'The Suggestion Box' started by jewel_king, Oct 26, 2021.

  1. Heya, Alright so for context of this, most years EMC has a Halloween candy trading event(htown)
    where players trade haunted candy to each other for point, and it can be a lot of fun, but there is a few problems I see every time
    • It quickly turns into an AFK fest with people just chucking a bunch of candy and leaving their computers
    • Late comers to the event often suffer due to there not being more than the clump of afk people there
    Suggestions for improving this,

    • Every 5 to 10 ish mobs you kill in htown increases your score by 1, giving an active way to gain points and encourage non afking
    • Reset trade lists with nightly reboot. normally these only reset once per year and you may only trade with the same player once during that years event, but this ends up with a lot of people who have already traded with each other sitting around, by resetting it each day it would hopefully encourage participation
    • dropped candies despawn after 3 minutes, this would discourage players from dumping a pile of candy and going afk, realistically 3 minutes is way more than enough to trade candy with someone
    • Add a stretch goal. Each year there is a prize for 50 and 150 points, with additional 500 rupees for each 50 points you get, adding something at perhaps, 500+ would keep people coming bac
  2. 500+ seems unrealistic... Unless you implement the mob thing you came up with earlier. And then it would just be better to grind mobs instead of getting the points from people at all.

    Are there are any actual suggestions on what such a prize would be? Always seems to be the crux of these issues: more rewards are desired, we want things to be purchasable with tokens, etc. But the hard part that is always missing, is what those actual items/rewards could be. Nothing "useful" is needed in Minecraft, and just doing something creative is not my forte.

    Anyway, I agree with the sentiment of mixing up the rewards - just need help with what that could actually be...
    farmerguyson and AnonReturns like this.
  3. OR you just not reward anyone with an "award" with the highest points. Speaking from my observance of the event, the collection of candy are players end goal than a arbitrary number of trades. (This is starting to sound like the TEXT debate).
  4. What about candy apples. Same effects as the other Halloween candies.
  5. I don't think we have ever given an award for those with the highest points. btw.
    Actually not sure what your point is. Sounds like you suggest it just stay the same.

    Edit: I think it has always simply supposed to be a social event. The score has not been a focused goal since maybe the first time the event was had.
  6. Hmmm I see your point on it, I was thinking increased competition for the mobs would render trading still effective, but I may be over estimating that.

    as for what the prize could be, continuing with the headless horseman theme, could be the headless horseman axe from 2015 giving a chance for the people who weren't around then to get one, or for a totally new concept, a soul lantern, The Horseman's lantern, right click for a minute of nightvision. (just throwing ideas around)
    not sure I understand what you mean sorry,
    This, every year its a lot of fun at first, then on day 2 onward, I end up hanging out with a bunch of afk people 90% of the time =(
    Obwangottemm and AncientTower like this.
  7. I like the horseman lantern idea.. Suggest that and make a thread to suggest it. Could be an exclusive /promo for Halloween 2022.
  8. Let's... not spam new threads. haha, it is topical here.
  9. My point of my reply is that the number of trades that you gather isn't necessary, that's as simple of my 43 word response can get. The "award" is bragging rights for the top leaderboard.

    As you stated,
    Just don't even include it. Problem solved, little effort is needed to implement, and the social event still can continue.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  10. Though, we shouldn't ignore the fact that people are motivated by leaderboards.

    The TEXP leaderboard was neat until it became the AFK leaderboard.
  11. A post ahead of you lol

    This can be remedied with staff events
    I agree, but just for the wrong reasons
  12. I only made the comparison because you made the comparison. I would argue this is very much not like the TEXP debate... As the Afk aspects have been nerfed the last time we put this up.

    What events do you want staff to run? Help me understand.
    Suggestions on staff events always welcome as well...

    Note. I am not trying to be confrontational in my replies to this thread. I feel like I am not understanding other's thoughts - so need to make the tough questions to provoke answers that could move us forward.
    Merek_Shadower and farmerguyson like this.
  13. so another event where the timezone condemns some players to not getting stuff? great.
  14. Heya Fred! I've seen many times in the past where players will show up again to trade candy when asked. It's usually fairly active for a few days, so all players should have a chance to trade candy and get the special prizes.

    That being said, one goal of this thread is to discuss ways to make it more enjoyable by giving players a reason to stick around longer and continue to actively engage with others. I know that you haven't had a chance to participate in this event yet, but maybe you'll have some good suggestions after you get a chance to try it. :)
    KatydidBuild and Fred_TWK like this.
  15. yes, sorry.

    let's see if I got it:
    the mechanic is that people get 1 point per succesful trade?
    and the trade must be performed in a specific residence/place in town?
    what exactly constitute a "trade"? rupee purchase? picking up some item someone else dropped? I pick up your item and you pick up mine?

    would it be possible to have "you can complete only X trades per day"? and force trades on subsequent days to be with different players? (i.e., once you trade with one player, that's it, you can't trade with them again this year)
  16. Don't forget about the part of the story the horse played. 🙂

    How about a skeleton horse with increased speed only at night?

    Edit: Or a special ability only on a night with a full moon?
  17. trading candies has been that I can toss you a candy and then you can toss me a candy - but only once each. After that, we aren't allowed to trade again because the system notices we already have. And they dont have to be done at the same time. this is why the discussion about afk trading is being discussed. You can throw a piece or 2 on the ground and afk and players can run by and grab one without you being active. The candy despawns once the player leaves the event or gets kicked for being afk.

    I get a candy when you take one of mine and vice versa, so every time you trade candies, your inventory goes up 1. Easier to understand in person.

    There is a trade minimum where you get a headless horseman head and then a Halloween mask (did i get the names right?) at like 50 total trades and then at 125 trades or something like that.

    the candy trading system will only work in Halloween Town usually at /event but the candy will stay in your inventory and you can use it as food to fight mobs anytime. You can also get candy by killing some of the mobs in Halloween town or by using the Halloween Head/Mask once per day - like the Pots of Gold give gold nuggets.

    haunted candy info - https://empireminecraft.com/wiki/haunted-candy/ there are also links on that page to the head dispensers and Halloween town event

    This candy trading only happens every other year from my understanding of the history, so we are due for one this year. It is a lot of fun!!
  18. yeah, but if I understand this correctly:
    it's like the party were aikar's heads were donated this year, no chance for me to attend.
  19. The event is usually open for a week or more. :)
    Fred_TWK likes this.
  20. The numbers of trades makes sense for gathering higher awards as you trade up, ridding of the leaderboard would be a step forward to rid of these afk farmers.

    Instead of having the leaderboard, have a centric event/events around Halloween or around the games server itself. I am not being creative here since I don't have the mental capacity to be original. As the Halloween event stands, it's lacking being memorable or being fresh. I am just pointing out options that would be better for the overall experience as players.