Replayability has always been something which interested me, which drove me to look more critically at, particularly, the Holiday events.  It seemed, when I first started looking at them, that there was no reason to re-do them after the first time.  I did some of them multiple times because I enjoyed them but there was no drive to re-do them after the first couple of times unless they gave rep or XP and that meant sometimes you were the only, lonely person trying to save a Reindeer or suchlike.

Then along came achievements.  Huzzah! More people are doing the events, the whole server is aware that something is going on and the usual humdrum rhythms have been interrupted by ‘LFG HH!’ etc.  “But wait!” you cry, “it doesn’t count, they’re only doing it for shiny achievement points and epic lewts!”.  So what?  If it gets people out into the world, sampling the content made for them and trying something they otherwise might not then I’m for it.  Of course, it brings the usual drama when phat lewts are involved but, on the whole, more people are taking part in holiday events.  Wonderful.  There’s nothing more fun than doing silly things with friends (again).

Reruns?

So, right, more people are doing it, but where does replayability come into that?  Well, a good number of people have now ‘finished’ the ‘Long Strange Trip’ achievement and… aren’t bothering any more – unless they have an alt who wants epics, or a shot at a rare mount / pet.  Despite the fact that buckets were added to Northrend there was no achievement added for collecting them.  I was a little sad at this (if, partly, because it meant I had to check places which didn’t have buckets!) but also because I wonder if that’s going to be ‘it’ for the current holiday achievements.  Now, I’ve heard they have said they won’t add any more towards the Proto-Drake, which is all fine and sensible to me… but is there any reason to not add more frivolous achievements to the Holidays, just to keep people interested that bit longer?  Something for those to do who’ve ‘done it all before’ or to point people in the direction of the newly added content which is otherwise not necessarily noticeable (like the buckets)?  Now that we’re looking at an expansion being out by this time next year, there’s no reason for them to add any of the things they put into Northrend into the achievement system.  It’d be old already.

Is that ‘it‘ for holiday achievements?  Shall people begin to ignore any that they’ve done already?  I hope not.  Certainly a fair number of alts are seeing the content – but when achievements are account wide will that still happen? Now, I’m not totally blind, I don’t think there’s only doom and gloom and noone is doing achievements – there are still a fair number doing them this year but I’m wondering about next year.  Blizzard has put in place a nicely updatable system – they only need to upscale the level of the holiday boss and add the basic badge vendor rings / trinkets / cloaks etc. and whoop, updated event – that’s cool, that’s sensible – but I’d like to see one or two new holiday achievements per year – maybe an updated Long Strange Trip with some sort of silly title or somesuch.

Like the continued adding of pet achievements – something more to work on for those of us who love holidays as much as achievements!

How-and-ever…

The changes made to the holiday’s in wow within the last two-three years have been phenomenal, but some others could still use some work.  Whilst I’d love to see some holidays made bigger – speak like a pirate day or day of the dead celebrations – I can understand why you also would not want to pack too much in: sometimes when you’re raiding etc. holidays can feel like a bit of a burden (especially if they come with a boatload of achievements and you’re a completionist).  However, there are some big gaps in the holiday year where it’d be nice to have small events or added extras.

What else?

I know this will seem silly to most but it’d be nice if the ‘events’ dropped some form of neutral currency.  This past week I’ve seen a horrendous number of rings laying on the ground; the trinkets at Brewfest less so but once you’re on your 5th caster/ healer trinket in a group with three plate dps… It would be nice if, for instance, they dropped a BoA reputation commendation or a ‘current dailies’ badge i.e. Champion’s Seals – even if only one per day given when you hand in the quest.  This not only gives people an extra reason to go if their mains have ‘done it all last year’ or outgear the rewards, it also gives incentive to rerun it if you’ve already got ‘epic mount / pet’ and means that if the rewards aren’t diverse enough such as in the case of 5 of the same item, that people still get something for heading along there.

I know, I know ‘have my cake and eat it too’ but there you are.

Grouping

Also, for goodness sake Blizzard, make it easier to group for these things – trade spam goes up 100% at the start of these events as there is no ’seasonal’ setting for the LFG tool – I can only hope something in the new LFG tool will fix this, otherwise it’s an irritating side-effect of the current system.   I don’t mind running to Slave Pens, Blackrock or Scarlet Monastery, but trying to organise a group when everyone is looking in different places (general city, general tirisfal, trade and sometimes even in the LFG channel for this event).

Oh, and I’ve not even seen the Horseman’s mount drop once so far. Hmph.

This week, I’ve been playing my Death Knight – whilst I already have a max-level DK, and I have a tank-ish off-spec for her, she’s never actually tanked anything.  I never really wanted to tank on my death knight and she was my ‘dps toon’.  So, new Death Knight, all kitted out with a tank spec, not bad gear, etc.   I had two different pugs, both of which didn’t get past the first few pulls, but one was amiable, and had a good outcome, the other did not.

First pug, Utgarde Keep -  got invited by a guy (DK) who’d tanked a Coilfang instance I went to.  He’d respecced, though, and I guess saw me in LFG and invited away.  Off we set – my aggro was a bit clumsy and mobs were flying everywhere.  The DK, warrior and mage all gave me some tips, encouraged me and, when we broke up the group due to dying on a trash pack (not sure what was going on there)  they still gave me some encouraging words and we all figured we’d try another time.

Come today – I had grabbed myself some cobalt gear to boost my hp / def a bit and figured I’d try again – I was happy about the idea, looking forward to it.  This time, Nexus.  Paladin (level 75) didn’t want to come help summon, he was questing.  Fine, not unusual.  Got there, summoned, got in.  First pull, paladin pulls.  I take it off him, blah de blah.  Second pull,  paladin runs ahead when the healer’s not there, and pulls… I eventually get them all.  Third pull… I’m guessing you’ve got the pattern.   I asked him to please let me pull.  “If you want me not to pull then go faster”.  Off he runs and pulls… whilst the healer was low on mana.  “Pull again for me and you can find another tank”.  Next pull…  /leave group.

The first group made me feel a little more confidant, the second so annoyed I ended up logging off.  People talk about death noobs and suchlike, but how the hell is someone supposed to learn how to tank if the others in the group act like asshats?  And people wonder why they can’t get tanks for dailies, too…

/sigh

Don’t even get me started on ‘LFG VoA, link achieve’ stuff.