Blizzard, improve Noblegarden!
Some of the best times i've had in World of Warcraft have been participating in Blizzard's entertaining holiday events. Large portions of the world are revamped with decorations, new quests, and of course, prizes! And, while the prizes may not be that important (food, Halloween costumes, etc), participating in the holiday events is always a fun change of pace from the norm. However, I have to say Noblegarden -- Blizzard's Easter event -- pales in comparison to their other holidays. Why?
No decorations or changes in any of the cities... not even a lone NPC to inform players that they can hunt for eggs.
A one-day holiday as opposed to the week(s) of festivities for Halloween, Winter's Veil, etc.
Noblegarden eggs are quite rare... and the prizes are sub-par at best.
No holiday quests. Not a single one!
If you didn't participate in Noblegarden this year, I'll give you the rundown. In the secondary newbie zones (not the starting zones, but the zones after that), eggs were hidden. You could loot the eggs to get a few copper coins, assorted candy (61 health over 18 seconds), and a chance at an Easter dress or pieces of a tuxedo. Yesterday I spent four hours (can you tell that I really wanted an Easter dress?) scouring Elwynn Forest for eggs. During this time, I managed to locate 26 eggs (which comes out to about one egg every 9 minutes). While I got plenty of candy and perhaps a whole silver worth of coin, I didn't get any of the holiday clothes that were the only appeal of the event -- but after spending 4 hours at the hunt, I couldn't bring myself to keep going. (And I imagine most sane people would have stopped sooner than that.)
So what could Blizzard do to make this event fun and worthwhile for its players? Read on for speculation!
Decorate! Celebrate the coming spring with garlands and wreathes of brightly colored flowers on every building! Line countertops, bannisters, and windowsills with rows of eggs and the occasional chocolate bunny. Let us know it's a holiday!
Improve the prizes! Change the candy rewards to add a percentage of total health rather than a fixed amount -- like all of the other holiday food in the game. This way, the candy is useful for players of all levels.
Add more prizes! Unique Noblegarden bunny pets. Noblegarden baskets (bags). A wider variety of themed candy -- chocolate eggs and bunnies. Held in off-hand spring flowers. There are plenty of in-theme items that could be added to make this event more interesting.
Make it more practical to get some of these prizes. With the rarity of eggs and the short length of the event, it's difficult to find enough eggs to have a chance at getting anything. Increase the number of eggs per zone and put them in more zones -- so players of every level have a chance to run across eggs and collect them wherever they happen to be questing or leveling. And/or increase the length of the event to give players more time to collect them.
Add some holiday quests! Some ideas: escort an orphan child around to collect eggs, collect X number of eggs which can be turned in for specific prizes, help hide eggs for the egg hunt. Blizzard's got a creative team, why not put a bit of their time into bringing this event up to par?
What do you think -- is Noblegarden just fine or does it need something?
