The GW2 Lunar New Year is blah.

As far as in-game festivals goes the Lunar New Year is very anemic when compared to the other ones. No jumping puzzle, no unique farm to kill stuff while gathering and gather themed bags, etc. As rich as the cultural style is I'd think there is plenty to draw on to come up with activities other than Dragon Ball and firecrackers. There could be a raptor challenge where you gather fireflies in tricky jumps with shifting themed platforms in a raptor only jumping puzzle. There could be a griffon challenge that you have to light floating lanterns throughout the city. The city could have falling cherry blossoms as an ambient effect. How about an reverse labyrinth that is basically a open valley that is a reproduction of a Canthan battlefield where players hunt Canthan themed creatures, spirits, demons and otherworldly creatures that threaten to overrun the valley to get unique bag drops.

I now live in Taiwan and love Chinese new year over here. Sadly, I'm in the minority, and a lot of the western players don't "get" CNY.

I'd rather they didn't waste too much time on more festival stuff when this isn't a major festival - although I do like some of your ideas.

I do find it funny that instead of opening the envelopes and hope for 8 win, you can sell them on the TP for guaranteed 8g win..

As a counter point the bonus to magic find and the amount of gold you can make for virtually no effort is pretty good. Honestly I'm all festivaled out. By the end of Halloween and Wintersday, this is more what I need than another farming festival.

@"nathanjameson.3542" said:I now live in Taiwan and love Chinese new year over here. Sadly, I'm in the minority, and a lot of the western players don't "get" CNY.

I'm sure it's very exciting. There is a huge amount of culture and lore to draw on to make the LNY in the game exciting. I just don't think they have put forth the creative effort.

@Randulf.7614 said:I'd rather they didn't waste too much time on more festival stuff when this isn't a major festival

Heh, where I live, it's Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's all wrapped into one.

Here's a novelty item suggestion for it. A large sparkler that leaves dragon like fire trails that get longer the faster you are moving. If you zipping around at high speed on a griffon you leave long fading trails behind you that are reminiscent of Asian style dragons.

You just have to wait till Late March and April for SUPER Adventure Box..... then you'll really be festivaled out!

@nathanjameson.3542 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:I'd rather they didn't waste too much time on more festival stuff when this isn't a major festival

In the real world it is a major festival. In GW2/Tyria terms it is not

It would be nice if Lunar New Year had more activities to do. However, if Anet plan to introduce Cantha in the future, it would be more fitting to have the bulk of the activities in Cantha instead of DR. Perhaps they have plans for this?

Just a note, Cherry blossoms are more associated with Japan than Chinese New Year.

The event is fine. This is more to satisfy the Asian community, which is fine, but a lot of us have no investment in this and it adds nothing to the game. Let the devs work on actual GW2 stuff instead of bloating up events such as this. This event is fine a nice side distraction, but we don't need anymore depth for this event.

I think it has always been like that. It alwayys felt tagged on only to please the korean overlords from NCsoft.

I'd love to find out if the festival is more fleshed out in the chinese version of GW2 and maybe wintersday isn't a big thing there.

@Zaklex.6308 said:Just a note, Cherry blossoms are more associated with Japan than Chinese New Year.

I've seen Cherry blossoms associated with Chinese culture also in media. Even if it wasn't in the game it's the Canthan New Year. Generally the draw from a broad group of Earth cultures for other aspects of the game so they could easily draw from aspects of Japan or other Asian cultures. Besides wasn't Cherry trees in Cantha in GW1?

It's weak indeed. Lack of content. For veterans which did them last year, zero content :frown:. Can come up with reasons for this, but won't change the fact that's how it is.

I don't mind the festival as it is. Does it have a ton of things to offer? No, but to be fair - I think that we already have more than enough festivals in GW2, to the point where I sometimes feel like there is about as much "festival time" than "non-festival time" ingame. There's Lunar New Year, then SAB will come back, then the Zephyrite one in summer, and when that's over it's basically Halloween time already for three whole weeks, and after that Wintersday which also stretches into January... and I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything along the way.

Might just be me, but I really think another big festival that becomes a farming grind isn't necessary.

I like the festival when it comes to design (I like cultures so seeing Asian lanterns and all such is great). It can be done fast so you can spend time on other things as well (instead of 24/7 festival farm).. And if you want to spend more time on it you can since races repeat fast and activity as well. I have no clue how to make gold on this festival but the amount of magic find orbs is a welcome reward from the event.

Why is anet allergic to Asian themed events. They even cited in the past they didnt want cantha because the cultural depiction might be offensive?

@"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:Why is anet allergic to Asian themed events.

Are they? This game's third official festival was Lunar New Year's.

They even cited in the past they didnt want cantha because the cultural depiction might be offensive?No they did not.

What we know if that DR was designed to have a Canthan District, designed by ANet devs consulting with ANet team leads, consulting with management.

Shortly before launch, someone said there was a problem with it. As a result, the district was removed and with so little time remaining, it was replaced by a giant sinkhole. Since then the game has added Lunar New Years (a festival which spans cultures), Asian-zodiac themed weapons, Jade dragon weapons, and other Asian influenced designs.

We have a single paragraph from a single developer without any salient details. We don't know if the "someone" worked for ANet or NCSOFT (which was the publisher). We don't know if it was based on customer feedback or whether some VP with a chip on their shoulder didn't personally like it. We also don't know the exact reason, except that the dev thought that it has to do with mixed designs. They said that that was a problem in Asia (it's not, for many Asians, although of course it is for some, just as some Westerners don't think mayonnaise goes well with Chips aka French Fries).

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:Why is anet allergic to Asian themed events.

Are they? This game's third official festival was Lunar New Year's.

They even cited in the past they didnt want cantha because the cultural depiction might be offensive?No they did not.

I heard they said that in regards to a cantha themed expansion pack not a dr district.

i like the shepherd mini pet. it's just too small. it would be great if it had the same size like the shakal minipet at least. would be like a real dog then.

@Jumpin Lumpix.6108 said:I heard they said that in regards to a cantha themed expansion pack not a dr district.If you have a source, I'm willing to change my mind. Without it, it's nothing more than another unsubstantiated rumor.

I WOULD like a cherry blossom tree guild hall decoration.....just sayin'.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Jumpin Lumpix.6108 said:I heard they said that in regards to a cantha themed expansion pack not a dr district.If you have a source, I'm willing to change my mind. Without it, it's nothing more than another unsubstantiated rumor.

I've seen this comment for years. Since before launch even. I haven't seen anything from Anet to back it up. Not one thing.

Even if Anet did say something six years ago, and sure it's possible they did...well, Anet also said there wouldn't be expansions and we'd be moving forward with the Living World instead.

I'm guessing the goal was always to go to China. I'm also guessing it's less popular in China than Anet thought it might be. If the bulk of the population is actually in EU and the US then it seems whatever was said wouldn't matter as much anyway.

But to draw a conclusion based on one thing said six years ago, particularly when game directors have changed, seems a bit like overreach to me.

I mean one of the community managers once hinted that housing would be coming out when guild halls came out, and that never eventuated. There's just no way to know.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:I heard they said that in regards to a cantha themed expansion pack not a dr district.If you have a source, I'm willing to change my mind. Without it, it's nothing more than another unsubstantiated rumor.

http://selfconfessedcynic.podbean.com/2012/12/22/a-lincolncast-interview-with-josh-foreman-episode-34/

1:44:45. - anet environmental designer. All the proof I need. It's in regard to the district but It also applies to why we don't have a cantha expansion pack.