St Patrick’s day gemstore?

Fenom.9457 · March 15, 2018

Just wondering why we have never ever gotten anything for this holiday which has quite a bit of potential in gemstore items. And don’t say because the holiday isn’t in Tyria, we’ve gotten stuff like wings for Valentine’s Day

DreamyAbaddon.3265 · March 15, 2018

Because Saint Patrick's Day is offensive to Pagans. Saint Patrick pretty much demonized pagans back in the days and did some horrible things. He essentially destroyed Ireland's culture and replace it with Christianity. There is nothing positive about it historically. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christians but I do have problems with people preaching and trying to destroy other cultures forcefully.

I'm personally happy we don't have Saint Patrick's Day in GW2.I think Holidays in game should be based on in game lore to avoid religious promotion or discrimination.

Danikat.8537 · March 15, 2018

You could say the same about most Christian saints, especially ones who are believed to have lived or worked in the British Isles - the majority of those got their sainthood for introducing Christianity into a new area - which basically meant demonising the existing pagan religion/s and persuading everyone to convert to Christianity. That's how religions work.

But I doubt that's why it's not in GW2, especially considering they had the "lucky weekend" in GW1. I suspect it's more because they didn't think they could do much with it. It was never much of a festival in GW1, just some extra drops and since luck in GW2 is already used for the Lunar New Year event which is around the same time of the year it would seem like doubling up. Maybe if they could put their own spin on it like they did with Halloween and Wintersday they'd introduce it.

Alternatively it might be because outside the USA it's not a big deal. In Ireland it's still mainly a day to attend a special church service and spend time with your family. Some of the big cities have started doing parades for the tourists who come over expecting it because they've heard about the American ones, and some small towns will have their own parade done by the local church and/or school, or a special school play or something. But it's not as much of a big public festival as some people seem to think. Outside of Ireland and the USA it's celebrated in much the same way as any other notable saints day (again, attending church and spending time with your family). Considering GW2 players come from all over the world I suspect a festival based on a real-life holiday that only a relative minority of people celebrate would seem quite strange to a lot of people.

Ayakaru.6583 · March 15, 2018

Iirc we did have it in GW1 where lucky clovers dropped.Forgot what they did. Increased drop rates, our death penalty removal?

Pifil.5193 · March 15, 2018

@"Danikat.8537" said:Alternatively it might be because outside the USA it's not a big deal. In Ireland it's still mainly a day to attend a special church service and spend time with your familySome of the big cities have started doing parades for the tourists who come over expecting it because they've heard about the American ones, and some small towns will have their own parade done by the local church and/or school, or a special school play or something.

Erm, I'd say it is as "big" a day here in Ireland as elsewhere, here it's a national holiday and feast day. St Patrick's Day celebrations and parades have been happening here for centuries, the first official state sponsored parade was back shortly after the Free State was formed so they certainly haven't been introduced recently because of parades in the USA. They are definitely a huge draw for tourists and the production values have definitely stepped up in the last few decades but I'd say that's more a sign of growing affluence than anything else. I can't comment on the special church service as I don't think I've ever attended a St Patrick's Day mass except where it fell on a Sunday. I tend to avoid St Patrick's Day as it's primarily a day for extreme Oirishness and industrial scale drinking (here and abroad) although efforts are being made here to try to curb that (the drinking that is, not the Oirishness).

Anyway. Personally I don't care if they introduce a St Patrick's Day festival or not just so long as they don't refer to it as St Patty's Day.

Ardid.7203 · March 15, 2018

@DreamyAbaddon.3265 said:Because Saint Patrick's Day is offensive to Pagans. Saint Patrick pretty much demonized pagans back in the days and did some horrible things. He essentially destroyed Ireland's culture and replace it with Christianity. There is nothing positive about it historically. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christians but I do have problems with people preaching and trying to destroy other cultures forcefully.
I'm personally happy we don't have Saint Patrick's Day in GW2.I think Holidays in game should be based on in game lore to avoid religious promotion or discrimination.

I doubt there are many offended pagans today... I know its sad, but it is true.More than a religious holiday, in most countries around the world it is just another excuse to drink beer. IMO they don't use St Patrick (Yet) because it isn't that big compared to other festive days.

Chay.7852 · March 15, 2018

@"Ayakaru.6583" said:Iirc we did have it in GW1 where lucky clovers dropped.Forgot what they did. Increased drop rates, our death penalty removal?

It was dp removal for your whole party - which was nice in gw1.This is it..https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lucky_Treats_Week

chrisjfinlay.5614 · March 15, 2018

@Pifil.5193 said:
@Danikat.8537 said:Alternatively it might be because outside the USA it's not a big deal. In Ireland it's still mainly a day to attend a special church service and spend time with your familySome of the big cities have started doing parades for the tourists who come over expecting it because they've heard about the American ones, and some small towns will have their own parade done by the local church and/or school, or a special school play or something.

so long as they don't refer to it as St Patty's Day.

LITERALLY. THE WORST.

Menadena.7482 · March 15, 2018

@DreamyAbaddon.3265 said:Because Saint Patrick's Day is offensive to Pagans. Saint Patrick pretty much demonized pagans back in the days and did some horrible things. He essentially destroyed Ireland's culture and replace it with Christianity. There is nothing positive about it historically. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Christians but I do have problems with people preaching and trying to destroy other cultures forcefully.
I'm personally happy we don't have Saint Patrick's Day in GW2.I think Holidays in game should be based on in game lore to avoid religious promotion or discrimination.

Outside of Ireland most people just see it as another day to get drunk. As an experiment I wore both green and orange at the same time a few years to see if anyone would have any sort of a reaction .... nope. Despite the fact that if I did that in Ireland, only a few decades back, there would be a good chance of at least getting something yelled at me.

Now I just wear black and nobody notices that either.

Danikat.8537 · March 15, 2018

@Menadena.7482 said:Now I just wear black and nobody notices that either.

Me too. But then I wear black most days.

I think I own precisely 1 green top, and a jumper that has a history of sparking arguments over whether it's green, blue or turquoise. But then I also give up following other people's religious traditions for Lent, so technically I can't wear green for St. Patrick's Day.

Menadena.7482 · March 15, 2018

Yeah, almost always black jeans here. Since I am 1/4 Irish (or at least the British Isles, there is some debate) and the rest is from nordic countries I can just say it is about my heritage and leave it at that.

Fenom.9457 · March 15, 2018

@"Danikat.8537" said:You could say the same about most Christian saints, especially ones who are believed to have lived or worked in the British Isles - the majority of those got their sainthood for introducing Christianity into a new area - which basically meant demonising the existing pagan religion/s and persuading everyone to convert to Christianity. That's how religions work.
But I doubt that's why it's not in GW2, especially considering they had the "lucky weekend" in GW1. I suspect it's more because they didn't think they could do much with it. It was never much of a festival in GW1, just some extra drops and since luck in GW2 is already used for the Lunar New Year event which is around the same time of the year it would seem like doubling up. Maybe if they could put their own spin on it like they did with Halloween and Wintersday they'd introduce it.
Alternatively it might be because outside the USA it's not a big deal. In Ireland it's still mainly a day to attend a special church service and spend time with your family. Some of the big cities have started doing parades for the tourists who come over expecting it because they've heard about the American ones, and some small towns will have their own parade done by the local church and/or school, or a special school play or something. But it's not as much of a big public festival as some people seem to think. Outside of Ireland and the USA it's celebrated in much the same way as any other notable saints day (again, attending church and spending time with your family). Considering GW2 players come from all over the world I suspect a festival based on a real-life holiday that only a relative minority of people celebrate would seem quite strange to a lot of people.

And yet we have CHINESE new year, that’s not celebrated everywhere IRL but people can still enjoy content

Ardid.7203 · March 15, 2018

@Fenom.9457 said:
@"Danikat.8537" said:You could say the same about most Christian saints, especially ones who are believed to have lived or worked in the British Isles - the majority of those got their sainthood for introducing Christianity into a new area - which basically meant demonising the existing pagan religion/s and persuading everyone to convert to Christianity. That's how religions work.
But I doubt that's why it's not in GW2, especially considering they had the "lucky weekend" in GW1. I suspect it's more because they didn't think they could do much with it. It was never much of a festival in GW1, just some extra drops and since luck in GW2 is already used for the Lunar New Year event which is around the same time of the year it would seem like doubling up. Maybe if they could put their own spin on it like they did with Halloween and Wintersday they'd introduce it.
Alternatively it might be because outside the USA it's not a big deal. In Ireland it's still mainly a day to attend a special church service and spend time with your family. Some of the big cities have started doing parades for the tourists who come over expecting it because they've heard about the American ones, and some small towns will have their own parade done by the local church and/or school, or a special school play or something. But it's not as much of a big public festival as some people seem to think. Outside of Ireland and the USA it's celebrated in much the same way as any other notable saints day (again, attending church and spending time with your family). Considering GW2 players come from all over the world I suspect a festival based on a real-life holiday that only a relative minority of people celebrate would seem quite strange to a lot of people.

And yet we have CHINESE new year, that’s not celebrated everywhere IRL but people can still enjoy content

Not even Christmas is celebrated everywhere, and one can easily argue the Chinese New Year is currently celebrated by more people than most other holidays in the world...

In Chile we celebrate St. Patricks going to pubs. It is absolutely ridiculous: no one even knows who St. Patricks was, almost no one even knows anything about Irish culture, and our Irish ancestry is close to zero. But people put green things on, go to the bar and get drunk with beer. It can be fun sometimes... but it is primarily stupid.

Omega.6801 · March 16, 2018

1st of August is the national holliday of Switzerland. We celebrate freedom and independance and all that good stuff that gets celebrated on these occasions. Ppl get a day off work, hang out together, have barbeque, drink and all that. I want this to be an ingame festival. /s

This is a game and not everything from the RL needs to be ported into it. If you want to celbrate St.Patrick's day, why not log out for the day and hit the town?

Malediktus.9250 · March 16, 2018