@ popps - If you don't like the grind then you don't have to participate. You've already made a dozen suggestions to essentially make the new contents just give a bunch of handouts. Please stop trolling and give it a break.
I beg your pardon ?
Does it have to be either interminable grinds OR handouts from a clickie ?
There cannot be instead some way in between which would take interesting, enjoyable and entertaining gameplay ?
Everything in life can be a grind, if you make it so. Keeping my house clean is a grind, but I do it anyway.
What would your idea of 'interesting, enjoyable & entertaining gameplay' be? Give us an example.
I make things not a grind by ringing the changes and doing different things. As an example, training taming on polar bears can be a grind, unless you ring the changes by breaking off and training on something aggressive for a while as a break. I trained on all kinds of things, scorpions, giant spiders etc, which also taught me, the player, the art of lead-taming.
Training weapon skills on a golem or wolf spider is a grind, not to mention not cost-effective. I trained by killing stuff of the right difficulty, which also got me resources like leather etc and gold to boost my bank balance.
Current events, I spend a little time collecting and filling bods, a little time killing with my warrior gathering imbuing resources, a little time on my tamer, gathering different resources, a little time on either warrior or archer in Ice and if I've a decent sized amount of time left, a little while running trades for Krampus in vague hope I might get the spiked whip recipe drop which I missed out on last year. I don't spend enough time on any one activity for it to become a grind.
The problem that I see, is with the limited time of the Event and the too large number of Statues that have been made available, as well as their rarity as a drop which requires too many Spawns in order to get 1 Statue.
Take the Shadowguard Cameo as an example.
That is quite a rare drop likely rarer then getting a Statue at the Ilshenar Spawn BUT, number 1 it is a persistent Spawn so, players can do it at their best convenience when they want AND, most importantly, it is not the only 1 drop there, there is other items, not as rare a drop, but other items which players can still get when working that Spawn.
With the Ilshenar Spawn, instead, it is a combination of things which all works against the player, to my opinion.
Number 1, it is a limited time Event which it means, that the player has to keep doing it over and over and over no matter how repetitive and tedious it might be if they want to try get that set of Statues before the Event is over.
Number 2, the amount of statues has been made, to my opinion, given the life of the Event and their rarity as a drop (my experience, but other players told me the same thing, was 1 drop every 3, more likely 4 Spawns done) too large.... 4 types of Statues in 2 Versions and 8 Hues makes a total of 64 Statues of which, 8 are also a much rarer drop as the other 56....
All this, the limited time of the Event, the large number of statues to collect and their rarity as a drop all combined to force a player who wanted to get the set, to have to work this particular Spawn over and over in too short a time.
Of course that a player can then get stressed out and alienate from wanting to play the game.... especially, if after all this work and dedication, they cannot even reach their goal to get that full set of Statues....
Content can be made difficult, to require work but up to a point, to my opinion, eventually, the player needs to have a possibility to get satisfaction for the work and the dedication.
As I said, to others it might be acceptable and understandable that, after a whole month of work and some 240 Spawns done, give or take, the goal of putting together a set of 64 Statues has not been met, I happen to think otherwise and consider this as not fun nor enjoyable.
It is work and time, a lot of work and a lot of time spent, ending up in failure as the goal of collecting all 64 statues was not met.
I could understand if I ended up with 1 or 2 missing but honestly, ending up with 10 missing of which 8 are all the rare Hue type I do not think it as acceptable.
Over 65 Statues, I should have gotten at least some of the rare Hue type and not none at all....
In the three days left 'till the spawn ends on the 19th of course things won't change, the game is over as it is, I guess.
