The problem with the Halloween event was that it affected everyone, regardless whether they were interested in participating with it or not. The permanent darkness, recolored torches, and constant meteor storms couldn’t be avoided. Additionally, mining the meteors was massively profitable, giving people who did not want to participate in the event a tangible disadvantage within the game economy.
For events to work, they need to be completely optional, so those who want no part in it are able to just ignore it.
I would like to see events return, though they need to be done right.
- They need to not interfere in any way with normal gameplay. Putting a skull on the moon is ok, but changing the color and length of night is not.
- Any rewards should be cosmetic-only, such as a recipe to craft the purple torches or a pumpkin hat with the same stats as basic gear and no unique ability.
- Additionally, rewards should become available again every year, and not contain unique items that will be lost forever if you miss the event.
I think possibly the best way to implement seasonal events would be to have each event take place in a mini “dungeon” with a portal to access their respective dungeon that opens for a week at a time during the event. The dungeons could just be a single room with holiday-themed scenery and enemies that drop the event rewards, or a simple activity like a maze with a loot chest at the end.
The dungeons should always give the same rewards every year, and the access portal should be automatically activated when the server reaches a set calendar date (with a server setting to deactivate for private servers).
Once created, Funcom shouldn’t ever need to touch the dungeons or rewards again unless a patch somehow breaks them.