A Better Christmas

[stavaroiu]

Here are a few ideas of mine in the hope of a better Christmas next year.

First and foremost the exact criteria or formula by what creatures are been gifted during Christmas to be made public and updated before the next Christmas.

Second, remove the creature present from the tree along with the activity days requirement.
Only Confused Santa`s helper will give creatures to the people, the tree will still give the other stuff.

Third, Confused Santa will have a list and give away presents by a category calculated for each person by the requirements that were made public beforehand.

Example of Category/present relationship(really just an example)

Chance to get present..............40%................................30%..................................20%...........................10%
Category I.................................Morph............................tainted angien...................wind dragon...............darkling
Category II................................rusty..............................Nutcracker.........................reindrach...................Morph
Category III...............................Sharpshooter.................soulweaver........................santa.........................rusty
Category IV..............................imperial aramor..............tormented soul..................bloodpact...................Sharpshooter
Category V..............................Toxicodendrite................heretic archer....................knator........................Imperial aramor

Forth, Confused Sana will select a random volunteer from the public that will help him giving out presents and in exchange the volunteer will receive a category 1 gift if he did a good job, or a category V gift if that was not the case(Of course he will receive sever punishment if he intends to abuse his authority).
Confused Santa really needs help, he is to confused to give out the presents himself so he chooses someone else to do it in his stead.

Examle: Person A was a bit bad this year so he only qualifies for a category IV gift, meaning he can expect to get a imperial aramor, a tormented soul or a slim chance for a bloodpact or Sharpshooter.

Everyone will be able to calculate for themselves what reward category they qualify for this year ahead of time and will be able to "better themselves" in order to be eligible for that certain gift category.

There will be no disappointed faces since everyone knows what to expect from Santa, but there is still hope for the 10% chance of getting the best gift in that category.

Even if you were "bad" you can still have hope to be picked by Confused Santa to be his helper and get a fantastic reward.

Fell free to comment but i think this would be a lot better Murmas then what we had till now.

Edited December 26, 2011 by stavaroiu

[Shadowseeker]

With these kinds of requirements its not a gift anymore, then it's nothing but a bribe or payment for the conditions that you suggest....

The biggest issue I have is simply, you seem to expect something great. A gift means however that even if you get "just" a BP, you should be happy that you got anything for free. If people keep pushing like this, I almost expect mur to simply say: Alright, since so many are unhappy about being treated this way, NO MORE GIFTS.

You might just accuse me now saying I can say that because I got good things, but the truth is I did NOT expect anything good from the tree (past experiences just keep telling me there won't be anything). I think the tree conditions might be modified, but I do not think the current ones are too bad either- MD shop also has freebies. Confused Santa seemed like overkill just looking at the sheer amount of rarities going out, and I know there have been questions regarding how the choice was. We have a topic for that.

But hey it's Xmas time, not Jealousy time. We should rejoice, be happy for anything we got (maybe strike a few bargains here and there), and simply enjoy the festivities.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Shadowseeker

[Sasha Lilias]

Or...how about we JUST have a tree. That's it.

Leave the present giving to the those that wish to give and organise a few of our OWN competitions, events, etc. BFH's event was amazing and I think if people could make their own each year it would be by far a more...Christmassy....time, not to mention prevent any hard feelings and complaints.

~Sasha

[stavaroiu]

Actually even i would prefer having just a tree and nothing else, it would make Christmas so much more enjoyable then what was till now.

The ideas i mentioned above are just suggestions to make a nice, calm and organized Christmas. [b]This[/b] is what i really want above anything else.

And what is exactly wrong with having expectation? Did you even check what Christmas is like in other games? There is organization, most of the online games reward the same gift to everyone regardless of time played or other factors.

[Shadowseeker]

Then we might just agree having no confused santa, but everything else seems fine. It's just that the table system you suggested is too much like a reward system to me...and although other games have expectations like that, it does not mean we have to like it.

And if I'm honest, MD is much more free with gifts than other games- they tend to lump one off with a few small freebies, or extra credits on buy, the likes. The creature tree (if it works for someone, and 70% doesn't seem to high a requirement) tends to grant quite good ones if one does not have it already- part of the reason why I did not expect anything, as one of the richer ones.

[Hedge Munos]

70% can't have been the requirement, because I have 75% and I couldn't get it...

But staying on topic...I agree with ShadowSeeker.

Hedge

[Chewett]

I like BFH's idea, remove all christmas presents because clearly if people make such a fuss, then there is no point causing such Havok.

Confused Santa gave out gifts, if slightly biased'ly because of who he was but overall did a good job.

The tree is random, most people get basic crits and every now and then someone is lucky. I got a bloodpact, and although i already have some, i did not mind and was happy to get such a present. I did not expect some rare and expensive gift, but i was happy to get something.

As for these topics people complaining that all these rare creatures becoming common, i relised something for myself just a few weeks ago about the idea of a "Morph Shop"

I was fervently against it, hated the idea. Foolishly thinking that i hated it because it would make things less rare, and it would be much less special. Having thought about it more i realised the only objection i had to it was greed. I was being greedy that my 3 morphs would become regular, and people would have upwards of 8, And i didnt like that. Having come to realise that was my only objection then a morph shop is great, wonderful,it means i can complete my collection so much easier.

Dont be greedy that you didnt get something, and others did, or that he got X creature and i only got Y. Its christmas.

Two things mur has said previous.

1. Its not that hard to devote one minute to log into MD each day. It is very simple to do this, look at some of the top Active Day vets. Many of you will never have seen or met them, but they log on each day.

2. Rarity of creatures will change. I would like to point out that at one time angiens were sold for upwards of 15 gold. Nowadays they are freely obtainable. Market change is sometimes unwanted by greedy merchants and such, But market upheaval happens in all markets and you have to live with it. Adding 5 darks into the market wont effect you or me, because 99% of all of us wont be able to buy them. People that have lots of money such as SS and orvid will purchase them and demand huge sums if you want to buy them.

Merry Christmas

[stavaroiu]

This is not really my main point but it has to do with it.

I don't have a morph, a windy or anything else of these rare crits that were given out this Christmas.

Only this year i was able to purchase a rein and a Santa from the md shop and it felt really good. It was the same feeling i had when i purchased my first rusty with coins and my second one from the md shop.
It was an achievement that i was proud of,that made me feel like i advanced a little in the game, that i grew from the little mp4 who fought with grasans and heretic archers.
Basically it was something i earned with my own strength and the time i spend in MD.
A while ago a windy was auctioned and i didn't hesitate to bid everything i had, was still overbid though but that was still ok. It made me realize that i am not there yet and that only a little longer and i could get one more thing that i wanted with my own strength.

Long story short, if i would have gotten one of these rare crits from the Santa i wont say that i probably wouldn't be happy, but without a doubt that would have been only temporarily. It cant possibly compare to the felling of achievement felt when you get it yourself.
The reason why i feel that Murmas was one whole disappointment is because it was like all the hard work i spent was been made fun of while others probably don't even realize exactly how much valuable crit it is that they got as a present.

Edited December 27, 2011 by stavaroiu

[Chewett]

The formulae isnt going to be made public, But its planned to change this year, as it did last year.

 

Every year we shall change it to make it fairer or different

[VorniC]

 I have a point of view - good or wrong, is what like i see it. As a player, i became since 24.12.2007, and i don't know if in that time there were presents.

 

But i remember that in one of the next years i was there and i have seen gifts near the tree.

I was very happy because i wanted to see what i receive, and i was happy that i get gifts not because they give rare stuff or to common...

 

Unfortunately, after that time, i do not know what happened that i haven't been around MD, or i was but i  didnt have the mental power to play with a main caracter and i played with so many characters that Mur was forced to block most of them. I really can't remember wich one was the reason of my innactivity, but when i look at my page and i see Activity days: 27% (A total of 531 out of 1997 days) is a really shame for me.

 

Because of the mistakes that  i made i paid 2-3 years in a row ... Why? My activity % says it all. And when i see it, i know i will have to wait, still many years before i will be able to open a gift box. I was so bad in all these years? Idk...

 

I hope i have not bored with my story, but i really wish i could open those boxes again, even if behind them will be a great gift or a smaller one.

 

As for envy, intrigue and competition, is there since the human being walked on earth :) and if in what i said before i was offtopic, now i would like to say that if Christmas gifts are based on activity, involvement in MD and other criteria like that .... then they are not gifts, but rewards for what we as individuals have made ​​in the current or past years... and for that i am sure that are other ways to reward the work and dedication.

 

And at the end of this, i ask: in real life we always have to wait Santa to give us presents? maybe we fall asleep and we don't catch him, that doesnt mean we forgot about him :)

 

I hope what i wrote will raise questions, and questions will have solutions. And of course, hope i will be there with all of you, when the time will come to celebrate and share our happiness.