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Post by Duke Pikachu on Dec 1, 2015 4:06:21 GMT -5
Here's my haul: I'll make a more indepth comment on all the prizes tomorrow as well as the event as a whole. Though if I were to give a quick opinion on it, I'd say it went pretty okay. BTW here's what the winning image should look like:
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Post by Patjade on Dec 1, 2015 5:29:42 GMT -5
I was wondering. It showed team Fire losing, but it tells me our team won. Go figure.
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Post by Huntress on Dec 1, 2015 6:19:42 GMT -5
aw yiss, silver snowflake trophy =D I seem to have done better this year than in previous years' challenges, somehow, even though I'm pretty sure I didn't miss any games last time. 2. "WOW, THESE PRIZES ARE INCREDIBLE" seems a bit, uh... on the nose? Anvilicious? Sarcastic, in my case? xD Well, in-game Neopets have always been prone to inane shouts for whatever reason ("I LIKE BOOKS WITH PICTURES IN =D") so that lines up with the spirit of the game pretty well, at least? xD
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Post by Liou on Dec 1, 2015 6:22:49 GMT -5
Oooh a level 5 fire trophy for my collection, despite the green checkmark I got for Edna's Shadow, that's a relief. ^.^ (*pets Ember* You ok, lady? We did a pretty good job, didn't we? And I'm sure Team Snow had fun too, don't be sad for them! D: )
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Post by Jae on Dec 1, 2015 11:13:07 GMT -5
Jellyneo says the stamp is for people who got all gold checks but I still got the stamp?
oh JS you so silly
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Post by The Scrac that Smiles Back on Dec 1, 2015 11:24:37 GMT -5
I LOVE THAT SWORD
and I checked the tp and the only one listed with a price right now wants 500k
running around 160k on the auction block.
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Post by Huntress on Dec 1, 2015 11:25:07 GMT -5
Oooh a level 5 fire trophy for my collection, despite the green checkmark I got for Edna's Shadow, that's a relief. ^.^ (*pets Ember* You ok, lady? We did a pretty good job, didn't we? And I'm sure Team Snow had fun too, don't be sad for them! D: ) I got a level 5 trophy despite two entirely missed challenges and green checkmarks for all of Saturday's challenges (it was a spa day >3>) so it looks like they were pretty lenient about how they distributed the levels. (Orrrr I can dig through jellyneo for information: apparently level 5 took 21 completed challenges so you could still get that with three completely missed challenges, and all gold seems to have made no actual difference?) Considering how this year's challenges also didn't have any of the mysteriously vague "roses are red, violets are blue, get a score of ?? at " prompts that always got on my nerves because I like being able to solve things on my own without having to resort to jellyneo for hints, it feels like they tried to throw us a bone with this event. A lot of the time you only have hope for high trophies in such events when you're the BEST GAMER EVAH or have the patience to grind forever and ever and ever and ever.
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Post by The Scrac that Smiles Back on Dec 1, 2015 11:36:42 GMT -5
HuntressYeah, and I like it. I was not expecting a level 4 trophy. 10 gold checks in all for me (11 if my game had scored faster last night) 5 green checks. Kind of glad the meter was glitching because that was what prompted me to dedicate some good solid time to GMC last night. Now to work on the stuff I put off for GMC.
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Post by Coaster on Dec 1, 2015 13:19:37 GMT -5
Yeah, not much that really would have made me want to participate this year xD Maybe the Sword of Ice and Fire because there was a customization I would like to do with it, but I just ended up buying one anyways, and this happened: there's only room in this town for one GMC sword... or, well, okay, maybe we can squeeze in another(The cutlass is a right-hand item, while the new sword is a left-hand item. So it seems-- nothing new--that an artist goofed on which one is which for customization purposes. xD) (That said, Draiks do seem to hold it in a rather odd position. Probably so it doesn't go off the edge of the screen.)
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Dec 1, 2015 15:59:39 GMT -5
GAMES MASTER CHALLENGE 2015: FIRE VS SNOW OVERVIEW CHALLENGES: This year the challenges were pretty straight forward for the most part. For most of them they told you what game you needed to play, what score you needed to get, and that was that. They had some unique challenges but they weren't anything notable. In addition none of the challenges were "secret", you were always told the game and the score (which was alright as it was never that hard to figure out). They even knocked down the "60 game" challenge to 50 games. Overall it was pretty easy, but there are always exceptions. This year's exception is generally agreed to be a glitch (not that JS would admit it) and it would be for Edna's Shadow. After watching a video guide I knew what I needed to do and was able to get to 900 after a few tries. I also had some difficulty with Pterattack, Ultimate Bullseye II, and Wicked Wocky Wobble, but they just took some getting used to. If I had any disappointments from the challenges it would mainly be the removal of the bonus plays. I don't see why they removed them, it's not like they were making things easier as the bonus plays did not count toward the final prizes. Removing them also made the event feel shorter as once you were done with the challenges that was it for the day. Also I feel there could have maybe been a bit more team exclusive challenges and more unique/complex challenges (if I recall correctly last VS GMC we had some challenges making us play 3 different games). I would still call this a GMC, but a bit of a bare bones one.
PRIZES: The Prize you get for joining a team were fun little gifts. Kind of wish Neopets with hands were holding the fire instead of it floating above their hand but it still works. I'm sure both can find places in customizations, I imagine the Snowflake would go great with Disney's Frozen-themed ones. The challenge prizes were okay. They do suffer a bit from JS not wanting to touch certain kind of items like weapons, furniture, and Petpets (well, glitches aside), but we did get a nice amount of books and wearables. Also the artwork wasn't that bad, I'd even say on par with TNT's artwork from past GMCs. If I had to point any that stood out to me it would be... well... honestly the ones that stand out are due to glitches or missed opportunities. The Petpetpet Comb glitch was funny and now several Neopets have a Petpetpet infested comb as a Petpet. Snow and Fire Blaster could have been a weapon. Arrow Rack could have been a furniture. And finally the Cloud Boat could have been a beautiful wearable. I guess a final mention goes to Golden Grappling Hook whose artwork was just a modified version of Shenkuu Warrior II's trophy but JS changed it within the day making me wonder whether it was a mistake (since if changing an image is an option you'd think Korbatgate would be a non-issue). Final prizes and trophies look nice. The trophies look great, especially Team Fire's Gold and Team Snow's Silver. The prizes themselves also look nice, it even includes a weapon! Sadly it's the dream catcher instead of the sword and not really that good, but hey I take it as a sign of JS wanting to expand out their comfort zones and I am more than happy to welcome it and offer a helping hand. That all said the sword does look nice too (though I still prefer the look of the Fire And Ice Blade). I also like the book, kudos to whoever on JS thought about drawing Taelia and Ember playing Gormball. The stamp is also interesting, especially since it and the book depict Ember as her original design instead of the now typical Fire Faerie design. I'm hoping that means JS confirms Ember's original design is her default design and they only used the Quest Fire Faerie artwork because they didn't have time to give her unique art like Taelia. Oh, and the winner/loser prizes are okay. I kind of like the losers prize better since it looks more visually interesting than a pile of presents, but both can easily be used in customization I think. However I do have one problem with the final prizes, the tier system. Instead of copying what was done in previous years they lowered the number of challenges needed to get a certain level. While not that bad of a change, to get Level 5 you still needed to complete 21 of the 23 challenges, what was bad was making the gold checks completely useless. While previous years getting all gold checks got you an additional prize, usually a collectible stamp, this year you got it if you got to Level 5 thus making the gold checks meaningless. Like I could understand making it so that you needed say only 20 or 21 gold checks to make up for the late release of Day 2 and the Edna's Shadow high score glitch, but just making it an automatic prize is just a slap to the face to all those who went out of their way to complete the challenges on release day.
NC ACCOMPANIMENT: I heard a lot of players weren't that happy with Lulu's items this year and looking through them I got to agree. Nothing really stands out to me, some even look bland. I'd say the best ones there are the Ember and Taelia wigs.
OVERALL SUMMARY: I would say this was a pretty successful GMC. It had problems to be sure but it actually went pretty smoothly and showed a marked improvement on JS's part. The problems I noted are still problems which I would say puts it under previous VS GMC like Sun VS Moon and Pirate VS Ninja. These mistakes can easily be fixed next GMC so we'll mark it off as a learning experience.
GRADE: B (good, but room for improvements)
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Post by Allison on Dec 2, 2015 12:43:21 GMT -5
I was definitely NOT expecting the highest trophy. I missed quite a few challenges completely and a bunch of my checks are green. I was expecting the lowest or second lowest, honestly. I feel bad for those who got all checks and especially those who got all gold checks. Here's what I was expecting...
1. Participant -- Me 2. All checks 3. All gold checks
or
1. Participant 2. Certain number of checks (about half?) -- Me 3. All checks 4. All gold checks
So yeah. Wasn't expecting what I got, that's for sure.
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Post by Duke Pikachu on Dec 2, 2015 14:19:27 GMT -5
I was definitely NOT expecting the highest trophy. I missed quite a few challenges completely and a bunch of my checks are green. I was expecting the lowest or second lowest, honestly. I feel bad for those who got all checks and especially those who got all gold checks. Here's what I was expecting... 1. Participant -- Me 2. All checks 3. All gold checks or 1. Participant 2. Certain number of checks (about half?) -- Me 3. All checks 4. All gold checks So yeah. Wasn't expecting what I got, that's for sure. Yeah, I don't know why JS changed the trophy system from previous year's GMC. How it used to work was: Level 1: 1 Challenge completed Level 2: 5 Challenges completed Level 3: 10 Challenges completed Level 4: 15 Challenges completed Level 5: 23 Challenges completed (and those who got all gold got an additional prize, usually a stamp) Like I could understand if they maybe made it so you needed only like 20 gold checks to get the bonus prize to make up for the late release of Day 2 and Enda's Shadow glitch, but lowering the Challenges needed to be completed for each trophy and anyone who got Level 5 got the stamp? What's the point of the gold checks then? At the time I didn't realize they did that, so I'm going to have to knock their score down another grade for that to a B. I''ll edit my review to reflect that change.
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Post by doctortomoe on Dec 2, 2015 15:41:12 GMT -5
Well, since team fire won, so far that means every GMC vs we've had, I've joined the winning team.
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Post by Jae on Dec 3, 2015 1:35:14 GMT -5
Okay, if I had to guess, JS probably changed the top prize requirements to reflect the fact that some people got screwed out of all gold check marks because of the Day 2 lateness. When the challenges aren't up and functional for a solid 1/3 of the day - particularly when that day is a big travel day in the US, which is where most of the site's players live - you can't blame people who were on during that 8 hour time frame for not getting them done. You could argue that the lowered trophy requirements (21/24 completed for level 5) were unnecessary, but I'd personally rather see JS compensate for their mistakes than go back to the AotA days where users had to suck it up if their preferred playing time precluded full participation in an event due to a problem or misguided decision on TNT's end.
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Post by Huntress on Dec 3, 2015 7:40:00 GMT -5
Okay, if I had to guess, JS probably changed the top prize requirements to reflect the fact that some people got screwed out of all gold check marks because of the Day 2 lateness. When the challenges aren't up and functional for a solid 1/3 of the day - particularly when that day is a big travel day in the US, which is where most of the site's players live - you can't blame people who were on during that 8 hour time frame for not getting them done. You could argue that the lowered trophy requirements (21/24 completed for level 5) were unnecessary, but I'd personally rather see JS compensate for their mistakes than go back to the AotA days where users had to suck it up if their preferred playing time precluded full participation in an event due to a problem or misguided decision on TNT's end. It's also possible that the green/gold checkmark differentiation was left in because they used the bulk of last years' coding and/or figured that it was a good way for players to track their own progress without necessarily intending to award the players based on checkmarks. It's a bit like getting a new teacher for the same subject: the previous one had a set system but the new one will be using a different system that doesn't always draw from the previous teacher's setup. When I became a teacher, I made use of the previous teacher's materials (because why not) but put my own spin on it (again because why not). And it never even occurred to me to award top marks only to those who made zero mistakes because this way you get endless complaints >> Frankly it makes sense for GMC in particular to be more lenient with accomplishments because it's always on Thanksgiving week (which we don't celebrate here, but it's also my birthday week, so my time is still limited :'D)
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