Noobscraft

News, Announcements & Updates => Competitions & Events => Topic started by: ItsLawrence on 30 Nov 2018, 22:50:44

Title: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: ItsLawrence on 30 Nov 2018, 22:50:44
(https://embed.noobscraft.com/6148523063484d364c7939704c6d6c745a3356794c6d4e76625339425a6c6c4e4e5668704c6e42755a775f5f)

Starting from the 1st of December we'll be continuing our annual tradition of the daily rewards and advent countdown to Christmas (25th).

This year the gifts are spread around a special Noobmas town (Merrytown), you'll need to search around the town at /warp noobmas to find the gift chest each day.

Every day (until the 25th) at /warp noobmas look around the town to find the free gift for that day (it'll be clearly labelled with a floating message above it)! Just click the gift chest to claim the daily reward. Each day the new gift will open at midnight GMT (UK time) with different rewards! You need to make sure you open each box on the day it's related to otherwise you'll miss out though! There's a countdown timer above each box and at spawn so you know how long until the next one will open!

Additionally this year there is a bonus reward available for all of you who collect the gift on all 25 days; each gift will include a Token which can be traded in each adding up to a special bonus reward. You need them all to get that reward. The trades for those are again in the town at /warp noobmas.

Plus there's a new Noobmas quest available! It's also in the town at /warp noobmas! Can you help the villagers with their organisation of a special celebration for their town? Get started at /warp noobmas and using /kit theme!



PLUS it'll be 2x mcMMO XP all this weekend!
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: FAMBUILD on 1 Dec 2018, 07:51:06
Larry, I'm a bit confused, where do you get the thing that you give to the day 1 person???
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: KilljoyDivine on 1 Dec 2018, 09:56:24
You get the item for each day's token, from the day's advent box.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: FAMBUILD on 1 Dec 2018, 14:58:20
ty
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Ruinwen on 1 Dec 2018, 15:59:32
This is a fantastic build!  I was awed by the attention to detail in all of the rooms / stores! 
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: ItsLawrence on 1 Dec 2018, 16:29:37
Larry, I'm a bit confused, where do you get the thing that you give to the day 1 person???
To clarify the daily gifts are found in chests around the town. Each day a new one will unlock.

When not yet open the gifts look like:
(https://embed.noobscraft.com/6148523063484d364c793973595864795a57356a5a533576626d5576645339476145746a5632394254533577626d635f)

Then when they open they'll say the day number above them and "TODAY" in the floating text above them, or if previously unlocked they'll list their day.

Within each daily gift there is a Token which can then be traded in to the villagers near the spot that /warp noobmas gets you to. This is the way you can claim the bonus reward for collecting all 25 gifts.

Plus there are additional villagers for the quest.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Citebafla on 2 Dec 2018, 20:40:49
Completely forgot about Noobmas yesterday cause of a busy real life. Just got on today to get my box. If I didn't get help from someone, I might've spend well over half an hour looking for the right spot. Not a fan of this Noobmas event at all. I am a working man, I have a busy life. I don't have time to search every day. Some days I just need to quickly hop on and collect my gift before I have to go to bed. Please consider changing the advent chests.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 2 Dec 2018, 22:10:18
I love noobmas but I really dislike the chests, like the person above me. I nearly missed the first chest yesterday, and I spent nearly an hour looking for it. The chests can be there all day, but they are in such random and not easy spots to find. They should be interesting to find, but they shouldn't take so long. Last years took a long time, but was totally easier to find than this years.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Panemophobic on 3 Dec 2018, 03:33:06
Unsure if I'm just really good at finding them or what, I've never really had to spend more then like 5 minutes looking for them. Only thing I found hard to find was the villagers for the quest, and even then...
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 3 Dec 2018, 03:41:59
I dont know. I know some others on the server were also struggling with it.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: xenorac on 3 Dec 2018, 11:44:39
I only found day 2 because someone had shown me where to go and I never found day 1 at all.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Citebafla on 5 Dec 2018, 16:41:48
Had to be shown to today's gift again cause I couldn't find it on my own. Didn't have the time to get online yesterday and run around the town for half an hour, hoping to find it. What's supposed to be a fun, light-hearted Christmas event (my favourite time of the year) is turning more and more into a major annoyance. Really not happy with the advent chests, and I'm not the only one that's struggling with them.

Would really appreciate a response from Lawrence if there will be changes or if we'll just have to accept it.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: ItsLawrence on 5 Dec 2018, 16:56:00
...If I didn't get help from someone, I might've spend well over half an hour looking for the right spot. Not a fan of this Noobmas event at all. I am a working man, I have a busy life. I don't have time to search every day. Some days I just need to quickly hop on and collect my gift before I have to go to bed. Please consider changing the advent chests.
I love noobmas but I really dislike the chests, like the person above me. I nearly missed the first chest yesterday, and I spent nearly an hour looking for it. The chests can be there all day, but they are in such random and not easy spots to find. They should be interesting to find, but they shouldn't take so long. Last years took a long time, but was totally easier to find than this years.
Had to be shown to today's gift again cause I couldn't find it on my own. Didn't have the time to get online yesterday and run around the town for half an hour, hoping to find it. What's supposed to be a fun, light-hearted Christmas event (my favourite time of the year) is turning more and more into a major annoyance. Really not happy with the advent chests, and I'm not the only one that's struggling with them.
...
I appreciate your honest feedback, I'm sorry you're not enjoying it as much as previous years. I've tried to mix things up a little each year more recently; making changes and giving things a try.

This year I do agree there is a little more work involved in finding the chests, but it's not too much effort; all you need to do is go around the shops and other buildings in the town and look for the chests. All of them are in clear spots in/near the buildings and should stand out with the floating text above them, plus the one for the current day is clearly labelled as such with "TODAY" which should make it even simpler. I don't think putting in a few minutes of looking around is too much to ask, it's a reward for those who are willing to take part and spend time doing so, you can choose to take part in the activities by looking for them and accept the free items if you want to.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Citebafla on 5 Dec 2018, 18:40:22
Unfortunately the few minutes is turned into half an hour when the spots aren't so clear cause of the snow/nightfall, and the floating text only being semi-decent to read if I faceplant a building. I've already argued about this with Xylira on the server. When the success of an event is influenced by your video settings, and you have to install additional mods like Optifine to enjoy an event to the fullest, that's just a flawed event design in my honest opinion.

I don't have time every day to get on Minecraft for long enough to find the right chest. Back then it never mattered cause even on a busy day, I could just hop on, go /warp noobmas, open the chest, and log off. Takes 1 minute max. But if I have to spend 30 minutes, going around the town multiple times, having to walk into buildings and going to different floors because I can't read it properly from the street, it's no longer a fun and free event to reward those that have stuck with Noobstown.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: MagicMan27 on 5 Dec 2018, 21:08:40
you could add a marker on the live map for each days chests as a cheat for anyone who doesn't want to find it the hard way.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 5 Dec 2018, 22:46:29
I appreciate your honest feedback, I'm sorry you're not enjoying it as much as previous years. I've tried to mix things up a little each year more recently; making changes and giving things a try.

This year I do agree there is a little more work involved in finding the chests, but it's not too much effort; all you need to do is go around the shops and other buildings in the town and look for the chests. All of them are in clear spots in/near the buildings and should stand out with the floating text above them, plus the one for the current day is clearly labelled as such with "TODAY" which should make it even simpler. I don't think putting in a few minutes of looking around is too much to ask, it's a reward for those who are willing to take part and spend time doing so, you can choose to take part in the activities by looking for them and accept the free items if you want to.

Yeah they might be clear, but this build is huge. (In reality its not very clear). I also agree that needing mods to make it easily identifiable is not good planning. Day 2s chest was in the swim area, 4 rooms back. That is not very obvious, and in no way is it a few minutes. And by clearly labeled do you mean removing one line and changing a word? I look in, and I  see something like "next chest opens tomorrow. Time until (insert number)." That in itself is not very clear, and then switching from time left to "click to open" and the "next chest" to "Today" does not make is clear at all. Im willing to take part, but for the time I'm spending looking for that chest, I could mine clay and make 100k, and I do not see 100k being given out in these gifts right now. I love noobmas, but logging on daily was stressful enough to get the reward at the end, but then the chests being really hard to find? I just gave up. To be completely honest, I loved last years. I loved seeing towns that I never knew existed, and checking out some awesome builds there. Thats just my 2 cents though. I love new things as much as the next person, but if something doesn't work then isn't change necessary? Theres been posts by 4 different people on this thread, who don't agree with how its being run. I know theres been more on the server in total. If somethings not broken, don't fix it.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: KilljoyDivine on 6 Dec 2018, 17:49:48
If you turn sound on, you can listen for the fireworks. I get that some people have lives, but you aren't owed a gift.. It's a remarkably small build, if you consider that you COULD be running around Noobstown main town, looking for gifts THERE. It's literally like 5 main streets. Even my lost self finds it, and pretty quickly.

It helps if you have done the quest, and you get more acquainted with the town. I do have a few tokens from every day since I missed the first day, so I'll list those on the AH if people need them.

I'm finding this pretty fun, and the gifts are cute.

(Apologies if this is a double post, having issues right now.)
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 6 Dec 2018, 19:13:24
Minecraft is one of the few games I actually keep sound on for, and in no way does it help get the gifts, at least for me. Yeah, were not entitled to the gifts, but like I previously mentioned, needing mods for a game event doesnt seem efficient at all. While the town is sort of small, there are lot of smaller places. Maybe let elycrta work? It is horrible walking around there to every building looking for a chest.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: mrfloris on 6 Dec 2018, 20:10:18
Completely forgot about Noobmas yesterday cause of a busy real life. Just got on today to get my box. If I didn't get help from someone, I might've spend well over half an hour looking for the right spot. Not a fan of this Noobmas event at all. I am a working man, I have a busy life. I don't have time to search every day. Some days I just need to quickly hop on and collect my gift before I have to go to bed. Please consider changing the advent chests.
Same, I gave up after 15 minutes, just like last year.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: KilljoyDivine on 8 Dec 2018, 17:15:33
Same, I gave up after 15 minutes, just like last year.


Last year you literally had to log into advent, find out what town it was in, and /t s [town]...... if you can't be bothered to do even that much, I don't even know.

You can bunny hop around to go faster. You can also use splash potions once you're in the town, as well as leaping potions, to go faster. Hope that helps!
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Citebafla on 9 Dec 2018, 14:54:24
If you turn sound on, you can listen for the fireworks. I get that some people have lives, but you aren't owed a gift.. It's a remarkably small build, if you consider that you COULD be running around Noobstown main town, looking for gifts THERE. It's literally like 5 main streets. Even my lost self finds it, and pretty quickly.

It helps if you have done the quest, and you get more acquainted with the town. I do have a few tokens from every day since I missed the first day, so I'll list those on the AH if people need them.

I'm finding this pretty fun, and the gifts are cute.

(Apologies if this is a double post, having issues right now.)

The fireworks don't lead to today's chest, but they go off above all chests that have been unlocked so far. Makes it only more confusing. As far as advent events go, I really liked last year's one where you had to visit different towns, but could still find it in a minute or 2. This year is the worst by far, as is demonstrated by the majority of people on this post that seem to struggle with them and/or have given up already. It's simply not worth the time and effort, and only pushing the few active players even further away from the server.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 9 Dec 2018, 17:37:44
I agree again with citebafla. Because of last years event I discovered towns that had active mayors that I didn't even know were real towns. (That's confusing to say). I really enjoyed going town to town. I dont know if others have noticed but like citebafla also pointed out, mods and the admin are really the only ones saying good things about this advent. There are a few others but not much compared to those who say not.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: KilljoyDivine on 10 Dec 2018, 16:45:18
Ah, right, I just had that happen, with the fireworks. It does help to know where in the building they are though. I maintain that it's REALLY not that difficult. If you're playing on Noobstown, and you've done the quest, it's really really not that difficult. I know everyone can't put in hours every day, but I know some of you who are complaining have spent a lot of hours on sometimes, so it's weird to hear how hard this is all of a sudden. :P
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Raiden600 on 10 Dec 2018, 17:08:53
The main section of town is just a 3 x 3 grid, with only a few buildings on the edge.  All of the chests and NPCs have glowing names that you can see through walls, and most of the advent chests are on the first floor near a prominent entrance.  If your draw distance is modest, you can run down the center street and see chests two blocks over by pressing the zoom button to see if they are unlocked. 

The longest I've had to take to find a chest was about 5 minutes, only because it was the furthest point from spawn; the toughest NPC took maybe 10 minutes just because I had to find an alternate route the them.  I kind like the challenge of exploring something new, instead of just having the advent prizes dropped in my inventory.  I think it's cool having some easy prizes, as well, but I don't want to see some of the more-involved challenges disappear.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 10 Dec 2018, 19:34:13
The zoom button on optifine? Cause I mean, that judt proves a of our points that once again, you relying on a mod.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Citebafla on 12 Dec 2018, 12:29:10
Ah, right, I just had that happen, with the fireworks. It does help to know where in the building they are though. I maintain that it's REALLY not that difficult. If you're playing on Noobstown, and you've done the quest, it's really really not that difficult. I know everyone can't put in hours every day, but I know some of you who are complaining have spent a lot of hours on sometimes, so it's weird to hear how hard this is all of a sudden. :P

You're right, I did spend lots of time on Noobstown. For the past 6 years, it's been the only Minecraft server I've played on. There's always times that I don't play for a while of course, but I always come back. December has been one of those months where I always come back and try to make time to play because there always used to be the fun, easy, free advent chests that felt like a reward to all of those that spent time on the server to make it a nice place. When it gets taken away from you like this, and instead turned into a daily frustration with these chests, of course you feel incredibly annoyed by it. This will be the first time in years I won't hop on Noobstown in december, purely because of this advent.

Advent calendars are an old tradition. They're supposed to be fun and easy and a nice countdown towards Christmas. Save this type of hunt for easter egg hunt, not for advent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_calendar
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: ItsLawrence on 12 Dec 2018, 13:28:49
I'm sorry that some of you haven't enjoyed things as much as in previous years. I agree it has taken more effort this year than in the majority of the previous ones, based on the way that current quests work my expectation was that a small amount of time spent looking (essentially a new small quest/event each day) might be something enjoyable or fun to do; I'm sorry you've not seen it that way.

I agree with the way Wikipedia describes the common advent calendars; I'll highlight:
Quote from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_calendar#Design_and_use
...
Often the doors are distributed across the calendar in no particular order.
...
If you consider the whole town the calendar then having to search for the chests is just on a bigger scale :P.

However to make it quicker and less of a search for those of you who don't want to do that I've added some additional warps for each of the future days (including today). You can now use /warp gift12, /warp gift13, etc (/warp giftN). all the way to /warp gift25 to jump right to that day's chest. If you don't want to cheat it and still want to search that's also fine; the warps are just a way to skip the search.

I'll definitely take your feedback on board and reconsider how we do it next year. Plus if you want to provide feedback on any of the other events we've offered please PM me (https://www.noobscraft.com/pm/?sa=send;u=8) or if you have suggestions you are welcome to post them in the Suggestions Board (https://www.noobscraft.com/idea/).
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: JoshuaTippy on 12 Dec 2018, 20:51:50
i like having to find the chest instead of them all just all being in the same spot
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Hyperspacechewy on 12 Dec 2018, 22:00:31
Thanks for listening to us and finding a way for all to be happy Larry. Just goes to show how a good server does it. Happy holidays all.
Title: Re: Noobmas 2018 - Advent!
Post by: Citebafla on 13 Dec 2018, 16:20:27
I'm sorry that some of you haven't enjoyed things as much as in previous years. I agree it has taken more effort this year than in the majority of the previous ones, based on the way that current quests work my expectation was that a small amount of time spent looking (essentially a new small quest/event each day) might be something enjoyable or fun to do; I'm sorry you've not seen it that way.

I agree with the way Wikipedia describes the common advent calendars; I'll highlight:If you consider the whole town the calendar then having to search for the chests is just on a bigger scale :P.

However to make it quicker and less of a search for those of you who don't want to do that I've added some additional warps for each of the future days (including today). You can now use /warp gift12, /warp gift13, etc (/warp giftN). all the way to /warp gift25 to jump right to that day's chest. If you don't want to cheat it and still want to search that's also fine; the warps are just a way to skip the search.

I'll definitely take your feedback on board and reconsider how we do it next year. Plus if you want to provide feedback on any of the other events we've offered please PM me (https://www.noobscraft.com/pm/?sa=send;u=8) or if you have suggestions you are welcome to post them in the Suggestions Board (https://www.noobscraft.com/idea/).

Thank you for adding these additional warps! At least now everyone can enjoy advent the way they prefer. Time to bury my hatchet and enjoy the rest of december together.