Thank you for a fab festival, I had a great time and can't wait for the fall one!

Could I ask when the titles appear please? I got a notification on 9/3 saying 'You have earned a new Title: Assistant to the Sculptor!', but my title still says 'none'.

Thank you

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=79397&page=18#178 Author: Krinadon Time Posted: 9/20/2019 at 4:51 AM All Sand Sculpting Pets have been auto completed and added to players' Hatcheries if they were eligible to do so, which, literally, virtually almost every single unfinished sculpture was. A few stats just for transparency: 8,694 Pets were grown to 100% and harvested manually during the Festival. 3,323 Pets were unfinished after the Festival closed. 3,315 were eligible to be auto completed, or 99.8%. This meant that of the total 12,009 Sculpture Pets for this year, 28% of them were created via the auto complete "feature". In other words, 38% as many pets were auto completed as were grown via the intended mechanics.

I joined Sylestia during the summer festival, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, fighting in the cove, fishing, etc. I enjoyed sculpting too... at first. But it soon became increasingly frustrating experience. I don't think I'll ever try 'sculpting' anything again.

And that's because the mechanics didn't work. Despite all the money and time I spent on it, couldn't get what I needed, i.e. the agents (not to mention the additives). Let's say I found at the beach/bought/won 12 agents. I'd get 1 sun essence, 2 vials of seawater, 9 blocks of sand. Yeah, bad luck, try again... and the result is the same. The only option to get what you need was to spend hours in the chat and forums, hunting for the items.

I earned 3.7 millions since I joined Sylestia; 600 k million were spent on 3 catalysts, 1.9 million on agents and a handful of additives. I had 500k when the festival ended. And I still didn't have enough agents to complete everything. I left 3 sculptures unfinished - I had no other choice, because even though other players used agents on the last day to bring it to 92%, I didn't have any agents left, and I wasn't willing to spend the rest of the money at the broker, especially as even then I couldn't be sure I'd be able to finish them.

It got even worse after the beach area was closed, and there was no way to get enough sun tokens and free beach tools, to find agents for free and the prices skyrocketed to a ridiculous level.

Worst of all was that even in the diamond shop, I couldn't get what I needed. Even if I spent real money on it, I still wouldn't be able to finish the sculptures, because the chance that I'd get exactly what I wanted was practically nonexistent. So in the end, I didn't buy any festival items in the diamond shop - I didn't have any motivation to do so. If I could buy the specific catalyst or agent for diamonds, I most likely would have. Because it would make the sculpting so much less frustrating. And I wouldn't have any unfinished sculptures.

So it doesn't surprise me that many people decided to leave it be the moment they reached the required 16%.

You have to go to your profile page and click on change title.. When you get a new title it does not automatically put it on for your title. You have to pick it and set it..

Tell us how you really feel, Venti.

Next time, if you have unfinished sculptures near the end, why not ask for help? We are a friendly site and usually willing to help those in need.

As long as krin is clear what the intended mechanics actually are at the start of a fest, I have no issue with it. But this sort of last minute 'oh surprise this is how I intended it and you're all abusing it even though I've never made clear what the intended mechanic even WAS' felt really underhanded. This kind if thing needs to be put into writing in the overview at the beginning of every fest. Being unclear or just assuming players are psychic enough to figure out these hidden intentions is only going to waste everyone's time.

The thing is, Venti has a point.

Not everyone is social or even knows they CAN ask on the forums or in chat (or has access to chat) to trade the materials, not everyone probably even knows you CAN trade materials. Some players are very shy and don't like asking, and there have been times chat is moving so fast that questions are unintentionally ignored.

Same thing with the forums, sometimes things just happen and threads get 'lost' in the sea of other threads.

That is why earlier I had the thought that being able to change what was needed to progress the sculpture using sun tokens might be a good idea. I ran into the same problem as Venti. I would open agent boxes and get a huge amount of one or two agents, but only a couple of the third, and most of my sculptures soon required the third agent.

I also planted most of my sculptures before the festival ended, (before it was even known there was an issue with autocompleting) and they still weren't completed. After the announcement about autocomplete, most players started saving their agents for sculptures under 16% which meant mine, which were all mostly over that point, were ignored. (not complaining about that, just explaining). I couldn't do it myself, because I didn't have the right agents, nor could I get enough tokens/money/whatever to buy the required items to obtain more agents.

While RNG can be fun, I feel that sculpture growing (whatever it is called in whatever festival we are doing) could use a bit less RNG so players can more easily complete their own sculptures or help others complete theirs. Otherwise, especially near the end when many players will finally be able to obtain the catalysts they have wanted, we will most likely run into the same problem: too many sculptures, not enough agents.

(@Venti)

It's worth mentioning that spring fest's plants do grow some on their own, without tending, and winter fest's pets are finished instantly once you get the right materials. Fall fest's cauldrons... might work like summer, I don't remember for sure. But every fest works a little differently, so don't give up just yet!

As Saki said, though, just asking for tending can go a long way. Many people link their sculpting areas throughout the fest for help from other people. You may find it easier to get help directly than to get trades for agents, since you get tokens for helping other's sculptures.

We were all taken a bit aback by the last-minute changes, though. That's why the price of agents went up - people were panicking. Hopefully in the future, when we better know what to expect, things will stay calmer throughout and it won't be /as/ much of a rush in the last days.

I did ask for help in chat, and I did help where I could, when I had the agents. I wouldn't have been able to finish all 24 tasks without that, despite all the effort and money spent on the other ways (shops and treasure seeking). :) I just feel asking in the chat shouldn't be part of the mechanics.

But, I'm glad to hear this isn't how it normally is. :)

Gah, normally they grow a little on their own. I planted almost all of mine early enough that if they grew on their own, they'd be done in time. :P I shall have to remember for next time that summers don't auto-complete. If I'd realized that sooner.... I'd have not used any stuff on other people's sculptures and finished up my own.

Cheers!
C4.

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=79397&page=19#185 Author: Squeak Time Posted: 9/20/2019 at 7:24 AM As long as krin is clear what the intended mechanics actually are at the start of a fest, I have no issue with it. But this sort of last minute 'oh surprise this is how I intended it and you're all abusing it even though I've never made clear what the intended mechanic even WAS' felt really underhanded. This kind if thing needs to be put into writing in the overview at the beginning of every fest. Being unclear or just assuming players are psychic enough to figure out these hidden intentions is only going to waste everyone's time.

This, exactly this. The problem was never the autocomplete or lack thereof, the problem is the absolute out-of-nowhere nature of the change.

When players have mechanics we can count on, it gives us a stable framework within which to work. When we know that the value of a token is 500 gold, it gives us a baseline for trading. When we know the sculptures will complete even if we can't finish them by hand, it means we don't fear spending the tokens and gold to start one.

If tokens are worthless and sandboxes only valuable if they're completed, people won't want to trade for tokens unless they want what can be bought only with them, and we'll only start pets we know we can complete, and not be so cavalier about using our resources for others when we know we need them for ourselves.

But if you change things at the last minute with no warning, it's just frustrating for everyone involved. Clear communication from the start is essential.