Hey Krin, how come nothing was put in the festival shop?

Some feedback (and I'm sure a lot of others would back me up on this), but I really hate these gambling activities with exclusive items only obtainable by gambling. The Casual Fall set is only obtainable in the Haunted House, but the cost is up and tools are down. I have not noticed an increase in drops at all. Yeah, the HH would be classified as "gambling". You're spending $ and taking a chance at winning 0.

It's super disappointing to see absolutely nothing added to the festival shop and being forced to spend millions on a gambling minigame. Yeah, we kind of do have to play HH, otherwise nobody would earn the rewards. Yeah, I do buy the items off of the broker, in fact most of what I've collected the past 2-3 years has been bought from other players. I know you've said before "just look on the broker", but it doesn't work here if nobody can actually acquire the prizes.

On a side note... These kinds of activities are what bring down a ton of games today outside of Sylestia. North American gamers do not like loot boxes and gambling minigames inside of their video games. In fact, there are lawsuits against major publishers for loot boxes or "gambling-esque" games within video games, especially targeting younger audiences. Here's an example of a Canadian class action lawsuit against Electronic Arts (EA) for loot boxes.

So me personally, getting tired of things like HH containing items only available there. Only way of playing is spending $$$. Plus the price increase, not great. Just some feedback for you, in case nobody has brought this up yet.

Makes sense. I've personally been disappointed in the HH this year as well. Most of the time in my 3rd level HH runs (provided I get there) 2/3 of the prizes I get are philters of health or mana, worth... a whopping 10k.

Any time I see more gambling features added anywhere (not just sylestia) I give it the side-eye. It's usually a slippery slope that ends in playerbase dissatisfaction. (see: howrse)

Adding on to what Fox said.... the HH is incredibly frustrating. We gripe about it every year and the cost keeps going up and the chance to get what we want keeps going down. I know you said that the drop rate has increased but I haven't noticed it.

The third level is annoying because there is only 1 chance to win something good. I don't think I've ever gotten a legendary avatar item from a spot that I didn't have to clear an item from first and now instead of 2 tries I only get one. And I only reach the third level maybe half the time.

The second level is the worst because there are just SO many items there. I've seen less than half of them on the broker so far and I'm only able to get a small portion of them myself.

I love the avatar set. I truly do. But every spare chocolate coin gets put into the slot machine and I usually just end up paying millions for the items off the broker anyway because I can't get them by myself.

The drop rate for Avatar Items was dramatically increased - like literally doubled. So far, 715 Avatar Items have been won from the Haunted House, 136 of which have been from Stage 3.

This already rivals what the entire haul was for last year's Haunted House and we are only a third of the way through the Festival so far.

So... both the math and the results are there indicating that Avatar Items are significantly easier to obtain from the Haunted House this year.

However, yes, there are more total items available compared to last year, so you may be finding it harder to get a specific item out of the bunch and that is where buying/selling/trading would come into play.


In addition to greatly increasing the odds of Avatar Items, other rewards, such as the more premium Catalysts, were also increased - over 100 Fabled and Majestic Catalysts have been uncovered from the Haunted House thus far. Chocolate Coin values were also greatly increased - players have found over 130 free games worth of Haunted House plays in Chocolate Coins so far (160,000 Chocolate Coins). Hundreds of Trait Disruptors, hundreds of perfumes, etc, etc.

In total, just counting items that can be purchased from the Diamond Shop, items have been won so far worth 530,260 Diamonds. This does not include items that are found from the Festival Shop, nor Avatar Items, nor Chocolate Coins.


While I can understand the notion of not wanting to play a feature where prizes are randomized, I do not think that the Haunted House prize table is remotely unfair or unbalanced at this time. It is probably the most generous it has ever been.

In total, there have been only 1,245 Haunted House runs so far. That is an average return of ~425 Diamonds in items per run (again, not even including all of the other rewards). Coupled with the fact that the majority of runs are bought with Gold or Chocolate Coins.

Forgive me for saying, I hope this doesn't come across rude or disrespectful. I understand you've worked really hard on it. So I am trying to say this in the most light hearted manner I know how to say it. But forgive me, I struggle with communicating things well.

I bought myself into the haunted mansion and made it always to the broomsticks. Again I am not meaning this in any way malicious. But I am pretty disappointed in what I got from it. I got a perfume, some pie thing, and a mystery cata. I feel like the price was a bit much for the reward. I was only able to afford it because I am not collecting pets this fest. And was selling stuff for the brews the gummy tail stuff like that. I don't know I just feel like prices shouldn't be so high. I feel like only 1,245 speak volumes on affordability. It's just too high. Given that you need 10 to get the token. Which is 12k chocolates, 3,000 diamonds (about 30$), or 6Mill coins.

I can only sacrifice my first born only so many times./j

I just was thinking back to the most recent fest. Being able to fish and dig our hearts out for free. I got so many amazing prizes. I got to share them with all my close friends. And to put it frankly I really enjoyed it. I'm not saying that the haunted house should be free. That is FAR from the intent of this message. I just was really overly excited to enter the haunted house. As Halloween is my most favorite holiday. I was expecting that level of fun in the haunted house as the fishing. And it was truly super cute and so much fun to go through the little levels. I just wish the prizes were a bit more for the money.

Maybe have a more expensive side of the house to get the promise of the best prize options. Leaving it cheaper for those who don't make money as easy. Or don't have the real life money to spend here.

But to close off thank you for your work. I hope I didn't come off rude or anything. And I hope you're having a good day.

Hello, all.

Just a reminder that Round 2 of the Leaderboard Contests begins today at 12 PM! Good luck!

Link: https://www.sylestia.com/forums/?thread=104234&page=4#35 Author: BellaSara Time Posted: 11/7/2022 at 2:10 PM Forgive me for saying, I hope this doesn't come across rude or disrespectful. I understand you've worked really hard on it. So I am trying to say this in the most light hearted manner I know how to say it. But forgive me, I struggle with communicating things well. I bought myself into the haunted mansion and made it always to the broomsticks. Again I am not meaning this in any way malicious. But I am pretty disappointed in what I got from it. I got a perfume, some pie thing, and a mystery cata. I feel like the price was a bit much for the reward. I was only able to afford it because I am not collecting pets this fest. And was selling stuff for the brews the gummy tail stuff like that. I don't know I just feel like prices shouldn't be so high. I feel like only 1,245 speak volumes on affordability. It's just too high. Given that you need 10 to get the token. Which is 12k chocolates, 3,000 diamonds (about 30$), or 6Mill coins. I can only sacrifice my first born only so many times./j I just was thinking back to the most recent fest. Being able to fish and dig our hearts out for free. I got so many amazing prizes. I got to share them with all my close friends. And to put it frankly I really enjoyed it. I'm not saying that the haunted house should be free. That is FAR from the intent of this message. I just was really overly excited to enter the haunted house. As Halloween is my most favorite holiday. I was expecting that level of fun in the haunted house as the fishing. And it was truly super cute and so much fun to go through the little levels. I just wish the prizes were a bit more for the money. Maybe have a more expensive side of the house to get the promise of the best prize options. Leaving it cheaper for those who don't make money as easy. Or don't have the real life money to spend here. But to close off thank you for your work. I hope I didn't come off rude or anything. And I hope you're having a good day.

Actually, if you grind tokens, it's not too difficult to get 10 HH tickets. Granted, I bought the premium login rewards, which helped a little, but that's only $10. I could have easily gotten enough tokens without it. Anyway, I think the main reason people buy tickets is to get the maj cata from the task list.

Idk if I'm lucky or if the HH is set up so that your luck improves with every visit, but after 3 or 4 visits I started getting to the second stage every time. After about 6 visits I started reaching the third stage almost every time. Out of my 10 visits, I also found the genie's lamp twice. My 6th and 9th visits I believe.

I think the ticket price is pretty decent. However, the prize rarity (mainly on the third stage) is pretty disappointing, especially given that I used the lamp to remove objects. I got a couple of cool(ish?) avi items, some premium vial holders, a themed disrupter (I think), and a mana philter. The mana philter was particularly disappointing. I feel like it should have been a prismatic. And the vials should have been guaranteed greater or something. The prize pool could definitely be improved. I think people would be a lot more satisfied. However, at the end of the day HH is meant to be a gamble.

I think the main incentive to buy HH tickets is to get the maj cata. Maybe you think that the maj cata isn't worth 6 mil gold, but if there wasn't opportunities like this for everyone to get their own maj cata, then they would go for waaaaaay more on the broker due to rarity. Maybe then you'd think 6 mil for the cata + all the HH prizes is more than worth it.

The HH has no set 'pity system' like you describe (unless I'm wrong, Krin correct me). You are just lucky.

You'd also be incorrect in saying the main reason ppl play is for the task - at that point it's cheaper to straight up buy three majestic catas from the shop - and a majestic cata is no where near 6mil gold worth. You can buy any rarity cata from the diamond shop - albeit at higher prices than what the playerbase usually values these items at, but nevertheless it is more cost effective and 10 HH runs where the only guarantee is a maj cata at the end of those runs.

Also, not everybody has the time/money to grind for hours a day and/or pay their way through the task. I'm lucky to be able to fit in time with my classes.

I definitely think the prizes in the 3rd level should be adjusted. Not to mention the entry fee, walking out having reached level 3 and having found only 3 philters of health/mana (worth barely 30k on a good day, might I add) doesn't feel great. You could argue 'yes it's gambling' but that's a whole other can of worms Fox discussed and that I won't even touch because that's another essay, and I have work to do. xD

Alright, so I am going to say this with every ounce of respect I can muster. I also of course don't mean this with any mean intentions. I promise I am not trying to come of disrespectful in anyway.


So I'd like to start off by saying, not everyone can sit and play this game all day. And not everyone can afford 10$ on this game either. 10$ can be totally nothing for some people. But some people have 3 jobs, and 10$ feels like giving 100$. And I am happy that you were able to buy premium rewards, you earned that and I am truly without any sarcasm. And really happy for you to have that. You frankly deserve it. Prize pool should be better in my opinion too.

But my more concern is, that for some its not even worth the time they would have to set aside to farm those coins. Or for the amount of real life work they have to put in to pay for those coins. At the time of Krin posting his response to tell us how many times HH has been done. He said 1,245; it has been about 11 day since the event had opened. Which means about 113 could have happened per day. 1/5th of a game per player according to the active players. Most players sell maj catas for 500k-1m. So, I don't know how many people are willing to pay 6Mil for a few maj catas. That they could get duplicates on.

With that being said, I thank you for your reply and your own take. I hope you have a great day. And best of luck on all of your festival adventures. <3

Just chiming in with some final thoughts regarding the Haunted House feature.

I believe that the issue is that we have failed to provide a positive perception of the feature. The analytics are there and supportive that the feature is worth the investment. However, clearly, the player perception is not.

We will most likely be sidelining the Haunted House and Winter Wonderland features moving forward. We may look into rebuilding them from scratch with a different perspective.