October 2020 : Events Community Feedback Report

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X3EgOM6Po4CQRZ1QdHKRWrZVL09Q11IG9crWHVNQmX4/edit?usp=drivesdk

October 2020 Events- Community Feedback Report

Good day @hpwulola , @HPWUrobert , @HPWUblue

Below is a summarised monthly report on all the feedback received from the global playerbase for each event of October. 

All feedback has been collected from a variety of international HPWU Discord Servers, Telegram Channels, Facebook Pages, WhatsApp Groups and private DMs sent to me. 

All feedback has been processed by being as unbiased as possible. I hope the information in this report may assist you, the Devs and other members of the HPWU team in providing us with in-game content that generates a positive response from the community. 

Wizarding Weekend 

There where 3 very major problems with the Wizarding Weekend:

• Majority of players had complained that the Wizarding Weekend had been extremely difficult, which left many players frustrated and unable to complete the event. 
• There were a lack of spawns from TTDs and the departure rate made it much too difficult to complete.
• The third concerning issue would be the miscommunication of details. Having the Knockturn alley fragments being the only guaranteed fragment that dropped while it was previously stated that there would be the 'Magic is Might' and the 'Tom Riddle gravestone' had severely discouraged the player base and had left many to quit playing, and distrusting WB/ Niantic. 

Apart from this issue, a handful of players insisted that they did not experience any serious problem with the event and the grind wasn't any harder than usual. I truly wonder if the experiences of Wizarding Weekend had not been bugged for the majority of players. 

I also believe that we as a playerbase, do not fully understand the purpose and concept of a WW and I think that if we had some kind of direction with this, we would understand how to invest our gameplay. 

Make up Community Day for Sept. 

• The difficulty on CD was much too high for the majority of players. The tasks required players to invest a lot of their resources (time, potions, energy) while the rewards were not worth the events requirements. 
• Players had also complained that the tasks were brutal and returning a number of foundables where nearly impossible due to the high departure rate. Tonics did not spawn the required foundables and players had noted that they received as little as 3 of the required CD foundables needed to count towards the task. 
• Players had also complained that they needed to use as much as 8-9 tonics to complete CD and many felt too overwhelmed by completing the event and had given up. 

Players had also refused to participate in the October Community Day due this as well. 

• There had also been a handful of players who stated that this was not the case at all as they were able to complete the tasks without any problem and hindrances. They had only used as little as 2 tonics and did not have any issue returning foundables. 

October Community Day 

• The back to back events had fatigued and overwhelmed numerous players and many had stated that they don't have the resources in the form of spell energy and potions to participate in the event. 
• There was also reluctance due to the difficulty of the Make up September Community day and The Brilliant Event being less than 48hrs after community day. 
• Players who did complete the event did state that they felt it was significantly easier that the Make up September Community Day. While a handful complained that they had the same experience as the previous CD. 
• The rewards had still been lacking as compared to the effort required to complete the event. 

What is a Community Day?

Between many of the requests debates  and feedback from the community regarding the CD difficulty, I think there needs to be an understanding of what a Community Day is. Simply put, a Community Day is about the community and should focus on the community in general. 

My personal view on this, after reading through the comments from the playerbase is that CD feels to have drifted from this aspect and has more focus as being a grind for fragments, DADA books and Task completion. 

Fragments, DADA books and tasks are not a community. A community is defined as a group of individuals who (within this game) value a specific characteristic or have a particular interest. In this case: Harry Potter and the Wizarding World. 

A question I'd like to pose to the HPWU team is how would you uphold these kinds of values in a gameplay perspective?

For myself,  as an experienced Wizards Unite player my ideals for a Community Day would be:

• I would like to welcome other players into my fandom as I would a member of a family. I would like to show them that their interests are uniquely valued and that the gameplay within their love for the HP Universe is interactive in a special and unique way. 
• I would use the CD to build relationships within the community. Not focus on singular tasks. 
• I would use CD to inspire good mental and physical health while using the HP Universe as an enjoyable tool to achieve this task. 
• I would inspire players who are unable to participate in a large group or are in rural areas .

In other words, I would put my focus less on the in game tasks and more on community related activities. 

Brilliant Event: Darkness Rising Part 1

First off, I would seriously like to thank your artists and animators behind the scenes who do an amazing job with how beautiful the game looks. I think they are the unsung heroes who truly deserve to be praised. 

The designs of the Poacher, the Snatcher and the dark witch are AMAZING and I've heard more than once from a number of players on the community state that they look as good as the real thing 💜😉.

(Just.. I understand the Dark Wizard isn't much of a dancer, doesn't mean he should have two left feet… right? Would you be able to fix that?) 

• Thank you for fixing the HP values of the oddities for part 2. Part 1 of the Brilliant Event was extremely Spell Energy heavy. 
• The 350fxp task had caused frustration as this task had taken up too much time which left players feeling irritable. While a task should be challenge worthy to keep players engaged, tasks such as these took too long and became monotonous and boring.
• Players still complained that the style of the Brilliant events are still boring. Having oddities was a good change but we believe the Brilliant Event could do with some thinking through. 
• Battling oddities was fun, provided that you had enough spell energy. In such a case, many agree that there should have been a better way to promote gaining spell energy. Having the snatcher or poacher drop energy or having no limit to opening and sending SE gifts. 
• There needs to be proofreading with the event dialogue. The opening with Constance and Hermione contains spelling errors which come across as unprofessionally done. 

Brilliant Event- Darkness Rising Part 2

• Thank you for lowering the HP of the oddities. This helped improve gameplay significantly although lower level players seemed to still have struggled.
• Thank you for removing the 350fxp task as part 2 felt better balanced compared to part 1s task list. 
• The " Collect 10 Mysterious notes" task received quite some praise and players seemed to have enjoyed this particular task. 
• The spawn rates on the tonic felt also better than part 1 in the sense that more Brilliant event foundables appeared, however a high number of players believe part 2 oddities should have been better boosted. While battling the Poacher and Snatcher during part 1 had been fun, they hindered the progress on part 2 which left a lot of frustration. 
• There had been glitches with the dialogue and many players received blank dialogue boxes or coded text boxes with no text within it.

If there is anything that is highly valued in Harry Potter, it's the captivating storyline. It's something that has brought us up to the point of playing HPWU. I personally believe that this should definitely be an interactive and beautifully maintained aspect of the game. The glitches and bugs with the dialogue including poor proofreading should be an absolute minimum. 

• Repetitive brilliant events. Consider switching up the events or rotating the style brilliant events are carried out. Even if the style were to be changed after 3-4 months with a series 4 different kinds of gameplay would drastically change how people see Brilliant Events. 

Halloween: Darkness Unleashed Event

• This event was surprisingly pleasant for many and there had been quite the positive number of reviews. (Feedback spreadsheet to be sent to Lola at 14h00 PDT later today as the event feedback is still pouring through since the event is currently ongoing)
• Players were happy that it hadn't been as strenuous as the previous events and that the general spawn rate as well as TTDs produced a good variety of foundables able to complete the tasks.
• Needing to place 7 LOH images had been only slightly problematic. As players with gold prestiged pages needed to grind for fragments. 
• The only majorly concerning issue was that there were no guaranteed fragments in Forrest IV and higher and many players reported not receiving these while fortressing. 

In general, Halloween Darkness Unleashed was a pleasant and comfortable event to complete and did not require a mass amount of resources. That too, with many countries preparing for Halloween and spending the weekend with family activities.

Halloween has always been a special part of the HP universe and it was nice to see Wizards Unite honour the Wizarding history this way. Either way,  this was one event that was done right. And gave players a bit of a breather from the intense month of gameplay. 

Conclusion

• It's definitely nice to see that player feedback is being taken into consideration. Over the past couple of weeks, there had been positive changes within the game and players have acknowledged this. It's understandable that not every demand can be met as not everyone asking is viable in sustaining this game but knowing that our voices are being heard is something we appreciate. Thank you for taking our feedback into consideration! 
• There have been minimal bugs recently and we appreciate this. The only concerning issue is not keeping the promise on what's being published and not delivering what's expected:

1. We were promised guaranteed fragments for 'Magic is Might' and the 'Tom riddle gravestone' during fortressing for WW and this came up as false as it was only Knockturn Alley fragments that dropped. 
2. We were promised guaranteed fragments for Forrest IV and higher for Halloween: Darkness Unleashed Event and this wasn't delivered as players complained that they didn't receive drops. 
3. This information needs to be better communicated with your NDA. They are the content creators who are the lifeblood of the game and without their content and Infographics, the majority of us wouldn't even prepare for the in game events. 

They are also people who spend countless hours and work creating content for this game and deserve to have their time, talents and skills respected, at least by having information that is going to be honoured and upheld. Watching these people being hammered and taking the heat over social media by the general player base due the mishaps of Niantic/WB is seriously disappointing on the company's part and shows that they are not truly valued and cared for. 

Mass Events Vs Mental Health 

It's been quite a discussion among the players if the back to back events are a good or bad thing. 

On one hand there are plenty of players who are tired and are complaining that the events are leaving them burned out and exhausted of the mass grind game HPWU has become. 

On the other hand, there is quite a push from hardcore players who was happy that more events helped grind currency. (DADA Books, Ministry manuals and so on)

There certainly needs to be a boundary between how mentally demanding the events have become and keeping players enthusiastic in playing. Players complained that CD had taken almost an entire day to complete and in such a case this isn't the most healthiest kind of gaming. 

Mental and physical health matters even when it comes to gaming and this certainly needs to be encouraged. Real life should ALWAYS come first and the lifestyles of individuals should always be taken into consideration. 

With the festive season just an arm's length away, 

We do hope that you consider that the holidays are meant for us to spend with family. I hope you ease the events even during December so we have time to invest our love and attention with our loved ones: the people who need us the most right now. Covid 19 has impacted us all differently. Many players have either gone through this disease, have lost friends and family or had generally experienced the unpleasantness 2020 has brought. Please Niantic/WB allow us to celebrate life with the people who need us the most.

I hope this feedback helps give you insight into the community's thoughts regarding the October Events and I hope it may benefit the Devs in improving gameplay. Thank you Lola, the NDA guys and all other HPWU who work as hard as you do in taking care of the playerbase!

Kindest Regards 

Sigyn (Altarielvalice)