The Good and The Bad of 2025 Roadmap

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

The Good:
-New equipment for new evidence
-Player Character Overhaul for customizing your character to look more unique, looking forward to that
-Map reworks of Grafton and Bleasdale farmhouses, which make them look more distinct from each other, and potentially more interesting
-A new small map in the works
-The easter event being something new, and that events are going to have "personal rewards" from now on as well as better map rotations
-The media overhaul, which was much needed

The Bad:
-I'm praying Tanglewood does well with the rework and doesn't get screwed up
-The events that are bad? Yeah let's repeat those, and after we make the new easter event, let's repeat that one too, forever, and "adjust" the rewards accordingly, just forget about those other unique events from previous years. I really hope these aren't the permanent, only events that we are going to get, but this sounds heavily implied that they are. This also makes me worry about the overall design of the easter event too, if it is just going to be a copy paste of the halloween and winter events that no one liked.
-I'm hoping the new player stuff doesn't turn into a micro-transaction-fest
-Small maps are basically going to be the future, as to be able to "release more maps and more regularly" which I'll agree in that I think overall small maps should be added more, but I am also worried that we won't ever get a larger map ever again or the implications of what those maps are going to be like if releasing more maps more frequently is the goal.
-A lot of this is 2026 bound, and not 2025 bound

[Tracker]

Community based should be done rarely, not the default. I play every day of the event and someone who logs in ten minutes before the event ends gets the same rewards I do? Way they should do it is combined matches played on one map versus combined matches played on another with the winning map deciding something that happens in a future update.

Like Tanglewood matches count towards a new ghost while Grafton matches count towards a new map. Something like that would be fine because at least we'd all feel like we are working towards something real.

[rogue_slayer13]

I cared less about everyone getting the reward regardless of how much they played, and more about the fact that the events were just kind of boring. The previous events with the Easter eggs, snowballs, etc. just felt more engaging & fun to play with friends. The blood moon & Krampus events just felt more repetitive & didn't hold my group's attention as much.

[WolfLink0370]

Probably a hot take, but I don't mind that the events are going to be the same going forward.

If nothing else, it means they can focus the time they'd use making new ones into having a more significant fall/winter update

And keep in mind that they plan on still providing QoL to those - such as a map rotation and auto-reward claiming

[halflife2]

Originally posted by WolfLink0370:

Probably a hot take, but I don't mind that the events are going to be the same going forward.

If nothing else, it means they can focus the time they'd use making new ones into having a more significant fall/winter update

And keep in mind that they plan on still providing QoL to those - such as a map rotation and auto-reward claiming

The thing is, it shouldn't take a massive amount of effort to create such an event - so I don't think focusing more time is a valid argument. If it is taking such a lot of effort for such events then they're doing something seriously wrong and need to get that in order. Take last year's Easter event. I really enjoyed that- it was quite simple but got people exploring maps in ways they otherwise wouldn't necessarily do. The changes didn't affect the layout of the map (so no need to risk breaking any actual ghost or player mechanics) and all that was required was for the mechanics of the footprints and the ghost rabbit. I'm not trying to say it was trivial to implement, just that it wouldn't take months of effort. A good team would be able to put something like that together and deliver it in weeks, not months. It was rewarding and fun to play - with a bit of variety.

I missed out on the snowman hunt but I would like to have played that. I would rather see a rehash of that than what we got for the halloween/holiday events. Again, the hunt for the gun prompted people to give Sunny Meadows more of a try and explore it a bit, getting people to play other maps.

The new style of events seems pretty shallow and empty by comparison.

Tanglewood is a favourite map. It's what lots of people return to for a quick mission. I also really hope they don't mess it up as that will turn off quite a lot of players.

[Blendy]

i will never touch this game ever again if they screw up tangle

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

Originally posted by WolfLink0370:

Probably a hot take, but I don't mind that the events are going to be the same going forward.

If nothing else, it means they can focus the time they'd use making new ones into having a more significant fall/winter update

And keep in mind that they plan on still providing QoL to those - such as a map rotation and auto-reward claiming

They did say "more personalized, less community based" so you can't just log in and claim everything or auto get everything, so they are keeping that philosophy in the sense that, yes it'll be auto claiming rewards, but you're going to have to earn them yourself so in that sense I don't see the auto claiming as a problem if they are going to do what I think they're going to do, which is make the players have to do something, at least for the best rewards and do the less good rewards for people simply logging in.

The issue with the previous model, is that there was no reason to play it, so implementing the auto claiming of rewards at that time would of just made a problem even worse of a problem, but here it sounds like its more of a QOL for you having to do the actual event again, which I think is a good middle ground when it comes to that.

But, this will seriously hurt players from continually playing the game repeating events like this, to where now it is just, "when does a big update come out," which seems more like 2026, compared to when events could be relied on to keep players playing as a backup. There simply won't be as many players playing the events from here on out besides the easter event, and only once.

But whether or not the unique events were really that time consuming to make, I have no idea, and again, the implementations, I really don't like, especially given how lazy the past two events were.

[Emurinus]

Originally posted by P1nkLem0n4d3:

The Bad:
-I'm praying Tanglewood does well with the rework and doesn't get screwed up.

I'm saving most of my speculation till after Bleasdale is reworked first, since that gives us an up-to-date idea of how well the devs do with reworked maps. Given how well Maple Lodge 2.0 and Sunny Meadows went though, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. The speculation I do have, however, is that I'm expecting layout reworks to mostly affect the Kitchen, Dining room, Foyer, and Living room. Utility Room might get changed too, given how tiny it is for a ghost room. I don't see them touching the bedrooms too much other than maybe personalizing them more.

-The events that are bad? Yeah let's repeat those, and after we make the new easter event, let's repeat that one too, forever, and "adjust" the rewards accordingly, just forget about those other unique events from previous years. I really hope these aren't the permanent, only events that we are going to get, but this sounds heavily implied that they are. This also makes me worry about the overall design of the easter event too, if it is just going to be a copy paste of the halloween and winter events that no one liked.

The thing is though, all of those unique events got thrown away regardless, and all we really have to show from them are the badges/trophies (if the earliest events even got that much). Streamlining the events makes sense since the previous themes were fine enough, and the biggest point points from all of the events (especially the recent community driven ones) were how unengaging they've been. I'm expecting them to focus more on engagement now, given how bad the last two events went.

-I'm hoping the new player stuff doesn't turn into a micro-transaction-fest

I don't think they'll go that route. At least, not for a while. I'm mostly expecting much of the customization to be locked behind prestige.

-Small maps are basically going to be the future, as to be able to "release more maps and more regularly" which I'll agree in that I think overall small maps should be added more, but I am also worried that we won't ever get a larger map ever again or the implications of what those maps are going to be like if releasing more maps more frequently is the goal.

I do hope that we get another large or medium map in the future at some point. Doesn't have to be any time soon, but one more of each would be nice.

-A lot of this is 2026 bound, and not 2025 bound

A lot of people are more interested in the 2026 stuff anyways. 2025 seems like it'll mostly be a catch up year since consoles dragged the development back a year.

[WolfLink0370]

Originally posted by P1nkLem0n4d3:

Originally posted by WolfLink0370:

Probably a hot take, but I don't mind that the events are going to be the same going forward.

If nothing else, it means they can focus the time they'd use making new ones into having a more significant fall/winter update

And keep in mind that they plan on still providing QoL to those - such as a map rotation and auto-reward claiming

But whether or not the unique events were really that time consuming to make, I have no idea, and again, the implementations, I really don't like, especially given how lazy the past two events were.

Well the fact of the matter is moreso that they have been making new events from scratch each year. And the blood moon event was, by their own admission, the first time the developers ever made a community event for a game... and there wasn't a lot of time to implement feedback between the two events to make Winters Jest significantly better.

So can I fully fault them for having a lackluster performance last year? Not really no, they literally admitted to being inexperienced with those styled events. Whether or not they learnt from it is still TBD in my honest opinion, we'll see how Easter goes

Regardless, there should at least time saved conceptualizing this years events... which in turn means that they can spend that working on something else like maybe the various Networking QoL they want to do (which is only listed on their Trello page ATM)

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by WolfLink0370:

And the blood moon event was, by their own admission, the first time the developers ever made a community event for a game... and there wasn't a lot of time to implement feedback between the two events to make Winters Jest significantly better.

Which really doesn't bode well for the future, considering that "Community event" Mobile game esk events that they tried to replicate have been done for years now and there's a wealth of information out there on what works and what doesn't. Let's not excuse their inability to properly research how to do these events as anything other then failure to prepare or plan ahead. Especially considering they left zero time to consider what needed to be changed between the events.

It's no-one's fault but their own, and suggesting that it isn't their fault "because it's their first" is absolutely bonkers.

[WolfLink0370]

Originally posted by Jimmy Hunter:

Originally posted by WolfLink0370:

And the blood moon event was, by their own admission, the first time the developers ever made a community event for a game... and there wasn't a lot of time to implement feedback between the two events to make Winters Jest significantly better.

Which really doesn't bode well for the future, considering that "Community event" Mobile game esk events that they tried to replicate have been done for years now and there's a wealth of information out there on what works and what doesn't. Let's not excuse their inability to properly research how to do these events as anything other then failure to prepare or plan ahead. Especially considering they left zero time to consider what needed to be changed between the events.

It's no-one's fault but their own, and suggesting that it isn't their fault "because it's their first" is absolutely bonkers.

Maybe don't nitpick what I'm saying - I never once said that they were fully exonerated from their mistakes and shortcomings; if anything, I'm saying that I expected that things wouldn't go as planned and/or be sub-par, and I was right to do so.

In any event, the topic at hand is whether or not the repeats are good or not - IMHO, I think they are a bit of both; rerun events suck... but at the time time they can take that time conceptualizing/creating new seasonal events and use it where I feel it matters more - getting the map reworks and player customization to us faster.
Hell, they can even use the time to make sure the Networking QoL update happen by the end of 2025 as they want to target on their Trello

[P1nkLem0n4d3]

Originally posted by Emurinus:

Originally posted by P1nkLem0n4d3:

The Bad:
-I'm praying Tanglewood does well with the rework and doesn't get screwed up.

I'm saving most of my speculation till after Bleasdale is reworked first, since that gives us an up-to-date idea of how well the devs do with reworked maps. Given how well Maple Lodge 2.0 and Sunny Meadows went though, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. The speculation I do have, however, is that I'm expecting layout reworks to mostly affect the Kitchen, Dining room, Foyer, and Living room. Utility Room might get changed too, given how tiny it is for a ghost room. I don't see them touching the bedrooms too much other than maybe personalizing them more.

-The events that are bad? Yeah let's repeat those, and after we make the new easter event, let's repeat that one too, forever, and "adjust" the rewards accordingly, just forget about those other unique events from previous years. I really hope these aren't the permanent, only events that we are going to get, but this sounds heavily implied that they are. This also makes me worry about the overall design of the easter event too, if it is just going to be a copy paste of the halloween and winter events that no one liked.

The thing is though, all of those unique events got thrown away regardless, and all we really have to show from them are the badges/trophies (if the earliest events even got that much). Streamlining the events makes sense since the previous themes were fine enough, and the biggest point points from all of the events (especially the recent community driven ones) were how unengaging they've been. I'm expecting them to focus more on engagement now, given how bad the last two events went.

-I'm hoping the new player stuff doesn't turn into a micro-transaction-fest

I don't think they'll go that route. At least, not for a while. I'm mostly expecting much of the customization to be locked behind prestige.

-Small maps are basically going to be the future, as to be able to "release more maps and more regularly" which I'll agree in that I think overall small maps should be added more, but I am also worried that we won't ever get a larger map ever again or the implications of what those maps are going to be like if releasing more maps more frequently is the goal.

I do hope that we get another large or medium map in the future at some point. Doesn't have to be any time soon, but one more of each would be nice.

-A lot of this is 2026 bound, and not 2025 bound

A lot of people are more interested in the 2026 stuff anyways. 2025 seems like it'll mostly be a catch up year since consoles dragged the development back a year.

This is all fair. I'm also sort of waiting for those remakes first of those maps before tanglewood. It's just that tanglewood is such a beloved map, and many players' favorites. I honestly don't even know if they are going to touch the layout a whole lot either, like the difference between Asylum and Sunny Meadows or something.

I think part of what made those events so cool and so much better was the exclusive nature of those events combined with them being different from one another. You have forms of customization that players can no longer get, and so it made doing the event feel so much more worth it to do, along with making each event feel much more unique, and more like a unique easter egg hunt or quest compared to either a grindfest or just nothing interesting. It's not interesting simply opening a box, or taking a photo of a statue and that's it, only waiting for other players to do the same to get the rewards. You can experience the event in like two seconds with the new style of events and it becomes stale, and there is nothing else to offer in comparison to previous events, in which it might take days to figure out how to do it, or complete it yourself.

I'm really hoping that customization will continue to be tied to prestige, or at least be using the phasmophobia money and not real money or DLC packs.

The real question, is, will this hold players until 2026?

Originally posted by WolfLink0370:

Originally posted by P1nkLem0n4d3:

But whether or not the unique events were really that time consuming to make, I have no idea, and again, the implementations, I really don't like, especially given how lazy the past two events were.

Well the fact of the matter is moreso that they have been making new events from scratch each year. And the blood moon event was, by their own admission, the first time the developers ever made a community event for a game... and there wasn't a lot of time to implement feedback between the two events to make Winters Jest significantly better.

So can I fully fault them for having a lackluster performance last year? Not really no, they literally admitted to being inexperienced with those styled events. Whether or not they learnt from it is still TBD in my honest opinion, we'll see how Easter goes

Regardless, there should at least time saved conceptualizing this years events... which in turn means that they can spend that working on something else like maybe the various Networking QoL they want to do (which is only listed on their Trello page ATM)

I don't care if "they have been making new events each year" or "but there wasn't a lot of feedback" they literally said that they heard the feedback, and yet don't want to hear the feedback in their roadmap, and they had made other new events work in previous years with rolling out other content, even when they were working on the console update in progress, so why should I believe anything that is claimed when it comes to how "difficult" the events were to make, or "how inexperienced we were." If the events were bad, then they were bad, no matter what was happening behind the scenes, which we really don't know about, so I'm not going to make any supposed claims or say that "This is fact and this is not" I don't know, and no one else knows.

[Detek]

Acho que 2025 pro phamso vai ser bom