[Dev Diary] Easter Event 2014

[BB_Ravel]

More information about the upcoming event: Easter 2014! All details can be found below.

9th of April 2014 (after maintenance): Start
30th of April 2014 (with maintenance): Removal phase 1
7th of May 2014 (with maintenance): Removal phase 2

Removal phase 1 = Deactivation of event, event shop category remains // Removal phase 2 = Event shop category deactivated

The Easter Event will be brought to your settlements on Wednesday, April 9th 2014! Follow the rabbits, search for special Easter Eggs and provide a screaming rabbid statue to your settlers! This year, besides the Easter specials from the last events, new items and features are introduced and some of the old features are adjusted. Let's go over the details .

Again Easter eggs are this year's event resource.
Eggs can be traded and are listed in the warehouse (event tab) as usual.
In case you still have eggs from former Easter events, you can use them as well.

How to get the eggs?

• Reward from adventures
• Reward for completing a series of Easter egg quests
• Drop chance when an explorer returns from a treasure hunt
• Collectibles on your home island
• Trade with other players
• Shop offers (small and large egg packages)

There will be 3 new event collectibles spawning on your island.
They can be used to produce the "Hidden Egg Hunt" buff in your Mayor's house (collections tab).

Egg Paint, Simple Egg, Wicker Basket

The new buff "Hidden Egg Hunt" will reward players that cooperate with friends.
Activating the buff on a friend's Mayor's house will result in collectible eggs spawning on the friend's island.
Both players will get the amount of eggs the friend is able to find on his island.

Hidden Egg Hunt: (Friend's Mayor's house buff)
Effect: Easter egg collectibles will spawn on a friend's island.
Usage: Immediate egg spawns, 12 hours duration to collect the spawned eggs
Availability: Quest chain, Collection production in the Mayor's house (with Easter egg collectibles)

During the Easter event, all active players of level 17+ will have a chance to cooperate with the Easter NPCs: They will assign one quest chain every 6 days, including 5 subquests each. Each quest chain will consist of several subquests, including tasks related to Easter adventures. In total there are 20 (sub)quests including 8 collectible egg adventures. The quests are split into 3 level ranges: 17-24, 25-39 and 40-50. The Easter adventures and quest texts will be the same for all levels. The tasks based on the level range differ in the resources needed to complete a task.

8 egg search adventures plus a new Easter combat adventure

The new Easter combat adventure

Name: Garrun the Trapper (Easter combat adventure)
Availability: Shop / Gems
Level requirement: 26+
Story: Garrun the Trapper has decided to take it upon himself to sabotage Easter. Save Easter and grab the eggy reward!

The Easter egg search adventures

Task: Search for the randomly spawned collectible eggs
Availability: Easter quest chains
Level requirement: 17+
Important: Eggs are transferred to your home island after all eggs are found and the adventure is finished

A special Easter category is available in the shop during the Easter event.
There will be specialists, buffs, the new combat adventure, buildings and decoration items available for eggs (event resource).


*Important*
Some of the items offered for eggs are limited. This limit refers to the amount of items you can get during this year's Easter Event.
- You don't have any Floating Residences at all? -> You can get three for eggs this year.
- You already have some Floating Residences from the 2013 Easter Event? -> You can get three for eggs this year.
- You already bought some Floating Residences for gems? -> You can get three for eggs this year.

Master of Martial Arts:
He attacks enemies in combats via first strike and commands up to 220 units.
Limit: 1 per player
Cost: 2395 eggs

Experienced Explorer:
Is twice as fast as normal explorers.
Limit: 1 per player
Cost: 475 eggs

Veteran:
Commands up to 250 units. Travels twice as fast and recovers quicker than regular generals.
Limit: 1 per player
Cost: 1545 eggs

Name: Inspirational Speech
Effect: Increases the effectiveness of all nearby workyards (3 squares radius buff) up to 300%
Duration: The effect lasts 12 hours
Cost: 245 eggs

Name: Rabbit Lucky Charm
Effect: Increases the effectiveness of a workyard up to 300%
Duration: The effect lasts 48 hours
Cost: 145 eggs

Name: Mineral Rabbit
Effect: Adds 6000 coal to a coal deposit
Duration: One time use
Cost: 75 eggs

Name: Chocolate Rabbit
Effect: Increases the effectiveness of the provision house up to 200% (halves the time)
Duration: The effect lasts 12 hours
Cost: 45 eggs

Name: Floating Residence
Limit: 3 per player
Description: A residence that can only be built on water and provides space for 40 settlers; upgradable up to level 5
Cost: 75 eggs

Name: Watermill
Limit: 5 per player
Description: Produces unlimited water; upgradable up to level 5
Cost: 275 eggs

Name: Rabbits Farm Field
Limit: Unlimited
Description: A farmfield that contains 6.000 wheat
Cost: 75 eggs

Name: Raving Rabbid Statue
Limit: Unlimited
Description: The Easter Bunny himself inspired the look of this statue. It will scream for you if you click it!
Cost: 195 eggs

All animals on your island were scared away by these creepy little Rabbids!
But don't be afraid - they don't scream, they only walk around.

After the Easter event, the animals will return and take back their island!

A new special surprise box will be available with the Easter event!

Name: Paula's Surprise Box
Limit: Unlimited
Description: Provides randomly chosen buildings. Good luck!
Cost: 145 gems

Important: All pictures and information are based on the test version. The final version may differ.

Please feel free to leave your feedback here.

Happy egg hunting!
BB_Ravel

[BB_Ravel]

UPDATE:

Dear Settlers,

the Dev Diary was updated today to clarify some potential confusions about limited items.
The former version was referring to players who already played the Easter Event in the past years.

The updated version should be more simple to understand.
No matter if you already have some limited items like the Watermill or not,
each player can get the same amount of limited items for eggs in this year's event.
The maximum of Watermills in the event shop is five for all players.

Happy Settling,
BB_Ravel

[BB_Ravel]

UPDATE on Easter Quest Chains and Easter Egg package:

Dear Settlers,

Please note that the following part of the developer's diary (first post) has been updated:

During the Easter event, all active players of level 17+ will have a chance to cooperate with the Easter NPCs:
They will assign one quest chain every 5 days 6 days, including 5 subquests each.

Here are some answers that aim to better explain how the Easter Quest Chains will work:

1. How are these 6 days calculated?
   Once a player receives an Easter Quest Chain, the countdown of 6 days starts.
   Once these days are over, the next Easter Quest Chain will appear.
   
   
2. Does that mean that every player has an individual counter?
   Yes, this is correct, every player has an individual counter. This is the reason why
   different players may receive their next Easter Quest Chain at different times.
   
   

150 Easter Eggs for all active players

1. Why is it 150 Easter Eggs?
   The completion of the whole Easter Quest Chain provides 150 Easter Eggs.
   The package will be sent to all active players, because the information
   about the quest chain countdown was not correct.
   
   
2. When will the package be sent?
   The package will be sent on the 30th of April 2014.
   Sending out gifts on this day will make sure that all players who actively played
   this year's Easter Event will receive their bonus Easter Egg package.
   

Have fun during the Easter Event in the game!
BB_Ravel

[BB_Ravel]

UPDATE on the number of Easter eggs received:



150 Easter eggs for all active players

The Dev Diary was recently updated.
It was mentioned that all players who were actively playing the Easter Event will receive some Easter eggs on the 30th of April 2014.
The amount of Easter eggs is defined by the completion of an entire Easter quest chain.

An Easter quest chain contains subquests that grant additional Easter eggs.
Therefore the amount of Easter eggs for active event participants will be higher:
The package will contain 150 instead of 110 Easter eggs.


Happy Easter Event!
BB_Ravel

[BB_Ravel]

UPDATE on Easter Removal phase 1 & Easter eggs from adventures:

Dear Settlers,

With the maintenance on the 30th of April the Easter Event 2014 will enter Removal phase 1.
This brief FAQ will provide you with some detailed information about that phase.

• What does Removal phase 1 basically mean?
  The core mechanisms of the event will be turned off, but the event shop category will remain until Removal phase 2 on the 7th of May. This means you have one additional week to get special event items for Easter eggs. The Easter eggs (event resources) are shown in your storage at all times, even after removal phase 2.
  
  
• What happens to Easter quests that are not finished?
  The event quest chains will be cancelled.
  
  
• What happens to Explorers who were sent out before Removal phase 1, but are still searching?
  If you are lucky, your explorer might bring some Easter eggs from his last search, if it was started before the Removal 1 phase. Treasure hunts started after Removal phase 1 won't yield Easter eggs any more.

• What happens to the Easter collectibles spread on my island?
  There is a limited time frame to grab collectibles until the next batch replaces the former one. Depending on the time when Easter collectibles spawned on your island, it might happen that you still have some time to pick up Easter collectibles after Removal phase 1. But the next batch of collectibles will be standard ones again.
  
  
• What happens to the Easter collectibles in my storage?
  Event collectibles won't be shown in the storage any more, because you cannot use them after the event until next year's Easter event. But you still own them (you don't lose any collectibles). You can see the amount in the trade office when you place an offer and you can even still trade them. With next year's Easter event the items will become visible in the Mayor's house again.

• Is it possible to create event items in the collections tab of the Mayor's house?
  The creation of items like "Hidden Egg Hunt" is related to the Easter event and needs Easter collectibles. Therefore this option will be turned off. If you started to produce an event item briefly before the Removal phase 1 maintenance, this item will be finished even after Removal phase 1. Same goes for completed items: You can still pick them up after Removal phase 1.
  
  
• Is it possible to use items like the "Hidden Egg Hunt" buff after Removal phase 1?
  Yes, you can still use the buff in order to get more Easter eggs as they are shown in your storage the entire year
  and you can always use the resource in provision house.

Information about Easter egg drops in adventures before Easter Removal 1

You can gain Easter eggs from adventures, because adventures have an event resource drop chance.
This means, once you completed an adventure during the Easter event, you have a chance to get additional Easter eggs as a reward.

Some adventures didn't get the drop chance code-wise. This was recently corrected, but this doesn't mean that Easter eggs will be dropped with each adventure being finished. All adventures that were finished before the correction was in place will be taken into consideration via script solution with Removal phase 1.