I am sure that everyone has noticed that instead of getting an upgrade for every other quest line, they have changed it to being every third quest line. This makes it virtually impossible for most players to get the 9 upgrades needed to get the grand prize to it's highest level.
It was every 3rd set of tasks last year as well. In that regard, nothing has changed. I'm following the same strategy as last year which was 10 pieces as well. Just as I got a fully upgraded Garden last year, I am on track to for a fully upgraded Temple in two cities. In fact, with the surprise box containing an extra upgrade, getting the Temple maxed out is even easier than last year.
As an example, I have played the event regularly, every day, since it began, and I have collected only 4 upgrades. That, if I were to bother building the Druid Temple, would take it to only level 5-----not very impressive, or worth my while. And since there are only 5 days remaining in the event, it is impossible to obtain an additional 5 upgrades. Many of the people in my guild have complained of the same thing.
Unfortunately, this just means you and your guildmates blew the strategy. There are two paths to success in this event. Complete 4 towns opening one set of 6 chests in between towns, obtaining the last chest in town #5, which won't need to be completed. OR Complete 13,75 towns completing an average of 35 task per town, buying no chests in between. Both methods also require buying and upgrading the Managers to just the levels required by the tasks.
Deviation from either path leads to your results. I know many who will get their full Temple using both methods. As last year, I'm following the first, less work than slogging through 14 towns.
Now, I am sure that the designers would argue that it is not "impossible" to get the needed 9 upgrades, but that is just semantics.
I'm also arguing it's not impossible to get the 9 needed upgrades and that's not semantics, its math. The math works on paper, execution of the math works in reality. Just like last year.
Sure, you can do it, if you get everything perfect.
True, but if you do a bit of research or crunch some numbers ahead of time, getting everything perfect isn't that hard to do. Having played the game for 10 years, you know by now of the many players on Beta who have this all figured out long before it hits live. I want to leave nothing to chance. it's worth my time to watch a 10 minute YouTube video to ensure success. You on the other hand...
I have watched as the special events have evolved over the length of time I have played FoE, and I have seen them become more and more difficult. And the prizes are stingy. Have you noticed that the larger "diamonds only premium" buildings are no longer offered as prizes? No, the only buildings offered as prizes now are the common buildings in everyone's menu. Not much of a prize to my way of thinking. In previous events, when you spun that wheel of fortune, or made a choice in the game, it was exciting and gratifying when you got a valuable diamonds only building as a prize. It gave the event an added pleasure and encouraged you to play the special events more. But not now. The vast majority of the "prize" buildings are already in your menu. So what is the point in winning them at all? Sure, it saves you the cost of the coins and supplies the building costs, but if you have been playing for any length of time, you have enough of both resources to build whatever is in your menu five times over.
That might be true about the diamond buildings, but so what. Just fodder for the AD like everything other than goods, units, and FPs. I never even look at what's in any of that stuff and neither should you. This is a great example of how many people fail with the simple mechanism used in Forge Bowl and the Spring Event. Event after event, year after year players come here to complain that they fell one touchdown/jump short of the final upgrade. The path to success is to get the player/animal that covers the most distance with the least amount of currency. That means often choosing players/animals that don't have the best prizes or the highest DS%.
Inno always gives a path to success. They also create tons of distractions to entice you away from the optimum path. Why? That deviation often results in diamond sales. This event is no different. Knowing most people won't do the math or the homework leaves plenty of opportunities to monetize the event. As it should be. They provide the path the get the prize for free. They then leave it to the players to do what they do. Some will research and get the prize for free, most won't. I'm okay with that. Others not doing their homework is why I can play for free.
So I find the St. Patrick's Day event very disappointing. It is not fun or enjoyable.
In this we can agree. This event, for many reasons, is my least favorite. Yes, I'll get a lvl 10 Temple for free, but the slog to get there I could do without. I don't like the town game mechanic, I don't like there being no daily specials. I don't like having to buy 4 full sets of chests only to have the contents in aggregate add up to a whole lot of nothing. I wish they would change it, but I expect we'll see it for a few more years. ROI after all. It's not cheap to develop a completely new game mechanic. It needs to run for a few years to recoup that investment. It is what it is.
I honestly do not know if the designers look at these feedback comments. If they do, I have very little evidence that they pay attention to their customers. For many years, I used to play every special event regularly, and enjoyed them. Anyone looking at the special event buildings in my city could tell I have a long history of enjoying events. But not lately. Many of the events of late have not been fun anymore, and the prizes have been either unattractive or far too hard to get. So I will be playing the events less and less. Which is a shame, because I used to really enjoy them. The designers need to do better than this.
I do believe Inno reads the comments, but I also know those comments are tempered by what actually happens in the game. And yes, one of those measurements is diamond sales.
I also think comments like yours are discounted by the fact that they gave you multiple paths to get a full Temple for free. That you chose not to follow one is kind of on you. It's unreasonable to expect you can show up to an event in a strategy game, employ no strategy, and end up with a full whatever. This game doesn't work that way. It never has.
My first event was the first Forge Bowl. I sucked at every event through the Spring Event,. Then I decided that in order to succeed in events, I needed to research each event. I've gotten a full whatever for free ever since. You can too.