Note: Let me preface with saying that I truly do love this game. Because it’s something I love, I want to see it be the best it can be. I’m writing this post because I want someone in AGS to know what a portion of their community wants. Communication and feedback is extremely important when working on a game.
The Summer Medleyfaire as a Concept is a fantastic event. Celebrating the Summer in Aeternum through an event is a great way to get players to come back. With the new mechanics of Music and the Event (Along with the balance changes, perks, QOL changes, and more), there’s a lot to this patch. Although this post will only cover the Event and Music as that’s where my thoughts are currently.
The Good
- An event that introduces fun and casual play into a game that contains the sweatiest of gamers is a nice breath of fresh air. (I wouldn’t know what “fresh air” is though. I’m a gamer.) Every MMO should have nice moments, events, or even game modes to relax to.
- The introduction of the new Casual Skill “Music” is beloved by myself and many others. The many songs introduced are all enjoyable and being able to perform any song for any Buff Effect is a great idea. I hope new songs will be added in the future.
- Added incentives for Fishing and the XP bonuses through Weekend mini events, trophies, and food are great. I personally am not in love with Fishing in general, but do it for my love of Cooking and Arcana. Giving me a Food item and Trophy to boost XP actually makes me slightly excited to fish.
- Medleyfaire Token shop. As always I love participating in an event and being rewarded for it. I’m not T5 Rep yet, but I’ll be purchasing the emotes, instrument skins, and a few of those GS600 Recipes if I can afford it.
The Bad
- Everyone’s thinking about it: The Medleyfaire Questline. The first couple of quests are awesome! They show you what the event is and grants you a good amount of reputation for it. It’s when you go and fetch people for the fair just to endlessly dance without breaks is when things get grim (more for the NPC’s than the players but it’s still bad for the players.)
- There is a section below this one that details my thoughts on what the questline should be in the future or what it should’ve been.
- The Music skill takes incredibly long to achieve max level, let alone higher levels. All trade skills should take more than one day to max, but music is sadly missing much more than any other Trade. I know it’s a “Casual Trade” but if this is the case, then why make it something like 18,000 Expert Songs to max? (number received from the Youtube channel “5 Head Survival Gaming”.) Unless more buff effects are going to be added in the future, I believe that the XP required should be lowered for all levels.
- One note I have for this: Longer songs should have an XP modifier that scales with song duration. Right now, “Windward Inn” and “Blacksmith’s Arm” are the only two songs I ever hear cause they are the fastest to perform. The XP modifier should be noticeable and slightly exponential. Therefore longer songs are just as efficient as shorter songs. (Short songs are still superior to giving buffs however. I think this is fine.)
- Music… can get annoying. I’m sorry! I know I contradict myself when I add this note, but listening to the same song over and over or hearing someone purposefully fail a song while I craft in towns is not enjoyable. As of creating this post, I am unaware if there is an Audio option for Instruments, but even if there was I’m not sure if I’d use it. I would hate to perform my own song and then remember that there’s no audio for it. I believe that there are four possible solutions for this:
- No Instruments in Town: It’s not the greatest solution, but it does prevent those who want to troll and leave their pc while “performing”. I’m trying to level my furnishing in peace!
- Only 1 performance can be performed in town at a time: This solution may be interesting especially if a Stage is added to every town. I know that would result in some heavy work, but it would be a natural place for those who love the Music skill to group up and perform. It would also have a “formal” location for people to receive/give tips to those who have maxed their Music skill.
- In order to perform again in a Settlement, you must wait 1 minute after completing a song: This is a quick solution. Although I wouldn’t add this for the overworld, just settlements. At least I can live in peace for 1 minute without hearing someone fail “Windsward Inn” for the 10th time in a row.
- Add an Audio option to mute others instruments: This is great because I no longer have to listen to the intended horrible flute fail sounds continuously while the performer is hopefully just afk. I can still listen to my own performances without worry. I would make this setting friendly with bandmates, so I can hear the band that I’m performing with if the optional slider is set to 0%.
What the Medleyfaire Questline Should’ve been.
As stated above, the first couple of quests are great. It’s when the player is required to go “fetch” people and do miscellaneous tasks when things get dull. My proposal for a change or a future questline (if there is a Medleyfaire next year) should be about The Music.
When the Maestro directs you to fetch someone, the player will need to travel to a specific location in a different territory (hold on there’s a reason for the massive travel other than to keep the “Walking Simulator” tag on Steam). When you approach the individual, they will require you to perform a song around them. Here they will give you a song that can only be found in the territory (assuming songs are territory specific). If the player scores a “Good” quality or better of the required song within 10 meters of the NPC, the quest is completed and rewards are given. Back to the Maestro to “fetch” another person. Rinse and Repeat about 4 times (one for each province that has a Medleyfair location). After forcing all NPC’s to dance forever, the Maestro will give the player a song that is unique to that year’s Medleyfaire.
This new questline is not revolutionary in the slightest but emphasizes the draw and uniqueness of this event. This event is about fishing and music (especially music as it is a new mechanic.)
Here are a couple of other small details that could be thrown in to make the questline more enjoyable/memorable:
- After each performance for a Questline NPC, they will Clap or Dance depending on their personality. Maybe a slow clap or simple tap of foot for the sarcastic one.
- After performing for an NPC, the Music XP gained is multiplied by 5. As each NPC can only be performed for once, this shouldn’t be abusable. (Unless the player abandons the quest before turning it in. So it might be abusable, it just depends how the quest is “Completed”.)
- Each NPC gives you a song that only uses 1 instrument. This way each instrument has its “Spotlight and Showcase”. The 5th song is technically the Mandaulinbug song (Guitar).
- At the end of the questline, the Maestro mentions some sort of joke regarding how you gathered people to endlessly dance forever. It’s a throw away line and I think it’s funny. You could write the script to have him reveal him as being crazy for dancing/music. This method would allow the voice actor to have some fun with the role and make him more memorable.
Additional Content that would be Awesome!
Here are some random ideas I have had that would be relevant to the event:
- Add a “Fisherman Melody”. An NPC that gives a Daily Fishing quest to the player. Everyday Fisherman Melody will ask the player to give them a specific fish. Rewards could be Medleyfaire Tokens, Reputation, Gold, Bait, and maybe some sort of Cache/Treasure Chest. When the player is given the quest, Fisherman Melody will tell the player where she last found the fish so the player doesn’t have to google where to find the fish.
- Of course this is in respect to the player’s Fishing Level and maybe Character Level. No Legendary fish for level 10’s.
- Music and being a Bard is my personal favorite class to play in MMORPG’s (other than Druid). Sadly the introduction of Instruments as a Tool/Casual Trade leaves me with doubt that it will be an “Instrument Weapon”. Because of this, for players like me, I would love if Music had a slightly more useful role in New World. With that, I have a couple new Buff Effect proposals that would be amazing to have to fulfill my Bard-loving obsession:
- Extraordinary Experience (Level 35): Increases Character XP and Weapon XP for Monster and PvP kills by 4-6%. This effect lasts for 30-90 minutes. (This is what “All Together Now” should’ve been imo…)
- Battle Ballad (Level 50): Every 5 seconds, the target recovers 0.5-1.5% of their Maximum Hit Points. While performing this song, you and all friendlies recover 2% of their Maximum Hit Points, 10% Mana and Stamina every second. The passive buff effect lasts for 25-35 minutes.
- Melody of Movement (Level 90): Increases movement speed by 2-4%. This effect is increased to 8-10% as long as you have not performed an Offensive Action, Ability, or taken damage in 20 seconds. This effect lasts for 30-90 minutes.
- Stellar Show! (Level 200): Increase Gold gained from Monster Kills, Tips, Salvaging, and Chests by 10-15%. This effect lasts for 20-30 minutes. (There should be a Level 200 Buff Song to reward those dedicated to the craft.)
Note: I personally do have a Instrument Weapon Concept typed out and made. If readers are interested I might post it for the fun of it. I personally enjoy game design and discussing topics like questlines, mechanics, new weapons, dungeons, environments, etc. is a lot of fun for me!
TLDR 
- Music is great. Medleyfaire is nice. I don’t discuss perks or balance changes in this post.
- Medleyfair Questline is not good when you have to “fetch” NPCs. Instead of doing chores, you should have to perform a song they give to you.
- Music should not be spammed in settlements.
- There should be an NPC that gives daily fishing quests that give you rep, tokens, gold, and caches as reward.
- More Bard songs would make the skill feel much better and more worth the grind to 200. There needs to be a Level 200 Buff Song.
- I’m sad that there most likely won’t be a Music Weapon.
Thanks for reading the post! Let me know what you think! 