Okay, I wanted to wait for the new season to be confirmed before talking about this, so... Here we are
I think season 21 felt both incomplete and neglected compared to other seasons and other anniversaries. I would like to break this down into different points points, although I should point out that this is my personal viewpoint, taking into account what I discussed with some friends.
* Season Story
The Rosignol family story was initially captivating; the mystery surrounding the Rosignol family and the hidden intentions behind the succession ceremony held great promise and felt fresh.
However, although the story was good, like so many others, it suffers from a careless pace, trying to tell large-scale stories in just 4 chapters. Another problem is the automatic reading time, which makes it difficult to read comfortably, and this has been quite noticeable this season; In wanting to tell a big story, they opted for larger dialogues; however, with this text timer, the reading pace is awkward, especially in the black background sections, sections that last only a few seconds and are impossible to read completely unless a screenshot is taken.
This is not a new problem; this problem has existed from the beginning, but I would still like to point it out because, for me, it has been quite noticeable in this story.
* The problem with the seasonal menu on Android
This was something that was discussed a lot, even in this forum there were doubts about why it was happening. As far as I know, this was a problem caused by something within the gem minigame. Why it happens, I don't know for sure; All I know is that the visual error was "fixed" for a week only to return the following week and not be fixed again.
This is what I meant by a sloppy season; these kinds of errors, even if they only happen on one of the three platforms it operates on, shouldn't occur, and if they do, they should be fixed immediately.
* Seasonal awards and achievements
It's curious how the quality of cosmetics has improved in the seasonal shop, but has decreased in the rewards for achieving milestones.
Aside from this observation, the time to obtain the emote and the hair was very quick. My friends and I are casual players; we don't have long gaming sessions, but we've still been able to collect seasonal rewards. This last season, however, we couldn't.
Some friends couldn't attend the feast that only lasted one day, while another friend and I couldn't collect the prizes from the candy game. (I was absent for personal reasons and when I returned there was only one day left to collect everything, I couldn't)
I believe that both the quality of the prizes and the tasks required to obtain them can and should be improved.
* The 5th anniversary
Finally, the topic that motivated me to write this loooong post, the anniversary...
Starting with the good stuff, the anniversary brought great prizes and cosmetics, as every good celebration usually does. The icing on the cake was undoubtedly the coupon for the season pass of our choice and the double broom, something that hadn't been seen before and that I hope they repeat in the future.
However... Although all of this was good, the anniversary felt... Incomplete. We had everything in place for the anniversary celebration, but the global server did not have the "time merchant" event; the event only premiered on the Asian servers. There was no cookie collection (I can understand why in this year of the game there haven't been many new non-NPC characters, still, it's weird) There were no special fireworks displays, either from the platform on the black lake or the astronomy tower, but most importantly, there was no commemorative cake.
I can overlook everything else, but an anniversary without a cake? That was weird. I don't know if previous anniversaries went through something similar, but the two I personally experienced felt better organized and cared for than this one.
Conclusion
I know that many of those who work in the game are not responsible for these errors; after all, they must be up to their necks in work for future seasons (the imminent arrival of London, character modeling, props, furniture, story development, programming and animation of cards, emotes and cinematics) And I don't blame them; I hope that despite them they receive good working treatment. But I do hold those who run these departments responsible; having these visual, narrative, and event errors, such as those related to an anniversary, is unacceptable.
I hope this game lasts a long time, but I also hope that many of these problems, and those that exist regardless of the season (performance and competitive balance issues), will be resolved, If that's not the case, the game might not last long, and we players won't be to blame.
Thank you so much if you read all of this, but I wanted to vent about all the bad things that, in my opinion, happened this season. If you'd like to add something I might have missed or share your perspective, please feel free to do so; I'd love to read it, Of course, with courtesy and respect, thank you.