Celestial Tournament: Lame, Dude

So, with the recent win in the tournament pushing my guild's point total to 12, it seems likely that we'll finish somewhere around the 100th place mark. Another win to put us at 5-3 with 15 points overall and we'll probably be higher. Another loss to go to 4-4 and we'll probably be lower. But, from what I can tell, we've probably done well enough by now to ensure we're above the 128th spot. So, not exactly in the running for any cape trim but we should get two special transmogrify potions each. Maybe more but probably not the single one that you get just for showing up twice – like those trophies they give out to everyone on Little League teams, I guess.

Naturally, I've been curious about just what these potions are going to do. Nothing spectacular, I figured, but if it was something nice I planned on selling them off. Actually, I plan on selling them off anyway but I'd hoped they'd be cool enough to make the people not playing drool enough so I could turn a decent profit. I don't like to farm or do the high-end PvE much so I'm not exactly rich and every plat is another skill I can buy, after all. If the potions were distinctive and rare enough, they might be worth my time standing around in some district and trying to auction them off.

Yesterday, though, I rolled up a PvP character and zoned into the Great Temple – I couldn't switch local chat off fast enough so my brain still feels a little dirty – and lo and behold, the Xunlai Tournament Agent was there. I like the idea of the auction house, personally, as I think it's a nice way to get people involved and caring about PvP who might not necessarily have the teammates or skills to take part. So I thought it was a nice thing about the Wintersday Championship even if the prizes could have used some work – just the basic candy cane stuff you could already craft isn't enough to draw people in, at the very least they could have been given a slightly different skin. Much to my disappointment, though, the Agent revealed the secret effect of the trans pots. They turn you into a Rollerbeetle.

Which is, you know, lame. I was hoping it would be a Ghostly Hero or the Celestial Pig or something impressive. Instead, it's something cutesy. It really makes me question if the developers have a firm understanding of their PvP audience. Because, really, it's not that big a prize for all the aches and pains endured during the tournament. And it's probably not going to sell very well either. Granted, some people might want to snap them up but the Xunlai Tournament House is giving out the potions as a reward, too.

Basically, you guess how the tournament's playoffs are going to turn out and you're rewarded with points based on how the results turn out. Based on the number of points, you get a number of potions. If you guess everything right you get 40 potions. Or, in other words, as many as the 3rd and 4th place teams get (Granted they get actual prizes with gaming mouses, too.). Even getting halfway to a perfect score gets you 10 potions. Since anyone can sign up for the tournament it means the market's going to be floded and the value of my prize is going to go way down. And people who didn't even bother to play are going to be more rewarded coming out of this tournament than I am. It just doesn't seem right – I'd figured that while they'd either be giving out different prizes or the number involved would be much smaller.

Oh well, it's not like I was playing for the prizes but, you know, it could have been something nice.