Great topic to discuss :>
So, achievements - I don’t really think just adding new achievements is going to cut it. Achievements need to go in tandem with new content, and simply adding new achievements is just going to make you have to repeat old content but in a new way. The examples you listed prove this; Midsummer got new achievements in because they added new fires to ignite or extinguish in new zones; Lunar Festival hasn’t added any new elders to collect coins from.
Some of the rewards that have been added to existing world events over the past decade or so have been rather disappointing - not because the rewards aren’t cool, but because you have to do the same old content grind in order to collect them, often at a premium pricing. The event that handles this best, I think, is Winter Veil, where the new additions are available to everyone when they get that year’s presents, while the daily content of the season remains relevant because the gifts you can collect from those quests can contain presents you missed in earlier years. Simply adding a new reward isn’t going to breathe that much life into the world events, it’s going to make collectors or people who just thought that one reward was cool do the same old grind that they’ve been doing every year.
Another issue is a limited supply of rewards, which is what necessitates that new rewards are added to be earned through that same currency. It’s been more than a decade now, and many players have already collected everything there is to collect from the world events, and so, player participation in these events has dropped drastically. I’ve often found that trying to put out the Headless Horseman’s fires is impossible because people aren’t interested in doing that, and you can’t really do it alone. (Jokingly aside, perhaps the desire to burn Goldshire to the ground makes players side with the Horseman on this.) Players haven’t bothered to go around extinguishing the opposing faction’s fires as much as they used to back in the day, because they don’t need the rewards anymore.
Perhaps there should be other incentives added to participate in world events, that doesn’t revolve around achievements and other collectables. There are already a few in the game; Midsummer has the pole dance that increases your xp gains, and Love is in the Air has the perfumes that increases your stats slightly - and the best one has to be the instant broom mount from Hallow’s End. Minor gains that paints that time of year in a slightly different light to the rest of the year.
Ultimately, I think new content is going to be the best way to update the world events. Not just new Midsummer bonfires, but actual new content. Questlines, bossfights, secrets, minigames, et cetera. It doesn’t even need to necessarily reward anything, but it could fit into the existing reward systems, or create new unique sources of rewards. They’re holidays, after all, you participate in them because they’re fun, not because you need to put in actual work to collect a timegated reward.
Personally, I really just want the holidays to be fun and flavourful. The worldbuilding element of world events is by far my favourite part of them. You see, for us roleplayers, it doesn’t necessarily matter if there’s new rewards or content added to them, because we create most of that content ourselves. There are massive public festivals during every single holiday season, created by players who use the world events as backdrops to create a shared communal experience - which I think is great. While RP isn’t for everyone, this is what I really want the world events to be like for everyone. Not a collectathon, but a social experience that everyone can participate in if they so choose.
