I have a little bone to pick with the way Melody's Cottage was sold to us this year. When I saw that we weren't getting new items every day, I thought it was pretty disappointing (and worrying) but I was willing to give fewer new items spaced over the 31 days a chance.

But we're on day 7 and we only got 1 new item so far. I know I'm not the only one who is going every day and hoping we get a new item and it's just more nothing every day. I don't know how many items are set to go out this year but 1 in 7 so far is pretty darn sparse. At this point, I'm only going for the achievements because Melody's Cottage isn't exciting anymore.

I think this would have been an easier pill to swallow if it was marketed as a retro Lumi with the goal of bringing back old items and then let whatever new item we get be a pleasant surprise instead, or maybe save new items for next year so we can new items more frequently if new items every day truly isn't possible anymore. This would still be disappointing but it sets the expectation better. Also, just to toss it in, I kind of wish we could see what year gives what items so we have a better idea of what we could get instead of having to use Subetalodge.

it's definitely taken some of the magic out of Lumi for sure, even though I get things are just going to be different due to reasons. Going on 1/8 today is making me :C though. I also agree the new stuff could have just been a pleasant surprise instead of something that we're anticipating

Yeah, for real. I totally understand we don't have the staff/resources for as much as we've gotten in years past, and I've really tried my absolute best to take it in stride, but when they said we'd be getting fewer items, I really thought it would be maybe one every other day or every three days or something like that. After several days of nothing, I convinced myself it would definitely be at least one new item per week! But eight days in, it's not even that. This is just... gosh, it's sad.

It makes me worry that they're trying to set a precedent for extremely low expectations for all the events going forward. I'm already bracing myself for a supremely disappointing Survival (my favorite event). Will we even get one new zombie strain? Will we get new items in both the Zombie Den and L'Amour Parlor? Or will we be told it's a "catching-up year", get all the old strains you've ever wanted, buy all the old stuff? (For the record, I have all but two skins at this point and I figure I'll be able to complete my collection this year even if we get the usual four new strains. I have all the old items from every shop; I've been here over 17 years; of course I do.) That's fine for newbies (and I love newbies, really I do, please stick around! We need the site to start growing again) but for us oldbies who have been around for a decade or two at this point, who have made an effort to collect everything already, who are Subeta's loyal longtime userbase... it's really... a letdown. I have gotten exactly one item I needed so far from Melody and it was the singular new item released thus far, the vegan blondies from the first day. I do love that they were vegan... that's very cool, thanks (sincerely)!

Man, I don't even really like this holiday that much though. I have few friends, tree gifting/receiving is awkward for me, I don't expect anything really from other users. So I've always thought of Melody as my best Luminaire buddy whom I can rely on to shower me with gifts and make me feel like someone actually cares. But even Melody doesn't care this year. I agree with Avel though, that with better framing, this could have been an easier pill to swallow. It still would have been kind of an, "aww, man..." moment, but if we were told from the get-go that there would be... what will there be? 3 new items all month, maybe? who knows...because it's not even one per week... then at least we wouldn't be clicking that button every day thinking, "today will surely be the day we get an exciting new item!"

Also, I fundamentally disagree with the premise that Melody items have been a waste of the artists' effort. Just because everyone gets one doesn't mean they're worthless. If they go in a collection, they get used. (Edit: I just recalled that last year, a lot of the items were designed to go into multiple collections, i.e. food and wearable, and those items retained their value quite well.) Perhaps they have been devalued by going out through the Free Shop or something? I don't know but one per user isn't like a huge surplus. These new items make us happy; they are the "magic" of the season. For those of us who enjoy winter-themed things... pretty, sparkly, snowy things, polar bears, cozy sweaters... how else will we get new content like that? You know what might have actually been a waste of the artists' effort? Those new items that got added to the item directory for "composting" rewards that were supposed to go out for Morostide Fireside Someday? Soon™? Maybe? Never?

And now I feel bad for whining about this but I have been watching and waiting for a topic to finally appear about it and I can't hold back any longer. I actually really hate being so critical because I love and adore Subeta (it's my favorite website ever!) and I want it to stick around forever but this feels like watching it die in real time and I'm sad. :(

I think the only way forward would be if looked for volunteers. I feel bad he's taking so much on for Luminaire..

I think there's a deeper, bigger reason beyond having a skeleton crew/artists, regarding why we're not getting as much in the way of new items. But unless Keith comes out and says what it is, I can only speculate.

I personally am okay with the lack of new items for Melody's cottage this year, and being able to choose old years stuff. We are entering a point where there really isn't anything 'new' or unique left to do. You can only do so much for ideas I feel for Vesnali items before it becomes redundant. Factor in also the artists prefer to make wearables instead of regular items or items that have zero purpose outside TC fodder (which I hate this decision greatly). so cycling in old years for TOT and Pumpkin Patch, instead of making anything new, it kinda makes sense to do that now. By also reducing the amount of new items, it makes it less stressful for anyone to catch up on previous years.

However, all that said, new content IS a big driving force on these holidays. It makes it exciting. And without that, there's nothing to look forward to really.

I dunno. Part of me doesn't know anymore honestly.

I absolutely agree with all of this! I don't understand the term 'worthless' when many of us just love the cozy, wintery items to wear/collect..etc. That isn't worthless at all!

I'm glad this topic was made. I completely agree. My disappointment isnt even stemming from like a greedy standpoint where I want shiny new things, it's coming from a concern that this is like the sign of the upcoming death of Subeta. Like it just feels disconcerting =

I always looked forward to the new set of Melody items every year, but I understood that since resources are getting tight, it would be reasonable to reduce the amount of new prizes for this event and conserve that time and energy for more important projects. However, the number of new items has been so conspicuously low it feels like the site's just plain given up.

I personally like items that aren't wearable. The most "useless" items might be useful in a pet's TC. Like all the nuts and bolts items. Do we need those useless screws that do nothing but exist? Well my Cadogre enjoys having them in his TC, and I assume any kind of robot or mechanical pet enjoys having items to throw in their TC.

I realize this is about Melody items in particular, but there's tons of items that have nice item art. Value is in the eye of the beholder. The logic of Melody items becoming valueless seems weird when battle loot has a similar problem.

my thoughts exactly. subeta has been around for decades now! we have SO MANY items! there are almost TOO MANY options for some things!

we're at a point where i think artists' efforts should prioritize filling meaningful gaps in the types of items that exist—e.g. "i can't believe there are no items related to [hobby]! how am i supposed to fill my [hobby]-themed pet's TC?" or "every time i go to make an HA i find myself needing an item that's like [X] and there just isn't one!"—and revamping the many older items with outdated art that makes them hard to use/enjoy.

I’m definitely all for looking to see what items need to be made to fill in gaps. There’s not a lot of hockey stuff for example!

This! I'd much rather get more revamps (especially if they include making stuff newly wearable like the Shinwa prizes and battle stars) than loads of new items. As someone who doesn't always have a human on my HA, I'd also love to see some old backdrops revamped to not have the cutout for the base.

Yeah, I was hoping "less items this year" was gonna be an item every three-five days or something, but it looks like we're only getting somewhere between 2-4 new items this year since we've only gotten 2 at day 14. Seems a little too sparse to me.

I like the winter/snow themed items; I have a pet that has a winter/snow/ice theme for his treasure.

Also thinking on item revamps, I'd also love more recolours of items, especially like the older pet colour themed items. I'd love more pet-colour themed blenders and coffee pots for example. The treasure chest I've been working on feels a little incomplete with the rest of those not existing.

I'm so glad this thread was made, you guys have said exactly what I was thinking but was too afraid to say. Honestly I've gotta be blunt, this Lumi has been a real letdown, not just everything being moved to Kumos (sorry, still hate that site and its ugly whiteness and poor functionality on my comp, yes I know the site needs recoding but recoding =/= completely overhauling) but also the lack of anything new. I'm totally cool with "less" new stuff but I thought it'd mean like... one item a day instead of 2-3, the odd day here and there with no new stuff... Not that we'd only have two new items by the 14th. I don't want to sound greedy or ungrateful or anything but man, it really is a bummer considering Lumi's one of my favourite times on Subeta and the new stuff is a big part of the holiday :/ I don't mind some "rerun" items but I didn't think it was gonna be like this... I already have all of the old Lumi items I want/need since I've been loyally collecting them each year. Getting to pick a random year to get a duplicate item I'll probably just sell isn't really much of a motivation to keep logging on (Especially since there's no easy-to-find list of what year has which stuff or anything, I guess I could check Subetalodge but that's a bit of a pain to keep hopping between sites).

Idk. I would've been perfectly happy if we'd just had like 5 new items and 10 recolours of each or whatever, even. (math's probably way off there xD)

I agree with everyone's posts, but some quotes I especially agreed with...

This 100%. IMO something like "There'll be a new item every fifth day of the month" or even just "There will be [x] new items this year" would've been much more honest and clearer. (I can understand not wanting to give out the exact days to keep people engaged and coming back every day, I suppose, but at least then we'd be able to manage our expectations accordingly instead of the current vague "How many is 'less' items?" state we're in.)

Prefacing my two cents by saying that I completely understand the scaling back for this holiday, and I'm not mad about it. It is a little disappointing, but I know that the items and events on this site aren't just magically materializing on my computer screen. There are people behind them, and those people are putting in hours to make this stuff happen. I fully get that, and if this is how things have to be, then I accept it and will continue to enjoy the site while the people behind it are still able to create things for me to enjoy. <3

That said, the way the cottage was handled this year was a little disappointing ... it honestly has been a source of stress for me, rather than something I look forward to when logging in lol — I know this is exceedingly first-world-problemy, but I looked up all of previous years items that I wasn't here for to see which ones I wanted to pull from on day one, picked out a few items I wanted to go for, got those after a few days and then ... never got around to checking back to see what I may want from other years. 💀 Having to do homework to see what year I wanted to choose from has killed the hype of the cottage entirely for me this year, unfortunately. It may have been better if there was either a full list of items on-site, or a "random" option.

Luminaire used to be my second favorite holiday on Subeta (Survival, my beloved) but it's sadly lost that spot. Mysterious Melody brought me so much joy in my first few years on Subeta, and the form it came back in got rid of everything I personally liked about it. The cottage being sidelined is just another strike against it. I'm still enjoying this Luminaire because I like to decorate my tree, buy gifts for people, and am in a user-run event this year, but the only unique aspect of that that I can't get elsewhere is the tree decorating.

Subeta has been around for so long, change happens, and I'm not trying to be naive about that, but the changes that have happened with this particular holiday have been a bit disappointing to me. This is the busiest time of year for a lot of people, so I suspect that's why Lumi in particular is facing the most cutbacks of all the Subeta holidays. I can only speak for myself here, but I wonder if Melody items could be made further in advance at the expense of a few items for the more "in-between" holidays like Neugarten, Keel Hauliday, and Fireside. I know every holiday is probably someone's favorite, so I'm not trying to sound like some kind of jerk and ask for cuts to other holidays, I'm just spitballing.

Again, I don't say any of this in anger, and I am truly thankful for the amount of work that goes into this site and all its items. I want the staff to have a good holiday, and if that means less of a focus is put on Luminaire, that's fine with me. I just wanted to offer my feedback as well, in case it's helpful.

Me too! My gallery is just full of items with purpose and without because I like them. The descriptions make me laugh, or they're pretty.

I understand scaling back but no item is really "low value".

This! I'd much rather get more revamps (especially if they include making stuff newly wearable like the Shinwa prizes and battle stars) than loads of new items. As someone who doesn't always have a human on my HA, I'd also love to see some old backdrops revamped to not have the cutout for the base.

SUCH a good idea! I rarely use any of the old backdrops for that reason.

Been around for over 18 years, so far this is the worst Melody ever! Plus no new QS items either. I feel like we're being punished without even being naughty...My Lumi wish? That all this will change to the way it was and never come back again. Ever! Why take the fun and joy out of something everyone is waiting for all year long?!

I don't want to tell anyone how to feel, but I think we maybe need to keep things in perspective. giving feedback on how Luminaire can be scaled back and still be fun seems fair, but some of these comments feel a little disconnected. I think we should be careful this doesn't turn into a thread where we are just complaining about the event, and keep it on where we are trying to give helpful feedback. Subeta is small, and I am happy that it's lasted this long, considering how much the internet has changed.

I do think that for future events, maybe if the staff put energy towards revamping, rather than new items is a really good idea! I wonder if that is really any less work than making a new item sometimes. it might not be as simple as just fixing the art. some revamps do look like they just drew entirely new art for the item. but I think I saw Keith say that part of it is also just coming up with ideas for new items, so that would at least solve that problem. I know the staff is already working on revamping items too, but there's so many that could use it. maybe knowing a holiday is coming up could also help narrow down which items to focus on revamping.

also, Melody's Cottage was fun, but we can still gift each other, and try to make Lumi fun on our own. that hasn't changed.

I think revamping is probably as much work as a new item art-wise, which doesn't really solve the problem of not enough artists... I've noticed that the art often looks entirely redrawn, and even patching the cut-outs in backdrops like I wanna see may take a full redraw, not sure how that would work.

But I think revamps are still a good idea in lieu of new items, since like RMutt said, at least no one has to come up with ideas for entirely new items, write new descriptions, and do whatever data wrangling is required to make them function (especially with something like weapons).

Plus I think it would be good for the economy since super cheap old items will go up in value. And then in cases like the icy battle star, retired items could be rereleased (or old items made somewhat more available like the old Fireside, ToT, and Melody's Cottage stuff) to sort of... balance out availability and cost of items, if that makes any sense? ^^;

A couple other random ideas, sorry if this isn't even coherent but I can't brain today:

• This has been suggested multiple times other places, but PLEASE move some of the old plot point items into the Antique Shop for sP. I think that would be a HUGE sP sink, especially for consumables like books. For the plots that were like 10 years ago, it seems pretty pointless (no pun intended ahahahah) to have them locked away as plot-point-only purchases.

• Rerelease more balloons into the carnival prize tent. Balloon availability is obviously an important issue to me ;) but also it doesn't make sense that some balloons from the old balloon shop (RIP) are in the prize tent and others aren't. ? In the shop. ? Not in the shop. WHYYYY. And some like have gotten pretty expensive when there's nothing special about them. (Aside from ALL balloons being special of course ❤ )

ETA I will happily volunteer to go through the prize tent and figure out which balloons need to be added, and provide a list so staff doesn't have to do it.