This month brought us the Grim Reaper hood. After recent holiday events frowned upon, such as the chicken suit, it was actually not bad. But it brought to me a question: Will it survive?

Holiday events in the past are sometimes remembered. Ever since party hats, your average player knows of the drops/events that happened recently, or in the case of now-rare items, long ago. Unfortunately, holiday event clothing lately seems to have turned into “noob armor” about a month after the event. Do you see many chicken suits worn by players above level 50?

Holiday events some people don’t even bother to do any more. In the days of party hats, they were done by everyone. But now that people know that the item will be commonly seen, without a value, and looked upon as “noob armor”, holiday items are no longer as “worth it” to some players. Also, as with the case of the “scared” emote, Jagex turned back on their word and re-released it, so players no longer feel it’s necessary to interrupt what they’re doing to go get some worthless armor that wastes time and doesn’t even look that good. Back in the day (I feel old.), when items were dropped or given out by npcs, people were much more excited over the events. I’m sure if they held on to the item for all these years they’re excited now as well.

The reaper hood was, in my opinion, a good update. It gave free-to-play a hood. It gave a decent emote. But it was a little annoying to have to work for it. As CreepyPirate stated in a post on the forums, “It’s not a present if you have to work for it,”. I wore my skeleton costume to the Draynor Arson party, because it’s probably one of my favorite holiday events I’ve participated in. It gave you a full costume, and was actually kind of fun as well. The reaper hood is only a hood, as it doesn’t have the rest of a reaper costume. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been much of a problem for Jagex to create robes as well.

I believe Jagex should make a holiday event like those in “the old days”. One where things are dropped (I have an idea, have Santa’s sleigh fly over, dropping presents on you) for everyone, wherever they are. One that has a tradeable item. Finally, make it have a player interaction. The egg ring still manages some use lately, as it has a player interaction. The rubber chicken has a player interaction. It’s better to be able to do something with your item than just wear it, in my opinion.

Maybe, with time, RuneScape’s holiday events will return to their former glory, where the items are valued, where the emotes are a reminder of events gone by. First, however, Jagex will have to step up and make some changes.