Elf spawn

annettemarc wrote:
Wasn't there a past event when they adjusted something when they finally realized their math was going to keep lots of people from reaching the end goal? They gave more of something partway through the event ... Might have been related to community prizes ...

That was the Halloween 2013 Community Prizes. They revised the community thresholds down significantly, as the rate wouldn't reach the community prizes in time.

annettemarc wrote:
I had read very very early in this event that the original plan was to have elves spawn at twice the current rate (3 every fifteen minutes rather than three every thirty minutes.) Was that merely unsubstantiated rumor or was it in the files somewhere?

It was found in the files. 8am GMT 25/12 to 8am GMT 26/12 was "double elves" - similar to how, for last Xmas 2013, we got double Gift Cards for that period. It was (seemingly) a Holiday bonus thing.

The normal rate is 6 Elves/hr.

annettemarc wrote:
At the LEAST, they could extend the date of deadline to earn all prizes to be the same date as the event end-date! Just how much work would it take for them to do THAT?

They've done it before. Souldn't imagine it'd be too hard, just a matter of changing all the spots with the end date/time.