July is one of the fan favorite events, and it's easy to see why: you've got the Celestial Raffles, collecting Meteor Shards (and Interstellar Remnants) just via exploring, a (honestly very icky) storyline with cool rewards, Tefnut's Temple, the Interstellar quest this Friday, Murder Stone, catching fireflies to use in the Firefly shop...

Oh. And Zimbabwe exploring

July is fun... but it's also stuffed to the brim with so many different mechanics, it keeps a player consistently busy with one thing or another. And, with the addition of Tefnut's Temple, which has beautiful apps that cost a small fortune of Meteor Shards, I feel there is no room for this one anymore.

A host of beautiful animal decors, which aren't guaranteed to drop, vs Sunset Markings, Touch of Demiurge and Curse of Divine... it's not an even matchup.

My proposal? Move Zimbabwe to a different month, one that fits thematically and that allows users to give it the attention it deserves.

This will allow the feature to get the attention it deserves without competing with extremely high-value applicators, and potentially spice up an event that is otherwise 'grind currency in Explore/quests and spend it in the shop on the last day'.

You could replace Tier 1 with a filler tier, like April, August and November have. Send your cubs chasing fireflies for stats! Leave an offering for a random small boost, or a temporary buff! Idk! No one cares much about Tier 1 anyways, it's 2 and 3 that get people hyped, so they'll unlock it anyways.

Here are some ideas:

March, using Rhino Beetles(?): this one has the most solid justification in my books. Your king is sent to patrol Zimbabwe to protect its rare, endangered wildlife from poachers. If you check the Zimbabwe encounter tables, there is a host of little-known and threatened species on there. Perfect! Just replace the animal encounters at the end that happen at random with poachers and boom! Perfect fit. I think a few extra Rhino Beetle drops without battles would be necessary so this can keep a 1:1 ratio, if not I'd suggest halving the times on the encounter tables or making 1 RB:2 minutes.

November, using Scarab Beetles or herbs: this one was my first thought! Though November also has the Piety/get stuff from the ancestors mechanics, I feel this has a good lore justification. The Shamans know the sacred paths to Zimbabwe, where they came from, and ask you to check on their homeland while they take care of problems here. Maybe there could be an extra quest for each Shaman, requesting one, single component from Zimbabwe for their rituals. Herbs could be the currency if the Shamans do some strange ritual to transport you there, they would need components and such. The minutes-to-currency ratio would remain 1:1 if Scarab Beetles, and probably one Herb per two/five minutes if that route is taken. (In theory, Piety could work, but we don't get enough per account to use this way, plus it would compete with Piety marks)

June, using some new currency: sorry, but June was bland and repetitive for most of the month. I adore the concept, but it needs some extra stuff to do! I know the new side gods will help with this, but consider the gods using their powers to send your king to Zimbabwe. Maybe snakes appeared there or they just want some of the item drops as single quest rewards ("get me a White Eagle Feather! You can either pay 1k SB in Branches or find one in Zimbabwe"). However, getting Kepri Beetles in June is HARD, so I'd propose a second currency, maybe 2-3 awarded per storyline quest + rare-ish Explore encounters, and one currency would equate to 30 minutes in Zimbabwe.

August or January, for SB: "woah woah, hold your horses! Aren't there Buffies in August?" Yes, hence why I'm suggesting this be a SB sink instead! For all the talk of drought and forest fires, you find a lot of food in August, so the excess gets sold to the Monkey for SB. Not nearly as much as January, so if implemented in August I'd keep the 1:1 ratio, but for January 10sb would equal to a minute if Zimbabwe time. For lore justification, the herds are moving on due to the drought/starvation, so your lion can track them to Zimbabwe, where things are still lush, to find prey and goodies there.

Angela also has a great idea: Zimbabwe could be a Dry Season event, like the Flood Pit!
The same lore justification as August/January applies - it's the dry season, so the migrating herds are followed to Zimbabwe. Or maybe it materializes like an oasis, every other day or something for 12 hours. I'd suggest a 10sb : 1 minute ratio for this one.


I gotta scram and go to work now, so! Thoughts? Critiques, suggestions? Any Events you feel it could fit better, other ideas for currency to be used? Let me know! I love Zimbabwe and just want it to get the use it deserves <3

and I want the decors SHHHHH