Seriously..... check the auction house and the huge mass of those items in there. Most of the recipients don't want them... why not give something players will actually use?
At the time of this thread creation 13 pages of party hats and blowouts.....
Idk like a bound Silver key?
A cheap costume set
Orbs even
What is wanted and not wanted is subjective.
And with 37 people getting one or two party hats every 45 minutes or so, that's a lot of party hats being thrown into the system.
Having the giveaways not be super desirable is good. I'm pretty sure silver and shadow keys have a chance to be in the winning area so it's not purely cosmetics being given away.
Alright Fangel, would you rather have a five dollar bill or a ten dollar bill? What's wanted and not wanted is subjective, so you'll be choosing the five if your favorite president was Lincoln, right? What's your favorite food? Would you rather have that granted to you for that meal or the winning lottery ticket granted to you for the meal? I mean you'd obviously prefer the food since it tastes better. Didn't we have this conversation when I pointed out the discrepancy in value on the punkin carving contest? You didn't read it? You don't hate me, do you?
Back in the day they gave out actual energy- http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/21504
..And they did multiple of these per year. Frequently, after launch, actually.. notice how there are two on the same page here-
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/forum/8?page=12
They could give out some prize boxes or some energy or something actually valuable if they really wanted to. The only down side is people cheating and I see it happening all over the place- people logging on with 3+ accounts etc. but even if they do cheat so what? Someone out there'll win it fair and square.
But partyhats look great, I got like... 4 of them right now. From the AH.