One issue I've always found present in festivals is the question of "what the heck to do on the downtime?" when there are no events going on and you've seen all the shops currently out. Sure, you could just sit in the pavilion like a bump on a log and wait for something to happen. Or, even, wait in your favorite shop to tell people about your favorite thing from that shop. Heck, you could also ride some of the little attractions or shoot people from a catapult. However, after a few years of those same attractions, the novelty does wear off. That's not a diss on the content offered, but just an honest remark on how we constantly desire new and interesting things.

One aspect of HE that I've enjoyed in the past is the NPCs who both offer tasks as well as the single NPC running the task contest. When bored and looking for something to do, I would always be able to just grab up a task and do some things. Now, with HE, many of those tasks awarded HE tickets which would not be needed here but the contest had a pretty middle-ground reward (coins and gems and bragging rights) that seemed perfectly balanced with the amount of work put into it.

I would enjoy seeing the wandering NPCs at Guildfest (whittler and gypsy) open to task requests as well as a new NPC put in to run the contest to track who can do the most tasks. I know the staff is leery about taking aspects of HE from that festival and applying them to other events, but this is one thing that I see as being something completely reasonable to be at most, if not all, festivals. Think of it as over-worked workers attempting to outsource some of the mundane jobs so that way they don't have to work even more. Tasks are already something that is available 24/7 in the game environment, and the rewards for completion are nothing that would break any sort of balance.

I know it makes a ton of sense for HE, due to all the task givers available, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be applied here at GF. Whittler doesn't feel like going to get more wood for his carvings, asks us to do it for him. Gypsy ran out of supplies to make her trinkets, asks us to help with getting those for her. Contest runner wants to reward the folks who put in the most work to help the festival go smoothly, so he's got some prizes for people who are willing to volunteer.

I'm not sure on the amount of work it would take to set this up, but I do think it would make a dent in the amount of time players are spending twiddling their thumbs and waiting for something to do.