Aah, the crunch to 30k points... Reminds me of all those "triple a" games nowadays. Except - for better or worse - there's no way to buy levels or points (as far as I know), only crunch it til the burn out... 30k seems a bit too much, no? Oh well, maybe the points will get a tad easier to get each day, and won't make you stuck in LH.
I don't have strong opinions of staff in the leaderboard, only that it's may seem discouraging to some people. Maybe to me, too... I love staff and I appreciate their hard work, and I hate to be the gatekeeper, so I'm not saying staff can't be playing and enjoying the festivities, it's just it seems a bit unfair. To ordinary players, staff are in a position of power, even if they can't "cheat" events or anything like that, god forbid... Someone proposed the idea of staff having their own leaderboard, and it sounds pretty fun!

On another note, it's first public festival, right? It's okay to make mistakes and changes, it's okay to listen to your playerbase. The clothes items are lovely, and I truly hope they will be reachable. The art for embers is sweet as well... And that art with Lilia and Fantasia?! I would make a little pillow or a poster out of it, I adore it.
God I love events.