Halloween used to be for everyone

Halloween used to be for everyone

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Posted by: Buttercup.5871

Buttercup.5871

I have plenty of coin, legendaries, precursors, ascended weapons, rare skins, everything. Yet I am bothered by the following.

Halloween used to be for everyone.
Last year, everything could be obtained by everyone:

- new cool weapons, which dropped in the mad king’s instance.
- candy corn: everyone could stuff themselves with it.
- mad king’s armor pieces and runes dropped like rain
- free candy corn bag for everyone
- rare Halloween materials such as fangs/skulls/nougats dropped like rain.
- You could enter the mad king’s realm (how cool was that!) and solo it on a low level character.

This made Halloween into the “treat” that makes this game shine.

When I compare it to this year, the story changes dramatically. You can enter the maze, but don’t try to solo anything on a low level character. You’ll be slowed, frozen and bled to death before you can see “trick or treat!”. The bosses have so much health that it takes a full zone or about 40 players about 10 minutes or more to take a boss down. And they won’t go away either. Some of them will follow you through the maze (legendary skeleton) until you die. If you manage to kill a legendary mob, you’ll be awarded once per day. The next time you kill it that day, there will be no reward for you buddy. His chest will be empty.

- You can get a mini, but you’ll need to grind out 20 thousand candy corns.
- You can get a bag, but you’ll need to grind out 15 thousand candy corns.
- You can get a recipe to an old skin, but you’ll need to grind out 10 thousand rare Halloween materials (fangs/skulls/nougats), 10 thousand candy corn, and more.
- You can get a black lion weapon, but from experience I know this will cost you roughly 4000 gems. I will not consider these skins in the ultimate equation, even though I should.

All of the above would not have been so much of a problem this year had candy corn and Halloween materials dropped like rain. But it didn’t. Personal example: I’ve spent roughly 70 hours in the maze with 130 percent magic find, and only received once received an exotic version of a Halloween material (1000x nougats) – on the first day.

I can go on, but the more I write, the more it will become apparent that – this year – Halloween is not for everyone. And that makes me sad. Don’t get me wrong, there’s many good things that I love in this game, and I always take the opportunity to express that on the forum as well. But the above is something that goes to the spirit of Halloween. Namely, that Halloween is – and should be – a feast for everyone.

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Posted by: Mercypsy.9602

Mercypsy.9602

Although I’ve had much fun with the latest update, I agree with you on this. Too many experienced players complain about the game being easy, and how people don’t want to work for rewards. A server wide celebration with goodies for everyone is great for the community and good for new players as well. That’s what a holiday celebration should about – fun and games for everyone.

Lets hope Christmas celebration will be more like this.

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Posted by: Buttercup.5871

Buttercup.5871

Indeed.

I was also wondering: how can a company say “we don’t make grindy games” and require you to grind out 45 thousand candy corn and 10 thousand rare Halloween materials – for a mini, a bag, and a recipe (to an item that requires another 2 thousand candy corn, 120 lodestones, 270 orichalcum ingots, 40 globs of ecto and a legendary gift)?

I’m OK with grinding a bit, but not like this, and certainly not for Halloween. Halloween should be a feast.

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Posted by: skullmount.1758

skullmount.1758

Can’t agree more with the OP. I don’t even look forward to any future holidays anymore. Not Wintersday, Dragon Bash, and certainly not next years Halloween (if its even around then).

Although I’ve had much fun with the latest update, I agree with you on this. Too many experienced players complain about the game being easy, and how people don’t want to work for rewards. A server wide celebration with goodies for everyone is great for the community and good for new players as well. That’s what a holiday celebration should about – fun and games for everyone.

Lets hope Christmas celebration will be more like this.

Just wait for the amount of grinding needed for that Holiday. They’ll probably increase ugly sock/coats/hats costs ten fold (or more) while decreasing the drop/present rate at the same time. Also, half of the good stuff will probably be removed as well (bells/blimp instances).

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Posted by: nekretaal.6485

nekretaal.6485

A lot of OP is false.

1. The nougat/fangs drop rate is about the same
2. Mad king armor drop rate is about the same (players got it last year mostly from chests)
3. The candy corn bag was a 10 slot
4. You can solo the prince instance this year.
5. The mobs in the labyrinth are about the same in difficulty, but there was a third “chest” boss in the center.
6. The maze is about the same if you are trying to solo this year as last, only this year it is harder because nobody is doing the horror who runs around and kills you if you are solo.

The big difference here is that there are no new in game skins this year and the chests that most people got their loot from we’re nerfed to once per account per day. Last year they were reboot able for a long time, but this got nerfed last year to once per day per character.

A second big difference is the candy corn nodes in the world. Last year we had a ton of these. Also last year as the event was phased in, it seemed impossible o grind the candy corn for the weapon when the labyrinth hadn’t opened, so everybody grinded the open world nodes.

Of course the third big difference is that there is no final mad king dungeon. That dungeon which was fun, accounted for all of the rare weapon drops, and most of the mad king runes/armors loathing around.

#24 leaderboard rank North America.

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Posted by: storm firebeard.2503

storm firebeard.2503

Last year you could get most things if you really wanted them, while there was some grind it never felt like grind. This year is not the case. The maze where you need to kill bosses for achievements has become the new (old) Orr, only worse. I remember being able to get at least 20 feet in Orr before I gave up because of stuns, cripples, etc., but now you can only get about 10 feet before the mobs make me just want to quit playing .

Once the masses of players have gotten their rewards they are not returning, and so the maze is mostly empty now, with two more weeks of Halloween content. If this place had good rewards then players would still be filling it and taking down the mobs and there wouldn’t be an issue. It reminds me of the Super Adventure Box, where players were there all the time back in April, but for the next go around the rewards were nerfed so much hardly anyone returned more then once. (Did anyone do World 2 more then once?)

I hate to bring up GW 1 Halloween but I have to compare because they did so much right there, where everyone became like children and were so excited when Halloween came up. Just the bag drops all over the worlds made it feels like Halloween every day. I remember the Underworld Halloween content was really hard for me and it took many, many runs to get to the end and learn the paths and timing of them. The BIG difference was I got better each run as I learned the paths, and the rewards made it worth the trouble. GW 2 Halloween feels like things are beyond my control, no matter how hard I try I will not get beyond the maze mobs, and I cannot kill the bosses by myself. Since rewards are not that great no one wants to re-do Halloween content. Can you see the problem here? Everyday felt like Halloween in GW 1 and now in GW 2 I just want to get my achievements and be done with it and want to see the whole thing just disappear.

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Posted by: Aedelric.1287

Aedelric.1287

If a developer is unwilling to grind the requirements then they should not expect their player base to either.

I have never played an MMO that has required that much grind just for a few festival items. Hopefully Wintersday will be better, but I am not optimistic.

“I am Evon Gnashblade and this message is acceptable to me.”

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Posted by: nekretaal.6485

nekretaal.6485

Don’t romanticize windersday that much. Other than a mini game and the jumping puzzle, there wasn’t that much to do and the achievements asked you to grind Tixx’ dungeon way past its relevance.

All wintersday has to do is

1. New skins to be bought with socks
2. Gifts drop at the same rate, generosity sigils drop at same rate (badly needed)
3. Bring back the pvp mini game, the tower defense mini game, and the jump puzzle
4. Some sort of short introductory instance at the start and at the end

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Posted by: Aki.5830

Aki.5830

I have to disagree. last year was purely luck if you got any of the special weapons.
And I’d say that Black lion claim ticket scraps are very easy to get from the black lion chests. Making it fairly easy to get 10 and buy one of the new weapon skins.

However that is just my opinion, coming from my personal experience from playing both events. : )

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Posted by: slurpey.6014

slurpey.6014

Changes are made when people constantly complain. Can’t wait to see next years content after reading those complains….

(edited by slurpey.6014)

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Posted by: skullmount.1758

skullmount.1758

Don’t romanticize windersday that much. Other than a mini game and the jumping puzzle, there wasn’t that much to do and the achievements asked you to grind Tixx’ dungeon way past its relevance.

All wintersday has to do is

1. New skins to be bought with socks
2. Gifts drop at the same rate, generosity sigils drop at same rate (badly needed)
3. Bring back the pvp mini game, the tower defense mini game, and the jump puzzle
4. Some sort of short introductory instance at the start and at the end

Don’t forget the bell mini game.
And I liked Tixx’s dungeon (even if it was basically the same at each stop). It didn’t take too long and it was fun destroying all the ‘buildings’ (playing Godzilla).

I have to disagree. last year was purely luck if you got any of the special weapons.
And I’d say that Black lion claim ticket scraps are very easy to get from the black lion chests. Making it fairly easy to get 10 and buy one of the new weapon skins.

However that is just my opinion, coming from my personal experience from playing both events. : )

Bullkitten the scraps are easy to get. If you’re getting that many, you’re part of the problem with them, because you’re essentially telling Anet its ok to keep putting pretty much ever new weapon skin in the kitten RNG boxes. IF the scraps were a guaranteed at least 1 in each box, it wouldn’t be so much of a problem. And its only 10 now, it’ll be 50 in a couple weeks to get one of the new weapons.

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(edited by skullmount.1758)

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Posted by: Meglobob.8620

Meglobob.8620

Halloween used to be for everyone

Only grinders or the rich need bother now…

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Posted by: Ataraxis.6098

Ataraxis.6098

A lot of OP is false.

1. The nougat/fangs drop rate is about the same
2. Mad king armor drop rate is about the same (players got it last year mostly from chests)
3. The candy corn bag was a 10 slot
4. You can solo the prince instance this year.
5. The mobs in the labyrinth are about the same in difficulty, but there was a third “chest” boss in the center.
6. The maze is about the same if you are trying to solo this year as last, only this year it is harder because nobody is doing the horror who runs around and kills you if you are solo.

Apparently you are incredibly lucky or playing a different game than the rest of us. The OP is correct; you are very wrong here. I played the Halloween content more this year than last year and I have gotten less than a dozen nougat or fangs. Last year I had about 50 of each with the first 2 or 3 days. The drop rate has been nerfed into almost nonexistence. As for the armor pieces, I haven’t received a single one, and neither has the few friends I’ve asked about it. And no, the trash mobs running around in the labyrinth are much harder this year, more CC and way more hp. Trying to do it alone with a character under 80 isn’t fun, its just annoyingly tedious, and that’s not even taking into account the Horror wandering by and slaughtering you with 2 or 3 hits. This year’s sucks compared to last year.

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Posted by: Ataraxis.6098

Ataraxis.6098

And I’d say that Black lion claim ticket scraps are very easy to get from the black lion chests. Making it fairly easy to get 10 and buy one of the new weapon skins.

Are you really trying to say that the best and easiest way to get these skins is to spend real money on a RNG? :::mind blown:::

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Posted by: Lyana Evrilow.8102

Lyana Evrilow.8102

I was a little sad because last year I couldn’t play the Halloween event due to having too many hours at school. This year, I could, but it was not interesting because there was so much grinding for it to be worth it.

Still no mini. :-/

I DID like the clocktower jp change. I can see my character now!

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Posted by: bravoart.5308

bravoart.5308

And I’d say that Black lion claim ticket scraps are very easy to get from the black lion chests.

wow no.

Unless you’re tossing $50 bills at it every week, yeah, no. Scraps have terribly low drop rates, 1/5 if not worse.

Finally I recalled the stopgap solution of a great princess who was told that the
peasants had no bread and who responded: “Let them eat brioche.”

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Posted by: Crash.9186

Crash.9186

It’s quite baffling into what the devs were thinking…again, though Anet screwing up PvE is almost natural to them because they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing, they’re pretty much PvP focused which is why pretty much all PvE is insanely lack luster, this years halloween is no exception.

I’ve basically had enough tryng to “play” about in the mad kings laby on my low level guardian because I get totally destroyed by anymore than 2 mobs max, and even then trying to kill 2 is a giant pain due to all the push, pulls, roots that stack and bleeds, I have no idea why they packed so many mobs so close to each other in an instance that’s basically nothing but hallways and I also have no idea why the devs gave mobs so many spamable CC skills which makes running anywhere in that death trap solo a complete horrible joke.

Perhaps they thought if they make the mobs harder then people cant level up lower levels in there, because if they did think that then it didn’t work as people just simple zerg together, like the rest of the content in this game.

It’s bad enough that there’s nothing to work towards in this game apart from “for the sake of doing it”, but making kitten pointlessly hard just to attempt to make your game hard is a really poor idea it self.

With the insane health pools on bosses that you get, I assume that’s Anets attempt at making something hard to kill, though if they call tedious the new hard, then congrats as they succeeded.

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Posted by: MeGaZlo.9516

MeGaZlo.9516

Sad, but this halloween killed in me all desire to play this game. I suddenly realized that almost a year doing only grind.. And grind more rigid than was in linage… And for what? To
buy the tools that are convenient to grind. And miniatures. God… I’m sick of miniatures. I’m tired of collecting all these small useless pets even in WoW allready. Now every day I go into the game, I try to run about 30 minutes through the labirinth, hoping to get these wacky candy. Then I become depressingly, ad nauseam. I write something on the forum and go do other things.

It is sad that they have turned the game into THIS. It has good potential.
The most boring grind for the last 10 years.

(edited by MeGaZlo.9516)

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Posted by: Alexkhan.8615

Alexkhan.8615

cant complete “a sweet friend”achievement, aftercomplection of all achievements, super mega ultra boring lunatic inquisition is always stays uncompleted, after three times complete i gonna mad and i know why mad king gonna mad, now i just hate halloween, why you are so unkind to players((

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Posted by: skullmount.1758

skullmount.1758

cant complete “a sweet friend”achievement, aftercomplection of all achievements, super mega ultra boring lunatic inquisition is always stays uncompleted, after three times complete i gonna mad and i know why mad king gonna mad, now i just hate halloween, why you are so unkind to players((

Thats because Lunatic Achievement a repeatable achievement and doesn’t count toward the meta. To finish the meta you need to do the daily Halloween achievement (only one per day now, was two before Tower patch).

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