Guild Wars 2

Who wins, you think? I’m gonna tell you: GW1.

I mean, what did happen to Halloween between those two games? At first, GW1 events were totally free: hats, items, tonics… everything free! Then later, came costumes. I bought a few ones, one per year was cool, just perfect.

Then, Guild Wars 2 came. Do I have to say everything that is paying now? That would be faster to say what’s free, really.

Demon Corns. Not even a pumpking head…
Being owned at Costume Brawl. Really, that’s free!
Candies. Hmmm!
Gold crafting items.

Well, that’s all, I think. Now the paying ones.

Weapons Skins.
Armor Skins.
Tonics.
Costumes.
Skill at Costume Brawl.
Mini-Pets. (SAD.)

Of course, you’re gonna tell me: “HEY, we can buy gems with gold, stupid boy!”

You need hundreds of gold to get those things, and the price has tripled since release… I’m not talking about the frustration when you see cash cows getting everything for huge amounts of real money, while some people are dying of hunger elsewhere in the world.

- R.I.P Guild Wars 1.
Rest in peace.

i miss Ghost-in-the-Box, Candy Apple, Pumpkin Cookie, and Vial of Absinthe from GW1
and Candy Corn in gw1 was actually useful

Asherons Call 1 Masks for nearly everything and attacks on towns!

Whether or not I agree with the other stuff or not, I believe the fact that botters who incorrectly obtained the gold to get some of these things, (other unlistable things) and then are setting prices and further exploiting the event need to be addressed.
It has slowed down slightly but a ripple in the pond continues far after the initial rock falls in.. and especially in an economy.

A gold to gem type event can’t really succeed when you gauge the economy on people who simply aren’t reflective of the normal player because they aren’t playing fair.

I feel that its simply more bait for them to exploit and ruin the general balance of the event. Arena Net has tried to make it less profitable and viable for botters to capitalize on the event but they have still found ways. Hopefully the Mad King chest can slow down a bit of this but it still seems that on certain forums they are using these techniques.

I can’t really list the ways because some of them are less obvious and I don’t want more people doing them.

That being said, I can’t think of any way that ANet can realistically deal with the situation without punishing the average player other than the antibot code already in the game.. and its not very effective either.

They really can’t fix the problems that are happening and they are resulting as a product of the overall structure of the event.

I guess it will work out though.

I mean, just read this and tell me that this is about bots again: https://www.facebook.com/GuildWars2/posts/10151172450749209

Anyway, Bots = Gold Sellers = No interest in trading gold for gems.

The chest RNG on drops is kitten so I’m gonna fall on saying GW1…

You’ve seen 1/4 of the Halloween event for GW2. Wouldn’t the comparison be less biased once the event has actually completed?

I will reiterate that this is only act1. There could be a ton of free cool stuff and other fun activities for completing the remaining 3/4 of the content so posting this now is pointless imo.

I would love to explain more but if I put the things they are doing in the forum post here (you can probably google it) I could get banned and it would show other people some of the exploits, which they would then use. I will not mention the forum that is the headquarters of the people doing these things but I’ve been following it for a little while in an attempt to know what they will be up to next. To be clear, its not about the account bound gold gems stuff. It goes deeper than that. I will say that it is a result of several bugs, several gameplay mechanics the bots are currently taking advantage of.. etc. I believe Arena Net has an idea what is going on but I don’t know if they can fix it easily. Every option they have to fix it, also negatively effects other people. Kind of a double edged sword. So the Botters win until ANet finds a way to fix it. I hope that clarifies slightly but I can’t afford being too clear at this point. I guess its not great to say nothing but at the same time it would be bad to say too much. I hope you understand my situation on it. XD

I’m not talking about the content. GW2 is 10 times greater, (as is NCsoft’s pocket), but the spirit isn’t the same…

his event is about getting a maximum of cash from players, from every possible way. In GW1, it was just a costume that you could get for a few dollars and that you could spawn an infinity of times on each character by a simple /command. And you were able to use it while playing anywhere in PvE.

GW2 wins IMO. The event is far larger in scope.

Yes there are more things to buy in GW2, but go ahead and show me all the cool free weapons we got in GW1. I’ll wait, don’t worry. I’ll probably be waiting a long time, since the only non rng free things we got were two costume hats (and we’ve already received a free hat and backpack, so we’ve received the same amount of free items already). There were also some toy items like tonics and ghost in a box you could get from ToT bags, which had to be farmed.

To say GW1 was a better event than GW2 shows you are looking back with very rosy glasses. GW1 was a fantastic event and I loved it, but GW2 has the potential to be vastly superior. I reserve the right to change my opinion as Acts 2-4 roll out, but I see no reason to believe these will somehow fall short of GW1.

I think you’ve compared Candied Apples to Glazed Oranges:

• Hats: Free in GW1 & GW2, but in GW2, you don’t have to do anything to get them (in GW1, you do).
• Tonics: temporaries are easily obtained in both; permas are RNG or trade in both, but you can also pay RL cash in GW2.
• Costumes: there are free temporary options in GW2, but it’s cash-shop only for GW1.
• Consumables: free in both (via RNG drops), but in GW2, there are event-specific foes.
• Quests: GW1 has three quest sequences (two trivial; one very hard for some, trivial for others); GW2 has one (incomplete so far).
• Permanent skins: GW1: none for halloween. GW2: RNG or trade (and trading is much cheaper, if you convert cash?gems?coin at the current exchange rate).
• Temporary skins: GW1: none. GW2: many, for easily affordable prices.
• Consumables: all sorts in both games. The ones in GW2 give both a boost (e.g. +magic find) and an effect (e.g. make you look like a ghost). The ones in GW1 are mostly decorative only.
• Costume Brawl: GW1: special instance; GW2: anyone can join anytime.
• Costume Brawl skills: GW1: profession-specific; GW2: costume-specific.
• Minis: GW1 had none for halloween. GW2 has four (cash shop only).
• Other things to do: GW1 has finale + quests; nothing else. GW2 has achievements, extra puzzles, pumpkin carving, the halloween doors, and more.

So, for me, GW2 Halloween is much more fun and I haven’t spent a dime. I’m having a blast doing the quests with my guildies, following the Doors with a zerg, participating in on-the-fly costume brawls, and generally enjoying the updated environment.

Back on topic…
I think there’s a bit of nostalgia some people will factor into this. I have always enjoyed GW1’s Halloween event, but when this first GW2 event is complete I believe it’s better.

If you were around for all of GW’s Halloween events as I have been you will recall that it was built up a bit each year. It was the first special event for that game as it is for this one and there wasn’t much to it that first year in reality. There were a couple decorated areas, the Mad King finale with hats and collectors trading a few items for regular world drops. There weren’t any quests, costumes or anything else event specific to do. Plus, after playing the game for 7 years and you don’t need items for titles anymore, the ‘free’ special drops pretty much become space fillers. The Mad King finale remained essentially the same each year and a lot of complaining was always heard/read that it was the ‘same ol’ thing.’ This is all it was in 2005: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Halloween_2005

Obviously a lot of people are complaining about the gem & craft items for this event and letting it taint their feelings for it. Not only that, but complaining when only one act of it is in yet. Personally, I think this event is already on it’s way to being more enjoyable than even the newest GW version. Remember also that this is ANet’s first shot at a special event in the new game. As with anybody, they’ll learn things as they go.

agree with you and everytime i bring up the subject people get angry they tell me stop whining and stop being lazy etc but lets look on the prices of the holiday weapons.

Total cost of crafting The Crossing:

530 Orichalcum Ore
250 Candy Corn
100 Nougat Center
100 Charged Lodestone
54 Ancient Wood Log
40 Elonian Wine
25 Glob of Ecto
10 Crystalline Dust
5 Fine Crafting Material
1 Gift of Knowledge (500 CoE Tokens)

Total cost of crafting Arachnophobia:

530 Orichalcum Ore
250 Candy Corn
100 Destroyer Lodestones
100 Spiders
42 Ancient Wood Log
40 Elonian Wine
25 Globs of Ecto
10 Crystalline Dust
6 Hardened Leather
5 Fine Crafting
1 Gift of Ascalon (500 AC Tokens)

Total cost of crafting The Mad Moon:

538 Orichalcum Ore
250 Candy Corn
100 Corrupted Lodestones
100 Chattering Skulls
40 Elonian Wine
30 Ancient Wood Logs
25 Globs of Ecto
10 Crystalline Dust
5 Fine Crafting
1 Gift of Thorns (500 TA Tokens)

This has nothing to do with being lazy the only ones which can afford it is either botters/hackers or those who have endless amounts of money irl to spend on the game. i don’t expect free handouts i expect fun quests. also I’m pretty sure this thread will get deleted like the other thread with a halloween rant.