Guild Wars 2

Let’s list it all:

A one-boss dungeon with short platforming parts. (Today’s event).

Two PvP modes (Lunatic Inquisition and Reaper’s Rumble). I really hope the Inquisition becomes a permanent mode later.

An infuriatingly difficult but impressive jumping puzzle.

A scavenger hunt across Kryta.

The random doors in certain areas and the candy corn all over Tyria.

Unique enemies and items.

Costume Brawling and several new costumes.

That’s INSANE. It’s a huge burst in content for a temporary event and I can’t help but wonder how many hours the programmers slaved over these things.

Issues are to be expected when there is this much content with this short of a development window, but considering how much they offered and the overall quality of it all, I’ve never seen a more impressive holiday event in any game.

Now think about what it’ll be like next year. A.Net continues to build on the holiday, year after year, adding more and more. And we still have multiple holidays to go through—if they’re all of this quality, at least, I’ll be impressed.

I agree with you, the event is awesome. I can understand people’s frustration about the chest skin rate..though I think it’s fine..Only legit complaint I can see is that certain weapon types didn’t get any skins in any form from the event..

That aside this event is amazing, and I am just stunned at how much people complain. I LOVE Halloween, and this event has definitely gotten me into the Halloween Mood. <3 You A-Net!

I agree but the only complaint is that for example beating the mad king in the dungeon is not worth it. I solod it because I can’t group and basically it was a waste of time, since the only achievement you get there is the one when you enter. Loot was absolutely abysmal. :/
Otherwise it’s all good, just the common mistake in GW2 of dungeons not rewarding people anything.

Aphix.9846:

I agree but the only complaint is that for example beating the mad king in the dungeon is not worth it. I solod it because I can’t group and basically it was a waste of time, since the only achievement you get there is the one when you enter. Loot was absolutely abysmal. :/
Otherwise it’s all good, just the common mistake in GW2 of dungeons not rewarding people anything.

Unique dungeon tokens with a new armor set would have been amazing for this dungeon.

So much more than should be expected from a holiday event. I love it and cant wait to see the next one.

Aphix.9846:

I agree but the only complaint is that for example beating the mad king in the dungeon is not worth it. I solod it because I can’t group and basically it was a waste of time, since the only achievement you get there is the one when you enter. Loot was absolutely abysmal. :/
Otherwise it’s all good, just the common mistake in GW2 of dungeons not rewarding people anything.

Did you ever consider the XP for lower levels, the money + karma for first run, the fact that it takes ~10 minutes in a group and u can loot the chest, and that it’s fun? I got an exotic my 2nd run, so maybe you should try again instead of raging that u didn’t get garunteed amazing free loot..this isn’t WoW

Maliceo.3207:

Aphix.9846:

I agree but the only complaint is that for example beating the mad king in the dungeon is not worth it. I solod it because I can’t group and basically it was a waste of time, since the only achievement you get there is the one when you enter. Loot was absolutely abysmal. :/
Otherwise it’s all good, just the common mistake in GW2 of dungeons not rewarding people anything.

Did you ever consider the XP for lower levels, the money + karma for first run, the fact that it takes ~10 minutes in a group and u can loot the chest, and that it’s fun? I got an exotic my 2nd run, so maybe you should try again instead of raging that u didn’t get garunteed amazing free loot..this isn’t WoW

Pretty much. And hey, I would have settled for nothing. I legitimately enjoyed doing it.

Duke Blackrose.4981

Let’s list it all:

A one-boss dungeon with short platforming parts. (Today’s event).

Two PvP modes (Lunatic Inquisition and Reaper’s Rumble). I really hope the Inquisition becomes a permanent mode later.

An infuriatingly difficult but impressive jumping puzzle.

A scavenger hunt across Kryta.

The random doors in certain areas and the candy corn all over Tyria.

Unique enemies and items.

Costume Brawling and several new costumes.

That’s INSANE. It’s a huge burst in content for a temporary event and I can’t help but wonder how many hours the programmers slaved over these things.

Issues are to be expected when there is this much content with this short of a development window, but considering how much they offered and the overall quality of it all, I’ve never seen a more impressive holiday event in any game.

All of the above. There’s so much content, so many new areas, so many fantastic looking scenes. I’m blown away that this is comming from a free to play game. I recently bought some gems from anet to go have fun with because of all the awesome festivities.

+1 to the above post’s quoted post.

This has been a phenomenal event. Not without it’s issues (skins debate, grouping for the dungeon atm) but I’ve had a blast!

Duke Blackrose.4981:

Aphix.9846:

I agree but the only complaint is that for example beating the mad king in the dungeon is not worth it. I solod it because I can’t group and basically it was a waste of time, since the only achievement you get there is the one when you enter. Loot was absolutely abysmal. :/
Otherwise it’s all good, just the common mistake in GW2 of dungeons not rewarding people anything.

Unique dungeon tokens with a new armor set would have been amazing for this dungeon.

Equip your magic find set. The Mad King Treasure Chest can drop Exotics and the permanent Halloween Skin items. You can also get the Chest every run, over and over with no diminished returns.

A lot of people are making the mistake of not getting the chest on the lowest item after the King dies.

Very impressive!

11 years playing MMO’s and I have never seen a holiday done better. Both the quality and quantity of content is off the charts and that it came so close after launch just makes it more impressive. Give yourselves a pat on the back Anet, you earned it.

yea was super cool, also I was planning on crafting the crossing but the prices have dropped to the point that I just bought it of the TP (and prices will prob drop too) so yea but even without the items the event itself has been great fun and really love the detail in all the differant parts, from the design of the clocktower to the multilvl fight with the mad king really great atmosphere to the whole things and those minigames mannnn lunitic inquasition is legit awesome really love this event getting a sweet staff skin for my necro is just iceing

I too am seriously impressed by this Holiday event. And I don’t generally get carried away by this sort of stuff.

Act I was a little “meh” and I expected the rest of the event to continue like that.

But it grew…significantly.

Act 3 was finally when things got rolling. That’s when I first got really invested in the whole thing and am now eagerly anticipating Act 4.

Well done ANet!

Magic tinfoil hat tells me that the contents will be used for years to come.
Sets aside tinfoil hat

I hope every holiday offers something exciting like this one (and something new as well). Anet, you’ve set the bars high!!

Definitely great fun. Don’t have anything much to complain about for the Halloween event besides some minor annoyances and preferences like wanting costumes being wearable in combat as I liked the witch outfit for my male charr that much to want to make it my armor.

Scavenger hunt was fun with doing it for the back item (wish its account bound so I can give it to my future necro alt XD) and those pToT bags; liked those in LA the most with the ring of fire and such so its too bad they removed it in a patch for exploits and people can’t experience it any longer.

The jumping puzzle was great for me, never had such a positive adrenaline rush for a long time in an MMO and the last I had was in BF3. Definitely worth all the time and effort it took for me to complete it and more. The mini-games were also interesting although I only did a few rounds of each because I was just too attracted to the jumping puzzle at that time.

The Act III dungeon was also a blast with my guildmates although a bug with a guildmate of mine not being able to join our instance dampen the experience a little at the start. Great time we had fooling around in the dungeon almost throughout the entire journey of it, dropping to our deaths and attempting to jump onto the hard-to-reach roots poking from the surface of the floating rocks.

I would have really recommended it to my friends if I had known the events they’re making were of this caliber. If only they weren’t so bitter about the hype from D3. Sure, I didn’t get anything note-worthy throughout the whole Halloween event as of now and occasionally face bugs but I still enjoyed it enough that it didn’t really irked me. Hopefully the future events will be as good if not, better than this Halloween event!

I agree that the event is huge and ambitious. I think they probably should have done less in order to avoid more bugs, but I appreciate the effort.

The only real complaints I have are:

1. I don’t like event content that is level-gated in any MMO. Some people say that they could do it at low level or that you should get people to help you. But if you play at an off hour, etc. it still might be an issue.

2. While nicer event loot shouldn’t necessarily be given away, I prefer when you can get items with a reasonable effort.

I love the event on the whole. I really REALLY wish it wasn’t so RNG-dependent. I’ve done everything there is to do, and while everyone else has been getting exotics from chests in the Labyrinth and from the Mad King, the best I’ve managed were a few green items. I’ve opened Black Lion Chests, I’ve crafted Mad King Chests, and I’ve run the maze and now the king so many times my eyes are bleeding, and I’ve yet to get anything decent even with full magic find, a luck rune and omnom bars. So there have certainly been some frustrations with the event. But on the whole, the holiday was executed amazingly well. And there’s SO much to do. Pumpkin carving was a blast, as was the scavenger hunt.

Yeah, but I thought we were getting a major content update. The game’s been out a while now, right? Turns out, the Halloween event IS the content update? Then nothing but more little tweaks and nerfs until Christmas?

agreed. It was way better than I thought it would be. I pretty much spent this entire weekend doing ONLY halloween specific content.

I loved the Halloween content, so far, as well. I think it’s awesome to be running around the world and “knock” on a door to get a ToT bag. I haven’t done the tower and haven’t been able to do the new Mad King dungeon yet, but from what I hear they’re lots of fun and I can’t wait to do it. I don’t think ANet employees are getting enough props for all their hard work for a game that is free to play every month. Keep up the good work everybody! Happy gamer here thanks you!

Definitely impressed at my end.

Didn`t have any luck with the Clock tower, but that`s my problem (Charr & camera & me being useless hehe).

Wasn`t upset like some folk about loot, random is random is rnomad ;p

Oddly, I don`t like any sort of moba type game, but randomly entered Reaper thing & stayed for hours, fun stuff indeed!

The Villagers v Ghosts, kittenn, especially when I almost killed two ghost players with a bone.

This is only act 3, amazing stuff & not even over.

/pats Arenanet on the back.

Well ye, im sory i raged a little and all (that kittenower JP T.T), but actually looking at the amount of content for the event it sure was allot for a single event, so good work Anet.

Vzur.7123:

Yeah, but I thought we were getting a major content update. The game’s been out a while now, right? Turns out, the Halloween event IS the content update? Then nothing but more little tweaks and nerfs until Christmas?

Except they’re unveiling something in November, too.

As for the Halloween content being content, well. Look at it all—that’s a lot for just a holiday. And for a new game that’s pretty much still outta the gate.

+1 to the original poster! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next seasonal event!

Halloween is awesome, and I haven’t even done half of the content.

I really hope that the Lunatic Inquisition, or something like it, is put into the game permanently. Most fun I’ve had in a while, and I love how they fit ‘Mad King Says’ into it.

My wife and I were talking about this yesterday, its incredibly impressive the amount of content they kept layering in every act. In Queensdale there are some reinforcements spawns for events that are like mini invasions like rift.

Honestly the depth that went into this holiday is simply amazing. It puts every other MMO to shame. Especially that other one that’s been out for years and churned out the same garbage every year with a different level cap and loot table for a 20 second boss fight.

No, they announced the major content update would be in November, Vzur.

Shevek.2691:

Vzur.7123:

Yeah, but I thought we were getting a major content update. The game’s been out a while now, right? Turns out, the Halloween event IS the content update? Then nothing but more little tweaks and nerfs until Christmas?

Except they’re unveiling something in November, too.

As for the Halloween content being content, well. Look at it all—that’s a lot for just a holiday. And for a new game that’s pretty much still outta the gate.

I do realize that, it is a lot of content for a holiday event.. unless its all the content we’re getting. In that case.. it’d better be a lot, right? but even still, not sure it was such a good idea for them to forego permanent content, in order to make temporary content, instead?

What’s this about more coming in November, though?

Before halloween event began, I have searched on youtube for other games’ halloween events. To my surprised, it seems like none of them are bigger than guild wars 2 halloween event. I am quiet happy with how much contents A net pump out for halloween(even a freaking dungeon). However, just a slight complain that it would be nice to have better loots.
Overall, good job arenanet, looking forward to the act 4 and next holiday event.

Besides the BLC ripoff and the JP (personal instances, please. Its not even a team based event) everything gets a AAA+. The true highlight is being able to give the Mad King a thorough thra.shing. Don’t see why ppl grief at this point. Enough with his lame jokes and death games in GW1. 7 yrs of resentment plus the recent chronicles of his tyranny has done away with this dungeon. Forget the loot (I always get green c. ra.p anyway). Destroying him is satisfaction enough.

Vzur: They also added in a host of new dynamic events and puzzles and mini-dungeons in addition to the Halloween updates.

As for November, it’s a new story content update.

It’s been a pretty great event. I raged for a minute earlier today when I finally made it to the top of the clocktower and blew the final jump because the overflow queue window popped up right in the middle of my screen at the most inopportune time, but I’ll live, and now I know I can make it.

I disagree. The whole thing has been too confusing. I have had little motivation to do any of it.

I did find that for the scavenger hunt and all it was all very confusing. For a game that was striving for us not to use menus and bars all the time, this event was all about menus and bars and not about the in-game environment.

It was confusing as hell when it came to doing the scavenger hunt, but once you get kicked in the right direction it’s doable.

Also, the Mad Realm is very confusing. most people will go the the labyrinth without knowing what else is in store if they don’t google.

It doesn’t help that the community for this game is pretty bad, no offense. Everyone tells you to google/youtube. instead of being helpful. :P

Inorite, there’s more content in this patch than there is in some GAMES

And here’s the scary bit… Arenanet before Halloween was like “Yup, we’ve got Halloween coming up; but we’re really excited about the big November content expansion”

…if THEY’RE describing it as big and exciting", the November patch might be colossal xD

Ryuujin.8236:

Inorite, there’s more content in this patch than there is in some GAMES

And here’s the scary bit… Arenanet before Halloween was like “Yup, we’ve got Halloween coming up; but we’re really excited about the big November content expansion”

…if THEY’RE describing it as big and exciting", the November patch might be colossal xD

I am afraid the november update will require us to buy keys to open chests which will have 0.00001% chance of dropping a green and we have to then mystic forge 4 of them to get an exotic. and then forge 4 of those exotics to get a legendary.

yeah… that is what they mean by big >_>

BIG MONEYGRAB

This was hands down the largest holiday event of any MMO I have played. I’m really impressed by how much was added in just a short while after launch.

Just think – there’s still one more Act.

Welcome to Guild Wars. Now if only we could get them to stop adding in the Korean F2P MMO crap and marring an otherwise awesome franchise.

That’s a lot of work and I do appreciate it. A great job for all this.

However, I also think they should spare more time into improving the regular game content and fixing bugs. Those are dissatisfaction that accumulates day by day, while these events may manage to bring people back for a while, I doubt that will last long. At least let us know if they are working on it. SWTOR gave us a fully customizable GUI after two months of release while in GW2, I can’t even customize different key assignment on character base. My warrior uses swap weapon frequently but never needs professional skill 2-4, while my Elementalist hardly needs swap weapon but uses profession skill 2-4 every moment. Why should they share the same key assignment? These kinds of things are all around in the game that it takes years to list them up. More priority should be placed on them.

I hope your ele hardly needs weapon swap, considering eles don’t have that functionality at all.

You CAN re-keybind your F1-4 skills, by the way, and your weaponswap. You just can’t move the skills around on the bar. SWTOR let you customize the UI because it was invasive and that game has severe skill bloat which clogged up your UI.

Agreed, this has been a seriously impressive event. Absolutely the best I’ve seen in any MMO. The devs should really be proud of themselves, and if this is any indication as to what we have in store for future updates to the game, I think we’re in for a long, wild ride.

the art team certainly flexed their bristles on this one
good job

Vzur.7123:

Shevek.2691:

Vzur.7123:

Yeah, but I thought we were getting a major content update. The game’s been out a while now, right? Turns out, the Halloween event IS the content update? Then nothing but more little tweaks and nerfs until Christmas?

Except they’re unveiling something in November, too.

As for the Halloween content being content, well. Look at it all—that’s a lot for just a holiday. And for a new game that’s pretty much still outta the gate.

I do realize that, it is a lot of content for a holiday event.. unless its all the content we’re getting. In that case.. it’d better be a lot, right? but even still, not sure it was such a good idea for them to forego permanent content, in order to make temporary content, instead?

What’s this about more coming in November, though?

They did add a ton of permanent content in the Halloween patch. Mini dungeons, jump puzzles and achievements. Oh, and Costume Brawl is here to stay.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1213tk/new_explorer_and_jumping_puzzle_achievement/

I haven’t had a chance to run most of it yet, but Vexa’s Lab was particularly enjoyable and the garden jump puzzle in Maelstrom is gorgeous.

Btw, I concur with the majority on this thread, VERY impressed!!

Well done, ArenaNet

Thank you for the event Arenanet! There were some issues here and there, but overall it was great! It makes me excited for other holiday events!

Yes, really.

I have little experience, but I doubt those fancy-shmancy pay-every-month MMOs do even half of that.

Thanks, ANet!

Yep yep, having a really good time. The books were an especially fun touch, imo. May not use it all the time but I’ll definitely pull it out on Halloween again.