Guild Wars 2

I was wondering, what are your expectations for this year’s Halloween event?
Unfortunately, I only started playing Guild Wars 2 a year ago, making me unable to witness and participate in the first Halloween event, which seemed enormously enjoyable and diverse with the Book Hunt, the different acts and the Mad King Dungeon. Compared to what I experienced last year, I was a bit let down, as I was expecting a similar kind of experience during the second coming of the event. However, Blood and Madness was a small disappointment: the story was not divided in acts and the living story itself was not that diverse or very original or exciting. The Fight was Oswald was all but exciting or epic.
Am I the only one who feels this way, or are there other people who believe this is true?
And so I arrive at my question what are your hopes for Halloween 2014?

Personally, I hope for another rich Living Halloween Story with multiple acts, spread over a certain period of time. I would also love to see another scavenger hunt in order to put together or create a new backitem or perhaps a weapon.

Greeeaaatsaaaaw…

As far as i understand there won’t be any new festivals till the current living story arc is finished…that may change after all the bad press they got with the interviews and the feature patch but don’t get your hopes high of getting anything new since they made it pretty clear that they were not working for any of the festivals, so anything they come up with must be done in around a span of 2 months. Still let’s hope if it does come, it doesn’t end up like Queens Pavilion.

Also…greatsaw? pffff….The Crossing and Chiroptophobia is where it’s at :P

i’d like if they made new halloween content
i know the Raiment of the Lich GW1 set was recently datamined, perhaps thats going to be introduced for halloween.

what i really don’t want them to do is simply re-run the first year!
it would be a little bit nasty after many of us have spent our entire gold supply and thousand of hours farming to save up for Greatsaw,
adding it back would be a kick in the teeth for our dedication.

currently it is valued at a similar price to legendary weapons,
and in my mind, that is where it belongs!

AlexEBT.7240:

As far as i understand there won’t be any new festivals till the current living story arc is finished…that may change after all the bad press they got with the interviews and the feature patch but don’t get your hopes high of getting anything new since they made it pretty clear that they were not working for any of the festivals, so anything they come up with must be done in around a span of 2 months. Still let’s hope if it does come, it doesn’t end up like Queens Pavilion.

Also…greatsaw? pffff….The Crossing and Chiroptophobia is where it’s at :P

I’m sure we’ll still get Halloween and Wintersday even if the LS hasn’t been finished by that point. SAB is not a festival, Dragon Bash is a bit hard to do since LA’s in ruins. Although I guess they could use another city for festivals… Wintersday in Hoelbrak sounds fitting (and would require less redesign because the snow’s already there) and Halloween in the Black Citadel would make sense since part of last year’s Halloween storyline took place there.

I’m expecting ANET to recycle most of the stuff in the same way they did with the 2nd instalment & and small story instances as they did with the prince, but nothing grandiose like it felt for the 1st halloween.

Liewec.2896:

what i really don’t want them to do is simply re-run the first year!
it would be a little bit nasty after many of us have spent our entire gold supply and thousand of hours farming to save up for Greatsaw,
adding it back would be a kick in the teeth for our dedication.

currently it is valued at a similar price to legendary weapons,
and in my mind, that is where it belongs!

I couldn’t disagree with this more. The weapon skin system was so flawed at that stage of the game it’s not even funny. I fully welcome the return of anything from previous years that was impossible for a majority of the playerbase to get.

Farming tons of gold isn’t dedication, it’s boring. You chose to do that. Many people paid upwards of $200 or more to get a skin the first time around and got nothing. Clearly they were less dedicated.

TehPwnerer.7215:

Liewec.2896:

what i really don’t want them to do is simply re-run the first year!
it would be a little bit nasty after many of us have spent our entire gold supply and thousand of hours farming to save up for Greatsaw,
adding it back would be a kick in the teeth for our dedication.

currently it is valued at a similar price to legendary weapons,
and in my mind, that is where it belongs!

I couldn’t disagree with this more. The weapon skin system was so flawed at that stage of the game it’s not even funny. I fully welcome the return of anything from previous years that was impossible for a majority of the playerbase to get.

Farming tons of gold isn’t dedication, it’s boring. You chose to do that. Many people paid upwards of $200 or more to get a skin the first time around and got nothing. Clearly they were less dedicated.

Yeah that was a fiasco… Hopefully they won’t be locked behind BL claim tickets either.

I don’t know what to expect, since I bought the game after the April Feature Pack.

But considering all the experience I have as of now, I’d say maybe some new items in the Gem Store and perhaps some old ’’festival’’ returning back, like the Four Winds did (though I guess that one was necessary for the plot of the LS). I don’t think we’re getting a new Halloween event, but never say never.

And it’s kind of sad I never had the chance to witness all the past events here because they seemed pretty nice from what my friend told me. But oh well, this is a living world, life goes on.

As much as I would LOVE it to be a treat (like the first year (mostly) was), due to last years trick, I’m siding on the trick side again for this year. After all the fiascos of last year, I don’t have much hope for this years. If trends continue, all we’re gonna get is more grind, grind, and grind (either for CC/fangs/nougat/skulls or to create those 3 near legendary requirement weapons).
(and even if they bring back the greatsaw/other year 1 Halloween weapons, I highly doubt they’ll be that cheap, especially if the feature pack does take away the current key farming).

munkiman.3068:

TehPwnerer.7215:

Liewec.2896:

what i really don’t want them to do is simply re-run the first year!
it would be a little bit nasty after many of us have spent our entire gold supply and thousand of hours farming to save up for Greatsaw,
adding it back would be a kick in the teeth for our dedication.

currently it is valued at a similar price to legendary weapons,
and in my mind, that is where it belongs!

I couldn’t disagree with this more. The weapon skin system was so flawed at that stage of the game it’s not even funny. I fully welcome the return of anything from previous years that was impossible for a majority of the playerbase to get.

Farming tons of gold isn’t dedication, it’s boring. You chose to do that. Many people paid upwards of $200 or more to get a skin the first time around and got nothing. Clearly they were less dedicated.

Yeah that was a fiasco… Hopefully they won’t be locked behind BL claim tickets either.

Thats a joke right? Just look at what they’ve done, kitten near everything has been in the BL chests (cause people keep buying/farming keys).
Granted it would be better to get it ingame, but direct purchase would be at least better than RNG.

They admitted that interaction with last years Halloween’s sinks was not fun. So its extremely doubtful the amount of candy corn you will need for this year will be as high.

More King Thorn story / lore tidbits

Return of:
Lunatic Inquasition,
maybe (hopefully) Reaper’s Rumble,
Clock Tower (oh the misery),
probably Mad King’s Labyrinth

Here’s to hoping the dungeon comes back. Maybe we can beat up junior as well this time (sure we sealed him, supposedly. Thorn’s sealed too but he touches the world each year anyway)

And lets not forget, chomping down on candy corn until we spew!

Just so everyone is aware the first years Festivals were laid out and designed around the fact that they wanted content they could reuse as groundwork for the years after. This is how it will be most Halloween, Christmas, etc will be largely the same with small differences because that how ANet set it up from the beginning. They don’t’ wanna do massive overhauls of the event year after year.

Paradox.1380:

Just so everyone is aware the first years Festivals were laid out and designed around the fact that they wanted content they could reuse as groundwork for the years after. This is how it will be most Halloween, Christmas, etc will be largely the same with small differences because that how ANet set it up from the beginning. They don’t’ wanna do massive overhauls of the event year after year.

I agree with this. The only problem I have is them taking away fun content like the mad kings dungeon. That sucked. If they thought it was too lucrative, they could have just adjusted the rewards and not done away with the content.

I’m mostly looking forward to the return of the Clocktower, the Labyrinth, and the city decorations. The first two seem like a shoe-in, although it’s hard to guess what state events and rewards will be in for the Labyrinth. Hard to say what LA is going to look like, unless they do some rebuilding between now and then, but I’m sure they’ll do something, somewhere.

I was expecting last year’s Halloween to primarily carry over content from the first Halloween, because that was always the plan for holidays, but then they took out Reaper’s Rumble, the Diary of the Mad King quest chain, and the dungeon. I can accept the dungeon getting the boot, and the new story instances weren’t bad, but there’s really no clear reason why RR and the Diary quest were cut.

I really liked the Mad Prince story, except its pacing was awful. We let the Mad Prince out of his box. We farm a bunch of candy corn. We put the Mad Prince back in the box. It felt like the story was missing a middle.

Just, just don’t get me started on Sonder the Seller. The numbers were way out of whack for him. Creating a “Recipe: Gift of the Moon” using last year’s method cost approximately three times the price of just buying the recipe off the trading post (98g at the time,) and that was /after/ the recipe’s price had quadrupled from their prices in September. I did a more thorough analysis of Sonder back then, but the Blood & Madness forum seems to have been deleted completely.

Redenaz.8631:

I did a more thorough analysis of Sonder back then, but the Blood & Madness forum seems to have been deleted completely.

This Blood and Madness forum?

Redenaz.8631:

I’m mostly looking forward to the return of the Clocktower, the Labyrinth, and the city decorations. The first two seem like a shoe-in, although it’s hard to guess what state events and rewards will be in for the Labyrinth. Hard to say what LA is going to look like, unless they do some rebuilding between now and then, but I’m sure they’ll do something, somewhere.

I was expecting last year’s Halloween to primarily carry over content from the first Halloween, because that was always the plan for holidays, but then they took out Reaper’s Rumble, the Diary of the Mad King quest chain, and the dungeon. I can accept the dungeon getting the boot, and the new story instances weren’t bad, but there’s really no clear reason why RR and the Diary quest were cut.

I really liked the Mad Prince story, except its pacing was awful. We let the Mad Prince out of his box. We farm a bunch of candy corn. We put the Mad Prince back in the box. It felt like the story was missing a middle.

Just, just don’t get me started on Sonder the Seller. The numbers were way out of whack for him. Creating a “Recipe: Gift of the Moon” using last year’s method cost approximately three times the price of just buying the recipe off the trading post (98g at the time,) and that was /after/ the recipe’s price had quadrupled from their prices in September. I did a more thorough analysis of Sonder back then, but the Blood & Madness forum seems to have been deleted completely.

Perhaps, this is what you seek? https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/bam

I dont see why you all expect Halloween to come back. If the Super Adventure Box didnt come back because, and i quote, “it didnt fit into the current living story”, I dont see how it would fit to suddenly celebrate Halloween while Mordemoth is out and about, tendriling our beehinds.

Actual reference: Experience from Halloween 2013

As for Halloween 2014: We are hoping for 2012 with content (story), non-grind items (candy corn disaster), permanent costumes, and changes to Tyria. That would be great.
In short, everything other than 2013.

Halloween 2012 was the real deal, never to be seen again.
Halloween 2013 was the real flop, feared to be seen again.

Oh! My old links were dead, and I couldn’t find the archived boards because I’d clicked the arrow to minimize / hide them. (Read: Because I am an idiot.) Thanks for that, folks.

Anyway, I expect Halloween will return, because it and Wintersday are our two big holidays, and they still have parts of it they can reuse even if they don’t expand it. I don’t expect much new from it, after last year’s gutted rendition, but I’m hoping for something that will at least make a smidgeon more economic sense. (20-slot holiday bag cost about 90 gold. Recipes cost waaay more to make the new way than to simply buy leftovers from the previous year. The numbers just didn’t make any sense.)

Halloween. Must. Return.

I would be happy if they just release the Black Wings from the Raiment of the Lich outfit as a separate backpiece.

As a Long player of both Guild Wars games. Halloween and Winters day traditionally never added new content (minus new costumes and Mad King Says prizes and Winters Day hats) it was a break form the norm set around the holidays. Though I understand that some players want new content. This game is gaining newer players and with the release of Guild Wars 2 in a new gaming market (new servers in the east) no one should be surprised if they re-hash old material so they can experience their first Halloween or Winters Day which includes the weapons, armor skins, and back pieces, and if they do choose this route it’s a chance for players who took time off from the game from release to actually participate. Don’t view it as a punishment, but a chance to gain more of what you already have. As for the Raiment of the Lich outfit bring it on!

Well, they mentioned “Blood and Madness” returning…so if it is just a name, maybe we get a treat. If they mean it in the literal sense with the Mad King’s lame son making a return…trick.

There are already two new minis in the wardrobe, search for Mad King Thorn’s Head and Candy Corn Skritt.

Lunatic Inquisition will be fun. That’s probably my most favorite activity in the game other than Sanctum Sprint.

Conncept.7638:

There are already two new minis in the wardrobe, search for Mad King Thorn’s Head and Candy Corn Skritt.

Those things usually come in 3s. Should be another one. I’ll bet it’s listed in that_shaman’s listing out on reddit.

Sariel V.7024:

Conncept.7638:

There are already two new minis in the wardrobe, search for Mad King Thorn’s Head and Candy Corn Skritt.

Those things usually come in 3s. Should be another one. I’ll bet it’s listed in that_shaman’s listing out on reddit.

The third one is the mini glowing bat.

Invictus.1503:

Sariel V.7024:

Conncept.7638:

There are already two new minis in the wardrobe, search for Mad King Thorn’s Head and Candy Corn Skritt.

Those things usually come in 3s. Should be another one. I’ll bet it’s listed in that_shaman’s listing out on reddit.

The third one is the mini glowing bat.

Yup, expect there to be a forth Halloween mini like the past 2 years. I smell a BL 3 pack and a Mystic Forge recipe. Also don’t forget that Halloween outfits tend to come in pairs, so perhaps there may be a 2nd of those as well. (just a guess)

Skullmarked.8705:

Invictus.1503:

Sariel V.7024:

Conncept.7638:

There are already two new minis in the wardrobe, search for Mad King Thorn’s Head and Candy Corn Skritt.

Those things usually come in 3s. Should be another one. I’ll bet it’s listed in that_shaman’s listing out on reddit.

The third one is the mini glowing bat.

Yup, expect there to be a forth Halloween mini like the past 2 years. I smell a BL 3 pack and a Mystic Forge recipe. Also don’t forget that Halloween outfits tend to come in pairs, so perhaps there may be a 2nd of those as well. (just a guess)

That shaman has data mined other outfits. A jacket like outfit for males and a long dress for women http://i.imgur.com/70rnRtQ.jpg. The “commando” outfit http://m.imgur.com/a/4Au0B and the parka outfit http://m.imgur.com/a/RsSfF.

I xpect a trick.

I think I’m the only person who actually enjoyed last year’s Halloween Event..
I don’t know how different it was from the one prior, but I loved randomly encountering doors that could possibly send me into the Labyrinth.

I also loved Ghosts vs Villagers, and the jumping puzzle was pretty cool too.

I think we won’t be getting any new story content this time around, but I’m OK with Halloween content from the previous two years returning:

- Return of Reaper’s Rumble/Lunatic Inquisition
- Return of the Clocktower
- Return of the Ascent to Madness mini-dungeon
- Return of the Labyrinth (with farming rewards reintroduced)
- Return of a way to get the original Mad Memoires backpiece skin
- And because I know some would love it, a way for people to obtain the Halloween skins from past years

Zaxares.5419:

I think we won’t be getting any new story content this time around, but I’m OK with Halloween content from the previous two years returning:

- Return of Reaper’s Rumble/Lunatic Inquisition
- Return of the Clocktower
- Return of the Ascent to Madness mini-dungeon
- Return of the Labyrinth (with farming rewards reintroduced)
- Return of a way to get the original Mad Memoires backpiece skin
- And because I know some would love it, a way for people to obtain the Halloween skins from past years

Sadly, we should all know by now that Reapers Rumble, Ascent to Madness mini-dungeon, and the Mad Memoires acquisition chain won’t be returning.

Unless, that is, Anet pulls a crazy trick outta their sleeves and throws RR into this years halloween event and allows everyone to experience the first year’s event’s. They’ve already got the proper system for the event chains now, so it should work.

I really miss Reaper’s Rumble..

Mesmers unite!

Trick or Treat portals ..

We’re very close now I simply hope they won’t give it to us in the same Lion Arch’s setting as last year. That would be the biggest let down ever. I wanna be invited to Halloween 2014
by the Tengu.

or by the quaggan!!!

A trick so u buy a treat with gems.

The Mad king event was so much more fun in GW1 and our guild will spend a night or two back there. In general seasonal celebration were more fun in GW1. Last year was really a TRICK form Anet when they introduced a new non-Halloween story arc in the middle of the mad king celebration and it became impossible to do the labyrinth and other Halloween events.

GOOD news this year they brought back the Raiment of the Lich costume form GW1. Thank you thank you thank you!
Now can we get the cat ears?

• I really miss GW1 Halloween masks

Just because the mood strikes me….

Hybarf Tics.2048:

We’re very close now I simply hope they won’t give it to us in the same Lion Arch’s setting as last year. That would be the biggest let down ever. I wanna be invited to Halloween 2014
by the Tengu.

I think we’ll be taking a portal to the past, which will be kind of annoying. I’d rather the lore was carried forward and responds to a year of events, but there’s no signs of new content on the horizon.

If they just re-packaged the first years festival and called it Halloween 2014 I would be happy. The mini dungeon under the statue in LA was to this day my favorite content, followed closely by the marionette. The labyrinth last year was a chore with much fewer drops and hence (for me) less fun; although the giant arguing heads was a nice touch. The search for the backpiece was a nice refreshing way to bringing the players together and the entire event just felt more rewarding.

Last years event was, to put it nicely, a letdown in comparison…

edit: spelling

Trick.

Expectations for the Halloween event are super low. From the lack of information or a tease that should have been posted a week ago, it looks like they’re just going to repeat last year’s terrible Halloween. They’re only focusing on their Living Story and fail to consider that anything could be incorporated into the Living Story to give a break from the main dragon plot-line.

T o me in my mind LA is destroyed until rebuilt into a new city not the old. Even if I don’t RP, story wise I can’t go back to the old L.A before it’s destruction it would be total nonsense, if this is what they did I’ll avoid going to LA for the duration.

Increasing the rate of rebuilding of LA would be a treat… I hate doing Claw Island in order to save a bunch of ruins from being destroyed.

Hamfast.8719:

Increasing the rate of rebuilding of LA would be a treat… I hate doing Claw Island in order to save a bunch of ruins from being destroyed.

An elder wood sink… sigh

Asmodeus.5782:

An elder wood sink… sigh

On the topic of elder wood, what the heck is an “Ancient Sapling”? A sapling is a young tree. What is an ancient young tree? Is it related to “jumbo shrimp”? Or “boneless ribs”?

I tend to believe your signature line quote is correct.

…But I digress from the topic at hand. What a dirty trick!

I’m expecting it to be copy & paste from last year.

Hamfast, that’s a tough one, no doubt. Some kind of horrible, centuries-long arboreal arrested development comes to mind. But I know who can have our answer. Those Veteran Hatchlings. Those things have seen some kitten in their suspiciously quick careers.

And Uncle Bill certainly was right. Regarding this and a few other things.

Paradox.1380:

Just so everyone is aware the first years Festivals were laid out and designed around the fact that they wanted content they could reuse as groundwork for the years after. This is how it will be most Halloween, Christmas, etc will be largely the same with small differences because that how ANet set it up from the beginning. They don’t’ wanna do massive overhauls of the event year after year.

This