Guild Wars 2

tl;dr I’m looking for a recommendation for a good mid-tier Halloween goal to pursue this year.

Disclaimer: Halloween is my favorite holiday and I have been feeling frustrated and bummed out at how Halloween and Wintersday have become gold sinks for the super-wealthy for several years now.

As someone who has been chasing Mini Gwynefyrdd since 2014 (back when it was RNG only from Trick-or-Treat bags), and with it since having an outrageous price in Candy Corn Cobs that now seems likely to rise each year, it has become apparent to me that I will never be able to get this mini (reminds me of the days of ever-growing precursor costs dissuading people from starting legendaries back before the precursor Mastery line).

Now that Mini Oxidecimus the Shadow Raven exists and it has a starting price even more expensive than Mini Gwynefyrdd, I find myself at a loss for what goal I should pursue for Halloween this year. It’s a great mini but I can’t even get excited about it because of how astronomical its price is.

I got the Mini Bloody Prince Thorn back in 2013 when Sonder the Seller was selling it for 20 Candy Corn Cobs. It was a lot of effort for me that year but I wanted it and managed to get the cobs via Halloween gameplay that year.

That mini had its price reduced in subsequent years. I believe it is only 6 cobs now. But I saw that price reduction for future and newer players as a move toward sane goals, and I was glad they did it for that very reason. I did not mind that players in subsequent years could get it for a cheaper price. I thought it was a move from devs making a good gesture toward the players and saying “we respect your time” to the players.

Anyway, what I am getting at is that I am having trouble setting a goal that is reasonable this Halloween. I really love Halloween all all related Halloween stuff, so I’d like to aim a little higher than a few new weapon skins that are already around a gold each but dropping by the minute.

Festivals have been feeling frustrating and rough for players who want to aim for more than a few basic prizes, but for whom the super-expensive items are not realistic or feasible.

I know that at the end of the day all of this super-gold sink stuff is probably to normalize and stabilize economies and all of that, and that that is probably always the #1 concern above all else when doing things these days, but I just wish there were some way to make festivals – limited-time special holiday events – something where a player can progress toward a cool holiday goal without needing to resort to min-maxing the TP to get what they want. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the most effective way to earn this holiday event’s rewards is to avoid the holiday event entirely and just do something more profitable and trade commodities until you can afford what you want…

…and that’s cool and all, I guess, but it kinda feels like it defeats the purpose of, y’know, a special holiday.

Anyway, if there’s some reasonable mid-tier Halloween goal that got added this year and I’m not aware of it, I’d love a recommendation for what I should be working toward this Halloween. I’d preferably like to get it by playing the Halloween event and not just playing the market, though.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I gave up on the mini too, it simply was too insane for me to get and was going to zap all the fun out of the festival for me. Fun trumps all in festivals, especially the economy.

So I set 2 goals;
- run around and have fun, pref with ppl I know. That I can do – the activities are fun enough for me to do just for the sake of doing.
- use any candy i get to get decorations for the guild hall. If i stock up on everything i need and want now, i can make the hall look cool for next year and there are some swish decorations

Im not sure what else there is. Complete the JP maybe? Aim for the shoulderpads (might be a high goal though)?

Halloween 2016 isnt the disaster many claim, but when festivals become about grind or the economy and not about fun, something has gone wrong. Hopefully it will be learned for next time. I just hope Wintersday doesnt ramp up the grind even further..

My only goal is to get the candy corn node and greater candy corn node upgrade for my home instance- not because I need the material, but because I like having things in my home. So around ~10 candy corn cobs. After that I’m just selling off all my candy and hoping for a good ToT bag drop. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Randulf.7614:

Halloween 2016 isnt the disaster many claim, but when festivals become about grind or the economy and not about fun, something has gone wrong. Hopefully it will be learned for next time. I just hope Wintersday doesnt ramp up the grind even further..

Hah, with them adding 10 more Candy Corn Cobs to the price of Mini Gwynefyrdd from 2015 to 2016 (10% increase), Maybe they’ll add another 1,000 Holiday Drinks to the Festive Imbiber achievement (10% increase over 2015) for Winter’s Presence as well, lol…

…actually not “lol,” I probably shouldn’t be giving them ideas. I take it back!

Randulf.7614:

I gave up on the mini too, it simply was too insane for me to get and was going to zap all the fun out of the festival for me.

That’s the thing. When I learned about Mini Gwynefyrdd in 2014 when it was only a drop out of Trick-or-Treat bags, I figured since it is account bound that it must have some reasonable droprate. Between the time I learned of the mini and the time I learned of the droprate, though, I really got into the idea of earning the mini.

Randulf.7614:

- run around and have fun, pref with ppl I know. That I can do – the activities are fun enough for me to do just for the sake of doing.

I have been enjoying my time in the Mad King’s Labyrinth, like I do every year, but I do open the Trick-or-Treat bags hoping I’ll get one of the rarer rewards. I believe Mini Gwynefyrdd does drop at the same (low) rate it always did…

Randulf.7614:

- use any candy i get to get decorations for the guild hall. If i stock up on everything i need and want now, i can make the hall look cool for next year and there are some swish decorations

Not a bad idea at all. I actually made this my primary goal during the 2015 Super Adventure Box release.

But I’m in a pretty small guild, though, and some of those Halloween decorations have a pretty high-end price tag when you look at how much they cost in total.

I can do the JP more easily than I could in previous years – completing it really just takes one session where I focus these days. It’s not really a goal in and of itself for me anymore.

Randulf.7614:

Fun trumps all in festivals, especially the economy.

These are very wise and very true words, but I am a very goal-oriented person. But goals as insane as “get 110,000 candy corn” (or 120,000 now too) don’t motivate me – they just seem unreasonable and irrational. And if this year marks a 10-cob or 10% cost increase trend, it multiplies the amount of time to get it even if looking at it as a cross-year or multi-year goal…

I guess I’m just not sure they have any interest in making goals between “micro-sized” and “unreasonable and irrational” for players like me anymore, and that has me feeling a bit bummed and left out.

Final note: I liked getting the SAB Furniture Coins because they were an account-bound reward with no market implications and no monetary value whatsoever. If you wanted the item you had to play the content. Almost all of the rewards for Halloween/Wintersday seem to carry a gold price tag, leading to them either being very cheap or very expensive, with the expectation that they will move in the market. Maybe they could set better goals if they imagined the goals being completed via relevant gameplay only, rather than reducing it to a gold cost and meant to carry a buying or selling element as part of achieving it…

Yeah, I’m kind of in the same boat here. I already have all the “lower end” rewards from past years, and most of the new stuff is either pure RNG or insanely overpriced. The only new thing I can really shoot for as far as the actual Halloween rewards is the upgraded candy corn node, and that’s not exactly “exciting”.

I do need to grab some more 20-slot Halloween Pails for my newest character. But that’s also not particularly exciting, and technically not even specific to Halloween. You can get them any time of year from Sonders. Getting them during Halloween just means I can grind the cobs myself in a reasonable amount of time rather than just hitting the TP.

Even the new weapon skins (well, the new random drop ones from the ToT bags) are pretty bland. None of them really seem particularly Halloween-y. I grabbed almost all of the new ones from last year, but this year I don’t want any of ’em.

I am hoping to at least make the Infinite Shadow Raven tonic, but I’ll probably have to resort to the TP for that, since the individual tonics don’t seem to drop often enough to get to 500. Nor the bat wings.

I do want a few Gargoyle skins. But that’s not strictly a Halloween event reward either. I guess its the closest thing I have to a goal for this Halloween regardless, though. Just farm ToT bags, sell ’em on the TP to hopefully fund some Gargoyle skins.

Maybe not what you had in mind, but my project while waiting for the event was to use new dyes and my existing armor skins to bling out my characters in Halloween colors. (Never did find a properly garish orange, ah well.)

If you don’t like the current offerings, what about making a personal goal to create a “Halloween” getup that uses only non-seasonal skins? Skulls, flames, a creepy-looking animal mini … you get the idea. TP prices are probably a bit deflated as people scramble to buy candy cobs, so it might be a good time to go shopping for other stuff.

Or do something silly like wander around the level 1-15 maps and give out cinnamon apples and leather bags to random newbies. Not that I’ve EVER done such a thing myself … c_c

This is my second Halloween festival and i’m hoping to get the new weapons to drop (whatever doesn’t i’ll nab from TP) The Lab is also a great place to level alts so I’m working on that this year as well. Not much in the festival vendor to get me drooling for really so I feel your frustration for mid tier goals.

I’m thinking it is super rare, but I managed to snag the Phospholuminescent aura that can be placed in jewelry and that has definitely made my Halloween this year. The feline familiar mini is also on my list but again not sure on drop rates.

Something I’m doing this year over last year is not fixating on any of the rewards and just setting myself the task of farming bags and seeing what comes. I’ve found that not setting a hard goal has actually made the grind itself fun. I do it until I start to get bored then move on. I’d second the thoughts of the poster above suggesting maybe look for a goal beyond what the game provides. I had a lot of fun decking out most of my characters in costumes all colored up or themed for the holiday.

Collect ToTs and candy and wait. The price for both drops as the event progresses. Once it’s close to the last day, take a look at how much you need to afford the mini you want; it’s likely that you’ll find it worth buying the last few stack or 10.

I had one goal for this year, getting all this year’s weapon skins. I thought I was in good shape because I had 7 tickets from completing a collection. I about cried when I saw they released a fulll set of 16. But I got lucky and got an Endless Bottle of Batwing Brew from a ToT bag early the first day that went a long way toward getting the rest.

I like the shadow raven mini, but don’t have it in me to pursue it. I did make the Endless Exotic Wraith Tonic, which is awesome. I also made and didn’t forge an Endless Shadow Raven Tonic, which is also awesome. And I bought Charles the Hellfire Skeleton after opening a ton of bags hoping to get him before he went on sale.

Overall, I feel like my plastic Jack-o’-lantern is full and I’ve enjoyed things more than if I’d let myself get too focused on one (albeit spectacularly awesome) mini.

My first goal was to get the bigger Candy Corn node in my home instance. Tick
Bonus goal was getting Zuzu, Cat of Darkness in a ToT bag, since my main has turned into a cat lady. Tick

I’m working towards getting enough stuff to forge the recipe to start crafting The Crossings for future income and for personal vanity Nightfury for my Necro. I might also forge an endless version of the new ghostly crow tonic as I really like being a bird.

I’m also trying to avoid carpal tunnel in my WASDE-12345 hand in the Lab.

My guild is very small too. There are only 4 contributors and mine cover the majority when others are taking a break for other games. That makes the decorations a more substantial goal to work at.

If you want something fun that your entire guild can enjoy, and are a scribe, you can work towards some of the great Halloween and Wintersday recipes. For 100 candy corn you can get 1 pumpkin to add to the guild decoration bank, pumpkins then can be used by scribes to make a wide variety of other decorations…some decorations do take up to 250 pumpkins so its best if the entire guild pitches in.

Other than that, the RNG ToT bags have new minis that are not account bound, a mini feline familiar that is account bound, new exotic necklaces and the like. As for Gwynefrydd, based on the last 2-3 Halloweens, minis drop in price each year for CCCs. So, I’d say convert some candy corn over, but wait and watch…also, I’ve noticed the Halloween vendor is selling the Mini Bloody Prince for 10ccc whereas the festival vendor sells him for 6…so it is possible the festival vendor may pick up a few other minis over time.

Thanks for posting!

I didn’t know there was an upgrade to the candy corn node. That’s my goal now!

Deck out an alt in Halloween pails.

Start working towards the Nightfury skin by seeing if you can get the tattered bat wings and unopened endless bottle of batwing brew to drop.

…that’s all I got, sorry…

~EW

I’m sorry to hear you never got it, it’s very expensive to get but at least it’s possible, even if it’s robbery, i had the luck of getting it as a drop from a bag last year, it was crazy, ive never had any luck with drops but that ones extreme, i just wish it had some value outside just being a status object, now it’s even lost that because it’s buyable.

I wish there were more items in the middle range to go for.

Temerity.5239:

Maybe not what you had in mind, but my project while waiting for the event was to use new dyes and my existing armor skins to bling out my characters in Halloween colors. (Never did find a properly garish orange, ah well.)

I would love to make seasonal costumes for my characters but I spent too long getting their “normal” outfits exactly right to want to change them. I wish we had several “costume” slots that allowed either visual or physical change of gear at the press of a button. Then I would definitely create seasonal looks.

I know there are seasonal “Outfits” but I will never buy an outfit. They aren’t versatile enough for me to spend money on (real or virtual).

I have a question though. The mini-Gwynefyrdd used to drop from trick or treat bags – tbh I was absolutely flabbergasted when I got one as I had already read that the drop rate was insanely low. But, does this year have any mini drop from the trick or treat bags? Every year had some mini drop – the devil dog, Zuzu, etc. I haven’t had any this year and didn’t hear anyone getting a mini from the bags. So my question is, does ANY mini drop from the bags?

Yes, there are 2 new ones from the bag this yeah. The hellfire skeleton and the gargoyle

My goal is to get enough Pumpkins to keep my guild building decorations long after Halloween. That means Candy Corn. I’ll probably just buy it off the TP.

Svarty.8019:

My goal is to get enough Pumpkins to keep my guild building decorations long after Halloween. That means Candy Corn. I’ll probably just buy it off the TP.

Pretty much what Im doing. The Guild Hall is so vast, I might find a small corner and make it Halloween all year round!

How many of 1 item can the Guild Hall hold in the decorations tab of the treasury?

There are a lot of great replies and ideas in here. Thanks to everyone who has posted suggestions and ideas so far!

Electro.4173:

Yeah, I’m kind of in the same boat here. I already have all the “lower end” rewards from past years, and most of the new stuff is either pure RNG or insanely overpriced. The only new thing I can really shoot for as far as the actual Halloween rewards is the upgraded candy corn node, and that’s not exactly “exciting”.

KyreneZA.8617:

My first goal was to get the bigger Candy Corn node in my home instance. Tick
Bonus goal was getting Zuzu, Cat of Darkness in a ToT bag, since my main has turned into a cat lady. Tick

Cakemeister.5792:

Thanks for posting!

I didn’t know there was an upgrade to the candy corn node. That’s my goal now!

Glad this post is helping people discover the goals that are right for them!

I did get the new Candy Corn node upgrade, if only because I hope to earn even more Candy Corn if I ever want to have a shot at these minis looking at it more in the long run.

And if you want to go full “cat lady,” might I recommend you look into this https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hungry_cat_scavenger_hunt to go along with your candy corn in your home instance (if you haven’t already)?

Electro.4173:

I do need to grab some more 20-slot Halloween Pails for my newest character. But that’s also not particularly exciting, and technically not even specific to Halloween. You can get them any time of year from Sonders. Getting them during Halloween just means I can grind the cobs myself in a reasonable amount of time rather than just hitting the TP.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Deck out an alt in Halloween pails.

20-slot bags are a lot cheaper to get in a non-candy-corn related way right now. Because of how high the cost of the Cobs is, it’d be a lot cheaper to get regular 20-slot bags this year, I think – lol.

MrGhosty.4296:

This is my second Halloween festival and i’m hoping to get the new weapons to drop (whatever doesn’t i’ll nab from TP) The Lab is also a great place to level alts so I’m working on that this year as well. Not much in the festival vendor to get me drooling for really so I feel your frustration for mid tier goals.

The new weapon skins are pretty cool, and I did pick them up on the TP for a very low cost. I judge a skin based on how cool it looks, not how much it costs. I have to say I really like the hammer, Onus, in particular this year. But that was easy to get.

MrGhosty.4296:

I’m thinking it is super rare, but I managed to snag the Phospholuminescent aura that can be placed in jewelry and that has definitely made my Halloween this year. The feline familiar mini is also on my list but again not sure on drop rates.

The jewelry auras are a really neat idea, but I think they only fit into Exotic Trinkets? I used to play a lot of Fractals back in the day, so my characters have Ascended Trinkets (though that’s the limit of the Ascended for most of them right now, lol). Anyway, I wouldn’t be able to use them without downgrading my stats, and I’m not sure I’m willing to do that. I do really like the idea of them, though. And if they ever made a better way to use them, I would be all about that!

Thelgar.7214:

I had one goal for this year, getting all this year’s weapon skins. I thought I was in good shape because I had 7 tickets from completing a collection. I about cried when I saw they released a fulll set of 16. But I got lucky and got an Endless Bottle of Batwing Brew from a ToT bag early the first day that went a long way toward getting the rest.

Getting a full Black Lion set is definitely a higher-end goal, particularly if you’re not starting out with any tickets. I also don’t think I’ll ever be lucky enough to get an Endless Bottle of Batwing Brew out of a ToT bag, lol

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Start working towards the Nightfury skin by seeing if you can get the tattered bat wings and unopened endless bottle of batwing brew to drop.

Nightfury is definitely one of those rewards that was designed to be a sink to get money moving through the TP, since every TP transaction removes 15% of the cost from the market. I think that Nightfury is definitely a higher-tier goal as well. I don’t think I would be able to make Nightfury, even though it would be really great to have it.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Collect ToTs and candy and wait. The price for both drops as the event progresses. Once it’s close to the last day, take a look at how much you need to afford the mini you want; it’s likely that you’ll find it worth buying the last few stack or 10.

I’ll probably be examining the TP throughout the event. While I don’t like that the TP is so integral to these holiday rewards, and I wish you could get the rewards directly from the content, I know that I’ll probably have to monitor the TP to stand a chance at some of the higher-end stuff. I don’t like that that’s the reality, but there it is. The high-end stuff is really too far out of my reach if I’m being perfectly honest, though. Maybe it will go down in price in future years, but the tick up in cob price they did for Gwynefrydd makes me anxious about the prospect of that ever happening…

moonstarmac.4603:

…also, I’ve noticed the Halloween vendor is selling the Mini Bloody Prince for 10ccc whereas the festival vendor sells him for 6…so it is possible the festival vendor may pick up a few other minis over time.

I hope so, because like I said in my OP, as someone who got that mini for even more than that when it was new, I think price reductions are actually a good thing. Sane, reasonable goals are always preferable in my eyes. I was glad when players said the Mini Bloody Prince Thorn was too expensive and they reduced the price… Oh how small all those old numbers seem in comparison to today…

Electro.4173:

I am hoping to at least make the Infinite Shadow Raven tonic, but I’ll probably have to resort to the TP for that, since the individual tonics don’t seem to drop often enough to get to 500. Nor the bat wings.

Maybe these infinite tonics are actually supposed to be the “mid-tier” rewards – the kind of rewards I might be looking for? But I do have some tonics and I have to admit that in practice I get really poor mileage out of them. I’m not sure this would be a suitable reward for me if only because I’m willing to bet I wouldn’t use it nearly enough in reality… A good idea all the same, though.

Temerity.5239:

Maybe not what you had in mind, but my project while waiting for the event was to use new dyes and my existing armor skins to bling out my characters in Halloween colors. (Never did find a properly garish orange, ah well.)

If you don’t like the current offerings, what about making a personal goal to create a “Halloween” getup that uses only non-seasonal skins? Skulls, flames, a creepy-looking animal mini … you get the idea. TP prices are probably a bit deflated as people scramble to buy candy cobs, so it might be a good time to go shopping for other stuff.

I really like these ideas. The consensus seems to be that this is the fashion-MMO, after all, lol. It’s not really the kind of “goal” I can work toward in the sense I’m looking for here, but it is an excellent idea for a fun Halloween activity, all the same. There was a player who used to run competitions for making unique looks for characters like you’re describing on the forums way back in the day, but I wasn’t very active on the forums then, and never participated. If someone brought that back, I might participate, even if it’s not a real strength of mine.

Temerity.5239:

Or do something silly like wander around the level 1-15 maps and give out cinnamon apples and leather bags to random newbies. Not that I’ve EVER done such a thing myself … c_c

…maybe I haven’t been thinking outside the box enough on this one… Again, not really a mid-tier goal to “pursue” in the traditional sense, but a fun thing to do all the same.

I did stand by the heart vendor who sells the Frog in a Jar for the home instance Feline Familiar for a long time, resummoning the cat and explaining how to get it. That was a nice Halloween-type activity to do for a while.

Anyway, I appreciate everyone’s suggestions, but I’m still not sure what I’m aiming for this year. If anyone else has any suggestions or ideas, or if we’ve helped you figure out what your goal is this year, please let me know below. Thanks again!

Host a costume brawl Battle Royale…and win!

Someone pointed something out to me the other day: that even if I managed to save up 110 Candy Corn Cobs and purchase the Mini Gwynefyrdd, that I could still wind up getting it to drop out of a Trick-or-Treat bag after that. Maybe even as early as the very next bag, knowing my luck. Apparently you can trade in an extra Mini Gwynefyrdd, but only for one single Candy Corn Cob. That would feel devastatingly awful if that happened. So I think I’m going to give up the hunt for that mini entirely, two years after I started.

I’m going to have to accept that there are not any “mid-tier” goals that I can reasonably set for myself for this year’s Halloween, and I guess this year I will have to try all of the “make your own fun” kinds of suggestions many you have posted above.

Randulf.7614:

Host a costume brawl Battle Royale…and win!

Not sure I’m up to organizing something on this level, but if anyone gets word that someone else is organizing something like this, I might be willing to throw my hat in the ring as a contender!

Thanks again to everyone who offered suggestions, and Happy Halloween, everyone!

AlienMenace.7516:

And if you want to go full “cat lady,” might I recommend you look into this https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hungry_cat_scavenger_hunt to go along with your candy corn in your home instance (if you haven’t already)?

I already had all the cats not owning 9 classes or HoT will allow. I even paid a kind stranger 1 Tattered Bat Wing for summoning the “familiar” cat for a bunch of us in LA as a thank you. When Zuzu dropped, my main swapped her mini snow leopard in an instant. It’s an added bonus that Zuzu is still a feline and also swims.