Shadow of the Mad King - Oct 22-31

[Phred]

Ya the game designers seem to rarely consider casuals.

[Outlawedprod]

Lion's Arch + Overflow = Ezmode Pumpin Carving.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WHDuFiOvi4

[Sky]

Ya the game designers seem to rarely consider casuals.

Which is ironic in what is probably the best casual mmo to date.

[rk47]

Ya the game designers seem to rarely consider casuals.

Which is ironic in what is probably the best casual mmo to date.

honestly, ppl are broken.
saw a guildie run around in ghostly shield... Wall of the Mists.
'bought from AH 30g.'

That's nice, what's the stat?
He links it.

'Wait, it's the same as my wooden shield exotic...why did you-'
'It glows.'
'And- ?'
'It glows...and looks cool.'

 

[Zetor]

Same thing in GW1. You could get max-stat items relatively easily (even easier than in GW2), but people still wastedinvested completely ridiculous amounts of money and time into skins that looked cooler: any of the elite armors, some rare weapon skins, etc etc. If you saw someone in full obsidian armor, you knew he was either a super-hardcore player, really good at playing the market (GW1 didn't have a TP, so it was done via 3rd party sites), or bought gold. 

[satael]

Same thing in GW1. You could get max-stat items relatively easily (even easier than in GW2), but people still wastedinvested completely ridiculous amounts of money and time into skins that looked cooler: any of the elite armors, some rare weapon skins, etc etc. If you saw someone in full obsidian armor, you knew he was either a super-hardcore player, really good at playing the market (GW1 didn't have a TP, so it was done via 3rd party sites), or bought gold. 

I like it, it allows me to concentrate on wvw without needing to grind (endlessly) for better eq.

[murdoc]

Same thing in GW1. You could get max-stat items relatively easily (even easier than in GW2), but people still wastedinvested completely ridiculous amounts of money and time into skins that looked cooler: any of the elite armors, some rare weapon skins, etc etc. If you saw someone in full obsidian armor, you knew he was either a super-hardcore player, really good at playing the market (GW1 didn't have a TP, so it was done via 3rd party sites), or bought gold. 

I like it, it allows me to concentrate on wvw without needing to grind (endlessly) for better eq.

I think it's an awesome way to do it. As a semi-casual I am decked out in almost total exotic gear. Yeah, I have a more generic look that someone running dungeons, but I'm not behind statswise and that's pretty great.

So I did have enough mystery potions to make a Mad King Chest and ended up with the Scythe skin which I promptly sold on the BLT and now have more gold that I have ever had in the game. Enough to get all my exotic jewels and have a bunch left over.

Curious if the price of the event skins will start to drop now. I debating holding onto the skin, but I needed the cash now.

Karma booster + Monthly reward is awesome. Thanks for that tip.

[Tmon]

The first time I mined a candy corn spawn I thought of this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKk_kPmAk4 now I can't get it out of my head.

[Sky]

While I like the way there is access to decent statted gear for 'casual' players (if you have a level 80 character, you're probably not a casual :p), I like to have access to different cool-looking gear but I guess at some point you need to make something the carrot for the hardcore players. But if anything pushes me away from the game, lack of access to the cool skins will be it.

I dunno, the whole halloween event is fucking confusing. I went to Lion's Gate, there was some thing where I got some scanner I couldn't make heads or tails of, then there was a table with people throwing pumpkins, so I did that for a bit but it just seemed random and I kept losing so...my half hour was up and I logged.

Also, I didn't see my boosts in the menu for the mystic forge, I could probably make 4 mad king chests if I could get it working.

[murdoc]

There was one of the boosts that didn't work - kill boost or something.

The mail that comes with the scanner tells you exactly what to do. If I can figure it out, it can't be that complicated :p

[Lantyssa]

In general:  There's tons of lower-level good looking gear.  Even the more rare weapon skins are obtainable for pretty cheap.  Transmutation stones mean you can have just about any look you want.

Equipping the scanner takes a piece of candy corn.  You get four uses per equip.  Signal strength tells you if you're near to an active site.  Using one of the four modes will uncover the ghost or a suspicious location.  Suspicious locations can lead to tricks or treats.  Two caveats:  Ghosts are in fixed locations and often up because other people have uncovered them.  Treats are gotten through a chain of suspicious locations.  Very often they can be looted for several bags at once.

Personalized Trick or Treat bags have a higher chance of giving you goodies in the form of rare holiday crafting material, recipes, food, or really rare items.  You get these through the scanner or trading candy corn to kids in costume.

[Mattemeo]

Other things to take note of/try: get into a group or crowd trick or treat farming the haunted doors in Gendarran Fields/Kessex Hills/Queensdale. Not only will it mean you're far more likely to receive credit for the Monster Hunter achevement, you'll also end up with a lot of trick or treat bags, opening which will also lead to an achievement. I got both done within about an hour and a half last night as opposed to the feeble ammounts I'd managed while playing normally the previous nights.

Adding on to the pumpkin carving video above, there are a lot more than that guy finds in Lion's Arch, like 30+. They're not hard to find and even if you're trying to be efficient you'll pick up more than him within a few minutes. Once you know where they are it's easy to form a routine; that said I haven't bothered doing the whole zone-swapping business. I just do the rounds when I'm in LA.

Tonight I think I'll try doing the Mad King trails so far.

[Sky]

I got both done within about an hour and a half last night

Yeah, see. I've pretty much written off bothering with this kind of stuff. It's counter-intuitive to the way I play the game. It just sucks to lose out on cool stuff, but from the sounds of it I wouldn't be able to get anything cool even if I wasted a couple hours a night on it.

[Ingmar]

There was one of the boosts that didn't work - kill boost or something.

The mail that comes with the scanner tells you exactly what to do. If I can figure it out, it can't be that complicated :p

Killstreak booster was the one that didn't show up for me.

EDIT: And honestly while I've been doing this stuff, it really kind of pales in comparison to the holiday events in WoW or even the world events in SWTOR so far. Grindy and unrewarding for the most part. I'm hoping Acts 2-4 that open over the next few days are more interesting.

[Ivanneth]

I gave up on seriously attempting to find any skins and decided to just make as much money as possible off the event. Thus far I've made ~3g selling candy corn and Halloween crafting components on the TP. Not a fortune, but it's a fair amount of money to a level 35 Necromancer. Going to all the places in this list netted me about 40s last night - took about half an hour to find all the locations since some were unfamiliar. Should take less time if I decide to run through it again tonight, especially since it looks like some of them aren't repeatable anymore.

Relevant portion here:

[Ingmar]

You're probably better off just chaining doors if you want to gather treat bags rapidly.

[Threash]

You can't get skins from those bags right?

[sachiel]

You can't get skins from those bags right?

The skins are from black lion chests and mad king chests only.

[EWSpider]

The Clock Tower is fuckin' EVIL...

Edit:  Ignore the chests on your way up.

[Zetor]

I'm digging the labyrinth, too. Lots of neat stuff in part2... looks like a lot of work went into this event.

[Threash]

The survival thing was fun too.  If i ever make it to the top of that clocktower it will be my greatest achievement in any game ever.

[Threash]

Got to a spot past the first chest where i had no clue what to do...ugh.

[Outlawedprod]

Guild Wars 2 Mad King's Clock Tower Jumping Puzzle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=kXRTfI06pXY


top comment:

Dang, great job. I built this map and I was thinking maybe 5% of people would make it to the top. Did not expect success vids within a couple hours!
Josh Foreman

[Threash]

Well after getting through it twice i can say it is not really all that hard once you know where to go and what's coming next.

[Ingmar]

Is it timed?

[Threash]

Yes.

[Ingmar]

/face melts like that Nazi dude

[Venkman]

Someone finally got the hint that understanding where to start for the Halloween stuff was hard 

[Zetor]

The clock tower jumps aren't THAT hard (even with the timer), it's just that Hell is other people there are 4-5 huge norns/charr in the tower at any given time blocking my view, and I can't see where my asura is... leading to a lot of missed jumps that I'd be able to make otherwise.

[Tannhauser]

Someone finally got the hint that understanding where to start for the Halloween stuff was hard 

It didn't start off well when they ask you to look for the little ghost girl.  But she was bugged to me and didn't appear, so I ran out of candy corn and had to go out and figure out how to find more.  Terrible way to start their event, but I do like the book hunt. 

[Lantyssa]

Finally finished the clock tower.

I'm considering doing it on alts for the free boot.  I think it drove me insane.  Well played, Thorn, well played.

[Sky]

Someone finally got the hint that understanding where to start for the Halloween stuff was hard 

Well, people should listen to me :p

I'm still finding it such an unrewarding and confusing mess that I haven't even played in a couple days.

[Mattemeo]

Bang goes my idea of coming on earlier to try the Clocktower Jumping Puzzle when there was less of a moron-zerg getting in the way. You can't even get in to the Mad Realm as of the last couple of hours. Great. I simply can't see where the fuck I'm going because of the inordinate ammount of Norns (usually naked in an attempt to lower their sillouhette, which I can appreciate) or Charr bodily blocking any sort of view. The less said about the mental cripples who spam speed boosts or cast pets on the way up, the better.

[Tannhauser]

Had to go online to find the start of the 2nd book hunt.  This is all a giant mess. 

[Hawkbit]

Had to go online to find the start of the 2nd book hunt.  This is all a giant mess. 

It's almost like we're back in *gasp* Everquest again.