Discussion: Halloween Event On Now!

How about a Zombie attack with a Rikti invasion...=P.....

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Okay, I play on Victory, and tonight... was not a good night to be in Talos Island.

First, we had the mass Zombie attacks - I think most of the non-hazard zones came down with a bad case of undeath within a span of like... 30 seconds.

But this isn't about those zones. This is about Talos. Where the Zombies were fought off with the players' usual enthusiasm. Soon Nightmares were defeated, and the dead stopped rising. Good job everyone, time to sit down, lick our wounds, and sell off loot.

But wait? What's this? A giant pumpkin-headed monster has appeared?

Yes, Eochai was paying Talos a visit. Teams of weary heroes began gathering themselves to take the monster down.

But not long after they started... the War Walls fell down. The Air Raid sirens started calling. Yes, the Rikti had decided to pop in for some tea and mayhem.

Incidentally, I understand that real estate prices in Talos are falling.... ^_~

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Thank you for the laughs. I fell out out of my chair laughing.

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How about a Zombie attack with a Rikti invasion...=P.....

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I SO want to see this happen. I am so there for that!

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And since this can't be pleaded enough: Bring back the Tier 3 Inspirations, please!

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It is possible that this had something to do with the change to the door timers.
With the increased ToT rate, we would end up being swamped by Tier 3 insps.
(as a side-effect it'd probably also lead to more people leaving ToT spawns behind as they rush from door to door to optimize their drop rate)

Given the choice between Tier 3 insps and the much more enjoyable (to me personally at least) ToT rate this year, I'd go with the increased ToT rate.

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You can click doors 3 times faster this year, but, they could have compensated by making Tier 3 appear 33% of the time.

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Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides

I just wish it would go on longer only as this week not enough time to play.

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I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.

Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.

So sad to be ending ):

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is there any more costume parts like the pumpkin face helmet?

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http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Hallow..._Costume_Piece

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Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides

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I just wish it would go on longer only as this week not enough time to play.

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Nov 2nd - thats two full weeks.

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@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617

First, the positive stuff. I've been having a lot of fun. The Zombie Apocalypse is fun and frenetic. And most of the changes to Trick or Treating are great...between the greater spawn sizes based on team size and making the longer timer per door per person, encourage teams to trick or treat together, rather than split up across the zone, everyone at their door. This is a fun event, and thanks for starting it over.

But there are a few things that could use tweaking. Biggest of all...the spawn rate of ghosts when trick or treating is just ridiculous. By the time I got the 14th badge from the event (Hunter), I had gotten three spirits. I don't know if there's a bug or if it's designed, but it's so out of whack with all the others, it's not fun. Probably no way to fix it for this year, but please adjust this for next year.

Next, concerning the complaints of people being killed by others who just click doors and run...would it be possible to make the "trick" spawns always spawn to your level (like invasion rikti and apocalypse zombies)? People could still be surprised by foes they weren't counting on, but at least they wouldn't be +5, +9, +15 (in the RWZ). And looking ahead, the Winterspawn that are summoned by clicking on gift boxes for "naugty" also could get that treatment.

Last is part of a bigger issue...There are now 15 badges earnable in this event. They're in the ungodly list that achievement has become, and they aren't even all together, and because they aren't earnable year round, no progress bar. Badges need a serious reorganization, and the badges for an event should all be together in the list. Also, please add the ability to turn progress bars on and off, so that we can track our progress on these badges during the event. Perhaps instead, progress badges for everything, with a button for "hide progress".

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My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout

I managed to get a new costume slot for my five characters who needed it today. So things are going well for me so far.


Playing solo, I didn't think I had any chance at getting the new badges for the zombie invasions. Then I happened on a big zombie fight and took out an elite boss on the edge of the fighting with my Earth/Fire dominator, earning the Apocalypse Survivor badge. Huh. Later I jumped into a big fight with my Broadsword/Dark scrapper and got the badge for killing lieutenants.

Still later, I logged in to my TA/Archery defender to check on something in my base, and saw the red skies in Talos. I wandered over to the big fight on the hill, and just happened to spot an EB off to the side. The lag was bad, but I picked up another Apocalypse Survivor badge by plinking arrows into the EB. If that character can do it, some of my other characters might be able to also, with some luck.

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But there are a few things that could use tweaking. Biggest of all...the spawn rate of ghosts when trick or treating is just ridiculous. By the time I got the 14th badge from the event (Hunter), I had gotten three spirits. I don't know if there's a bug or if it's designed, but it's so out of whack with all the others, it's not fun.

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I am so glad I got that one last year! I am helping an SG-Mate get his badges this year and spirits are as rare as... well... something really rare.

But, there is the good side: the Zombie Invasion is AWESOME! I was kinda expecting nothing more than some slightly recolored BP Zombies with maybe Adamastor scaled down a bit as the EBs... man was I in for a shock when they were friggin' sweet! Especially the Nightmares, very cool design on all of 'em (except the weird Black/White zombies).

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I just wish it would go on longer only as this week not enough time to play.

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Nov 2nd - thats two full weeks.

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Even better

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I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.

Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.

So sad to be ending ):

I find it interesting that when I click on a mission door during ToT near a mission, my character sometimes enters the mission itself. Even if it was across the street and down the road.

This was happening in the Cap au Diable zone (I wonder if extended testing, rather than a few hours/test would have helped to catch this bug?).

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The event is great except for the aforementioned Spirit ToT spawn rate. They seem to be spawning much lower, at least 4-5X lower than any other door spawn.

After ToT with 2 different characters and getting all the other door badges. Only about 5 spirits were seen with each character.

Having to ToT 4-5X as long just to get the Buster badge seems to be a bug. Other than that, it's been fun.

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The only thing that I see that has changed from Test to Live is that Trick Mobs now are set to ambush the clicker (and invisibility doesn't help take away aggro).

On Test, they saw through Stealth, but not invisibility. And they didn't chase the clicker unless the clicker stuck around to be 'seen.'

The ones on Live chase the door-clicker and are pretty persistent, so, that's good. They ignore other players unless they get aggro'd by an attack power. I was standing next to a whole bunch of +6 spawns and they pretty much ignored me while they were chasing their door-clicker. Now, when I had an ice patch out, and they walked through it, then they noticed me.

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Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides

found a nice sweet spot in Grandville for this...epic herds are epic, had my Crab eat a couple purples, run around the corner, unleash AoE's and finish em off w/ Omega Maneuver out of the 6 doors I clicked, 4 of them had mobs

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ToT Herding...Need Moar Dumpsters!!

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I'd love to know who provided the scary voices for the 'ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH' the zombies make,LOL. This event is a blast!

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�Many things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.�

had a blast last night for about 3 hours tons of xp, badges, costumes, inf good times ty devs!!

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50 fire/dev--50 dark/thug--50 earth/storm--50 fire/regen--50 earth/thorn--50 kin/rad
50 TA/archery--50 stone/mace--50 Rad/em--50 Cold/Energy--48 dark/elec--50 grav/rad--45 SOA--40 PB--46 Bs/Fire--50 Ar/Dev--50 Trapz/Dark--50 elec/em tank--50 elec/earth--50 Ghostwidow--50 elec/Therm--50 cold/dark

I love the invasions. Rikti invasions will evermore be pale after this.

The fact that bosses appear in large waves is excellent. I actually find the zombies more dangerous than the Rikti. The zombies hit harder, and in the short bursts they get to be there, that makes them more meaningful.

On a technical note I want to thank whoever (or whatever accident) made the zombies untargetable while they're appearing. This is something that I find incredibly frustrating during Rikti invasions - that you can target them but they are "invalid target"s. This makes finding a valid target during Rikti waves unneccesarily hard.

I like the level of difficulty in getting the new badges. This is a once-a-year event and I have lots of characters I'd like to get them on.

ToT Spirit's spawn rate is outrageously low compared to its peers. It took me all day to get that badge on a new character. I literally would have earned all the other ToT critter badges 3x or more over and I had all 33 costumes by the time I got it. (Indeed, it took so long I actually had a chance to get every other halloween badge by the time I finished, including those for the two GMs and Unseelies.) If it was just me noticing this I might have attributed it to bad luck with the RNG, but the observation seems basically universal.

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Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA

I just wish the zombie attacks would happen a bit more often. Was on for like 3 hours last night, no zombies. I just have lousy timing apparently.

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Cool. My other um... home... crashed... so this is perfect timing!

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You live on the stock market?

I was working with a team to defeat Ghost of Scrapyarder when the skies turned red and a dozen or so zombies popped up in our fighting area. By the time we got the zombies under control, we had lost track of Ghost and didn't care. Was the best surprise yet in the 4+ years I've been playing Co*. Well done, devs.

RagManX

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"if the market were religion Fulmens would be Moses and you'd be L. Ron Hubbard. " --Nethergoat to eryq2

The economy is not broken. The players are

Dear Devs:

I am very disappointed at your insistence on the early release of the Halloween event. Why I was just saying to my wife (who I am trying to cajole to play) that I wish the Halloween event had been put in on Friday, so we could have the weekend to trick or treat, enjoy the new Red skies above, and have general mayhem and chaos. But alas, it was not to be so…

And then, lo and behold, while minding my own business in WW, the Zombipocalypse begins! AHH the horror! So I am forced to run out and destroy all the available Zombies! And the skies are red with blood! It’s better than a Rikti Invasion! Devs, why must you grief our anticipation so!

That being said, I for one, Welcome our new Zombiepocalyptic overlords, with their lovely red clouds, and their ‘wonderful’ new odors. (And I hope the Thriller soundtrack begins issuing from our humble boomboxes.) All hail our future Zombie Brethren!

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Arc #6015 - Coming Unglued

"A good n00b-sauce is based on a good n00b-roux." - The Masque

Let me talk about the 2008 Halloween event. Before I do so though it should be understood that I am a badger, and a completist in that sense, but I am also not OCD and have realistic expectations. I have one (1) Hero Badger and one (1) villain badger. Getting ANY badge on any other toon to me is purely optional and something I don’t freak out over. On my main badgers I have accepted that I am never going to earn the top tier healing badges or damage taken badges without farming.

First the good.

The Zombie Apocalypse addition to the annual Halloween festivities is a brilliant addition. From the red skies and the spooky music to the animations of the undead rising from the ground, they are all fantastic. The new badges have great art and are fairly easy to get, even for a soloist who might intentionally avoid the large lag-cluster fights.

The change to door knocking for Trick or Treat has made things quicker and seems to have lessened door camping. Good job there. Also the increasing of spawn size to match the team size. Nice.

Now the not so good.

There are issues. Some of which have been pointed out in this thread already and some that date back to very first year that some of these things were introduced which have been problematic for me.

The disturbingly low spawn frequency of Spirits from door spawns is really a problem. I have the good fortune of having it on both my badgers from last years event, but seeing the frustration in my team (SG) mates yesterday some of whom are new to the game and some new to badge collecting really saddened me. We spent 2 ½ hours in Independence Port and 4 ½ hours in Talos knocking on doors (all of us were below level 30 and I was on a non-badger toon trying to help them get their badges). In that time we saw 2 spirits and one was actually killed by someone not on the team, who literally said he was sorry after the fact but he just needed a few more spirits to get the badge.

Also the lack of seeing Boss classed foes spawn with any sort of regularity. Between that Talos/IP ToTing mentioned above (7 person team), plus 3 hours in Grandville (8 person team), plus around 3 hours in PI (8 person team), I saw ONE (1) Boss spawn, and that was a Vampire Lord and that was in Talos, when I was door knocking SOLO with my DB/WP Scrapper.

Now some have complained about the lack of Tier 3 Drops. It was essentially candy in the bag, which is one of the things Halloween is about. It was like getting Snickers Mini’s instead of crappy candy corn or carmel apples. The one Boss that I did face, DID drop a Tier 3 and I got a number of Tier 2’s from popping Lieutenants, so perhaps there was a shift to sync them up with the foes faced, but seeing as the amount of Bosses I saw, that’s pretty lopsided.

And that brings me to the major problem here. With no candy-based incentive (Tier 3’s), no reward for teaming with a large group (Boss spawns), and no reasonable chance to earn all of the Door knocking badges in even a marginally unreasonable time (Spirits), you’ve caused an essentially fun, diversionary event to become a grind, and a grind with no real reward.

Another complaint from me, is that you still haven’t put in the effort to add graphics to the three (3) Halloween costume badges (Fashionable, Clothes Horse and Ostentatious). You clearly sat down and put some thought into Halloween badge art (the 4 Apocalypse badges), so it’s not like you WERENT looking at it and actually working on it, applying people power and resources. Why are these badges still filled by crappy placeholders? I know it seems minor but because it is so minor is why it makes no sense that it hasn’t been fixed, like a year ago! It looks terrible and to be honest, smacks of apathy.

And then there’s the other shortsighted, still not fixed, annoying frustrating PITA aspect of the Halloween event.

Jack in Irons.

This crap with the whole 1 in 10 chance of Jack spawning needs to end. When this portion of the event was revealed in 2006, the badges for popping Jack and the Unseelie court were new. Everyone was working to get this so there were tons of teams whose sole function was popping Eochai to eventually get Jack to spawn. Last year things were different, it was already a whole lot harder to find a team that was dedicated towards this end because a great deal of the badgers, the type of player who will drive a team for that sole function, already had theirs and were now focusing on other things. This year its worse. I watched an Eochai spawn in Port Oakes, stripped already of its Unseelie remain in place ALL DAY. I could not gather people to take it down. I tried elsewhere in Cap Au Diable and got a team to do it once, then when I said lets keep hunting to get Jack to spawn, they all rolled out. So there a new Eochai spawns and gets quickly stripped of its Unseelie and is left alone. I broadcast and everyone asked if the Unseelie were still there, when I said no, nobody joined. So the amount of people willing to grind for hours trying to generate a Jack spawn are down radically. This means less chances of seeing Jack and of seeing Unseelie for newer badgers. This is a natural result of reducing the value in XP and influence of GM takedowns to where you have to go through a huge amount of effort, hours of effort, for ultimately very little XP gain and little reward and you are playing dice with the chance to get the spawn you need. It dissuades the casual player, it dissuades the power gamer it dissuades pretty much most badgers.

The Winter Lord redesign is a good example of maximizing opportunity, and to be honest should have been worked into the way Eochai/Jack ran. There needs to be a spawn timer. A set time after which if ole Pumpkin boy or Jack haven’t been taken out, they despawn and spawn elsewhere. This allows a periodic refresh of spawns for those who are seeking Unseelie (badge problem solved), and allows a more frequent chance for jack to spawn (Jack badge solved).

I know it’s too late this year. The code is in and the devs aren’t going to change it this late. That I accept, as I said, I am a realist. But seriously, this needs to be resolved before next year. City of Heroes/Villains is not a game where there are millions of players, not even a million, not even 500K. This is a game with about 250K players, of which perhaps half (and that is being generous and yes I am assuming) are more that a few hours a week players. I don’t know what the ratio of new players to veterans is but it is this kind of event, one that’s supposed to be fun and goofy and extra and targeted towards the casual player that should not be where ludicrous standards are applied. You want to reap the rewards of Set IO’s or crafting badges or Ouroboros badges, groovy, that is where the long-term committed types prosper over the casual player. But this is supposed to be a goofy extra, fun with friends. And its not that fun when you are grinding for hours for low XP/inf in the hopes that a different low XP/Inf monster will spawn giving you the badge you want.

I love the Halloween event, but seriously, beyond the Zombie Apocalypse, the devs need to tweak the old to make it new.

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High Beam - 50 Blaster Energy/Ice - 1228 Badges
Munitions Mistress - 50 Mercs/Traps
Many Other 50's, Too Many Alts, All On Freedom
Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should!

Has anyone else notices a distinct lack of spirits?

I spent about an hour Trick or Treating and saw less than 5 of them. But enought Fir bogs and Witches to open my own croatoa.

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Nemsis lv50 Inv/SS
Arch-Nemsis lv 50 SS/Inv

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did the devs listen to any input about griefing? obviously not. Pi was hell on a level 41 and there is no where else to go.

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Tried Founder's?

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cant tot there if you are over 40.

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Lots of 50's yada yada. still finding fun things to do.
Cthulhu loves you, better start running

I�! I�! Gg�gorsch�a�bha egurtsa�ar�ug d� Dalhor! Cthluhu fthagn! Cthluhu fthagn!

You are in a maze of twisty little passages