Halloween Event 2008
The event was scheduled to run from October 20th through November 2nd, but actually started earlier, on the evening of Saturday, October 18, 2008 as a surprise. Announcement link.
Overview
For the 2008 version of this event, there are three main sections to the event.
- First, trick or treating from door to door returns, with some tweaking of the door timers to promote a more mobile version of trick or treat, and discourage door camping.
- Second, the Giant Monster zone spawns and eternal night have returned.
- And finally, a new "Zombie Apocalypse" zone event has been added, with massed hordes of zombies attacking random zones throughout the event.
The event runs in all combat zones in the game except Recluse's Victory, The Abyss, The Hive, Cascade Archipelago, The Chantry, and The Storm Palace. The few zones where the event is not running are all zones for at least level 40 characters, so for any characters below level 40, literally every single accessible zone is running the event. The only exception to this is Bloody Bay. The event is active in Bloody Bay, but a bug prevents anyone in the zone from being considered to be the correct level for trick or treating.
Zombie Apocalypse
The Zombie Apocalypse is a zone event that uses the Rikti World Invasion engine. Random zones throughout the game come under attack for periods of time. The start and end of an apocalypse event are broadcast on the appropriate Hero or Villain event channel. The sky of an invaded zone turns red, and zombie hordes begin to attack very similarly to the troop phase of the Rikti invasions.
When a zone is invaded, the following occurs for all players, Hero and Villain alike, on the server:
- A message will appear in chat windows with the Zone Events channel enabled, warning of a zone that is about to be attacked by zombies. This message gives suitable warning for Heroes and Villains not wishing to take part to leave the zone:
- The message reads: "WARNING: Zombie attack in zone."
- As the attack begins, the skies in the affected zone will change to a deep red color. All normal enemies will despawn from the map and zombies will begin to rise from the ground.
- When the zombie attack passes, a second Zone Events message is sent, announcing the end of the event in that zone:
- The message reads: "ALERT CANCELED: The zombies have disappeared from zone."
- The sky then returns to normal, resuming the perpetual night of the Halloween Event.
For further details about how invasions choose targets and determine what rank of zombies to spawn, see Rikti Invasion Mechanics.
New Badges and Unlockable Costume Piece
New: 4 new badges for zombie hordes
- Apocalypse Survivor grants access to the Pumpkin Head costume piece (Under Special Helmets).
Zombies
A new enemy group, Zombies, appears during this event.
Notes
- Zombies drop tech enhancements, and hybrid (tech/mystic) salvage
- testing for this event was on July 31st from 4:30-6pm Est
Links
Trick or Treat
- Main article: Trick or Treat
During this event, players are be able to 'Trick or Treat' by knocking (that is, 'clicking') on mission doors in the various zones. Players can knock on a door once every 10 seconds, as long as they keep moving to a new door. A door that a character knocks on won't be active again for that character for five minutes. If a door is successfully knocked, then either a treat is awarded usually in the form of a random inspiration or costume salvage, or else a trick, which will spawn various enemies in the immediate area.
Giant Monsters and Eternal Night
- Main article: Giant Monsters and Eternal Night
During the event, the entire game is locked in nighttime mode. The Giant Monsters from Croatoa, Eochai and Jack in Irons spawn in most zones (including the City of Villains zones), awarding Halloween-specific badges for their defeat. When one GM is defeated in a zone, another will spawn in the same zone soon after.
Badges
These badges are awarded for receiving "Classic Costume" Temporary Powers while Trick or Treating.
Note: receiving a duplicate costume will give no indication of the duplicate, but it will count towards the badges. Because of this, it will appear that fewer costume drops have occurred than are required for the badge.
You've collected 10 classic costumes.
You've collected 25 classic costumes.
You've collected 50 classic costumes.
These badges are awarded for defeating Trick or Treat enemies.
You have helped defeat a manifestation of Eochai, king of the Fir Bolg.
You have defeated 20 of the nefarious Vampires who rose from their graves on Halloween.
You have defeated 20 ghosts, spirits who have not rested since their original death.
You have defeated 15 werewolves, supernatural creatures created through the disease of lycanthropy.
You have defeated 50 zombies, the walking flesh of the recently dead.
You have defeated 75 witches, sorcerous crones who use dark magicks.
You have defeated the Halloween Jack in Irons.
You have defeated 20 of the Unseelie Court.
Notes
- Trick or Treat costume Badges do not have bars, but appear between the Firebase Zulu Security Detail and Tourist badges for heroes and between the Visionary and Visitor badge for villains.
- Costume count and Trick or Treat enemy defeat badge counts carry over from previous years.
- All Inspiration treats are tier 1 (small) and 2 (medium) this year. Last year they were tier 3 (large). According to Lighthouse, this is intended.
- Note: Costumes are dropped independently of event salvage, meaning you can get both at once.
- While similar to Freakshow and Arachnos costumes, these DO NOT grant stealth or invisibility. Mobs will attack players who are wearing these costumes, even if it's a costume of their group.
- Costumes are mutually exclusive with most self-stealth powers and cannot be used while shape shifted.
- When Costume Powers are awarded, two Inspirations are awarded. In the case of receiving a costume which you already have, the two Inspirations can be used as an indication of a Costume being awarded.
- When Event Salvage is awarded as a treat, two Inspirations are also awarded.