Gimme Yer Lunch Money Kid

Or at least your Hallowe'en candy .. Muwahahahaha........

I never tired of seeing that "Trick-or-Treat Bag" drop .. as I beat the stuffing out of something. :D

One of the things that happens in Guild Wars that is just FUN .. and .. that turns me into a low-level area farming machine .. spending hours rounding up various critters to mass kill them for their special items .. are the events. Usually there is something each weekend .. something for PvE .. or just PvP .. but *something* goes on.

Periodically there are very special events like Wintersday .. or Canthan New Year festivals which give you special quests and drops and such .. and generally last a weekish. Or something as simple as special drops for the St. Patricks Day's Lucky Weekend .. or .. International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which was a fun surprise they gave us this year. :)

From Friday, October 24th through Sunday, November 2nd at midnight .. it's Hallowe'en .. Guild Wars style .. with the cities of Kamadan and Lion's Arch fully decorated to put us in the mood for Hallowe'en. As well as Droknor's Forge and Tomb of the Primeval Kings. Along with that .. special drops from critters you kill .. called Trick-or-Treat Bags that contain a variety of goodies .. are yours for the taking if you have the time and inclination .. which I DO. :D Those bags contain a slew of items from Transmogrifier Tonics which turns you into something fun .. to consummables like Pumpkin Cookies which actually give you a boost against things you fight.

There are special collectors in various towns that you can take certain critter bits that drop .. such as mandragor carapaces and ornate grawl necklaces .. and trade them for event items like tonics and absinthe and such. Also .. there is a Costume Brawl .. a PvP event where you randomly look like any of a handful of ingame NPC's instead of your usual avvie .. and using the skills of that characters profession .. you go battling others who also like 'live' targets to tussle with. lol

To top it off .. starting at midnight Pacific Friday ( that was 4 am our time .. and you can be sure MC was hitchin' on the starting blocks for that lolol ) the hilariously fierce Mad King Thorn begins the first of his arrivals in Kamadan and Lion's Arch .. he will arrive every 3 hours after that until midnight Pacific on Saturday the 31st. He tells jokes requiring you to /laugh at the punchline .. and some actually made me laugh outright :D .. he asks questions that require a swift and correct /emot response .. else .. punishment is swift .. certain .. and severe .. if he says DANCE!! .. you /dance like your life depends on it .. cuz it does .. O_o

Challenging the occasional partier to a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors also poses a risk to the chosen avvie .. but .. /rock always seems to have the best chance of survival for some reason .. not always though .. as I found out. LOL Then moving finally to his own macabre li'l game of Mad King Thorn says. And you had better get it right and fast .. cuz you will wind up a blackened heap on the ground .. till he rez's you and you get to try again .. lololol :D Correct answers get you a Trick-or-treat bag .. incorrect answers .. get you a short moment of being dead .. the better to reflect on your mistakes. O_o

After about a half an hour of this .. as he makes his departure .. he 'gifts' you with a Hallowe'en mask. There are 2 to be gotten .. one from his appearances in Kamadan .. and one from his appearances in Lion's Arch. The 2 masks given this year are the Zombie Face Paint .. and the Lupine. Pretty cool little additions .. though .. I am still holding out hope for a new style Pumpkin mask and a Witches hat .. they were offered before I started playing and I would love a chance to get them.

This was my second Hallowe'en in Guild Wars .. and it was easily as much fun this time as last .. no question. I farmed almost 4 stacks ( 250 to a stack ) of the Trick-or-Treat bags ( I would have gotten more but I did spend several days helping our newest guildie with the game which was fun in itself ) .. just solo farming low level areas .. as I find that the least stressful ;) .. and that includes the extended weekend of T-o-T drops to make up for accidentally shutting the event down 24 hours earlier than promised .. an oversite A-net claims was made by whoever programmed in the times. Those gave me oodles of Pumpkin Cookies .. Candy Apples .. Candy Corn .. which I will use up while vanquishing .. Absinthe .. Witches Brews .. which are for my Drunkard Title ( don't ask O_o ) and are the items I kept for myself to use. Plus .. I got a bunch of Transmogrifier Tonics .. Ghost-In-The-Boxes .. Squash Serums that I gave to MC who is working on her Party Animal title .. and again .. don't ask .. ;)

Hallowe'en in Guild Wars .. 2008

Necrid horsemen collector .. this one is in Ascalon .. but they can be found in a number of places in both Elona and Tyria. Trade a variety of critter bits that drop for a slew of event items. :D


Trick or Treat bags .. plus some of what they contain .. cute li'l things .. yes? :D


MC always goes all out for the events .. and this is no exception .. she swapped out our usual Isle of Meditation Guild Hall for something a bit more Hallowe'enish .. and redesigned the cape for the event too.


Lion's Arch decorated for Hallowe'en.


MC and I with one of Mad King Thorns candy corn guards - pre his arrival. I SO want one of those pumpkin masks she's wearing!!


MC .. in a candy corn suit .. in the presence of THE Mad King Thorn. lolol


Kamadan decorated for Hallowe'en.


Aaaannnnd .. what would Hallowe'en be without vandals ?? LOL


It is amazing how they pull this event off. There are dozens and dozens of districts for each of the world wide servers. So .. seeing American English District 89 .. OR .. European English District 62 .. is NOT uncommon .. or higher for some events .. and who knows what the count is for foreign non-english servers .. and Asian servers too .. plus the International districts. I've no idea how many people it takes to max out an area .. but it's a LOT more then you would have ever seen in the city in Uru .. it's got to be more then a hundred though in EACH of those 89 disctricts. There IS lag at these events .. but nothing near as severe as what you would have seen in Ae'gura with 20 people in that space. The Mad King shows up simultaneously in each district every 3 hours .. with small time variations for the most recently formed districts. That's HUNDREDS of districts .. EVERY 3 hours .. with minimal lag .. EVEN ON DIALUP. *whistles* .. Cyan could learn a thing or 10 from how this 'event' is run. I'm .. just .. sayin' .. ;)

Anyway .. we should be getting Slices of Pumpkin Pie and Hard Apple Cider drops for the US Thanksgiving .. and .. coming soon after will be Wintersday .. which is busy with lots of drops and some quests to do .. as well as the challenges to clear the Grenches in the snowman cave .. and actual snowball fights. lolol

In the meantime I am nearly finished my fugly weapons project for my Hall of Monuments .. and my li'l Dervish lady really WANTS Vabbian elite armor .. she's so hard to say "no" to .. ;) ..and I hope to get some more zones vanquished across all campaigns .. so .. I've got plenty to keep me going between events. :D

Oh yeah .. and have I mentioned .. how much I REALLY love Guild Wars?? :D