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General: Five MMO Halloween Moments
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Being October 31st, how could MMORPG.com Managing Editor Bill Murphy pass up the opportunity to write about Halloween? In The List today, Bill takes a look at some of his favorite Halloween moments. Check it out and then add some of your favorites in the comments.
Halloween, probably more than most holidays in MMOs, gets a decent chunk of coverage from around the industry. Sure, it’s become a must these days to have seasonal content in your games. Players seem to enjoy it when their virtual worlds are decorated accordingly to our western traditions. Every year now, pretty much every major game has some sort of celebration for Christmas, New Years, even Thanksgiving often enough. But my favorite, far and above the others, is when my MMO of choice gets down with Samhain and gives us the Halloween fare. And today actually being Halloween and all, I figured I’d share with you my five favorite MMO moments from Halloweens past.
Read more of Bill Murphy's The List: Five MMO Halloween Moments.
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Comments
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays in WoW, there's stuff to do no matter what level you are and the lore behind the Headless Horseman is just as spooky as the actual tale. Just last week a local guild actually put on an in-game play where they reenacted the story of how the Headless Horseman came to be, it was an awesome player-run event that once again reminded me of how great WoW is at times.
Been enjoying the Halloween stuff in CoH. Everyone seems to be badge and costume hunting.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
Filled with the spirit of Halloween, I actually logged onto a WoW unlimited free trial account yesterday just so I could revisit Duskwood. Even though I'm a Night Elf at heart, I'll admit the variety of moods captured in the first 4 human zones are incredible, probably the best in the game. As a level 2 character running for her life, the experience was especially spooky
Typo: You wrote Oggrimar, it's called Orgrimmar
Other than that, great article
One moment I enjoyed were Ultima Online around 1999 or so. There was a haunted house area in Skara Brae that the devs went all out for. Back in those days, it seemed the devs had to personally go in and make it Halloween for us. Not sure if that was true but it seemed that way.
Everquest I and Everquest II are my two favorites. Haunted houses, mazes, zombies jumping out at your screen, undead invasions, trick-or-treating, and more. My two favorites with third place falling faar behind.
There were 'brushes' the devs could set up ahead of time to place the larger portion of a scene or setup, but for the most part they would be ingame and manually placing the content at the scene right there. Although time intensive, it's actually a very fun process, especially when decorating player venues as the players were often there, giving their input and chatting with you while setting things up.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
How exactly can you miss Everquest and Everquest 2's Halloweens? And what about LOTRO? Really? You mention games that are old or that no one knows about instead of three of the biggest names in the industry.
Personally, I love EQ2's halloween's the best of all. Nights of the Dead is fantastic. So much to see and do. Quests, mazes, costumes, house items, and more. Though I will never play EQ2 again due to the greed displayed by SOE, it still has some of the best holiday periods I've ever seen.
And the haunted house LOTRO introduced (think year before last) is just simply excellent, especially the first time through.
Everquest's first Halloween event needs to be on here. yes, the momnster invasions crashed every zone when 100x the normal players for that area stormed it. But who could forget the madnes in Kithicor!
Once a low-level halfling area, half the big shot NPCs of EQ (including Lanys and Firiona, and a special guest appearance by Innoruk himself as I recall) duked ot out in the zone, leaving it cursed! From that day on it turned from quiet peaceful glade in the day to OMG TERROR! at night.
I never played World of Warcraft, but it's Halloween screenshots look real sweet and lovely !
Whenever you are really bored and don't wanna play an MMO game, go to: http://librivox.org/
Hey hey hey heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyy.......
The Headless Horseman is pretty cool in WoW. Awesomely voiced
Only two MMORPGs actually scared me; EverQuest and World of WarCraft.
EverQuest:
I played back in 1999, I remember just starting out as a High Elf Magician. Veterans of this game would know there was no "personal torch", night GREATLY hindered your vision range and High Elves had horrible night vision (did not know about conjure light-source at this time). I remember just training in Greater Faydark and night was approaching, I wasn't paying attention. It gets DARK, and being a low-level, any aggressive mob would want a piece of me. Trying to find the path and run back to Felwithe, I remember just hearing noises around me and finding out I was being chased by wolves. It was terrifying but the greatest experience I've had.
World of WarCraft:
Back before Burning Crusade, I was a Human Priest just leveling. When I was leveling in Westfall, I saw a bridge that connected to the other side of the river. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to cross it. Soon the atmosphere grew dim and dusk, there was a thick fog. I was following the path and on the left was an abandoned outpost and a huge graveyard. Ignoring, I continued on the path. Then suddenly in red text I read what the Town Crier had broadcasted. I was never more scared, I was frantic and sporadically checked the rear. Eventually I did see the hulk and I headed off the trail and into a house to hide, only then to find a banshee was already inhabiting the home...
I like Halloween in WoW, League of Legends, and EQ1.
In WoW, the entire game changes. Granted it's not very RP since the horde and alliance are more about pulling pranks on each other than fighting, but it's still fun. Stink Bombs away!
League of Legends releases limited time skins in the shop. Some are just too great to pass up. The Nocturne skin from this year is probably one of the best XD Of course my favorite champion, Yorick, has halloween all year round
EQ1, as previously stated, was one of the originals to introduce halloween content, and it was a blast too. Trick or Treat!
Man my biggest memory will go down remembering how dam inept SOE is .I coudln't do my very first Halloween quest because it was bugged.I was like are you serious i mean geesus very first quest and it's bugged.
8 years of FFXI i never had one not one single bug or problem always a smooth game with no hitchs.
It is truly mind boggling that the two biggest names in this industry Everquest and Wow also have the most bug ridden games.I can see now why so many people continue to talk about "polish" it is a term i never had to think of ever until i saw Wow and EQ ,just incredible.So i won't have ANY HAlloween moments for this year because i logged out in disgust.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I can't believe no one has mentioned back when EQ first came out and how Sony permenantly changed Kithicor forest for the worst, still to this day (unless something changed), it is a hellish place to travel through at night for low-mid level characters. I remember when I played, I would rarely ever go into that zone, even during the daytime, haha.
Once you go go whack, you'll never go back.
What is this "whack", you say? Check out the links!
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http://www.joyrevolution.com
http://www.thenewecstatics.co.uk
I wouldnt say it was for the worse, no zone in any MMO provides the fear that Kith does. Especially as someone that liked playing Halflings, I got such a rush runnign through that place on my way to the commonlands
You gave two spots to WoW, but completetly failed to mention GW's Mad King Thorn and the Lunatic Court.
If you're a fan pop-culture tropes and bad puns (and lets face it, you play MMO's, so of course you love 'em) then the Mad King's yearly visit is a highlight of GW experience.
Oh yeah, Everquest 1 when Kithicor Forrest got those crazy insanely high lvl mobs roaming around at night around Halloween. I've never been so scared in my life! It was so cool, and a bit annoying hehehe...
The good old days. Back when the devs of MMOs would host in-game events (be it Holiday, PvE, Quest, RP, etc) themselves and interact with the players. UO had a lot of this and EQ did to a point ... but soon after that ship sailed.
MMOs were really enjoyable back in those days when the genre was so new, so fresh, and so full of ideas. Devs really tried back then. Now? Cash cows and games where you are stripped of freedom.
EQ2 This halloween has been amazing, there has been so much to do.
Duskwood is the best vanilla zone imo. Creepy and fun!
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
And my Troll can now ride around on a fart cloud
http://eq2.zam.com/db/item.html?eq2item=48275ce0ecb31b32a909df63c42fa49c
I caved and spent money for the very first time ever after over a years playing LoL to pick up the Nidalee and Nocturne skins... Too good...
I'm inclined to agree with that at this point. As a night elf, I used to say Ashenvale was my favorite zone back in Vanilla. But in retrospect today, Duskwood definitely evokes the most powerful nostalgic mood.