Make Halloween Madness great again

Halloween is the time when people test things and try to learn stuff. It's once per year event, 

where you can test whatever you want. But not really. Many things are still off limits due to the 

fact they require applications and IMM approval.

Here is a suggestion (that will work only on HM) to make things interesting and allow people to

learn even more:

1. Make it so all applications are automatically accepted. This goes for:

    - all quest races

    - all quest classes

    - all cabals

    - all tattoos

1. Remove all limits from the four mentioned above and allow everyone to be have whatever 

qstuff and tattoo they desire.

1. Automatically promote to Leader everyone who joins a cabal.

2. Make cabal powers independent from their standards.

The PROs:

1. It will allow people to actually learn the really high end stuff and try to up both their PK and RP

2. It will allow a crash course into catching existing bugs that have stayed hidden for many years due

to the rarity of the four mentioned above.

1. It will allow for possible OP things to be noticed (although HM is bad field to base balance on)

The CONs:

1. A lot of information will be revealed.

2. This might require some coding.

I've honestly always wondered why we didn't do it like this. If you find a Qclass/Qrace you're really interested in, when you make a character to go for said applications, their RP is probably going to be more stellar than before just to get it accepted. The only reason I played was to figure out different combos in years passed, but after a couple of times doing so it exhausted my interest in it completely. I would rather play my normal character which I can't because of it being Halloween. With allowing this idea to come into place, it definitely would make more people want to play and discover things most haven't been able to discover before.

I know that years ago it made sense to not have this because a lot of things were more discover on your own and secretive. Its been more than 15 years since I started playing and it's far less secretive. I wouldn't say this would divulge all the information so it would still allow a certain amount of secrets to remain (the quests themselves for example wouldn't be divulged and you'd have to figure those out still if you wished to become those said qclass/qrace) and it very well could allow for more bugs to be found.

Personally I don't like it F0xx.

Things are awesome when they are a secret because.... It means that I still have something to play for (ironic as I'm an imm). 

If you can all just play whatever you want.. You'll be killing your own replay value. 

Even after all the years I've been here, there are a bunch of things I haven't done... And are on my to-do list just cause "I don't know". 

Just my opinion - sometimes a little mystery can be better.

I can see how that might be for some people. I honestly am the type who finds myself more content with the basic race/class combos because they're easy to train/level and I know them more. I've had a Vamp which I enjoyed the RP of more than anything else. The reason I wanted one wasn't because it was a secret as I had been told from various sources what they had in their skill/spell sets way back when things were very secretive. When I finally got it though I enjoyed it up until I got to 50, but that's because my PK skills suck in most cases. Anyone who has access to the old code, although a bit outdated by this point, you have access to the help files to most qclass/qraces as well as the code portion to their skills/spells.

I do understand the whole mystery being better to a degree, as I used to think along those lines too. About the only mystery that I find interesting anymore is full malformed weapons and Avatars. Sure I know what they're like from being the punching bag for some of it, but I've never had the pleasure of either. Psi was a huge interest and that's the main reason why I tried off and on for years, but it almost never fails that I enjoy a good basic race/class combo more. So I do understand where you're coming from.

@Ulmusdorn

Mystery is all good until you spend two years on your invoker, get him tattooed just to find that the tattoo gives him +10 hit/dam and a double round of melee attacks now and then.

Still, this is not going to reveal secrets unless people work for them.

For the 16(?) years this game has been around we've probably had less than 10 halloween madnesses. It's one day in which players are allowed  to dig information, by themselves, still having to work for it. You like mystery? Well then, you have all the right to NOT dig. To not use OOC contacts for information. I applaud you if you that is actually what you want and have the will to force yourself to not dig.

But for those of us who like to know, they should have this small window of opportunity. And even then, it's not fair to treat it like everything will be revealed instantly. It took me FOUR years to find out how malforms work, experimenting on HMs. And I still can't say, with absolute certainty, that I know exactly how they do. And still, finding out is one thing, and achieving it ingame is entirely different. For me personally, when I know the rewards I will get for my effort I can afford to fully invest in a character. When I don't, I simple hold back, because I don't know if I will like the result.

But if you are not like me and prefer mystery, then you have the option to not dig and just play for fun on HM, or ignore it altogether.

However a fair person looks at it, it's a win-win situation.

11 minutes ago, f0xx said:

 

Mystery is all good until you spend two years on your invoker, get him tattooed just to find that the tattoo gives him +10 hit/dam and a double round or melee attacks now and then.

For the 16(?) years this game has been around we've probably had less than 10 halloween madnesses. It's one day in which players are allowed  to dig information, by themselves, still having to work for it. You like mystery? Well then, you have all the right to NOT dig. To not use OOC contacts for information. I applaud you if you that is actually what you want and have the will to force yourself to not dig.

1. It shouldn't take you 2 years to get a tattoo. Also if you're getting a tattoo for the PK benefits... Its not really the right reason but I get where you're coming from. 

2. Good point.

19 minutes ago, Ulmusdorn said:

 

1. It shouldn't take you 2 years to get a tattoo. Also if you're getting a tattoo for the PK benefits... Its not really the right reason but I get where you're coming from. 

2. Good point.

It shouldn't take you 200+ hours to get your q-app decided on either, but sometimes it does.

It shouldn't take you two years to get a tattoo, but it usually does, except in cases where we see the God loved "vets" getting them in two months with "exceptional" RP that has only been seen by the Imms.

It shouldn't take you 200+ hours and constant RP, cause you got nothing else to do with the 5 people online most of the time, to get Trusted in a cabal.

It shouldn't take you 500+ hours and constant RP, mostly by yourself like a crazy person, cause there are no more than 5 people around training skills, or hunting, or traveling for items, to get Elder in a cabal. 

It shouldn't take you an year, to get Leader in a cabal, when you are doing well with your toon and the spot is free.

There shouldn't be any Imm chars, leading cabals and sticking around for 5 years i.e. Thulgan, making it impossible for anyone else to even try for the spot. You would say coup? How many of us can beat Anume's warriors?

Just my opinion. You are setting TOO high standards for things in a game, which is played by 15 people at most. It is ridiculous how some get all those custom shit, while the rest just stick to their regular stuff, no matter how much effort and time they invest. We are not all RP Gods...you should understand that. 

I know this is going to start a storm of flames and "vets" telling me how wrong I am, only to lick Immortal ass, while everyone else keeps quiet. I don't care.

Actually if you put aside kami's way of expressing himself he is totally right. Too high standards for a game played by 15 people at peaks. The hours required should be cut in half and the standards lowered also. Everyone must have the chance to fullly enjoy the game. I feel like elders, tattos and etc are kept atm only for the rp gods. Kami is right. Not everyone can be rp god but he still gotta have the chance to achieve all

This is not a shooter game. You need rp if you want to go past T. You need not be a rp god, but you need to put effort into the character.

Abusive behavior and trying to blackmail new staff will not be tolerated.

3 minutes ago, Anume said:

This is not a shooter game. You need rp if you want to go past T. You need not be a rp god, but you need to put effort into the character.

 

Abusive behavior and trying to blackmail new staff will not be tolerated.

I dont mind to rp. But i have limit of my abilities. Lets just stop here and not derail the topic

Nightmare, see your signature. If you are unwilling to try or put effort in you should not be astonished you don't get the results that require just that.

8 minutes ago, the_nightmare said:

Actually if you put aside kami's way of expressing himself he is totally right. Too high standards for a game played by 15 people at peaks. The hours required should be cut in half and the standards lowered also. Everyone must have the chance to fullly enjoy the game. I feel like elders, tattos and etc are kept atm only for the rp gods. Kami is right. Not everyone can be rp god but he still gotta have the chance to achieve all

Getting promotions and rewards is like getting a malform - you need effort, persistency, consistency, great performance in both PK and RP, and even then you still need patience.

Which prompts all the more for a single day in the year (aka Halloween Madness) in which you get all those for free, just to inspire you to improve yourself ;)

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but everyday is Halloween madness to an extent. You can pinnacle in 10 hours solo, 7 Hours with two and 6 hours with a group of three. However I do really like the idea of giving an opportunity to have one QClass for HM. I personally have been burning through a crazy amount of toons to see what I truly like playing best. If there was an opportunity to sample a QClass before dedicating all that time involved, that would be cool. When I got a lich I was very disappointed and it deflated me a little bit, but then I got back on the horse and everything was fine. But again that's life right, and forsaken lands in itself is it's own world. Thus you do have to put in effort to get something in return which I get. However it would be uber cool to be able to sample anything and everything for one day. +1 Fox.

I've always found Halloween madness to just be silly.  And quickly gets boring.  

And let everyone play all the quest stuff? Cheapens the reward when you actually roll one.

I'm a big fan of the idea, at least so far as opening up qraces and qclasses - tattoos and elder/leader positions feels like a bit much to me, but that's just a matter of degree.  Not all of us can play all that much - I'm lucky to get an hour a day on average, and on top of that my usual available playtime is the mud's slowest.  There are a number of qclasses/races I've never had, and the reality is that I probably will never have them if only because of my limited playtime and that I regularly have periods where I don't play for some time - until a few months ago, I hadn't played in a couple years.  It'd be fun to have a moment to finally get a look at them, get a taste for what I've not been able to experience in all this time.

9 minutes ago, Kyzarius said:

And let everyone play all the quest stuff? Cheapens the reward when you actually roll one.

How does it cheapen the reward? Could you explain this please?

You are a player who has played every single qthing in the game. You've had leaders, you've had tattoos. You are a good player with knowledge far above that of the average player.

Yet you still go for qstuff. You still go for tattoos. You still go for leaders, even though you know exactly what they do.

Do you feel they do LESS, just because you already know what they do?

Or do you fear that others might gain this knowledge and thus build their characters better, and defend better against yours, which will lower the edge you hold over them?

What I see as cheap is strong PKers with information, who try to hide and restrict others from obtaining it in every way possible, just so they can hold every possible advantage they can. It is an uneven battlefield and some will try to keep it that way.

Let's stay nice please.

1. I haven't played every q class/qrace.  

2. I haven't had but one tattoo, and leader twice in the same cabal.

3. Even though I have played a Q class/Race before the mystery and discovery are still there when I play one again.  Like say a Vamp or the psi path I haven't tried yet. 

Having some ultimate spoiler day would in my opinion just cheapen the experience.  

I in no way try to or am even capable of restricting anyone access to anything.  You want a Q, roll one, apply for it, RP it.  It is really not that hard.

Playing one just for Halloween madness would cheapen this games final product immensely in my opinion.

I think it would cheapen it too honestly. If you roll something up with a specific task/purpose and accomplish it(demon, avatar, etc) don't you find that satisfying? What if you roll something up with a specific purpose in mind and bam, something changes and you bring it to maturity as something totally different? Again, way more satisfying. It isn't hard to RP with people. Just plain talk to them and you're doing it, you can literally talk about anything. Or you can feed off what they talk about/do. So many ways to get the points you need for rewards. So easy to write a character history and journals. I get pointers all the time for both RP and PK and I am far and away not the most gifted. Have to have 20 RP points for something, history and a decent written journal entry......etc, etc, etc. Have to have one PK for something, find my character and kill it.......lol, I don't think it's very hard. I don't think anything that has to do with qthings and cabals should be given out to everybody during Halloween. For example, I've had an avatar since I came back after a long hiatus, I really suck but was given the chance. If I got one, so can you with a little effort. Not a very good evil player so I haven't had demon/undead/lich and haven't had the desire to try for a crusader but again, put forth a little effort and the rewards will come to you and you'll be much happier. Again, all this is my opinion and in no way does it reflect the opinion of anyone else in game or out. No halfway regular thing that you do with a character takes all that much time, malforms/DI I mean come on, just kill a few things and learn. Do you think you'll be that much better at killing just because you can insta-pinn on Halloween? Want to find out that Nexus E cabal skill is, get in Nexus and go for it. Anyway, enough rambling.....

Now for E, L, and tattoos.....no idea what is required or desired for any of that. Don't think I have the skillset in either RP or PK to get either of those three but I would absolutely love to know what the requirements are for what I am playing at the time since I am having fun with it, which is really all that matters.

I don't agree with this Kyz. If you look at the most successful game currently, LoL, and see their patch notes, you will see some EXTREME detail.

But that's not a fair comparison. LoL aims to be perceived as sport after all. Lets look for examples in our own game.

Do you remember the time when Zhokril implemented "perks"? Perhaps @Celerity can chime in. They had extremely vague descriptions and noone knew what they did. Some of them were extremely bugged (tinkerer), others were extremely op (alcoholic), others were not even functioning. And noone knew that. Then they get changed because they are not working "as intended", when the staff never told anyone what their intended use was. I've argued many times with Zhokril on the forums about that matter, his usual reply would be "I do not cater to power gamers".

Currently, perks tell you exactly  what they do. Has this harmed the game in any way? Have you seen someone complain about them since then? I don't think so.

Yet, that is not even what this thread is about. It is about letting people try and figure out what they want to, by letting them play what they want, for a day. And this won't even mean much either way. We've had so many HMs by now, and there are still people who don't know what DIs and HHs do.

If you think about it, HM is a very ingenious way of allowing people to find out what they want, without "officially" allowing it.