It’s that time of year again, time to harvest the crop, watch the leaves turn colors and fall from the trees, and costumed horrors (and beauties) will be roaming the streets seeking treats or tricks. How does this affect the MMO world? Why they’re going to celebrate it in their own fashions—so let’s take a look at what everyone is up to.
World of Warcraft and RIFT
WoW and RIFT are pay-to-play games so we’ll only briefly cover them here, but it’s important to note that they too have their own virtual world events for players to partake in.
In World of Warcraft the festival of Hallow’s End has returned to Azeroth where the different cultures take on the affects we expect from Halloween (costumes, candy, ghosts, and ghouls) as well as the return of the Headless Horseman. While players rush around the world finding costumes and eating candy, the Headless Horseman will be lighting vilages on fire by throwing his jack’o’lantern head upon buildings and they will be called to put those fires out. And eventually strike down the horseman himself.
In RIFT, Trion Worlds has added “The Monster Mash” as a PvP event added to the other games that get played across Telara. It’s a modification of a normal PvP game called “The Black Garden,” but the opposing teams are given Halloween styled costumes where Guardians display as Werewolves and Defiants becomes skeletons. The Fang of Regulos (the maguffin/football) is a flaming pumpkin. The entire event takes place in a graveyard.
Guild Wars 2: The Shadow of the Mad King
ArenaNet is taking their buy-to-play (but after that free-to-play) game Guild Wars 2 with their spooktacular Halloween event by changing the entire aesthetic effect of Lion’s Arch to be filled with harvested wheat, jack’o’lanterns, as well as ongoing “haunted door” events as the Mad King reaches back into this world. Along with the Halloween decorations players will be able to collect candy, give it to costumed children, and get their own costumes.
Across the world Haunted Doors have appeared that open into the strange world of the Mad King including his labyrinth—filed with glow-in-the-dark skeletons, candy corn elementals, plastic spiders (and the glow-in-the-dark kind)—as well as access to the Mad King himself in his strange realm, and even an action jumping puzzle called the Clocktower.
DC Universe Online: The Witching Hour
Sony with DCUO is bringing on The Witching Hour with the return of Klarion the Witch Boy, who is stealing the powers from heroes and villains and has taken over Gotham City in his mad rampage. The city is bedecked with Halloween decorations and now also has added random events for heroes and villains alike to take part in.
There will also be an amazingly ghoulish masquerade party for both heroes and villains. The Witch Boy has seen fit to take over a club and invite numerous civilians to his party—intrepid vigilantes or power seekers are also invited to this instance, but beware, Klarion is not someone to be trifled with and neither is his cat Teekl.
Dungeons & Dragons Online: Endless Dead Festival
The undead have risen in DDO, as Turbine has upgraded their event for 2012. The newly revamped event will include an invasion of rotting corpses across the land and even a special cemetery instance that contains a dank, dark dungeon. Skeletons, ghouls, ghosts, and undead galore are expected to come along with costumes, new consumable items (such as midnight black coffee) as players enjoy the Halloween event.
League of Legends: Elise, the Spider Queen
Riot Games seeks Halloween as a reason to change the League of Legends Twisted Treeline map into a much more Halloween aesthetic with pumpkins, scary trees, and the glow of candles. They’re also adding a brand new champion with a spider-motif called “Elise, the Spider Queen.” The changes to the map with the Halloween theme is expected to last through the holiday; the new black-widowesque champion will become part of the crew.
Wizard101: Halloweenfest
KingsIsle’s child-friendly will celebrate Halloween with an introduction of a bunch of new pets and an NPC character named Spooky Bob. Players begin their adventure by finding Jack Hallow in the courtyard at Ravenwood Commons. A nightmare pack is available for the game currency of Crows (bought with money) to get wraith armor and a slew of pets such as a Night Mare, Zombie Piggle, and even a Ghost Dragon.
The Spiral will be covered in costumed baddies, jack’o’lanterns, scarecrows, witches, and the like as the wizarding folks get into the Halloween celebrations.
