Samhain (the original name but is now mostly called 'halloween' by kids and those who don't know any better) 2011: The event started on Thor's day, October 20tht, at noon, eastern time zone, in the U.S.A. and supposedly will run through Woden's day, November 2nd, 2011 in both City of Villains and City of Heroes as well as in the Praetorian zones, but, it might keep going until the next maintenance. No guarantee on that, however . . .
During the Samhain Event, there will be no sun, only the moon and the nearly never-ending night. If you're a villain, now may be a good time to hunt the pirate ghosts (you need to defeat ten of them to earn the Pirate badge that's needed for the Born in Battle accolade auto-power that gives you +5% Endurance and +5% HP) in Port Oakes near the fort (defeat them on top of the trap things to count), Banished Pantheon Masks in Potter's Field in Sharkhead Isle and Warwolves in Sharkhead Isle near the Mutant Store there.
Dr. Kane's Haunted House:
This year, there is something new! It's the Dr. Kane's Haunted House trial, and you can access it by clicking on the LFG at the top of your chat window, then, click on the Holiday Trials tab, and, finally, select Dr. Kane's House of Horror, and hit the Queue button. The Victorian era house looks very nice, but, the fun doesn't really begin until you enter it. You'll be fighting zombies and, at the end, Dr. Kane's abomination. If you're lucky, you might even find out what the easter egg is, and have an elite boss to fight!
Whispered Rumor Tip Mission:
If you are over level 20, you can get a Tip mission which is different from the run-of-the-mill Tip misssions, which is only for the Samhain/haloween event.
To get this special Samhain/halloween event Tip mission, you will need to engage in the regular trick or treating (more information on this page about that) while wearing one of the temporary power costumes. You can get this special Samhain/halloween event Tip mission even if you already have three of the regular alignment mission Tips in the Contacts drop-down menu under the Tips tab.
The Whispered Rumor Tip is identified by the Jack O'Lantern picture on it.
How to do the Whispered Rumor Tip mission fast: Please read this all the way through before starting the mission! This mission is timed, but, not in the way you think . . . When you enter the mission, you should have around 5 minutes showing at the top of your program window. This is not the time remaining to complete the mission in. It is how long you have before you get ambushed by five waves of Praetorian style Clockwork. The mission is called Whispered Rumor/Recover the Malleus Mundi, with the 1st name being the Tip name, and the 2nd name is what the mission name becomes after you accept the mission. Use a stealth or invisibility power and run to the end of the mission and take out the elite boss, Libri Vermis. If you need more time, and can click on them safely, without being discovered by nearby enemy, you can try clicking on each of the glowing objects to get more time. Masterminds who want to ghost this mission will want to wait until they get to the end of the mission before summoning their minions, so, they should wait until all their summoning powers have recharged before entering it. A good spot would be just past where Libri Vermis is standing up on the 2nd Oranbegan AKA Circle of Thorns style building in that final room. There, just past that 2nd building, possibly in a corner, you can summon and train and upgrade your minions as needed and turn on any toggle powers before attacking Libri Vermis.
Completing the Whispered Rumor Tip mission will give you badges. There are seven badges total for completing this mission, but, you can only have up to six of them at a time. Doing it as a rogue, and not a villain or hero, I had to get Secured, Power Hungry, Artifact Destroyer, Veiled, Trusting, and then, I had to get the Arriviste badge, by ignoring the warning that it would replace the Trusting badge, and that earned me the Meticulous badge, which also un-locked the Witch's Hat costume piece at the Tailor. Doing this on a villain instead of a rogue, I was not offered the Trusting badge, possibly because there is no M.A.G.I. on villain side to turn it in to. ;-) So, a hero will, in all likelihood, not need to get the Arriviste badge.
Another badge, if you want it! You can stay in the mission after completing it, and fight the five waves of Praetorian Clockwork to earn yourself the Technophobe badge. This can be done by both a villain as well as a rogue, so, anyone should be able to get the badge, and not just those from Praetoria. Doing this on a two-person team, you should be able to earn the Technophobe badge in only a few Whispered Rumor Tip missions, if you defeat all five waves of the Praetorian Clockwork.
Extra costume slot (sometimes called 5th):
You need one Statesman Mask, one Lord Recluse Helmet, one Back Alley Brawler Gloves, and one Hamidon Costume. You'll find them listed under Salvage > Event tab.
Villains can turn it in to Granny Beldam at 2682.5 12.0 6060.2 in Nerva Archipelago. She's on a little island that's 312 yards NNW of the Natural Store, 0.55 miles WSW of the Quartermaster in the Crimson Cove area (on the east side of the map), 740 yards SSE of the Agincourt waypoint, if you have it on your map. If you're in a VG, the teleport to Nerva Archipelago in the VG base drops you right onto her island.
Heroes can turn it in to Annah who's near the Green Line train station (87 yards SE of it) in Cratoa.
Trick or treating doors and their timers:
A player can only get a door to activate in a zone of their level range once every 60 seconds whereas a door itself can activate every 30 seconds (or at least that's the timing the game's used in the past). For example, another player can come up to the door after you've activated it (if you're one of those who stay at the same door waiting for the 60 seconds to run out), click on it, and get a trick to pop out on you of their level, not yours. So, if you're of a level that's barely able to get newspaper or radio missions in that zone, keep your eyes open and don't go AFK near a door. You could come back to the keyboard and find yourself horizontally aligned instead of vertically. There were some people doing that last year. Unfortunately, they can't be shot for it by fellow players . . .
Where you can trick or treat for your level range:
Villains: Levels 1-10 Mercy Island, levels 5-15 Port Oakes, levels 10-20 Cap au Diable, levels 20-30 Sharkhead Isle (sometimes afflicted with severe lag problems, be advised), levels 25-40 Nerva Archipelago, levels 30-40 St. Martial (a good spot is inside the Golden Giza, which looks like a mix of a ziggurat and a pyramid in the Babylon neighborhood, where there are many doors to click on), levels 40-50 Grandville.
Heroes: Levels 1-11 Atlas Park and Galaxy City (good 2nd choice if things get overly crowded in Atlas Park), levels 5-15 Kings Row, Perez Park (better along the border area than inside the forest unless you like mazes), or The Hollows (not to be confused with the Deathly Hallows Hee hee hee), levels 10-20 the hero side SC zones Steel Canyon and Skyway City and Boomtown, levels 20-30 Independence Port, Talos Island, Striga Isle (good time to get your slayer and silver bullet badges too during the ever-present night period of the Samhain event!), Terra Volta and Croata, levels 21-30 Dark Astoria, levels 30-40 Brickstown, Founders' Falls, and Crey's Folly, levels 33-40 Eden (minimum level to get in is level 33, so don't listen to those telling you it's level 30 because they're idiots who don't bother checking the facts), levels 40-50 Peregrine Island and Firebase Zulu.
Back in 2007, Faultline, the Rikti War Zone and the Abyss weren't trick or treating zones during the Samhain event . . . Tested them and the doors weren't working (could only find one door in the Aybss, anyway) and the sun was out at the times I visited them. They were a place of refuge, I suppose, for those who needed some sunshine during the event.
Later on, this changed, at least for the RWZ and Faultline . . . The Abyss' door still won't work.
If it's difficult to find a team of your level range, you can be lackeyed/sidekicked (where you're playing at one level below your boss/mentor) or malefactored/exemplared (where you're playing at the same level as them). You can also try the pvp zones if you're of a high enough level to get into them (except for Recluse's Victory because there's no mission type doors in that zone) but . . . You're likely to get attacked by another player or gank squad as you're trick or treating. The anal-retentive types usually have zero tolerance for people 'farming' in pvp zones.
Those pvp zone levels are: levels 10-20 Bloody Bay, levels 20-30 Siren's Call and, levels 30-40 Warburg.
Inspiration rewards for clicking on the doors: During past Samhain Events, we got medium and large Inspirations (sometimes called tier 2 and tier 3) as a treat from knocking on doors, but this year, we only seem to be getting the little Inspirations (known to some as tier 1 Inspirations). Yes, a major disappointment, but something that's probably considered 'working as intended' by some. *GROWLS*
Samhain/halloween event badges:
Costumes:
10 costume temporary powers = Clothes Horse badge.
25 costume temporary powers = Fashionable badge.
50 costume temporary powers = Ostentatious badge.
Note that the game will give you credit for having another costume temporary power when it wants to give you the same one again. You won't get a 2nd one of the same power, but, instead, you'll get credit towards whatever Samhain costume badge you're currently working towards.
There are a total of 33 costume temporary powers you can get. Some are only available as male or female so if you're of one gender, you may get temporarily switched to the other by using those particular costume temporary powers.
The costume temporary powers are, in alphabetical order:
Banished Pantheon Shaman, Cage Consortium Guard, Carnival Harlequin, Carnival Strongman, Coralax Minion, Council Galaxy, Council Penumbra, Crey Agent, Crey Power Suit, Crey Security, Freakshow Boss, Freakshow Stunner, Goldbricker, Hellion Thug, Knives of Artemis, Legacy Chain, Lost, Malta Gunslinger, Malta Operative, Nemesis Soldier, Outcast Thug, Paragon Protector, Pirate, PPD Cop, PPD Hardsuit, PPD Swat Officer, Scrapyarder, Skulls Thug, Sky Raiders, Troll Ogre, Tsoo Inkman, Vahzilok Eidolon, Warrior.
Note: Stealth or invisibility (like Superior Invisibility) won't work with the costumes.
Hunting badges that you can get while knocking on doors and getting a trick instead of a treat:
15 Werewolves = Shifter badge. 75 Witches (the hollywoodland variety) = Malleus badge. 20 Vampires = Hunter badge. 20 Ghosts = Buster badge. 50 Zombies (Rob Zombie doesn't count!) = Dead Head badge. No badges for the Samhain event Fir Bolg.
Hunting badges of the giant monster and and their little friends variety:
Jack in Irons (this one will appear in other zones besides the hero side Croatoa zone and only in level 20 or higher zones 1 out of 10 times a Samhain event GM is supposed to spawn) = Iron Warrior badge.
Eochai (again, the one not appearing in Croatoa and will spawn 9 out of 10 times a Samhain event GM spawns including Atlas Park) = Hallow Spirit.
20 Unseelies (of the Unseelie Court that are usually around the Samhain event version of Eochai and Jack in Irons if they haven't yet been sniped by other players) = Ghost Touched.
Zombie attacks/zombie apocalypse! (Started with the Samhain 2008 event)
Once in a while, the people in a zone will be attacked by zombies. To be notified of the zombie attacks (and other things going on) and which zone they're in, be sure to put the Event Messages channel and the Villain Zone Event Messages or Hero Zone Event Messages channels into one or more of your tabs, such as the Global tab, and perhaps the Chat tab as well. To add channels to a tab, right-click on the tab you want to put the channels in, choose Edit Tab, then, when the tab's window comes up, look in the Available Channels column for the Event Messages and Villain Zone Event Messages or Hero Zone Event Messages channels, click on them one at a time, and then click the Add button to move them to the Selected Channels tab. After you're done, click the OK button.
There's also badges that you can earn during the zombie attack/zombie apocalypse. Defeating 100 zombie minions = Glimpsed the Abyss badge. Defeating 33 zombie lieutenants = Safety in Numbers badge. 25 zombie bosses = Evil's Resident. Defeating a zombie elite boss (Nightmare) = Apocalypse Survivor badge and you also earn the Pumpkin head costume piece which is then available at the tailor by first selecting the Head drop-down list and choosing Special Helmets, then, under the Helmet drop-down list, choosing Pumpkin.
Now, to those who are easily confused, I am not one of the Samhain event things to hunt. There's no badge for me. LOL
Happy Samhain, good luck, have fun, and happy hunting from Cyberwolfman! :-)
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Related pages:
City of Villains New User Guide and Helpful Tips
CoV AKA City of Villains Character Creation Help Guide
City of Heroes and City of Villains Enhancement Comparison Guide
City of Villains/City of Heroes Winter Event
MMO, MMOG, MMORPG Reviews - City of Heroes Review
MMO, MMOG, MMORPG Reviews - City of Villains Review
CoH / City of Heroes Blacklist
CoV / City of Villains Blacklist
A few other pages on this site:
