Talk:Shadow of the Mad King/Archive 1

Costume Brawl

While I know I may as wait to just see for myself, does anyone else read the costume brawl involving purchasable costumes?192.168.104.82 20:48, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

"including Halloween costumes and new transforms that will allow you to play Costume Brawl with fellow costumed players." Although I don't think this is the case, this implies that there is a separate item in the Gem Store that will allow access to the Costume Brawl. I really think it will just function like GW1 costume brawl, where you adopt the appearance of some specific character or creature for as long as you're in the arena. -- MS 20:55, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

It's been addressed in the forums "While it does take advantage of Gem Store related items, players will still be able to participate in Costume Brawl even without spending gems." Manifold 17:35, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Good. Because I'm not spending a cent in something that won't be permanently unlocked like character slots, or GW1's costumes. MithTalk 00:50, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

To clarify, there appear to be three ways that a player can participate in Costume Brawl without spending any gems:

1. Jumping into the bubbling cauldron above the Mystic Forge temporarily transforms you into a costumed form. I do not know how long the transformation lasts.

2. Players who have bought the Witch or Mad King costumes can put down an item that anybody can eat from, similar to the Boxes o' Fun. Eating will transform these players into costumed forms.

3. Drinking Mysterious Tonics (which you may have stockpiled from opening Black Lion Chests dropped from foes) will turn you into various animals, and these animals have Costume Brawl skills.

None of these methods give you any control over the skills you'll have for the Costume Brawl, but I think it's a fair trade-off for not spending any gems on costumes or gem store tonics. - Zaxares 06:21, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Image/Header

I was thinking we could add this http://i.imgur.com/q2qQ6.png or something similar to the article. I can't find how to upload it though. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.125.66.92 (talk).

Personally I'm against a fancy header. If this page gets one, soon everything needs one. It's unnecessary, doesn't match the general style, and only adds to the already large amount of random stuff one has to load. --zeeZ (talk) 15:40, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Maybe it's better to use the transparent header ? [1] Joeyw 16:46, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

No, we don't need fancy schtick like that on the wiki. —Dr Ishmael 17:38, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

You're such a stick in the mud. We should totally redo the entire main page for Halloween. Vili 点 18:04, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Or at least put this as a featured article and some pumpkins in a couple random places while we eventually figure out what qualifies as a featured article.--Relyk 18:11, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Up-vote (like if it were a democracy) for theming the front page, keep in tune with history: http://wiki.guildwars.com/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=1744117 Might be a little late unless there's already been some back-end planning done officially. Nela - (talk) 22:20, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Front-page themes for main festivals are fine, as long as they still use the Wiki's style and layout, without remaking it completely, along a single holyday greeting around the top of the page. Mere icon and color changes always do the trick just fine. For this festival, the colors are green, orange and black (but not making the background black, that looks horrible); and since the wiki already features mainly three colors, it'll only take some hue and color changing here and there. For icons, I guess we'll have to wait until someone gets the icons of the new festival-themed items, and then reuse those the following years. MithTalk 00:58, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

There was once a very ambitious user who was sure they could do a better job at Halloween decorations for the main page than what we did last year. He said he'd do it, but he's not, so I guess we're not. That said, We could turn the red stroke Mad King Thorn Orange (with his face shining through), change the welcome message, and we're done? - Infinite - talk 09:01, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

I like the idea of a header, but it should be very minimal (in my opinion), because of how invasive art is on a text-riddled wiki article. Maybe just have a Mad King Thorn right-aligned at the top of the article, like with the profession articles? - Infinite - talk 09:01, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Jumping Puzzles

We need to decide a few things with this page and the jumping puzzles:

• Is it necessary to list any jumping puzzles at all on this page, even if they are specifically related to Shadow of the Mad King? (I.E. Such as the Cauldron 'puzzle' in LA)
  • If so, then we need to use proper format to let people know where they are
  • If not, we should probably make a separate section in Jumping puzzle.

In any case, we should not be listing jumping puzzles that have already existed in the game, such as the Hexfoundry puzzle that is already on this page, which has been in the game since launch. What are other people's opinions on this? 192.168.104.79 06:38, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

This page is about the general content update, so the new jumping puzzles should be included. And Hexfoundry is one of the new ones. The four new puzzles are Hexfoundry Unhinged, Hidden Garden, Coddler's Cove, and Tribulation Caverns, as well as a fifth one, Mad King's Clock Tower, which is listed under the Special Event tab of the achievements instead of the Jumping Puzzles tab. 07:05, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Hexfoundry Unhinged was an existing puzzle that didn't have an achievement associated with it, and solutions (including the solution on that page) have been around since September. They added an achievement for it on the 23rd, I believe. I think the new one you're talking about there is Vexa's Lab, which I can't find reference for before the 23rd. If no one has an issue, I can add the four jumping puzzles to that section. Vahkris 17:33, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Actually, I might be mistaken. Vexa's Lab supposedly has some jumping sections, but it does not have a jumping puzzle achievement and instead is an Exploration achievement, so they may not be considering it one. Maybe that's actually just another mini-dungeon. Vahkris 18:03, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

If the update states that 4 (four !) new puzzles were added then it would be nice to list 4 and not just 3 in the puzzles section. Just because one of them existed before and "only" got it's achievement added doesn't mean it has no right to be mentioned on the update page. So, while there are 2 new mini dungeons (both involve some jumping around) there are only 3 jumping puzzles listed while the information states that 4 were added. Forgive me if I add Hexfoundry Unhinged into the list to make it less confusing. [[80.137.50.129 00:57, 15 January 2013 (UTC)]]

Search sites

I got VI from Lord Humphrey Faren near the reward chest of Provernic Crypt, though the clue matches #5. --zeeZ (talk) 06:54, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

You were given I at the start, so clue #1 gives II, #2 gives III, etc. Full guide on where to find them here. 07:08, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

There's also a guide located on the article of this talk page.--Relyk 09:04, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Intro at top

Ok, this is really starting to bug me. At the top it says "New tonics, costumes, and miniatures in Black Lion Chests until November 5th". However, none of that stuff is from Black Lion Chests. The Chests only offer special weapon skins. The Gem Store has the Tonics, Costumes, and Minis (until the 6th I believe). Also it mentions PvP paid tournaments, which didn't go live with the update (but seem to be coming soon). BioMasterZap 15:43, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Mystic Forge exotics

Changed the recipes here to specify that you do not craft the gift itself at the mystic forge, only the recipe for it. I also created each of the gift pages and put in the 3 steps required to create each exotic. Anyone that's good at editing templates please go through and fix them up, I used the generic mystic forge template to create each one and I didn't include a lot of words in between the steps. Also, there's some sort of problem with the template not accepting one of the items being Superior Sigil of the Night, not sure what's going on there. Gift of The Moon, Gift of Souls, Gift of Spiders. RabbitRed 19:24, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Scavenger Hunt guides in wrong location?

Shouldn't the Halloween-specific content guides go on the Halloween 2012 page instead of this page? "Shadow of the Mad King" refers to the entire October release content and we have a separate page for the Halloween event where it seems more fitting to have this information. Vahkris 20:57, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

I agree. I was looking at the Halloween 2012 page to find more information about this event, and was surprised to find it at the page of the patch. Besides, the haunted doors mentionend here will be gone again after the event.Shol 07:37, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

The separation of content update and Halloween event is something that needs to be explained in the articles. The reason people are confused is because Anet themselves have deliberately conflated the two. If you go to the official site you will such phrases as "Halloween: Shadow of the Mad King" as well as going to the Halloween webpage which has a "Shadow of the Mad King" banner. Furthermore, since the event and patch were released simultaneously, we won't have absolute verification of what was in the patch vs what was in the event, until the event is done and things are removed. 10.28.100.33 17:47, 25 October 2012 (PDT)

It's gonna get big

Any chance of making the five "acts" sections collapsible? Judging by the first one, this page is going to get huge. — snograt 21:15, 25 October 2012 (PDT)

We should move the current Act I information to a separate page, "Mad Memoires scavenger hunt" or something. The Act sections should give an overview of the content that was added in each stage, like the Haunted Doors. —Dr Ishmael 05:41, 26 October 2012 (PDT)

I agree with Dr Ishmael (although, I wouldn't complain about using collapsable tables, either). But, there should be links here, perhaps to each act. Daddicus 15:48, 28 October 2012 (PDT)

I agree, people are going to search on Halloween, not "Shadow of the Mad King", I think these should be merged. 24.211.254.105 19:26, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

Halloween Recipe generation

What does this recipe actually generate? is it the karma recipes, or something else? has anyone tried it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Joironfist (talk • contribs) at 14:56, 26 October 2012 (UTC).

I came to ask the same question, in still short of a few teeth. Also, why does the recipe link to the non-existent Halloween Recipe, rather than the expected (but equally not-there) "Halloween Recipe Generation"? — snograt 14:31, 26 October 2012 (PDT)

Ah, sorted out the latter part - the "link" attribute in template:Mystic recipe has been set to "Halloween Recipe". I should be a defective[sic] — snograt 14:39, 26 October 2012 (PDT)

→ moved from Talk:Halloween 2012

Where's all the content gone?

Every time I come to the wiki to find out something, there's less here than there was before, if you take stuff out and put it elsewhere thow in some navigation! Nela - (talk) 14:41, 27 October 2012 (PDT)

Try Shadow of the Mad King - that's the page that this should have been. — snograt 14:52, 27 October 2012 (PDT)

More like, where is ANY content? Heres the GW1 halloween 2012 page Ta-DAAAA!!. Massive difference. 124.191.60.179 09:06, 29 October 2012 (PDT)

GW2 is turing out to be way more expensive then GW1

← moved to User_talk:Cinnamongod

Real money prices

That information is pretty trivial imo, especially since people are also likely to use their own gold to buy gems. --Xu Davella 00:17, 29 October 2012 (PDT)

Achivements

The Achievements section is duplicative with Special Events. If someone has a chance, can we sync and combine this data? — Burfo 16:12, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

Decoration in LA

I translated the New Krytan words on the base of the circle in the center of LA (where the lion statue used to be). It says "Welcome to Madness". Should we note this anywhere? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.202.46.190 (talk) at 19:28, 31 October 2012 (UTC).

Whole October Release Officially Named SotMK

The official game release page on the main website is up, and shows October's release as named "Shadow of the Mad King" (with the non-Halloween content above the Halloween content). November's is "The Lost Shores", so named releases look to be continuing even for non-holiday content updates. I don't think moving SotMK to redirect to Halloween 2012 was the right course of action, I think the opposite should have been done in fact, if not actually moving the Halloween content to here and leaving the SotMK update details where they were. Add in that the Nov 1 release notes and Colin himself noted that the non-Halloween content got lost in the shuffle (which the wiki didn't help on either), I think it's a disservice to the players to have the October non-Halloween content listings for October buried under the Halloween content on the Halloween page where it's unlikely people will look for it. I've already spoken to a few people who said they'd probably never find out what was added. Vahkris 18:11, 2 November 2012 (UTC)

I concur! --Naptown14 13:02, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

This simply means the Shadow of the Mad King article should list what the release page lists, whereas Halloween 2012 should be covering only the Halloween content. There is no reason to have one redirect to the other, as the monthly patches are all named, where the holidays are not. It should be our job to maintain both articles as such. Halloween lasted until the 1st of November, but some of the Shadow of the Mad King content is still in game, currently. There is plenty of information to fill up both articles, and we can use {{otheruses}} to point out the difference between the two to readers. - Infinite - talk 16:37, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

That works. The Shadow of the Mad King should be only the details for the October game release with a link to this page for the detailed Halloween information. Vahkris 14:44, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Renaming this Page

It appears that the October Game Release website actually calls the Halloween Event "Halloween: Shadow of the Mad King" (in a smaller subheader under the Halloween Event header). Shouldn't this page be called that instead of Halloween 2012? This whole naming thing is confusing, I know, but it looks like the Game Release is called Shadow of the Mad King (which the wiki now reflects) and the Halloween event itself is called Halloween: Shadow of the Mad King. --Naptown14 Talk 14:16, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

The reason this page has kept its name is for future consistency. There will be a Halloween 2013, 2014, and so on. As with GW1, I believe many people will agree that this is the best way to be consistent along the years. -- MS 14:21, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps Halloween 2012: Shadow of the Mad King, then? :) Plain old "Halloween 2012" just sounds so generic! But, I will digress if there is no interest. --Naptown14 Talk 14:36, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

NPC's in L.A. during Halloween

I can't find anything on the new NPC's in L.A. like the dressed up kids running around, asking for candy corn. What do you get when you give them candy? Sjeng 00:51, 28 October 2012 (PDT)

Bit the bullet: 10 candy corns gets you 1 ToT bag, 25 gets you 3 ToT bags and 50 gets you 8 ToT bags from the children. Sjeng 00:56, 28 October 2012 (PDT)

Merge

I know Halloween 2012 and Shadow of the Mad King can be used synonymously, but the Halloween 2012 update includes Shadow of the Mad King along with other halloween content, such as gem store goodies, achievements, and goodies obtained indirectly from the SotMK content.--Relyk 15:01, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

I believe the October content update and the Halloween event are just named the same thing, as ArenaNet has used SotMK to refer to both. I do think the Halloween-specific stuff should be moved over to the actual Halloween 2012 page, just to keep it all in one place. I don't think the whole thing should be merged into the Halloween page though, since there is non-Halloween content included in this update like the new events, jumping puzzles (listed in the Jumping Puzzle section above), PvP paid tournaments, and Costume Brawl (which is continuing past Halloween). Maybe keep this page as a running list of major content updates with overviews of the content released? I know I've wished for easily accessible information like this in other games that do major content updates. Vahkris 17:14, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

The Halloween 2012 article should be a generic article documenting the generic Halloween changes, whereas the Shadow of the Mad King article should be documenting the actual events as seen on the official site for it. That's what I'd do, anyway. - Infinite - talk 17:32, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

I'd say put it all on the Shadow of the Mad King page (meaning adding the Achievements and Gem Store sections to the SotMK page, the rest is already there), because that's how ANet is calling the Halloween event this year (almost everywhere). We can just let Halloween 2012 redirect to SotMK. On the main Halloween page we can start listing the years with the event names. In GW1 it was logical to call the Halloween events by year because ANet didn't give them a seperate name, but it seems they decided on naming them seperately in GW2 so here it makes more sense to use those names. Halloween 2012 is SotMK. All the non-Halloween themed updates that came with SotMK should be listed seperately, either on a different page or in two different lists on the SotMK page to make the distinction clearer. I'd say the latter is more logical, we can always create a page called "Major updates" and list them there/link to SotMK. 08Ray 21:13, 31 October 2012 (UTC)

I believe it's the other way around. The update added several things, Halloween being one of them. And 'shadow of the mad king' would be the name of this particular instance of the event this year, Shadow of the Mad King is Halloween 2012. So as long as there's a separate generic Halloween for the event itself or they use the same name next year, I believe we can assume it's like that and they should share the same page. For the update notes we already have the update pages, and for Halloween itself the Halloween page. MithTalk 12:56, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

In GW1 there is no "Christmas", it's "Wintersday". However, it's ambiguous with Halloween. Halloween is not Halloween lore-wise, NPCs are refering to this event as "Halloween", so the articles names for Halloween and Halloween 2012 (the event) is accurate. Even the link to the official website is Halloween 2012. Now the problem: Shadow of the Mad King - It seems to be both the update name (like Scream Fortress for TF2). One of the idea would be to merge Shadow of the Mad King with Halloween and redirect them to each other, assuming most content will be recurring, and leave a link to the update log for 2012's halloween patch which also added non-halloween achievements, jumping puzzles, cash shop items and paid tournaments, while Halloween 2012 and Halloween 2013 will have this year's specific information (Halloween 2013 will featre things that weren't present in Halloween 2013, while 2012 may even include most of the SotMK page content, as this was implemented in 2012, with a notes specific to 2012 - such as dates. Either way, currently the content is doubled in Halloween 2012 and nformation is spread among two places, something must be done with it defenitely.
—Faalagorn☎/✓ 14:59, 1 November 2012 (UTC).

Whatever is done, we most likely won't have a good idea on the final solution until this November (to see if they continue the named updates, which means it's likely SotMK was both the update and event, or if it was just because of Halloween, in which case it's definitely just the event) as well as next year's event when we see if they keep the same name or go with something different. I actually didn't know that the regular Halloween page existed, so my thoughts are to make Halloween the general holiday page linking to SotMK for the 2012 event, and SotMK merges with Halloween 2012 page as well as including a reasonable listing of the other new content added in the update (as it pretty much already has). As much as I love the Game Updates page, it really tends to lack specifics on new content for major updates (since it's usually copy/pasted from ArenaNet and they want you to find out for yourself after it's put in), and that's detail I truly do want to know. Like I said, however, this is likely to change next month or even next year, regardless of the decision. Vahkris 15:44, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

"Halloween is not Halloween lore-wise, NPCs are refering to this event as "Halloween"," You contradict yourself here. If NPCs refer to the event as Halloween, it is Halloween. The holiday has 3 names in lore: Halloween, Mad King's Day and Mad King Thorn Day. The latter two obviously named after Mad King Thorn, but I doubt the holiday began with him given it's stated to be the time of year in which the barrier between Tyria and the Mists is weakest. This said, I agree with Mith - it doesn't matter which page is the end page, just so long as it's all on one page - and only the Halloween event stuff (e.g., ignore the additional content added with Act 1 on the 22nd unlike Faalagorn's suggestion - nor should this article be merged with the overarching Halloween article). The issue, for me, is the division of information on the same topic, slight repetition, and the fact that Halloween links to Halloween 2012 only. Furthermore, when one searches for Shadow of the Mad King, they're likely looking for the event. "Shadow of the Mad King" is merely the title to the Halloween 2012 event page, but that doesn't mean it's the name of Halloween 2012. And to the average player, it isn't. Konig/talk 19:51, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Gah, changing something then forgo to proof-read. Should be without that not. Anyway, it' good to see that merged :).
—Faalagorn☎/✓ 05:11, 2 November 2012 (UTC).

Mystic Forge Recipes

Where is the link to Halloween recipes?

Halloween recipe link is in the very first list of things near the top of the page. Spark-TBa 07:45, 1 November 2012 (UTC)