Warning, spoilers ahead!
I talked to a goblin at the Neriak docs who sent me to the Loping Planes on a mission that was more than a bit suspicious. When I finally made it to the Loping Plains, my map told me that for my level 40 quest I needed to go through a swarm of angry red level 62 mobs to get to a graveyard. Skeptical but undaunted, I turned invisible and tried to sneak through them. As soon as I got near one he broke my invisibility and killed me in two blows. However, when I rezzed I found myself in the graveyard I was trying to get to, in what seemed to be a safe spot. Ok, that works I guess...
After running around a bit, an apparition appeared out of thin air and charged me. Before I could even react, my screen went black. After a bit, I awoke laying on a bed in the inn of a town at the edge of the graveyard. After talking to a few NPCs, it turned out that I was thrashed within an inch of my life and had been out for days. It also turned out that there was an abandoned mansion in town with hauntedness issues. I volunteered to check things out, and a very cool haunted mansion quest chain ensued:
The quest had some pretty creepy moments along the way:
It all ended in one hell of a tough series of fights (at least for a solo Warlock). A clever and elaborate quest that I much enjoyed.
End spoilers.
Based on the first two Halloween quests I've done in EQ2X, I can't wait to do the others. They really are some of the coolest quests I've seen there, with neat story-lines, fun puzzles, and goofy but fun rewards. For example, here is a shot of my rotating crown of glowing skulls from the haunted mansion quest:
As if this weren't enough to murder all of my spare time, Lord of the Rings Online also has a Halloween quest called "The Haunted Burrow" that is rumored to be better than any of the previous Fall Festival events. Dungeons and Dragons Online has also just launched update 7, which also includes a Halloween event.
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (it's the only one I actually decorate my apartment for), and by far my favorite holiday in MMOs. I'm headed out of town for work reasons most of next week, it's going to be a struggle (but a fun one!) to get through all this content while it's live in the next few days.
I knew EQ2 did good events, but that sounds great. I should dust off my account and see if I can find it.
ReplyDeleteI had the opportunity to check out the Haunted Burrow in LOTRO last night. I wouldn't say it's as amazing as everyone is making it out to sound like, but it is pretty damn impressive and some quests you have to do in there are very fun. I can't bring myself to do it over and over though, but it really was quite the experience, not be be missed.
ReplyDeleteThe EQ2 one is absolutely wonderful. One of the best designed pieces of quest content I've seen in a long time.
ReplyDeleteI really liked it that I got stuck and was intrigued enough to spend almost half an hour trying to figure it out for myself just like in the old days of adventure games. (My friend got stuck and spent 4 hours figuring it out).
@Anjin: the quests scale to level, so any character you have should be able to do them. There is another quest involving a haunted house that starts in the bank of West Freeport (or somewhere in Quenyos) that is also really fun.
ReplyDelete@mmogamerchick: I am definitely checking the haunted burrow out this weekend.
@Stabs: I didn't mention details of any of the puzzles, because figuring those out was where I had the most fun. But yeah, I agree they really nailed it. Both in the haunted mansion and the haunted house I refused to look anything up, they gave me just enough clues to go on.