Halloween Events
Halloween 2k3:
Gaia's first year celebrated Halloween wonderfully. Truthfully i can't say how fun it was seeing as i Joined in 04' i do know however that it was one of the first fun breakthroughs in events. Jack ofcourse made his first appearance through giving out grabbags filled with Jacked-up items. Ofcourse what better to celebrate Halloween then with it's own Forum and Paper bags! This truly set a high expectance for next Halloween.
--------------------------------------
Halloween 2k4:
Gaia's favorite time event of the year reinvented itself incredibly. This year's event was held in Gambino's Mansion. Ofcourse Halloween wasn't Halloween on Gaia without Jack. This time he sported Really Jacked up items for the Users of Gaia. But far more was added into this event, beyond Jack laid the G-CORP. And whatelse was better than picking up candy than blowing off some Zombie's heads. Yes, This event was truly not one to miss. It incorpirated the first type of minigame to Gaia! Between being a zombie and being normal it truly was one of the best events to date on Gaia.
------------------------------------
Halloween 2k5:
A Big halloween event this year. Ofcourse it had the traditional Mansion party thrown by Gino and the good ole trick or treating. Though this year the Grunnies got their go at the Halloween times and began infecting everyone that posted a bunch in the mansion. It gave birth to the Grombies and to the adorable grunny items. It also began a conflict between Jack and Santa. Jack's first Storyline! The jacked up thread hit the Admins!
-----------------------------------------------
Halloween 2k6:
This year it was all about aliens. Aliens known as the zurg came to gaia and raised some hell. Many plot workings went into this event and the admins even reprised the Halloween 2k4 shooting type mini game in the gambino mansion. It was easily one of the biggest events for gaia and as usual Jack came with some new treats for the gaia public.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Halloween 2k7:
This year went all out of it's way to impress the Gaian users. With an idea that's been circulating around Gaia for 2 years, Vampires finally strike Gaia! Once again we greased up our clicking fingers and went to town blowing people away. The storyline for this event was deep and was followed up with a wonderous development that went into the code of the battle. Users would pick either human or Vampire and duke it out in a free for all for items and bragging rights. Like the water festival before it, this event was massive and well detailed. It certainly overshadowed many events before it's time. It was so intense that even Jack himself stayed out of the fight! Marking the first year that Jack wasn't present on Trick or treating. However we weren't truly jackless, as he had made Gaia Towns into a glorious safe haven for Gaia towns trick or treating. This year was especially appealing to me. I finally got an item i've wanted on Gaia for over 2 years, The Chainsaw! Thanks Admins!
Halloween 2k8:
For the first time in Gaia history, a Halloween event disappointed me. I'm ofcourse speaking of this year which really just lowered my expectations by alot. Call me negative, but this is how I see it:
This year reinvents last years fight system, this time with four races to pick from. Special abilities for all and 5 special items for each. That's all fine and good, and though alot of work probably went into it just comes off as being Rushed. Just being pushed while the admins continue to make evolution items and cash shop junk in order to make more money. Something of which has happened since the release of the Cash shop last year. The event seems to have been just a last minute project, and though they have more stuff they're working on they still just seemed to forget the best time of year. This year there wasn't much if any plot leading up to the event... you basically just fight for no cause as you get the unsatisfied feeling that you've done this crap before.
Unlike earlier years, where race introductions were the highlights of the event no one seemed to be surprised with the (horrible) reincarnation of the zombie and the warcraft-knock-off dark elves. That sole thing pretty much sums up the entire event... no one was surprised, No one cared. That's possibly the worst part. In the past we've always been surprised... we always looked forward to the halloween event... this year, we just sighed as we started clicking.
Sign number two of this catastrophe... the cash shop was pushing almost everything. And you can even tell Gaia has literally turned themselves into a sellout when you receive "Skittles" instead of the normal candy from trick or treating. Which was another shot to the event: Yet again Jack was not present other than in towns (Which continues to be the most useless place to hold events...). Trick or treating also lost the strategy that made it so fun. Getting candy and finding jack to get your orize. Instead they save their time by just getting items straight from the Store NPCs after getting 15 "Skittles". Not even in a grab bag... just the item. You can also tell since the NPCs are wearing the same costume they've had for 3 years, and not all the NPCs even have one. Did the NPC artist get a week off?
Third, the jack set this year was terrible. It's gotta be hard to come up with ideas... after 5000+ items you run out of ideas, but once more the set comes off as 'rushed'. It was just... lame. Usually it was noobs wearing the Jack items that made them bad, but this time they were just bad in general. What more to condemn themselves than by making any good item a cash shop item. That's my biggest problem with this. Gaia dosn't do it for fun anymore, they do it for the money. This compares nowhere to the events of the past (save for the horror of H2k5). Users continue to grow stupid as Gaia continues to beg for money for pixelated items and it just sucks. This is my honest opinion, I think the good events of Gaia have come and gone. Let this years Halloween set an example for future events, Crap. However I have to look at this in another way. It was slightly enjoyable with the simplified fighting system, and some the attacks and buffs were laughable.