Greetings mercenaries,
Halloween is coming up! You know what that means? The 2017 Vindictus Halloween Party is officially upon us, and the events are bigger and better than ever (hence why I'm planning at least 2 months in advance). Every year, this party has brought players, particularly on East server, together to celebrate the creativity and spirit of the Vindictus community.
This year, we're going to invite all NA server regions (East, West, EU, and AUS) with one (maybe two) events! The Halloween Party will be streamed on my
Twitch channel . Special thanks to Saygo and the Vindictus team for potentially sponsoring the prizes for the Vindictus Costume Contest.
So, without further delay, here are the details. Fair warning: this is a long post. Here's the table of contents for reference:
1. Schedule of Events/Deadlines
2. Hide and Seek
3. Dullahan Speedrun Tournament
4. Vindictus Trivia (on Twitch)
5. East Server Photo Shoot
6. Cosplay Gallery Walk / Costume Contest
7. Costume PvP Tournament
Team Registration for Dullahan Speedrun Tournament Opens:
East: Saturday, 8/26/2017 @ 12:00AM EST
Pacific: Friday, 8/25/2017 @ 9:00PM EST
Europe: Saturday,8/26/2017 @ 6:00AM EST
Australia: Saturday, 8/26/2017 @ 2:00PM EST
Sign your teams up here!
Team Registration for Dullahan Speedrun Tournament Deadline:
East: Wednesday, 10/18/2017 @ 11:59PM EST
Pacific: Wednesday, 10/18/2017 @ 8:59PM EST
Europe: Thursday,10/19/2017 @ 5:59AM EST
Australia: Thursday, 10/19/2017 @ 1:59PM EST
Announcement of Team Run Order:
East: Thursday, 10/19/2017 @ 3:00PM EST
Pacific: Thursday, 10/19/2017 @ 12:00PM EST
Europe: Thursday, 10/19/2017 @ 9:00PM EST
Australia: Friday, 10/20/2017 @ 6:00AM EST
Note: EU will likely be placed at the beginning of the schedule due to the Dullahan Speedrun Tournament starting at midnight Sunday for them.
Halloween Party Begins:
East: Saturday, 10/21/2017 @ 5:00PM EST
Pacific: Saturday, 10/21/2017 @ 2:00PM PST
Europe: Saturday, 10/21/2017 @ 11:00PM CEST
Australia: Sunday, 10/22/2017 @ 8:00AM AEST
Who: This is for all players on East server only (unless someone is willing to host a similar event for the other servers).
What: GMs (maybe?), other players, and I will hide in various locations either in-town
in any channel or a specific battle. The whole server will compete to be the first player to find the person hiding.
Start Time: 5:00PM EST
End Time: Before 6:00PM EST (1 hour after the start of the party)
Rules:
- The person hiding will not use glitches or bugs in the game to hide.
- One hint will be given through megas and another hint will be given on stream.
- The person hiding will whisper me the winner. The player who finds the person hiding must stand next to them and type something along the lines of “I found you” in General Chat.
- For those who volunteer to hide, if someone whispers you for your location, do not tell them. This event will only work if you stay silent until someone finds you.
Prizes: The winner of each round will receive 5 million gold. If you manage to win all 10 rounds, you will net 50M gold!
Setting Up Your Team's Run
One player per team will do the following:
- Set up a Twitch account
- Download LiveSplit. This is a program that is used by many speedrunners on Twitch. The program is basically a fancy stopwatch, and it is free to download. You may create splits for completing segments of a run and compare your run to other players. For this event, you do not have to create splits. All that matters is the final time. You may set any key on your keyboard as your Start/Stop global hotkey for LiveSplit.
- Download a streaming app (OBS, XSplit, etc.), enter your stream key from Twitch to link your channel to your streaming app, and create a scene, capturing your game and LiveSplit. My recommendation is to place your timer on the lower-left side next to the chat box.
- Submit a link to a highlight of a full run of Dullahan on the Official Dullahan Speedrun Tournament Team Registration thread along with your Twitch channel name and server. A list of players who will be streaming their team’s run will be formed in this thread.
Note: The submission of your full run is not what will be used for the actual event. This is to prove that you can stream the run, and this helps me set up your team's run along with other players in real time (or with the Twitch delay xD). Here’s an example of what I’m going for except the timer will be exclusive to each team's run: A Link to the Past 4-Player Speedrun
How Teams Will Form
Teams of 4 players will be formed with 3 players joining the one player who is streaming the run. The player who submitted the highlight will edit their post to include a list of all 4 team members; this includes their IGN and character/class (e.g. KidIcarus - Sword Lann). Players may confer with each other to come up with a team name if they wish. Otherwise, a list of players and the server region will be used.
Who Competes?
All NA servers can compete! This includes East, West, AUS, and EU!
Streamer is Team Leader
The player who is streaming your team’s run must be present at the Halloween party. They do not have to host the boat, but if the streamer is not present by the time your team is up, your team will be disqualified because I have no means to track your team's time for the competition. The more teams we have, the more exciting this event will be!
Who Goes When?
The order for which team goes when will be randomized. I will post the order shortly after the cutoff time for team registration so your team can plan. The races will take place from 6:00PM to however long it takes depending on how many teams we have. Four teams will run at the same time. Be sure all team members are ready to go. If a member of your party is missing when your team is up for the run, the team will have to do the speedrun with less players, which will put the group at a significant disadvantage.
Will I Be Participating?
Sadly, I will not participate in this event myself since I have to manage it. However, if we reach at least 200 viewers at any point during the stream, I will battle Dullahan with a team wearing NO ARMOR (Only my weapon and accessories will be equipped) at the end of the party! RIP me!
Rules:
- Time starts when Dullahan’s HP bar appears. Time stops when his HP bar reaches 0.
- You may use any means necessary to revive yourself. This includes Goddess Graces. However, every 4 Goddess Graces used will result in 15 seconds being added to your team's final time. The goal for this rule is to promote skill in suriviving the battle and using Phoenix Feathers/Guild Feathers/Evie Revivals (when applicable).
- You may use transformations during the speedrun.
- You may use any artifact you wish.
- You may use any consumables you wish. However, you may NOT use damage increase potions or stimulants. These items have been found to create an unfair advantage for certain classes. It will be difficult to enforce this rule since I cannot check in-game, but if it is found that a damage potion or stimulant was used during the run, your team will be disqualified. Show good sportsmanship for all teams, and un-equip these consumables before going into battle so you are not tempted to use them. (Credit to Blyat & Leucosie for this rule)
- You may use pets (but seriously, why would you?
).
- Your team cannot be 3 or 4 of the same character (e.g. 2 Crossgun Kais & 2 Bow Kais, or 3 Fionas and a Staff Evie). Furthermore, only one Karok per team (because 2 or more Karoks make this raid absolutely broken with his clashing mechanic). This prevents teams from having an unfair advantage due to possible imbalances with certain characters in this raid. For clarification, you can have, for example, two Scythe Evies, one Sword Lann, and one Spear Lann. Form your teams wisely! (Credit to JynXi for this rule)
- If even one player manages to stay alive during the entire run, your team will receive a huge 30 second deduction from your final time. Don’t get rekt by the boss!
Prize: TBA in October
Who: All NA servers/Twitch
When: 6:00PM EST (1 hour after the start of the party)
I will ask a total of 10 trivia questions related to Vindictus on my Twitch stream. The first person to give the correct answer will receive one ticket. Every person in Twitch chat will receive one ticket for being in chat, and the more tickets you collect, the greater your chances of winning. The prize? 10k NX!
- Server Group Photo
- Cosplay Group Photo (Any players who have a cosplay for their character may participate in the photo shoot)
- Pictures will be posted on Vindictus social media at the discretion of the GMs
When: After the Dullahan Speedrun Tournament (around peak time)
Where: The Road between Colhen and Rocheste, Channel 1
This year's Halloween Party will invite all servers to participate in a gallery walk, either in-game on East server or through Twitch. If you have a cosplay that you would like to show off in-game on stream, meet us in Ch. 1 Rocheste by the stairs leading to Rocheste Castle. I will host a costume contest for all servers to participate in. You may either be present on East server in your costume or, if you're on a different server, you may send a screenshot of your character in costume through a whisper through Twitch along with the category you are submitting for. You may only sign up one costume per category. The categories for this year's costume contest are:
- Scariest Costume
- Silliest Costume
- Sexiest Costume (excluding Inner Armor only)
- Best Combination of Gear
- Best Cosplay
To avoid delays, when a category is called, the judges will begin judging the costumes 2 minutes after the announcement and make a decision 10 minutes after. Judges will be myself, GMs (maybe), and other players who volunteer. I will need a total of 5 judges for this event. If you are interested, you'll be compensated for helping. The winner of each category will receive 10k NX!
There is also an incentive for showing up to the gallery walk. You will be able to participate in the final event of the party.
Where: Rocheste Castle steps, Ch. 1 / Twitch
When: After the East Server photo shoot
Last year, I hosted a PvP tournament that was intended to be for cosplayers only. This year, the tournament will have a registration requirement of having a costume for your character. For example, you can be Naruto, the Incredible Hulk (shoutout to Nyterminator
), or a scary mummy. In other words, It can't be generic (for example, sorry but no Karoks in pink speedos
); it needs to be a costume. Bragging rights are on the line in this hilarious yet very intense event.
Logistics:
- Anyone who is interested in participating in the tournament must show up at the cosplay gallery walk on East server. You will not be entered in the bracket if you do not show up and present yourself in your costume.
- At the gallery walk, I will ask if anyone would like to compete in the PvP tournament. At that time, send an in-game message to me via the mailbox with a message of interest ("I'm in!") and your cosplay reference if you have one (i.e. My costume is "so-and-so" from "blah blah blah")
- Every player who participates will be assigned a number. The bracket pairs will be determined by RNG to make tournament order as fair as possible.
- If you would like to use a weaker weapon to balance your stats against your opponent, that would be a very kind thing to do on stream. It would also make the fights more exciting!
- Each bracket round is Best of 3 matches. In other words, if each player wins one round, the 3rd round will decide who moves on.
- There will be no Losers bracket. If you are out of the tournament, you are free to go. Feel free to stick around and watch the tournament or battle each other in another PvP Arena channel, but if there's a large number of combatants who will be fighting next, I will ask you to leave the Channel 1 Arena to make room for those who are competing (You can still watch the matches on Twitch).
- Overall, just have fun. Do fight your hardest to make this event exciting to watch, but also be mindful of who you are fighting against and show good sportsmanship.
Where: PvP Arena Ch. 1
When: After the Gallery Walk (around 10:00PM EST)
Prize:
1st: 10M gold
2nd: 5M gold
3rd/4th: 2.5M gold
Along with all of these events, feel free to chat, "dance," cheer, and just have a good time. With that said, inform your friends about the party, cook up a snack and sit back (or take part) in the 2017 Vindictus Halloween Party, starting on October 21st at 5:00PM EST. See you guy then!
Comments
Aw! That's too bad. Well, at least you may be able to watch the stream and cheer on for the players in-game.
Like best dress
Most scariest
Most funny
GM are not helping streaming on their channels? Like being a commenters ?
Also cosplay tourment?
1. Hmm... maybe I can add a costume gallery walk this year. In other words, people can meet in Rocheste, and we can guess the cosplays - give the players some free screen time. Cosplay contest was done twice in a row, and I'm going for variety. I'll add that into the event schedule. It will probably happen after the Neimhain speedrun contest (if the top tier players are willing to do it) or the PvP tournament. I don't want the party to go too late.
2. They should. Maybe I can message Saygo and see if he's available.
3. Do you mean the costume PvP tournament that was done last year? I'm not sure how long the Dullahan Speedrun Tournament is going to be, but if it concludes before 9PM EST, we can do a mini cosplay tournament. To participate, you must have a costume, and I'll simply assign a number for bracket order. I'll have it prepared just in case.
Good thing we're planning 2 months in advance. I'm flexible when it comes to adding events that people want.
Dullahan Speedrun Tournament Team Registration
I have changed the "Server versus Server Neimhain Speedrun Contest" into "Vindictus Trivia." It's a very simple event in concept, but the questions I have prepared for you are gonna be "fun" to answer.
Well seeing as how he is the only one that is trying to organize a large scale Vindictus Community Halloween party on the East Server that happens pretty much annually and generally receives positive reception, I think I'm gonna consider it the "Official" Vindictus Halloween Party.
Also the fact that Saygo and the Vindictus Team backs this up as well as potentially being sponsors to some of the rewards makes this as close to "Official" as you can get, save working for the actual Vindictus Team
Not only that, but this year, this party is not just for East server but other NA servers as well. I'm leaving it up for any players on West, AUS, and EU to host events similar to Hide and Seek and the PvP tournament. In fact, if any player(s) are willing to host this event on their respective servers, I can supply the hiding spots to them the day of the party. The PvP tournament and Photo Shoots are way easier to manage this time around than last year; that event can be managed by a couple players as well. The point is the 3/5 events are for all NA servers.
I'll try to reach out to Saygo again about the prizes. I changed the main NX prizes to the costume contest and Vindictus Trivia since Dullahan runs tend to go way faster with over-geared players already. I may also add some gold prizes for the PvP tournament, but it won't be much (maybe 10M for 1st, 5M for 2nd, and 2.5M for 3rd & 4th... depending on how much gold I can save up xD). I'll see what I can do.
Hide and Seek spots/hints have been finalized. And trust me when I say this, but these hiding spots are just pure evil. Prepare yourselves!
Seems like alot of trouble going through just to get nothing in the end, thought there would be prizes like NX.
Ya, I originally did consider doing NX for prizes, but then, I got lots of complaints like, "But that would be unfair because the OP players will be winning the NX." I'll see what I can do to get a prize that everyone can agree on for that event.
I have enough gold to give away for Hide and Seek & the PvP tournament. Other than the Dullahan tournament prize still being worked out, we're all set for the 21st.
I'm starting to see some teams form in the Dullahan Tournament Team Registration thread! YAY!
Sure! Just whisper them to me on the forums with your IGN, server name, a reference picture/the name of the costume, and the category you want to enter. Thanks!
Be sure that if you are going to stream your team’s run that you will be able to attend the party. Otherwise, your team will be disqualified. The more teams we have, the more exciting this event will be!"
Whoever is streaming has to be the party leader? I don't think this should be a rule, since some people can't stream and host at the same time, or some people can stream, but they can't host.
No, the person streaming does not have to be the host of the boat. I will change that so it is less confusing.