By the Light of the Moon [AoC]

I got the chance to do the Halloween Quest in Age of Conan a few days ago and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was, compared to GW2 anyway. As an aside, GW2 no longer lets me log into the game (or forums) now. It keeps saying "email authentication sent" but nothing ever gets there. According to their forums "the problem is with my provider" to which I call BS since all other mail gets through fine. Guess ANet are trying to reduce player numbers? 

Back on topic, the gist of the story is that a wandering tribe are visiting Conarch village and they turn out to be werewolves. Through deceit you are made one of their number (for very good RP reason too) and awaken in a solo instance wherein you try to save the village from being massacred.

Stabby time.

I know I've mentioned before that this is a strange single player MMO at times, but after seeing the zerg fest alternative I don't mind it at all. Apart from the obvious advantage of not having to rely on anyone else, enemies are scaled to your level (which lets everyone participate), and there are a few branching optional paths with mini-bosses that drop extra loot. The presence of friendly tough but mortal guard NPCs and panicked villagers that distract the werewolves really adds to the atmosphere and the boss fights have simple mechanics to learn, but are forgiving enough to let you learn them without killing you over and over in the process. The rewards are decent too, even if they are just aesthetics you can sell them for decent amounts of currency if you don't like them.

After defeating the alpha you are then sent to cure yourself which entails a small grind of killing 30 of anything, which still a lot less than the GW2 grind since 30 bunnies is valid, then go into another solo instance wherein you fight your wolf self. The way this small plot is written is great and really involves the player, you get that sense of "I need to do this" that doesn't really come across as well when Trahearne is just handing you another mission. Lore wise it works too, there are werewolves in the game near Conarch village and you can go fight them - it's not like they made up something out of thin air with nonsensical requirements to achieve (like acquiring GW2's candy corn elemental, yeah that made sense).

Maybe part of the reason is the scope of the tale. Most of this takes place in just one night in one village, and then the fields nearby. It's not really a world impacting event involving grand scale armies that you either have to fight off or be a part of to defeat a zone threatening foe. Maybe because the focus wasn't so wide we didn't lose sight of our own character and that our actions are more impactful when we don't have anyone to cover our weaknesses.