Rakghoul Plague, Day 4

Last night I finally let the plague run its full course on my character. I'm not particularly keen on being a rakghoul, but you do get rewarded for blowing up and I wanted to at least give it a try. I repeatedly expired in a messy fashion on the sands of Tatooine, but nobody was ever around to benefit from it.

Eventually I returned to the fleet to join one of the "plague parties" there. They are definitely one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen in an MMO, and you'd think that I've seen my fair share of strange happenings. It's not exactly riveting gameplay to stand around semi-AFK and wait to be infected and eventually explode, just to immediately get revived by a friendly soul in the crowd and start the cycle all over again. It's not something that would make for great long-term entertainment, but as a limited time only thing it's definitely amusing.

"Love all those people hugging up and puking on each other..." I commented in guild chat as I was surveying my surroundings. Deadpan reply from a guildie: "You in Scotland?" It's a good thing I wasn't drinking anything at the time.

Unfortunately I didn't actually get any exploding and infecting done last night, as I apparently ran into a bug. (Surprise!) Basically I stood on the fleet for over an hour, "feverish" the entire time, and nothing happened. I watched the same Jedi blow up and get revived again next to me three times. I figured that there was a certain amount of RNG to the duration of the plague, but that just seemed ridiculous. Eventually I googled it and as it turns out relogging or zoning can apparently cause your plague debuff to bug out and stop progressing. I decided to remove it by curing myself and logged off. What a waste of time. Fortunately I've already had more luck this morning, when I spotted an infected and an uninfected person standing near the fleet pass spot and joined in.

It's been interesting to observe people's reactions to the event in general. Some simply ignore it. The guy who was the first one in my guild to find out about it is still super excited about every new addition, and we joked that he's become "e-famous" since he was included in a plague party screenshot that someone posted on Reddit. Another guildie on the other hand moaned that all those rakghouls were giving her unpleasant flashbacks to WoW's zombie event and how she found that so annoying back then that she hid in Shattrath all day. It sure gives people something to talk about.

Another thing I did yesterday was complete the little scavenger hunt to get the Crimson Rakling pet. So. Much. Driving Around. Even with a full guide! Still, I can't complain, it was once again simply something different, and I found it quite amusing to see where Bioware had placed the different bits of wreckage. Really, all the way on the edge? What are the odds!

I seem to be a bit behind on the new event dailies. Apparently another one was added yesterday, but I couldn't seem to unlock it for the life of me. I wonder if it's tied to personal progression, as I also only did the escape pod daily for the first time last night. Either way, I've got plenty to do still.

Tonight my guild might try to tackle the event world bosses, if we get a chance to do so, which is not at all guaranteed considering the competition. Too bad that the event is scheduled to end in less than a week already. (I guess it won't be spreading to other planets then like I thought it would.) Still, I guess it makes sense, because events like these are all about the novelty value, and the impact definitely gets diminished if it goes on too long. I still remember WoW's Cataclysm launch event and just how fed up some people got with the elemental invasions towards the end of it. Better to keep it short and sweet I guess. So get those rakghouls while you can!