How to Trick the Treaters. ^^Follow

Disclaimer
It is sad that I have to put this here, but I make no definitive
claims that any of the following is a) accurate, or b) will
work, for sure, totally, 100% of the time. This is posted in the
spirit of the event, and since I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to
share with my fellow server-mates. And as we all know, some
information is better than no information at all. ^^ On to the
fun!


Happy Holloween Event!

There is definitely a system in acquiring items from the costumed
NPCs in each town. We all know they like sweets, and anything
sweet, but what is the trick (lol) you actually getting
the item you want?

That's exactly it, it's a trick. There is no system, no rhyme or
reason as to what NPC will give you what item. However, there
is a system that I used, to increase my chances of getting
said items.

I'm only missing 1 of out 9 possible items you can recieve, 8 of
which are equippable. The following ones are listed below, so
it's safe to say I've done my fair share of testing and trial and
error. (I accept donations in kind as well!^^)

Jack-o-Lantern: 9
Pumpkin Head
Pumpkin Head II
Horror Head
Horror Head II
Trick Staff
Trick Staff II
Treat Staff
Treat Staff II: X (stop giving me the Trick Staff II, you costumed freaks!)

Money Spent: ;_;

oK, you've got questions, we've got answers...some of these may
be true in part or in whole, it's up to you to help figure out
which. I've tried to lay out as much truth or as close to it
as possible.


Q:
You can trade different sweets to NPCs to get items.
A:
Whoa, watch out for this one folks, it's a doozy. Yes, trade
donut, get hat, Homer drools. Rinse and repeat for either more
a) enjoyment or b) frustration.


Q:
Giving the same costumed NPC the same item and item, over and
over again will break his/her/its will to live and give up
<insertitemnamehere> eventually!
A:
Apparently, you don't read the Event News. In other words,
unless you feel like wasting a lot of kablinkies, commonly
referred to as 'gil', then do not give the same costumed NPC the
same boring Saruta Orange over and over and over again, lest you
get orange juice in your eye, and that stings!


Q:
Fruit is the cheapest, and thus the easiest method to get <insertitemnamehere>.
A:
Sure, you can trade fruit all day long, Johnny Appleseed, and
while you may get a decent lower level item, or two perhaps, if
you don't trade something worth eating, you won't get something
worth wearing. Have fun with all those Jack-O-Lanterns!


Q:
I cannot receive more than one equippable item per game day.
A:
Yes, you can receive more than one equippable item per game
day. I received both Horror head II and Trick Staff II in same
day. In the same line, I had NPCs (different ones) attempt to
give me the Trick Staff II twice in the same day, but I already
had it.


Q:
You can get different items, on different days, trading
different or same sweets, to a NPC.
A:
Yes, if the theory holds up, each NPCs ideal sweet they will
trade an item on changes each game day.


Q:
You cannot get more than one item from a NPC on the same game day.
A:
Currently, this is correct, unless you know something I don't.
Say, a SqEnix developer.^^


Q:
The better (read: more expensive) the sweet traded means you
will receive a better item, if any.
A:
You have just a good a chance of getting a High Quality item
by trading a Saruta Orange as you would trading a Wizard Cookie,
Rolanberry Pie, or some other ridiculously priced sweet.

Q:
Eating a Jack-O-Lantern will increase your chances of receiving
a better item!
A:
Yeah, and Jack-O-Lanterns will fly out of my bu... Well, I
honestly don't know. I mean, what else are you going to do with
it? I always ate one to free up inventory. On the other hand,
it gives -10 to Charisma, and how would that increase your chances
of impressing an NPC to get a better item? /puzzled

Q:
It's possible to trade X amount of gil in sweets before you
will recieve anything of value, and if you do, it will most
likely be a wonderful Jack-O-Lantern.
A:
Ahyup, hence the TRICK or TREAT aspect to the whole event,
it's a random system based on luck! Oh the joy!
Gannbatte!^^;


Q:
Trick Staff is junk.
A:
This is not a myth, folks, but a fact.^^ While the bat-on-a-stick
looks nice, it does nothing spectacular. Trade up for a Trick
Staff II, Treat Staff, or a Treat Staff II. Personally, I think
the Treat Staff is better than the Treat Staff II, because it
will never run out of charges, there is no limit on equip time,
and although you may have to wait for the Latent Effect: Warp
to kick in, you won't have to wait 5 game days! ^^


oK, I've had my fun. Now onto the system! Well, it's not
really a system, but a methodology at the least. Maybe more of
a guideline? How's about I just lay out what I did, and you can
decide if you want to try it out or not. After all, it's your
gil.^^ And, I suppose you can skimp out and replace some of the
better items with other fruits, but I make no guarantees that
they will work better (or worse).

Purchased a couple stacks of the following sweets:
Saruta Oranges
Yagudo Cherries
San d'Oria Grapes
Ginger Cookies
Cinna-Cookies
Acorn Cookies
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Goblin Chocolate

At the beginning of each game day, I simply moseyed around to
each costumed NPC in Windurst Waters and Windurst Woods, and
traded one sweet from each stack, starting at the top of my
auto-sorted inventory and working my way down, until I,
a) received an item and moved on, or
b) NPC was stingy and I still moved on. ^^

Approximately one fifth of the time, I was able to receive an
item to wear, or a jack-O-Lantern before I got to the last stack
of sweets.

If all the NPC did for me was change my costume over and over
again, I resigned myself to the fact, that the NPC in question
had a much more educated palette and needed to be satiated by
something a little more delictable. In other words, buy
different sweets from the Auction house and trade until the NPC
gives up an item! Typically, I just skipped over them to wait
until the next game day to try again. I usually stayed away from
the Trick NPCs, because they were just a pain in the taru-tushie
to bother with.

Sounds easy, eh? Well, not really. Like I said, it's a system
based on randomness and luck mostly, luck on which item you
choose to trade, and if that item is the one the NPC wants to
reward you on. It can take a lot of trading to get the good
stuff. For example, I had never traded a single thing to Quesse,
Chocobo Stable NPC, in Windurst Woods. One Ginger Cookie later,
and I had a brand new Horror head II in my possession! Conversely,
I've given Ahyeekih so much fruit and sweets, he/she/it could
open a farmer's market. It's all ... so ... random.

Gannbatte! ^_^


ps.
More information on NPCs selling sweets for rock bottom prices
coming.

I've just finished up all the collecting I intend to do this holiday season, so I figured I'd relate my experiences and confirm and refute some of the claims made in the original post. I'll try to separate what I really know from what I'm guessing at as much as I can, but please bear with me.

So far, I've collected all the items minus the Horror Head II. I was really only after the staves, so I'm probably quitting here.

The major point that must be emphasized over all others is just how incredibly random this process is. Finding patterns is ridiculously tough, and finding legitimate patterns is even harder. That said, there are a few things you can do to make your life easier.

First is don't spend too much on fancy food. I've heard so many conflicting reports about what to feed who when that I very much doubt that there is any truth to the claim that better foods yield more items. I traded nothing but oranges, but still got all the items in a reasonable amount of time at a reasonable expense. Here are the facts of my personal experience.

I got all my prizes in Windy, since that's where the orange-selling NPC can be found (I happen to be from Windy as well, so I don't know if that affected my results at all). The guy's name is Baehu-Faehu and he's located at G-5 of Windhurst Waters, right next to the exit. I had level 8 Windy fame, so he sold me individual oranges for 28 gil each. I bought 10 stacks for each run, costing me 3360 gil each time. After a run, I usually took a break to farm or log off for awhile, mostly just to keep the whole experience like it was costing too much. I don't know if that affected my results and don't have enough information to make a good guess.

For each run, I averaged about 1 or 2 prizes. On rare occasions, 10 stacks of oranges yielded nothing, and on others I got as many as 3 prizes. Now keep in mind that most of these were jack o lanterns, but even so, using this method, I spent on average about 2k for each item, which I don't think is too bad. The Rare/Ex items are certainly worth it, and the lanterns sold for as much as 5k before this festival.

Now no matter how SE has the probability of this game programmed, I think we can all agree that the effect of more expensive items on the frequency of prizes awarded is not noticeable. If it were noticeable, people would have noticed it, reported it, and we wouldn't even have to debate the topic. As things are now, better items might have an effect, but if they do, it's only moderate and can only probably be seen over the long term. Even if they do, it's extremely unlikely that the impact they make will make up for their significant difference in price (which certainly is noticeable).

Basically, no matter what you trade, you're going to trade a lot of them. Oranges are cheap and they work. I know they work because that's all I used. Let's say you're lucky and find Bubble Chocolate on sale in some philanthropist's bazaar for only 100 gil. You'd have to receive an item every stack and a half for the drop rate to justify the increased price (and I'll tell you right now, you'll be extremely lucky if you even come close to that). Trading more expensiev treats may be moderately faster, but IMO, the strain it puts on your wallet isn't worth it.

That was my major observation, but I've also got some comments on methodology. At first, I made sure never to trade to the same NPC twice and made a full circuit around Windhurt Waters before I started over again. Then I stopped wasting my time. Trading to the same NPC over and over is easier, quicker, and just as efficient. I didn't notice any change at all between the number of prizes I got while changing targets and the number I got from just one. Again, there might be one, but it's certainly not noticeable. Here, though, you might want to rotate just in case, if you don't mind spending more time for the sake of saving money.

In summary, from my experience and from what I've heard from the people I've talked to, SE was playing a trick of their own on all of us when they told us to mix things up in the news announcement. I've seen no evidence that the benefits of employing a strategy that fits with what SE's told us is worth the cost in time and gil, though keep in mind that I'm basing this observation primarily on my own experiences. If anyone as evidence to refute this observation, I would be eager to hear it.

Anyway, patience and persistence would seem to be the order of the day. Try to rely too much on tricks and you're probably going to loose out.

Oh, and on the HQ subject, I don't know for a fact, but I am almost entirely sure that you need to have the NQ item equipped for a NPC to give you the HQ item (at least all mine worked that way). Just keep in mind that the HQ version of the Trick staff is not the Trick II staff. I made this mistake at first. The Treat staff is the HQ Trick staff and the Treat II is the HQ Trick II staff. The same applies to the heads as well.

Astika, I kinda-sorta followed your 'plan' and scored myself a few jack-o-lanterns, a pumpkin hat and a trick staff ii in just about an hour tonite. I say kinda-sorta 'cause I was having too much fun running around as nasties and forgot to pay attention to how much of each sweet I was using all the time ^.^ Thanx for the suggestions!

Just so you know, those Jack-o-Lanterns give you -10 CHR, +10 ACC, +10 EVA, and +25 darkness.

Finally, I'm 8/8. Got my Horror head this afternoon.
Traded 240 stacks of oranges and spent 80k.
I so repeat, NO MATTER WHAT YOU TRADE, TRADE THE CHEAPEST ITEM YOU CAN TO YOUR FAVORITE NPC.