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Mmmm, sweets. Cookies, cake, and candies, oh my! Just about everyone has some sort of sweet that they like, and there is no lack of available goodies in Guild Wars. With over twenty different sweet items, there is something for even the most discerning of palettes. Though, of course, this is all a game, and most people collecting sweets are mainly concerned with how quickly they can click through a stack for their Sweet Tooth title. But don't worry! There's more to it than just that.
There are a couple different ways that sweets tend to be classified by Guild Wars players: the number of points each item is worth toward the Sweet Tooth title track (between one and seven), and whether the item is spammable. Spammable items tend to be preferred by those title-hunting, but don't pass up sweets just because you can't click through a stack in minutes! The non-spammable ones are worth keeping because they also give effects that can help in play.
Excuse me for a moment while I finish this slice of pumpkin pie... there we go. Spammable sweets are the ones where you can just keep clicking over and over and you can use as many at once as you want. Many of these can only be used in outposts, and all sweets that can only be used in an outpost are spammable. Outpost-only sweets give the effect of Sugar Rush, causing you to run 25% faster for three, five, or ten minutes, or Sugar Jolt, which makes you run 50% faster for two or five minutes. Obviously, the point level of the candy sets how long the effect lasts. Not exactly a useful effect most of the time, but it does come in handy during some of the festival games; It definitely makes getting from one end of Kaineng Center to another easier!
Spammables are the ones that are most often looked for by people seeking to complete the Sweet Tooth title. They're easy points, since all you have to do is park yourself in your Guild Hall, an outpost, or (in the case of explorables) just outside of a portal and click away to your heart's content. Depending on how good your mouse is and how much fast-clicking your fingers can take, it only takes a minute or two to plow through an entire stack.
However, just because something is spammable doesn't mean that you'll necessarily want to just click repeatedly on the stack and give it no further thought! The spammables that can be used outside of an outpost tend to give nifty effects—Candy Corns and Golden Eggs, for example, give +1 to attributes for a short amount of time, Rock Candies increase running and attack speed and decrease skill activation time, and Birthday Cupcakes grant +100 health and +10 energy as well as increasing your running speed. If you have some of those, they might be better used for a bit of a boost while farming or running.
Om nom nom, candy canes... non-spammable sweets are ones that can only be used outside of an outpost, and can only be used one at a time. Their effects are instant, unlike other sweets which last for a short period of time. The reason they can't be spammed is because of the effects they give - they all either remove death penalty or give morale boosts. Since there is a limit on how much death penalty you can gain and how high your morale boosts can go, there is obviously a limit on how many you can use at once. There are only six of these total - Honeycombs, Pumpkin Cookies, Refined Jelly, and the Wintergreen, Peppermint, and Rainbow Candy Canes. Wintergreen Candy Canes and Refined Jellies remove 15% death penalty, and Rainbow Candy Canes and Honeycombs give a 5% morale boost. Peppermint Candy Canes remove all death penalty, and Pumpkin Cookies grant a 10% morale boost.
These effects are on top of the sweet points you get from using them, of course! These tend to be less popular for gaining the title, though, because it is more difficult to use them up quickly. There are ways to go through them in a fairly fast fashion, but it's not as easy to do as simply clicking repeatedly. Their effects can make them highly useful, though; I'm sure everyone can remember attempting something that they found difficult and trying to slog through it at -60% DP. A few candy canes can remove that DP quickly, making the task much easier. This is especially useful in Hard Mode, where a death with the party at -60% DP means game over, back to the outpost you go. And if you're vanquishing or doing a difficult dungeon or elite area, that is something you'll probably want to avoid at all costs. I know that I personally made good use of candy canes while vanquishing the Desolation! So while non-spammables may not be the easiest to use for maxing your Sweet Tooth title, they're certainly not worthless.
Well, that's a good question. There are many ways of collecting sweets, whether you're looking to max your title and become a Connoisseur of Confectionaries, or if you simply want a stockpile of DP removers and boosts for your Hard Mode adventures. However, if you're going for that title, it's going to take a lot of time, effort, and/or money. 10,000 points is not something easy to collect or go through, even if you go the route of buying from other players.
Festival weekends
During many of the festival weekends, there are special drops of candies, alcohol, and party items. Collect every one you find. If you are a farmer? Go out there and farm all you can. Those poor raptors and vaettirs are going to be slaughtered by the millions by farmers looking to get as many festival drops as they can - either to max their own titles, or to sell to others looking to max theirs. If there are holiday quests on offer, do as many as them as you can. Take advantage of repeatable quests during those weekends. Festival weekends are by far the best and largest source of sweets. (as well as items for the other consumable titles - consider working on all of them at once!)
Collectors
There are several collectors that you can get sweet items from, or at the very least, have a chance to get sweet items from. Nicholas the Traveler is the most popular and common collector to farm for; he moves each week, looking for a different item, and will give you up to five Gifts of the Traveler per account each week. There's a large variety of items that can be received in these gifts, including quite a few sweets, and several things worth a bit of money. It's a gamble, though, as you never know what you'll get. Still, if the items he's looking for are an easy farm, it's definitely worth it.
If you're in Pre-Searing, Nick is there as well in the form of Nicholas Sandford, who collects a different item each day on a rotation, and will give you up to five Gifts of the Huntsman per account per day in exchange. The variety of items available are much smaller, and as you can collect more of these gifts, it's definitely worth farming for if you have a Pre-Searing character. You'll also gain, on average, equal points in the Drunkard and Party Animal title tracks from these gifts.
If you have access to the War in Kryta content, there is a collector who will give Royal Gifts in exchange for War Supplies. Krytan Lokum is one of the items you can get in a gift, anywhere from one to five of them. However, there is a large variety of items available and only one that's a sweet, so there are better ways of getting your sugar fix. If you like a bit of a gamble, though, there's always the miniatures that you can get from the Royal Gifts...
There are also several regular collectors that you can sweets from - Mandragor Roots for Mandragor Root Cake, Blobs of Ooze for Refined Jellies, and Stone Grawl Necklaces for Honeycombs. Personally, though, I would say that these are not really worth it; they're not particularly easy items to farm, and the time taken would be better spent in other ways.
Purchasing
Now, this may seem like the fastest way to go about getting the title - just purchase the candy you need from other players. Keep in mind, though, that maxing the title is not cheap! Sweet items sell for, on average, between 110 and 150 gold per point. These prices will fluctuate depending on how recently there was a weekend with sweet drops, and Birthday Cupcakes sell for far more, but that's about the current average. Thus, to max the title, you're looking at over a million gold. You'll need to get that money from somewhere. If going on a farming frenzy over a festival weekend is not your style, though, and you'd rather farm for money over a longer period of time, buying sweets may be a better option.
Of course, then you have to actually get the candies. Kamadan American districts are generally the best place to look for sellers; just watch the trade channel and see if there's anyone selling, or put up a WTB ad yourself. It may take you some time to get everything you need, and keep in mind you can only trade so much at once. Also, don't forget to make sure you have enough storage space for everything!
Birthday Cupcakes sell for far more than normal sweets, because of the other effects they grant. If you have a stack of these, try and sell them! The prices on them are lower right now because of the recent event, but I've seen them go as high as 21-23e per stack.
And then, of course, if you have an abundance of money you're sitting on and want to avoid spamming ads and reading the trade channel, you can simply purchase from merchants. Merchants in Cantha sell Red Bean Cakes for 400g, which is 200g per point, and going this method it will cost you two million gold to max your title. However, simply purchasing stacks this way is much quicker. Ultimately, it's up to how much you think your time in-game is worth.
Other methods
Kieran Thackery's scavenger hunt will give you Paper Wrapped Parcels and/or Sacks of Random Junk, which have the chance to give you sweet items. However, since you have to give him a sweet to get them, it's not really worth it. Also, the Zaishen chest drops Crème Brûlées quite frequently, so if you're working on the Zaishen title, you may want to save those up. However, Zaishen keys are pricey, so definitely don't count on that.
Well, really, there is no quick way, since it means you have to die. A lot. Use them up naturally as you play. If you want a faster method, then something like what's commonly used to death level pets would probably be the fastest - get a few heroes with just resurrect skills, suit up in armor of Superior Runes, sacrifice yourself with Blood is Power or a vampiric weapon a few times, and then once you've hit -60%, use a few candy canes.
Nope, it's definitely not fast, but it's probably the only vaguely quick way to go through those candy canes and other DP removers.
Well, you're in luck! Most of the sweet items in the game are actual sweets that exist in real life. For those GuildMag readers that bake (or know someone who can bake for them), I'm going to go one step further, and include a recipe for you to make your own sweets! This is not just any recipe, but one I came up with myself with some experimentation last year for my boyfriend's birthday. They take a bit more work than normal cupcakes, but are well worth it. I will do my best to convert the measurements into metric measurements as well, so that everyone can give it a try.
Epic Birthday Cupcakes
- One box chocolate cake mix
- 1 1/2 cups (170 grams) all-purpose flour
1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
Now, if you want traditional Guild Wars birthday cupcakes, frost with a pink frosting and top with sprinkles once cooled. Or you can use my icing that I made for these:
- 1 cup (110g) confectioner's sugar
1. In a small bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, and cinnamon. Add vanilla and stir. Add milk, about 1-2 tbsp (20-40mL) and stir until the icing is the correct consistency. Spoon/drizzle over the top of the cooled cupcakes, and let set for a moment.
And the most important step? Eat them and enjoy!