Trick-or-Treat is a fun event. It helps foster some genuine comradery, some fun banter, lots of interesting costumes and of course, XP and loot! For the most part, it brings the community together and is a fun time for all. However, some folks really aren't obeying the spirit of the law, if you'll forgive the pun.
So, of course any time one can find a way to get something for nothing someone will try. Case in point: Halloween leeches. These come in a variety of forms - Those that join a team or league and simply sponge while mostly or completely AFK for instance. There's one guy, who has been reported multiple times, who is on, presumably, 24 hours a day (I play A LOT) and he is always in the corner of the motel in PI. Sometimes he is auto running, always activating powers. He's clearly not playing the game as intended. Then there are the Masterminds that just stand or hover in the middle of the parking lot or toward one of the sides or corners where the biggest spawns occur. Their minions run around grabbing aggro and casting subtraction on everything.
Why does this matter? Trick-or-Treat involves one simple mechanic: click a door. Anyone not clicking a door isn't really participating. The 1st type of leech is easiest to cure; you simply kick them from your team or league. The other two types are more difficult to deal with. Someone AFK scripting and hanging on 24 hours a day shouldn't be that hard to notice and ban. Yet in the case I have mentioned, after multiple reports by multiple people, the character is still there.
As for the MMs, again, they are not actively participating in the single mechanic of ToT and yet they are reaping the benefits of everyone else's efforts. Not to mention the MM pets can clog doorways making it difficult to move around and can actively prevent you from clicking a door, again the sole mechanic.
I have a very simple suggestion to remedy this. As simple as the solution is, it may be difficult to implement. I have no experience coding for CoH so couldn't tell you. My suggestion, however, is this: if you, a teammate or league-mate did not click the door, the spawns don't give you XP or inf. This encourages everyone to actually Trick-or-Treat and prevents mechanics abuse.
I've been doing solo ToT today to see how bad my XP took a hit. The fact is, it didn't. In fact, I have been on some teams where it took over an hour to gain a single level. Today I can easily get 2 in an hour; keeping in mind these are level 50 characters I am referencing. So, clearly, it isn't forcing anyone to team in order to participate. I believe CoH is at its best when it brings the community together. Hopefully the few bad actors I have run into could be encouraged to join in the fun of actively participating in the wonderful event with this change. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.