Season 7 Dev Blog #25
By PWE_BranFlakes @ December 3, 2012 at 12:00pm
Return to Q’s Winter Wonderland
To celebrate the festive season of the end of the year, Q returns with his fabulous winter planet and all of its games and amusements! Starting December 6th around 10am PST and lasting until January 14th around 10am PST, Q’s Winter Wonderland will be accessible again by speaking with Q on Qo’noS or Earth Spacedock. Q will transport you to his spruced-up and improved winter valley. How does an omnipotent being improve on something that’s already perfect? Foolish mortal – omnipotent beings don’t need to follow the rules of mortal logic!
With the return of Q’s Winter Wonderland, you’ll find a new cozy gazebo added for socializing. The various vendors and the tailor are now located in the gazebo. From there, you can follow signs to special events, or you can head out into the snow to explore.
But it’s dangerous out there . . . be sure to pick up some snowballs from the piles that you’ll find scattered about the area, since you’ll need them. Q’s decided to add a little fun by animating the snowmen and sending them to keep you frosty, and you can only stop them with a barrage of snowballs! Every half-hour, the snowmen will come to a semblance of life and hunt people down with the intention of freezing them. If you’re frozen by a snow flurry, though, don’t worry – you’ll just remain out of the battle for a little while before returning as good as new. Participating in the snowball fight gives you a chance to win boxes of winter commodities, which you can trade for new costumes and prizes.
For those who are of a mind to challenge other captains, Q’s added a new race, somewhat like the famous endurance race of Starfleet Academy – a multi-captain competitive race on a new slippery ice track. In between snowball fights, the race announcer will call out the new competitive race and count down to the start. Everyone who wants to race can assemble at the new track for the “Fast and the Flurrious”. If you’re in the wooden-plank starting zone, you’ll see a large ‘WAITING FOR RACE’ tag over your captain. Then, wait for the race to start; once the starting gate drops, run the course as fast as you can and grab the flag at the end! The race will reward the first place, second place, and third place winners, with a token award for those who run the whole race but don’t place. This race will give you new epohh tags that can be used to breed special winter epohhs with the help of a Romulan researcher at the gazebo.
Of course, you can still participate in all of the old winter cheer. Track down the snowmen – when they aren’t chasing you! – to earn accolades. Skate on the icy lake and be sure to practice some new skating leaps when you wear ice skates. Most importantly, be sure to run the “Fastest Game on Ice” race, because this will reward you with winter gift boxes that may contain parts to help build the best prize of all . . . which you can read about here.
Enjoy the festivities and don’t forget your hot cocoa! We’ll see you all at Q’s Winter Wonderland.
NOTE: The minimum level for players to participate in Q's Winter Wonderland is 5+ (Fed) and 24+ (KDF).
By Jesse Heinig
Designer
Star Trek Online
mccoolade @ Dec 17th, 2012 3:25PM
Thats awesome
rimbala @ Dec 6th, 2012 5:39PM
Animated Snowmen?! Nice to see that Q is a Whovian...
matridunadan1 @ Dec 5th, 2012 9:55PM
Waaaaait one blasted minute! [quote]because this will reward you with winter gift boxes that [u]may[/u] contain parts to help build the best prize of all[/quote] "[b]MAY[/b]"?!??
diabolical91 @ Dec 5th, 2012 11:29AM
WHAT do i do to get a nano pulse saber uh i mean batleth
idazmi
Talk to the ferengi in the starting area.
bizzarquestion @ Dec 4th, 2012 1:40PM
Last year you could only get the Jem'Hadar ship from the red gift boxes. You could only get these boxes reliably by purchasing them off the (at the time) c-store. If you do a little research you will see it was worse scam than the lockboxes. Also the Nanopulse Edged Bat'leth and Lirpa were offered only during the week of the winter event when TOR was released. It had nothing to do with the actual winter festival only a place to locate the little green guy giving them out. If they open these up to be given away again it will ruin the actual meaning/irony of the Nanopulse.
idazmi
Stop griping about what happened LAST YEAR.
melekon @ Dec 4th, 2012 11:38AM
Wonder if they'll have the little Ferengi with the Nanopulse Batleths and Lirpas this year? They were still the best melee weapons up till the Elite Fleet ones came out recently.
xastirx @ Dec 3rd, 2012 9:04PM
you know, the people who have the ice boots from last year will win the race every time becasue when it comes to the icyness or lack there of, the boots reversed it. Therefor the people with the boots will run normal on the ice where those without will be slipping and tripping overthemselves. Just wanted to put that out there.
tilarium1979
You didn't need the boots to win the race last year, doubt you will this year. The only time I ever lost the race was when I made a stupid slip up. It's just a matter of knowing when to slide, jump, or roll.
bekstorm0cz
actually controled sliping was posible and made ( after lerned ) races quiat a easy
charlesdonovan @ Dec 3rd, 2012 5:56PM
I hope before Christmas Q brings me a fix for the Personnel Officer on the Fleet starbase.
kintisho @ Dec 3rd, 2012 4:59PM
I Wants a hood ornament for my ship....
borgkiller31 @ Dec 3rd, 2012 4:15PM
shotgun that fires snowballs maybe? :3
rossrobertson @ Dec 3rd, 2012 4:07PM
Why does it sound like more grind... with jingle bells on... Enough of the grind. Our real lives are filled with nothing but grind.. I don't want to spend what little free time I have grinding at something else.
brackynews
Then you're playing the wrong genre of game. Go play Bioshock, Elite Force Voyager, ST:Armada, Homeworld, or any genre without the letters RPG or XP in it. It's a pretty simple decision really! You can take total control of your gaming habits.
atomictiki
@brackynews No, grind is repetitive gameplay that isn't fun. Good MMO designs, that don't rely on facebook-like addiction scheme, have enough variety that advancing is not a grind.
adamkafei @ Dec 3rd, 2012 4:01PM
I can't wait :) DAMNIT WEEK! END ALREADY :P
cers001 @ Dec 3rd, 2012 3:52PM
what excatly are you changing from last year
brackynews
It says. There's a gazebo now.
jnohd
A gazebo?!? And just who is going to feed it?
rickysmith1 @ Dec 3rd, 2012 2:46PM
SET PHASERS TO MERRY!
coupaholic @ Dec 3rd, 2012 2:15PM
Snowball fights and ice skating? Q seems to be going soft on us...
captinjacksparow @ Dec 3rd, 2012 2:01PM
SOUNDS AWESOME!!!!!!! :D
arcaelus @ Dec 3rd, 2012 1:51PM
Sounds like fun.
starfish1701 @ Dec 3rd, 2012 1:10PM
I thought it was a shame that the snowmen were not animated... so really pleased to hear about that! Very much looking forward to this... has another year really passed? Where did it go???
crusader2007 @ Dec 3rd, 2012 1:10PM
Sounds fun but please dont make us grind...too much with grinding already
webdeath @ Dec 3rd, 2012 1:04PM
Honestly, I dislike the Ice Skating event. But it's a personal thing. Never liked it in CoH, Never liked it in DDO, and didn't like it last year in STO.
palgia @ Dec 3rd, 2012 12:56PM
my first Winter Wonderland in STO, and I see how it is
delvok5
It is my first to
sharpie65
mine too!
masterjp123
Myne to ! =D
kirimuffin @ Dec 3rd, 2012 12:26PM
(Also, I'm really liking the visual style here.)
kirimuffin @ Dec 3rd, 2012 12:18PM
Really not enthused about the snowman thing; it sounds like just another ground combat scenario, and Winter Event stuff should be more unique, IMO. The new race sounds fun, though!
darthlonestarr @ Dec 3rd, 2012 12:12PM
Animated Snowmen. Nice to see things gettng amped up this year.
shapeywhelm @ Dec 3rd, 2012 12:09PM
does this mean keys won't be used for the winter crate? we have to buy them for Zen like last years?
atomictiki
No keys were required for the winter gifts last year. This year? I wouldn't put it past them.
jaturnley
It would be silly to not use keys, the key mechanic allows people to use Dil or ECs to open them, last year it was cash only. If they make the boxes able to be traded and driectly opened, that would be new code that really isn't needed.
captainfry420x
Last year's boxes were free to open.
Showing 39 of 44 Comments