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Winter Event 2014

Captain's Blog Stardate 92538.02

Happy Winter Event everyone! Those of you who have been reading my blog for the past few years know that this is my favorite event in STO. I just can't help but love it, and Cryptic does an amazing job to improve it every year! So keeping with tradition, let's talk about this event.

The new "Tides of Ice" mission is pretty cool. It's like a crazier version of the Snowman Attack. The fact that they made these Assimilated Snowmen is a fun twist. I still have my hopes up that there will be a Snowball Fight PvP zone at some point.

I do have two complaints though. First, I'm surprised they still haven't added a countdown timer to the map so people know when the next event is. I know this information is in the dev blog and not really hard to forget, but a timer would be nice so people know what's going on just by looking at their screen.

Second, I don't like how you have to do "Tides of Ice" a certain amount of times to unlock equipment. I understand that people have commodities from last year and can just buy everything, but they want people to work for it. I just don't agree with it. If I worked for those commodities last year then I should be able to use them right away this year.

Anyway back to the fun stuff. I like how they changed all the fences and gazebo from wood to ice. As some people have mentioned, this looks like they've taken ideas from the movie "Frozen". It definitely has a wintry feel now, but I have to be honest I'm going to miss the wood. It felt like an old cabin in the woods, which was nice to have inside a universe full of technology. I guess I'm just being nostalgic and maybe need to "let it go"... yes I just made that joke.

Did you notice the aurora in the sky? I'm pretty sure it's a new addition this year. I was looking for the Breen ship which is usually sitting on a mountain top, but they didn't add it this year. Instead I was shocked to see the aurora. It looks really nice and I give a lot of credit to the person who designed it.

In the comments let me know what do you think about the Winter Event this year. Whether this is your first time or not, I'm curious to know what other people think of it. No Scrooges please, otherwise I'll have to send the three Q's of Christmas after you.

Written by Attilio on December 07, 2014 at 10:02 pm

Comments

TheBumble (Guest) said...
December 08, 2014 at 02:03 pm

Not a bad Holiday event at all.

Probably the only thing I'd like to see changed is the schedule from :30 back to :00. Half the time the random doesn't happen, or does and isn't announced. From :00 to :30 your rushing, then Invasion and pie eating and a 15 minute wait...

Reply to TheBumble
TacPaddy (Member) said...
December 08, 2014 at 03:22 pm

I totally missed the point in the Dev Blogs, that told you to do "Tides of Ice" for a certain amount.
So there I was, spending 100 Lobi on those Holiday Commodities, going to the vendor and was like WTF? To be honest, at the moment I thought that was just another Romulan-related bug and logged out in a little rage.
But now, I have to say that Q'S WW is awesome like always. I still am sad that I missed the very first Winter Event (mainly because of the Bug), but they improve it every year. Except for the Nanopulse Melee Weapons. They are green again? Not cool.

All in all, enjoy people and have happy holidays.

P.S.: If you feel at odds with the Races, equip your Counter-Command Armor. It gives you a little Speed Boost for 3 seconds every time you do a roll. ;)

Reply to TacPaddy
Attilio (Owner) replied...
December 08, 2014 at 10:58 pm

I don't think it said it in the dev blogs. I noticed when some of the stuff was locked and I double clicked on it. Then a popup said to complete Tide of Ice a certain number of times.

Reply to Attilio
TacPaddy (Member) replied...
December 09, 2014 at 03:11 pm

I checked the Blogs afterwards and it is mentioned in like half of a sentence. Very subtle.

Reply to TacPaddy
Chris (Member) said...
December 08, 2014 at 04:38 pm

I'm enjoying the holiday event, but have only been running it with one character thus far.

I like the new icy environment, but I liked the wood too!

I think it's funny how different my programming style was when I made (fan made) modules with Neverwinter Nights: When I made a new area to replace an old one, I just moved the old area off into a less used area so people could still interact with it if they choose.

With STO, I don't understand why they don't have the old Gazebo off in a corner of the map so people could visit if they choose. Or why the Original ESD space station from launch hasn't been re-used elsewhere in the game. (Though James did mentioned something about it being on the other side of the Earth from new ESD, but I think he just wanted me to waste an hour flying around to check. ; )

When you create a neat area, why not let people continue to use it.

(Why can't I visit Utopia Planetia? It's not even used for the Anniversary event anymore....)
[I guess it's in the foundry, so I shouldn't complain....]

Chris
Would make code 'fat' by not taking old things out!

Reply to Chris
TacPaddy (Member) replied...
December 08, 2014 at 05:22 pm

Both the "original" ESD and Utopia Planitia are indeed available in the Foundry. However, placing details on the original ESD is a major PITA.

Reply to TacPaddy
Majestic (Member) said...
December 08, 2014 at 10:55 pm

Are the frosted boots from the previous years back> How much are they? Can they be bought off the exchange?

Reply to Majestic
Attilio (Owner) said...
December 08, 2014 at 11:00 pm

You can still buy it from the winter store. I don't remember the cost since it requires different amounts of winter commodities. If I recall correctly it's a bound item which means you can't buy it on the exchange. Although it shouldn't be hard to save up enough winter commodities to buy in the winter store.

Reply to Attilio
Xhopeon (Member) said...
December 11, 2014 at 08:38 am

I don't like Winter event as Summer one (probably because I hate winter outside as well), but Breen Carrier looks fun thing to have, my Reman Sci will be happy with it.

But, at least they found some spark of brain somewhere and with todays' patch they've changed "you must play 10 Tides of Ice" to "you must play it 10 times only on one character", saves a lot of time for us that have more then 3 characters :D
From patch notes: "Items unlocked through completing “Tide of Ice” will now unlock for the entire account."

Reply to Xhopeon

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