Talk:Wintersday 2007

Source?
This hasn't been on guildwars.com and the author does not cite a source. Lyra' Valo'  22:21, 10 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I'd say delete... --  Frozzen   [[Image:User_Frozzen_sig.PNG|User_Frozzen_sig.PNG]] 22:49, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Lol, you doubt in it's coming? Lol. Get real. It's a placeholder, as per the signage. Besides, no one tried to delete Halloween 2007 when I did the same thing... [[Image:UserDrago-sig.gif]]  Drago  23:10, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Couldn't you wait until some information was released about 2007's Winterday? The page looks tacky with just that tag there. --[[Image:User-brains12-sigicon5.png|Talk|14px]]  br12  • (talk) • 23:14, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
 * It's not exactly a high traffic page right now, so no worries. [[Image:UserDrago-sig.gif]]  Drago  23:22, 10 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I merely posted the tag, because I read the deletion policy and I quote "A2: A page comprised solely of information about upcoming events, and which does not cite a readily verifiable source for that info." This is exactly what is in the policy, as such it should have the delete tag. I did not say I doubt it's coming because I don't doubt that. Why does the page even need a placeholder? You think someone's sneakily gonna make an article called Wintersday 2007 about something totally unrelated between now and then? I was not fully aware of the policies around the Halloween 2007 time and if I had I would have acted exactly the same way as I have in this article. Lyra' Valo' [[Image:User_Lyra_Valo_LVsig.jpg]] 14:02, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Why do you care, does it bother you? Are you being picky with this page, for a reason? This page harms no one, and does not harm the wiki on any scale, so my vote is to leave it as is. [[Image:UserDrago-sig.gif]]  Drago  22:17, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * lyra is only telling u what the policy is. i happen to agree that the policy applies to this page, but i don't think it's worth the effort to delete it as we can expect the event posting in a couple days anyways. as u say, its not hurting anyone so i'm inclined to let it pass. if u had put this up in november i would support the delete. -- VVong | BA 22:31, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * It's already been confirmed that it will have hats from the Wintersday 2007 art contest. - Gordon Ecker 01:54, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
 * On a lighter note, who likes the page so far? [[Image:UserDrago-sig.gif]]  Drago  02:10, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

"In the tradition of the season, you will also receive special holiday-themed headgear if you attend the Wintersday finale. And this year, the hat you receive will depend on which deity wins the day, so choose wisely."

So this mean that we only get only one hat depending on the winning deity...? Or its just to confuse us and its going to be like every year? I don't think a lot of people are going to be happy if we only get one of the deities hats instead of a chance of getting both. 66.50.228.81 22:21, 13 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Try all FOUR... that was a PAIN last year... -160.23.244.253 06:39, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't know, the alliance was so spread in the districts that I could get all four on the same run.66.50.228.81 11:55, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Tied Point Districts
I asked this last year, but no one knew... so I'll ask again and let's see if I can get an admin to respond! Anyone know what happens if both Dwayna and Grenth get equal points? Do you get both hats? Neither? Or what? Just curious to know how it is set up. 76.116.109.221 13:55, 1 January 2008 (UTC) (Stexe)

About seasonal headgear.
I have soon played Gw for 2 years, but i've never got any wintersday headgear, because i don't know how to get those. Can sumone plz explain it to me how to get those? - Hell Nirvana 05:08, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * just login on new years and idle in one of the decorated towns. if u want different hats, u'll need to idle in different towns in both even and odd districts. -- VVong | BA 21:17, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Decorated towns means either Lion's Arch or Kamadan (those were the towns last year and will likely be the towns this year). Other towns may be decorated but those two are the ones which hand out hats. Dwayna and Grenth visit ever 3? hours and play a game, within the hour they will give people either Dwayna's hat or Grenth's hat. Last year Kamadan and Lions Arch had two different sets of hats, one for each god giving a total of 4 hats. 122.104.227.103 21:24, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Also, chances are the helm for Dwayna will be the Ice Crown; see the artwork on the website under recent news.
 * Don't you mean Grenth? Seeing as how the contest was to design the helm for Grenth?  And Grenth is the "Lord of Death and Ice" according to that event page? I am interested in the fact that it says that there are only two new wintersday hats on the contest winner page. --Goteki-45 18:51, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Gaile did confirm that there are only two hats this year, and the Ice Crown is the Grenth hat.172.206.165.241 22:06, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Quests
I really hope it has some quests, maybe more than last year, and definatly more than the big fat 0 we had on haloween. im bore dof events where all you do is show up, get the mask, done. i want adventure and quests.--Robot 23:29, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I like events like this, because then you can get sumthing without doing almoust anything. Who wants to be doing "job" on holydays? - Jope12 [[Image:User Jope12 sigicon.png]] 02:23, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

2 or 4 hats?
How many hats will we get this time around? Odds in  LA = Grenth 1    Evens in   LA = Dwayna 1 Odds in Kama = Grenth 2  Evens in Kama = Dwayna 2

We already have 15 EVENT hats. Keirou 03:42, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
 * As usual, there should be 4. One for each faction for both Nightfall and Prophecies, however, with that new hat, there might only be one Grenth hat, and two Dwayna hats. [[Image:UserDrago-sig.gif]]  Drago  19:05, 15 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Personally, I'd say it's more likely that two designs would have been chosen and they'll be used for the two locations. We won't know until it happens, though. --Goteki-45 20:53, 16 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks like theres gonna be 2 hats this year - "Everyone is invited to see the grand debut of the two new Wintersday helms—including the player-designed* Grenth helm—at 12:01 AM Pacific time (-8 GMT) on January 1, 2008, and every three hours throughout the day." - http://eu.guildwars.com/events/contests/wintersday_2007_winner/ Samexf 20:55, 18 December 2007 (UTC)
 * So on the contrary of previous years... we only get one set of hats? weak.... -- Muscolo
 * In '05 there was only one set. Lyra' Valo' [[Image:User_Lyra_Valo_LVsig.jpg]] 20:05, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

In 05 there was only one campaign.--68.192.181.232 22:11, 21 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I so DO love the 5th entry :) -- Muscolo

BUG??!!
cant enter snowball fights err 10Killer Revan 20:08, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Lets hope that not EVERYONE went home to celebrate christmas :P


 * Yeah everyone is Err-10ing. People are just sitting around yelling at Anet about snowball fights not working.Disgruntled Celery 20:23, 21 December 2007 (UTC)
 * even more...the quests are / were not up for UW and Secret lair Killer Revan 21:15, 21 December 2007 (UTC)


 * This was fixed around 20:30:00 UTC and haven't had a problem after. Anyone still having problems? As for the quests, Wintersday content expands day by day as it did in previous years. Kim Chase
 * Nope...no probs here anymore...i did forget about the more quests as time goes on thoughKiller Revan 21:49, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Another Bug?
"And, if you believe the old adage that it is better to give than to receive, try your hand at the city event game in Lion's Arch, Droknar's Forge, Kamadan, and Ascalon City during the festivities. Deliver presents to the children before the grentches destroy Wintersday. You never know, the little urchins might reward you with something special for your generosity. " -- this doesn't appear to be activated yet this year? Bug?
 * Things are usually added gradually so it should be in soon. Lyra' Valo' [[Image:User Lyra Valo Sig.jpg]] 22:12, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Anything new?
As of right now, with quests and snowball fights added, is anything new added or is it just Wintersday 2006 again? (not that thats a bad thing, was just wondering)-Warior kronos 01:46, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * As of right now, Wintersday is the same with the exception of the new Wintersday helms. [[Image:UserDrago-sig.gif]]  Drago  05:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * There's supposed to be two new Secret Lair of the Snowmen quests, and so far, In Grenth's Defense and You're a Mean One, Mr. Grenth don't seem to be available yet. -- Gordon Ecker 07:21, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Another bug...
At least for me, my hard mode vanquisher thing isn't working properly. When I enter the Plains of Jarin, which I have vanquished and does show on my map, I have the little red icon in the corner counting my monster kills. I haven't played in a while, but it seems like it used to have a gold icon that said something like "you don't have any more HM stuff to do, etc" when I moused over the icon. (just as a note, I did leave Kamadan with an enchanted snowman as the only other "person" in my party)
 * That is not a bug. You can re-vanquish areas you have already done before if you wish to. --Goteki-45 03:09, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * So they must have changed it when I was on hiatus then...thanks Goteki.
 * If by that you mean "they've never changed it" then, yes, they changed it while you were on hiatus... --Mystisteel 22:24, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Lol. Anonymous user is possibly mistaken by the fact that unvanquishable areas, such as dungeons or the Realm of Torment, will always have a gold icon in HM. Or perhaps s/he hasn't enered the Plains of Jarin since first vanquishing it, and simply expected to see the gold icon. --Mme. Donelle 18:08, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Rift Warden?
wheres the rift warden this year, i was looking forward to the repeatable quests in the festival underworld.--Robot 15:09, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Looks as if more quests are added over time, so the Rift Wardens will be added in on another day. --Valentein 15:14, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

They just added it
 * ORLY? RT | Talk  - A joyous wintersday to all 22:10, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Can someone confirm that the Rift Warden in Lion's Arch gives Straight to the Heart and The Strength of Snow because I checked yesterday and he only had the first two. I will remove it for the time being but if someone can confirm it, preferably with a screenie, then they can re-add it. -- Kakarot [[Image:User_Kakarot_Sig.gif|Talk]] 14:22, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * For me at least, he does Not. In any case, i own only Prophecies, so that may be a reason in case Nightfall or EotN is required.--Fighterdoken 16:35, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * That might be possible, if this can be confirmed we should add a note on it; either Nightfall required or Eye of the North required. Ugh yet again someone has re-added it without giving any proof it actually exists in Lion's Arch *rolls eyes* -- Kakarot  [[Image:User_Kakarot_Sig.gif|Talk]] 17:00, 23 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Eye of the North is the one that's required (the dungeon is the Secret Lair of the Snowmen so you ned EoTN). --Life Infusion &laquo;T&raquo; 17:22, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Shame on those anons and their "edit and don't justify" tactic... Anyways, is it confirmed that EotN is required then? If so, maybe adding a note here (or in the respectives articles for the quests?)--Fighterdoken 20:56, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I've added it to this page, you can add it to the quest articles if you want. Oh and thanks Life Infusion for that info :) -- Kakarot [[Image:User_Kakarot_Sig.gif|Talk]] 23:55, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Candy cane weapons?
Will there be any candy cane weapons this year...? Or are they already there and I am just blind?! --76.68.152.60 16:36, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * They're in now. --Mystisteel 22:23, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Repeatable Quests in Lair of the Snowmen
Is this not active yet? If it is who gives the quests? Koris Deeprunner just has the normal one. Dbdghost 17:21, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't think it is, wait 4 it RT | <font color="Red">Talk  - A joyous wintersday to all 17:22, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * They're active now, you can get them from the Rift Warden. <font color="Black">Lyra' <font color="Maroon">Valo' [[Image:User Lyra Valo Sig.jpg]] 22:13, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Not sure they're repeatable. I can't repeat Straight to the Heart. 68.9.237.185 16:27, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * You need to refresh the zone to take them again I think, i.e. change district. <font color="Black">Lyra' <font color="Maroon">Valo' [[Image:User Lyra Valo Sig.jpg]] 13:29, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Games of Chance?
For the last few festivals, I haven't been able to find any "games of chance." Are there any for Winteresday 2007? It seems the only ways to increase your "lucky" title are by retaining lockpicks, using clovers, and winning games of chance. But if games of chance are only available during festivals, then why aren't there any? Or am I just not seeing them? Pucktrapper 19:40, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * See the rings in the cities? There will be games of chance (there were last year).  Not everything goes active the first day... --Mystisteel 22:22, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * They will be used during the grand finale which doesn't start until January 1st, see here for more information on this event. -- Kakarot [[Image:User_Kakarot_Sig.gif|Talk]] 14:43, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Getting to quest areas
Several of the quests seem to require you to have finished the game, because you have to get to some fairly high-level areas. Is this really how it's supposed to work? It seems a little unfair for people who got the game recently--or, say, people who get it for Christmas--if you can't do any of the quests because you can't get there. Darkrose 05:38, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
 * No, the areas are reached via Rift Warden if we are talking about snowball quests... otherwise its been like this since... humm... forever? the point fo wintersday run arround quests are that you need to explore the world to find stuff and if you cant... you still have rift warden to get shards and have fun.... -.- 195.210.251.185

Events project
If anyone's interested, I've started an events project to co-ordinate the creation and imprevement of event-related articles. -- Gordon Ecker 09:53, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Presents and the latest wave of NPCs
Does anyone know when the Grentches appeared and the snowballs started spawning? Also, does anyone know when Guardsman Ash and Guardsman Brooke appeared? -- Gordon Ecker 03:09, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
 * yes its the "xmass" update :) --Muscolo
 * Thanks, does anyone have the approximate time? -- Gordon Ecker 10:11, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The Grentches, snowballs and present drops started on the 24th, not sure about those two NPCs though. -- Kakarot [[Image:User_Kakarot_Sig.gif|Talk]] 15:16, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Update
I thought there was gonna be one, December 25th. Or was that just the presents dropping randomly? :| BlazeRick 23:24, 26 December 2007 (UTC)
 * The introduction of presents to towns does seem to be the Christmas update. Which makes sense, as the presents must be delivered to children; a very Christmassy thing to do. --Mme. Donelle 18:04, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I kinda was hoping for smething else. A section titled "Pending updates" sounded like something like something different was going to come. But then again, I haven't read the Gaile/Frog chatlog, so I could only take it out of context. BlazeRick 19:40, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Removal of Avatar images?
Was the removal of the images of Dwayna and Grenth at the bottom of th page really necessary? The user who removed them justifies it with "they just make it look ugly imo". Well, in my opinion, they were a nice addition to the page. Does anyone have any valid reason why they should not be included? --Mme. Donelle 18:02, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, the page did get edited, stuff got removed/added, which made the images look messy. But yeah, the pictures were nice, idk why they weren't just repositioned. BlazeRick 19:41, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Odd & Even District
Should someone put a note of the suggested districts to be in. Example Odd numbered for Grenth Even number for Dwayna to help those that are not familiar with it. Granted I could have those two backwards. It has been a year :) since the last one. Chik En 19:05, 29 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Thats not official, but I do think it should be noted. Yes, its Odd Grenth, Even Dywana Lintor 09:01, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Grand finale event time
Just curious... there is a neat (and by neat i mean "confusing") list of timezone conversions behind the event timetable, but it is just stated that the event starts at 12:01 am... 12:01 am where? CST? PST? UTC 0?... and by the way, any chance of still adding the UTC modifier to that timezone list? (as in "12:01 am PST (-x UTC)) :P Ok, ignore that, i should just go to sleep XD--Fighterdoken 05:53, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
 * It just started in Kamadan, I'm not sure about Lion's Arch. -- Gordon Ecker 08:16, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Guess I'm not lucky, been in Lion's Arch district 104 and the event still hasn't started. Wonder if there were problems in other districts. Tedium 08:51, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It starts 15 mins later in Kamadan, so you have time to go from LA to Kamadan. Because the event lasts only 15 mins, districts open after it, wont start the event 91.82.64.11 09:08, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Hats
Damn...I like Grenths hat...but...DAMN Dwayna's is FFFFLLLLUUUUGLY!
 * screens plz -Muscolo
 * http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/8619/dwaynalionsarchnt1.jpg (dwayna, screen by me)
 * must say yuck.... and this is dwayna for both towns? ANet is dissapointing me.... i think they lost players today...-Muscolo
 * If they lost players over a non-essential, voluntary event hat... all I can say is good riddance. It's not like they had to pay extra or were even required to spend their time getting them. It's just for fun. :p --Skogul 10:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I know, but having a completely suckish hats after you got tons of brilliant propositions FROM players i think you cant even mess up any more? even the Ice Crown looks like its made outta fur and metal, and i kinda expected the spikes to be semi translucetn and dyable... or at least the white part or the rim... just go compare concept art and the actual thing... As for the dwayna hat... OMFG??? i think it'd be way better to jus use the allready existant snowballs in kamadan etc, scale them down and designate them as hats with 0 armor :) I think ANet really messed this one up... - Muscolo
 * Must.. resist urge.. to gouge eyes out with a carrot. THESE HATS ARE UGLY! YOUR HAT DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT NEEDS A HUGE OVERHAUL.. (or you could torture them with tasers)


 * Grenth's hat is.. NOTHING like the picture.. and Dwayna's hat.. well, let's just say: It gives a whole new meaning to the word 'fruitcake'. Trixor 17:29, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I found the hats to be in accordance with the 2 gods that they were supposed to be from. The flowers from Dwanya makes perfect sense and the other from Grenth does to. If you don't like them then destroy them WITHOUT going to the hat maker to keep a copy for you. ANet did not, nor do they need to, have to have this festival go on with them working full tilt on GW2. Again I like them and found them fitting. Chris 98.209.27.50 02:38, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I actually like Dwayna's hat. It suits her theme really well. ^^ It also makes my characters cute looking, but Grenth's hat looked like stone than ice....at least that's how I keep looking at it. --Adiana 04:08, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana

LAG
Okay, just made it to a set of events, first in LA then Kamadan. During both, lag was fine until presents began dropping, at which point the lag in the district became so pronounced that, atleast in my case, GW.exe crashed. So although I received both hats, all of the presents around with my name on it were lost to others. Bad form A-Net, didn't this same problem happen recently at another festival that you had to rehost due to almost the exact same problem.--75.60.221.251 08:40, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * LAG is some from 5k to 35k!! 83.10.133.103 08:42, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * >.< ouch. But Kamadan definitely takes place 15 minutes after LA? And yah, i got d/ced after maybe two rounds of presents were dropped. People, PICK UP YOUR PRESENTS! it reduces lag on everyone. Silavor [[Image:UserSilavorSigIcon.png]] 08:46, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * You're defintely not the only one. I was going fine until the presents started to drop, and then my ping hit well over 8,000.  This years hats are also not particularly well done.172.201.205.239 08:48, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * My district had horrible lagg for everyone. About one minute to get to a present and 10-30 seconds to pick up a present. Never had this much trouble with a holiday before. 76.170.188.190 08:54, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I consider myself lucky... i dont get lagged out and got tons of prezies from afkers... 80 a round in LA :P -Muscolo
 * Agh this lag is awful --90.209.34.79 11:09, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I had even 60k lag! - Jope12 [[Image:User Jope12 sigicon.png]] 11:23, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * 128k ping and a reset :( --90.209.34.79 11:38, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday finale (2)
I'm not sure about Lion's Arch, but the finale still hasn't started in Kamadan. -- Gordon Ecker 08:14, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It just started, so the times on the website are ~15 minutes off. -- Gordon Ecker 08:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The lag is absolutely horrendous, any idea what's going on Gaile? -- scourge  08:36, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Try to understand, Scourge, that the servers must be under extreme duress to cause this type of lag. I'm going to guess that the problem is simply extreme data loads. -- Counciler 08:39, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It was never this bad in previous events though. -- scourge  08:40, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I am standing in Lions Arch american dis 115, and The gods didn't come, are they still comming?? --  The Warrior Of Timi 08:58, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I think I can explain one of the two things: If you are in a district that forms after the event timer kicks in, you will not see the gods appear. This is designed to prevent people from "district jumping" for three hours, thereby kicking off event after event. So you need to be in a district before the official start time of the event. I will ask if we can put that in event page for the future. Now, I admit that one player told me s/he was in the district five minutes before the start time, and the gods still did not appear. I need to know which time, what district, what territory, and more, so that I can pass that along. But about the issue of the lag: Las was the worst I've ever seen it, in my district, and from reports it was similarly bad elsewhere. I know that the dropping presents are liable to "clog up" the server over time, so maybe what happened is that there were a lot of people AFK, and that meant that instead of the gifts being picked up right away, they sat there, and when they accumulated in vast numbers, they caused lag. (I think the twinkly effect can add to the burden but I don't know any of this for absolute certain. The designers and QA will need to take a look to see what's going on. In the meantime, we are sorry for the lag and I am sure that if we can make adjustments, we will do so. -- Gaile 09:07, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * That explains a lot, thanks Gaile :) -- scourge  09:20, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I am sending an email, and if the team can make adjustments, I'm sure they will. However, since today is a holiday, the event may simply need to run its course and we'll make fixes for next time. It's too early for me to say for sure, but I'll post when I know more. -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 09:22, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I've made a note about Kamadan still having the ~15 minute delay at User talk:Mike Zadorojny/Guild Wars Miscellaneous Bugs. -- Gordon Ecker 09:39, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Gordon, is that a bug? The event starts are supposed to be staggered by 15 minutes. We don't publicize that, but that was the practice last year, and that's what is happening this year, by player request. That will actually be to the advantage of latecomers to the district. I don't think that anyone is going to be too upset by a 1/4 hour delay, and it will give players a chance to participate if they're a bit late. May I ask why you reporting this as a bug? If you are concerned about the times published in the events page, we can look into more clarity on that next year. But is there another bug? -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 09:46, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Finale didn't started at all in Kamadan FR 6 as well :( although we were in the district before the scheduled start time. The delays between the 2 cities was advertised/publicized on the French web site. Jaxom 09:54, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Very sorry to hear, Jaxon. What time do you think that district was formed? If the event was slated to start at 12:15, do you think the district may have spawned after 12:01? You see, that could explain the situation, if the spawn time is set to :01 rather than :15 for Kamadan. -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 09:56, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes this is what I was thinking of. But as you know, as a player we have no way to know when the district was formed. And then when all the other districts are full, there is no way to reach the party... Jaxom 10:01, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * That is true -- no one has exact information about when a district was formed. But if someone arrives before the spawn time for the district, it is absolutely assured that he/she will be in a district that existed prior to the deadline. :) The spawn time for a district may be set at 12:01 for all districts, even if the event starts 15 minutes later in Kamadan. You may have noticed that the events page (at least on the hub site, www.guildwars.com) does not mention any time other than 12:01. I think that some of this is due to late arrivals, but we'll look into it, of course. -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 10:09, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I can also confirm there is extreme lag making the events totally unplayable for pretty much everyone in the district. For the record this has happened to me when Grenth won, I've noticed grenth districts tend to be laggier in general because we have a lot of items being dropped/picked up simultaneously and also a lot of deaths. I was in Lions Arch English District 2 for the 11:01 AM(GMT) event. Could we perhaps have a re-run of the event when you guys have figured out the lag problem please? Here's a screenshot with impressive numbers. Many thanks! Edit: Possible suggestion for future events: Beam presents directly into inventory, wouldn't that reduce lag a wee bit, and also prevent vultures from stealing AFKers pressies? Yu Takami 11:27, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * OMG that was the Laggiest 15 mins of my life on GW. Over 70k average Ping O.O --MageMontu 11:38, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Some people are saying that they've lost all items because of server rollback. may be lies, but it probably needs looking into. Rollback was a good thing, but i was getting a bit worried.. 5 mins without GW?!? NOWAI! =P. And i lagged like heck to be honest =/. Serverkick, no pickups.. =/ -- Warwick (Talk) (Contr.) 11:39, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Don't know if it was a rollback but a friend of mine lost his Dwayna hat and all his presents after being disconnected from LA FR 12 on his way to Kamadan. Also LA FR 4 started almost 8 minutes after FR 12 (basically they were already getting presents while the Avatars we still explaining the game rules in our district). Jaxom 11:51, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Well I got D/C while the pressies were falling (at least I got the hat) from LA Eng Dis 12. as I said before over 70k ping, my connection couldn't take it anymore :P --MageMontu 11:58, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I can confirm that items have been lost for me. I was in the extrmely laggy district as mentioned before, had enough of 30 minutes of still image and closed my client. Re-opened to find that the items accumulated through the 9 rings part (not so laggy, it really kicks in when the presents drop) and the few presents I managed to pick up between 5 minute lag spikes were gone, I'm not that fussed (I've had worse no-saves) but I can imagine this being frustrating if it happens to people all day. Yu Takami 12:07, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Hello there, well i lost a Crown here though i had it for 15min and the big lag occured, got kicked and couldn't relogin for 15/20mins near Noon (GMT+1) ; when i relogged back, all my items and candy canes shard were in the vault like before Noon and Crown lost. About the Wintersday gifts, why not putting them in the people's bag (though it's not "visual") but you save 1) Items generation time and customization 2) Less lag cause less items to display in towns 3) Items could go directly in bags = no cheating if people picks up all pressies due to massive lags and disconnections. Merry Wintersday anyway and good luck everyone trying to get you hats and pressies :-) --Davor Belegnaur 13:06, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Event -> Hat -> 100k+ Ping -> James Bond Error -> No hat. --76.2.227.166 17:47, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I just had the same thing happen to me. Spent 10 minutes trying to pick up 10 presents with 78k average ping. Got an error 7 and then logged on again to find the presents i had so laboriously spent time trying to pick up had all vanished from my inventory. -- Salome 17:59, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I have passed along all the comments about lost items. The lag issue may improve, as CS has located a server that was having issues, and he's performed some actions that may make the upcoming events less laggy. I will say that as long there are a ton of people AFKing, the presents are going to amass, and as long as that happens, there will be some degree of lag. I'll let you know if I hear any news on either the lost items or the lag (and of course they are nearly sure to be connected). -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 19:03, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Speaking of glitches with Wintersday, the in-town gift giving game seems to be bugged. I've delivered several presents to the young children today, and despite the fact that they took my presents and told me I got something in return, I never actually received anything in my inventory. -- Elv 19:20, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Are you sure you got nothing? Bear in mind that only Scrappy Jhim gives you an actual Winter Gift in return -- all the other children give you 1 candy cane shard. I didn't think they were giving me anything at first, either, because I already had some shards in my inventory and didn't notice the number rising. --Mme. Donelle 11:26, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * just wondering will there be a chance for a wintersday redux? Mashav 20:24, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Boohoohoo tbh. BlazeRick 20:27, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * just imho, if "presents amass"ing is an issue, it would seem that it'd be more beneficial to drop them right into inventories or provide an alternative to receiving them. I think each year there has been a different issue that's popped up directly related with how things are now. It would seem reasonable to change it a bit. That being said, I can see how the current system is tuned to discourage afkers (by requiring the pick-up), but at the cost of 100k+ pings. - elviondale  (tahlk) 22:17, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Would it be more resource intensive to put in a simple check to see if a person has an outstanding gift on the ground already, and if so, not send another gift until its already been picked up? There are usually like 10-30 seconds between present drops. Which is more than enough time to pick up a gift before the next one, if it prevents the lag issue.-- riceball  22:33, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

No event in some districts

 * i wanna know why the event didnt happen in kamadan dist 11 89.242.215.21 09:03, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Same in LA english district 13. And according to some players, there are many other districts which got the same problem...--82.226.7.26 09:04, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * everyone started chanting WE WANT GRENTH in dist 11Magmus Pyromancer 09:06, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

No Festival Finale in the higher # districts? :(
I was just in Kamadan for 45 minutes and nothing ever happened. I was told it was because the festival finale didn't occur in a district higher than district 58. Is this true? I was in district 60, and when I went to the other higher districts, I was told the same thing. Is this an arena.net issue and if so, will it be resolved before the end of the festival?
 * The district has to existe prior to the event. if the distric is created after the event starts, obviously it wont happen in it. 89.80.162.91 09:14, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * And what if it existed prior to the event, but still, no event ?--82.226.7.26 09:17, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Well then get the district, time, town and territory(europe; us; korea; or whatso) to gaile so she can pass it to the developers. but I think that problems like this a bound to happen anyway from the sheer stress the servers must be under, just take a look at the number of different districs when a event kicks in! there must be like hunderd of thousands of people connected ^^
 * Anyway, if it happens to you again, just take a look at the time, and if it hasn't started 2minutes after the normal time(remember kamadan is 15min late), just change of district and catch the event there ;) 89.80.162.91 09:35, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

OMG THIS LAG AND CRASHING!!!
Why these wintersday gifts have to drop to the ground?! I just crashed because there was so much lag! - Jope12 11:19, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Alot of people did..... I had to close down the client, and now I'm struggling to get on again. District 19 was a killer :) It's weird though, something like this didn't happen last year AFAIR. 89.150.88.130 11:20, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I get back in, finally, and what do i see?! Shards, presents and hat are gone! I want those back! These event is total waste!!!!! Though i see i have my shards back is bank. It's like game has been gone back in time? - Jope12 [[Image:User Jope12 sigicon.png]] 11:27, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * i think they had a server roll back, as before i laged out, i got my hat and a some presents, but after i got laged out and got back on, they were gone. P.S. i had 50k ping at one point, LOL, you gotta make up for this, ANet, PLEASE! ShoGunTheOne 11:49, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * District 2 Kamadan was terrible... my lag reached over 106k which is mental bearing in mind that i have never suffered from lag before. This is getting stupid now lag is just a killer at every event and it is almost enough to make someone want to play WOW instead of GW! 86.164.62.22 11:55, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The lag is bad, but its not that bad... --90.209.34.79 15:35, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

On a completely different note, isn't the lag from people district hopping? that would make sense since everyone has to use A-Net's resources and load the whole town about 1000x a second... Just a thought :P 65.93.209.60 16:51, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I thought that was why they set it 15 minutes apart, so that you could go to LA and get your mask and your presents and still have time to attend it in Kamadan and obtain the other mask and more presents. I've made 4 sets like that now and in that time I've crashed out of what accounts to 2 full sets, half the time! Something needs to be done, just please don't say Redux.--Xis10al 18:05, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday 2007 Final Event disappointment
This was my first time doing the Wintersday event so I really can't compare this to the previous events but I was really disappointed in some parts. Don't get me wrong the whole winter/Christmas theme was beautiful. I loved just sitting in the chosen towns watching everything as lame as it sounds. :/ I live in state Florida of the U.S.A so snow is something I don't get to experience.

But anyway...I was pretty upset with how the hat design looked for Grenth. The original art design was beautiful but in game it just looked blah. X.x; and the white hair that came with it made my character look like she was having a bad hair day. I was hoping it would have been longer looking or something. And the Ice on the hat looked like stone to me, more than ice. ^^ I liked Dwayna's hat alot better so much I decided to get them for all of my characters.

Um..the worse part was when the the gifts dropped. I was lagging so badly. Had like 10 to 15 seconds lag spikes. I'm sure everyone else did. I was wondering what the GW team was thinking when this happened. I don't know if this was done in past Wintersday events but was horrible. I was hoping the gifts would just appear in the inventory like the goody bags did in Mad Thorn king's event. Would have saved alot of time and less lags.

I was also bored in the event. Just standing around. I really thought it would be something a little like Mad Thorn King's event where you make your character actually do something. x.x; Alot of peope were afk during the event lol..from what I understand.

Well..That's my rant. :/ Sorry if this bothers some people but felt I needed to have my thoughts be heard. I hope everyone has a great, fresh and fun new year! Oh...and btw for those people who were being mean to others while in the events you need to really grow up. Not everyone has been on for the earlier events and had questions about it. I don't see any reason for anyone to call them "Morons", "Noobs", "dumb***" etc etc. Once upon a time you were all asking questions too so stop acting high and mighty. --Adiana 17:21, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * Presents should have dropped in inventory instead of on ground. That's the biggest problem from what I can tell.  Also, there are reports of a rollback, and it's not clear whether there was one or wasn't.  People are saying they've lost 500 candy cane shards and hats.  They ought to be disappointed. [[Image:User_Woop_sig.png]] Woop  ‧  talk  ‧ 18:53, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed 100%. Also I wish there could have been some more new content...2 new quests versus last years 8 new quests and a bunch of new items :(-Warior kronos 04:19, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Put away your Miniatures
After some thought, I have concluded that main difference between this year and last year's event is the presence of Miniatures in Towns. It is not unlikely that this could be putting extra strain on the servers, resulting it high amounts of lag. So in an effort to reduce lag, I am asking all players to please keep your miniatures away while in Lion's Arch and Kamadan during the finales. --Curse You 18:35, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Halloween didn't have the same problems, but still minipets were equipped. I doubt minipets are the problem.-- Brains12  • <font color="#696969">Talk  • 18:37, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * (edit conflict) As only 20 miniatures are allowed per outpost this would not make anything better :P poke | talk 18:38, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Each mini requires a different randomization script to determine their movement, 20 was chosen because it wasn't noticeable, normally. However, when there are a large number of things going on, it all adds up. --Curse You 18:42, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Halloween also didn't have NPCs running around destroying gifts. You think the Grentches don't take up server resources? --Curse You 18:39, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Then it's the Grentches and the mass dropping of gifts, not necessarily the minipets. -- Brains12  • <font color="#696969">Talk  • 18:40, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Those have always been there, and there was never lag of this magnitude. --Curse You 18:42, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I really think it's the gifts dropping at the ending that making the lag and people district hoping. Not the mini pets. The gifts keep dropping and then there's people coming from other districts to get to the event. That's the only time the lag gets worse. x.x; Really would have been better if the gifts appeared in the inventory than dropping on the ground.--Adiana 18:49, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * You've got to admit though, the miniatures can't be helping. Putting them away would at least reduce the lag, but is unlikely to stop it. --Curse You 19:00, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * True..I guess it would help. Lol the district I'm at now is filled with mini pets. I have the feeling it could be a problem once the event is over with. --Adiana 19:04, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * User talk:Gaile Gray - seems like it is a combination of people who are AFK and the mass dropping of presents. -- Brains12  • <font color="#696969">Talk  • 19:06, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I see. X.x; See that is why I wished the GW team would have made the gifts go into the inventories instead of dropping all over the place, like on Halloween with Mad King Thorn. X.x; Still to what Gaile said about the gods showing up..I didn't know they did. I thought it was just the Avatars. Oh well...I hope NEXT TIME they will place them in the inventories. --Adiana 19:13, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * I believe that the lag is coming from the massive gift dropping and the particle effects coming off the top of them. Also this is because of all of the players that are AFK and not picking up their gifts right as they drop. Please Note this is just my opinion and theory. -- Sktbrd341 19:16, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I repeat, there was never a lag problem in previous years. The only major difference is miniatures in Towns and possibly the servers are getting overloaded (or old). --Curse You 19:28, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * ...and I think everyone here "repeats" - a flood of minitatures, constant zoning, and ground-spawning presents were all part of the game last year. Other than the incredible lag, very little is different mechanically between the Wintersday 2006 and 2007 finales.  Implying that up to 20 miniatures (a NEW limit to the game, by the way) is causing 150,000ms pings is just ignorant.  --Mystisteel 20:09, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I"m sorry, you seem to have forgotten a very simple fact: Miniatures were not allowed to be taken out in Town until Canthan New Year 2007, which was after Wintersday 2006. The limit on the number of miniatures was implemented along with the allowance of them into Towns.  See Game updates/20070214. --Curse You 21:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Miniture will likley have no effect on the lag, as there are always maxed minis out and about in nearly every town on an average day with no lag. Lions Arch on an average day of trading is near full of players, with all possible minis out, and no lag. I was watching the lag spikes in town, and they only occured when there were large sums of unclaimed presents on the ground, as they were picked up the lag went away, when they were all picked up, the lag was gone. Untill the next present drop. I suspect it had to do with a large amount of AFKers and the present tracking of several hundred unclaimed gifts. The more gifts, the higher the lag, as the gifts were picked up, the lag dropped. Med Luvin 19:17, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Ever heard of addition? Even if one thing doesn't cause something on its own, doesn't mean it can't add to the problem when other things are present.
 * In the end though, it turns out that the main culprit of the lag was problems at one of the distributors. However, it was only noticeable when there was enough stuff to overwhelm the system (i.e. Presents and Miniatures) --Curse You 08:34, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Read: "as it turns out, miniatures in town had absolutely nothing to do with it, but I'll continue to add that into my posts so I don't sound like I was a raving lunatic the past several days". --Mystisteel 16:47, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Favorite Wintersday event circle?
Okay right now I'm in LA in a "Grenth district" and there's like so many people piled on the circle in the middle. I've noticed that in like almost all of the districts I've been to. Why is that? Is that where you get more shards and less taken away? --Adiana 19:19, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * The circles are taken from the Canthan New Year's Boardwalk where you have to stand on one of the circles to win more tickets. With the boardwalk one all of the ajacent circles gets the player some more tickets. The people that go AFK stand in the middle because statisically they have a better chance of winning. That is as much as I know. Here is a link to the article Nine Rings -- Sktbrd341 19:21, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I see but that's cheating. X.x; Those people afk...should be kicked off...or something. --Adiana 19:27, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * Never been to the Dragon Festival have we? It's basically an AFK event. --Curse You 19:29, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Nah...I've started playing in September of last year...so I'm hoping this year I will be able to take part of the dragon fest and all, but thanks Sktbrd341! --Adiana 19:38, 1 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * No problem trying to help where ever I can. -- Sktbrd341 19:43, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Statistically it is the same in any circle due to the number of canes won and the chance of winning in that circle. However the variance is lower in the centre circle. -- Lemming [[Image:User Lemming64 sigicon.png]] 19:29, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday Event Update
As of 4:40 PM Pacific time, here is an update on the issues with the Wintersday Event:


 * Lag: Players are experiencing lag in the event. There were/are two things going on:
 * We had a game server issue. The server team dealt with that before the third event, and from some reports that did help with some of the issues.
 * We also learned that one of our providers -- a key provider that is involved in connections to the LA Data Center (through which all games are relayed) -- developed issues today. According to the numerous emails on this subject, as of Noon Pacific today, that provider has been notified, and the issue has been escalated as far up the chain as it can be. I have not received an "All clear" email, so believe these issues continue, and they are truly outside our control.


 * Talking to players, and thinking about this myself, there are theories that the lag issue might be be related to a few things: Substantially more AFKers than in the past; miniatures being out in town; some sort of glitch with the attack of the Grentchies (as the problem seems to worsen when they're around and lag is noticeably worse in Grench districts). I don't know if any of those is even remotely possible, but I have inquired.


 * Disconnects: Some players are getting Err 7s. If I recall my Err List properly, that number seems to point to the issue with the provider, which we hope will be resolved ASAP.


 * Ladder Freeze: The ladder was frozen in the last day or so. I believe it may have stopped updating as of Midnight GMT this morning. This was an inadvertent freeze -- let's say due to unseasonably cold weather? ;) -- and the ladder will be restarted. It is highly doubtful that it will reset, that is, wiped and restarted. I cannot say if we will go back to gather the data from the games played during the freeze, or if we'll just pick up and move on when we restart the ladder. Andrew Patrick is working on this, and yes, we do see advantages and disadvantages to either way of restarting. What we would suggest is that no one mess around in rated games -- like play silly builds or take a fall -- because those games may be logged retroactively. I don't want to start a panic -- and again, I cannot say this will or will not happen -- but please keep it in mind as you choose to play rated matches.


 * Lost Items: A few players are reporting that they have lost Wintersday-related items. A hat here, a present there, sometimes both. I have relayed these issues to the team, and the Support Team has received tickets and is also letting folks know what's going on. I know we are unable to replace lost items; we mean we are literally unable to do that. But we are looking into this situation to assess what's going on and to, of course, amend the problem.

We are very sorry for these issues, and lots of people are working hard to resolve them. -- Gaile 00:47, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Update to the update
Andrew is speaking to CS Lim, our Server Team lead, and CS has agree that we will not restart the ladder until an announcement has been made. Watch Andrew's talk page for information about the ladder restart. If we are able to do so, we will make a news post or an in-game announcement, as well. If I were guessing, I would say that we will restart the ladder tomorrow, when a lot of folks will be back at work. Thanks for your patience. -- Gaile 01:06, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * This final was fun, with or without lag, it was a special atmosphere. I taught of it as a challenge to see how fast I could pick up my own items ^^.. I was thinking as well, LA has had several extra npc's in town since last year, don't know if they contribute to the lag or not ;-) Anyway, I enjoyed the event a lot, so thx ;-) --[[Image:User_Tribina_Mulogo.jpg]] (Tribina / talk) 01:33, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Wintersday redux! -TehBuG-

Candy Cane Armor (Suggestion)
I would LOVE to see Anet introduce one set (Male/Female) of Candy Cane Armor (that costs Candy Cane Shards & Gold or something.) If we have Wintersday 2008 that is. I HOPE we do. Even something like Candysmith Marley's Armor would be awesome. -- RavenJWolfe 05:43, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Had a similair idea for dragon festival 2. for them to give an option to trade in the dragon mask and some tokens for a dragon curias... it'd look SO fine... :) - Muscolo

Who Won?
So is wintersday going to be extended? 76.170.188.190 09:09, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * We wont know until ArenaNet decides. &mdash;  ク  Eloc  <font color="Black">貢  09:16, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Elf Fest 2007-2008
I dont know if any of you were there bu there a big Elf fest led by "Daniel Frozenwind" where we all dressed up as elves and there was free tonic, trivia quizes for some pretty decent prizes (tomes, gems etc) and alot of fun games like "300 elves" was anyone else here part of that? I thought it was pretty awesome even though loads of ppl left after awhile and there was a huge afterparty after that, that filled up 2 districts!

probably dont constitute a page but it was awesome :D --Destructos Maximus 12:31, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

yea! i went to that, and man it was fething awesome!,i haven seen anything like it before, i hope daniel does it again this year!

Polar Bear Miniature
Should this be on the page since it was activiated during Wintersday '07? <font color="Black">Lyra' <font color="Maroon">Valo'  21:41, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Damnit, I knew I should have done those quests. &mdash;  ク  Eloc  <font color="Black">貢 
 * X.x; How cute!! I didn't know anything about that! Where the in Grenth's name was I?!--Adiana 23:07, 2 January 2008 (UTC)adiana
 * what the hell if I knew this beforehand I would have done that quest a lot more times. please anet keep that in there even though wintersday is over Future [[Image:User_Future_Signature.png]] 23:08, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I am very very upset! Had I known about this I would have done that quest until I received the mini pet! I tried those quests once or twice giving up because I had done everything else.... why wasnt this made known once wintersday started?? I would have really liked to have another mini pet that is aqually attainable to me as I dont really have the plat to spend in commerce.  Please, please make this available somehow! Make that quest available if you still have it in your quest log! Anything!! PLEASE!!  Rogue4ever 22:41, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah don't ya just love how the polar bear minipet was added to the Wintersday page after the events were over? I attended close to half of the events yet heard nothing about the polar bear minipet until today...when I find out I missed out on it completely. When I actually did Straight to the Heart the one time I did it I used this wiki's page about it. I checked the prizes that were available in the Wintersday Chest...and didn't find playing the quest over and over worth it....now I find out that a mini was available. Had I know that I would have played those quests way more than once. At the very least the information should have been announced (whether through an announcement or by simply adding the info to the Wintersday pages on this wiki) by Anet once the existence of the Polar Bear mini was made known. I did the quest Straight to the Heart while I was waiting between events on January 1st....yet I had no idea about the minipet until today. Thanks a lot Anet.--Thor79•[[Image:User-thor79.png]]•Talk 05:55, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Rift Warden and Shard Collector Just Disappear?
I know that Wintersday officially ended on the second, but keeping the quests available then taking away the ability for someone to get the quest reward/turn in the Candy Cane Shards without warning feels like a slap in the face. I know it's not your fault Gaile, but would you please pass along to those in charge of updating that even something like a 5 minute warning message flashed across the servers would allow those of us who are trying to get the last presents/mini polar bears to end early and turn in the shards while we still have the chance? Thanks :) 24.210.238.66 20:20, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I just wanted to point out that, while the decorations linger, the actual Wintersday Festival event ended after the final Dwayna vs. Grenth battle at just past Midnight (Pacific time) on the 2nd. So the collectors staying in town until the 3rd seems sort of a "bonus" to me. However, I do understand your comments, and I will pass them along. I don't know that we would want to do an in-game message, but including a note about how long the collectors will stay in town on the event page seems a kindness, and I'd like us to do that next year, if it's feasible. -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 20:42, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you Gaile. I understand that it was a bonus, and I appreciate that, but a notice about when they will be taken away would relieve heart-ache on my part :) 24.210.238.66 20:48, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * You could leave the collectors for another week and remove the other npcs, Something like Imperial Supply Master Kagno. --MageMontu 00:40, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Comments about Wintersday
Hi, Gaile! First off, I'd just like to thank all those at ANet that contributed to the Wintersday event. It was my very first Wintersday, and I had a lot of fun. (Sometimes I just stood in Lion's Arch or Kamadan to look at the decorations!) I do have some comments about it, though, that I feel the dev team would benefit from hearing. While I had a great time, many others, including most people in my guild, found that this Wintersday added little in terms of new content, which took away from their excitement toward the event--until yesterday. Many in my guild, in fact in the entire GW community, absolutely LOVE mini pets, and feel that had they known that there was even a small chance of obtaining a new one, they would have been more enthusiastic about the event. As it stands now, there are only very few (reported) mini Polar Bears in the game, most of which will likely be used to obtain large amounts of cash/ectos/armbraces instead of being sought after for their cuteness (I don't know any actual numbers, but they are most likely now the rarest mini pet in the entire game). There are many posts made by those in the GW community echoing these sentiments. I know that you wanted it to be 'discovered', but with such a low drop rate (I farmed for 12 hours yesterday with no luck, and the first reported finding was yesterday on GWGuru), it was highly unlikely that the community would come across it in time to get people excited.

Many, many players are confused as to why you didn't take the route of making the mini Polar Bear available in the same fashion as the mini Moa Chick. A scavenger hunt, such as that for the Moa and even for The Greatest Snowman Ever Made, would have been delightfully fun, even if it had certain requirements (like collecting different things from different campaigns). It just seems silly that something that was supposed to be a surprise for Wintersday is available to very, very few players. As I said above, even just some cryptic hint about a new mini would have been more than enough to get many, many players excited. For things like the Eternal Blade and the Mini Ghostly Hero that are available anytime (but were also added as "stealth" updates), it makes sense to let players discover it for the simple reason that even if it takes a week or two to be discovered, everyone has a fair chance to acquire it. But with the mini Polar Bear, you kept it so secret (even you didn't know it was available until yesterday) that it may as well not have been added to the game at all. Don't get me wrong, I love the cute little guy and would do anything short of trying to accumulate 1500 Armbraces of Truth to get one, but that's not going to happen.

As for other aspects of Wintersday, I really want to commend the Art team for the beautiful decorations in LA, Kamadan, and Droknar's Forge. I only played the Snowball Fight a few times, but what I did experience, I enjoyed. (Using the snowball skills was very fun, even if I did cringe at "Yellow Snow." ;) ) The hats were also nice; I liked the fact that you took a Scandanavian idea instead of just using a North American Christmas-theme. I have to admit, though, that I would have liked to see the Grenth hat look more like ice (there are several pictures on GWGuru where people have used TexMod to change the colour to white and light blue, and they look fabulous!) instead of metal. It does look good on my Necromancer, though. :D All in all, I'd like to say that the event was fun for a newcomer such as myself (I just missed last year's celebration, so I was pretty excited), but I wonder if you couldn't take the above into consideration for future events to keep things fresh for old-timers as well. Kokuou 21:20, 3 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry, Gaile! The above post was added while I was typing my post, and I certainly didn't mean to be redundant! Kokuou 21:29, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * There are a few things you must know, young padawan: Guild Wars cannot contain any bug, the art team cannot deliver crappy weapons and always respect a contest wining original concept, priceless items cannot be sell, it's game about skills as opposed to grinding, Gaile is beautyfull and the Jade Quarry is always full. Yseron
 * PS: and ursan blessing was meant to reveal the true potential of mesmers skills. Yseron
 * My girlfriend (who's also our guild leader) farmed until 4 a.m. to get it (she was sick, but she loves minis so much), and in the day, a lot of people in our alliance felt sorry for her, so we all farmed. Combined, we have farmed for more than 100 hours and no pet. There must be a logic behind making it so rare, but I fail to see it. It would have been rare enough if you could only get one after 100 hours of farming. That is what I'd like to comment. Other than that, I really, really liked wintersday. Nicky Silverstar 22:41, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah...the moment I found out about that pet I farmed for like 7 hours I believe and didn't get it. Would have made a nice birthday gift for myself. X.x; I really hate the drop rate and was highly disappointed. I hope your girlfriend gets well soon Nicky Silverstar --Adiana 23:00, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana
 * Thank you very much, she's already feeling better today. And a happy birthday to you, hopefully you get a mini next year. Nicky Silverstar 08:39, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

A final kick in the teeth to end this event.
So along with the horrible lag, the event not occurring in some districts, people not getting presents because of the lag, the lack of any warning about polar bear minipets and ugly hats I can add the fact that the Candy Cane Shard/Frozen Ectoplasm collectors are no longer in any district even though the event has not ended yet. I submitted a ticket but the GM was unable to give any information on this instead telling me to visit here and ask someone. It seems if you have any left over Candy Cane Shards or collector items for wintersday items, you'll have to wait another year to use them now. Thanks Anet and better luck next year...
 * Game updates/20080103. Also, boo hoo. Just be glad ArenaNet makes a Wintersday event. &mdash;  ク  Eloc  <font color="Black">貢  01:21, 4 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Why bother if you make it such a small window of opportunity for people to enjoy it, and when people do try participate they are kicked out or crash due to the servers dying. The past few years we have had warning as to when the event would end and the collectors have historically stuck about even after the snow cleared. Myself and quite a number of my guild mates are now stuck with stacks of winter collector items and no one to hand them in to.--Uberfish 01:28, 4 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Eloc, for someone that likes to file breaches of GWW:NPA because they said that you were QQing, you sure aren't practicing what you preach. Kokuou 01:30, 4 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I believe you are mistaken. Collectors have not stayed around after the snow cleared. In fact, the first year, they left at the end of the event -- which officially ends with the conclusion of the final Dwayna vs. Grenth battle, meaning at about 12:45 AM Pacific on the 2nd. This year, collectors remained in place for 36 hours beyond that. I will ask if we can include notification of a departure time for the NPCs, of course. But I did want to make it clear that decorations != event (the event is actually the finale on the 1st), that the NPCs stayed for a day and a half beyond the event's close, and also point out that we have made very exceptional arrangements to amend any significant loss from the lag/server issue, as shown in the January 3rd Update Notes . -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 02:02, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Didn't the Wintersday Gift Giver stick around for a bit last year? -- Lemming [[Image:User Lemming64 sigicon.png]] 02:34, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Last year he first appeared after the event's end.. poke | talk 02:43, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * IIRC the Wintersday Gift Giver stayed for about a week after the event last year, however last year, he didn't appear until after the finale, while this year he appeared about a week before it. Also, unlike last year, you have a week five days to get the hats after the finale. -- Gordon Ecker 02:49, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Also IIRC the NPCs stayed a bit loger last year due to the earthquake that occured during the Wintersday period. -- Kakarot [[Image:User_Kakarot_Sig.gif|Talk]] 17:45, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
 * IIRC? Also, it's because Grenth won that the event was extended ;P &mdash;  ク  Eloc  <font color="Black">貢  02:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Here in New Zealand it is fairly commonplace to holiday and celebrate away from home and computer games around New Year's Eve/Day (It's the middle of Summer) and the Wintersday finales have always been a bit out of reach for me. I'm pleased to see the festival hats are now available outside of the event finale for those who were participating in the early quests. But then again the disappearance of the Candy Cane Shard collectors was also disappointing. I'd love to see these NPCs linger with the decorations so I might have a better use for those shards than just dumping them on the nearest merchant. -- WarBlade 07:13, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with him for the same reason as it is middle of summer here most epople go away or are out, for me i had to wait around form my hat :) just coz i thought they would be cool but the dwayna one is strange and grenth one looks soo much better now with the update, but yea i would like to see the NPC's hang around as i missed most of them and only had 1 day to cash in all my things :P--Wild rituals 01:40, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Wintersday Angry Snowman
I know it's over and done with, but kinda wanted to pointed out that on the quest page of The Strength of Snow talks about the Angry Snowman and his whole deal even though he wasn't in that quest, but on the page for Straight to the Heart He's not mentioned at all even though he's in it.

So...what I'm asking is...shouldn't the info on him be in the Straight to the heart quest as well for next year Wintersday use?

X.x; I'm sorry for this noob post, just thought it would be helpful. Being a noob that I am I was rushing to get to Freezie in the "Straight to the Heart" quest and was trying to avoid some of the snowmen, I didn't know anything about the Angry Snowman and that he has the key for opening the doors to get to Freezie till I looked over at the "The Strength of Snow" wiki page.

Just thought it would help some.--Adiana 08:01, 4 January 2008 (UTC)Adiana

Who Won?
Since the cities are still decorated, did Grenth win the last Wintersday? --MageMontu 12:01, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I think Grenth may have won, but don't worry, the decs were removed on Thursday, so all is now back to normal. I sorta miss the snow, to tell you the truth. *sigh* -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 07:00, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Aye Wintersday is the best (better then Halloween :P). --MageMontu 07:30, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Mistake in removing wintersday
The avatars and priest are still in Kamadan, at least. I don't know about LA, or Ascalon, but they may well be the same way.&mdash; Ebañy   Salmonderiel  19:01, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Never mind, they disappeared while I was typing this o.O &mdash;[[Image:User_Ebany_Salmonderiel_Cake.jpg|Cake!|19px]] Ebañy   Salmonderiel  19:01, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
 * On a somewhat related note, the Ice Crown now looks gorgeous, Gaile! Props to the team! Kokuou 21:28, 10 January 2008 (UTC)


 * *jumps up and down* TY! the updated crown looks so much nicer... you have know restored my care for guild wars. are you guys clearly made it that you care! ^_^
 * Thanks you guys -- glad you like the new crown design. I agree -- it's very nice! -- Gaile [[Image:User gaile_2.png| ]] 06:36, 13 January 2008 (UTC)