User blog:Golden Fusion Quark/Xmas 2014, Winterland and Winter Pass

What the game was like during Xmas 2014: On the 5th of December 2014, I received a game update.

After waiting eagerly for the update to complete, the game loaded and a pop-up appeared:



I was in the Isle of Yarr, near Jacket Beach. Behind the pop-up; the grass had been replaced with snow and I could see a Christmas tree, decorated light posts and snowballs  The pop-up showed various shop items that were on sale for reduced prices and a Daily Reward window where some stars were ready to be claimed. I clicked on the claim button and received 250 stars.

I was keen to see what else had changed in the game and I teleported to the LEGO center:



The floor was covered in snow except for a large present tile covering the center square of the LEGO Center. The shop and houses were decorated with Christmas decorations and lights. This NPC's had a starry sparkle effect. Christmas trees and light posts dotted the area, along with small piles of presents and snow balls. Santa was sitting on one of the benches and behind him was a portal. I had been told by friends, that I needed to talk to Santa to get to Winterland Village.

A pop-up appeared asking: Do you want to travel to the Winterland Village?



I quickly clicked on the green tick and was teleported to the Isle of Yarr, near Jacket Beach.



I explored the area at the far left and found a very colourful Christmas Train that was loaded with presents and cards and surrounded by snow, decorated Christamas trees and light posts. Holiday Elves were standing by awaiting orders from Santa. (Or maybe they were planning their next snow ball fight)

I found Santa on a bench, I think he was resting after loading up his sleigh with presents and cards. Santa was very enthusiastic about the Holidays and he had plenty to talk about.



I was very keen to start my adventure in Winter Pass and find a Holiday Spirit for Santa.



In Winter Pass I had to scale a snowy mountain while dodging giant rolling snow balls, battling fierce Mountain Yeti and giant snow ball cannons.



There was a Global Achievement called the Snow Racer!, that had to be completed in 18 seconds. Getting this achievements took many, many attempts. I was unable to complete it until I got all the parts for the Holiday Elf and built him. I was very surprised when I did get it, as I had been hit by the second last snow ball cannon.



There were also Crooked Toothed Brutes to battle with. The 2nd of these brutes was the the 1st Champion, who had 57210 health points. He was a bit tricky as I had to avoid his attacks while dodging icy avalanches.

In Winter Pass there were 2 piles of rocks to unbuild and 2 snowmen to build.



The 2nd crooked tooth brute I encountered, was the malicious Crunch with 47610 health points. Once I was in the area, I needed to dodge his attacks and take out his minions the Mountain Yeti, while I was fired upon by 8 snow ball cannons that shot out giant snow balls. Using my Saxophone Player minifigure, I ran over to the far right barrier; while standing there the giant snow balls were unable to squish me. I used the primary attack to pacify the malicious Crunch while I also pushed him over to the other side of the arena to the far left side barrier. The Mountain Yeti still attacked me but they were over come by the Saxophone Player's secondary attack. I then finished off the Crunch with a combination of Forest Maiden's secondary and primary attacks.



Santa was pleased to see me return with the Holiday Spirit.



There are 7 Highlight of Winter achievements to complete located in the Global section of the achievements tab





One of the Highlight of Winter Achievements that needed to be completed was called Merrymaker!. 10 ogres needed to be converted using Santa's secondary attack. It was funny to see the ogres change to a blue color and wearing Santa hats.

More images of the Xmas train with other minifigures:



More images of the Winterland Village with other minifigures:



During the Holiday Season, players could claim Daily Rewards.We were given a variety of Daily Rewards such as: stars. potions, diamonds and on Day 7; a random Series 13 Minifigure Bag. I got the Sheriff, my first Series 13 Minifigure.



Below is a table of claimed Daily Rewards:



Christmas Day 2014:



With all the great features that were added to the game for the Holiday Season there were also some bugs that had been added to the game. These included lag, loading errors and some interesting display errors:



Overall it was great fun to be playing the game during the 2014 Holiday Season :-D