It’s the Holidays again, and with the holidays, come special events in each of our favorite MOBAs. League of Legends is celebrating Snowdown with a massive winter sale, and DotA 2 is (not) celebrating Frostivus. Here is a complete summary of the winter events.
(source: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/store/sales/suit-snowdown-vault-clearing-sales)
League of Legends is celebrating Snowdown, their annual winter holiday, with new skins and vault-clearing discounts. Although Riot has not released any information about new winter play modes, the developer has promised a lot of new, exciting features in 2015. The new Summoner’s Rift looks incredible. It is fun, intuitive, and unique. That said, this year’s winter celebration is more reflective than it is proactive. All characters available during past holiday events will be avaiable for purchase. Specifically, from December 11 to January 6, Riot will be making each of the following available:
Mystery Chests: 790 RP
These chests consist of skins that cost 975 RP and above. This is a premium gift.
Snowdown Mystery Box:
These boxes provide a chance of unlocking Snowdown skins, including this year’s set: Winter Wonder Orianna, Snow Day Malzahar, and Poro Rider Sejuani.
Poro Rider Sejuani: 975 RP
Snow Day Malzahar: 975 RP
Winter Wonder Orianna: 975 RP
Poro wards: 640 RP each
Poro icons: 250 RP
Skins:
Snow Bunny Nidalee
Happy Elf Teemo
Workshop Nunu
Old Saint Zilean
Earnest Elf Tristana
Champions:
Nidalee
Teemo
Nunu
Zilean
Tristana
Skins:
Santa Gargas
Reindeer Kog’Maw
Silent Nigt Sona
Nutcracko
Re-Gifted Amumu
Ragdoll Poppy
Candy Cane Miss Fortune
Champions:
Gragas
Kog’Maw
Sona
Shaco
Amumu
Poppy
Miss Fortune
Skins:
Toy Soldier Gangplank
Snowmerdinger
Mistletoe LeBlanc
Festive Maokai
Champions:
Gangplank
Heimerdinger
LeBlanc
Maokai
Skins:
Slay Belle Katarina
Dark Candy Fiddlesticks
Bad Santa Veigar
Snow Day Ziggs
Champions:
Katarina
Fiddlesticks
Veigar
Ziggs
Skins:
Winter Wonder Lulu
Snow Day Singed
Snowstorm Sivir
Champions:
Lulu
Singed
Sivir
Snow Bunny Nidalee: 520 RP
Happy Elf Teemo: 520 RP
Workshop Nunu: 520 RP
Old Saint Zilean: 520 RP
Earnest Elf Tristana: 520 RP
SIlenat Night Sona: 520 RP
Re-Gifted Amumu: 520 RP
Santa Gragas: 975 RP
Reindeer Kog’Maw: 975 RP
Nutcracko: 975 RP
Ragdoll Poppy: 975 RP
Candy Cane Miss Fortune: 975 RP
Toy Soldier Gangplank: 975 RP
Snowmerdinger: 975 RP
Mistletoe LeBlanc: 975 RP
Festive Maokai: 975 RP
Slay Belle Katarina: 975 RP
Dark Candy Fiddlesticks: 975 RP
Bad Santa Veigar: 975 RP
Snow Day Ziggs: 975 RP
Snow Day Singed: 975 RP
Snowstorm Sivir: 975 RP
Winter Wonder Lulu: 1350 RP
Snowman Ward: 640 RP
Gingerbread Ward: 640 RP
Candycane Ward: 640 RP
In all, Snowdown in League of Legends is about giving. The prices for champions and wards this year are reasonable, considering the number of cosmetics available. Each of the champions this year look incredible (although I am slightly disappointed that Riot only released three this year). And the Snowdown Mystery Box is, by far, the most value for the price. I will definitely be sending a box or two this Christmas.
(source: http://karmadecay.com/r/DotA2/comments/153tag/wallpaper_greeviling_1_1920x1080_px/)
Frostivus is cancelled this year. According to the DotA 2 developer’s blog, the new game engine is keeping Valve from publishing any new seasonal game modes. The DotA Team writes:
“With Diretide this year, we decided that it didn’t make sense to build another one of those resource-intensive game modes, for two reasons. The first was that the mode would quickly become obsolete when the engine changes arrive, and the second was that building it would have taken resources away from the work that needed to be done to ship the engine change itself. Now that Frostivus is on the horizon, we find ourselves facing a similar choice and, after some thought, we believe that once again the right choice is to not develop a Frostivus game mode.”
In the past, the developer has given us new game modes to help us melt away the holidays. This year, a new (and maybe more exciting) event is upon us: the Greeviling. Greevils have overrun the world, utterly ruining the holiday celebrations. Like Diretide, the event comes with new in-game side missions. These missions come with loot that can be applied later as cosmetics.
According to the official website, Greevils hide in dens throughout the game map. If a player gets into trouble, he should blow his Greevil whistle. A pet Greevil will shortly carry him off to a den (at an unknown location on the map). Unhatched Greevil eggs are available in the store. If a player discovers a Greevil den during the game, they can plunder it for presents that yield unique loot. The site also states that the DotA 2 store has been stocked with new seasonal marvels. As of this post, though, no such items have become available in the store.
(source: http://www.egmnow.com/smite/)
SMITE has not yet posted anything about their holiday celebrations, which is appropriate, given their new god and skin releases and preparations for the World Tournament in early January. When they do release something, I will release a post about it.
It has been an incredible year for MOBAs. The eSports scene has exploded beyond comprehension, and more players are playing now than ever before. DotA is releasing a new engine in the coming months, League is completely reinventing itself for season five, and SMITE is preparing for its first ever World Championship. Although the winter celebrations are a little unorthodox this year (especially DotA 2), they are appropriate, given the games’ incredible growth. As stated earlier, this holiday season is a reflective one for gamers and developers.
