Good tidings to you, Adventurer! Don your cold weather wear, for the Winter Maiden has come! Starting with the Winter Maiden Update on December 9th, you’ll be able to earn yourself more than a few holiday treats through a variety of limited time events!

Honor the Winter Maiden from December 9th – December 28th

The celebration of the Winter Maiden has come around again, and this time the hosts of the festival will be Marianople and Solis Headlands. These areas will be placed under Festival Law, which means that you will be unable to engage in PvP in those zones during the festival. Of course, the right of Guild Dominion trumps the Festival’s peace, so be on your guard! If you’re in a Dominion battle, you can still be attacked.

During the event, visit the Winter Maiden’s Messenger in your capital city to begin your path on the festival quests! The events involve hunting a winter ghost, praying for the maiden under Kyprosa’s Blessed Tree, and engaging in a snowball fight during Mistmerrow battles!

This year’s prizes include special snowman statues that may drop from the Winter’s Ghost, and these special prizes available from the Festival Exchanger. Remember: If you can’t get the rewards during the event, they will be available later at the permanent Festival Exchange Machine in Mirage Isle!

Leafpile Greenman – 100 Festival Coins – This Greenman is holiday-ready and battle prepared!

– This Greenman is holiday-ready and battle prepared! Winter Maiden’s Lullaby – 70 Festival Coins – This holiday themed plushie will keep your house filled with the Winter Maiden spirit all year long!

– This holiday themed plushie will keep your house filled with the Winter Maiden spirit all year long! Winter Maiden Festival Tree Chest – 16 Festival Coins – When opened, this chest has a chance to grant you one of four special Winter Maiden Trees for your home! Collect them all!

– When opened, this chest has a chance to grant you one of four special Winter Maiden Trees for your home! Collect them all! Cypress Music Box – 24 Festival Coins – It’s adorned with a Winter Maiden tree and ready to play some festival themed music!

– It’s adorned with a Winter Maiden tree and ready to play some festival themed music! Reindeer Headwear – 8 Festival Coins – Seasonal red and green reindeer horns, ready to be worn with all of your outfits.

– Seasonal red and green reindeer horns, ready to be worn with all of your outfits. Yule Maiden Hat – 8 Festival Coins – Who said the Winter Maiden only gets to wear the hat? Now you can too!

Who said the Winter Maiden only gets to wear the hat? Now you can too! Snowman Headwear – 8 Festival Coins – A pair of snowman themed bobblers that are sure to keep you cheery whenever they’re worn.

Regrade the days away from December 9th – December 21st

Going hand-in-hand with the festival this year is the Winter Maiden’s blessing on item regrade attempts! If your item is any grade between Rare and Celestial, you’ll receive a 1.5x bonus to succeed on your item regrade.

This bonus will disappear after December 22nd, however, so make sure to get all of your regrade attempts in!

Open your gifts from December 25th – January 7th

But what would the Winter Maiden Festival be without gifts? Copious amounts of gifts!

Starting Christmas Day, visit Candy Artisan Vaughn in your capital city with a level 40 or higher character to begin a quest to rip open as many gifts in your capital city as you can! Vaughn will gift you with the Discord Destroyer – a candy cane with a penchant for detonating presents.

The Discord Destroyer will last for 20 minutes, so hunt for presents as fast as you can. Unfortunately, some of the more “merry” winter revelers wrapped present boxes without presents inside! (The egg nog sneaks up on you, or so we hear.) When opening a present for 1 labor point, it has a chance to contain a gift or nothing at all. If you get nothing, keep opening presents!

The less intoxicated volunteers packed a variety of delights within the boxes, including Bound Worker’s Compensation potions, lunarite of all shapes and sizes, special Dawnsdrop armor pieces, Bound Hereafter Stones, Bound Tax Certificates, Bound Eco Friendly Fuel, Elixirs of Insatiable Greed, Rainbow Pumpkin Taffy, Bound Vocation Hastener Scrolls, scraps of a brand new portrait known as the “Higher Ground Inn,” and the coveted Brown Reindeer mount and armor.

Tick-tock goes the Divine Clock: December 9th – January 18th

Finally, make sure to take advantage of the two new Divine Clock buttons on your UI. Once you’re online for two hours, the buttons will activate and offer you a pair of Divine Boots! Place these boots on the ground or in your home, and the Winter Maiden will stop by after an hour to fill your stocking with a special gift box. Interact with the box again to collect your present!

If you’re an ArcheAge patron, you’ll be able to claim two sets of boots instead of one each day, with a bit of a twist. Patron Divine Boots will offer both Lucky and standard Sunpoints, Moonpoints, and Starpoints in their gift boxes. Meanwhile, the normal set of Divine Boots will offer everyone Sunpoints, Moonpoints, Starpoints, or Holiday Essence.

Stack up and trade in your Holiday Essence at the festival exchange on Mirage Isle for the following rewards:

The Winter Yata Costume – 30 Essence – This white variant of the Yata costume comes with special winter accessories and a unique dance!

Essence – This white variant of the Yata costume comes with special winter accessories and a unique dance! Massive Little Red Riding Elk Plushie – 10 Essence – It got lost on its way to Grandmother’s house, but now its in yours!

– It got lost on its way to Grandmother’s house, but now its in yours! Bound Worker’s Compensation: 200 – 1 Essence – There’s never a bad time for more labor!

Enjoy the winter revel, and happy holidays from all of us here at Trion and XLGAMES!

As you can see, there’s never a dull moment in ArcheAge for the next month and a half. Enjoy your wintery travels throughout Erenor, and a big happy holidays from all of us on the ArcheAge team!

Discuss this on the forums!