Guild Wars 2’s Wintersday has arrived – go get your festive sweater

As promised, Guild Wars 2’s winter holiday events, gathered up in Wintersday, have arrived today. There’s kind of a lot of stuff to keep you occupied for the next couple of weeks, whether you’re protecting the dolyaks laden with presents in Toypocalypse, letting out pent-up aggression in Snowball Mayhem, or dying in the jumping puzzle of Winter Wonderland. Plus there’s always a stack of achievements and dailies to work through. So hey, you can farm gifts in real life, or you can farm gifts in Guild Wars 2 – at least Guild Wars 2 only looks cold. We spy new stuff in the cash shop, along with new rewards (including the festive sweater), a new holiday weapon set, and new minis, plus Secret Lair of the Snowmen has been retooled as a Strike Mission.

“Come join us in celebrating Wintersday—Toymaker Tixx has made his annual visit to Divinity’s Reach to spread seasonal cheer and festivity! Bring the cheer of Wintersday to the distant north in the Secret Lair of the Snowmen, complete daily achievements to earn fanciful holiday weapons, save Wintersday for the orphans around Divinity’s Reach by giving them wrapped gifts, and test your snow-throwing skills against other players in Snowball Mayhem. You can also experience the joy of jumping in Winter Wonderland, defend against waves of toys in Toypocalypse, and help keep Tixx’s airship, the Infinirarium, in order! Keep an eye out for Wintersday Gifts appearing all around Tyria, too.”

MOP’s Colin has been building up a recap of Guild Wars 2’s entire year to put it all into perspective; the first half, from the layoffs to the launch of Icebrood, went live last week, while the second half should arrive later this week in Flameseeker Chronicles, so stay tuned!

Bonus: Colin and Tina are joining MJ for a stream of Wintersday on the MOP Twitch channel this Saturday, so come give them a hard time! (Kidding! Just cheer them on through the jumping puzzle!)