In this blog I give 5 feature ideas to make the most interesting Winter Wonderland event ever.
Goals:
- Make old players tear their eyes.
- Make new players hooked by the game mode(s).
- New progression and monetization loops.
- Upcycle obsolete content frugally.
Some of these features below can be stretch goals. With one game mode + Affinity Shop as the core, the event already has great retention and monetization potential.
Quickplay: Thawed
A surprise game mode where players are frozen at death’s door, and can be thawed by allies before being eliminated.
- Repurposed from Freezethaw Elimination (Winter Wonderland 2021).
- Entrance: Inside Quickplay Tab (similar to Quickplay: Hacked).
Existing rules:
- On reaching 1 health, player becomes frozen inside an ice cube and can’t move, attack, or use abilities. They can still ping and send voicelines.
- Players can thaw frozen allies by holding interact for 2 seconds. Thawed players return to 50% health.
Updated rules:
- No longer a Team Deathmatch. Game modes include all active Quick Play modes, plus Clash and 2CP.
- Player dies after being frozen for 12 seconds, then immediately respawns.
- Thawed players can’t contest the objective, and can be crushed to explosion by payload, barricade, or moving environments.
Perk system is replaced by unique Freezethaw Perks.
- Minor perk – Area Thaw: Thawing an ally also thaws allies within 8 meters.
- Minor perk – Cryo Blast: Explode and damage enemies on thawed or death.
- Major perk – Who Did It?!: Gain 33% ultimate charge when thawed.
- Major perk – Discount Coulder: When frozen, roll in a small ice ball to knock enemies back with no damage dealt.
An effective way to make quickplay less sweaty than ever.
Death is less punishing, more fun, and can even be rewarding with Freezethaw perks.
Snowball Fight Evolved
Brings back Mei’s Snowball Deathmatch mode, a well acclaimed mode since the beginning of Overwatch with additional rules.
Existing rules:
- Two teams of 6 players begins in Ecopoint Antarctica as Mei.
- Mei’s weapon can only fire 1 snowball, and can’t be reloaded. Snowball hit instantly kills the enemy.
- Mei can interact with snow piles on the ground to refill the snowball ammo.
- Mei’s ultimate lets her repeatedly shoot snowballs with infinite ammo.
New rules:
- Is now 8-12 player FFA.
- Map pool now also include Antarctic Penninsula’s three locations, King’s Row Winter, and Hanamura Winter (all partially blocked).
- Jump pads are placed on the maps.
- Snow piles appear more frequently on the maps and takes less time to gather.
- Cryo Freeze and Ice Wall lasts shorter.
- Mei’s Ultimate lasts shorter but charges faster, and boosts her jump height above Ice Wall’s height.
Mei gets Unique perks in this mode:
- Minor perk – Ice Pillar: Remains the same
- Minor perk – Recycled Snow: Parrying snowball with Cryo Freeze refills 1 snowball.
- Major perk – Cryo Landing: Falling during Cryo Freeze stuns nearby enemies.
- Major perk – Freeze Jet: Hold Alt fire when not near a snow pile to blow air and levitate.
Low effort (maybe? depends) to bring back a loved, nostalgic game mode.
A more balanced mode than, say, Cachimari Deathmach, and also unique enough to gather attention from new players.
Maximilien's Affinity Vault
During the event players can level up Maximilian’s vault by completing tasks, refreshing the listings with a bigger discount.
- Event currency: golden tickets (reskin from 2025’s cookies)
- Complete an event task to earn 3 tickets.
- Event bundles come with 10 tickets.
- Use 3 tickets to level up the vault and refresh all listings. The vault has 5 levels.
- Starting from 15-30% discount at level 1, each level increases the discount by 10%.
- Upon reaching max level, players can keep refreshing the vault with 3 tickets.
- UI workload is frugal: Only a hud displaying tickets, level, and refresh button is needed. Well, rules are displayed too.
This addition makes the vault feel less like clearance sale, and more like a well-earned achievement.
Refreshing the list not only brings Gatcha randomness to the vault, but also makes FOMO effect happen many times through the event.
Players are more motivated to buy bundles.
Christmas Giftbox
Endorsement becomes a way to give other players loot boxes.
- After a match, the “Endorse” icon and interface is dressed up into a recolored “Send Gifts” interface.
- Endorsed players receive a Christmas Giftbox and are notified in text chat.
- Christmas Giftboxes are regular loot boxes with a higher chance to give Christmas themed items.
- The Giftboxes also have a chance to give Golden Tickets and Coal.
- Event Currency: Coal
Collecting Coal can complete Coal-related event tasks, unlocking special player titles.- 1 Coal collected: “Bad Kid”
- 3 Coal collected: “Evil Gremlin”
- 5 Coal collected: “Professional Brat”
A player can receive up to 3 giftboxes per day.
Keeps endorsers and the endorsed ones in loop of event content.
Builds player habit of endorsing.
Souvenirs Rework
Make Souvenirs fun!
- Players can throw out a random equipped souvenir by saying “Hello” in spawn room before the battle.
- The stills of the souvenir emote is made into victory poses.
- Souvenirs can be kicked around in the spawn room, and can score at the basketball hoop.
- Legendary Souvenirs
- Rare souvenirs that are bigger.
- Comes with a VFX and a SFX when being thrown out or kicked around in spawn room.
Low effort feature to make obsolete systems meaningful again.