December has crept up on us once again, meaning that another edition of the Winter Wonderland Event has arrived in Overwatch 2. The 2023 edition of the event has a good mixture of the old and the new, with several fun wintery-themed Limited Time Modes returning to the Arcade. The biggest bit of innovation and change has come with the Winter Fair Event Pass, a new way for players to choose their own rewards instead of everyone receiving the same thing from a list of Event Challenges. Between that and a host of flashy new outfits making their way to the Shop, there’s something special this holiday season for any kind of OW2 player.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2023 edition of the Winter Wonderland Event in Overwatch 2.
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Festive Limited Time Modes
If you’re feeling festive and are looking to enjoy the Christmas spirit in Overwatch 2, there’s nowhere better than the Arcade where several Winter Wonderland LTMs are available. To be more specific, there are three wintery Limited Time Modes for players to partake in this year, all of which are returning modes from previous Winter Wonderlands.
First up is Mei’s Snowball Offensive, a hectic mode where all players suit up as everyone’s favourite cryogenic specialist and aim to pelt each other with snowballs. Mei’s ordinary special fire has been replaced with a powerful snowball capable of knocking out opponents in a single hit. You aim to win as many snowball duels as possible while avoiding enemy snowballs using Mei’s Ice Wall and Cryo Freeze abilities, with the player or team with the highest being declared the winner once the timer runs out. Mei’s Snowball Offensive is available as either a free-for-all deathmatch or a 5v5 Elimination mode.
Chilly Arcade Games
Aside from flinging snowballs, Overwatch 2 players can also enjoy some monster hunting with the return of Yeti Hunt. In this 5v1 Brawl mode, five Meis aim to take down one superpowered Yeti Winston, who himself is looking to snatch up various bits of meat from around the map so he can enter a primal frenzy and combat his pursuers. Yeti Hunt is chaotic, fast-paced and a lot of fun, especially if you like traditional Monster Hunter-esque games.
The final Limited Time Mode in Winter Wonderlands 2023 is Freeze-Flash Elimination. As a group of Heroes dolled up in their most festive attire, your goal is to battle against another team for Christmas domination. Eliminating an opponent won’t knock them out, though, but instead freeze them, turning them into perfect ice sculptures that decorate the map. Teammates can thaw frozen ones, so long as they don’t get caught in a blizzard themselves. The team that comes out warm and dry will win the round, with the overall winner being determined by whichever team wins three rounds first.
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- Mei’s Snowball Offensive
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- Freezethaw Elimination
Winter Wonderland 2023 Event Challenges
Alongside the suite of Limited Time Mode, Winter Wonderland 2023 also has several Event Challenges for you to undertake, just like every Overwatch 2 event before it. In total, there are 8 Event Challenges for you to complete throughout Winter Wonderland 2023 which will award Battle Pass EXP and… well, not much else, at least not directly.
Here are the 8 Winder Wonderland Event Challenges for the 2023 version of the event:
- Tickets for the Winter Fair: Earn a set of 10 Event Tickets.
- Freezethaw Fighter: Complete 3 games of Freezethaw Elimination. Wins grant double progress.
- Yeti Getter: Complete 3 games of Yeti Hunter. Wins grant double progress.
- Snowball Slayer: Win 3 games of Mei’s Snowball Offensive or Snowball Deathmatch. Wins grant double progress.
- Season’s Greetings: Complete 8 games. Wins grant double progress.
- Happier Holidays: Complete 16 games. Wins grant double progress.
- Winter’s Celebrations: Complete 24 games. Wins grant double progress.
- Maximum Festivities: Complete 32 games. Wins grant double progress.
If you’re used to previous Overwatch 2 events, this is where you’ll expect a list of the rewards you can obtain from completing these various Winter Wonderland challenges. However, Winter Wonderland 2023 is doing things a bit differently. Completing all 8 event challenges will award you a total of 27,500 Battle Pass EXP but, if you want some tangible rewards, you’ll have to visit somewhere else.
Winter Wonderland Event Challenges
The Winter Fair Event Pass and Rewards
If you’re wondering where the rewards for this year’s Winter Wonderland are, Blizzard is switching things up and walking the same path many of their contemporaries have taken. Instead of a handful of curated rewards which you would obtain through event challenges like most previous OW2 events, Winter Wonderland is introducing a new feature called the Winter Fair Event Pass.
Every 9 matches you complete, you will earn Event Tickets, with wins granting double progress. You can earn Tickets in this manner up to four times a week (so, in a worst-case scenario of, 36 losses) during the three weeks of Winter Wonderland. The amount of Tickets you’ll obtain depends on whether you’re on the Free Track or the Premium Track.
Winter Fair Event Pass
On the Free part of the pass, every 9 wins will get you 10 Tickets. This means that F2P players can earn up to 40 Tickets per week, with a total yield of 120 Tickets by Winter Wonderland’s end. This means that players will have enough to purchase one of three headlining Legendary Skins – Formalwear Cassidy, Formalwear Baptiste or Festive Illari – which cost 90 Tickets each. However, you will only have enough for one so make sure you’re certain that’s the skin you really want before slapping down your hard-earned Tickets. Other rewards include several special Sprays, Player Icons, Name Cards, a Cassidy Highlight Intro and more, all of which cost varying amounts of Tickets.
To purchase these cosmetics, head to the Winter Wonderland tab on the main Overwatch 2 menu and then navigate to the Winter Fair section. From there, you can click on one of the four icons to take a closer look at the goods and spend any Tickets burning a hole in your pocket. Don’t panic if you want two things from different sections because, so long as you have the Tickets, you can spend them anywhere: as an example, I can spend 90 Tickets on Formalwear Cassidy and then still spend 15 more Tickets on the Winter’s Hearth Name Card, even though they’re in different sections of the Winter Fair.
Any Event Tickets that you don’t use by the time the event ends on January 9th 2024 will be converted into Overwatch Credits (the white coins) that you can spend in the Hero Gallery.
Free Skins on Offer
Premium Winter Fair Pass
Another thing Overwatch 2 has mimicked from other live service games is the paid version of its event pass.
You can pay an optional fee of 500 Overwatch Coins to unlock the Premium version of the Winter Fair Event Pass. With the Premium tier unlocked, you will earn considerably more Event Tickets. Alongside the 10 Tickets you get on the Free Track, you’ll now get an additional 30 Tickets per 9 games, totalling up to 120 Tickets per week and 360 Tickets across the entire event. This will put your final weekly total at 160 Tickets per week and 480 Tickets at the event’s end.
Having more Event Tickets means that you can not only potentially purchase all 3 of the Skins we previously discussed, but it also means that you have the chance to buy two slightly more exclusive skins. One is a return of the popular Starcraft Kerrigan crossover Skin for Widowmaker which was previously only available by logging in during Starcraft’s 20th Anniversary. The other is a brand new Legendary Skin for Reinhardt. Wrapping Paper is a humourous affair which dresses everyone’s favourite Tank head-to-toe in presents. Both of these Skins can be purchased for 160 Event Tickets each.
Wrapping Paper Reinhardt Skin
However, do be warned: even if you get the Premium Winter Fair Event Pass you will not be able to get all of the items or even all of the Skins. In total, the 480 Event Tickets can either get you all three of the 90 Ticket Skins and one of the 160 Ticket Skins or you can get both of the 160 Ticket Skins and one of the 90 Ticket Skins but, no matter what, you’ll always be missing out on at least one of the outfits.
500 Coins for up to 3 new Skins isn’t a bad deal but, if you’re purchasing the Premium Pass with expectations of getting everything on offer, you’ll have to adjust your presumptions.
A Cold Spider
Winter Wonderland Shop Updates
Of course, no Overwatch 2 event (or live service event, in general) is complete without a fresh new batch of seasonal outfits in the Shop. This year, Blizzard has delivered several enticing winter options for like-minded players.
Tracer and Sojourn have new Legendary Skins matching the Formalwear aesthetic of the Winter Fair Baptiste and Cassidy Skins. You can purchase either of these fabulous, luxury Skins for 1900 Overwatch Coins in the Hero Gallery or purchase a bundle with additional goodies for slightly more: the Formalwear Sojourn Bundle costs 2100 Coins and comes with a special Emote, Icon and Spray whereas the Winter Fair Bundle comes with the Formalwear Tracer Skin as well as 575 Event Tickets, allowing you to instantly buy everything in the Winter Fair shop.
The star of this year’s show is undoubtedly Jingle Bell Mercy, a Legendary Christmas Skin which has been plaguing players since it appeared in some Holiday artwork several years ago. Well, with Winter Wonderlands 2023, Mercy mains can now get their hands on this cute, reindeer-themed outfit for Overwatch’s best medic. From the cosy-looking jumper to the Valkyrie wings decorated with sweets and cream to the stumpy antlers, this is another smash hit for one of Overwatch 2’s most popular Heroes. This Skill will enter the Shop in either Week 2 or 3 of the Winter Wonderlands event.
Winter Wonderland Shop Update
That was everything you needed to know about the 2023 Winter Wonderlands event in Overwatch 2. The event runs from December 19th 2023 to January 9th 2024 so be sure to collect all of your rewards and complete all of the event challenges before that date. Happy holidays, everyone!
