Winter Waltz 2018

Overview

For the 2018 Winter Waltz event, which lasted from December 1st, 2018 to January 2nd, 2019, players were able to celebrate the holidays at the Beauxbois along with students from other wizarding schools. Exclusive rewards were available for purchase, seasonal games returned, and there were all a couple of new store items released.

Storyline

For the annual Winter Waltz, the Headmistress of Beauxbois Academy of Magic has opened the doors to students from around the globe. Here, students from Hogsworth, Motokomora, and Dormunstrad gathered alongside Beauxbois students to celebrate the holiday season.

Location

The main event hub was the festively decorated Great Hall Courtyard, and the Beauxbois castle with accompanying grounds. To get there, players had to first complete the Pet Peeves quest to be able to use the Navigation stone in the carriage. From there, players could check out the classrooms, admire the holiday decorations, and browse the school grounds marketplace at the foot of the entrance to the Beauxbois castle stairs. Uniquely, the Firework Fiasco quest had players traverse between Hogsworth, Hogsend, and Diagonal Lane, London instead.

Quests

Pet Peeves

To start, players talked to Louisa just outside a carriage towards the far end of the Great Hall Courtyard. Louisa had arrived to bring Hogsworth students to Beauxbois, however, someone stole the Pegasus’ horseshoe, a wheel off the carriage, and Pegasus food. She asked for help in finding the source of the disappearance, who was rumoured to be a poltergeist. Players then headed towards the Hogsworth Caretaker’s office in search of clues. Lukas saw a couple of notes laying on the ground a few corridors away and suggested that whoever dropped them may have seen the poltergeist. The notes turned out to be riddles, which players had to solve and follow. Eventually, this led to the Room of Hidden Things where Pesterz the Poltergeist was confronted. After defeating him, players returned to Louisa and helped repair the wheel, feed the Pegasus, and give the horseshoe back.

The Talent Show

To start, players talked to Isabelle by the Advanced Theatre classroom. One of the Beauxbois dancers, Cosette, had broken her foot. Consequently, they were a dancer short for the Beauxbois talent show. She referred players to Linette at the Music Classroom to learn the basics as a replacement dancer. Linette taught players how to sauté and had players retrieve a baton. Then, she directed players over to Jaque, however, a memory potion was needed to help them recall what move to teach. After Jaque taught players how to burrée, players then had to find Cosette, who had accidentally scrambled the letters of plié, which was the step she was supposed to teach. Players then headed back to Isabelle, to then find their costume parts amongst a maze.

The Gift Hunt

To start, players talked to Elaine at the Beauxbois entrance. She was hoping to give her friend a tea set for Christmas but had no time to make one. Elaine asked for help to make a set. Players then headed to the Cooking classroom to gather a teacup and to the Beauxbois Greenhouses. Here, players fought Bowleaves for three tea leaves. Then, wrapping paper was obtained from Milly the house elf, who first asked for assistance with counting the number of cakes for the feast. For the finishing touches, players travelled to the Fashion classroom in search of a ribbon. Afterwards, players had the honour of putting the gift together. This quest was repetable every hour.

Snatching Wreaths

To start, players talked to Charles by the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Charles requested help fixing the wreaths around the Beauxbois school. Players had to then find a classroom with wreaths and snatch them. Afterwards, players needed to collect 12 Firs from the gardens, return them to the Fir Collector, who made three new wreaths, and sneak them back.

Stolen Gifts

To start, players talked to Adele, a Beauxbois student who provided berets, but, unfortunately, she had run out. With crafting materials from the Sewing Kit behind Adele, players crafted new berets in the Wizarding Fashion classroom to help out. This quest was repeatable every hour until there were enough berets for all the students at the Winter Waltz.

Pegasus Problems

To start, players talked to Belle inside the Beauxbois castle. She requested some assistance in caring for one of the stubborn Pegasi who refused to eat the regular food after returning from a trip to another wizarding school. With some corn, players then had to head to the stables behind the school and help the Pegasus eat. After seeing how trusting the Pegasus was with the player, Belle asked players to find a brush beside her bed in Girls Dormitory A to then use to groom him.

Snowman Struggles

To start, players talked to Celine by the Dormunstrad boat. Celine and her brother Remy needed help building a snowman as they had nothing to build with. After gathering the needed materials, players had to retrieve a special Hat from defeating a Bully in the Duelling classroom.

Coin Bread

To start, players talked to Andrei, a Dormunstrad student. As a Bulgarian, he had a Christmas tradition of serving a loaf of bread with a coin baked in the centre. Those who found the coin in their piece of bread were granted good fortune. Andrei wished to share this tradition with all at the Winter Waltz and wanted players’ help making Coin Bread. Players then answered the Coin Vendor’s question at the Beauxbois North market to receive a coin. Afterwards, players met up with the Chef in the Cooking classroom for breadmaking assistance. Flour, yeast, and butter were retrieved from the storeroom by defeating a food thief. Players returned to Andrei with the Coin Bread, who expressed his thanks, however, he believed that just one loaf would not be enough for all four schools. This quest was repeatable every hour.

Sea Shaken Concert

To start, players talked to Maja. There was a band booked to play at the Winter Waltz, but it was nowhere to be found but Maja suspected that the band had not left the ship yet. Players then searched the ship for Ludvig, one of the band members. Unfortunately, Nicolai, the other band member, had not responded well to the trip and had come down with a horrible seasickness. Luckily, the Nurse in the Hospital Wing kept some Anti-Seasick Serum on the shelf. After retrieving the serum, players handed it over to Nicolai to cure him.

Origami Class

To start, players talked to Sumika. The Motokomora students were invited by the Beauxbois staff to host a magical origami-making class. They had a lesson plan ready but still needed some necessary materials. Players picked up 5 Sheets of Paper from the supply closet after answering the Hall Monitor’s riddle, as well as a copy of the Magical Metamorphosis Vol. 1 textbook from the Library to transfigure the paper for magical origami. After retrieving everything, players then advertised the class by posting flyers to attract more students.

Trouble with the Locals

To start, players talked to Natsumi. Her friend Wakana had trouble fitting in with the crowd at the Winter Waltz. With the talent show coming up, Wakana was not confident in her performance and asked players to brew a Concoction of Confidence using Dittany from the Plant Shop in the Beauxbois Market, two pairs of Pixie Wings from the Angry Pixies in the Beauxbois gardens, and a glass bottle. Players then returned with the brewed potion and gifted it to Wakana, who used it and thanked the player after putting on a great performance.

The Lucky Cat

To start, players talked to Asuka. Asuka is Japanese and has a popular tradition of creating Lucky Cats to gift to family and friends. She asked players to collect some Lucky Cats by searching in a maze, in the school, and by defeating certain mobs in the Beauxbois garden. Players then used the materials to craft a Lucky Cat, which was given to Asuka. This quest was repeatable every two hours.

Wrapping It Up

This outro quest was made available on December 15th, 2018. To start, players talked to the Beauxbois Headmistress only after completing all the school quests. As the Winter Waltz was coming to a close, she wanted some help thinking up a gift for all the Headmasters of the other schools. Players were referred over to Joshua, who was very creative, over near the Potions classroom. He recommended a scarf as it connected the schools together, especially with the competitiveness of the Interwizard Tournament. Karen inside of the Theatre and Acting classroom was able to help with knitting, and players had to cautiously obtain a special ingredient, a lungo. Grown in the secluded forest and high up in the trees, this magical root was guarded by Mandrungos, which are protective magical creatures of the Mandrake family. Returning to Karen, players then crafted four scarves: the Beauxbois Unity Scarf, the Motokomora Unity Scarf, the Dormunstrad Unity Scarf, and the Hogsworth Unity Scarf. Each was delivered by players to their respective headmasters. Afterwards, players returned to the Beauxbois Headmistress who expressed gratitude for all the help and provided a carriage to return players to Hogsworth.

Firework Fiasco

This quest was made available on December 25th, 2018. To start, players talked to Droobledore in his office on the seventh floor of the Grand Staircase in Hogsworth. The New Year’s celebration was rapidly approaching, and players had to help Droobledore set up a fireworks show. Players needed to collect a Launcher and a Crate of Fireworks. In Hogsend, a local engineer named Thompson taught players how to make a Fireworks Launcher using a variety of parts. Fuel Dust was retrieved from Hailee at the potion apothecary next door, however, players had to stun Jet-Powered Bats in the attic with a magical Bat Baton to extract some from them. Wiring was obtained from Thompson’s storeroom in the attic on the top shelf. An Ignition Switch was provided from Derrick, a Demolitions Expert, on Magnolia Road in Hogsend after helping him wire one up. With all of the parts, players crafted the Launcher using the workbench and returned to Droobledore. To get the Crate of Fireworks, players headed to Shaun’s Fireworks Shop in Diagonal Lane, London. Afterwards, players once again headed back to Droobledore. All was prepared and firework shows in the Transfiguration Courtyard went off every half hour.

Side Quests

There were no side quests in the event.

Activities

Minigames

There were seven seasonal minigames made available for the event. In the Great Hall Courtyard, these were unlocked via the Games NPC upon completing the Pet Peeves quest. Each gave the player additional Snowflakes upon its completion. Additionally, some Holiday-themed maps for non-seasonal minigames in /games were enabled.

Name	Description	Category
Present Plunge	Take a dive into this dropper filled with gifts and goodies!	Dropper
Snow Globe Shake-up	Fall through this snow globe dropper just like a snowflake!	Dropper
Into the Wreath	Dive through this festive dropper into a Christmas wreath!	Dropper
Santa's Workshop	Find your way through Santa's Workshop! This maze can only be completed every 4 hours.	Maze
Candy Cane Course	Navigate through this sugary sweet maze!	Maze
Beauxbois Bound	Bound through the Beauxbois Great Hall at incredible speed!	Parkour
Dining Room Dash	Make your way through this gigantic dining room!	Parkour

Games

Three seasonal games were added to /games, and each awarded Event Tokens. These included:

• Sledding
• Snowballing
• Wand Spleef

Daily Activities

For the event, players had the option to complete a unique set of 15 Daily Activities off the taskboard. Upon completing all 15 for the day, the Grinchbuster challenge provided additional rewards. There were other challenges for completing a certain amount of Christmas tasks as well. These were one-time rewards, which gave out Experience, Gold, Event Tokens, and House Points.

Name	Description

Contests

There was one accompanying contest that was hosted alongside the event. On December 16th, 2018, the Christmas 2018 giveaway was announced. This required contestants to share a photo of celebrating the event at the Winter Waltz build. The winner was announced on December 24th, 2018.

Rewards & Collectables

There were a variety of different event items that players were able to obtain throughout the 2018 Winter Waltz event. 

By talking to the Event Token Rewards NPC in the Great Hall Courtyard or at the marketplace in front of the Beauxbois castle, players could purchase a variety of Cosmetics and a Collectable with Event Tokens. These tokens were earned by participating in seasonal minigames, games from /games, or by completing event quests. Additionally, 100 Event Tokens could be traded in for 20 Gold and Experience, whose amount was dependent on the player’s level. 

The table below displays different types of collectables that could be purchased from the NPC and the item’s description.

Name	Description	Type

Some collectables could only be collected upon completing a certain group of quests from a specific wizarding school. The Lucky Cat was obtainable after finishing the Motokomora quests: Origami Class and Trouble with the Locals. The Dormunstrad Hat was obtainable after finishing the Dormunstrad quests: Sea Shaken Concert and The Important Gift. The Hogsworth Crest was obtainable after finishing the Hogsworth quests: Snatching Wreaths and The Talent Show. The Beauxbois Macaron box was obtainable after finishing the Beauxbois quests: Pegasus Problems and Snowman Struggles. However, only two out of the four quest prizes could be claimed by a player.

The table below displays different types of collectables that could be obtained via quest completion, along with the item’s description.

Name	Description	Type

In the 12 days leading up to Christmas Eve, the Advent Calendar allowed players to claim a unique collectable each day. Advent gifts could then be turned in and transformed into upgraded, Ultimate gifts.

The table below displays different types of collectables that could be obtained on what day in December of 2018, along with the item’s description and their respective, upgraded versions.

Name	Description	Type

Store Releases

For the event, four items were brought to the Store on December 22nd, 2018:

• Sleigh Broom Appearance
• White Dragon Horns
• French Feather Hat
• White Wizard Staff

Moreover, there was a Happy Holidays sale on all store items, which made everything 50% off.