What, Exactly, is the Requirement to Spawn Winter Lord?

[Astralock]

What, exactly, is the requirement to spawn Winter Lord?  I was under the impression the past couple of years that it was opening 100 presents and making sure to kill all of the winter horde that spawn.

 

I was on a level 50 character today in a lowbie zone.  I followed AboveTheChemist's excellent winter event gift maps mod.  I repeatedly opened presents, and melted any winter horde mobs that spawned.  I opened 160 presents... and no Winter Lord spawn.  After the 100th present and no Winter Lord, I circled the map using the mod two more times to get sixty more presents... and nothing.  He wasn't in the zone.

 

I know that I've spawned the Winter Lord solo on several occasions the years prior, so I'm stumped.  Any ideas?

[UltraAlt]

"In the 2009 event, Winter Lords were changed to spawn after a set number of presents are opened (or possibly when a number of "naughty" present spawns are defeated), and defeating it lets characters into Lord Winter's domain, giving them an attempt to defeat him. (Between 2005 and 2008, they spawned when a team of 5 or more opened a "naughty" present)." - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter_Lord

 

"Upon opening a present, a player will find that if they were "nice", they may enjoy a nice reward. If they were "naughty", however, they will find themselves surrounded by the Winter Horde, ready to make their holidays downright dangerous!

Opening a present can spawn a Winter Lord Giant Monster." - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter_Event_2020

 

"During Winter Events, Presents appear throughout Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria; courtesy of Gamester.

Presents are interactable objects (Glowies) that spawn in city and pvp zones (excluding Night Ward and Recluse's Victory) throughout the annual Winter Event. When interacted with, the character will either be judged 'Nice' and be rewarded with Candy Cane's, Inspirations, and Temporary Powers; or 'Naughty' and ambushed by Winter Horde, or even the Winter Lord when opened by a large enough team." - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter_Event/Presents

 

It isn't clear, but it looks like there is possibly a better chance of spawning one when opening presents when you are on a team of 5 or more.

[Clave Dark 5]

The other day I joined a ... league I think, not just a team, that was trauling through Atlas looking for presents so we could spawn Winter Lord.  I joined them after there was already like ten folk signed up, and it still took like a good ten minutes of criss-crossing the city and playing whack-a-mole with the glowies; we were so efficient that I don't think I even got to see a present for the last few minutes, heh.  But then it took awhile, the league dropped most of its members... time went by... now Winter Lord...  It felt awfully random is what I'm saying, and rare.

 

I almost wish he was like the GMs from ToT, the second he's defeated, he spawns elsewhere.  That GM farming is fun!

[tidge]

Another data point: I had a 2022-minted level 50 working on Toy Collector opening presents in a favorite zone that was devoid of other players. It's not a zone where I see a lot of other players, but it is impossible to know how many presents may have been opened (in that zone) before I started, but it was a few hours after the event went 'live'. The Winter Lord spawned after 160 presents. I wasn't keeping precise track of when I got the defeat badge for the spawns (because of NAUGHTY!) but it was long before the Winter Lord spawned. This was roughly the case with a second character... similar conditions, except that I tried to startwith the second character right after the WL was defeated.

 

Some of my own silly behavior: I try to open presents in a zone as I criss-cross (an eliminate whatever I spawn) in an effort to reduce the counter, whatever it is.

[Snarky]

I would assume the number of presents opened in one zone is 200 to spawn the Winter Lord.  Data point for that is...Redside.  Bestside.  To spawn the Cap Au Diable Giant Monster a total of 100 gremlins at power plants need to be killed.  (total by everyone ever, then spawn, counter reset) The number of Gremlins needed to be killed by an individual to get the gremlin badge? 100!  The number of presents needed to be opened to get a badge? 200!  

[JasperStone]

On Excel last night, there was a lovely surprise by the university in Steel.

A Winter Lord.

I was headed to an ITF, but shouted out its presence in chat.

I was coming in from the SG portal.

I could only imagine someone's surprise if they were headed in from the tram and not paying attention.

[UltraAlt]

6 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I almost wish he was like the GMs from ToT, the second he's defeated, he spawns elsewhere.  That GM farming is fun!

 

Well, there is the season event and the Winter Lord is always there and you don't have to open any presents in order to run it.

 

"Lord Winter's Realm Trial

Lord Winter

Main Article: Lord Winter's Realm

Heroes and Villains can enter Lord Winter's Realm via the Team-Up Teleporter under Holiday Trials. Here, they face off against Lord Winter and his Winter Guardians and will earn Candy Canes, Reward Merits, and the Lord/Lady of Winter badge for defeating Lord Winter."

- https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter_Event_2020

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by UltraAlt

[srmalloy]

I haven't looked at the code to be certain, but I think that the Winter Lord is on a low-probability 'chance to spawn' randomizer for any 'naughty' result from clicking a present if the resultant spawn includes a boss. I can say with certainty, though, that the 'team size' difficulty setting is ignored when generating 'naughty' spawns -- I was unable to get more than the 'stock solo spawn' of three frostlings when solo, regardless of my team size setting, so you can't use that to try to increase the chances of getting a WL to spawn.

[Clave Dark 5]

18 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

Well, there is the season event and the Winter Lord is always there and you don't have to open any presents in order to run it.

 

"Lord Winter's Realm Trial

Lord Winter

Main Article: Lord Winter's Realm

Heroes and Villains can enter Lord Winter's Realm via the Team-Up Teleporter under Holiday Trials. Here, they face off against Lord Winter and his Winter Guardians and will earn Candy Canes, Reward Merits, and the Lord/Lady of Winter badge for defeating Lord Winter."

- https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter_Event_2020

 

I am well aware.  But having to assemble a team/league and then zone is for some reason much more difficult and time consuming that just broadcasting "WL is at [coordinates]!"  One of the first days of the winter event (as I;m not sure exactly when it began???), I started up a team to do it and it took a solid ten minutes or something.  Not at all the same time investment of scouting for the next GM for a mere six reward merits.  Come to think of it, it also takes longer to beat down the group of snowmen in the WL instanced map than it does to pull down a GM in a city zone.

[UltraAlt]

22 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I am well aware.  But having to assemble a team/league and then zone is for some reason much more difficult and time consuming that just broadcasting "WL is at [coordinates]!"  One of the first days of the winter event (as I;m not sure exactly when it began???), I started up a team to do it and it took a solid ten minutes or something.  Not at all the same time investment of scouting for the next GM for a mere six reward merits.  Come to think of it, it also takes longer to beat down the group of snowmen in the WL instanced map than it does to pull down a GM in a city zone.

 

I haven't tried summoning a team to form up to go to the Winter Realm or calling out people to come fight a Winter Lord on the streets.

Honesty, I haven't seen a Winter Lord on the streets that I didn't join a team to fight because someone else saw one.

 

But to get to a Winter Lord, it is probably faster to recruit for the Winter Realm event than it is to open presents. 

Once you get a monster hunting team going, it's pretty easy to jump from zone to zone to fight monsters ..... and, at that point, there is no wait to go to the Winter Realm if you already have a big enough team/league formed.

 

At this point, recruiting is generally always more manageable on Everlasting or Excelsior. Torchbearer can get good size teams up only during prime time at this point.

 

I came out of a mission today and a message popped up that a Winter Lord had been spotted. I patrolled around the areas that I thought it would appear and nothing.

Did some level 50 kill it by themselves before I could find it? Was it a team that spawned it and beat it down without asking for any help? I don't know.

 

I like monster hunting teams and I often join them.

There isn't a bunch of time left, but I would focus on gathering monster hunting teams and then going to the Winter Realm when the team/league becomes large enough.

You could run these back to back, but I know that I won't say on a team repetitively going to the Winter Realm more than 2 or 3 times. Saying that, I'm not there for the merits, I'm there for the monster fight and my characters aren't level 50.

 

I guess we should also point out :

"During the Winter Event 2004, the Winter Lord name became synonymous with power leveling because of the amount of experience teams could gain from taking down the monsters. It was very common for low level characters to advance very rapidly during the event. The way experience is given for Giant Monsters was changed shortly after."

- https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Winter_Lord

 

I have been there with the giant monsters spawning rapidly and moving from GM to GM and teleporting the team to where I was to fight the next GM. I did this with the Winter Lords and I did it with Enochi back in the day.

 

"Eochai could also be found throughout Paragon City in different levels according to the zones. Eochai was of Monster rank; the Giant Monster rank had yet to be implemented."

-https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Halloween_Event_2004

 

There can be a couple of reasons to want to fight the Winter Lord(s). Yours appears to be merits alone, but I'm not sure. As I have pointed out, that's not my reason to fight giant monsters. Merits are also not the reason that I run or join task forces; double merits just means it is easier for me to recruit for a task force that I want to run.

[Astralock]

I just opened 203 presents in Imperial City and nothing.  Last night, I opened about 45 in Imperial City, and the Winter Lord spawned.  I was solo both times.  I'd say at this point that it's random.

[TheZag]

A Winter Lord is what can spawn when you click on presents.  Lord Winter is the enemy that you fight through the LFG que system - they arent the same enemy.  But if you just want to kill powerful snowmen,  the instance version will scratch that itch.

 

[Snarky]

there is a pattern.  I think I am zeroing in on the source.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Snarky

[Glacier Peak]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

there is a pattern.  I think I am zeroing in on the source.

[KC4800]

On 12/28/2022 at 4:29 PM, Astralock said:

I just opened 203 presents in Imperial City and nothing.  Last night, I opened about 45 in Imperial City, and the Winter Lord spawned.  I was solo both times.  I'd say at this point that it's random.

Thats my experience too.

 

To try to alleviate the tedium, I was going between PI and Kallisti Wharf, while in PI ( I knew I wasn't the only one clicking presents, a WL never spawned there), while in KW I got the message that a WL was wreaking havok after I clicked but it wasn't in my location. I eventually found him. I was solo and there was no one else in the zone that I could see. I tried to kill him but couldnt make a dent so I bolted.

[tidge]

Some more personal experiences:

 

I always defeat the mobs that spawn from "naughty". I am working from the assumption that there are a fixed number of mobs to defeat before a WL will spawn. This may be why teams opening presents "feel" like they are able to better spawn a WL. Solo players only get 3 mobs per "naughty".

 

If a WL has spawned, a second one will not spawn. I don't know this, but last year I could not get one to spawn and then I finally found it in an odd corner of the map.

 

The WL will spawn where a present used to be, in place of the present respawning. I recently got one to spawn during a Paladin construction event in KR, right next to the construction site (while on a team of about 5). This was after opening a present, being naughty, and defeating the spawn (from the present).