Guild Wars 2

Will I be able to complete this collection after Wintersday?

No, it’s a seasonal, probably one-time event collection only. I say probably, because it may be back next year, but it must be completed before Wintersday ends.

Huh, I’d assumed you just needed to unlock it and then the chests would drop the grubby boxes whenever. Well, at least it doesn’t take days once you’ve unlocked it, just getting to the right chests. (My mesmers stand ready to assist if I am alerted to the need).

I am with Donari, once you have unlocked the collection I am pretty sure the JPs will still drop the toys.

Being that other ‘seasonal’ drops stopped when a new patch came about, with every seasonal patch ending prior, I suggest you get this one done as soon as possible.

Please note this does not apply to items you can create yourself. So, yes, Tipper will stay, but For the Children probably not.

I think grubby packages will stop dropping same as continue coins stopped dropping when they shut down the box.

It’s unknown, but I’d lean on the side of “no” due to it being seasonal content. To be safe, I’d definitely get the collection completed before Wintersday ends on Jan 13th.

Donari.5237:

Huh, I’d assumed you just needed to unlock it and then the chests would drop the grubby boxes whenever.

Given that the grubby boxes only start dropping from the chests once you’ve unlocked the achievement and stop dropping as soon as you’ve finished it, I tend to agree. I’d still play it safe and try to finish it before the next patch, but given the way this is working right now, there’s no good reason for it to stop once the Wintersday content gets phased out. Especially since you don’t need to take these ornaments back to the kids, which is kind of a huge plot hole right there but would tend to support this theory.

Gudy.3607:

Donari.5237:

Huh, I’d assumed you just needed to unlock it and then the chests would drop the grubby boxes whenever.

Given that the grubby boxes only start dropping from the chests once you’ve unlocked the achievement and stop dropping as soon as you’ve finished it, I tend to agree. I’d still play it safe and try to finish it before the next patch, but given the way this is working right now, there’s no good reason for it to stop once the Wintersday content gets phased out. Especially since you don’t need to take these ornaments back to the kids, which is kind of a huge plot hole right there but would tend to support this theory.

They still drop, but they contain “junk” ruined toys.

An official answer would be nice.

Keep in mind, certain criteria for this event is dependant on Wintersday events that are temporary. For example, Grawnk isn’t sticking around all year-long for you to poison him.

So, theoretically, neither will the tree (not the reward version – that permanent if you’ve earned it since it’s a node), the children, nor the item that starts the event, nor said letter.

If that’s the case, it would be reasonable to follow-up that the drops would also be removed since they’re seasonal as well. To see this in action, we only need to go to past Wintersdays and note that those seasonal items stopped dropping after the event was over.

Yes, the collection is permanent. But the requirements to achieve it will be temporary. In other words, it’s most likely if you don’t get it done this year, you’ll be able to complete it next year during the next Wintersday.

I say likely, but not absolutely.

Certain items we saw years ago, like certain minis, came once and have never returned. I strongly recommend you get this done now, if you can, before you are forced to wait a year to try again . . . if at all.

The quest itself is labeled in the ‘Festival’ category. Take one look to the bottom of the list and you’ll notice a category called ‘Historical’. Every single seasonal/festival/limited time event is locked away in this category and now unachievable and it was this way since launch. Given these two pieces of information, I think it’s safe to say this isn’t going to be around forever.

*Exception: One thing the did in a recent festival list that surprised me was that they reused a previous list and just added new achievements. This idea might hint that it could be obtainable next year, but I still believe it is only seasonal. (With the addition of LS S1 rewards to the Laurel vendor, as well as a few other examples (Mini Thorn for WAY cheap), it appears that they back peddled a bit on the originally anticipated exclusivity of ‘meta rewards’ and decided that they would still like people to be able to obtain these things in the future somehow. That’s another thing to consider.

Grawnk Munch is in the Festival category which probably means you’ll have to finish that part before the end of Wintersday, but the OP asked about the collection which is in the Basic Collections category. That implies it will be doable year-round, with the ornament box dropping only for those who still have the collection incomplete, but available. Collections are new thing since last time around, so hopefully ANet understands people will want to fill them in on their own schedule/whim not under a calendar-shaped gun. But….

Yeah that’s what I was eluding to in my ‘exception’ paragraph, but perhaps I worded it poorly. The fact that some people don’t even have some of the higher level zones unlocked yet leads me to believe that they will leave the Collections part active as long as Grawnk Munch has been completed in time. I had a few guild members that were completely oblivious to the quest and the value of the Star of Gratitude (we run a lot of dungeons) that just started the just Friday night so I hope any of them that aren’t able to log in for our JP tour tonight aren’t kept from finishing this. The whole Collections system is designed to be leisurely and in due time anyway so I don’t they’ll break that mold with this one tbh.

Guess we’ll find out for sure tomorrow. . . .

Update: For those interested, I found a ‘grubby’ package inside a chest today while going for the Diving Achievement in Silverwastes. Sure enough, inside, there was a ruined ornament.

So, apparently, you can still get the ornaments.