Winter Nexus Is Coming To EVE Online On December 9

Today I woke up to the news that CCP announced the dates for this year's Winter Nexus event. Running from 9 December to 12 January, EVE Online's annual winter event will run for 5 weeks. Like Final Fantasy XIV, EVE's developers will change the yearly seasonal events. This year, I thought I'd bring up some background information.

The events occur in systems containing Volatile Ice Storms as is tradition. The content is a little bit different.

Hunt Yoiul LADs (Logistical Automated Deliveries) and get Cryo Tech that allows access to even more within the storms, and don’t miss the Perseverance ice mining destroyer, currently only available through the Winter Nexus seasonal reward track.

The Yoiul LADs is an allusion to the real world group known as the Yule Lads.

The real Yule Lads

When looking at the arrival and departure dates of the Yule Lads, the event running for 5 weeks seems culturally appropriate, doesn't it?

This year InterBus is aiding the Yule Lads in their troublemaking in New Eden.

This year, InterBus is launching a cautionary campaign for travelers by dispatching Logistical Automated Delivery vessels (LADs) named after the legendary Yoiul Clones.

However, a whistleblower within Verity Enhancements, known only by the codename Yoiul Kattar, claims to have proof that the Yoiul LADs are not what they seem.

I need to interrupt CCP's narrative here because of the reference to Yoiul Kattar, aka the Yule Cat. Known as Jólakötturinn in Icelandic, the Yule Cat goes around the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eats people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. So the developers better provide us some new clothing as a login reward before then.

Hunting down these automated vessels will give you Verity Cryo Tech that will unlock new challenges and rewards. For enforcers, this means access to more dangerous parts of the storms with stronger forces to fight. In highsec, marauders will need this Cryo Tech (specifically the Cryostorm Clarifier) to access combat sites. No such restrictions apply in lowsec or nullsec, however, depositing Cryo Tech will give access to more challenging and rewarding experiences in all Winter Nexus combat sites.

But the event doesn't just benefit combat pilots explorers and miners get some love as well.

Explorers can use the tech to gain access to relays normally scrambled by storm interference, which can then be hacked.

The tech will give miners additional recipes for mined ice, which will award enhanced salvage packages. Cryo Tech can be deposited in certain structures in and around the sites to unlock these extras.

So as players fly around New Eden this year they should keep their eyes out for trouble in snowy systems. Especially if they see a grump old man in a red suit.