GW2: Dynamic Leveling Changes

caledon2Isaiah Cartwright from ArenaNet has posted an update detailing changes made in the last patch to dynamic leveling in the game:

We had a few issues with this system that we made adjustments to. When high-level characters played in lower level zones, they were a bit too powerful, so the content was not as challenging as it could be. As a result of this, we also scaled down the rewards a bit too much.

As of the January 28 build, we made some changes to the dynamic scaling system to address these issues:

1.) We changed the formula for how attributes are calculated when the dynamic leveling adjustment system scales you down. This makes returning to lower level zones more fun and better balanced.
2.) We changed the formula for how rewards are calculated when scaled down to make it more rewarding for high-level players to visit lower level areas.

The goal is to more accurately reflect the attributes you should have at that level for a similarly geared character. While this will make some areas harder, our goal is to make all areas of Guild Wars 2 exciting and fun for players of any level. We also want players of all levels to feel like their time is well spent and rewarding in any map they go to.

You can read the full post here – is the change something you’ve already noticed, and/or is it something you think that will improve gameplay?

GW2 Achievements and Rewards System Update

GW2 Achievements and Rewards SystemMatt Wuerffel from ArenaNet has posted on the official blog and update about some revamping they are doing for rewards and achievements in GW2. If you’re not an achievement junkie like me, you may not find this stuff that relevant, but otherwise have a look at the details.

Aside from stuff occurring in the near term, Wuerffel has also hinted at what’s happening further down the track:

Down the road, we’ll also be adding a reward structure to total achievement points, and we’ll be looking at revamping portions of existing UI to help players understand all the different kinds of content they can play and the types of rewards available. Once we have that framework in place, we’ll be able to really expand on the content accessible through the achievements system and provide you with even more new and exciting ways to play the game.

 

Let’s hear from you: do achievements matter to you in GW2 and if so, do you like what’s planned?

Guild Wars 2 Wintersday Event Announced

Guild Wars 2 Wintersday

ArenaNet keep churning out the world events and as you’d guess for this time of year, they’ve announced a Christmas-themed event that goes back to the original game: Wintersday. There’s a short vid that previews what’s coming up between December 14th and January 3rd. Check it out for yourself here:

Even though it’s a short video, I like what I see. I’m also impressed that this isn’t just a bog-standard world event with some fairly static content – there are different events planned throughout the weeks of it being live.

Will you be jumping in and taking part?

GW2 Game Update December 3rd: Full Patch Notes

GW2 Game UpdateA pretty meaty game update this time from ArenaNet, with a huge number of bug fixes.

Read them all in full:

 

Release Notes:
General

  • Fixed a bug that would cause a crash when repairing armor while transformed.
  • Area of effect heals and boons now prioritize players over minions and NPCs.
  • Guild leaders are able to demote other players of the same rank.
  • Weapon skills will now properly display their PvP and PvE split variants in the Weapon Skills tab of the Hero Panel instead of displaying both.

Events

  • Fixed a bug that caused NPCs not to resurrect other NPCs in various Orr events.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Warmaster Jofast and her caravan to not advance properly through Cursed Shore.
  • Fixed a rare bug that could prevent the event “Protect the trained skelk gathering kindling for Raintimber Mill” in Diessa Plateau from progressing.
  • Fixed a bug that could potentially prevent progress with the event “Protect Orl’s research krewe” in Metrica Province.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Stop the Inquest operatives from kidnapping adventurers” in Sparkfly Fen.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Raid the Separatist camp with the Warhound Village veterans” in Iron Marches.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent displaced spirits from rejoining their bodies in Iron Marches.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Protect the armory from the Flame Legion” in Plains of Ashford.
  • Fixed a bug that would prevent “Ireta the Smasher” from team switching correctly during the event “Prevent the brawl between the three legions.”
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Suwash from confronting Captain Jetsam in Lornar’s Pass in the event “Defeat Captain Jetsam.”
  • Fixed a bug that preventing events from running properly near Eldvin Monastery in Queensdale.
  • Fixed a bug causing skritt thieves to stop stealing harpy eggs in Harathi Hinterlands.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Crusader Soma to give up searching for the lost caravan in Timberline Falls.

Dungeon
Crucible of Eternity

  • Front door path: Fixed a bug that affected the aggro range of the Destroyer Specimen Boss.
  • Submarine path: Fixed a bug with Bjarl’s armor not going off when he charges and hits a tower.

Ascalonian Catacombs

  • Detha’s Path: Fixed a problem with Detha’s script where she would sometimes not start the event to fix the cannons.
  • Hodgin’s Path: Fixed a problem in Hodgin’s script at the “Collect scepter fragments” event that prevented the event from starting.
  • Detha’s path: Fixed a bug that caused the Ghostly Oozes not to use their basic attack properly, and spend a large amount of time loitering around players instead of attacking them.

Sorrow’s Embrace

  • Fixed multiple problematic doors that would not open and close when intended.

Twilight Arbor

  • Fixed a bug where Morrigu could die after defeating the final boss before the cinematic could start, which would break the dungeon and prevent players from receiving the final reward.

The Ruined City of Arah

  • Seer Path: Fixed an exploit where rangers using longbows could trivialize a fight by attacking at max range, and the Melandru boss would not fight back.

Fractals of the Mists

  • Cliffside: Fixed an issue where players could damage the final seal with their normal attacks.
  • Cliffside: Fixed an issue where players were able to attack and kill the first boss before triggering the cinematic.

PersonalStory

  • Minor personal story bugs in multiple personal story steps were fixed.
  • The story step “Forewarned is Forearmed” has been fixed to avoid an error that prevented completion.
  • The story step “Time for a Promotion” has been fixed to avoid a problem that caused it to stall.
  • The story step “Silent Warfare” has had the difficulty adjusted.
  • The story step “The Artist’s Workshop” has been fixed to allow players to rally when they defeat hypnotized performers.
  • Players who completed the sylvari “mirror” storyline are now recognized by the NPCs in the story step “Through the Looking Glass.”

World vs. World

  • Invisible & invulnerable players can no longer contest capture points in WvW. WvW capture points now follow the same rules as PvP capture points.
  • All players will now correctly receive WvW bonuses. Players who transfer worlds will still be locked out of bonuses for the current and subsequent match.

StructuredPvP

  • Heart of the Mists: Added light, medium, and heavy PvP Underwater Mask items to the PvP Armorsmith.
  • Battle of Kyhlo: The hit box on the trebuchets has been decreased so that they are less vulnerable to certain AoE skills.
  • Legacy of the Foefire: The red guild lord and his guards have been repositioned to more closely match the blue side.
  • Forest of Niflhel: Fixed incorrect names on the archer NPCs that guard each base.
  • Removed slots in the PvP locker for the Rawhide armor pieces, as they are not obtainable as PvP rewards.
  • PvP locker now can store consumable finishers up to rank 6, glory boosters, PvP salvage kits, and tournament tickets.
  • Updated the NPC names of archers in Forest of Niflhel.

Items

  • Updated the names of the level 80 rare armorsmithing boxes to match the names of the items they contain.
  • Runes of Balthazar and Orrian now properly apply quickness when the player is struck and below 20% health.
  • Updated Knight’s Jewel so that it appropriately grants Power rather than Toughness.
  • Updated the ingredients required to craft satchels and boxes of armor to match the ingredients required to craft the individual pieces contained within.

Commerce

  • Fixed an issue with the Boxing Glove skills remaining when players swap to armor from town clothes.
  • Mini pets are now usable in the Heart of the Mists.
  • Fixed Krait Tonic second skill description.
  • Fixed missing nightmare medium icons and pants using gloves icons.
  • Total Makeover Kit and Self-Style Hair Kit added to the Black Lion Chest as rare rewards.
  • Increased chance to get Mini boosters and Dye Pack boosters from the Black Lion Chest.

Profession
Elementalist

  • Updated elementalist conjured weapons to appropriately apply attributes to all players that pick them up.
  • Dragon’s Tooth: This skill’s blast finisher now triggers at spell location, instead of character’s location.
  • Electrocute: This skill now has a maximum range and line of sight requirement.
  • Impale: Fixed an exploit with this skill’s interaction with Signet of Restoration.
  • Arcane Resurrection: This trait now applies five seconds of aura to allies affected by it.
  • Evasive Arcana: This trait now has a blast finisher while attuned to earth.
  • Elementalists will no longer get into a state where they aren’t attuned to any element. This commonly results in the player’s skillbar being empty.

Engineer

  • Toss Elixir C: This skill’s underwater cooldown is reduced from 60 seconds to 30 seconds to match the land recharge.
  • Elixir S: Fixed a bug that would cause this skill to go on normal recharge when Fast-Acting Elixirs is equipped.
  • Smoke Bomb: Cleaned up skill facts.

Guardian

  • Ring of Warding: This skill will no longer affect non-attackable NPCs.

Mesmer

  • Updated the description for Blurred Frenzy to indicate that it gives evasion through “Blur,” instead of “Distortion”.
  • Phantasms will now properly have all boons applied to them via player traits.
  • Phantasmal Disenchanter can now be cast at the correct distance.

Ranger

  • Fixed a bug that allowed a ranger to have two traps of the same type active simultaneously.

Thief

  • Using a stolen bundle item should no longer destroy a bundle being wielded in their hands.

Warrior

  • Whirling Axe: This skill can now be cancelled by other skills.

Guild Wars 2 Patch Notes: 15th November 2012 Update

GW2 Patch Notes

Sorry for the delay in posting these GW2 patch notes from the latest update. For any regular players you’ll know this update has contained the latest big content update, the Lost Shores event. Aside from the extra Level 80 dungeon,Fractal of the Mists, there’s a heap of other stuff including a range of bug fixed.

The patch notes in full for you:

Dungeons

General

  • New dungeon rewards have been added to all dungeons.
  • Each dungeon has a new set of unique items with new stat combinations, ranging in rarity from masterwork to exotic. These items have a chance to drop off of certain bosses in the explorable mode of each dungeon.
  • Story and explorable bosses and encounters have a chance to drop Bags of Wondrous Goods, which contain coins and karma. Bags of Wondrous Goods obtained in explorable mode also contain dungeon tokens.
  • If the owner of a dungeon instance intentionally leaves his party to kick out players and invite new players, it will now also kick that owner out of the dungeon to prevent people from kicking PUG members and inviting guild members for the final boss of a dungeon.

Fractals of the Mists
There are new stories being told in the taverns of Lion’s Arch, usually in hushed tones by broken and bloodied adventurers. They weep into their ales and shake as they speak…not about dragons or the undead, but of something new, a mysterious portal that has emerged in the city, beckoning the bravest to venture through it.
Introducing a dungeon experience like no other—Fractals of the Mists! A series of unique “fractal” minidungeons, increasing in difficulty, offers players unlimited levels of challenge! With great risk comes great rewards, including new weapon sets, a back slot item, new Ascended loot, and much more!

  • New level 80 dungeon with dynamic leveling so you can bring your friends!
  • Endless and scaling. The deeper you go, the harder it gets!
  • The portal to the Fractals of the Mists will activate with the Lost Shores content Friday at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Head west of Fort Marriner to the entrance and try your luck. Perhaps you’ll survive and reap the rewards, or perhaps you’ll be lost forever to the Fractals’ bloody secrets.

Items
There are two new major features added to items in this update. For more detailed information on these features and how they tie into the new Lost Shores content, check out this blog post!

  • Added new crafting materials as part of the Lost Shores update.
  • Crafted Halloween potions are no longer account bound.
  • The mighty Zommoros has slightly increased the drop rate on Legendary precursor weapons from the Mystic Forge from both Rares and Exotics.
  • The drop rarity of Rare and Exotic weapons from certain places in the world (champions, veterans, and players in WvW) has been increased. Rares and Exotics should be much more likely to drop and every champion should be guaranteed to drop loot. This was to ensure that world loot drops were not a significantly worse way of acquiring rare and exotic items than crafting and running dungeons.
  • The amount of loot that drops for downscaled players has been increased. You should now be able to receive level-equivalent loot until you are fighting at a downscaled level that is less than 2/3 of your actual level. You should also receive loot a greater percentage of the time as well as receiving a greater percentage of experience, gold, and karma. For level 80 characters, this means level 55+ areas will be able to drop level 80 gear and give about 75% or so of the other rewards. Previously, these areas would give level 77 gear at best and closer to 60% or so of your rewards.

New Rarity Type: Ascended

  • Ascended rarity falls between Exotics and Legendaries on the rarity spectrum.
  • Ascended items have higher stats than Exotics and come with slots for the new upgrade type, Infusions.
  • Ascended rings and back slot items have been added to the game.

New Upgrade Type: Infusion

  • Infusions are a new type of upgrade component that can only be slotted into a matching Infusion slot.
  • Added 12 new Infusions of the offensive, defensive, and omni types to the game.
  • Create Infusions through the Mystic Forge using new crafting materials.

PvP

  • Paid tournament rewards have been improved. We’ve spread out the rewards for paid tournaments, so that more finishing positions receive rewards. We’ve also made it so that qualifying points are rewarded to the following finishing positions:
    • 1st place—Tourney Chests, 500 glory, 500 rank points, 120 gems, 5 qualifying points
    • 2nd place—Tourney Chests, 400 glory, 400 rank points, 80 gems, 3 qualifying points
    • 3rd place—Tourney Chests, 300 glory, 300 rank points, 20 gems, 1 qualifying point
    • 4th place—Tourney Chests, 300 glory, 300 rank points, 20 gems, 1 qualifying point
    • 5th place—Tourney Chests
    • 6th place—Tourney Chests
    • 7th place—Tourney Chests
    • 8th place—Tourney Chests
    • Paid tournaments also provide each finishing place a small chance to win gems in the following amounts. The chance of winning one of these is approximately 1 in 4. No player can win twice.
      • 10 gems
      • 35 gems
      • 80 gems
      • 120 gems
      • 1000 gems
  • Free and paid tournaments will now use individual respawn timers. Public games played via the PvP Browser will still use time-based wave spawning.
  • A new map set in a kodan dojo is available. “Temple of the Silent Storm” is a beta version of the map, but we’re letting players play it now to give us feedback.
  • We will also be putting up some PvP Browser hot-join maps so that some are 5-on-5 and some are the current 8-on-8.
  • The map rotation for PvP Browser hot-join maps will be:
    • Temple of the Silent Storm
    • Forest of Niflhel
    • Legacy of the Foefire
    • Battle of Kyhlo
    • Raid on the Capricorn
  • Daily and monthly achievement rewards are now available in PvP.
    • Daily rewards: 1 tournament ticket and 1 glory boost
    • Monthly achievement rewards: 10 tournament tickets, 5 glory boosts, and 5 salvage kits
  • The /rank command will now show your PvP ranking. This only works in the PvP lobby and cannot be used inside an active PvP game.
  • Added tracking for Qualifying Point Leaderboards. The current leaderboards are being shown here: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/pvp/pvp/Leaderboards-for-Qualifying-Points/.
  • PvP Mystic Forge: You can now convert PvP Mystic Forge components into other components. This requires purchasing an Arcane Converter from any glory vendor. The conversion recipes are as follows:
    • 25 Arcane Orbs + 1 Arcane Converter + 1 Arcane Crystal + 25 Arcane Powder = 11 Arcane Crystals
    • 25 Arcane Crystals + 1 Arcane Converter + 1 Arcane Sliver + 25 Arcane Powder = 11 Arcane Slivers
    • 25 Arcane Slivers + 1 Arcane Converter + 1 Arcane Orb + 25 Arcane Powder = 11 Arcane Orbs
  • Raid on the Capricorn: Reduced the number of sharks from 10 to 6. They should no longer cover the Ruins capture point.
  • PvP downed health is now 75% of what it was. This change was made so that in fights where players are slightly outnumbered, they can win those fights by killing off downed enemies through damage rather than needing to use a finishing move. This should not have too much impact on 1v1 fights or big team fights, but it should help players win 1v2 and 2v3 fights if they gain the initial advantage.
  • The hit area for the trebuchet in the Battle of Kyhlo has been updated to prevent players from dropping massive AoE attacks (e.g. Meteor Shower) and having every single attack hit the trebuchet, destroying it without any counter. All normal attacks should still work against it.

General

  • The Fire Elemental encounter in Metrica Province has received a balance pass.
  • The Shatterer encounter in Blazeridge Steppes has been updated.
  • A UI confirmation window will now pop up on large vendor purchases.
  • Players will now be warned if they do not have enough inventory space to acquire an elemental fragment during the Dierdre’s Steps jumping puzzle.
  • Harvesting tools are now account bound.
  • Updated Rune of Water to provide 10% boon duration instead of 15% in PvP.
  • Updated Rune of the Monk to provide 10% boon duration instead of 15% in PvP.
  • Updated Rune of Earth to provide 15% protection duration instead of 20%, and 3 seconds of protection instead of 4 seconds in PvP.
  • Updated Rune of the Citadel to properly grant power instead of healing.
  • Rune of Svanir’s block of ice effect will no longer allow players to capture points while they’re invulnerable. Removing the stun from this effect will remove the invulnerability as well.
  • Rune of Air’s lightningdamage has been reduced by 25%.
  • “Unblockable” skill facts have now been added to various skills.
  • Rune of the Pack’s on-hit effect now works properly.
  • Many skills, items, and traits were applying healing to an infinite amount of targets and have now been limited to 5 targets.
  • You can no longer view opponents’ account names through reporting in WvW.
  • Fixed a bug that caused many piercing, boomerang, and bouncing projectiles (those that hit more than 1 target) to continually increase in damage the more targets they hit.
  • Fixed a bug preventing melee attacks from hitting static objects in the world if the character was not moving. As an example, this should help players using melee in Ascalonian Catacombs to hit graveling burrows, amongst other offending objects.

Commerce

  • The Consortium Chest has been added to the gem store in the Consumable category for 250 gems each or 10 for 1800 gems. No key is required to open these chests; simply double-click them in your inventory.
    • When you open the Consortium Chest, you will receive some number of crafting materials and one random item.
    • Some items in the chest include: shoulder skins, breathing masks, weapon skins, hats, and minis.
    • All items in the chest are new and have never been available before.
    • Weapon skins are rare, and the minis are very rare.
    • All items can be sold on the Trading Post.
    • The Consortium Chest will only be available for a limited time.
  • All the items found in the Consortium Chest can also be obtained as rare drops from any creature from the new Lost Shores event.
  • The Consortium Dye Kit has been added to the gem store in the Consumable category for 125 gems each or 5 for 500 gems.
    • The Consortium Dye Kit gives one random blue dye and one random yellow dye.
    • The Consortium Dye Kit will only be available for a limited time.
  • Dye Packs now come in bundles of 5 for 800 gems.

Events

  • Fixed a bug preventing Captain Penzan from retrieving his treasure in Bloodtide Coast.
  • Fixed a potential blocking bug for the event “Protect Orl’s research krewe” in Metrica Province.
  • Fixed an exploit with the “Assist the skritt with their fortifications” renown region in Mount Maelstrom.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause Fleshgrazer to turn permanently invulnerable.
  • Fixed a blocking bug that could occur during “Escort Brugh to Morgan’s Spiral” in Caledon Forest.
  • Fixed a blocking bug in the event “Help the Priory return the energy core to the Henge of Denravi” in Brisban Wildlands.
  • The Priory Explorer Plinx event chain in Cursed Shore will now occur less frequently.
  • The event “Defend Rimtooth, the pack marmox, from dredge” in Diessa Plateau has been updated to avoid situations that could block progress.
  • Fixed a bug that would occasionally prevent the event “Return the stolen cattle to Stonefall Estate” in Diessa Plateau from starting.
  • Updated the “Royal Forum Waypoint” in the Straits of Devastation so players will no longer get stuck in nearby props.
  • Fixed two bugs that could prevent progress with the event “Cull the undead horde gathering outside of First Haven” in Gendarran Fields.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Protect krewe leader Dobbs as the krewe clears the excavation site” in Timberline Falls.
  • Fixed a bug that would allow the player to remain transformed after the event “Disguise yourself and gather special roots for Drysdan’s medicine” in Mount Maelstrom.
  • Fixed potential blocking bugs with the event “Help the Soundless villager return home” in Caledon Forest.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the spectral weapons from respawning in the Malchor’s Leap event “Defeat spectral weapons and bring them to Byanca.”
  • Fixed an issue that caused Ghostnight to become stuck on his path in the Diessa Plateau event “Defend Faint Ghostnight as he searches for a new devourer egg.”
  • Fixed an issue that was preventing Nia from continuing on her path in the Fields of Ruin event “Help Nia rescue Cymbel’s hounds.”
  • Fixed an issue that caused NPCs to become stuck while reviving allies in the Straits of Devastation event “Escort the northern invasion Pact squad to the Pact rally point at Triumph Plaza.”
  • Fixed an issue that could prevent the Straits of Devastation event “Help the Pact reach the Altar of Betrayal before their morale is depleted” from starting.

Story

  • The story step “The Hatchery” has been fixed to allow players to progress.
  • The story step “Source of Orr” has been fixed to prevent a possible blocking issue.
  • The story step “Estate of Decay” has been fixed to avoid a problem where allowing Hekja to die resulted in preventing progress.
  • The story step “Conscript the Dead Ships” fixed a possible blocking issue if you used movement skills to board the ships or talked to Jeyne while she was building the gangplanks.
  • The story step “The Stone Sheath” has been fixed for engineers that were previously unable to complete the quest.
  • The story step “Dredge Assault” now progresses correctly when destroying either door into the dredge cave.
  • The story step “Critical Blowback” has been fixed to avoid a problem that could prevent progress.
  • The story step “The Ghost Rite” has been fixed to avoid a problem where players were able to defeat the final boss too early.
  • The story step “A Light in the Darkness” has been fixed to avoid a problem that could prevent progress, and the difficulty has been reduced.
  • The story step “Ships of the Line” has been fixed to avoid a problem that could prevent progress.
  • The story step “Trading Trickery” has been fixed to avoid a problem that could prevent progress.

Profession Skills
Elementalist

  • Ride the Lightning: This skill should now track moving enemies more reliably.
  • Magnetic Grasp: This skill should now track moving enemies more reliably and end correctly when you reach your target.
  • Evasive Arcana: This trait no longer creates unintended blast finishers.
  • Ether Renewal: This skill’s cast time has been reduced from 4.75 to 3.5 seconds. There is no change to the total amount of healing.
  • Healing Rain: This skill’s tooltip now states the correct duration of 6 seconds.
  • Armor of Earth: This skill’s tooltip now states the correct duration of 6 seconds.
  • Churning Earth: This skill’s description no longer references “hold and release.”
  • Signets of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: These skills should now have a cast animation while wielding a Fiery Greatsword.
  • Ring of Fire: This skill on Conjure Flame now lists itself as a Fire combo field.
  • Dragon’s Tooth: The blast finisher for this skill now triggers at the spell location rather than the character’s location.
  • Magnetic Wave: This skill’s missile-reflect portion now has an accompanying icon.
  • Phoenix: This skill’s tooltip now states the correct duration of 5 seconds of vigor that this skill applies.
  • Blasting Staff and Geomancer’s Alacrity: These traits now work together for the Eruption skill.
  • Mist Form: This skill now works with the Water Magic trait Cantrip Mastery.
  • Soothing Wave: This skill now properly applies regeneration to the elementalist when using Conjure Frost rather than only when the bow is picked up.
  • Healing Ripple: This skill’s scaling with healing power has been reduced by 50% in PvP only, as it had scaling that’s normally reserved for main healing skills. The maximum number of targets has also been reduced from infinite to 5.
  • Obsidian Focus: This Earth Magic trait now grants toughness when channeling the Stone Shards skill.
  • Ice Spike: This skill’s tooltip now states the correct amount of vulnerability when traited.
  • Conjure Frost Bow’s Deep Freeze: This skill now applies 1 second of chill per pulse, preventing extreme stacking of chill on a target.
  • Conjure Frost Bow’s Ice Storm: This skill now applies 5 seconds of bleeding per hit instead of confusion.
  • Tidal Wave: This skill’s responsiveness has been improved.
  • Tornado: Leaving this elite skill now removes the stability it grants in order to make it consistent with other elite transformation abilities.
  • Vapor Form: Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to contest a capture point.
  • Flame Axe: This weapon now grants the wielder power and condition damage.
  • Frost Bow: This weapon now grants the wielder increased condition duration and increased healing power.
  • Fiery Greatsword: This weapon now grants the wielder power and condition damage.
  • Magnetic Shield: This weapon now grants the wielder vitality and toughness.
  • Lightning Hammer: This weapon now grants the wielder increased precision and critical damage.

Engineer

  • Elixir
    • Elixir X: This skill now only requires one cast to transform the user.
    • Toss Elixir R: This skill’s recharge is increased from 85 seconds to 120 seconds.
    • Elixir S: This skill is now improved by the Alchemy trait Fast-Acting Elixirs.
  • Tool Kit
    • Box of Nails: This skill now shows its proper area of effect.
    • Gear Shield: This skill now blocks for an extra second.
    • Magnet: This skill’s range has been doubled.
  • Grenades
    • The projectile speed of all grenades has been increased by 10-15%.
    • Grenade: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 10% in PvP only.
    • Shrapnel Grenade: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 15% in PvP only.
    • Freeze Grenade: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 10% in PvP only.
    • Grenade Barrage: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 10% in PvP only. It also now works correctly with the Explosives trait Grenadier while underwater.
  • Turrets
    • Smoke Screen: This skill’s graphic has been updated to show the area of the screen. It now pulses every 2 seconds for 6 seconds instead of every second for 5 seconds. This makes it more effective against enemies using attacks at normal speeds but prevents it from being abused to shut down quick-attacking enemies completely.
    • Automatic Fire: Increased the duration of this skill’s Overcharge by 100% on Harpoon Turret and 25% on Rifle Turret.
    • Electrified Net: Increased the velocity of the Electrified Net by 100%.
    • Thump: Increased the damage of the Overcharged attack by 25%.
  • Bomb Kit, Med Kit, Tool Kit, and Elixir Gun: These skills can now be equipped in the air.
  • All kits can be stowed in the air now.
  • Toss Elixir C: This skill’s cooldown will be set from 60 seconds to 30 seconds when underwater.
  • Elixir Gun’s Fumigate: This skill will now be cancelled when using other skills on the weapon to improve responsiveness.
  • Rocket Turret: This turret can now be detonated underwater.
  • Power Wrench: This trait now applies to Gear Shield and Magnet.
  • Incendiary Powder: This trait now states that it can only trigger once every 3 seconds.
  • Elixir U and Elixir C: These skills have had outdated skill facts removed.
  • Potent Elixirs: This skill no longer grants improper boon durations.
  • Elixir B: This skill grants fury, retaliation, and swiftness for 10 seconds base, with might being applied for 30 seconds base.
  • Smoke Bomb: This skill’s radius has been reduced to 180 from 240 when traited. Smoke Bomb is now active for 4 seconds, pulsing every 2. This change also affects the Autodefense Bomb Dispenser trait.
  • Homing Torpedo: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
  • Retreating Grapple: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Timed Charge: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Net Wall: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Harpoon Turret: This turret will now spawn at the engineer when the Deployable Turrets trait is equipped.

Guardian

  • Protector’s Strike: Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to be cancelled and retain the blocking benefits.
  • Shield of Judgment: This skill’s protection duration has been set to 3 seconds from 5 seconds in PvP only.
  • Courageous Return: This trait now uses the correct icon.
  • Power of the Virtuous: This trait now uses the correct icon.
  • Orb of Light: This skill’s velocity has been increased by 50%.
  • Empower: This skill’s might duration increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • Selfless Daring: This trait had an efficiency with healing power that was reserved for healing skills only and has now been reduced to its intended level. Heal scaling has been reduced by 50% in PvP only.
  • Merciful Intervention: This skill has been updated to be instant when traited and will now always be based around the guardian.

Mesmer

  • Moa Morph: Targets transformed by this skill have 5 new and less-frustrating skills, and this skill can also be used underwater to turn enemies into tuna. This skill now removes Death Shroud from the target instead of the necromancer being stuck in Death Shroud.
  • Portal: This skill’s recharge has been increased to 90 seconds.
  • Illusionary Duelist, Phantasmal Swordsman, Phantasmal Mage, Phantasmal Defender, Phantasmal Disenchanter, Phantasmal Rogue, Phantasmal Warlock, Illusionary Mariner, Illusionary Whaler, Phantasmal Berserker, and Phantasmal Warden: These skills must now be cast in line-of-sight of the target. These skills now behave as normal attacks that the mesmer must connect in order to summon the phantasm, and they will fail if the mesmer is blind or the ability is cast on an invulnerable target.
  • Phantasmal Mage: This skill’s confusion has been increased to 3 stacks for 3 seconds from 1 stack for 9 seconds. The recharge on Phantasmal Mage’s skill has been increased to 6 seconds from 5 seconds.
  • The Prestige: This skill’s damage has been increased by 100%.
  • Phantasmal Haste: This trait now works.

Necromancer

  • The Soul Reaping trait line now properly increases maximum Life Force.
  • Ghastly Claws: This skill’s damage has been increased by 10% and updated to indicate the correct life force gained.
  • Reaper’s Touch: This skill applies 4 stacks of vulnerability per hit instead of 3.
  • Mark of Blood: This skill now uses the standard staff scythe cast effects.
  • Spectral Wall: This skill now applies its recharge at the correct time instead of both during and after casting.
  • Dark Path: This skill now applies it recharge at the correct time instead of both during and after casting.
  • Spinal Shivers: This skill’s casting effects and audio are now consistent with or without the Spiteful Talisman trait.
  • Soul Marks and Mark of Revival: These traits now work together to grant 3% life force to players when triggered.
  • Death Nova: This skill now properly activates when using Taste of Death and Putrid Explosion. The internal cooldown has been removed. This skill’s field duration is now 4 seconds, and the rate it pulses has been increased to every 2 seconds. Its poison duration is 5 seconds per pulse.
  • Weakening Shroud: This trait now functions underwater.
  • Mark of Evasion: This trait is no longer a blast finisher when the mark is created.
  • Plague Blast: This skill’s casting time has been reduced.
  • Death Shroud: Moa Morph now removes Death Shroud from the target instead of the necromancer being stuck in Death Shroud and using their entire bar while in the transform.
  • Deadly Catch: This skill now pulls enemies to the necromancer in a reliable fashion.
  • Summon Blood Fiend: The Blood Fiend’s survivability has been increased, and its attack now heals the necromancer for 200% of its previous heal.
  • Spectral Walk: This skill now sets its underwater slot appropriately on recharge.
  • Corrosive Poison Cloud: This skill’s duration tooltip has been corrected.
  • Frozen Abyss: This skill now lists the vulnerability it applies.
  • Spectral Grasp: This skill’s projectile velocity has been increased by 33%.
  • Lich Form: Leaving this skill now removes stability from the player to make the removal consistent with all other transform elites.
  • Feast: This skill no longer causes damage to the necromancer.
  • Sinking Tomb: This skill now has a correct range of 1200, cannot hit targets above the water, and has to hit the target to cause the sink effect.
  • Vampiric Precision, Vampiric Rituals, and Vampiric: These traits have been updated so that they don’t heal enemies when in lower-level areas.
  • Signet of Spite: This skill’s description now indicates all conditions applied.

Ranger

  • Improved the effect chance on ranger spirits to 35% base and 50% when traited.
  • Beastmastery minor traits now use the correct icon.
  • Splinter Shot: This skill’s damage is increased by 150%, and its bleeding duration is increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Counterattack: The blocking portion of this skill can now be used while moving. Ranged attacks will not trigger the second half of the skill.
  • Protecting Screech: This skill now states the correct duration of 4 seconds.
  • Call of the Wild: The Wilderness Survival trait Off-Hand Training now applies to this skill.
  • Throw Torch: The speed of the projectile has been increased.
  • Maul: This skill’s damage has been increased by 40%.
  • Sun Spirit: The tooltip for this skill now displays the proper burning time of 3 seconds.
  • Whirling Defense: This skill was updated so that it interacts better with combo fields.
  • Splinter Shot: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
  • Coral Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Feeding Frenzy: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Mercy Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.

Thief

  • Piercing Shot: Fixed an error in this skill’s damage tooltip.
  • Dancing Dagger: This skill’s damage has been reduced by 50%.
  • Blinding Powder: This skill’s recharge has been reduced from 60 seconds to 40 seconds.
  • Smoke Screen: This skill’s height has been increased to help it absorb projectiles.
  • Shadowstep: This skill is temporarily disabled underwater to keep players from circumventing walls when using it.
  • Tactical Strike: This skill’s damage has been increased by 10% in all formats. This skill’s daze duration has been reduced from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds in PvP.
  • Leeching Venoms: This trait now scales based on the thief’s power.
  • Cluster Shot: This skill’s damage is reduced by 15% in PvP.
  • Cloak and Dagger: This skill’s damage has been reduced by 33% in PvP only.
  • Body Shot: This skill now allows players to activate other skills sooner after the ability ends.
  • Sneak Attack: This skill will now only apply the Revealed buff on the first attack that hits an opponent.
  • Stab: Damage for this skill has been normalized so that it doesn’t deal less damage from behind the target.
  • Bountiful Theft: This trait no longer applies aegis at odd times.
  • Scorpion Wire: This skill’s range has been increased to 1200.
  • Shadow Trap: This skill no longer shadowsteps the thief when the trap is triggered. This skill now has two additional abilities: The first ability becomes available when Shadow Trap is cast and will destroy the current trap. The second ability, Shadow Pursuit, becomes available when an enemy triggers the trap. The thief may choose to activate this ability and shadowstep to the enemy that triggered the trap. If this ability is not activated after 10 seconds, the ability will fade and Shadow Trap will be available.
  • Piercing Shot: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
  • Ink Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.

Warrior

  • Dual Shot: This skill’s damage has been increased by 10%.
  • Bull’s Charge: This skill’s range fact now properly reflects the actual range of the skill.
  • Reviver’s Might: This trait now uses the correct icon.
  • Stick and Move: This trait now uses the correct icon.
  • Forceful Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Brutal Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Split Shot: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
  • Knot Shot: This skill is now a projectile combo finisher.
  • Repeating Shot: This skill is now a small projectile combo finisher.
  • Triple Chop: This skill’s responsiveness has been improved.

Racial Abilities
Human

  • Avatar of Melandru: This skill now properly removes stability when players leave the transformation.

Sylvari

  • Grasping Vines: This skill now immobilizes enemies when the vines connect with the enemy.

Guild Wars 2 Free Trial Info

Guild Wars 2 Free Trial InfoArenaNet have announced that they’ll be running a Guild Wars 2 free trial for friends of current players, between the 15th and 18th November. The details:

We want you to experience Guild Wars 2 and Lost Shores with your friends, so on Monday November 12, we will turn on Refer a Friend Free Trial. You will be able to invite up to 3 Friends to play Guild Wars 2 with you for free from November 15-18.

To do so, you need a Guild Wars 2 account in good standing that was created before 23:59 PST (7:59 GMT) on November 6.

We will give you more details once the program goes live, but start thinking about who you want to invite!

I’d imagine this will be a fairly successful campaign given the momentum Guild Wars 2 has built up: what do you think?

GW2: Extra Halloween Goodies

GW2 HalloweenFor those of you well into the Halloween fun in Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet have posted a quick note saying there’s some extra goodies on the way:

Our Halloween celebrations are in full swing, costume brawls are aplenty and the Shadow of the Mad King is falling across Tyria. Because we are as excited as you are, we will add another opportunity for you to get shiny Halloween goodies.

You will be glad to hear that we are adding recipes to the Mystic Forge that will allow you to throw stuff you get from the Black Lion Chests into it to get a special Halloween chest (no key needed for this one). These chests will include Halloween specific loot and give you a second chance to get one of the terrifying, rare Halloween skins. Here is the recipe we will add:

You need 1 Candy Corn, 6 Mystery Tonics, 1 Boost (any), 1 Boost (any) to get a Mad King Chest.

We hope you like this gruesome addition, we will let you know immediately when they will be in the game – enjoy the celebrations!

And we’d love to hear from you: how are finding the Halloween event in Guild Wars 2?

Guild Wars 2 Developers Answer Questions on Reddit

Guild Wars 2 DevelopersA bunch of ArenaNet’s dev team jumped on Reddit to take part in an AMAA (Ask Me Almost Anything) session in the past day. The level of response was good, with hundred of questions asked a decent amount answered. The focus is quite understandably on development issues rather than gameplay or community stuff. That said, there’s some pretty fascinating insights into a range of things, including:

plans for an FOV slider in GW2
how ArenaNet keep server downtime to a minimum
the biggest defects in the game and what’s restricting the devs from remedying them
GW2 programming methodologies, standards and practices etc

That’s just the tip of the iceberg so have a read-through for yourself – there’s lots of gold in there.

Guild Wars 2 Patch Notes: October 7th 2012 Update

Guild Wars 2 Patch NotesArenaNet have put another game update live, and this one contains quite the list of bug fixes including  a number of dungeon fixes.

Have a read through the patch notes in full:

General

  • Fixed a bug in targeting that was causing left-dragging to deselect/select targets incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug in targeting that was allowing users to deselect all targets using the select next target functionality.
  • Fixed a bug with human female sword and pistol animations.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing quickness to get stuck on players and enemies indefinitely.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Melandru’s Gaze that was rewarding the Mystic Staff instead.
  • Fixed a potential bug with skill challenge conversations not closing for all parties speaking with the NPC.
  • Fixed a bug in weaponsmith Destroyer recipes being swapped for Valkyrie and Berserker weapons.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipes for platinum and mithril ingot conversion taking cloth bolts instead of the appropriate ingots. This also fixes the issue with linen and silk bolt conversion recipes sometimes rewarding ingots.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Immobulus requiring a defunct item. It now requires giant eyes instead.
  • Fixed a bug with Rune of Divinity that was causing it to do 50% more critical damage than listed.
  • Removed laughing audio from crafting stations in Divinity’s Reach.
  • Raised the maximum karma limit.
  • Superior Rune of the Adventurer is now set to give 50% of endurance on heal.
  • The character select screen now reflects hidden armor choices.
  • Updated Rune of Earth and Rune of the Grove to have a 25% chance to grant 4 seconds of protection and 30-second recharge for superior runes, with 45-second recharge for major runes.
  • We’ve relaxed our anti-exploiting system for loot and events.

Camera

  • We’ve updated the camera to reduce the amount of camera smoothing currently in the game in order to lower the frequency of related bugs. We’re still looking into other camera issues, but we decided to make this quick change because it greatly improves the gameplay experience.
    Events
  • Fixed a bug that could block “Escort Order of Whispers agents to Jormabakke Stead” in Snowden Drifts from restarting.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause duplicate versions of Agent Briathell to spawn in Snowden Drifts.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent the repair event for “Cascade Bridge” in Lornar’s Pass from triggering.

Dungeons

Caudecus’s Manor

  • Closed map exploits.
  • Updated the reward vendor for Caudecus’s Manor to include the missing exotic light helmet.
    Citadel of Flame
  • Closed map exploits.

Twilight Arbor

  • Upper Spider Path: Increased the attack range of the Nightmare Tree. The area attack and its effect now take place at the same location.
  • Nightmare Tree Spider Path: The area attack now correctly does damage at the point of the effect.
  • Forward Upper Husk Path: Added damage to the Nightmare Tree’s immobilize skill. Also added damage to the Nightmare Tree egg launch skill.

Story

  • Reduced the health of the final boss in “The Source of Orr.”
  • Forging the Pact: Implemented changes to ensure that the cave section completes reliably.
  • Pets and Walls Make Stronger Kraals: Fix for possible stall during the taming step.
  • Battle of Fort Trinity:
    • You cannot pick up the water orb until you defeat all of the saboteurs.
    • It’s no longer possible to trap players by closing the fortress doors on them.
    • Fixed a stall during “Retake the docks” objective.
    • Fixed a stall if players did not choose a greatest fear earlier in Chapter 7.
  • Lines of Communication: Batanga will now help you fight the Arcane Eye.
  • Fixing Blame: Warmaster Gurnn should now kick off his cutscene correctly.
  • Fixed a rare bug in “Shards of Orr” where Herboza would not become visible.

World versus World

  • The northernmost keep in all homelands has had its collision adjusted on the inner western gate.
  • Numerous items have been disabled for use in World versus World to prevent exploits and imbalances. This includes the Experimental Teleportation Gun, ettin gunk, drake eggs, seed turrets, and more.
  • Fixed WvW Orb of Power duplication on player disconnect.

Profession

  • Attributes gained from traits now apply to the downed state.

Elementalist

  • Glyph of Renewal: This skill will now revive downed allies only, not dead ones.
  • Signets of Earth, Fire, and Water: These signest have been updated to not fire at targets behind the player.
  • Signet of Fire: This skill is now able to hit targets at its indicated range.
  • Signet of Air: This skill now displays a hovering signet effect over the user when activated.
  • Whirlpool: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 33%.

Engineer

  • Grenade Kit: Grenade skills now have the same cast time underwater as they do on land.
  • Explosives Trait Grenadier: This trait now gives a bonus to underwater grenade skills.
  • Big Ol’ Bomb: This skill has been updated to be a blast finisher.

Guardian

  • We are moving towards retaliation being more of a counter to taking many hits rather than a general boon to keep up all the time. We also wanted to improve the combo finisher of the guardian, so we reorganized guardian greatsword skills to the following:
    • Skill 2: Whirling Wrath (10 second recharge)
    • Skill 3: Leap of Faith (15 second recharge)
    • Skill 4: Symbol of Wrath (20 second recharge)
  • Updated Bane Signet and Signet of Wrath so they can’t be fired at targets behind the player.
  • Updated Signet of Judgment to apply three seconds of retaliation upon activation with or without traits.
  • Decreased the activation time of Signet of Judgment.

Mesmer

  • Signet of Domination can no longer be cast on targets behind the mesmer.
  • Added a much faster breakout for mesmer underwater mantras.
  • Phantasmal Warlock: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Chaos Armor: Decreased recharge to 35 seconds.
  • Chaos Storm: Increased recharge to 35 seconds.
  • Phantasmal Duelist: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Phantasmal Swordsman: Increased recharge to 18 seconds.

Necromancer

  • Updated Chillblains to properly function with the Greater Marks trait.
  • Signet of Spite can now be cast while on the move.

Ranger

  • Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.
  • Removed the broken audio that played with Natural Healing whenever pets were in combat.

Thief

  • Pistol Whip: Reduced damage by 15%.
  • Basilisk Venom: Increased stun duration to 1.5 seconds. Stun breakers now work on this skill.

Guild Wars 2 Live Development Team Overview

ArenaNet have posted an update that may on the surface be only of interest to MMO industry geeks like me. It’s an overview of how the Guid Wars 2 ‘live team’ is actually a series of teams devoted to different aspects of the game.

The post though is more than a puff-piece promoting ArenaNet’s commitment to Guild Wars 2. It also shows pretty starkly that there’s some very serious strategy gone into supporting the game ongoing. I’m particularly encouraged that there are separate teams for holiday events (a Halloween one being the first cab off the rank) and a Mac team to support the recently release Beta client for that platform

Read the team breakdown in full, and post your thoughts in comments. Are you still rapt with the game and if so, what are you hoping to see out of the Halloween event?

Guild Wars 2 Concept Art: Theo Prins Profile

ArenaNet have posted an interesting profile of one of their concept artists, Theo Prins.

If you appreciate art or have an interest in how some of the GW2 vistas are created, then have a read.

If you like creating your own game art, we’d love to show off your work. If you’re interested, drop us a line!

Funniest Guild Wars 2 Review?

Back in February we posted a rather funny review of SWTOR from Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, and he’s backed up with another cracker review, this time for Guild Wars 2.

If you like cutting sarcasm then waste no more time, watch this:


 

What I like most about the review, aside from the gold humour, is that fact that it’s overall pretty accurate – do you agree?

[Via Guild Wars 2 Gamers of Oceania Facebook Group]