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https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-ga...ember-26-2013/

November 26, 2013

Delve Into the Fractals of the Mists

Explore great moments from Tyria’s past and test your battle skills in this never-ending chain of dungeons that become more and more challenging the farther you go! Begin your battle through time and space in this infinitely challenging series of dungeons!

• Promises Kept

  Ellen Kiel, who recently earned a seat on the Captain’s Council of Lion’s Arch after a cutthroat campaign, has made good on her promises to her supporters! By sponsoring research in the Fractals of the Mists, Kiel has opened up a momentous event from Tyria’s recent history, the Thaumanova Reactor meltdown, for exploration!

• Inside the Reactor

  Head through the Fractals asura gate near Fort Marriner in Lion’s Arch (right next to the
  Consortium Gift Shop) to meet up with Kiel for a special story instance of the new Thaumanova Reactor Fractal. Experience the explosion of the reactor first-hand and discover its mysteries!

• The Nightmare Continues

  The Tower of Nightmares is heading towards its collapse, but the fight isn’t over yet! Join in the fight against the vile Toxic Alliance and destroy the foul structure. Bring it to ruin before its evil spreads any further! Learn more.

• Developer Livestream – November 27

  Take an inside look at the Fractured release with ArenaNet devs during a livestream on our Twitch channel on Wednesday, November 27, at 12PM PST.

REWARDS

Fractal Reward Updates

The Fractals of the Mists are becoming more rewarding! As a daily fractal reward, you’ll not only be earning Empyreal Fragments, Fractal Relics, and Pristine Fractal Relics at all levels, you’ll also earn a gold or more! Learn more.

Fractal Tonic

A new, infinite tonic with the ability to transform you into any number of friends and foes from within the Mists, the Fractal Tonic is a rare reward found within the Fractals of the Mists.

New Runes and Sigils

Those braving the dangers of the most difficult fractals will find that their bravery is well-rewarded by a chance at brand-new sigils and runes to adorn their gear!

FEATURES

Three New Fractals

In addition to illuminating the strange circ*mstances of the Thaumanova Reactor meltdown, you can experience two more historical events thanks to further Fractals research. Relive the daring raids on the Molten Alliance facilities with the Molten Furnace Fractal! Infiltrate the Aetherblade’s old base of villainy with the treacherous Aetherblade Fractal!

Two New Boss Fractals!

The Jade Maw of the Solid Ocean Fractal is no longer the only challenge awaiting you when you make it to the end of each set of three fractals! Special boss encounters with the Aetherblade captain Mai Trin and the two Molten Alliance champions from the Molten Facility have been added to the rotation.

Agony Resist Updates

We’re reworking the way Agony Resistance works on items. You’ll now be able to collect drops that grant you Agony Resistance and combine them to continually increase your level of Agony Resistence. Learn more.

Announcing Fractals of the Mists Leaderboards

Soon you can earn the envy and adulation of your friends and total strangers through our new leaderboards, which show off the players with the highest fractal levels! As part of the introduction of leaderboards, everyone whose current personal reward level for the Fractals of the Mists is above 30 will be reset to 30 so the competition can begin in earnest.

Fractal Progression Changes

The difficulty curve in fractals levels one through 30 is being adjusted, and fractals beyond level 30 have new, special challenges. Every fractal you enter above fractal level 30 will have a special Mistlock Instability which will add new difficulties to that level, or change the way you and your teammates play within it. Learn more.

Obsidian Sanctum Update

The Eternal Battlegrounds jumping puzzle, the Obsidian Sanctum, is receiving some changes! Along with being able to enter the jumping puzzle from inside your world’s keep in the Eternal Battlegrounds, you’ll now be able to enter the map directly through the WvW menu. Along with that, we’ve added a new arena space to the Obsidian Sanctum where opposing groups of players can meet up for combat. The Borderlands Bloodlust buff will no longer apply in the Obsidian Sanctum.

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https://www.guildwar...s-of-the-mists/

With the release of Fractals, we’re making several exciting additions and changes to the Fractals of the Mists infinite dungeon. Here’s a brief overview of the changes you can expect!
Changes to Fractal Rotations:

For those not familiar with the current structure of the Fractals of the Mists, they’re like mini-dungeons which string together and present more of a challenge as you progress. On average, a single fractal should take 20-30 minutes to complete, depending on your group and difficulty scale.

Entering the Mistlock Observatory through the Fractals of the Mists gate near Fort Marriner in Lion’s Arch will place you into a random fractal from a common pool. Completing the fractal will prompt your party to move to the next fractal, which is also chosen at random. After completing three fractals, the party will be taken to a shorter boss fractal, after which you’ll receive rewards for completing the run.

Completing a given fractal level will increase your personal fractal difficulty and reward level by one. As you level up within the Fractals of the Mists, enemies become more challenging (up to a maximum level of 50). Above fractal difficulty level 10, a new type of damage called agony is applied by certain attacks. This effect deals a set percentage of your health, but can be mitigated by special Ascended gear with the agony resist stat on it

Fractals are now weighted according to their length and difficulty. Easier fractals will always show up earlier in the run, with more difficult ones coming later.

All 50 levels now have a boss fractal after the standard rotation of three normal, instead of only offering a boss encounter at the end of even-numbered fractal levels. You no longer need to worry about skipping levels to get the best rewards!

Your personal fractal difficulty and reward level is being made account-wide! Starting with the Fractured release, you can attempt high level fractals on a new character without needing to level up all over again.

New Fractals:

Three new fractals have been added to the fractal rotation:

• Thaumanova Reactor Fractal: You voted, and Kiel delivered! Experience the moments leading up to the catastrophic destruction of the Thaumanova Reactor, caused by the Inquest’s reckless experiments with Chaos Energy.
• Molten Furnace Fractal: Relive the beginning of the assault on the Molten Alliance base from the Flame & Frost release! Watch out for the supercharged Dredge Engineer!
• Aetherblade Fractal: The Aetherblade pirates from the Sky Pirates of Tyria release can now be found in the Mists as well – and their traps and tricks are deadlier than ever!

Two new boss fractals have been added to join the Jade Maw encounter:

• The Molten Berserker and Dredge Firestorm from the Molten Facility Dungeon are back! The deadly duo will challenge you to focus your fire while avoiding their attacks.
• Mai Trin from the Aetherblade Retreat will also try to get between you and your well-deserved rewards. Avoid her first-mate’s cannonball barrages while bringing down her shields.

Mistlock Instabilities:

As Dessa has always been quick to point out, diving into the Mists is a dangerous hobby! Playing above fractal level 30, you will notice new Mistlock Instabilities that will force you to rethink your approach to what might otherwise seem like familiar challenges.

Every level starting at 31 will have a new instability to conquer. This instability is tied to the fractal level, so it will be the same for all three fractals and the boss, but will be replaced by a new challenge when you move up to a new fractal level.

These instabilities should offer new and varied challenges, even to veterans of the Fractals of the Mists!

Agony Resist Infusions:

To assist you in your ventures into the mists, a new agony resist infusion slot has been added to all infused rings and backpacks.

• All current infused rings and backpacks will start with a +5 agony resist infusion (this replaces the +5 agony resist that was previously on the item itself).
• Players will be able to find +1 agony resist infusions commonly in the fractals after level 10.
• Artificers of at least 100 skill will be able to combine two infusions of the same level with a Thermocatalytic Reagent to make an infusion of the next level. For example, you could take two +2 infusions, combine them with a Thermocatalytic Reagent, and create a +3 infusion.

Reward updates:

You will be able to receive a special daily chest for finishing a boss fractal once per day. This chest will contain a number of items based on your current fractal level:

• Empyreal Fragments
• Fractal Relics
• A Pristine Fractal Relic
• Gold

This boss chest will also have a chance at containing a number of other rare rewards. As your fractal level increases, so do the odds of obtaining these items:

• Fractal Weapon Skins (starting at level 10)
• Ascended Rings (starting at level 10)
• Ascended Weapons (starting at level 10)
• Infused Ascended Rings (starting at level 20)

Starting at level 40, this chest will have a small chance to contain an Endless Fractal Tonic. Using this item will transform you into a random creature found in the fractals. It is account bound, so it can be used on any of your characters.
Completing a fractal will yield a repeatable chest that contains the following (this chest can be obtained any number of times per day):

• Fractal Relics
• Agony resist infusions
• Character equipment (blue quality or higher)

Above level 30, this repeatable chest also has a chance to contain a brand new rune or sigil:

• The Rune of Resistance grants bonus toughness, a reduction in condition duration, and aegis upon using a signet
• The Sigil of Momentum grants a stacking toughness buff every time you kill an enemy

As you delve into old and new fractals alike, we’re hoping these changes will keep you feeling challenged and better rewarded than ever before.

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https://www.guildwar...htmares-within/

Are you ready to enter the Tower of Nightmares that’s spreading evil through Kessex Hills? Now that a way inside has been found, it’s time to storm the tower and attempt to put an end to its toxic growth.
LIVING WORLD

The Nightmares Within

The way is open. The bravest are entering the Tower of Nightmares and confronting scores of powerful enemies. Toxins in the air make the going rough, and players won’t know whether they’re encountering a hallucination or a living foe. No antitoxin can protect them from their inner demons, but someone has to bring this tower down before Kessex Hills is lost to the nightmare.
Story

• Thanks to the heroes of Tyria, Marjory Delaqua’s research has yielded a viable antitoxin that has allowed teams from the Seraph, the Durmand Priory, the Vigil, and the Order of Whispers to infiltrate the Tower of Nightmares in Kessex Hills.
• Air purifiers have been placed at key locations to counteract the toxic clouds around the base of the tower, allowing access to the interior. To destroy the heart of the nightmarish structure, brave squads have attempted to carry newly designed antitoxin injectors to the top of the tower, but they haven’t been heard from since. It’s now up to the heroes of Tyria to defeat the Toxic Alliance and destroy their tower.
• Players will receive in-game mail from Lady Kasmeer Meade informing them that the Tower of Nightmares is now open. Use the Show Me functionality in the mail to find the location of the Tower of Nightmares.
• Once inside the Tower of Nightmares, players will need to make their way up the tower, scaling three floors of horrifying dangers to reach the heart of the tower—a massive, noxious bloom pulsing with malevolent power. At the apex of the tower, players can enter the chamber protecting the tower’s heart and begin a story instance that can be completed solo or with a group of up to five players.
  
  • Upon defeating the challenges of the story instance, players can finish what the scouting team could not: inject Marjory’s antitoxin directly into the heart of the tower!
  • The story instance also has a repeatable mode so players can confront the challenges as many times as they like for additional rewards and accolades. Upon each completion, players will be able to inject another dose of antitoxin, weakening the tower that much more.

The Tower of Nightmares

• The interior of the Tower of Nightmares has been revealed, and it is as deadly as its name suggests. The Tower of Nightmares is an open-world map designed to challenge even the hardiest of groups. Fighting side by side, players will need to rely on each other to survive.
• Players will participate in a number of new open-world events throughout the structure and encounter the deadly hallucinations and lethal champions of the Toxic Alliance.
• Within the Tower of Nightmares, a mysterious chest was found at the top of the tower. The chest’s lock is an intricate mechanism that seems to require a three-pronged key. The pieces of the key for this Tri-key Chest can be found on creatures within the Tower of Nightmares, or they can be acquired through trade with Marjory’s Helper Dee back at the Thunder Ridge Camp in Kessex Hills. Players will also receive one complete set of keys in the initial mail from Kasmeer. Combine the keys to create a Tricolor Key.
• The Tower of Nightmares content will be available until the tower’s heart is destroyed. Watch the progress as more antitoxin is injected!

Nightmare Chambers

• Throughout the Tower of Nightmares, players will find smaller blossoms that resemble the tower’s heart. Within these chambers, players will experience their deepest fears and encounter twisted visions of their past.
• The Nightmare Chamber instances are designed for either solo or group play and are comprised of a number of random elements. Each time a player enters a chamber, there is a chance to see something, or someone, different. But is any of it real?

Open World

• The Toxic Alliance isn’t giving up on its plans for domination simply because their tower has been breached. Toxic Offshoots and Toxic Alliance events will continue to run throughout this release, giving players a chance to finish many of the achievements they may have missed in the last release.
• The Antitoxin Injected indicator is a representation of the amount of antitoxin that has been pumped into the heart of the tower by the heroes of Tyria and will update periodically.

Rewards

• Finishing the meta-achievement for The Nightmares Within rewards players with a Gas Mask Skin. This headgear skin has three dye channels and can be applied to head armor of any weight class. It’s just the thing for infiltrating a hostile and toxic environment like the Tower of Nightmares.
• Players will be awarded with a Mini Toxic Nimross miniature for completing the Tower Hybrid Master achievement.
• Tricolor Keys can be used to open the Tri-key Chest at the top of the third level of the Tower of Nightmares. Besides its guaranteed rewards, there’s a chance for players to receive unique items:
  
  • Air-Filtration Device Skin—a headgear skin for all weight classes
  • Toxic Spore Skin back-slot item
  • New, exclusive miniature

Achievements

• The Nightmares Within meta-achievement will task players with combating their way through the interior of the Tower of Nightmares, conquering their fears in the Nightmare Chamber instances, defeating the Toxic Hybrid, and injecting antitoxin into the heart of the tower.
  
  • Completing special Nightmares Within daily achievements during this release will contribute to the meta-achievement. These are earned by participating in specific Nightmares Within content each day.

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT

Structured Player vs. Player

• Added a new Custom Arena option: Force Respawn. When enabled, players will automatically respawn at the end of their respawn timers, and defeated players will no longer be resurrectable.
• Solo Arena players will now be shuffled before joining a match to promote a more even and challenging game.
• The compass and map will now display enemy markers for enemies who are in combat and within line of sight of one of your teammates.
• Trick-or-Treat Bags have been reverted back to reward chests, and candy corn has been removed from Solo Arena and Team Arena. Until December 10, PvP will offer double reward chests for Solo Arena and Team Arena wins.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

General

• Introduced further server-side optimizations, with significant improvements during heavy combat scenarios.

Structured Player vs. Player

• Fixed the Solo Arena UI to always have a Leave button instead of a Disband button.
• The PvP panel now remembers the last opened tab.
• The trebuchet in Battle of Kyhlo no longer awards personal scores for hitting minions.
• The PvP medal on the Character Select screen now directly represents the player’s rank.
• The Custom Arena configuration UI now disables the Play button when it’s expired.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

• All permanent gathering tools will now be account bound rather than soulbound. For one week, account-bound versions of the Jack-in-the-Box Scythe and Bone Pick gathering tools will be available in the Services category of the Gem Store for 1000 gems each.
  
  • Previously purchased permanent gathering tools can be upgraded to account-bound versions by unequipping them and bringing them to a Black Lion Weapons Specialist.
• Marjory’s Axe, Marjory’s Dagger, and Kasmeer’s Staff are now available as skins in the Style category of the Gem Store for 600 gems each.
• A pair of spirit wings rises from the player’s defeated foe. The new Permanent Sanctified Finisher is available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 600 gems.

Improvements

• PvP Locker slots have been added for the Toxic hand and shoulder armors received from the Toxic Gloves Skin and the Toxic Mantle Skin, both available in the Style category of the Gem Store.
• Soulbound permanent gathering tools can be exchanged at a Black Lion Weapons Specialist for account-bound versions. Players must unequip the tool before exchanging it.
• All future permanent gathering tools from the Gem Store will be account bound and will cost slightly more than the soulbound versions.

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https://www.guildwar...vember-12-2013/

November 12, 2013

Enter the Tower of Nightmares

The dark tower in Kessex Hills has been breached! Now is the time to storm the tower and begin setting things to rights. Within the morbid stronghold of the Toxic Alliance, you’ll find new dangers, new challenges, and come face-to-face with terror incarnate.

• Rock the Nightmare

  Create your own Guild Wars 2 music video using our all-new “The Nightmares Within” song. The most creative video creators will win SteelSeries gaming gear, and the grand prize winner will receive a unique custom Guild Wars 2 guitar from Sygnus Guitars – there isn’t another one like it on Earth or Tyria! Learn More

• Developer Livestream – November 13

  Take an inside look at the November 12 release with ArenaNet devs during a livestream on our Twitch channel on Wednesday, November 13, at 12PM PST.

• Lingering Poison

  You may have found a way into the Toxic Alliance’s inner sanctum, but this has by no means curtailed their nefarious activities! Kessex Hills and the surrounding countryside are still befouled by the alliance’s evil presence!

• Face the Nightmares Within

  Enter rooms within the Tower of Nightmares to brave special encounters—but beware! Things are not all as they seem. You can never know what awaits you within these dark rooms. Will you find yourself face-to-face with Scarlet’s agents, or a much more insidious enemy? It’ll take strength, determination, and a cool head to survive the trials that await you.

• The End of Nightmares?

  Marjory Delaqua has developed a special antitoxin to put an end to the deadly plant at the heart of the tower, but the first team dispatched to inject it never returned… Fight your way to the upper chamber in a last-ditch battle to destroy the toxic menace!

Rewards

Antitoxic Fashion

Complete the meta achievement for The Nightmares Within to unlock a special Gasmask Skin! As the latest design in air purification and toxin prevention, the Gasmask is a universal skin that can be applied to any piece of head armor.

Exclusive New Looks

Complete your wardrobe with an Air Filtration Device—a dry-land version of the starter aquatic helm—or the Toxic Spore back item!

Brand-New Minis!

Two new Toxic Krait miniatures are on the loose! You have a chance to pick up one from Toxic Alliance foes you destroy, and the other can be earned by killing a very special enemy, hidden deep in the heart of the Tower of Nightmares.

Tri-Key Chest

The Tri-Key Chest holds a chance for special treasures. Collect the three keys to open it from foes within the tower, or barter for them with Marjory’s Helper, Dee. Open the chest to see what lies inside!

0 Replies | 1,422 Views

https://forum-en.gui...rst#post3133093

General
These are the proposed balance changes for the Dec. 10th build. These changes are not final and are subject to change. We are posting them early so the community can discuss them with us. We wanted to be more transparent with the community about these changes to help expose problems that riskier changes might create.
Our goal for many of the classes was to increase build diversity while still maintaining class roles and identities. Some of the things we increased were abilities/skills that people don’t run very often. Our goal was to increase these abilities to make them viable alternate builds.
How to give good feedback and what to expect.

• Be constructive. If you think a change may cause issues, say why and give examples. Try not to argue with others – make your point and then accept that other people may have different points of view.
• Be concise. Our time is limited and we can’t read walls of text because it will prevent us from having the time to read as many posts as possible. Bullet points or numbered lists are very easy for us to read!
• Be specific. “I expect this change to accomplish A, but I think it will actually accomplish B”. The more specific you are, the better we are able to understand where you’re coming from, what type of content you play, and it helps us to understand the context for your feedback.
• Be objective. Keep in mind that just because you may not like something, that doesn’t make it bad. Others may have differing opinions. They may play a different type of content, or they may play a different profession, so be objective and keep in mind – we have to balance the game for EVERYONE, not just you.
• Be respectful. This goes for your fellow community members as well as for devs. Respect the ideas and opinions of others.
• Be mindful of scope. These are the changes we are trying to get in for the Dec. 10th balance patch. That doesn’t leave us with time to rework entire classes, or redesign entire weapon sets with this update. Keep scope/work/time/resources in mind when you make your suggestions.
• Be mindful of context. Power creep is something we’re trying to avoid. Sometimes a profession may not receive as many increases as other classes. A lot of times, this is because that class is already performing very well in the current state of the game. So keep the overall context/state of the game in mind when giving feedback.

Elementalist:
This patch’s goal for the elementalist was to increase the power of the Earth, Air and Fire lines, while taking away some of the need to go into the Arcane line. This was done by bringing up the base cooldown of attunements so that elementalists aren’t forced to go as deep into Arcane in order to get the old attunement cooldown %’s. In doing so, we decided put some of the most powerful Adept tier traits in Water magic and Arcane to the Master tier to avoid power creep that would have occurred by letting players gain powerful effects in Master and Grandmaster tier of Fire, Air, and Earth and still get the extremely powerful traits in Water and Arcane by only splashing in 10 points.

• Fire II – Burning Fire – This trait has a new effect. Use Cleansing Fire automatically when you have a number of conditions on you. 3 conditions. 40 second cooldown. Moved to Master tier.
• Fire VIII – Conjurer – Moved to Adept tier.
• Fire III – Ember’s Might. The effect of this trait has been changed to Burns you apply last longer. 25%.
• Burning Rage 25 – Increased damage dealt to burning foes from 5% to 10%.
• Air V – Soothing Winds. Increased conversion from 5% to 7%.
• Air XI – Tempest Defense. Decreased the cooldown from 60s to 25s.
• Earth 5 – Stone Flesh – Increased toughness while attuned to Earth Magic to 1.5/level (120 at level 80).
• Earth VII – Strength of Stone. This trait is now Gain condition damage based on your Toughness. 10%.
• Earth XI – Diamond Skin. This trait has been redesigned. Conditions cannot be applied to you when your health is above the threshold. 90%.
• Water I – Aquamancer’s Alacrity. Moved to Master tier.
• Water V – Cleansing Wave. Moved to Master tier.
• Water VIII – Arcane Abatement. Moved to Adept tier.
• Water X – Soothing Wave. Moved to Adept tier.
• Arcane III – Arcane Retribution. Moved to Master tier. Decreased cooldown from 90 seconds to 45 seconds.
• Arcane IV – Final Shielding. Decreased cooldown from 90s to 75s.
• Arcane V – Elemental Attunement. Moved to Master tier.
• Arcane VI – Renewing Stamina. Moved to Master tier.
• Arcane VII – Vigorous Scepter. Moved to Adept tier.
• Arcane VIII – Blasting Staff. Moved to Adept tier.
• Arcane IX – Windborne Dagger. Moved to Adept tier.

The following changes were done to reduce the necessity of putting points into the Arcane trait line.

• The base cooldown of the attunement that you just left is now reduced from 16 seconds to 13 seconds. Attunement cooldown rate now increases by 1% per point in Arcane down from 2%. The end result is that now Attunements go from 13s to 10s instead of the old range of 16s to 10s.
• Base global attunement cooldown is now 1.625 seconds. Global attunement cooldown rate now decreases by 1% per point in Arcane down from 2%. The end result is that now global attunement cooldown goes from 1.625 to 1.25 instead of the old range of 2.0 to 1.25.

Engineer:
We wanted to maintain the engineer’s core roles while still increasing build diversity. We also wanted to take out some of the random effects for some of the class’s traits. The biggest change here is allowing Modified Ammunition to work with any skills so that an engineer, regardless of build, can look at putting 30 points into firearms. By increasing the swiftness duration on Speedy Kits, we hope to allow Swiftness to be maintained more reasonably without having to constantly be swapping between Kits. This change will also bring down the total up time for Vigor due to its interaction with Invigorating Speed. We don’t like classes having permanent Vigor, and this is one of the areas we needed to tone down the up time of the engineer’s Vigor.

• Explosives V – Incendiary Powder. Moved to Master tier.
• Explosives VI – Exploit Weakness. Increased the health threshold from 25% to 50%
• Explosives IX – Accelerant packed turrets. Moved to Adept tier.
• Firearms XI – Modified Ammunition. This trait now works regardless of equipped weapon.
• Inventions V – Energized Armor. Increased conversion from 5% to 7%.
• Inventions X – Autotool Installation. Increased healing percent from 1% to 5%. * Decreased interval from 10s to 3s.
• Inventions XI – Elixir Infused bombs. Increased healing scaling by 50%.
• Alchemy V – Blood Injection. Increased conversion from 5% to 7%.
• Alchemy 15 – Transmute. Increased % chance from 8% to 100%. This effect can now only trigger once every 15 seconds.
• Tools VI – Speedy Kits. Increased Swiftness duration to 10s. This effect can now only trigger once every 10 seconds.
• Tools XI – Armor Mods. Changed this to now trigger on struck instead of on critical hit incoming. Reduced the cooldown from 25 seconds to 15 seconds.

Guardian:
Tanky and supportive guardians are in a strong position in many gametypes. We do feel that damage guardians are not as powerful as they could be. While we don’t want guardians to be as strong offensively as some of the other classes (given their powerful defensive abilities) we opened up more offensive guardian builds.

• Zeal V – Shattered Aegis. Damage instead of Burning.
• Zeal VII – Zealous Blade. This trait now scales with Healing power (2%.)
• Zeal XII – Kindled Zeal. Increased conversion from 10% to 13%.
• Radiance V – Searing Flames. Reduced cooldown from 20s to 10s.
• Radiance X – Powerful blades. Increased damage from 5% to 10%.
• Valor V – Retributive Armor. Increased conversion rate from 5% to 7%.
• Honor VI – Pure of Heart. Increased scaling with Healing power from 25% to 40%.
• Virtues VIII – Supreme Justice. Number of attacks going from 4 to 3.
• Symbol of Swiftness: This skill now applies 4 seconds of swiftness per pulse, rather than 8 seconds if you have no swiftness and 1 second if you have swiftness.

Mesmer:
The bulk of the mesmer changes are focused on two things. 1) Bringing up some of the mesmer support traits and condition removal traits. 2) Reduce dependency on certain trait lines. The changes to Mender’s Purity and Shattered conditions as well as the move of Dazzling Glamours are meant to accomplish the first of these two. The changes to Shattered Strength and Illusionist’s celerity are what we feel

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https://www.guildwar...-of-nightmares/

Marjory Delaqua and Kasmeer Meade have found a way to pierce the veil protecting the krait in Kessex Hills! When the illusion falls, brave heroes need to be nearby to deal with the krait—and whatever inside their Tower of Nightmares!
LIVING WORLD

Tower of Nightmares

What happens when the evil agendas of the krait and the Nightmare Court align? The answer can be found around Viathan Lake in Kessex Hills, where a dreadful tower has risen to spew poison into the sky. It’s causing hallucinations and illness in all who breathe in the spores. The malevolent forces behind it have Tyria’s subjugation in mind.
Story

• Track down Marjory Delaqua and Lady Kasmeer Meade in Kessex Hills, and help them investigate the sinister nature of the massive “Tower of Nightmares” in the waters of Viathan Lake.
• When entering Kessex Hills, players with an actual level higher than 25 will automatically be redirected to a story instance.
• Players level 25 and under may still opt to play the story instance by speaking to Marjory in Kessex Hills.
  
  • This solo story instance will introduce players to the new threat of the “Toxic Alliance” between the krait and a faction of the Nightmare Court. Players will encounter the Toxic Alliance’s unique and deadly skills firsthand as they battle their way to Marjory and Kasmeer.
  • Players may leave this instance without penalty, and they may retry it at any time by speaking to Marjory in Kessex Hills until the instance has been completed.
  • Once the instance has been completed, it can be replayed by another character.

Open World

• Kessex Hills
  
  • Kessex Hills has become even more of a war zone than usual! The Tower of Nightmares has completely changed the area around Viathan Lake, spewing toxic pollen and gases into the air, turning the sky a dark and sickly hue. The Toxic Alliance, flooding from the monolithic tower, is working to cement a foothold in the region. Seraph forces are trying to stem the tide, but the tower itself appears impenetrable and is surrounded by a wall of suffocating toxic gas that prevents entry.
  • The Toxic Alliance appears to be here to stay. They’ve been taking territory from both allies and enemies alike, from Mudbay Digs to Greyhoof Meadows and all points in between. As players battle through a variety of new dynamic events, they will wage war on this new threat on multiple fronts around the base of the Tower of Nightmares.
  • The Tower of Nightmares is also creating smaller offshoots of itself at several locations around the map. Players must aid the Vigil, the Order of Whispers, and the Durmand Priory as they attempt to destroy these toxic offshoots with siege weapons.
  • Marjory Delaqua, an expert in poisons, is working hard to formulate an antitoxin from a camp at Thunder Ridge so that the heroes of Tyria can enter the tower and take the fight to the Toxic Alliance on their own turf. Players can help Marjory’s research efforts by bringing her Pristine Toxic Spore Samples, which can be found by completing related events and destroying Toxic Alliance enemies.
• The Toxic Offshoots aren’t just limited to Kessex Hills. The wind has carried these vile blooms into the neighboring zones of Caledon Forest, Metrica Province, Brisban Wildlands, Queensdale, and Gendarran Fields. They have even been spotted in the Eternal Battlegrounds!
• The Durmand Priory has been investigating the involvement of the krait, a normally xenophobic and hostile force. They are convinced that the krait have been gifted with something very important to their culture: shards of one of their great obelisks. Krait obelisks factor heavily into the krait religion, so Priory Arcanist Dolja will task players to find and transcribe the energy signatures of 24 of these obelisk shards across Tyria.
• The Toxic Alliance is the toughest force yet, and their arrival brings with it the debut of the elite species type. With its difficulty level situated between a veteran and a champion, elite enemies are designed to challenge small groups of players outside of group instances.
• Blood and Madness content and achievements will still be available to play until November 11, including decorations, activities, Haunted Door events, and story instances. Also, a single Halloween-themed daily achievement will be available.
  
  • Mad King Thorn will visit Lion’s Arch between 9 a.m. PDT on October 30 through 9 a.m. PDT on November 1. During that period, the Mad King will tell jokes as he wanders the Mystic Plaza and play Mad King Says in the Grand Piazza. This is the only time players can gain the A Royal Tradition achievement, which awards successful players with the Mask of the Night Skin.

Rewards

• Finishing the Tower of Nightmares meta-achievement will reward the player with a personal Krait Obelisk Shard, a place of power for their home instance. It can be used to obtain a skill point and to charge Quartz Crystals once per day.
• Finishing the Toxic Krait Historian achievement will reward players with a Scroll of Knowledge, which allows them to obtain five skill points.
• Marjory Delaqua will accept extra Pristine Toxic Spore Samples as trade for various new crafting recipes and a new heal skill at the Thunder Ridge Camp in Kessex Hills.
  
  • Antitoxin Spray: This new heal skill is usable by all professions in PvE and WvW. Players can use the antitoxin to heal themselves and nearby allies while also removing toxic pollen, poison, torment, and confusion.

Achievements

• Tower of Nightmares, the meta-achievement, will task players with bringing down Toxic Offshoots, gathering spore samples to complete Marjory’s research, seeking out krait obelisk shards, and destroying Toxic Alliance forces and their champions.
  
  • During this release, completing Tower of Nightmares daily achievements will contribute to the meta-achievement. These are earned by participating in specific Tower of Nightmares content each day.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

General

• PvP Glory and Rank rewards have been revised. Personal score no longer grants rank. Instead, there are now flat bonuses for playing and winning games. Games lasting less than 7 minutes will have proportionally downscaled rewards.
• The Special Event UI has been updated to help direct players through Living World releases.

Items

• The crafting recipe for Bolts of Silk now requires 3 Silk Scraps.
• The crafting recipe for Cured Thick Leather Squares now requires 3 Thick Leather Sections.
• The icon for the Scroll of Knowledge has been updated.
• The icon for the Experience Scroll has been updated.

Profession Skills

Elementalist

• Conjure Fiery Greatsword—Firestorm: Fixed the radius skill fact and included a duration skill fact.
• Mist Form: Added a skill fact for the movement-speed increase.
• Undercurrent: Added a radius skill fact.
• Tempest Defense: This trait now lists the appropriate damage increase to stunned and knocked-down opponents.

Engineer

• Scatter Mines: Added radius and damage skill facts.
• Reinforced Shield: This trait now indicates an increase to toughness, rather than adrenaline.
• Low-Health Response System: Added a trait fact for the health threshold.
• Napalm Specialist: This trait now displays its duration increase when used with skills that apply burning.
• Elite Supplies: This trait now appropriately reduces the recharge time of mortar abilities.
• Infused Precision: This trait now lists the chance to activate on critical hits.

Guardian

• Smite: Added a skill fact for the number of impacts, and removed the number of attacks from the damage skill fact.
• Protector’s Strike: Replaced the range skill fact with a radius.
• Purging Flames: Updated the skill fact to indicate the correct condition duration reduction.

Mesmer

• Veil: Fixed the duration skill fact to properly indicate its duration, with and without Temporal Enchanter traited.

Ranger

• Malicious Training: Updated multiple pet abilities to reflect when this trait is equipped.
• Juvenile Brown Bear:
  
  • Shake It Off: Fixed an issue that caused the condition-removal effects to behave erratically.
• Sword—Slash: Removed the skill fact that displayed bleeding condition removal.

Thief

• Shadow Refuge: Added a pulses skill fact.

Warrior

• Hundred Blades: Fixed the skill fact to properly update when traited with Slashing Power.

... [Read More]

0 Replies | 1,857 Views

https://www.guildwar...ctober-29-2013/

A toxic seed has been sown.
Guarded by magic, fed with evil, it grows.

Behind the Veil

• Some new trouble is growing in Kessex Hills. Carefully hidden by magic, the krait have been working tirelessly on a terror unlike anything seen before in Tyria. Marjory Delaqua and Kasmeer Meade are investigating the illusory curtain that’s cloaking part of Viathan Lake, and they need your help! What secret lies behind the veil?

Developer Livestream – October 28

• Take a sneak peak at the Tower of Nightmares release with ArenaNet devs during the preview livestream on our Twitch channel on Monday, October 28 at 12PM PDT.

REWARDS
Antitoxin Spray

• Prepare for battle with a new universal healing skill! A dose of this cutting-edge Antitoxin Spray will cleanse yourself and nearby allies of poison, torment, confusion, and toxin. This skill is available to characters of all professions.

Krait Obelisk Shard

• Complete the Tower of Nightmares meta achievement to receive a Krait Obelisk Shard for your home instances, which can serve as a place of power for earning a skill point or charging Quartz Crystals!

2 Replies | 1,562 Views

EU Schedule is up
NA Schedule is now up

https://forum-en.gui...ason-1-Schedule

We wanted to give everyone an understanding of the schedule of the matchups during season one, so we’ll post the EU and NA matchups as they are available. I’ve attached the schedule as images and I’ll post the raw data here for anyone interested in it:

Round 1 10/18 thru 10/25
League Red Blue Green
Gold Piken Square Vizunah Square [FR] Seafarer’s Rest
Gold Jade Sea [FR] Elona Reach [DE] Riverside [DE]
Gold Kodash [DE] Augury Rock [FR] Baruch Bay [SP]
Silver Gandara Desolation Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Silver Miller’s Sound [DE] Gunnar’s Hold Aurora Glad
Silver Underworld Far Shiverpeaks Fort Ranik [FR]
Bronze Ring of Fire Drakkar Lake [DE] Dzagonur [DE]
Bronze Arborstone [FR] Ruins of Surmia Blacktide
Bronze Vabbi Whiteside Ridge Fissure of Woe

Round 2 10/25 thru 11/1
League Red Blue Green
Gold Kodash [DE] Elona Reach [DE] Seafarer’s Rest
Gold Piken Square Augury Rock [FR] Riverside [DE]
Gold Jade Sea [FR] Vizunah Square [FR] Baruch Bay [SP]
Silver Underworld Gunnar’s Hold Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Silver Gandara Far Shiverpeaks Aurora Glad
Silver Miller’s Sound [DE] Desolation Fort Ranik [FR]
Bronze Vabbi Ruins of Surmia Dzagonur [DE]
Bronze Ring of Fire Whiteside Ridge Blacktide
Bronze Arborstone [FR] Drakkar Lake [DE] Fissure of Woe

Round 3 11/1 thru 11/8
League Red Blue Green
Gold Jade Sea [FR] Augury Rock [FR] Seafarer’s Rest
Gold Kodash [DE] Vizunah Square [FR] Riverside [DE]
Gold Piken Square Elona Reach [DE] Baruch Bay [SP]
Silver Miller’s Sound [DE] Far Shiverpeaks Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Silver Underworld Desolation Aurora Glad
Silver Gandara Gunnar’s Hold Fort Ranik [FR]
Bronze Arborstone [FR] Whiteside Ridge Dzagonur [DE]
Bronze Vabbi Drakkar Lake [DE] Blacktide
Bronze Ring of Fire Ruins of Surmia Fissure of Woe

Round 4 11/8 thru 11/15
League Red Blue Green
Gold Kodash [DE] Jade Sea [FR] Piken Square
Gold Augury Rock [FR] Elona Reach [DE] Vizunah Square [FR]
Gold Baruch Bay [SP] Riverside [DE] Seafarer’s Rest
Silver Underworld Miller’s Sound [DE] Gandara
Silver Far Shiverpeaks Gunnar’s Hold Desolation
Silver Fort Ranik [FR] Aurora Glad Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Bronze Vabbi Arborstone [FR] Ring of Fire
Bronze Whiteside Ridge Ruins of Surmia Drakkar Lake [DE]
Bronze Fissure of Woe Blacktide Dzagonur [DE]

Round 5 11/15 thru 11/22
League Red Blue Green
Gold Augury Rock [FR] Jade Sea [FR] Kodash [DE]
Gold Riverside [DE] Piken Square Seafarer’s Rest
Gold Elona Reach [DE] Baruch Bay [SP] Vizunah Square [FR]
Silver Far Shiverpeaks Miller’s Sound [DE] Underworld
Silver Aurora Glad Gandara Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Silver Gunnar’s Hold Fort Ranik [FR] Desolation
Bronze Whiteside Ridge Arborstone [FR] Vabbi
Bronze Blacktide Ring of Fire Dzagonur [DE]
Bronze Ruins of Surmia Fissure of Woe Drakkar Lake [DE]

Round 6 11/22 thru 11/29
League Red Blue Green
Gold Jade Sea [FR] Elona Reach [DE] Seafarer’s Rest
Gold Augury Rock [FR] Piken Square Vizunah Square [FR]
Gold Kodash [DE] Baruch Bay [SP] Riverside [DE]
Silver Miller’s Sound [DE] Gunnar’s Hold Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Silver Far Shiverpeaks Gandara Desolation
Silver Underworld Fort Ranik [FR] Aurora Glad
Bronze Arborstone [FR] Ruins of Surmia Dzagonur [DE]
Bronze Whiteside Ridge Ring of Fire Drakkar Lake [DE]
Bronze Vabbi Fissure of Woe Blacktide

Round 7 11/29 thru 12/5
League Red Blue Green
Gold Piken Square Vizunah Square [FR] Seafarer’s Rest
Gold Jade Sea [FR] Elona Reach [DE] Riverside [DE]
Gold Kodash [DE] Augury Rock [FR] Baruch Bay [SP]
Silver Gandara Desolation Abaddon’s Mouth [DE]
Silver Miller’s Sound [DE] Gunnar’s Hold Aurora Glad
Silver Underworld Far Shiverpeaks Fort Ranik [FR]
Bronze Ring of Fire Drakkar Lake [DE] Dzagonur [DE]
Bronze Arborstone [FR] Ruins of Surmia Blacktide
Bronze Vabbi Whiteside Ridge Fissure of Woe

8 Replies | 2,715 Views

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/t...coming-to-wvw/

Greetings, folks! I’m here to announce an exciting new development in World vs. World!

We are in the process of designing a brand-new map that will let you enjoy WvW while waiting to enter the existing Borderlands and Eternal Battleground maps. This new map, the Edge of the Mists, will be able to accomodate as many people as want to play in it at any given time. Unlike the existing WvW maps, once a version of the Edge of the Mists fills up, another will be created so that anyone who wishes to take part can do so.

While this map will allow you to earn rewards that will help you in WvW, it will not contribute directly to your world’s score. This means worlds with a large population won’t be able to use their size to gain an unfair advantage with this map. This is a place where you’ll be able to test your WvW skills, earn World XP, and experience content at the cutting edge of WvW.

It’s imperative to us that we provide space for as many players as possible before we continue to make improvements to WvW, because every time we make changes and updates, more players get stuck waiting in line. This new map will eliminate that entirely and make it so everyone can experience the grandeur of WvW whenever they wish.

We’ve been looking into tackling the problem of limited space in WvW for some time now, and we have finally reached a point where we can get you, the players, involved in our solution.

We are telling you about this map now, long before we are ready to launch it, because we want your help to make this the best possible experience we can. We will be inviting thousands of people to come play in an public test version of the map to provide us with feedback, stress tests, and to help guide the design and development of the final version of the map. We are looking for guilds that are WvW-focused to provide us with the numbers we need and to provide some of the basic structure we’ll be looking for in these tests.

See Also

Odysseus Abroad Amit Chaudhuri

We’ll be starting off with small testing windows that will become more expansive as we get closer to finalizing the map. To apply for a spot in the test for your guild, please have one representative from your guild fill out this survey.

Testing of the map will go through the beginning of 2014, at a minimum. To be considered for inclusion, your guild needs to have at least one fluent English speaker capable of compiling feedback for us. None of this testing will be under NDA, as we want as many people as possible and we need your input.

We’ll have more details about the map as we continue to develop it and as we start the actual testing. Your involvement in this process will be critical to the final implementation and design of the map. We will be making decisions based on the feedback we get from these tests and that feedback will determine the final version of the map.

We are thrilled to be entering into a new phase of development for WvW where we get large groups of players in to test and provide feedback on large-scale projects before they go live.
We’ll see you on the battlegrounds!

https://www.surveymo...vWCommunityTest

THERE IS NO NDA

Somethings to read before you apply:

This is an opportunity to join the early development process of one of the World vs. World (WvW) team’s biggest projects, and while the community will be a critical component to the advancement and ultimate success of the map, there are a number of important things to keep in mind before submitting your guild to join the development process:

-- 1 --
Each participant, as well as the guild they are a part of, will be held to the highest standards: not only in their conduct on the forum and testing client, but in their feedback contributions as well. This is your opportunity to not only work directly with the ArenaNet development team in building an entirely new battlefield, but come together as a unified community (of numerous guilds and thousands of players) to advance the WvW game type into a brand new era.

Please note that being a member of this community is a privilege, and that abuse of this privilege will result in the removal of your guild from the testing community. Each guild will be responsible for the actions and contributions of every member they invite, and will lose their privilege to participate if those actions are not in the interest of advancing the ‘Edge of the Mists’ map, or detract from the community’s ability to do so.

-- 2 --
As mentioned above, this is an opportunity to provide thoughtful, critical, and – most importantly – constructive feedback about the new ‘Edge of the Mists’ map. While ALL feedback will be taken into consideration, there are a number of factors which must be considered when making changes to the map: differing opinions within the community, time considerations when implementing a given suggestion, technical limitations, as well as other factors inherent to the development process.

The important thing to remember is this: don’t get discouraged when your feedback isn’t implemented, or isn’t implemented in exactly the way you envisioned/proposed. Instead of committing yourself towards driving a specific idea or a single piece of feedback, try to see the bigger picture and evolve your feedback as the project evolves. Even if a particular idea doesn’t take, DON’T let this discourage you from continuing to provide feedback that helps to advance the project to a successful end!

-- 3 --
As an individual and as a guild, it is important to avoid using this opportunity to make demands or drive an agenda. This is an opportunity for you to help contribute to the development of a brand new WvW battlefield that YOU want to play on, not an opportunity to make demands of the development team or detract from others’ ability to contribute positively. As mentioned above, abuse of this opportunity will result in the removal of your guild from this community.

-- 4 --
Finally, as the point of contact for your guild, you must be able to communicate in fluent English – both verbally and in writing – as you will be asked to compile and post feedback on behalf of your guild throughout the course of testing.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/foru...-the-Mists-FAQ

Q: Where can I sign up for to help test the Edge of the Mists?
A: Any guild can sign up, regardless of whether or not they play WvW or even play Guild Wars 2. Your Guild can sign up at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GW2_WvWCommunityTest

0 Replies | 8,932 Views

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-family-business/

By the third night, the mob around Castle Thorn had grown so thick that their bonfires reached the river, making a constellation of pyres that stretched as far as King Oswald Thorn could see.

“I swore my sandwich trees would’ve been the answer to this famine,” Oswald grumbled. “They are complaining about the famine, right?”

Dribbin, the king’s wizened counselor, felt his throat go dry. The king was not above beheading counselors who delivered bad news.

“Your endeavor to feed the populace by putting meat, cheese, and bread in the ground was a valiant one, Your Majesty, but this is about another matter. Your son had another…misadventure.”

“What? How did he get free?”

“The guards aren’t talking, sire. It appears he bit their tongues off before he burned the village of Pelchalice to ashes. Six hundred souls. It’s the fifth such slaughter this season.”

Oswald’s face went ashen. Even for the feared “Mad King of Kryta,” this news chilled his blood.

“Rumors state it is about a woman. News of Pelchalice has stirred the populace. They fear you have lost your mind…”

The Mad King raised an eyebrow at Dribbin.

“What I mean, sire, is that the crowd fears you’ve abandoned your normal, regal predilections for pure animalistic butchery.”

“Where is my son?”

“He’s residing in your throne room, sire.”

“Insolent brat,” Oswald sighed. “I’ll handle this myself. And find out why those sandwich trees failed!”
Dribbin bowed.

Oswald threw open the doors of the majestic throne room, his voice booming as he crossed the great gilded hall. “You want a woman to love you, Eddie? You take her father hostage, not murder a village. You never did pay attention to my lessons.”

Prince Edrick Thorn sat on the throne in a slump. He was a lanky boy, barely twenty, with a head of spiky hair and both lips and eyes smeared with pitch. Like all privileged boys his age, he had two facial exp<b></b>ressions: scowl or smirk.

“You know I hate when you call me Eddie. It’s Edrick,” he said through a scowl. “Or ‘the Bloody Prince.’”

“Not this again. That’s as embarrassing as when you called yourself ‘Painlord.’ And you’re not the king, so get off my throne.”

“If I’m going to take your place one day, I should get used to the trappings of power.” Edrick sat on the throne, smirking at his father. “Besides, you never know when today’s your last day as a king.”

“But why Pelchalice? Perfectly good way to summon a mob, which you did. Never kill people unless that’s part of the joke, dear boy.”

“The joke is you, including the punch line. I thought you would appreciate it.”

Oswald halted in midstep. “What’s so funny about my subjects trying to storm the castle?”
“Because I led them there. For years, you played with your subjects, made them the butt of your jokes. I decided it would be a perfect way to end your reign and start mine. I used your reputation to ignite an overthrow.”

King Oswald growled, grabbed the prince, and pulled him off the throne. When the boy hit the polished floor, Oswald leapt on him, pointing a finger in the boy’s painted face.

“I’ve skinned, burned, boiled, skewered, snapped, exsanguinated, disemboweled, stampeded, frozen, and catapulted my subjects! But each time was part of a wonderful joke. Countryside flooded? Nail stilts to everyone’s legs! Worst snowstorm in a century? Fire flaming debris at the villages to keep them warm. I care for my subjects. You just want blood on your blade. You are a grave failure as a Thorn.”

“Are you finished?” Edrick smirked. “Because I know the rabble outside isn’t. Surrender your reign and I’ll go drive them off, or I’ll kill you where you stand and make them think I put an end to their Mad King. Either way, I’ll have the throne by dawn. In time, they’ll forget you.”

Oswald let go of his son and backed away.

“An interesting offer, my boy. One…I hadn’t considered you having the brains for making. Give me until dawn to make my decision.”

“No, Father. No tricks.”

“A delay then. In the undercroft, I have a wealth of armaments. Rare Ascalonian longswords that never blunt, a full set of hand-forged Great Dynasty sun armor. You should at least see what you’ll be inheriting.”

Edrick’s mouth watered. “Lead the way, Father."

As they entered the undercroft, Edrick expected to lust after rows of exotic weapons and armor. Instead, in the trailing rows of waning candlelight was an ornate metal box that would fit a man.

“Disappointed?” asked Oswald. “Now you know how I feel about you.”

“You tricked me!”

“You were always easy to fool. But I do have something for you. I take it you’ve heard of that box.”

Edrick’s face carved a new exp<b></b>ression: fear. “The Shell of Insanity.”

“That’s what I named it? Oh, that’s terrible. I’ll think of another name later.”

“The last man you locked in there ate his own face.”

“To be fair, it was an improvement.” Oswald grabbed his son and kicked hard against Edrick’s knees, buckling him. “I hate explaining jokes, but in this case I shall. If any other person had threatened me like that, I’d publicly execute them for treason. But no, that would make you famous. I have something far worse for you in mind.”

“I’ll go mad in there!”

“Maybe it’ll make you a proper Thorn at last. Oh, a little going away feast for you.” Oswald reached into his pocket and shoved a handful of candy corn into his son’s mouth before pushing him into the reliquary and slamming the lid closed. Oswald shouted for Dribbin, who burst into the room, ancient tome in hand.

As Dribbin chanted, chains snaked over and around the reliquary. When he had finished, the box was entwined.

“Do not touch it without gloves, Your Majesty,” Dribbin said. “The ward will drain anyone who touches the box. Now, sire, far be it from me to question—”

“Send him to Istan,” Oswald commanded. “My departed wife Zola had a desert island estate there. Let the sun fry what’s left of my son’s mind. Oh, and Dribbin, your scribes are to go to the archives and erase all mention of my son.”

“Sire, such an endeavor will take time, and I’m not sure we can accomplish this before the gates fall.
The guards and your courtiers have already fled. We are alone, and defenseless.”

Oswald loomed over the counselor. “The Mad King says! Even if this castle falls, there will be nothing about that failure that is my son.”

At dawn, Dribbin and his scribes reunited with King Oswald in the throne room.

“The records are purged, Your Majesty. It’s as if your son never existed.”

Oswald looked out on the mob streaming through the freshly stormed gates. It was only a matter of time.

Dribbin added, “I dare say the only ones who know what happened to him are living in this room.”

The Mad King smiled, drew his sword, and eyed Dribbin’s throat.

“Funny you should say that.”

Edrick’s reliquary never arrived in Istan. It was stolen and restolen by a succession of warlords, gamblers, priests, and poets who all met terrible fates. Its tale attracted Nolani Academy scholars, who studied the reliquary until a war annihilated the school.

Amid the rubble and years, it lay dormant until an enterprising scholar dug her way into a chamber and found a chain-wrapped box waiting for her.

“Hello,” Magister Tassi said as she approached it. “What’s this?”

0 Replies | 1,718 Views

https://www.guildwar...od-and-madness/

Edrick was a monster, he brought his family shame
So the locked him in a box, mouth stuffed with candy corn
But now the son has risen to take his father’s name –
Beware the Bloody Prince, the son of Mad King Thorn!
LIVING WORLD

Blood and Madness

Halloween returns to Tyria, and the studious Magister Tassi is busy. Obsessed with everything related to Mad King Thorn, the diminutive scholar is hunting for a lost relic connected to the crazed monarch famous for his Halloween mayhem. But what she discovers is something tucked away centuries ago—and for a good reason. Join Tassi, uncover the Mad King’s ghoulish secret, and learn that some things that are hidden can return with a vengeance.
The Blood and Madness content will be available from October 15 to November 11, including rewards and achievements. The only exception is the A Royal Tradition achievement, which can only be completed when Mad King Thorn visits Lion’s Arch.
Story

• Join Magister Tassi at the Nolani Academy ruins in the northwest corner of the Black Citadel for two multiplayer story instances:
  
  • The first introduces the players to this year’s Halloween story and the arrival of Mad King Thorn’s son, the Bloody Prince. As players work towards completing the meta-achievement, they can occasionally use Tassi’s relay golem to check in on her developments.
  • The second story instance requires completion of the Blood and Madness meta-achievement in order to enter and play the story conclusion. A least one player in the party needs to have met the prerequisite for the whole party to enter and begin the instance.

Lion’s Arch

• Lion’s Arch has been decorated with Halloween flair. Decorations abound with pumpkins to carve. There are kids trick-or-treating, and merchants selling Halloween recipes. Even Zommoros has some festive spirit, turning the Mystic Forge into a cauldron. Jump in for some costume brawl fun!
• Sonder the Seller in Fort Marriner will exchange candy corn for candy corn cobs, which can be used to buy a Mini Bloody Prince Thorn and 20-slot candy-pail inventory bags. He will also combine stacks of chattering skulls, plastic fangs, and nougat for refined versions. These resultant items are ingredients needed to craft exclusive Halloween weapons: The Mad Moon (shield), Arachnophobia (short bow), and The Crossing (staff).
• Mad King Thorn himself will arrive in Lion’s Arch on Halloween from 9 a.m. PDT on October 30 to 9 a.m. PDT on November 1. Laugh at his mad jokes and play his Mad King Says game!

Open World

• In the Krytan areas of Queensdale, Kessex Hills, and Gendarran Fields, the Mad Realm doors have returned. This time, there are two varieties: the green Mad King doors and the red-purple Bloody Prince doors. Upon interaction, each brings one of several occurrences: a trick-or-treat bag can appear, or an event will start where players will need to defeat an intrusion of either the Mad King’s army of candy-corn elementals, plastic spiders, and gargoyles or the Bloody Prince’s army of skeletons, mummies, and ghosts.
• Just outside of each home city, players can find a tent and stage with Halloween decorations. Talk to the trick-or-treating kids, the Mad King Thorn actor in costume, or to the ghost Rasmus, who can transfer players to the Lunatic Inquisition activity in the Mad Realm.
• The Heart of the Mists and the home citadels in the Borderlands have also been decorated for Halloween.

Mad Realm

• The Mad Realm can be entered through the Mad Realm doors that appear in Queensdale, Kessex Hills, and Gendarran Fields. The Mad King and Bloody Prince doors will transport players to the west and east docks above the Mad King’s Labyrinth respectively. The Lunatic Boatmaster can bring you to the Lunatic Inquisition or the Mad King’s Clock Tower. Players can also interact with the portal seal on the ground to travel to the labyrinth below.
• The Mad King’s Labyrinth has been thrown into conflict as the Mad King’s and Bloody Prince’s armies clash. Watch the Thorns bicker in the map as their forces fight for control. Three legendary bosses patrol the maze: the Skeletal Lich, the Grand High Viscount of Candy Corn, and the Labyrinthine Horror.
• The Lunatic Inquisition activity pits players against one another, as Lunatic courtiers search out villagers in the labyrinth. Players must use found items and hidden secrets to survive the night.
• The Mad King’s Clock Tower has returned with all of its jumping challenges. While ascending the tower, the player will remain fully visible, but fellow players will be shown with a mist effect.

Rewards

• Completing the first story instance at the Nolani Academy ruins will reward the player with Tassi’s relay golem and four limited-use Halloween finishers. Summon the golem while completing Blood and Madness achievements to hear updates from Tassi.
• Finishing the Blood and Madness meta-achievement, A Sweet Friend, will reward the player a Mini Candy-Corn Elemental. Completing this achievement unlocks the final story instance by returning players to Tassi in the Nolani Academy ruins.
• Completing the final story instance will reward players with the Gift of Candy Corn, a personal candy corn mining node in their home instance that can be mined once a day.
• The rewards for completing the Mad King’s Clock Tower have been updated for the new year.
• Players who succeed at Mad King Says for the A Royal Tradition achievement will receive the Mask of the Night Skin.
• Sonder the Seller at Fort Marriner in Lion’s Arch has an updated inventory with Halloween-themed goods and crafting materials.
• Recipes for the Gift of Spiders, Gift of Souls, and Gift of the Moon have returned in their updated forms.
  
  • Recipe: Gift of Spiders requires 40 Bottles of Elonian Wine, 10 Candy Corn Cobs, 10 Piles of Crystalline Dust, and 100 High-Quality Plastic Fangs.
  • Recipe: Gift of Souls requires 40 Bottles of Elonian Wine, 10 Candy Corn Cobs, 10 Piles of Crystalline Dust, and 100 Tyria’s Best Nougat Centers.
  • Recipe: Gift of the Moon requires 40 Bottles of Elonian Wine, 10 Candy Corn Cobs, 10 Piles of Crystalline Dust, and 100 Gibbering Skulls.

Achievements

• A Sweet Friend is the Blood and Madness meta-achievement. By besting the Mad King’s labyrinth bosses, playing Halloween activities, opening trick-or-treat bags, and completing Mad Realm door events, players can earn enough points to earn the Mini Candy-Corn Elemental, which is a requirement to enter the conclusion of the Blood and Madness story arc.
  
  • Successfully playing Mad King Says when Mad King Thorn visits Lion’s Arch will also count towards the meta-achievement.
  • Note: The A Stomping Good Time achievement, which tracks use of Halloween finishers in PvP and WvW, will not progress if players are in a custom arena.
• Special Halloween-themed daily achievements during the release also contribute to the meta-achievement. These are earned by participating in specific Halloween content each day.
• Additionally, there are three achievements that become available after completing the A Sweet Friend achievement and deal with the second story instance encounter with Bloody Prince Thorn. Completing “You, Back in the Box” will award the Gift of Candy Corn, a candy-corn node that can be mined daily in the player’s home instance.

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT

World vs. World

• Introducing the inaugural WvW season:
  
  • North America and Europe have been split into three leagues each: gold, silver, and bronze.
  • Players will be tied to the world they are on when they first log in after the season begins. Players may transfer worlds at any time, but their final reward will be linked to the performance of their initial world.
  • The worlds in each league will be matched up against the other worlds in the league over the course of seven weeks, starting October 18.
  • The results of those matchups will contribute to a world’s Season 1 score.
  • At the conclusion of the season, players who have completed the WvW Season 1 meta-achievement will receive a reward based on their world’s ranking within their league.
• A new achievement group has been added to the Living World category for WvW Season 1.
  
  • Twenty achievements have been added.
  • Completing 15 of the achievements will reward the Premier Season Veteran meta-achievement, a title, and a key that will unlock the final reward chest for Season 1.
  • Several of the achievements have reward chests with a variety of items, including ascended crafting materials.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

General

• Condition combat floaters will now display a splash behind the damage

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https://www.guildwar...ctober-15-2013/

October 15, 2013

A grim specter lurks in the shadows of the Mad King’s past.
The Bloody Prince is coming to Tyria!

EVENTS

The Bloody Prince Emerges

Halloween is drawing near, and Magister Tassi’s instruments are picking up some unusual energy readings. The Mad King isn’t the only one breaking through the barrier between realms—prepare to face the son of Oswald Thorn, Bloody Prince Edrick!

Mad Realm Doors

Haunted doors are appearing all over Kryta, where brave travelers can dare to
trick-or-treat!

Mad King’s Labyrinth

The Bloody Prince has taken over part of the Mad King’s Labyrinth! He’s controlling the undead armies in the Mad King’s Realm, while his father retains command of the plastic spiders, candy corn elementals, and other festive frights. The Skeletal Lich, Grand High Viscount of Candy Corn, and the Labyrinthine Horror await interlopers.

Mad King’s Clocktower

Race against the rising madness in the Mad King’s Clocktower, Tyria’s most maddening jumping puzzle! Can you make it to the top in time?

Lunatic Inquisition

Join in player vs. player madness and mayhem with the Lunatic Inquisition, where you’ll play as either a Villager, desperate to survive, or a maniacal Lunatic Courtier. Discover survival tools and hidden secrets within the Labyrinth, and try to survive the night!

Developer Livestream – October 14

Take a spooky sneak peek at the Blood and Madness release with ArenaNet devs during the preview livestream on our Twitch channel on Monday, October 14 at 12PM PDT.

Features

Combat Quality of Life Fixes

With new ground targeting options, improvements to targeting, and a new, optional way to display condition damage numbers, we’re bringing in some great improvements to the way our combat works!

Trait and Skill Tooltips

We have improved the tooltip system for traits and skills. Traits now display numbers, and skill tooltips will show how skills are affected by equipped traits.

Balance Updates

We’ve made a balance pass on existing skills and traits with a focus on improving support builds in all parts of the game for all professions.

Introducing the First World vs. World Season

Starting on October 18 and running through December 5, we’ll be hosting the first WvW season! We’ll be splitting up worlds into leagues, and each world within a league will compete against every other world over the course of the season. Not only will you be rewarded for your team’s season-long performance, but you’ll also be rewarded each week that you participate!

REWARDS

Sweet Rewards

Get yourself some sweet rewards by participating in Blood and Madness content! Complete the Blood and Madness meta achievement to receive a Mini Candy Corn Elemental , and follow the storyline for a Candy Corn node for your home instance!

Candy Cornucopia

You can trade Candy Corn for new Halloween items like a Mini Bloody Prince, a 20-slot Halloween Pail, and special crafting items needed for Halloween weapons!

Mask of the Night

Participate in rounds of Mad King Says to prove your ability to obey the maniacal monarch’s whimsies and earn yourself a
Mask of the Night!

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https://www.facebook...&type=3

Until the day before the inaugural World vs. World Season, we’re reducing the prices for moving to a new home server! Transfers to a Medium population world are free, and moving to a High population server has been discounted to just 800 gems – but only until October 17!

You can transfer worlds using the World Selection button on your character selection screen. ~RB2

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https://www.guildwar...ilight-assault/

It’s time to take the fight to the villains! There’s trouble brewing in Twilight Arbor: Go on the offensive, get in there, and stamp it out!
LIVING WORLD

Twilight Assault

As if the Nightmare Court’s quest for the Nightmare Tree wasn’t enough, now the Aetherblades are up to something in Twilight Arbor. Scarlet has her minions hard at work, but the enemies they’ve made aren’t willing to leave them to it. The Lionguard is still hungry for payback after the assassination of Councilor Theo Ashford, and Caithe has also come looking for answers about Scarlet. It’ll take skill, strength, and smarts to stop the Aetherblades before they unleash Scarlet’s next madcap scheme.
Twilight Arbor Aetherpath

• Join Caithe to infiltrate a new level 80 dungeon explorable path through Twilight Arbor and disable the security so that Lionguard Turma’s forces can attack. The Lionguard owes the Aetherblades payback for their attack on Lion’s Arch during the Dragon Bash festival and for the murder of Councilor Theo Ashford.
  
  • To access Twilight Arbor’s explorable mode, at least one player in the party needs to have completed the story dungeon. Upon entering the map, talk to Caithe and choose the “Aetherblades” option to proceed down the Aetherpath.
  • Note: The Aetherpath supplants the Fyonna explorable path in Twilight Arbor. The Leurent and Vevina explorable paths are still available for level 55 play.
• Blaze a path through the jungle dense with indigenous wildlife and solve new puzzle encounters.
• Along the way, fight several new Aetherblade bosses with new mechanics, culminating in a unique legendary final boss at the pounding heart of the facility.
• Investigate the secret conflict between Caithe and Scarlet Briar and discover how the Aetherblades are using their stolen hologram technology.
• Participate in the final assault alongside the Lionguard and help them complete multiple objectives for extra achievements.

General

• Across the world, Aether Key Pieces have a chance to drop from all open-world creatures during this release. Combine five of these tradable pieces to form an Aether Key, which can be used to open one of several hidden Aether Chests in the new Twilight Arbor Aetherpath. These Aether Key Pieces will drop worldwide during the Twilight Assault release. After the release, they will only be found in the Tarnished Coast and Steamspur Mountain areas.

Rewards

• During the Twilight Assault release, the number of deadly blooms and empyreal fragments awarded for completing the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath will be increased.
• New, rare variants of the Nightmare weapon set have been added to the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath boss chests.
• Completing the Aetherpath will reward players with the Slickpack, an Aetherblade-styled back-slot item that teems and glows with electrical energy.
• Players who complete all the achievements for the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath will earn a fearsomely adorable miniature of the final boss to help players recall all the precious memories they shared together.

Achievements

• During this release, a new set of daily achievements challenges players to complete either Twilight Arbor or another dungeon that rotates daily. Completing story mode or any of the explorable mode paths will qualify. These daily achievements contribute toward Twilight Assaulted, the meta-achievement for the release.
• A new permanent achievement category has been added for the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath. The category has 17 specific achievements and a meta–achievement; all are tied to the new dungeon path. The achievements are awarded to players as they progress through the dungeon path, but also for completing other challenges. These include five events that occur after the final battle, one of which is finding and opening all the Aether Chests.
  
  • The Above and Beyond achievement is particularly difficult, requiring players to finish those five events in one run. Note: Completion of this achievement will not automatically complete the individual contributing achievements for the entire party.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

Rewards

• The rewards for fighting Tequatl the Sunless have been updated to more accurately reflect the difficulty of the encounter and coordination required to be successful.
• The chests awarded for completing the battery events have been improved, and they will now be awarded each time the corresponding event is successfully completed instead of once per day.
• The gold and rare-item drops awarded daily for successfully defeating Tequatl have been increased.
• The drop rate of the Sunless weapons has been increased significantly.
• Eternal Battlegrounds: Fixed an issue that allowed players to use movement skills to bypass upgraded walls at Red Keep and Green Keep.

General Bug Fixes

• To prevent unintended graphical anomalies with hairstyles and faces, all sylvari body patterns have been adjusted aesthetically to blend as nicely as possible.
• Fixed an issue where some environmental items were not visible after the player used a waypoint.
• Fixed an issue that prevented currency values from displaying on the achievement-point-reward splash screen.
• Fixed an issue that caused an audio-playback error after the player spoke with a scout.

World Polish

• Sparkfly Fen
  
  • Idle players will now be ejected from the hylek turrets during the Tequatl the Sunless encounter.
  • Players who stay behind to kill Tequatl’s fingers during the battery events will now get participation credit in the battery events.

Items

• The PvP Nightmare Trident has been updated to have the correct item name.
• Runes of Grenth:
  
  • This has been updated to correctly display “Chill Duration” instead of “Frozen Duration.”
  • This now applies the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
  • This has been updated to properly give its six-piece bonus.
• Runes of the Water:
  
  • This has been updated to apply the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
  • The six-piece bonus will now properly AoE heal.
• Runes of Balthazar:
  
  • This now applies the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
  • This has been updated to properly give its six-piece bonus.
• Runes of the Fighter have been updated to apply the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
• Runes of the Flock:
  
  • This has been updated to apply the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
• The six-piece bonus will now properly AoE heal.
• Fixed a bug when crafting the Satchel of Assassin’s Emblazoned Armor that caused it to create the recipe item instead of the actual satchel.
• The Experimental Rifle bundle weapon is no longer usable in dungeons.

Structured Player vs. Player

• Heart of the Mists:
  
  • Renamed two existing stat combinations.
    
    • Barbarian’s Amulet: Vitality, Power, Precision
    • Settler’s Amulet: Toughness, Healing Power, Condition Damage
  • The Wall of Champions has been updated to reflect the names of the winners of the Guild Wars 2 Invitational tournament.
  • The tournament master’s conversation has been updated to explain Solo Arena and Team Arena.
  • A quaggan has been hired to fill the vacant position left by the abrupt departure of the previous ticket merchant.
  • Glory vendors have a new PvP Items tab. Bags and back pieces have been moved here. This tab has purchase confirmation enabled.
• Temple of the Silent Storm:
  
  • Added map markers for the red and blue bases.
  • Removed the deep water from the central cave and added staggered platforms to the inside of the pits.
  • The minimap art has been updated.
• Spirit Watch:
  
  • Fixed a bug where the orb would not reset properly if the player carrying it switched to spectator mode.
  • The minimap art has been updated.
• Skyhammer: The minimap art has been updated.
• Raid on the Capricorn: The minimap art has been updated.
• Battle of Kyhlo:
  
  • Fixed a rare bug where the trebuchet would lose its map marker.
  • The trebuchet’s firing arc has been reduced to 180 degrees, so it can no longer get turned completely backwards.
  • The repair kit’s icon can now be seen through objects.
• Fixed a bug that caused a bright lighting effect to follow the player when under the effects of the dishonored debuff.
• Added new

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