Via Twitter:
Bag Slots and Bank Tabs are 20% off in the Gem Store through February 26! ~RB2
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Author Archive - RD
Coming Next Patch: Trading Post Preview
Posted 16/02/13 by RD
That’s right, just added to the February patch, we’ll be able to preview gear in the Trading Post! Whoo!
We just added an exciting new feature to the February release for Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm – Preview Items in the Trading Post! You’ll be able to preview the items that you’re interested in buying before you buy them by simply right-clicking the item and selecting the Preview option.
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Introducing the New Spirit Watch PvP Map
Posted 13/02/13 by RD
ANet just posted an overview of the upcoming PvP map, Spirit Watch, which will be live with the next patch. Check it out!
In the upcoming patch, you will be able to play our latest PvP map—Spirit Watch! This norn-themed map, which is surrounded by sheer cliffs, features shrines to the Spirits of the Wild and a new secondary objective.
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Valentine’s Day Theme in the Gem Store
Posted 12/02/13 by RD
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, there are some new items and sales in the Gem Store. Thankfully, I just bought a makeover kit before this sale /grumble. Check it out below!
The Black Lion Trading Company is getting into the spirit of Valentine’s Day with an exclusive new item and limited time discounts. This week only you can pick up the Bouquet of Roses—which will grant you 5 unique skills—Red Dye Packs full of the most passionate colors, and a discount on Self Style Hair Kits so you can look your best.
Check out these Valentine’s items in the Gem Store before February 18, when these romantic deals will disappear.Bouquet of Roses
Self Style Hair Kit
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Check out these Valentine’s items in the Gem Store before February 18, when these romantic deals will disappear.
Bouquet of Roses
Available until Feb 18!
A limited-time offer! This special bouquet comes with 5 romantic non-combat skills to help you capture the heart of that special someone. But hurry – love doesn’t wait, and neither will the Bouquet of Roses!
Brand New Red Dye Pack
The new Red Dye Pack is guaranteed to contain red and pink dyes only. Whether you want to dye your armor in Valentine’s colors or deck yourself out in blood red, we’ve got the dye pack for you!
Self Style Hair Kit
20% Off!
Freshen up your look with a new hair-do! The Self Style Hair Kit lets you choose a completely new hair style, and for a limited time it’s 20% off!
Available now in the Gem Store!
Log into Guild Wars 2 and press “O” to access the Black Lion Trading Company for these great offers and more!
Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm
Posted 07/02/13 by RD
Near the end of the month, the next part of the Flame and Frost Living Story will be rolling out, along with some PvP updates, and an update (yes, another) to Daily Achievements! Check it out below, click through for the official post, and swing by our thread for discussion.
The situation worsens for the citizens of Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau. Volunteers have eased the burden, but more refugees hobble down from the Shiverpeaks. The storm there gains momentum, but the forces of good are beginning to rally. They’re sending their heroes to defend the land and its peoples. Someone must hold back the gathering storm.
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In Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm, the second installment in this four-part series, the stakes are raised, and battles rage, in the foothills of the Shiverpeaks.
New Features
Brand New PvP Map – Spirit Watch
This peaceful green vale, nestled between cliffside shrines to the norn Spirits of the Wild is about to echo with the sounds of combat. In Spirit Watch, players will score bonus points by capturing the Orb of Ascension and running it to any of the three shrines on this newest PvP map.
Team Up for Guild Missions
Join your fellow guild members to take on an entirely new category of content! These missions, designed for coordinated group play, include everything from bounties to group puzzles to cross-country challenges. You’ll need to work together to complete the missions and earn new Guild Merits, which can unlock cool upgrades and rewards. It pays to be in a guild!
Two Team Rated Play in PvP
It’s time to prove your skill! In this new type of competitive PvP, two teams of equal average rating are pitted against each other in a quick, intense match. The ratings for every member of each team is then adjusted after the match.
Choose Your Own Daily Achievements
With our new selectable achievement system, you’ll have a chance to set new daily challenges for yourself and to choose what kind of content you want to be rewarded for playing.
Temple of the Silent Storm Week
Posted 29/01/13 by RD
It’s been a busy week already in Tyria! Another blog just went up on the official site with information on some new PvP features. As always, a snippet is below, click through for more, and drop by the forums for discussion!
We’ve been working on PvP features consistently since our last update, and as always, we’ve been watching the forums for feedback and inspiration.
So I’m really excited to announce that, based on player feedback, we’ll be testing a new tournament system for PvP from January 28 to February 4 in the Temple of the Silent Storm map! This new system will pit one team vs. another, instead of the usual eight teams needed for a normal paid tournament. Free tournaments will still be available during this test, but we’ll be replacing paid tournaments with this test system for the duration of the week.
Upcoming Changes to Dungeon Mechanics
Posted 29/01/13 by RD
Check out the latest blog update from ArenaNet with changes coming to dungeons. The big change for Phase 1 will be that defeated players cannot use Waypoints while their party is in combat. Definitely going to require changing up playstyle for some people. See a snapshot below or click through for details on Phase 2. Don’t forget to swing by our forums and let us know your thoughts.
Hey folks, I’m Robert Hrouda, a content designer on Guild Wars 2. In the coming months, we’ll make some changes to dungeon mechanics to make them a more fun and challenging experience. I wanted to give you a heads-up on our plans for phase 1 of our dungeons evolution—specifically, the removal of “res-rushing”—as well as a brief overview of our plans for phase 2.
“Res-rushing” is when a player uses a waypoint to resurrect immediately after being defeated in a dungeon and then runs back to the fight, instead of waiting for their party members to resurrect them.
Dungeons were designed to be highly focused on teamwork. The current res-rushing mechanic discourages the type of behavior we intended when a fellow player goes down. We hope that by eliminating res-rushing, we’ll bring dungeons more in-line with our original design goals, which are based around team play and strategy.
With this upcoming change, defeated players will be unable to use waypoints while their party is in combat. Players will only be able to use waypoints if the party wipes or withdraws from combat.
WvW Rating Reset Coming Soon
Posted 29/01/13 by RD
A quick update on WvW. Looks like all pairings are going to be reset now that free transfers are done. Little surprising, but makes sense. Full post is below.
In the run up to the end of free world transfers we saw large population changes as people settled in to their home servers. This means that the WvW teams being fielded by many of the worlds are now dramatically different. In recognition of this fact, and in light of the increased population stability that comes with paid transfers, we feel that this would be a good time to reset the ratings of all the servers. A reset at this point will allow the rating & ranking system to more quickly and correctly rate these (effectively) new WvW teams.
Here’s how the reset will work:
1) We’ll let the current matchup play out. Since free transfers were available during the first part of this matchup we don’t want it to count towards the new ratings.
2) When the matchup rolls over on Friday, February 1st we’ll post the final ratings & rankings. The new ordering will determine the groupings for the next matchup as usual.
3) After the new matchup has started on February 1st we’ll reset all the ratings (and deviation & volatility) behind the scenes.
Because every world will have reset ratings the system will treat the February 1st matchup as the first matchup and will calculate the ratings accordingly. The new ratings will then be calculated normally in the way that you’re already familiar with. We expect several weeks of volatility while the ratings settle down but we believe that it will ultimately yield a more correct result more quickly than letting the current ratings persist. That also means that the coming month or two will be a fantastic time to fight for your world’s place in the rankings!
Additionally, we’re taking advantage of the reset to revisit some of the math behind the ratings. I’ll have more to post on that once we’ve crunched some numbers and made some decisions.
-Habib Loew
Game Update Notes – January 28, 2013
Posted 28/01/13 by RD
Beware: Wall O Text!
A huuuggee update went out today. A snippet of the notes are below. Click through to see the full thing and don’t forget to swing by our thread to discuss!
Events Heralds Other Content
LIVING STORY
Flame and Frost: Prelude
A mystery presents itself in this first entry in a multipart Living Story series. What could be causing such discord in the foothills of the Shiverpeaks? All those poor homesteaders and ranchers displaced with nowhere to go calls into question if the storms could be that bad—or if there’s something more sinister stirring up the flame and frost. The ground is shaking, and the sky is falling in northern Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau. Norn and charr refugees, crawling from the wreckage of their homes, are fighting their way to shelter in Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel. Many are in shock and wounded; most have only what they can carry on their backs. A call has gone out for volunteers to assist them in their time of need, when the environment itself seems to have become their enemy.
Achievements
Flame & Frost Beginning in January
Posted 22/01/13 by RD
Just out this morning, some details on the next big event to hit Guild Wars 2! A snapshot is below, but click through to check out the full details. What are your thoughts on all the upcoming changes? Could this be building up to a new dragon encounter? Let us know in our thread.
The sky falls and the ground shakes in the lands of the north. Charr and norn refugees crawl from the wreckage of their homes in the Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, struggling to find shelter in the south. The call goes out for volunteers to assist the victims in this time of need, when earth and sky seem to have become the enemy…
Flame and Frost: Prelude is the prologue to a multi-stage narrative that will bring big changes to Guild Wars 2 in the months to come.
Forum Achievements Now Live!
Posted 18/01/13 by RD
After a somewhat grueling week, we now have working achievements in the forums! Have fun playing around with them and showing off 
An Explanation on Cross-Region Guesting
Posted 16/01/13 by RD
There’s been some backlash since the guesting announcement earlier today: A lot of people are disappointed that US & EU guesting is impossible. ANet has posted an official response on the official forums. Check it out below:
Let me explain to you why you cannot guest on worlds in another region.
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There are two databases: European player data is stored in our European datacenter, American player data is stored in our American datacenter. This is to ensure that people in these regions can still properly play in case there is an issue with the connection between the datacenters.
When you do a world transfer from the US to the EU (and vice versa) your player data is transferred from one datacenter to the other. This is not the case with guesting, as you are still “registered” on your home world.
I understand that some of you are disappointed that you cannot guest on worlds in another region, but considering the complexity of internet routing, our main priority is to ensure that players have as much of an uninterrupted game experience as possible, which is the reason why we have two datacenters.
On another note: I will try to get an answer to the guild influence question that has been posted a couple of times.
