The Guild Wars 2 blog was updated once again with ArenaNet’s Leif Chappelle, one of the Living World designers, discussing how they approached the design of the Living World. Through content updates ArenaNet are aiming to keep the world evolving and we’ll see more holidays, dungeons and more as the story progresses.
Check out the full update here.
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Guild Wars 2 Guild Missions – now also for smaller guilds!
ArenaNet’s Anthony Ordon just posted an update on Guild Missions over at the official Guild Wars 2 blog. Smaller or more casual guilds will be happy to hear that this update includes content specifically geared to them. Once a guild has Art of War level 3 researched, they can start researching Bounty Hunt Training Mission, where the guild has to track and kill a single bounty target. What is special about these missions is that they do not rewards Guild Merits, but in stead 3,000 influence for the guild. This way guilds with smaller regular influence earnings can still accrue enough influence to buy some of the more costly guild upgrades. Other news include three new bounty hunt targets; 2-MULT, Big Mayana and Yanonka the Rat-Wrangler as well a whole new weapon set available for purchase in exchange for Guild Commendations!
ArenaNet revealed that paid tournaments are being replaced with free tournaments as paid tournaments are no longer required due to the ratings and matchmaking system.
One of the reasons we initially introduced Paid Tournaments was to create a place for hyper-competitive, highly skilled players to find matches with other players of comparable skill, leaving the Free Tournament system available for more casual competitive play. However, now that we have a ratings and matchmaking system in-place that matches players of similar skill levels, we’ve decided that the ticket cost barrier-to-entry of Paid Tournaments is no longer necessary.
Instead, we’ll have 1-round Free Tournaments and 3-round Free Tournaments. Both of these tournament types will use a separate rating for the purposes of matchmaking.
If you have any unused Tournament Tickets you may exchange these for Gold, Silver or Copper Tournament Reward Chests at the new Ticket Merchant NPC who is located next to the Tournament Master in the Heart of the Mists.
We’re also updating the rewards for the 1-round Free Tournaments. A new Match Win Chest will be awarded to the winning team. The losing team will no longer get a chest.
Also, now that we are removing the entry fee for Paid Tournaments, we are removing Qualifying Points (QP) as a tournament reward as well. In the future, top QP earners will receive a valuable in-game prize, which will be detailed in a later blog post.
Hot off the press, the lowdown on guild missions, including a fresh video! As always, check a snippet out below and click through for the full story on the official blog.
If you said yes to any of those, pull up a chair, because I think you’ll like what I have to tell you. I’m Leah Rivera, your friendly representative of the Guild Content team. My team and I have been working on a system to better support an important part of Guild Wars 2: guilds! So sit back and take a gander at what we have in store for you in February.
ANet just posted an overview of the upcoming PvP map, Spirit Watch, which will be live with the next patch. Check it out!
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!
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!
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!
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!
Log into Guild Wars 2 and press “O” to access the Black Lion Trading Company for these great offers and more!
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.
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.
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.
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.
A nice, lengthy blog post went up a short time ago on the official site. Check out a snapshot below or click through for the full read! Plus, join our discussion in the forums and let us know what you think!
Happy 2013 everyone! I wanted to take the time to provide insight on some of the exciting features, events, and stories we intend to bring to Guild Wars 2 in the first half of the New Year.
It’s been a fantastic ride so far – in the few months since Guild Wars 2 launched we’ve sold more than three million games and have become the most critically acclaimed MMO of 2012. We’ve introduced the new Fractals of the Mists dungeon experience, brand-new PvE and PvP maps, events of all sizes, our Lost Shores world event, and two massive holiday events.
And this is just the beginning. Our goals for the New Year are to build on the areas of the game that were successful in 2012, to learn and apply lessons from things that didn’t work as well, and to make sure that 2013 is a year none of us will ever forget.
ArenaNet have been swinging the ban hammer in their battle against bot users with 34,000 accounts being terminated in November alone.
ArenaNet’s Mike Lewis posted a new blog update which explains the mass account terminations and how they have been tacking the issue over the past couple of months.
Read the full blog update to find out what’s going on.
Read more & comment >>Yesterday ArenaNet fired up their survey form and today ArenaNet’s Chris Whiteside takes a look back at the Lost Shores update and al the new features it brought to the game and also a look ahead to what’s in the pipeline.
Check out the full update from Chris on this page.
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