Guild Wars 2 Game Release Notes

Game Update Notes – October 18, 2016

10/18/2016 – October 18 Release Notes
Release Notes:
Living World
Halloween: Shadow of the Mad King
Come one, come all! Join us for this year’s Halloween! Play Mad King Says with old Mad King Thorn himself, jump to the top of Mad King’s Clock Tower, battle in the labyrinth, or fight Mad King Thorn in his realm. You will also see doors appearing and Trick-or-Treat Bags dropping all around Tyria.

  • Parts of Lion’s Arch and the Heart of the Mists have been decorated.
  • Trick-or-Treat Bags have been updated with new weapons, miniatures, and more!
  • Trick-or-Treat Bags now have a chance to drop all over Tyria.
  • Candy Corn vendors in Lion’s Arch have been updated with new items.
  • Complete daily and permanent Halloween achievements!

Ember Bay

  • Veteran Jade Armor and Jade Bow defiance bars no longer scale.
  • Fixed an issue in which the Veteran Jade Armor and Jade Bow defiance bars immediately refilled when broken too quickly.
  • Fixed an issue in which some Ether Towers weren’t properly awarding task participation when destroyed.
  • Fixed an issue in which Ether Towers were difficult to hit with projectile attacks from certain angles.
  • Fixed an issue in which Jade Constructs would not scale properly during the Caliph’s Steps events.
  • Fixed an issue in which the Sloth Queen was not gaining her Hunger Crazed damage-reduction effect while chasing Tasty Slublings.
  • Fixed an issue in which the destroyers in the Burning Grotto would sometimes become invulnerable.

World Polish
General

  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress in the Verdant Brink event “Extricate stranded nobles from vine chambers, and escort them to safety” when Minister Merula is defeated before reaching the rendezvous point.

Fractals
Thaumanova:

  • Boss platforms have been changed to a more visible model.

Raids
Stronghold of the Faithful

  • Keep Construct
    • Fixed an issue in which any players downed before transitioning the Keep Construct via the defiance bar would not be able to assist with destroying Xera’s phantasms.
  • Xera
    • Bloodstones will no longer allow downed players to rally.

Items

  • Many karma consumable items now have a Consume All option.
  • Skritt Worker Contracts now have a 10-second cooldown between uses.

Profession Skills
General:

  • Sigil of Demon Slaying: Fixed a bug that caused this sigil to indicate elementals in some instances.
  • Superior Sigil of Draining: Fixed a bug that prevented the life-stealing effect from displaying in the combat log.
  • Superior Rune of Altruism: Fury is now properly applied when the sixth effect of the rune is used with Bandage Self.
  • Superior Rune of the Krait: Fixed a bug that prevented the sixth effect of this rune from working properly with certain elite skills.
  • Superior Rune of Surging: Fixed a bug that prevented the sixth effect of this rune from working properly with certain elite skills.
  • Superior Rune of the Sunless: Fixed a bug that prevented the sixth effect of this rune from working properly with certain elite skills.
  • Seaweed Salad: An unintentional 10 condition-damage bonus has been removed.
  • Caladbolg: Extraneous skill facts on Caladbolg tool tips have been removed.
  • Combo and enemy rings: Fixed a bug that caused these to occasionally be culled.
  • Boons: The duration-based boons Protection, Quickness, Regeneration, Resistance, Retaliation, and Vigor will now only stack up to 5 times instead of 9.

General—PvP Only:

  • Downed state: Players will no longer become invulnerable when downed in PvP.

Elementalist
In this iteration, we’re looking at some specific improvements to dagger weapon types in addition to general utility and miscellaneous updates. Abilities with very long cast times have been reduced to no longer provide extended interruption openings.

  • Impale: The aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.13 seconds. The damage of this ability has been increased by 20%, and the duration of bleeding has been increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • Burning Speed: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
  • Earthquake: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
  • Drake’s Breath: The damage of this ability has been increased by 40%.
  • Cone of Cold: The damage of this ability has been increased by 20%. Its base healing has been increased by 10%. Fixed a skill-fact bug that displayed this ability’s healing contribution lower than its actual levels.
  • Ice Spike: The casting time for this ability has been reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds. Aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.5 seconds.
  • Healing Rain: The casting time of this ability has been reduced by 0.3 seconds.
  • Lightning Surge: The damage of this ability has been increased by 10%.
  • Glyph of Elemental Power: The trigger chance of this ability has been increased from 25% to 100%. Weakness duration has been reduced from 6 seconds to 3 seconds. Internal cooldown can now be shared between elementalists. This ability will no longer apply conditions to nonenemies.
  • Signet of Fire: The burning duration of this ability has been readjusted from 2 stacks for 10 seconds to 4 stacks for 6 seconds.
  • Signet of Air: This ability now inflicts 8 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds in addition to applying blind in a radius of 240 around the target.
  • Ether Renewal: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 3.5 seconds to 2.75 seconds.
  • Harmonious Conduit: Updated the tool tips for overload skills to display stability granted when an attunement is overloaded while this trait is equipped.
  • Elemental Surge: Immobilize duration has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
  • Ice Bow: Ice Storm damage has been doubled in PvP only.

Engineer
We’ve been looking to improve the engineer and to support the areas it’s been lacking in so that the profession can perform more effectively in a DPS role. In order to improve purity of purpose, we have removed the daze functionality from the Gyro utility type for scrapper.

  • Static Shield: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Block duration has been increased from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Flamethrower—Air Blast: The description has been updated to better specify the ability’s function. The burning stacks it applies have been increased from 1 to 2.
  • Fire Bomb: The physical damage of this ability has been increased by 10% per tick.
  • Concussion Bomb: Confusion duration has been increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds. The physical damage of this ability has been increased by 20%.
  • Big Ol’ Bomb: The knockdown duration of this ability has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
  • Mechanized Deployment: Fixed a bug that prevented the tool belt recharge-rate attribute from updating properly on the Hero panel.
  • Poison Dart Volley: The projectiles fired by this skill will now land more consistently.
  • Rocket Boots: The initial damage of this ability has been increased by 25%.
  • Utility Goggles: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
  • Glue Trail: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to affect certain friendly NPCs.
  • Gear Shield: The block duration of this ability has been reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Gyro utility skills: Gyros will no longer daze anything in the area they affect when they die.
  • Gadgeteer: Fixed a bug in which the overcharged versions of gadget skills did not have their recharge time reduced by this trait.
  • Incendiary Powder: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to display longer than the attainable burning duration on skills.

Guardian
The guardian is faring well in multiple game types with a few exceptions. In the next balance patch, we’ll be normalizing some of the dragonhunter specialization’s defensive capabilities while increasing some effects for baseline guardian abilities.

  • Shield of Courage: The baseline duration of the blocking effect has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Zealot’s Embrace: Projectile speed has been increased by 100%.
  • Cleansing Flame: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 4.25 seconds to 3.25 seconds.
  • Merciful Intervention: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 50 seconds to 40 seconds. Base healing power has been increased by 20%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 83%.
  • Signet of Wrath: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. This change also modifies Wrath of Justice in the Radiance specialization.
  • Symbol of Punishment: Skill facts have been updated to display the light combo’s field effect.
  • Signet of Courage: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 4.25 seconds to 3.25 seconds.
  • Purification: The cast time of this ability has been increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds. The initial heal’s base healing value has been reduced from 80 to 40, with level scaling also reduced by 6%. The initial heal has had its healing-power contribution increased by about 33%.
  • Piercing Light: Daze duration from this trait has been reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
  • Hunter’s Determination: The ability triggered by this trait has been split from the utility skill and renamed Shards of Faith. The cooldown of this trait has been increased from 45 seconds to 60 seconds. The number of fragments dropped has been decreased from 5 to 3.
  • Hunter’s Verdict: This ability can now be used underwater.

Mesmer
In this update, mesmers will see a reduction in readily available boon output through Signet of Inspiration. While we feel the reduction of boon uptime is necessary, we also want to help mesmer DPS builds remain sustainable. We have implemented several changes to help it maintain its effectiveness.

  • Mind Slash: The damage of this ability has been increased by 6% in all game types.
  • Mind Gash: The damage of this ability has been increased by 6% in all game types.
  • Blurred Frenzy: The damage of this ability has been increased by 100% in PvE areas only.
  • Phantasmal Disenchanter: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
  • Phantasmal Defender: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
  • Mirror: Base healing power per level has been increased by 10%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 33%.
  • Mimic: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 90 seconds to 75 seconds.
  • Signet of Inspiration: Added stability, quickness, and resistance to the signet’s passive skill. The active skill of this ability has been reworked and will now apply one of each of your boons to nearby allies for the same duration the passive skill applies them.
  • Signet of Humility: The signet’s casting effect will now occur at the beginning of the ability. This ability can no longer target enemies behind the mesmer who casts it.
  • Well of Calamity: Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to apply conditions through all forms of defense.
  • Illusionary Avenger: Fixed a bug that allowed this illusion to activate Fencer’s Finesse.
  • Spatial Surge: The aftercast has been reduced by 0.3 seconds.

Necromancer
We feel that necromancers have been faring quite well gamewide, providing play and counterplay in many spots over the last few months. In addition to a couple of minor bug fixes, we wanted to improve the viability of necromancer power builds, which have been somewhat lacking in presence.

  • Rending Claws: The damage of this ability has been increased by 15%.
  • Ghastly Claws: The damage of this ability has been increased by 13%.
  • Unholy Feast: The number of boons converted to conditions has been increased from 1 to 2.
  • Fading Twilight: The aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.11 seconds.
  • Chilling Scythe: The aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.06 seconds.
  • Death Spiral: The damage of this ability has been increased by 66%.
  • Blood Is Power: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP only.
  • Signet of Vampirism: When the Signets of Suffering trait is equipped, this skill will no longer corrupt boons on players who evade it.
  • Lich Form—Jagged Horrors: These minions will no longer lose health over time and will instead die 30 seconds after they’re summoned.

Ranger
After a period of observation, the balance team will be changing the druid specialization’s nature somewhat. In this iteration, we’ll now be making healing types more healing-power based. We’ve reduced base values of many healing abilities while substantially increasing the overall healing-power contribution. This patch will also upgrade the ranger’s short-bow weapon—a change we’ve been looking forward to doing for a long time.

  • “We Heal As One!”: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only.
  • Lunar Impact: This ability’s tool tip has been updated to display its blast finisher effect.
  • “Search and Rescue!”: Fixed a bug that prevented the ability’s voiceover from playing.
  • “Strength of the Pack!”: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 60 seconds to 75 seconds. The voiceover will now play when the ability completes instead of midcast.
  • Maul: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Damage has been increased by about 10%.
  • Sun Spirit: Fixed a bug that caused rangers to lose access to their Solar Flare skill in certain situations.
  • Quick Shot: Rangers will now gain swiftness regardless of whether they’ve hit their target. The recharge time of this skill has been reduced to 8 seconds.
  • Crippling Shot: In addition to its existing functionality, this skill will now immobilize your foe for 1.5 seconds if you are behind them.
  • Crossfire: This ability will now bleed foes for 1.5 seconds when they’re struck from the front.
  • Poison Volley: This skill’s cooldown has been reduced to 8 seconds. Its poison effect will last 2 seconds longer when this skill is applied from behind your target.
  • Call of the Wild: This ability now also causes a ranger’s pet to become unblockable for the next 4 seconds.
  • Hunter’s Call: This skill’s cooldown has been reduced to 20 seconds.
  • Ancestral Grace: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 15 seconds to 18 seconds. Its base healing power per level has been reduced by 10%.
  • Vine Surge: The velocity of the vines has been increased by 50%.
  • Celestial Avatar: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
  • Cosmic Ray: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 50%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 52%.
  • Seed of Life: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 20%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 33%.
  • Lunar Impact: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 34%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 63%.
  • Rejuvenating Tides: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 20%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 43%.
  • Lick Wounds: Fixed a bug that caused your pet to briefly blink away from you if it was attacking an enemy before you activated this skill.

Revenant
One of the bigger changes for revenants in this update will be the reduced boon duration for the herald specialization’s Naturalistic Resonance effect. We’re adjusting a few different boon durations as a result of this and will continue to monitor the effects as time progresses.

  • Enchanted Daggers: Attacks that are blocked or evaded will now remove stacks of Enchanted Daggers.
  • Unrelenting Assault: Fixed a bug that prevented the ability user from being stunned when initiating an attack against foes with Shocking Aura.
  • Inspiring Reinforcement: Stability duration has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds per pulse. The resource cost has been increased from 30 to 35.
  • Dwarven Battle Training: Fixed a bug that caused weakness to have increased effectiveness instead of reduced effectiveness. Revenant skills that inflict weakness will no longer display a revised condition tool tip.
  • Facet of Light: Regeneration duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds. Upkeep cost has been increased from 1 to 2 in PvP only.
  • Naturalistic Resonance: Boon-duration increase has been reduced from 50% to 33%.
  • Versed in Stone: The recharge time of this trait has been increased from 45 seconds to 60 seconds in WvW and PvP.
  • Unwavering Avoidance: This trait now triggers when an attack is successfully evaded instead of during dodge rolls. The recharge time has been increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds. Stability duration has been increased from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds.

Thief
Changes for the thief profession are not overly extensive, but they are direct. The team is still observing the changes from previous balance updates, and we’re looking to fine-tune the profession so that it maintains a unique role in the game without breaking its core philosophies.

  • Potent Poison: Fixed a bug that prevented the condition’s duration increase from displaying in the Attributes section.
  • Pulmonary Impact: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from doing damage while a thief was in the air.
  • Bound: The damage of this ability can now be triggered in midair or underwater.
  • Vital Shot: Increased damage by 15%.
  • Dancing Dagger: Increased damage by 20%.
  • Skelk Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
  • Skale Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
  • Spider Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
  • Ice Drake Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 36 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.

Warrior
Warrior continues to hold its place among each game type, so the team isn’t looking to make massive adjustments at this time. For this update, we have a few quality-of-life adjustments and bug fixes, as well as a few functionality changes to skills like Whirling Axe and Rupturing Smash, which will help them achieve their purpose.

  • Shield Bash: Fixed a bug that prevented the immobile condition from being removed when the Warrior’s Sprint trait is equipped.
  • King of Fires: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait’s detonation from functioning with Head Butt.
  • Berserker Stance: Fixed a bug that caused this stance to apply for less than the full 125% value when the Last Stand trait is equipped.
  • Dual Strike: Increased damage by 34%.
  • Whirling Axe: While channeling this skill, you move 50% faster.
  • Bull’s Charge: Reduced the recharge time to 30 seconds.
  • Signet of Fury: Reduced the recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • “On My Mark!”: This skill now applies revealed for 4 seconds in addition to vulnerability.
  • Signet of Stamina: Reduced the recharge time to 40 seconds.
  • Wild Blow: Reduced the recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Flaming Flurry: Reduced the projectile variance by 10 degrees.
  • Rupturing Smash: This attack now strikes as a single hit within an arc rather than a cascading damage attack. The effect for this skill has been sped up to better match its new functionality. The radius has been increased to 360. The ground decal size has been increased to match the new radius. The daze duration has been increased to 1 second.

Structured Player vs. Player

  • A Halloween reward track has been added to the PvP reward tracks.
  • The PvP lobby has been decorated for Halloween.
    • The Guild Challenger League Leaderboard and Guild Challenger flags have been temporarily disabled during the holiday.

World vs. World
Beta
Deployable cannons are now in beta! Purchase cannon blueprints from either the siege master or the permanent portable provisioner to test them out.
Deployable cannons have less health and deal less damage than their static counterparts but can be placed anywhere that other deployable siege weapons can.
We will be looking for feedback about deployable cannons on our forums and will be holding a follow-up poll to determine if they should become a permanent feature in the game.
General

  • A Halloween reward track has been added to WvW reward tracks.
  • New Mystic Forge recipes have been added to create 10 or 25 superior siege pieces at a time.
    • The Siege Master’s Guide is now worth 10 Spirit Shards.
    • Created two new guides:
      • Siege Novice’s Guide—worth 1 Spirit Shard
      • Siege Grandmaster’s Guide—worth 25 Spirit Shards
    • 10 Superior Siege Recipe:
      • 20 Siege Blueprints
      • 50 Elder Wood Logs
      • 50 Mithril Ore
      • Siege Master’s Guide
    • 25 Superior Siege Recipe:
      • 50 Siege Blueprints
      • 125 Elder Wood Logs
      • 125 Mithril Ore
      • Siege Grandmaster’s Guide
    • 10 Omega Golem Recipe:
      • 50 Alpha Siege Golem Blueprints
      • 100 Elder Wood Logs
      • 100 Mithril Ore
      • 3 Siege Master’s Guides
    • 25 Omega Golem Recipe
      • 125 Alpha Siege Golem Blueprints
      • 250 Elder Wood Logs
      • 250 Mithril Ore
      • 3 Siege Grandmaster’s Guides
  • The southeast desert dolyak path has been fixed so that it no longer goes through lava.
  • Fixed a bug in which Legendary Defenders were no longer attacking enemy players.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions

  • Six new, exclusive eye colors have been added to the Total Makeover Kit, which is available in the Services category of the Gem Store for 350 gems.
  • For a limited time, a new set of Gargoyle weapon skins is available from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
  • The Candy Corn Gobbler Pack is available for a limited time in the Toys category of the Gem Store for 300 gems. Each pack comes with a Candy Corn Gobbler and 15 pieces of Candy Corn.
  • The Black Wings Glider Combo is available for a limited time in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
  • The Mad King’s Outfit is available for a limited time in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
  • The Mad King Dye Kit is available for a limited time in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
  • The Ghoul Backpack and Mini Set is available for a limited time in the Style category of the Gem Store for 600 gems.
  • For a limited time, past Halloween miniatures are available when using Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets.