Guild Wars 2 Game Release Notes

Game Release Notes – September 22, 2017

09/22/2017 – September 22 Release Notes

PATH OF FIRE™

The Crystal Desert

The human god of fire and war, Balthazar, has reportedly been waging a campaign of terror and chaos across the lands of the Crystal Desert, desperate to claim an Elder Dragon’s power for his own. While his true motives remain a mystery—along with his strange reappearance, abated strength, and claims of being betrayed—the threat he poses to the innocent people of the region is impossible to ignore. Many have fled the region altogether, caught between the war god’s mysterious and deadly new army of Forged, the undead Awakened hordes of Palawa Joko, and the mindless and savage Branded minions of Kralkatorrik. As the commander, you’ve been summoned to the region to assist with relief efforts, but your own personal mission to stop Balthazar from upsetting the delicate balance of magic is of critical importance to all of Tyria. As the Crystal Desert and the northern domains of Elona open again after 250 years of separation, what new secrets and powers will be revealed as you race to stop Balthazar from carrying out his plans?

Mounts

Journey into the Crystal Desert and find wondrous new companions to help you explore the world. Each mount has its own special movement ability that helps you tackle a different type of terrain. Mounts can be purchased from renown merchants at mount camps after completing a special task region that teaches you about the mount and gives you some experience riding it. Acquiring a mount will also unlock its associated Mastery line, which provides you a way to progress and upgrade each mount even further!

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– Note: We have added a new assortment of keybinds to the game that are used for mounts and their abilities. There may be some conflicts with the default mount binds and your base keybinds depending on what you have set your binds to. Please review your keybinds and the new mount binds to make sure you have them set up to your liking.

Elite Specializations

  • Elementalist:
    • Weaver—Weavers can attune to two different elements simultaneously, deftly cycling them from hand-to-hand and combining them to powerful effect. They favor swords in battle, and they channel the strength of the elements using stance skills.
  • Engineer:
    • Holosmith—By harnessing the power of the sun, holosmiths create semisolid constructs of light. They wield swords in battle and gain access to powerful light weapons in their volatile Photon Forge mode.
  • Guardian:
    • Firebrand—These zealous lorekeepers are skilled in conjuring magical fire, and they use axes and mantras in close combat. Their virtues are replaced by conjured tomes that act as potent tools to rebuke enemies and protect allies.
  • Mesmer:
    • Mirage—Mirages move through battle like shifting sand, cloaking themselves rather than dodging attacks. Their graceful, swirling axes and prismatic mirrors are as deceptively beautiful as they are deadly.
  • Necromancer:
    • Scourge—Scourges channel their life force into the desert sands to summon biddable kitten that damage enemies and create barriers for their allies. They use punishment skills to torment enemies while wielding torches that light the path to their destruction.
  • Ranger:
    • Soulbeast—The bond between a soulbeast and their pet is so strong that they can become one in spirit. By channeling their pet, they become a single entity, attacking with fanglike dagger strikes and using the abilities of their companion and its archetype.
  • Revenant:
    • Renegade—The legendary charr, Kalla Scorchrazor, lends the power of her warband to revenants who channel her from the Mists. Renegades fight with a short bow, firing conjured arrows through Mist portals to blindside their enemies.
  • Thief:
    • Deadeye—Mercenaries for hire who stalk and mark their targets and generate malice toward them, increasing damage and harassing them with harmful effects. They use rifles for precise kills from a distance.
  • Warrior:
    • Spellbreaker—The broken weapons of the Sunspears have become daggers in the hands of their descendants, used to strike at the very fabric of magic and strip it from their foes. They meditate to see past their enemies’ defenses, and they use their adrenaline for powerful counterattacks.

Guild Hall

  • Speak to explorer Hashim in the Guild Initiative Headquarters to begin an expedition to claim the new Windswept Haven guild hall.
    • Switching to the new hall will maintain any existing upgrades you may have unlocked in the Gilded Hollow or the Lost Precipice.
    • Discover new decorations and emblems with which to adorn your hall and distinguish your guild.

GAME UPDATES

General

  • The Shining Blade Secrets instance for Season 3 Episode 6 has been adjusted to allow for better gameplay with parties.
    • The rest of the party can now help the owner of the instance fight off White Mantle in the Henge of Denravi illusion, and they are eligible for all achievements associated with this encounter.
    • Members of the party not involved in directly fighting the Manifestation of Self-Doubt can now encourage and motivate their friend, helping their skills recharge more quickly.
  • Fixed a bug with a steam platform in the Not So Secret jumping puzzle in Gendarran Fields that caused players to overshoot the target.
  • Southsun Cove: Removed a duplicate of Advisor Okk from Pearl Islet.
  • Auric Basin: Fixed the fuzzy revealing of the “Tarir, the Forgotten City” area on the world map.
  • Incomplete task regions on other maps will now appear as empty hearts on the world map.
  • Left-clicking on achievements and similar notifications will take you to the appropriate page in the Hero panel. Right-clicking will dismiss the notification without opening it.
  • Right-clicking a bouncy chest will automatically take the contents if there is no selectable item for some reward types.
  • A text change has been made to rename “adolescent wyverns” to “minor wyverns” to avoid incongruent “veteran adolescent wyvern” spawn labeling.
  • Gendarran Fields: Fixed an issue in which Captain Wiley would rarely fail to respawn.
  • Harpoons and powder kegs in the Triple Trouble encounter will now have interact priority over player-created bundles.
  • Entire stacks of consumable containers can be opened with the right-click context menu. Opening will stop if the stack is exhausted, the inventory fills up, or the inventory screen is closed.
  • Fixed a bug in which the Living World Portal Scroll could be used to teleport while in combat or downed, if the options dialogue was open before entering combat.
  • Aurora now gives credit for the Legendary Collector achievement.
  • The final chest from the Skrilla treasure hunt event in Ember Bay is now limited to players who participated in the event.
  • Boons, enhancements, and conditions on bounty bosses have been reorganized to help visibility.
  • Fixed an issue in which Druid Runestone Fragments used the wrong icon in the vendor menus in Draconis Mons.
  • The Jade Maw Lens can be obtained from Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs again for players on the Bifrost III collection who have misplaced the item.

Dungeons

Fractals

Shattered Observatory:
  • Fixed an issue that could cause solar blooms to fixate on dead players.
  • When the harbinger’s challenge is active, there will now always be at least one available platform near the boss.
  • Fixed a bug in which Solar Blast would hit too late.
  • Time pockets will now spawn 0.04 seconds after killing a Temporal Anomaly instead of 0.5 seconds, and script improvements have been implemented to make them more responsive.
  • Fixed a bug in which the Temporal Realignment green circles could apply damage at the wrong time.
  • Temporal Realignment will now play a blue explosion effect when the mechanic is failed.
  • Added a safeguard to prevent two players getting Corporeal Reassignment at the same time.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause golems to become invulnerable for a time.
  • Fixed a bug in which golems were considered to be elementals.
  • The burning from Radiant Fury can now be dodged.
  • Fixed a bug in which Curved Shot did ten times more damage at tier 3 than intended.
  • Improved tier scaling of Curved Shot and Solar Bolt, reduced damage to downed players, and fixed a bug that caused them to hit twice.
  • Added a red ring to the damage fields for Curved Shot and Solar Bolt to help them stand out.
  • Added better tier scaling for Rolling Chaos damage.
  • Added teleport tripwires to prevent solar blooms from getting stuck in corners in the final boss fight.
  • Fixed a bug in which players might not get teleported to Arkk’s platform during the final fight.
  • Fixed a bug in which Nova Launch could prevent Corporeal Reassignment from firing.
  • Golem Mark II misses the boxes and has decided to project red boxes on his electric attacks.
Chaos Isles:
  • Moved some damage from the Brazen Gladiator’s first and second combo attacks to the third to emphasize the importance of dodging the third attack.
  • Moved two Mistlock Singularities to more convenient locations.
  • Falling off of the final boss platform will now down players instead of killing them.
  • Added a portal to teleport players to the anomaly boss if they get left behind.
Nightmare:
  • Adjusted capture-point rates for the second event.
  • Reduced the health of Fleshgorge by 25%.
  • Getting downed inside Fleshgorge’s toxic lake will now teleport you out.
Thaumanova Reactor:
  • Added a portrait for the anomaly boss.
Uncategorized:
  • Added a checkpoint after the first jumping puzzle if players kill all 6 harpies.
  • Moved a checkpoint in the prison.
  • Added a checkpoint after the electric stairs.
  • Shutting off the stairs security now immediately strips the invisible immobilization from players.
  • The outer gate at Old Tom will now teleport players who get stuck outside.
  • Reduced the tab-targeting priority of the raving asura.
  • Fixed a bug in which the raving asura spawned before Old Tom was completed.
  • Improved the final scene and reduced the wait time before Fractal Transit Query.
Underground Facility:
  • Stepping on the second plate in the intro section will now permanently open the first gate.
  • Moved the Mistlock Singularities to more convenient locations.
Volcanic:
  • Fixed an issue in which lava patches did not function in the boss fight.

Raids

Personal Story

  • Added the ability for instance boundaries to be updated dynamically as each chapter’s narrative moments unfold.

Items

  • Utility consumables have had their beneficial effect renamed from “Nourishment” to “Enhancement” to differentiate them from food effects.
  • The following legendary weapons have had their custom projectile effects updated:
    • Bolt
    • Incinerator
    • Flames of War
  • A number of the new Path of Fire™ crafting materials will not have a place in material storage. This is to allow them to establish a value appropriate to their rarity. They will be added to storage in a future update.

Profession Skills

General:
  • Torment: Tooltips on skills, traits, and items for this condition now display increased damage against moving targets in a base-inclusive fashion consistently across all of the game, rather than separating the base damage and the moving damage.
  • Leeching Bolts: Fixed a bug that was preventing whirl or projectile finishers from displaying in the combat log when used in a dark field.
  • Pull: Some changes have been made in order to reduce the frequency of players being moved into objects and becoming stuck. You may notice that such skills pull a touch slower and are much smoother.
  • Knockback: Some changes have been made in order to reduce the frequency of players being moved into objects and becoming stuck. You may notice that such skills knock back a touch slower and are much smoother.
Elementalist

The weaver specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Gale: This skill will no longer queue; if able, it will interrupt other skills in order to cast.
  • Gust: This skill will no longer queue; if able, it will interrupt other skills in order to cast.
  • Earthquake: This skill will no longer queue; if able, it will interrupt other skills in order to cast.
  • Churning Earth: The crippling pulses of this skill will now apply 8 seconds of bleeding in addition to its current effects, bringing the total potential number of bleeding stacks from 8 to 12.
Engineer

The holosmith specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Rapid Regeneration: Fixed a bug that displayed incorrect healing values.
  • Elixir B: Increased the stacks of might granted from 1 to 5. Decreased the duration of the might granted from 30 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • Elixir C: Clarified tooltips on this skill to better reflect its condition conversion.
Guardian

The firebrand specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Hammer of Wisdom: Reduced the cast time of this skill from 0.75 seconds to 0.5 seconds. Increased the number of targets affected by this skill from 1 to 3. Increased damage by 20%.
  • Shield of the Avenger: Reduced the cast time of this skill from 0.75 seconds to 0.5 seconds. Increased the duration of the missile shield from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Sword of Justice: Reduced the cast time of this skill from 0.75 seconds to 0.5 seconds.
  • Bow of Truth: Reduced the cast time of this skill from 0.75 seconds to 0.5 seconds.
  • Healer’s Retribution: Added a 20-second internal cooldown to this trait.
Mesmer

The mirage specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Mantras: The instant portion of these skills can now be cast while jumping.
  • Mirror Images: This skill now breaks enemy targeting when used. A new skill fact has been added to indicate other skills with this behavior in the mirage specialization.
  • Deceptive Evasion: Added a skill fact to indicate that this trait only functions while in combat.
Necromancer

The scourge specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Death Shroud: Added a 0.5-second delay on activation before being able to exit.
  • Reaper’s Shroud: Added a 0.5-second delay on activation before being able to exit.
  • Spectral Armor: Updated the protection skill fact to display the actual amount of protection applied.
  • Reaper’s Onslaught: Increased bonus ferocity while in Reaper’s Shroud from 225 to 300 at level 80. This trait no longer reduces the recharge of shroud skills on kill but instead reduces the recharge of shroud skills by 1 second if Life Reap hits. This recharge reduction can only occur once per use of Life Reap.
  • Cold Shoulder: This trait no longer reduces incoming damage from chilled foes. It now increases outgoing strike damage by 10% to chilled foes.
Ranger

The soulbeast specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Lead the Wind: Fixed a bug that was preventing some longbow skills from displaying all relevant skill facts for this trait.
  • Light on Your Feet: Fixed a bug that was preventing some short-bow skills from displaying all relevant skill facts for this trait.
  • Smokecloud: Fixed a bug that prevented the smoke field created by this skill from functioning correctly if you swapped out your smokescale pet.
  • Rugged Growth: Fixed a bug that displayed higher healing values than the actual heal amounts.
  • Clarion Bond: Fixed a bug that prevented the blast finisher from this trait from working with combo fields created by your pet.
Revenant

The renegade specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Vengeful Hammers: Fixed a bug that displayed incorrect healing values.
  • Precision Strike: Increased damage done by this skill by 10% in PvE game modes.
  • Unrelenting Assault: Increased damage done by this skill by 10% in PvE game modes.
Thief

The deadeye specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Shadow Refuge: Fixed a bug that caused the refuge to not apply Revealed when exiting it early.
  • Signet of Agility: The endurance split of this skill in PvP has been shared with WvW.
  • Channeled Vigor: The endurance split of this skill in PvP has been shared with WvW. Fixed a bug that caused this skill to give more endurance than intended (20 instead of 15).
  • Endurance Thief: The endurance split of this skill in PvP has been shared with WvW.
  • Panic Strike: Reduced the duration of poison applied by this trait from 4 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW.
  • Impaling Lotus: Reduced duration of conditions applied by this skill by 50% in PvP and WvW.
Warrior

The spellbreaker specialization can now be unlocked when playing through Path of Fire.

  • Berserker’s Power: Increased the duration of enhancement stacks from 10 seconds to 15 seconds. Fixed enhancement stack amounts for some incorrect skill facts.
  • Last Stand: Fixed a text error that incorrectly stated that this trait reduced the recharge of stances.
  • Wounding Precision: This trait no longer grants bonus precision.
  • Brave Stride: Increased stability duration from 4 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Arcing Slice: Rescaled fury gain from 5/10/15 seconds to 8/12/16 seconds, respectively, based on your adrenaline level.
  • Flurry: Increased the number of hits at level-1 adrenaline from 8 to 9.

Structured Player vs. Player

  • Added new default builds for Path of Fire elite specializations.
  • Daily automated tournaments now have rewards for placing 9th – 16th.

World vs. World

  • New desert creatures have wandered into the Desert Borderlands.
  • Changed WvW Guild Claiming Banners (Turtle, Centaur, and Dragon) so that revenants can now use their utility skills when wielding a banner.
  • A new Crystal Desert Reward Track has been added.
  • Testimonies of Heroics has replaced where Proof of Heroics were acquired.
    • All items that required Proofs of Heroics to purchase are still purchasable with proofs from vendors.
    • Testimonies of Heroics can be used to purchase all items that were purchased with Proofs of Heroics.
    • Proofs of Heroics can be purchased with Testimonies of Heroics from the Heroics Notary.
  • A new Notarized Scroll of Desert Heroics has been added to the Heroics Notary vendor. Notarized Scroll of Desert Heroics completes a random hero challenge from the Elona region.
  • WvW ascended armor now has Path of Fire stats that can be selected if you own Path of Fire.
  • New Path of Fire recipes have been added to the Heroics Notary vendor.
  • Armor damage is now automatically repaired when returning to home instances.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

  • Three additional shared inventory slots may now be purchased from the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 700 gems each, or purchase all three for 1,890 gems. Each account can purchase up to 19 shared inventory slots at this time. This limit is not affected by the shared inventory slot provided with the Level-80 Boost with the purchase of Path of Fire or Heart of Thorns™.
  • A new Elonian Introductory Package is now available in the Utility category of the Gem Store for 1,800 gems. It includes a 20 Slot Black Lion Satchel, 5 Black Lion Chest Keys, 5 Heroic Boosters, a Desert Explorer Kit, and a Black Lion Sample Pack.
  • A new Forged Outfit is now available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
  • For a limited time, the Scientific Weapon Collection has returned to the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for 5 Black Lion Claim Tickets. Black Lion Chest Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.

Improvements

  • Six new exclusive hair colors, six new exclusive hair-accessory dyes, 2 additional human hairstyles, and several bald options from Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ have been added and are available in Total Makeover Kits and Self-Style Hair Kits, found in the Utility category of the Gem Store.
  • The Living World Season 3 Complete Pack now includes Episode 6 and is available for 960 gems in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store.
  • The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Elonian Seeker’s Chest and can be previewed for a full list of its contents.

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– The Mini Green Raptor Hatchling has been added as the new guaranteed item. Use the Mystic Forge to unlock the whole family.
– The new Jackal Pup Backpack is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of the Elonian Seeker’s Chest.
– The new Hydra Staff is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of the Elonian Seeker’s Chest.
– The new Golden Black Lion Chest Key is now available as a rare drop in the Elonian Seeker’s Chest. It unlocks a Black Lion Chest with a guaranteed uncommon-or-better item.
– The Timekeeper Weapon Collection is now available as a rare drop for the duration of the Elonian Seeker’s Chest.
– The Pact Fleet Weapon Collection is now available as a super-rare drop for the duration of the Elonian Seeker’s Chest.
– The Black Lion Exclusives Chest has been removed.

  • The Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock, available inside the Black Lion Chest, has been updated with around 175 new items.
  • You can now access waypoints in the Tyria Underground and Depths from the Mistlock Sanctuary.
  • Using the Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey while in the Mistlock Sanctuary will now redirect you to your previous public PvE map.

MAC CLIENT

  • More keyboard-handling refinement.
  • Fixed a client crash.
  • Fixed an issue with some full-screen effects in certain situations.
  • Added archive-repair functionality.