Guild Wars 2 Game Release Notes

Game Update Notes – December 13, 2016

12/13/2016 – December 13 Release Notes
Wintersday 2016
Come join us in celebrating Wintersday! Complete daily achievements to earn fanciful new holiday weapons; save Wintersday by giving wrapped gifts to the orphans spread around Divinity’s Reach; test your skills against other players in Snowball Mayhem; experience the joy of jumping in Winter Wonderland; defend against waves of toys in Toypocalypse; or help keep Tixx’s airship, the Infinirarium, in order! You will also see Wintersday events appearing all around Tyria.

  • The Wintersday meta-achievement is earned by completing daily Wintersday achievements and can be repeated to collect more gifts.
  • Achievements for the Winter’s Presence collection have returned with saved progress from Wintersday 2015.
  • Parts of Divinity’s Reach and the Heart of the Mists have been decorated.
  • Earn personalized Wintersday gifts by completing achievements, or buy them from the guild trader.
  • Tradeable Wintersday gifts now have a chance to drop all over Tyria.

World Polish

  • Fixed a bug that caused Wintersday ornaments to continue dropping from some chests after players had already completed the “For the Children!” achievement.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause present boxes in the Winter Wonderland activity to prematurely explode.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause snowflake platforms to not melt in Winter Wonderland.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause players to keep their normal skill bar during Winter Wonderland.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed guardians to benefit from Virtue of Courage’s aegis boon during Winter Wonderland.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause players to be unable to start playing a part in the Wintersday Bell Choir if a player leaves the activity while playing that part.
  • Fixed a bug that caused some skritt to not progress the “Wintersday Skritt Hit” achievement when pestered with snowballs.
  • Increased the amount that players are healed by when standing near the central pillar in Toypocalypse.

Living World
Bug Fixes

  • The Endless Kodan Tonic now has a 5-second cooldown and cannot be used while in combat.
  • Winterberry home instance nodes now use the winterberry map icon.
  • Winterberries now have a Consume All option.
  • Reduced the unbound magic acquired from gathering and consuming winterberries.
  • Mesmer clone-creating skills now create clones while under the effect of Endless Kodan Tonics.
  • Continued attacks by the Shining Blade and their allies have lowered the health of some bandit bosses on bandit supply lines in Kryta.
  • Players who have completed the Living World Episode 3 storyline may now skip directly to the boss at the end of the Frozen Out instance by interacting with the Brazier of Heroic Deeds, which is located near the beginning of the instance.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players who are working on Eureka or Shooshadoo from unlocking the Legendary Inscription recipe. This recipe has also been added to Hobbs’s inventory for those who missed it.

Items

  • Fixed issues causing clipping on the sylvari female Scallywag armor set.

Fractals
Nightmare

  • Added a checkpoint after the maze section.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed res rushing for Siax and Ensolyss.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed the first boss to be skipped.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed the maze capture points to be captured from below.
  • Fixed an issue in which Ensolyss could have his defiance bar active at the final 15% phase.

Swampland

  • Fixed a bug in which the oakhearts would not get the exposed effect when broken.
  • Dropping a wisp in Bloomhunger’s final 25% phase no longer resets all wisps.
  • Arrow markers have been added to the minimap during the final 25% phase.

Underground Facility

  • The turrets in the bomb path of the Underground Facility Fractal now function properly.
  • Bomb and gun paths will now be randomly chosen, regardless of scale.

Agony

  • Fixed a bug in which agony healing reduction would compound with multiple stacks.

Fractal Avengers

  • Fractal avengers will no longer be able to stomp the wrong player.
  • Fractal avengers will be destroyed instantly when interrupted or after stomping a player.
  • Fractal avengers will not attempt to stomp again if they are interrupted too early.

Miscellaneous

  • The Ascended Salvage Tool (1) now has a 100% chance to return upgrades.
  • Mistlock singularities will now apply the agony to attribute conversions when autoconsuming infinite mist potions.
  • Mistlock singularities will now apply the mist-potion effects for the correct duration on autoconsume.

Profession Skills
General:

  • Added a new amulet to the PvP build panel.
    • Deadshot Amulet: 1050 Precision, 1050 Condition Damage, 560 Vitality, 560 Expertise.
  • Added a new rune to the PvP build panel.
    • Rune of the Lynx: 175 power, +100 Condition Damage, +25% Movement Speed.

Elementalist

  • Arc Lightning: The damage of this ability has been increased by 25% in PvP only.
  • Arcane Shield: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.
  • Final Shielding: The cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 75 seconds to 60 seconds. The health threshold for activating Arcane Shield has been increased from 25% to 50%.
  • Glyph of Elemental Harmony: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP only.

Engineer

  • Blunderbuss: The damage of this ability has been increased by 10% at all range thresholds in PvP only.
  • Jump Shot: The damage of the initial jump has been reduced by 56%. The damage of the landing has been increased by 28%.

Guardian

  • Piercing Light: This trait no longer causes traps to daze enemies and will instead inflict slow on enemies for 1.5 seconds on the initial trigger of a trap.
  • Virtue of Justice: Increased the burning duration of the passive effect from 2 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only. Increased the active effect’s amount of burning from 1 stack to 3 stacks in PvP only.
  • Virtue of Resolve: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 45 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only. The healing contribution of this ability has been increased by 87% in PvP only.
  • Virtue of Courage: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.
  • Shield of Courage: Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to grant benefits without going on recharge.
  • Detonate Orb of Light: The healing contribution of this ability has been increased by 67%.
  • Line of Warding: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
  • Signet of Courage: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 180 seconds to 120 seconds in PvP only.

Mesmer

  • Echo of Memory: The cooldown of this ability has been increased from 30 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP only.
  • Restorative Illusions: The healing contribution of this trait has been increased by 285% in PvP only. The base healing modifiers for this trait have been adjusted as follows:
    • 0 illusions shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 62% in PvP only.
    • 1 illusion shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 50% in PvP only.
    • 2 illusions shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 42% in PvP only.
    • 3 illusions shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 36% in PvP only.

Revenant

  • Surge of the Mists: The damage of this ability has been reduced by 50% in PvP only.
  • Precision Strike: The damage of this ability has been reduced by 33% in PvP only.
  • Warding Rift: The cooldown of this ability has been increased from 12 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP only.
  • Debilitating Slam: The cost of this ability has been reduced from 15 energy to 10 energy.
  • Pain Absorption: This ability now breaks stun.

Thief

  • Infiltrator’s Strike: The range of this ability has been increased from 600 to 900 in PvP only. Immobilize duration has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.
  • Shadow Strike: The amount of torment applied by this ability has been increased from 2 stacks to 4 stacks in PvP only.

Structured Player vs. Player
PvP Leagues Rework

  • Leagues have been reworked in order to facilitate better matchmaking, to give a more accurate indication of an individual’s skill level, and to be more rewarding.
  • PvP Season 5 begins today, December 13, 2016.
  • The Greater Call of the Mists bonus will be enabled in PvP until December 20.
  • For more information on the PvP leagues rework, please read our recent announcement. {{+https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-changes-for-pvp-league-season-5/+}}

Better Matches

  • Matchmaking will no longer factor in pips when creating matches and will instead focus more heavily on your matchmaking rating. This will increase the pool of eligible players that you can play against, thereby improving match quality and reducing queue times.
  • Solo/Duo Queue: Due to the results of a recent community poll, rosters in Season 5 are now limited to a maximum size of 2 in Ranked Arena.

Measuring Skill

  • Skill rating is a new visible value that represents a player’s skill level for a ranked season. Pips will no longer factor into skill rating or prestige.
  • Skill rating determines which division a player belongs to. Each division has 3 tiers within it.
    • Legendary: 1950+ skill rating.
    • Platinum: 1650 – 1949 skill rating.
    • Gold: 1350 – 1649 skill rating.
    • Silver: 1050 – 1349 skill rating.
    • Bronze: 0 – 1049 skill rating.
  • Nameplate badges reflect the current skill-rating division.
    • A new option is available that disables nameplate badges from being displayed to others.
  • Skill rating will be soft reset at the beginning of each PvP season.
  • At the beginning of each season, 10 placement matches are required to earn a skill rating and division placement.
  • Skill rating has no limits on backward progress.
  • Inactive players will experience skill-rating decay, impacting the division they’re placed in. Decay can be worked off by playing ranked games.
    • Period of inactivity allowed before decay begins: 3 days.
    • Skill rating reduction per day: 100.
    • Maximum skill-rating reduction: 700 (after 7 days).
    • Decay removed per game played: 100.
  • At the end of each season, the top 250 players with the best skill ratings in each region will be awarded titles based on their placement. Earning a higher rank title will award all of the lower titles. These titles will persist season to season.
    • Rank 1: God of PvP.
    • Rank 2: Legendary Demigod.
    • Rank 3: Immortal Legend.
    • Rank 4 – 10: Unyielding Legend.
    • Rank 11 – 25: Relentless Legend.
    • Rank 26 – 100: Ruthless Legend.
    • Rank 101 – 250: Merciless Legend.

Rewards

  • League pips will now be used exclusively as a mechanism for earning rewards. You will earn varying amounts of reward pips for wins and losses.
  • Every reward tier has been renamed, recolored, and rebalanced.
    • Higher tiers now provide better rewards, such as increased amounts of liquid gold.
    • Tier sizes are now 20 – 30 pips. Later tiers are bigger.
    • There is no backward progress for reward pips.
  • Winning a match awards 10 pips.
  • Losing a match awards 3 pips.
  • Achieving a top stat (see “Personal Score & Top Stats” below) awards 1 additional pip.
  • Games played with a Platinum skill rating award 2 additional pips.
  • Games played with a Legendary skill rating award 4 additional pips.
  • Tier completion now awards Shards of Glory, Unidentified Dyes, PvP League Tickets, Transmutation Charges, gold, and a new currency called Ascended Shards of Glory.
  • A new Ascended League Vendor has been added. This vendor has ascended armor, weapons, and trinkets available for purchase using Shards of Glory and Ascended Shards of Glory.
    • The Ardent Glorious ascended armor set, a variation of the Glorious Hero’s armor set, is now available.
  • A Mini Black Llama can be purchased from the existing League Vendor using league tickets.
  • A Shards of Glory Converter can be purchased from the existing League Vendor. The converter will exchange Shards of Glory for a Timeless Bag of Items.
    • The contents of the bag are similar to the bags received from items such as Princess, Mawdrey II, and the Star of Gratitude.
  • Item: Tribal Leggings now have the proper icon.

Personal Score & Top Stats
Personal score has been removed from structured PvP games, and stats have been condensed into a more meaningful Top Stat system:

  • At the end of a game, players who perform well in a particular area will be given the corresponding icon beside their name on the scoreboard, which is visible to all players in that match.
    • Damage: Total outgoing damage to alive enemy players.
    • Healing: Total healing given to yourself and allied players.
    • Kills: Number of player kills and kill assists.
    • Revives: Number of allied player revives.
    • Deaths: Number of deaths. (A top stat is not awarded for deaths.)
    • Defense (Conquest): Number of ticks spent in combat near a friendly captured point.
    • Offense (Conquest): Number of ticks spent capturing or being in combat near enemy and neutral capture points.
    • Defense (Stronghold): Total number of mercenaries killed and trebuchets repaired.
    • Offense (Stronghold): Total number of defenders killed and supply spent.

Overtime
Overtime has been added to Conquest. When both teams have the same score at the time limit or when both teams reach 500 points simultaneously, the game will enter overtime. Overtime ends when one team’s score becomes higher than the other’s, or after 5 minutes have elapsed. In the case of a time-out, the winning team is chosen randomly.

Infinite PvP Rank Progression

  • PvP Ranks are no longer capped at 80. This number will now increment on both the in-game HUD as well as the character-select screen.
  • Players will be retroactively awarded rank-ups for every time they’ve repeated rank 80.

Maps

  • Battle for Champion’s Dusk has been removed from Ranked Arena. Queue preferences will now only affect Unranked Arena.
  • Skyhammer
    • This map has been added to Ranked Arena.

Mist Champion Skins

  • Mist Champion skins can now be purchased from the League Vendor for Shards of Glory.

Guild Teams

  • Guild teams no longer show a ranked rating as they cannot queue for season games in Ranked Arena.
  • The guild team leaderboard and banners have been removed from the PvP lobby.
  • Guild missions can still be completed in Unranked Arena.

World vs. World
General

  • On Friday’s reset (12/16), skirmish points will change:
    • 1st place will be awarded 2 points.
    • 2nd and 3rd place will be awarded 1 point.
    • This is a change that we and the players wanted to try. If we aren’t happy with the results, we can change the skirmish score values again.
  • War score floaters have been added.
    • When war score is earned via various activities, floaters will now appear above various things to display the amount of points earned for all teams.
      • When an objective is captured/ticks, the war score will appear above the lord.
      • When a player is killed, the war score will appear above the player.
      • When a sentry is captured/ticks, the war score will appear above the capture point.
      • When a shrine is captured, the war score will appear above the shrine.
      • When a dolyak is killed or makes it to an objective, the war score will appear above the dolyak.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions

  • The Festive Hat has returned and can be found in the Style category of the Gem Store for 150 gems.
  • The Wintersday Wreath Backpack has returned and can be found in the Style category of the Gem Store for 500 gems.
  • The Winter Solstice Appearance Pack, containing the Winter Solstice Outfit, a Miniature Snow Flurry Dragon, an Immortal weapon skin, a Total Makeover Kit, and a pack of 5 Glint’s Winter Dye Kits, is available again in the Style category of the Gem Store for 2,000 gems.

Improvements

  • The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Wintersday Black Lion Chest and can be previewed for a full list of its contents.
    • The Large Personalized Wintersday Gift has been added as the new guaranteed seasonal item.
    • The Infinirarium Glider is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of this seasonal chest.
    • The Candelabra Staff is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of this seasonal chest.
  • For a limited time, a new set of Frostforged 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.
  • Many Merry Minis has been added to the Black Lion Miniature Claim Ticket vendor.
  • You no longer need to type an item’s full name on time-expired items when destroying them.
    • Using Gem Store “Time Expired” items will open the Gem Store if that item is available.