Guild Wars 2 Game Release Notes

Game Update Notes – December 15, 2015

12/15/2015—December 15 Release Notes
Wintersday 2015
Come join us in celebrating Wintersday! Earn karma by participating in the following activities: save Wintersday for the orphans spread around Divinity’s Reach by giving them wrapped gifts; test your skills against other players in Snowball Mayhem; experience the joy of jumping in Winter Wonderland; defend against waves of toys in Toypocolypse; or help keep Tixx’s airship, the Infinirarium, in order! Spend karma at the Wintersday Vendor! You’ll also see Wintersday events appearing all around Tyria.

  • Parts of Divinity’s Reach and the Heart of the Mists have been decorated.
  • There are all new Wintersday gifts this year! Double-click prior dusty old Wintersday gifts into new gifts!
  • Earn Personalized Wintersday Gifts by doing achievements, or buy them from a guild trader.
  • Tradeable Wintersday Gifts now have a chance to drop all over Tyria.
  • Keep winter around all year long by completing the new rare Winter’s Presence item collection achievement, which unlocks a shoulder skin with a snow effect!
  • The Wintersday Vendor found in Divinity’s Reach has been updated with new items.
  • There are returning and new permanent Wintersday achievements as well as new daily achievements.
  • The Mini Snowman has returned. It can be found in Wintersday gifts and will now be tradeable.
  • New Mystic Forge recipes have been added to make Foostivoo the Merry using Flawless Snowflakes.
  • Flawless Snowflakes can be traded in to Fion in any guild hall to receive a Pile of Snow decoration for that guild.
  • Scribes can use Piles of Snow to craft 5 new guild decorations.

Fractals
Fractals of the Mist rewards have been adjusted. For context, please see https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/dungeons/Upcoming-Fractal-Changes.

  • From fractal scale 1 to 50, the toughness attribute of creatures will scale up with the fractal scale. Beyond fractal scale 50, the toughness stat of creatures will no longer increase with the scale of the fractal.
  • Chests that spawn from completing Fractal Dungeons have had their chances to drop containers of ascended gear increased, with major improvements at higher tiers of difficulty.
  • Chests that spawn from completing Fractal Dungeons also reward experience based on their difficulty. This experience can train Central Tyrian masteries.
  • The average gold value of opening Cracked Fractal Encryptions has increased.
    • This increase came from changes to the Lost Homework sellable items dropped from these containers.
  • With the changes to scaling past level 50, higher tiers of fractals should be faster to complete, increasing their average reward per time played in each fractal.
  • Stabilizing Matrices can now be traded for Fractal Encryption Keys on a 1:1 basis.
  • Some Daily Fractal Achievements now drop an increased number of Fractal Encryption Keys.
  • Purchasing Fractal Encryption Keys works a bit differently now.
    • The first 30 keys a player purchases per day will be available at a cost of 20 silver and a Fractal Relic per key.
    • The next 30 keys can be purchased at a cost of 25 silver and a Fractal Relic per key.
    • After these 60 discounted keys have been purchased, players can buy an unlimited amount of keys at a cost of 30 silver and a Fractal Relic per key.
  • The achievements for completing sets of 3 fractals have also had their names updated to match the chests awarded.
  • Fixed a bug in the Underground Facility fractal that resulted the Rampaging Ice Elemental having the unshakable effect applied.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
World Polish

  • Auric Basin
    • Fixed a bug with voiced line timing in the “Guard Scholar Keenwit as he translates druid markings” event.
    • Scholar Keenwit will now properly say the druid ritual lines at the start of the “Destroy the vinewraths and their Mordrem infestation so Scholar Keenwit can complete the druid ritual” event.
    • Fixed a bug in which an event would stall in New Skrittington when Dawkkurra’s event wouldn’t finish setting up correctly.
    • Fixed a bug that could cause an event in Arrowhead Vale to stall.
  • Iron Marches
    • Improved the reliability of the “Devouring the Brand” meta-event and other related events.
  • Tangled Depths
    • Fixed an issue that was causing the chak gerents to scale too aggressively when players joined their lanes.
    • Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented the Rata Novus golems from engaging the chak gerent in combat.
    • Fixed a bug that would cause the Scrap Rifle Field Test adventure to end if you were imprisoned in goop.
    • Fixed kill participation credit in a number of events in Tangled Depths.
    • Turning in ley energy now gives participation credit for the “Power [East/West] Sentry L.O.X. with energy from the ley-line energy collectors” and “Repel the invading chak. Power up the golem for added firepower!” events in Rata Novus.
    • Fixed a bug that prevented players from getting the Lane Defender achievements available during the King of the Jungle meta-event.

General

  • Fixed a bug with the “Escort Rustbucket to the repair station” event in Dry Top which was causing some of the German VO to be cut off.
  • Fixed a bug that caused players to receive the Leader of the Pact effect from party members before they had accepted their party invitation.
  • Players affected by multiple sources of Leader of the Pact will now only show the most powerful version affecting them in their effect display.
  • Fixed a bug in which effects applied by player-controlled minions were not correctly prioritizing players over other minions.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause vendors who were selling goods with an item cost to not update their count of the player’s available items correctly.
  • Scribing costs for WvW claiming and guild siege equipment have been adjusted to be less expensive.
  • Fixed a bug in which knockback distance could be reduced by a change in the target’s movement speed.
  • Party members will now display WvW rank instead of Mastery points when in WvW.
  • Fixed a bug in which inviting a squad from within the Guild Teams panel would only invite one person from the squad.
  • Guild Storage has been updated to now show helpful tooltips.
  • Changed guild hall decoration placement to be more permissive.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from joining parties.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from joining parties.

Personal Story

  • Updated the required level messaging for “Against the Corruption,” “Cathedral of Silence,” “Romke’s Final Voyage,” and “Source of Orr” from 70 to 80.
  • Updated “Against the Corruption,” “Cathedral of Silence,” and “Romke’s Final Voyage” to give out level-appropriate rewards.

Items

  • Fixed a bug that prevented older versions of some Infused rings from being Attuned in the Mystic Forge. These rings can now correctly be upgraded to Attuned Infused Rings.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Indigo Mushrooms from dropping for players working on the Minstrel.
  • Friend of the Owl Spirit can now be earned be completing the event “Protect the owl spirits from Jormag’s minions” again after collecting Friend of the Owls.
  • The engineer’s Grenade Barrage will once again use legendry weapon effects.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Bags of Mortar from being sold by the scribe vendors in guild halls.

Profession Skills
General:
Engineer

  • Tool Kit—Magnet: Fixed a bug that was causing this skill to fail when first pulling an enemy into combat.

Necromancer

  • Signets of Suffering: Fixed an issue that caused this trait to convert boons at infinite range when used with Signet of Vampirism.

Revenant

  • Coalescence of Ruin: Updated visual effects to accurately match the combat range.
  • Renewing Wave: Fixed an issue that caused this ability to remove conditions around an enemy’s position rather than the revenant’s.
  • Embrace the Darkness: Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to be active while not in legendary demon stance.
  • Equilibrium: This trait now has a 10-second internal cooldown and will trigger only when in combat.

Structured PvP

  • Fixed a bug in which party members of a disconnected player would receive a defeat even after winning the match.
  • Fixed a bug in which the Vial of Salt had exotic attributes instead of the intended ascended attributes.
  • Fixed a bug in which Mini Turai Ossa was using the incorrect model.
  • Changed “Bye” results in the game history to read as “Victory” instead.
  • Changed “Forfeit” results in the game history to read as “Defeat” instead.
  • Fixed a bug in which the Mystic Forge Conduit and Mystic Forge Node items were unusable in the PvP lobby.
  • Fixed a bug in which NPCs using stealth in Stronghold would visually desync from enemy clients when coming out of stealth.

*World vs. World *

  • Fixed a bug that caused Guild Flame Ram build sites to become standard Flame Rams rather than Guild Flame Rams.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from reviving keep upgrade Banker Golems.

RAIDS
Forsaken Thicket

  • Mesmer portal tracking is now removed when a raid encounter begins.

Gorseval

  • Fixed issues occurring with Gorseval’s Ghastly Prison mechanic.

Spirit Vale

  • Fixed an issue that was causing the Vale Guardian’s divisions to deal 0 damage with their punch attack.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions

  • A new set of Timekeeper weapon skins is available from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for 1 ticket for a limited time.
  • New winter Mist Champion skins are available as rare drops in Black Lion Chests.
  • A new Mini Snow Flurry Dragon is available in the Toys category for 500 gems.
  • A new Winter Solstice Outfit is available in the Style category for 700 gems.
  • Three new hair styles for every race and gender are available in Total Makeover Kits and Hair Style Kits in the Services category of the Gem Store.
  • A new Winter Solstice Appearance Package is available in the Style category for 2,000 gems and includes the outfit, a Mini Snow Flurry Dragon, a choice of Immortal weapon, 5 Glint’s Winter Dye Kits, and a Total Makeover Kit.
  • Every Black Lion Chest includes a bonus Personalized Wintersday Gift for a limited time.

Bug Fixes

  • It’s no longer necessary to leave a raid to activate Experience Boosts, Item Boosts, or Heroic Boosts.

Improvements

  • The Wintersday Wreath Backpack has been upgraded with decorative bells and the existing lighting now pulses. It’s available in the Style category for 500 gems.