Guild Wars 2 Game Release Notes

Game Update Notes – February 8, 2017

02/08/2017 – February 8th Release Notes
LIVING WORLD
The Head of the Snake
Caudecus Beetlestone’s depraved White Mantle faction continues its efforts to bring Kryta to heel. Her Royal Majesty, Queen Jennah of Kryta, requests your presence in Divinity’s Reach—help her root out corruption in the Ministry before crisis strikes.

Lunar New Year
The celebration has ended in Divinity’s Reach, but we wish you good luck and fortune all year!
New Legendary Rifle: The HMS Divinity
A new legendary weapon is now available. Speak to Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs in Lion’s Arch to learn how to craft the new rifle precursor Man o’ War and forge the new legendary rifle, the HMS Divinity.
World Polish

  • Players can no longer open more Great Exalted Chests and Grand Exalted Chests by changing map instances after completing the meta-event in Auric Basin.
  • Several items involved in the legendary precursor collections can now only be crafted once per account. If these items are misplaced, replacements can be purchased from Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs in Lion’s Arch.
  • Fixed an issue that incorrectly caused several supply carts in Gendarran Fields to appear lootable when destroyed.

Bloodstone Fen

  • Updrafts have been added to the Cavern of Unseen Lights to aid in Bloodstone Crystal Node gathering.
  • Decreased the rate at which jade constructs drain bloodstone stalagmites, effectively increasing the duration of the associated events.
  • Reduced intersections between ley lines and unbound magic nodes or magical storms.

Thaumanova Rework
The Thaumanova fractal was lacking in many areas, so it has undergone a significant rework. Changes aim to reduce frustration; improve theming, messaging, and story presentation; and generally make the fractal feel more epic and believable. At tier 4, the duration of the fractal should be a bit shorter, and the overall difficulty should be slightly lower while still being challenging.

General

  • The audio of the fractal has received numerous improvements.
  • Server performance has been slightly optimized.
  • Players will now have to complete all four colliders, regardless of scale.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause the checkpoint to be reset at the beginning.
  • Fixed numerous minor bugs.

Main Hall
The Inquest are fighting for survival against endless hordes.

  • Replaced all existing spawns with new ones and added many more.
  • Removed all existing portals and replaced them with new ones that spawn via scripted events rather than player proximity.
  • Portals no longer pull in players.
  • The “Clear out the skritt defending the central control panel” event has been replaced by a new event.
  • New dialogue scenes have been added.
  • New AI has been added to the Inquest to help them fight more intelligently.
  • Jump pads have been added to allow rapid transit between the center ring and the outer rooms.
  • The liquid in the lower area no longer applies burning.
  • Moved a Mistlock Singularity from the dormitory to a convenient location.

Subject 6 Lab
The Subject 6 encounter retains the same core mechanics, but failing to kill a couple of blue oozes is no longer essentially a reset. Additional scaling has also been added.

  • Improved the intro scene.
  • Reworked the Subject 6 Clinging Acid attack to be a bouncing AoE.
  • Blue ooze will now heal the boss for 6% instead of 25%.
  • Blue-ooze health has been reduced by 33%.
  • Markers have been added to all oozes to make them more visible.
  • Oozes will now instantly heal the boss when they get close, instead of pausing.
  • Stronger gold oozes now spawn at 75%, 50%, and 25% at tiers 3 and 4.
  • All oozes now die when the boss is defeated.

Dormitory

  • Aatxe have been replaced by more interesting enemies.
  • Some dialogue has changed.
  • Various small bugs have been fixed.
  • Added an objective timer.
  • Increased the amount of time players have to save Chibb.

Repulsor Lab
The repulsor lab was particularly frustrating for new groups, as it lacked any clear direction and was incredibly punishing. It is now a stealth-based encounter, and the mechanics are clear.

  • Reworked repulsor turret projectiles.
    • Reduced the hit box and switched to an effect to match the size.
    • Replaced blowout with a 0.5-second stun.
    • Switched to scaling, health-percentage-based damage.
    • Projectiles will now only hit players.
  • Reworked patrol golems.
    • Fixed numerous pathing issues.
    • Switched the aggro mechanic over to a small visibility circle indicated by an effect. Golems will fixate for 15 seconds on any player who enters.
    • Golems have been upgraded to champion rank.
    • Golems will walk at tiers 1 and 2.
    • Golems now die when the event succeeds.
    • Deleted the stationary golem at the first console.
  • Improved consoles and barriers.
    • Consoles may no longer be interacted with through walls.
    • Consoles are now numbered on the minimap.
    • Shields are now disabled at the end of the event.
  • Safety Shield now has a longer cooldown but cannot overheat.
  • Safety Shield’s Repulsor Bolt skill is now instant, and it will instantly break a golem’s defiance bar.
  • Safety Shields now no longer use the staff idle animation.
  • Getting downed in the repulsor lab will teleport you to the safety-shield room.
  • Succeeding at the event will cleanse immobilize on everyone in the room.
  • Consoles can no longer be interacted with after the event succeeds.

Cooling Chamber
The cooling chamber was a bit too easy to solo, and it had little emphasis on the cooling rods. Now it is more rewarding of teamwork, while one may still solo it on some professions.

  • Cooling rods now have a Heat Shield skill that will block heat damage in a radius.
  • Heat damage in the room has increased.
  • Cooling rods further reduce heat damage in the room when placed in the Cooling Rod Receptacle. They also create a permanent shield at the receptacle.
  • Switched to scaling, health-percentage-based damage.
  • A golem will retrieve any cooling rods dropped in the room.
  • Cooling Rod Receptacles have gained a map marker.
  • A moving flame wall that can be dodged has been added to the room.

Thaumanova Anomaly
The Anomaly boss has numerous attacks that have either no tell or are very difficult to see and react to in the effect soup. The fight can take longer than it should due to high boss health and the fact that players constantly have to spread out. The fight has been reworked to be more interesting and fair. It is challenging but not overly difficult.

  • Fixed an issue that allowed the Anomaly to be res rushed.
  • The Anomaly’s health has been slightly reduced*.*
  • The Anomaly has gained a strong defiance bar that can be broken for a long-duration stun.
  • Players now have a special action shield, the Hex Shield, which can protect a platform from disappearing for 3 seconds on a 32-second cooldown. It stacks duration if multiple players use it on the same platform.
  • The Anomaly’s base projectile attack, Binding Bolt, has been replaced by a projectile fan attack that is easier to see and react to. Projectile hit boxes have been improved.
  • The Anomaly’s hit box has been increased, and it has been centered better.
  • The Anomaly’s shield knockback has been greatly reduced.
  • At higher tiers, the platform will permanently shrink at health percentages.
  • The Anomaly will no longer reflect projectiles.
  • Star Smash has had its effect improved.
  • Flux Bomb has been renamed to Flux Pulse. Its radius has been reduced from 500 to 300. The Telegraph effect has been added. Damage has been slightly increased.
  • Cosmic Instability no longer targets pets and minions, and it will now deal heavy damage to allied players standing within 120 units.
  • Players will no longer sometimes fall all the way to the bottom floor instead of being teleported back up.
  • The platforms will no longer be targetable by certain player skills.

Aetherblade

  • Reworked rotating energy wall traps before the cannon room.
    • Now applies scaling damage based on health percentages instead of standard attacks.
    • Added internal-damage cooldown of 1 second.
    • Fixed a combat-log text issue.
    • Can no longer hurt pets and minions.
    • Applies Electric Shield to the golems for 1 second instead of 3 seconds.
  • Reduced the applied agony duration for final energy walls from 6 seconds to 3 seconds.
  • Increased the internal cooldown of energy wall damage and agony application from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.
  • Golem might stacks can now be corrupted and stripped.
  • Knockback is now applied at the correct time when Frizz is defeated.

Chaos Isles

  • The Brazen Gladiator no longer clears all conditions when gaining Protective Shielding. Instead, Protective Shielding also behaves like resistance.

Molten Furnace

  • Molten protectors can now be inflicted with fear and taunted while not shielded.
  • Fixed a bug in which a party wipe before the final event could teleport you to the final chamber and stall the instance.

Nightmare

  • Fixed an issue in which Ensolyss could use Rampage before his final phase on challenge mode.
  • The crush attack Ensolyss uses when he spawns is now unblockable, making Another Goo Puddle easier for guardians to obtain.
  • Fixed an issue in which Ensolyss’s defiance bar could be broken right before casting Nightmare Devastation, causing him to cast it when Arkk’s shield is gone.
  • Ensolyss’s attacks will no longer knock back or pull pets and minions.
  • Fixed an issue in which Siax’s Toxic Blast attack would show the first AoE telegraph for too long.
  • Fixed a bug in which the 30-Second Seizure achievement could be completed in longer than 30 seconds.

Snowblind

  • Moved the first Mistlock Singularity to a more convenient location.
  • The ice elemental boss will now reset if there are no living players nearby.
  • Reduced the chill duration for orbiting projectiles from 5 seconds to 3 seconds.
  • Improved the spawning animation for the ice elemental and made it visible from farther away.

Swampland

  • Fixed an issue in which being downed while holding a wisp during the final Bloomhunger phase would not allow the wisp to respawn.

Uncategorized

  • Added a checkpoint at the end of the final jumping puzzle.
  • Fixed a bug in which the battery meters would not properly reset after a party wipe.

Underground Facility

  • The Rampaging Ice Elemental will now only target players with Ice Spike.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause boss fixate to become permanently broken.

Volcanic

  • The first cutscene can now be skipped.

Mist Potions

  • Single-use mist potions have had their prices rebalanced by reducing relic cost and increasing gold cost.
  • Duration has increased from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
  • Single-use mist potions can now be refreshed.
  • Text has been added indicating that unwanted potions can be turned in to Dessa’s Alchemist in exchange for fractal relics.

Daily Recommended Fractal Rewards

  • The Fractal Initiate’s Research Chest has had its resonating slivers replaced by a Large Mist Defensive Potion.
  • The Fractal Adept’s Research Chest has had its resonating slivers replaced by a Large Mist Mobility Potion.
  • The Fractal Expert’s Research Chest has had its resonating slivers replaced by a Large Mist Offensive Potion.

Daily Achievement Rotation

  • The Fractal Daily achievements have been switched from a 14-day rotation to a 15-day rotation so that the same dailies do not occur every two weeks.

Ascended Trinket Salvage

  • Ascended trinkets will now yield Stabilizing Matrices instead of +1 infusions when salvaged.

Nightmare Rewards

  • The Watchknight Tonic has been added to the Nightmare Rewards tab on BLING-9009 for a discount. It has been improved to function like the Kodan Tonic.
  • The Antitoxin Injector Skin, Mini Toxic Nimross, and Mini Watchknight have been added to the Nightmare Rewards tab on BLING-9009 for a discount.
  • Pristine Toxic Spore Samples are now awarded for completing the Nightmare Fractal Challenge Mode with a rare chance for a jackpot.

Instability Balance Changes
Toxic Trails

  • Added low-duration poison to toxic trails. Poison will make damage from toxic trails more visible while slightly increasing the pressure from them.

Social Awkwardness

  • Reduced the damage region radius from 60 to 44 to better match the effect.
  • Reduced the applied agony duration of Social Awkwardness from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Instead of damaging your allies, you will damage yourself for a maximum of three hits per second if you are standing near three or more allies.
    • This will allow healers to stack up for heals without killing themselves, and it will punish a player for attacking near allies rather than punishing their allies.

Afflicted

  • Reduced the number of confusion stacks applied from 5 to 2.

Last Laugh

  • Increased the time before the attack hits from 1 second to 1.75 seconds.

Flux Bomb

  • Flux Bomb will not apply damage or conditions to the targeted player on the first tick.
  • Flux Bomb will not target the same player within 30 seconds.

Miscellaneous

  • Fixed a bug in which Fractal Avengers would not properly despawn.

Raids
Bastion of the Penitent
The bloodstone explosion unearthed a portal to a place where few have been and none have escaped. Deconstruct the mysteries and learn the true story of one of history’s most misunderstood figures. Assemble your squad and begin your journey at ground zero or at the Lion’s Arch Aerodrome.
Thanks!
Some members of the following guilds had access to the raid at some stage in development. We’d like to thank them for their time and feedback.

  • [Att] Attuned
  • [LNR] Late Night Raiding

General

  • Glenna will now exchange magnetite shards for miniatures from any raid wing. This is now located in a new Exchanges tab on her vendor window.
  • Skill-fact tooltips have been enabled for all boss skills in Bastion of the Penitent.

Lion’s Arch Aerodrome
New vendor tabs have been added to the Basic Magnetite Exchange Operative in the Aerodrome.

  • Exchanges: Miniatures and special items can be exchanged here for magnetite shards.
  • Merchant: Sells basic goods (salvage, etc.).

Spirit Vale
Sabetha
The Sapper Bomb skill now ignores snap-to-target settings.
Stronghold of the Faithful
White Mantle portal devices can now be exchanged for magnetite shards at a rate of 250 shards per device. This exchange can be completed by speaking with Glenna or the Basic Magnetite Exchange Operative in the Aerodrome.
General

  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes prevent a player from being revived during encounters in Stronghold of the Faithful.

Xera
The Intervention skill now ignores snap-to-target settings.
Items
The legendary precursors Friendship and Endeavor have had their recipes updated to use the new Visionary Inscription. The recipe for the Visionary Inscription can be unlocked by using Recipe: Legendary Inscription, available from Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs, free of charge.
Profession Skills
General:

  • Racial abilities: The following racial abilities will no longer allow eternal pets when used with Rebound: D-Series Golem (asura racial elite), 7-Series Golem (asura racial elite), Charr Warband (charr racial elite), Snow Wurm (norn racial utility skill), Summon Druid Spirit (sylvari racial elite).

Structured Player vs. Player
General

  • Players who reconnect to a match and achieve victory will no longer receive a desertion game result.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the minimap on Revenge of the Capricorn to have no fixed position and zoom level.
  • Matches where a player fails to accept will rebalance teams after finding a substitute.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the Noblesse Oblige mastery to affect PvP and WvW.
  • Fixed inconsistent naming convention for the Diviner Amulet and the Seeker Amulet.
  • Fix a bug where new accounts had both Conquest and Stronghold game-mode preferences checked instead of the All preference.

Battle of Kyhlo

  • The Clock Tower has had its roof removed to improve visibility and camera behavior.
  • The side-entrance jump puzzles to the Clock Tower have been normalized on each side and made much easier.
  • Buildings and boxes are no longer destroyable by players. A few structures will now be automatically destroyed as the match progresses.
  • The spawn locations of siege repair have been moved closer to the trebuchets.
  • An additional exit from each side’s bases have been added to reduce the possibility of spawn camping.

Revenge of the Capricorn

  • The locations of the archway and bell capture points have been moved to reduce run times and slightly condense the map.

Leagues

  • League rating deviation will not increase over time. This prevents players who take breaks from having ratings that are too volatile when they return.
  • Lowered the default/starting rating deviation. League placement matches will result in less volatile ratings.
  • There is now a minimum game requirement for the league leaderboard that is separate from placement games. This minimum threshold increases over the duration of the season.

PvP Map Achievements
Meta-achievements have* *been added to all Ranked and Unranked PvP maps. Completion of the meta-achievement will award players gold and a title.
Generic Achievements:

  • Wins
  • Kills

Conquest Achievements:

  • Kills while defending
  • Capture-point neutralization

Stronghold Achievements:

  • Summoning door breakers or archers
  • Killing door breakers or archers
  • Champion summons

Each map features one unique achievement themed around the secondary mechanic.
Capricorn achievements have returned, and the time gate for the Coliseum achievements has been removed.
World vs. World
General

  • On Friday’s reset (February 10), skirmish points will change to 5 for first place, 4 for second place, and 3 for third place.
  • WvW portals have been changed so that they now require an interact. This is to fix the bug in which players were sometimes teleported to different maps when using a waypoint.
  • The Plush Griffon Tonic has been reenabled in WvW.
  • The Reindeer Tonic has been reenabled in WvW, but the third skill has been removed and replaced with the fourth skill.
  • The Potion of Ascalonian Mages now functions like a transformation and not like an enhancement. It has been reenabled in WvW.
  • The Permanent Portable Provisioner can now be used while moving.
  • The Noblesse Oblige mastery has been disabled in competitive game modes.
  • The Gift From Scarlet has been disabled in WvW.

Desert Borderlands

  • Shrine bonuses have been rearranged and changed in the Desert borderlands. The last shrine bonus for each shrine is now a themed jump pad that will allow players to travel from one shrine to the next. These jump pads will make it easier for players to traverse the area.
    • Shrine of Earth:
      • Activates lodestones that grant protection and stability to allies. This is used to cripple enemies.
      • A sandstorm that reveals all enemies.
      • Asura launch pads that launch players to all the shrines and inside the keep itself.
    • Shrine of Fire:
      • Inferno Hound
        • Increased the movement speed of the hound.
        • Added swiftness to skill 3.
      • The Flame’s Embrace effect allows players to walk on lava. It functions the same as it used to but is now the second bonus instead of the third.
      • Fire tornadoes that launch players to all of the shrines.
    • Shrine of Air:
      • Air jump pads that allow players to jump to high ledges at various places in the keep. No changes were made to this bonus.
      • The Windfall effect allows players to not take fall damage while near the keep. This functions the same as it used to but is now the second bonus instead of the third.
      • Eagle clouds that transform players into eagles so they can glide to each shrine.
  • Desert borderlands now has ruins that work the same as they do on the Alpine maps and grant bloodlust.
  • The center of the map has been changed so that it is easier to traverse.
  • Removed rock walls inside the north/earth keep.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the incorrect team to earn the Windfall effect for a few seconds.

General

  • Many items crafted as part of the legendary journey can only be crafted once per account. Misplaced items can be reobtained from Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs if they are required for other parts of the collection.
  • The Antitoxin Injector Skin has been added to the laurel vendor.
  • Encoded Orders can no longer be used in fractals or dungeons.
  • The Permanent Portable Provisioner, Tarrktun Personal Delivery Portal, Black Lion Miniature Claim Ticket, Fractal Reliquary, Ley-Energy Matter Converter, Black Lion Claim Ticket, and Golden Fortune Scrap can now be used while moving.
  • All tonics can no longer be consumed while in combat. You will still remain transformed if you consume a tonic before entering combat. This change was made so players can no longer transform to trigger weapon-swap effects while in combat.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions

  • For a limited time, a new set of Devoted weapon skins is available from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket. Black Lion Chest Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
  • The White Mantle Appearance Pack has returned for a limited time and is located in the Style category of the Gem Store for 2,000 gems. This pack contains 1 White Mantle Outfit, 1 White Mantle Glider, 1 Immortal Weapon Choice, 1 Total Makeover Kit, and 5 Black Lion Chest Keys.
  • The Shining Blade Backpack Glider Combo has returned for a limited time and is located in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
  • The Mask of the Queen and the Mask of the Jubilee have returned for a limited time and are located in the Style category of the Gem Store for 400 gems each.
  • The Ringmaster’s Hat has returned for a limited time and is located in the Style category of the Gem Store for 200 gems.
  • The Mini Bloodstone Rock has returned and is located in the Toys category of the Gem Store for 350 gems.

Improvements

  • Twelve exclusive hair colors can now be used to dye hair accessories using Total Makeover Kits and/or Self-Style Hair Kits, found in the Services category of the Gem Store.
  • For a limited time, avian miniatures are available for 1–3 Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets and are available from the Black Lion Claim Ticket vendor.
    • Avian miniatures include the Mini White Moa, Mini Pink Moa, Mini Green Moa, Mini Yellow Moa, Mini Blue Moa, Mini Moa Chick, Mini Vulture Raptor, Miniature Raven, Miniature Snow Owl, Miniature Hawk, and Mini Chickenado.
  • The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Lake Doric Chest and can be previewed for a full list of its contents.
    • Two Heavy Crafting Bags have been added as the new guaranteed seasonal item.
    • Only for the duration of this seasonal chest, the Noran’s Safe Room Pass is available as an uncommon drop.