Game Update Notes – July 26, 2016

PROFESSION SKILLS

Elementalist
There were a couple of goals in mind for the elementalist with this balance update. Initially, we looked to improve base abilities and implement a couple of reworks that have been on the docket. We also looked to normalize elementalist damage and healing a bit more, as their overall potential to do both at the same time was considerably higher than was healthy for group compositions.

• Flamestrike: Upon successfully hitting an enemy, this skill now leaves behind a spell that detonates 1 second later. This detonation has a radius of 90 and deals one-third of the strike damage and burning duration.
• Arc Lightning: Fixed a bug in which the lightning effects attached to incorrect areas.
• Geyser: Fixed a visual bug in which the skill seemingly had a smaller radius than intended.
• “Eye of the Storm!”: Updated the skill fact to properly show the number of targets affected.
• Arcane Brilliance: Fixed a bug that prevented triggering of the blast finisher if the character was in the air or underwater.
• Lava Font: Increased the cooldown of this skill from 6 seconds to 8 seconds in all game modes except PvP.
• Ice Spike: Fixed a bug in which the animation became unsynchronized when this skill was used under the effects of quickness or slow.
• Dragon’s Tooth: Fixed a bug in which the animation became unsynchronized when this skill was used under the effects of quickness or slow.
• Fire Grab: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Tornado: The stability stacks per pulse have been increased from 1 to 2. This transform now has new abilities on skills 4 and 5.
  • Tornado—Elemental Requiem: Launch missiles in multiple directions, based on the current tornado type (air, dust, debris).
  • Tornado—Dust Charge: Move at a rapid rate, knocking back foes.
• Whirlpool: Increased the number of stability stacks applied from 1 to 2.
• Overload Air: The damage of this skill has been reduced by 10%.
• Glyph of Elemental Harmony: The base healing per level has been increased by 33%, with the healing power contribution being increased by 60%. The casting time of this skill has been reduced from 1.25 seconds to 1 second. Fixed a bug in which this skill would not have a reduced recharge when the Inscription trait was in effect.
• “Wash the Pain Away!”: The base healing per level for this skill has been decreased by 33%. The healing power contribution has been increased by 150%. The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in all game types.
• Arcane Shield: The cooldown of this skill has been reduced from 75 seconds to 60 seconds. This change is not carried through to Final Shielding.
• Written in Stone: Fixed a bug in which signet passive effects were removed prior to the skill coming off of cooldown.
• Aeromancer’s Training: The cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 33% to 20%.
• Pyromancer’s Training: The cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 33% to 20%.
• Geomancer’s Training: The cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 33% to 20%.
• Aquamancer’s Training: The cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 33% to 20%.
• Inscription: Fixed a bug in which Glyph of Elemental Harmony and Glyph of Elemental Power had incorrect cooldowns when affected by traits. Normalized the skill facts so they do not display duplicate or irrelevant boon values.
• Elemental Bastion: The base healing-per-level values for this trait have been reduced by 33%. The healing power contribution has been increased by 10%.
• Imbued Melodies: Removed the need for a warhorn to be equipped for the Sand Squall portion of this trait. A warhorn is still required for added boon duration. Fixed the trait fact to properly display its cooldown.
• Shocking Aura: Fixed a bug that prevented Shocking Aura’s internal cooldown from being applied to downed players.
• Evasive Arcana: Fixed a bug that prevented the skills created by this trait from working in air.
• Elemental Enchantment: Fixed a bug in which this trait would not properly reduce attunement cooldowns when using tempest overloads.

Engineer
We’re still continuing to evaluate the engineer and its scrapper specialization. For the baseline engineer, our goal was to improve lesser-used abilities and adjust cooldowns where appropriate. There are a few additional points in the scrapper that we felt were necessary to change game-wide, but we also made some skill splits to alleviate its overpowering pressure in PvP where fitting. The elementalist’s Tornado improvements have been reflected in the Elixir X elite skill, as well!

• Glue Shot: Cripple now applies on the initial impact of the projectile. Immobilize duration has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds. Cripple duration has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds. Fixed a bug in which increased condition duration was not applied when the Chemical Rounds trait was equipped.
• Shock Shield: The damage of this skill has been reduced by 50%. The damage displayed for this skill will now compound instead of displaying each instance separately.
• Thunderclap: This skill no longer deals damage on initial impact, but it still stuns enemies. Damage for all pulses has been increased by 26%, for an overall damage increase of 5%.
• Net Shot: The velocity of this projectile has been increased by 50%.
• A.E.D.: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Static Shock: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Fire Bomb: The burning duration of this skill has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Grenade Kit: Grenade damage instances will now additively indicate the total damage dealt to a target as grenades strike them instead of displaying each grenade separately.
• Slick Shoes: This skill now applies 1 instance of knockdown, even when overcharged.
• Bulwark Gyro: The damage reduction of this skill has been reduced from 50% to 33%.
• Function Gyro: Fixed a bug that prevented stability from being applied to the engineer when using Function Gyro.
• Perfectly Weighted: Stability duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds. The recharge of this trait has been increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Defense Field: The cooldown of this skill has been increased 25 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
• Gyro Self-Destruct: Decreased the damage of detonating gyros by 17% (PvP only).
• Medic Gyro: This skill now has a 0.5-second casting time.
• Self-Regulating Defenses: The cooldown of this trait has been increased from 60 seconds to 75 seconds.
• Poison Dart Volley: The poison duration of this skill has been increased from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
• Bunker Down: Dropped bandages will no longer grant regeneration.
• Final Salvo: The stability granted by this trait has been reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP only.
• Reconstruction Field: Added a casting time of 0.5 seconds.
• HGH: Fixed a bug in which the tool tips for might duration were incorrect for some skills.
• Autodefense Bomb Dispenser: Fixed a bug in which the smoke bomb fired by this trait would hit at locations other than those specified by the effects. Additionally, fixed a bug in which this skill would fail to create a smoke field.

Guardian
Guardians are receiving a few reworks and changes to their baseline abilities. We felt it was odd to have heavily incorporated symbols to the profession and its traits but not have symbols available with all weapon builds. Thus, both sword and scepter are now receiving symbols, with both also receiving a few other changes to improve quality of life. In other areas, we looked to make quality-of-life improvements to baseline weapon and utility skills.

• Faithful Strike: This skill now strikes up to three targets, with the healing aspect only activating on the first outgoing hit. Base healing per level has been increased by 20%. The healing contribution has been increased by 39%. The healing radius has been increased from 120 to 180.
• Protector’s Strike: In addition to granting protection, this skill now grants aegis to nearby allies when it ends via block. Protection is no longer applied in a radius if the guardian does not block anything.
• Mighty Blow: This skill no longer places the guardian in midair, is now affected by quickness and slow, and can be used in conjunction with Judge’s Intervention.
• Sword Wave: This skill no longer fires missiles but instead delivers three melee attacks at different angles, with all three attacks hitting enemies directly in front of the guardian. The number of targets this skill can strike has been reduced from 5 to 3 per attack.
• Flashing Blade: This skill has been renamed Symbol of Blades and now drops a symbol at the guardian’s feet, applying fury to nearby allies for 1.5 seconds. Initial impact damage has been increased to normal symbol values.
• Zealot’s Defense: The missile velocity of this skill’s projectiles has been increased by 33%. Reduced the variability of the angle that projectiles are launched at by 50%, which enhances their overall accuracy.
• Zealot’s Speed: The health threshold of this skill has been increased from 50% to 75%.
• Orb of Wrath: The aftercast of this skill has been reduced by 0.16 seconds. The range of this skill has been reduced from 1200 to 900.
• Smite: This skill has been renamed Symbol of Punishment and now drops a symbol at the target location that deals damage to the area every 1 second, additionally delivering smaller Smite attacks. The Smite damage interval has been increased from 0.25 seconds to 0.5 seconds and will persist as long as the symbol is active (meaning more strikes when the Writ of Persistence trait is active). The range of this skill has been reduced from 1200 to 900.
• Banish: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 25 seconds to 18 seconds.
• Signet of Resolve: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 35 seconds.
• Sanctuary: Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180. Increased the base healing per pulse by 60%. Increased the healing attribute contribution by 275%. The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 90 seconds to 75 seconds. Fixed a bug that caused Sanctuary to last longer than intended when not affected by traits. The number of enemies that can be knocked back by this skill has been reduced to 10; Sanctuary will disappear after the tenth enemy is knocked back.
• Hallowed Ground: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 80 seconds to 60 seconds. Updated the skill description to properly reflect the skill’s functionality.
• Signet of Mercy: The casting time of this skill has been reduced from 3.75 seconds to 3 seconds. The aftercast has been reduced by 0.25 seconds.
• Shield of Courage: With the Indomitable Courage trait equipped, this skill will now grant stability when the skill begins rather than when it completes.
• Virtue of Resolve: This skill now removes up to 2 conditions from the guardian baseline. This effect has been carried through to Wings of Resolve as well.
• Spear of Justice: In addition to burning, this skill now cripples tethered enemies for 1.5 seconds.
• Communal Defenses: Fixed a bug in which aegis could be applied to infinite targets.
• Master of Consecrations: This trait now grants 2 seconds of increased consecration time instead of an ambiguous 20%.
• Supreme Justice: Aspects of this trait have been merged into the grandmaster trait Permeating Wrath. In addition to burning enemies in the area, this trait now allows Virtue of Justice to cause burning more frequently. Increased burning duration has been removed. This trait has been renamed Virtuous Solace.
  • Virtuous Solace: Drop a Merciful Sanctuary at your location when your health reaches the 25% threshold. This trait functions similarly to Sanctuary and is classified as a consecration, but it has less active time and slightly less base healing value.
• Glacial Heart: The recharge of this trait has been reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds. The damage of this trait has been increased by 33%.
• Heavy Light: Deflecting Shot now knocks enemies back a distance of 300 on each hit, with no internal cooldown. Gain stability for 6 seconds when knocking back, launching, or pulling an enemy. The stability aspect has a 10-second internal cooldown.
• Monk’s Focus: Fixed a bug in which Renewed Focus had a longer cooldown than intended if the player went into a downed state while casting Renewed Focus.
• Bow of Truth (Command): Increased the base healing per hit by 3 so that this skill no longer heals for 0 when scaled into low-level areas.

Mesmer
For this update, the mesmer is receiving mostly baseline utility changes. Both the Phantasmal Disenchanter and Defender skills now have on-cast effects to gain a little more immediate effect and to differentiate the utility skill from the Mental Defense trait. Mirror Blade’s last bounce has also returned, offering higher damage to power builds.

• Mirror Blade: Increased the number of bounces produced by this attack from 3 to 4.
• The Prestige: The number of burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 3 stacks for 3 seconds.
• Illusionary Mage: The recharge of the mage’s attack has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds. Burning stacks have been increased from 1 to 2 stacks, with the duration reduced from 6 to 3. The missile velocity of the mage’s attack has been increased by 33%.
• Signet of Midnight: This skill now delivers an unblockable attack and will no longer apply blindness through evade. This skill now applies 10 stacks of vulnerability as well as cripple for 5 seconds, in addition to blinding enemies.
• Mirror Images: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Arcane Thievery: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 35 seconds.
• Mantra of Distraction: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 12 seconds.
• Power Lock: The recharge between uses has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Mantra of Resolve: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.
• Mantra of Concentration: The stability duration has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds per activation.
• Phantasmal Defender: This utility skill now applies protection for 4 seconds in a radius around the mesmer. The damage reduction from this illusion has been reduced from 50% to 33%.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter: This utility skill now delivers an additional attack when it is initially cast, removing boons from enemies and conditions from allies in a radius around the target.
• Phantasmal Haste: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working with Illusionary Avenger.
• Echo of Memory: Updated the skill fact for Echo of Memory’s duration.
• Ineptitude: This trait will now track the internal cooldown for confusion application on a per-target basis. The blind earned from dodging and evading will now properly apply confusion as well.
• Illusionary Inspiration: This trait will no longer activate Signet of Inspiration when phantasm casts are interrupted.

Necromancer
Necromancers are receiving mostly quality-of-life changes in this update. Our goal was mainly to improve baseline abilities and improve signature abilities for main-hand weapons and Death Shroud, along with the spectral utility type. Rise has seen significant changes, as we’ve observed that the damage reduction from the minions is too strong in many scenarios.

• Life Siphon: The channel time of this skill has been reduced from 3.75 seconds to 2.75 seconds.
• Ghastly Claws: The channel time of this skill has been reduced from 2.25 seconds to 1.75 seconds.
• Wicked Spiral: This skill will now fire the correct number of whirl finishers.
• Mark of Horror: Fixed a bug in which this skill would go on full cooldown if it was interrupted.
• Spectral Grasp: Reduced the cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Spectral Walk: Reduced the cooldown from 60 seconds to 50 seconds.
• Spectral Armor: Reduced the cooldown from 50 seconds to 40 seconds. The trait version is unchanged. Removed an erroneous skill description.
• Flesh Golem—Charge: Increased the stability stacks from 1 to 3. Usage of this skill now clears immobilize from the golem as well.
• Spinal Shivers: This skill casts approximately 0.25 seconds faster than before.
• Life Blast: The higher damage value of this skill is now dealt at all ranges rather than at close range only.
• Blood Is Power: Bleeding stacks have been increased from 2 to 4. Bleeding duration has been reduced from 30 to 15. Might stacks have been increased from 8 to 10, with the duration increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
• “Rise!”: Reduced the damage reduction from 50% to 33%. Decreased the health of shambling horrors by 25%. Minions now have 20% reduced toughness.
• Signet of Undeath: Reduced the cooldown of this skill from 180 seconds to 150 seconds.
• Unholy Sanctuary: Fixed a bug in which this trait would go on cooldown even if the player’s life-force levels were too low to enter Death Shroud.
• Spiteful Spirit: The version of Unholy Feast that this trait executes will now include the player’s weapon damage.

Ranger
After many years, ranger pets have learned how to remember their own names, and you’ll no longer be required to rename a pet when you switch them out! In addition to some baseline improvements, our goal has been to improve base pet abilities during this update. With that said, there are definitely more pet changes that we’re looking forward to implementing in the future.

• Pets: Names for unequipped pets are now remembered between sessions.
• Swoop: This skill will no longer be affected by movement-impairing conditions.
• Ricochet: The number of times the axe can bounce has been reduced from 2 to 1. Base damage has been increased by 40%.
• Hunter’s Call: The damage of this skill has been increased by 25%. This skill now applies 5 seconds of vulnerability each time it hits an enemy.
• Strength of the Pack: Updated the skill facts to show the proper effect duration.
• Sharpening Stone: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 45 seconds to 30 seconds. Bleeding duration has been increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds. The number of attacks this skill applies has been increased from 5 to 6.
• Enlargement: This trait will no longer force players out of Celestial Avatar when triggered. The benefits of the trait will still apply.
• Glyphs: All glyphs have been updated to properly set their cooldowns after use.
• Glyph of Rejuvenation: This glyph now heals the ranger’s pet.
• Water Spirit: Fixed a bug that prevented Water Spirit’s on-attack healing effect from scaling properly.
• Spider Family—Poison Gas: The duration of this field has been increased from 1 second to 4 seconds, applying poison on each pulse. Poison application is now based off of an unblockable attack instead of applying directly through defense. Poison duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Moa Family—Peck: The attack range of this skill has been increased from 130 to 170.
• Moa Family—Frenzied Attack: This attack now executes twice as fast as it previously did, allowing the creature to engage in combat faster. Increased the number of attacks from 3 to 4. Vulnerability now applies on each attack hit rather than directly applying it to the target through defense.
• Red Moa—Furious Screech: The aftercast of this pet skill has been reduced by 2 seconds, allowing the creature to engage in combat faster.
• Blue Moa—Protecting Screech: The aftercast of this pet skill has been reduced by 2 seconds, allowing the creature to engage in combat faster. The cooldown of this skill has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• White Moa—Chilling Screech: The aftercast of this pet skill has been reduced by 2 seconds, allowing the creature to engage in combat faster. Chill duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. The cooldown has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Pink Moa—Dazing Screech: The aftercast of this pet skill has been reduced by 2 seconds, allowing the creature to engage in combat faster.
• Black Moa—Dazing Screech: This skill now dazes up to three times during the cast, at a 1 second interval. Daze duration has been reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second per hit.
• Pig—Forage: The recharge of all forage skills has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Pig—Maul: Bleeding stacks per hit have been increased from 1 to 2, for a total of 4 if both attacks hit.
• Pig—Brutal Charge: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Feline Family—Maul: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
• Drake—Tail Swipe: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Drake—Chomp: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Canine Family—Crippling Leap: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 20 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Canine Family—Brutal Charge: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Protective Ward: Increased the cooldown from 15 seconds to 18 seconds in PvP only. This trait will no longer apply weakness through block or evade.
• Beastly Warden: Increased the cooldown from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Guard: Reduced the damage reduction from 50% to 33%.
• Druid—Glyphs: Fixed a bug that caused glyph abilities to have differing recharges between base form and celestial form.

Revenant
For the most part, this update has mainly been focused on fixing bugs for the revenant. With that said, we’re also looking to improve both Ventari and his trait line. We are being cautious in this regard so that the Legendary Centaur Stance stays in line with the healing potential of similar builds.

• Rift Slash: Weapon damage has now been incorporated in this skill’s secondary damage component. Base damage has been normalized.
• Precision Strike: Weapon power has now been incorporated in this skill’s damage. Base damage has been normalized. The cooldown of this skill has increased from 5 seconds to 6 seconds in PvP only.
• Unrelenting Assault: Weapon power has now been incorporated in this skill’s damage. Base damage has been normalized.
• Embrace the Darkness: This skill now applies and removes stacks of Hardening Persistence correctly.
• Assassin’s Annihilation: Fixed a bug in which this trait would trigger from skills that did no damage.
• Embrace the Darkness: Fixed a bug that prevented torment from being applied to downed enemies.
• Brutal Blade: Added a skill fact for the number of targets.
• Preparation Thrust: Added a skill fact for the number of targets.
• Eye for an Eye: Fixed a bug in which this trait would trigger in a downed state and at unlimited range.
• Project Tranquility: The aftercast of this skill has been reduced by 0.3 seconds.
• Ventari’s Will: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds. The healing radius has been increased from 120 to 180.
• Versed in Stone: Fixed a bug in which this trait would trigger in a downed state.
• Incensed Response: This trait will now grant the correct amount of fury.
• Envoy of Exuberance: Updated the healing skill fact to reflect intended values.
• Vengeful Hammer: Updated the range tool tip to properly reflect intended values.
• Unyielding Anguish: Updated the underwater version of this skill to match the land version. Reduced the maximum number of targets from 10 to 5 per pulse. Updated the skill facts.
• Phase Traversal: This skill will now properly damage downed enemies.
• Phase Smash: Fixed a bug that prevented Phase Smash from causing damage or applying chill when used at the maximum distance.
• Charged Mists: This trait has been updated to function with any energy-consuming revenant skill. This trait will no longer function out of combat.
• Warding Rift: Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to be interrupted for a shorter cooldown.
• Pulsating Pestilence: This trait has been reworked. Instead of applying torment on incoming hits, this trait will now copy up to 3 conditions on the player to nearby enemies within a range of 240.
• Demonic Defiance: This trait will now apply resistance to the player prior to the heal effect of Empowering Misery taking effect.
• Manifest Toxin: This skill now benefits from quickness.
• Momentary Pacification: This trait has been reworked. When using an elite skill, this trait will now apply an effect to nearby enemies for 3 seconds. At the end of the 3-second countdown, that target will be immobilized. The skill can be dodged or evaded.
• Energy Expulsion: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to knock back from an incorrect point.
• Envoy of Exuberance: Fixed a bug in which the healing from this skill was affected by blind.
• Focused Siphoning: Fixed a bug in which life steal could trigger on targets without vulnerability.
• Equilibrium: Reduced the damage of this trait by 20% in PvP only.
• Warding Rift: Increased the cooldown of this skill from 10 seconds to 12 seconds.
• Dismantle Fortifications: Fixed a bug in which this trait would not remove a second stack of stability when applying taunt or fear.

Thief
This update has given a bit more baseline group utility to the thief, without requiring heavy investment via traits. Venomous Aura has been merged into the baseline of the venom utility skills. Since we now had an empty spot for a “utility” trait, we took the opportunity to introduce a bit more boon theft into the thief’s repertoire with the Rending Shade trait.

• Stealth Attacks: All stealth attack skills will now have a 1-second recharge between uses.
• Staff Strike: The damage of this skill has been reduced by 5%.
• Staff Bash: The damage of this skill has been reduced by 5%.
• Punishing Strikes: The damage of this skill has been reduced by 5%.
• Venomous Aura: The area-of-effect aspect of this trait has been merged into venoms as baseline. The radius has been reduced from 360 to 240. The recharge reduction has moved to Leeching Venoms.
  • This trait has been renamed Rending Shade and now causes all sneak-attack abilities to steal up to 2 boons when striking an enemy, while receiving less damage from foes without boons.
• Leeching Venoms: This trait no longer grants might to allies it is applied to. This trait now reduces the recharge of venom abilities.
• Devourer Venom: The number of stacks that this skill applies has been reduced from 3 to 2.
• Basilisk Venom: The number of stacks that this skill applies has been reduced from 2 to 1. Stun duration has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.
• Haste: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 60 seconds to 50 seconds.
• Larcenous Strike: Updated the skill fact to display the number of stolen boons.
• Hook Strike: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from being usable when under the effect of stealth provided by a mesmer.
• Dagger Storm: This skill can no longer be affected by quickness or slow.
• Shadow Refuge: Fixed a bug in which this skill’s visual effects lingered longer than intended.
• Lead Attacks: Fixed a bug in which thieves would not gain the damage increase in certain instances.
• Assassin’s Reward: Fixed a bug in which thieves would not gain the healing in certain instances.

Warrior
With the recent defensive upgrades for the warrior, we’re still observing and adjusting some numbers to ensure it remains competitive but not so strong that it’s unbeatable. We’ve made a few tweaks to some baseline abilities to ensure that using certain abilities doesn’t result in a drop in overall damage where it’s not intended.

• Cyclone Axe: The damage of this skill has been increased by 20%.
• Dual Strike: The damage of this skill has been increased by 10%.
• Arc Divider: Removed an incorrect listing of a fire combo field from the tool tips.
• Crack Shot: Updated the tool tips to reflect the removal of piercing from this trait.
• Head Butt: Fixed an issue in which skills could be executed before the warrior stunned themselves. Increased the cooldown of this skill from 20 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only.
• Stomp: Fixed a bug that prevented Stomp from removing immobilization from the player when using the trait Warrior’s Sprint. Fixed a bug that prevented Stomp from triggering a blast finisher.
• Gun Flame: Updated the damage skill fact to be more accurate when the Burst Mastery trait was in use.
• Balanced Stance: Updated the skill description to mention that it is a stance skill. Updated the skill facts to properly mention that swiftness is applied on use.
• Frenzy: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 60 seconds to 50 seconds.
• Last Stand: Updated the skill facts to properly show that vigor is applied on stance activation when paired with Last Stand.
• Shield Bash: This skill will no longer be affected by movement-impairing conditions.
• Rush: Increased the speed of the swinging animation, and increased the radius of the strike in order to have the skill land more consistently.
• Defy Pain: The Endure Pain effect from this trait will now stack with the utility Endure Pain.
• Bull’s Charge: Reduced the cooldown of this skill from 40 seconds to 35 seconds.
• Adrenal Health: The amount of healing generated per stack has been reduced by 10% in PvP only.

STRUCTURED PLAYER VS. PLAYER

New Conquest Map: Revenge of the Capricorn
The Capricorn returns! And this time it’s out for vengeance! Join your teammates to protect the town from the ship’s onslaught while simultaneously defending your territory from the enemy team.
This new map features the traditional Conquest 3-point gameplay along with a secondary mechanic that centers around a periodically available fourth capture point located in the middle of the map. Capturing the fourth point earns points for your team and also helps defend the town from the Capricorn.

• Revenge of the Capricorn is currently available to play in Unranked and Custom Arenas.
• The map will be pinned to the Unranked Map Selection Screen for the duration of this off season.
• Have any thoughts on the map? Perhaps you have some suggestions for improvements, or maybe you’d like to see it added to the Ranked rotation? Head on over to the PvP Forums and let us know what you think!
  *New Limited-Time PvP Achievements: Revenge of the *_Capricorn_
• Complete a new series of limited-time, Capricorn-specific achievements to celebrate the release of the map.
• These achievements will only be available from now until the end of the next PvP League season.
• These achievements can only be completed in rated matches (currently only Unranked Arena—not in Custom Arenas).

Standard Models Restriction Loosening

• Standard Models are now available in Unranked PvP. Enjoy standardized models in Ranked, Unranked, and Custom Arenas with tournament commands enabled.

Queue Outside the Heart of the Mists

• Players can now queue from maps other than Heart of the Mists.
• Changing maps will remove players from the queue to prevent them from acquiring dishonor during loading screens.
• Accepting PvP invites will no longer redirect players to the Heart of the Mists.
• The PvP panel no longer shows the game state while in Custom Arenas and activities to allow access to Unranked and Ranked Arena queues.

Intro and Outro Animation

• When a PvP match begins and ends, a new cinematic will display both teams with their portraits, emblems, and names.
• If there is no guild team being represented, a random emblem and name combination will be chosen instead.
• This replaces the red and blue banner at the beginning of the match and the crossed swords and shield at the end of the match.

Team Party Rollover

• At the end of Ranked and Unranked Arena matches, there is a period of time during which players can opt in to joining a party with the rest of their team.
• This new piece of UI is in the same position as the ready-up UI at the beginning of the match.

Spirit Watch Updates

• Spirit Orb must now be channeled on the ground when dropped.
  • The orb now resets after 60 seconds instead of 15 seconds.
• Added a new Orb Leap skill to Spirit Orb.
  • The skill breaks stuns and performs a short leap.
• The map has been adjusted.
  • Added an additional path to the Raven capture point from the Orb of Ascension.
  • Added more line-of-sight spots for capture points.
  • Added more ways to enter the Raven capture point.
• Removed the term “Beta” from Spirit Watch.

Skyhammer Updates

• The Skyhammer Cannon now fires twice on all points when captured.
  • Points are only decapped on the first shot.
• Jump pads now work like jump mushrooms.
  • The jump is not affected by movement-affecting conditions and effects.
• Removed the term “Beta” from Skyhammer.

Reward Tracks

• A New Reward Track has been added to PvP based on the new Living World episode.

Off-Season Ranked Arena

• Ranked Arena will now be enabled when league seasons are not active.
• League achievements will not progress during the off-season.
• Matchmaking rules are configured so that teams are intended to have even odds of victory. This matches the behavior of Unranked Arena and Ranked Arena before leagues.
• Map selection is unchanged.

Conduct Reporting

• Added an “Idle Player” option for reporting players in PvP matches.
• Added a “Match Manipulation” option for reporting players in PvP matches.

PvP Amulet
Added two new free amulets to the PvP Build panel.

• Seeker: Provides 1050 power, 1050 precision, 560 ferocity, and 560 concentration.
• Diviner: Provides 1050 power, 1050 concentration, 560 precision, and 560 ferocity.
  Removed the Cleric’s Amulet.

PvP-Only Rune

• Rune of the Scrapper: Reduced the passive damage reduction of the sixth bonus from 7% to 5%.

PvP-Only Sigil

• Sigil of Geomancy: Reduced the bleeding duration applied by this sigil from 10 seconds to 7 seconds.
• Sigil of Hydromancy: Reduced the striking damage by 25%.
• Sigil of Air: Reduced the damage from this sigil by 20% in PvP only.

WORLD VS. WORLD

General

• A New Reward Track has been added to WvW based on the new Living World episode.
• War score is now also awarded when an objective is captured.
  • Castle: 6 points
  • Keeps: 4 points
  • Towers: 2 points
  • Camps: 1 point
• Omega Siege Golem: The range of Rocket Punch and Rocket Salvo skills have been adjusted to 1200.
• Siege weapons can now be affected by conditions and critical strikes. In addition, their base health has been doubled.
• A number of toys have been reenabled in WvW maps.
  • Bouquet of Roses
  • Riding Broom
  • Electromagnetic Ascender
  • Magic Carpet
  • Fancy Winter Crystal Scepter
• Disabled the Aviator’s Memory Box in WvW maps.
• Transcendent Chests (exotic) now grant two Potions of WvW Rewards.
• Removed Guild Siege Suit Blueprint cooldown times.
• Added bankers to team starting areas in Eternal Battlegrounds, Alpine, and Desert borderlands.
  Eternal Battlegrounds
• North Keep: One of the village residents will now flee if their home is destroyed.

GUILDS

Anthems
A new guild upgrade is being added to the tavern building called Guild Anthems. Upon purchase, Natasha Foxsong will arrive in the guild hall and offer guild members with the new rank permission Change Guild Anthem the ability to select 1 of 15 unique songs as their guild’s new anthem. Your guild’s selected anthem will then play through the music channel of your audio options whenever guild members complete certain actions.

• Successfully completing guild missions will play your guild anthem for any member representing the guild.
• Winning a Ranked or Unranked Arena match as a guild team in PvP will play your guild anthem for all members in the guild team.
• Successfully claiming a camp, tower, keep, or castle for your guild in WvW will play the guild anthem for any guild members near that objective when it is claimed.
• Successfully defeating a world boss summoned with a guild world event consumable will play your guild anthem for anyone on the map, even if they’re not in your guild.
• Planting a Guild Heroes Banner will play your guild anthem for any guild member on the map.
• Purchasing a guild upgrade will play your guild anthem for any guild member in the guild hall.
• Using a guild finisher on any downed enemy will play your guild anthem for anyone to hear within a small radius around the finisher.

Monuments
A new guild upgrade is being introduced called Guild Hall Monument Decorations that will be available from the Guild Market once your guild has obtained the Guild Hall Decorations Merchant 2 upgrade. Upon purchase, Douglas Bird (our resident basic-decorations vendor) and Cullen (our master scribe) will have three new decorations unlock.

• Basic Grave Marker
• Basic Signpost
• Basic Commemorative Statue
  These three new decorations are monuments—decorations that have a custom player inscription. When placing a monument, you’ll be prompted to enter the inscription, which can be up to 140 characters in length. Once placed, the inscription can be read by interacting with the monument. To change an inscription, the monument must be removed and replaced.
  Guilds can only have a total of 50 monuments placed in their guild hall at one time.
  Placing and removing monuments requires a new permission: Monument Decorator. Note that the Clear Decorations button, enabled by the Remove All Decorations permission, will also remove monuments.

Decoration Improvements

• The cap for decorations in guild halls will now be 2,000 (up from 1,000).
• A new single-decoration eraser tool has been added to the decoration mode skill bar. Skill 2 will now provide greater precision in removing decorations when they are in a cluster.
• The icons on the decoration-mode skill bar have been cleaned up and made more intuitive.
• The decoration palette that opens when a player uses skill 6 on the decoration-mode skill bar will now remain open after a selection has been made.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug in which a test object called Flame Trap appeared in the Arena Obstacles UI. The entry has been cleaned up and will no longer appear.
• Fixed a bug in which a test object called Large Guild Banner appeared as a decoration according to the UI. The entry has been cleaned up and will no longer appear.
• Fixed a bug in which the Seance Candle decoration could not be discovered properly by players. It will now automatically unlock for scribes at crafting level 400.
• Fixed a bug in which the Seance Candle decoration was missing part of its model, preventing it from being removed once placed in the guild hall.
• Fixed a bug in which the Seance Candle decoration had an animation that failed to loop. The spirits of the dead will now remain with you.
• Fixed a bug in which killing one guild lord would immediately complete the medium and hard versions of the PvP Stronghold guild mission variation.
• Fixed a bug in which winning a single match would immediately complete the medium and hard versions of the PvP Win guild mission.
• Fixed a bug in which the PvE Guild Bounty target Half-Baked Komali could not have her fire shield removed. Players can now break her defiance bar to temporarily remove her shield.
• Fixed a bug in which the PvE Guild Bounty target Yanonka the Rat Wrangler could be summoned to a new location when multiple guilds were fighting her. Interacting with one of her rats while Yanonka is already being fought will now cause her event to be shown on the map.
• Fixed a bug in which the map for the PvE Guild Challenge mission “Save Our Supplies” would sometimes show the wrong map.
• Fixed a bug in which the PvE Guild Race “Devourer Burrow” had an invisible wall interfering with the race. The wall has been pulled back so players can navigate around the traps properly again.
• Fixed a bug in which the PvE Guild Race traps could continue to affect players if they had bundles or bundle skills active prior to starting the mission and then died during the mission.
• Fixed a bug in which the PvE Guild Trek location “Dwayna’s Fount” pointed toward a fountain of Melandru in Divinity’s Reach. This target has been renamed to Melandru’s Fount.
• Fixed a bug in which the WvW Challenge: Obsidian Sanctum mission would only reward some of the players participating.
• Fixed a bug in which the PvE Guild Races would sometimes fail to give rewards to participants.
• Fixed a bug in which older guilds could not select “The Music of the Barren Heights” or “The Music of the Golden Chambers” from the music vendor.
• Fixed a bug in which several guild weaponsmiths were still appearing in the open world. The weaponsmiths will now only appear in the Guild Initiative Office and guild hall.
• Fixed a bug in which Lumber Synthesizer 2 required Seasoned Wood Logs but never dropped them when harvested. The node now has a chance to give players Seasoned Wood Logs.
• Fixed a bug in which some water audio was heard in a section of Lost Precipice when no water was present.

GENERAL

• The hint text for the Fallen Masks: Silver container in the Luminate’s Backplate collection now appropriately indicates that silver is required on the adventure.
• Player responses in the dialog boxes associated with runestone rubbings are now properly ordered.
• Added an option to show a target’s health percentage in its health bar.
• Recipes unlocked through consumables are now unlocked account-wide. Logging in with a character will add their known recipes to the account.
• Added a search bar to the Material Storage tab in the Account Vault.
• Players can now right-click on utility skills while out of combat to open the Utility Skills selection UI, in addition to clicking on the Change Skills arrow button.
• Added new right-click options on salvage kits to quickly salvage all items of the following qualities:
  • Rare quality
  • Masterwork and lower quality
  • Fine and lower quality
• Champion giants will now be stunned and vulnerable when their defiance bars are depleted.
• Added commands for emote animations that were previously only available to nonplayer characters:
  • Cross Arms:
    • English: /crossarms
    • Spanish: /brazoscruzados
    • German: /armeverschränken /armekreuzen
    • French: /brascroisés
  • Sad:
    • English: /sad
    • Spanish: /triste
    • German: /traurig
    • French: /triste
  • Talk:
    • English: /talk
    • Spanish: /hablar
    • German: /reden /sprechen
    • French: /parler
  • Thanks:
    • English: /thanks /thank /ty
    • Spanish: /gracias
    • German: /danke /thx
    • French: /merci
  • Upset:
    • English: /upset /facepalm
    • Spanish: /enfadado /enfadada
    • German: /ärgerlich /verärgert
    • French: /fâché
• Fixed a bug in which holding down the left mouse button to activate weapon skill 1 would sometimes result in the skill activating less frequently than intended in action-camera mode.
• Fixed a bug in which the icons displayed for the Potion of Auric Attunement and Potion of Tangled Attunement reflected the actual currency being awarded.
• Most skills will now attempt to activate as soon and frequently as possible so long as their inputs are held down. This also applies to most ground-targeted skills when instant ground targeting is used.
• When the Allow Skill Retargeting option is enabled and instant ground targeting is used, any ground-targeted skill can now update its target point while the skill is preparing to execute.
• Fixed a bug that caused players to become permanently stuck in place when they removed the taunt condition the instant it was applied.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from resuming movement in their previous direction after using a movement skill.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from moving in any direction after performing certain actions—such as an evade—immediately following a movement skill.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from moving in their previous direction after being immobilized.
• Fixed a bug in which deploying the glider after being launched sometimes caused fluctuations in movement speed.
• Fixed a bug in which the player’s condition duration reduction would be ignored for incoming condition transfers.
• Fixed a bug that caused the “Mute when GW2 is in the background” sound option to revert to its default setting (enabled) each time the client started.
• Added a new “Mute Dynamic Combat Music” option to the Sound Options tab. When enabled, this option will suppress the nonscripted combat music system that plays when players are in combat and below a certain health threshold. Combat music that is specifically tied to content such as quests, dungeons, raids, events, and fractals will not be affected by this option.
• Fixed a bug that caused Looking for Group postings with a single player to time out after 5 minutes.
• Fixed a bug that caused the maximum length of Looking for Group text descriptions to be shorter than intended.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Looking for Group tool to post the incorrect text description.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Looking for Group tool from displaying the last description when players changed the description of a posting.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Looking for Group tool to occasionally show listings from the wrong region.
• Rune of the Golemancer: Fixed a bug that prevented the golem from appearing underwater.
• Rune of the Krait: Fixed a bug in which the effects of the sixth bonus could land on enemies that were blocking or evading.
• Rune of the Pack: Increased the fourth rune bonus cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Superior Rune of the Druid: Fixed a bug in which the fourth bonus would give the incorrect amount of vitality.
• Superior Rune of the Chronomancer: Fixed a bug that prevented quickness from being applied when it was used with the necromancer trait Ritual of Life.
• Rune of the Trooper/Soldier: Ranger shouts will now remove conditions from allies within a range of 600.
• Superior Rune of Perplexity: Changed the sixth bonus. This rune now applies 3 stacks of confusion for 6 seconds in a radius of 240 around the player upon using a healing skill. The internal cooldown remains at 15 seconds.
• Rune of the Nightmare: The random activation of fear in the sixth bonus has been replaced. The sixth bonus will now apply blind and transfer one condition on up to 5 enemies in a radius of 240 when players use an elite skill. This skill will now have a 45-second cooldown.
• Fixed a bug with some skills in which deploying the glider near the end of the skill would cause the glider to be automatically stowed 1 second later.
• Fixed a bug that would cause daze to interrupt dodges and other movement-only actions.

Map Pings

• Updated the shift-click ping functionality on the compass and full-screen map to allow multiple types of pings.
• Dragging the cursor while pressing shift and left-clicking will allow players to select the new pings. Releasing the mouse button will create the ping type that the mouse arrow hovers over.
  • Center: Default red circle ping
  • Left: Green confirmation check mark
  • Up: Green location ping
  • Right: Red decline X
  • Down: Yellow warning triangle

World Polish

• Diessa Plateau
  • Fixed a bug that prevented various karma vendors from correctly opening their stores on the Buy tab.
• Fields of Ruin
  • Fixed a bug in the “Rescue the villagers and defeat harpy kidnappers” event that caused harpies to have the incorrect level.
• Harathi Hinterlands
  • Fixed a bug in the “Free the soldiers trapped by spiders” event that caused the event to stall.

Events

• Fixed a bug that could potentially prevent progress in the “Protect Silent Snowfall so she can meditate” event in Snowden Drifts.
• Tool-tip text for Caledon Lavender in the Sandycove Beach area of Caledon Forest now properly references Gleaner’s Cove Waypoint instead of Aron’s Woodlot Waypoint.

Items

• Fixed a bug that allowed Maguuma Burls, Maguuma Lilies, and Freshwater Pearls to be slotted into low-level items. Inappropriately slotted upgrades will be returned to the inventory.
• Fixed several text bugs in legendary weapon collections and collectibles.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from seeing all of Ogden Stonehealer’s dialogue options when working on multiple legendary journeys.
• The Icebrood Crystalline Phial can now be acquired from any champion icebrood quaggan.
• Renamed skins that had duplicate entries, including the Chaos Gun and the Hunter.
• Fixed a bug in the drop sources of Pristine Smoke Claws.
• Fixed a bug in which Cheesy Cassava Rolls gave bonus vitality instead of bonus toughness after players used a healing skill.
• Fixed a bug in which Piles of Silky Sand would sometimes fail to be consumed when the inventory was full. Piles of Silky Sand now cannot be used when players have inventory overflow.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

• A new Verdant Executor Outfit is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
• The new Embellished weapon set is available at Black Lion Weapons Specialists for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket each. Tickets can be found in Black Lion Chests, and keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
• A limited-time offer of a character slot with a free level-30 Experience Scroll is available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 800 gems. This item is limited to one package per account.
• A new Shining Blade Backpack Glider Combo is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.

Improvements

• Each race and gender received 3 additional hairstyles, available in Total Makeover Kits and Self-Style Hair Kits in the Services category of the Gem Store.
• Updates have been made to the Black Lion Chest.
  • Crystallized Magic is again included as a limited-time bonus item in all Black Lion Chests.
  • Hard Wood Logging Nodes, Flaxseed Harvesting Nodes, and Iron Ore Mining Nodes have been added as tradeable rare drops.
  • The Revive Orb drop quantity has been reduced to one at a time.
  • Chaos weapon drops have been replaced with Ley Line weapons.
  • Balthazar weapon drops have been replaced with Mordrem weapons.
  • The Dye Pack and the Toxic, Metallurgic, Winter Chimes, and Mad King dye kits have been replaced with Glint’s Winter, Lion’s Arch Survivors, Lion’s Arch Commemorative, and Lion’s Arch Rebuild dye kits.
• Experience Boosters now include a 50% increase to WvW reward-track progress.