Guild Wars 2 Game Release Notes

Game Update Notes – June 20, 2017

06/20/2017 – June 20th Release Notes
Fractals
Miscellaneous

  • Fixed a bug in which player pets, clones, and minions would scale their stats based on the fractal scale.

Profession Skills
General:
Elementalist
The staff has always been a solid option for support builds, but it has fallen off as elementalists are relying heavily on Obsidian Flesh and other focus skills for self-survivability. In this update, we have looked at a few of the weaker staff skills to try to make the kit more rewarding for players who choose the squishier option.

  • Ice Spike: The cooldown of this skill has been increased from 4 seconds to 6 seconds and now causes a blast finisher when the spike lands.
    • The staff has numerous combo fields but has limited ability to utilize them. Adding a blast finisher to Ice Spike gives another opportunity for staff players to set up their own combos. We have slightly increased the cooldown to compensate for the strength of a blast finisher.
  • Geyser: The heal scaling of this skill has been increased by 60% in PvP only.
    • Geyser is a solid healing skill but is weakened by the requirement of standing in an area for a period of time, allowing players to take a lot of damage in return. We have increased the heal scaling to make Geyser more rewarding to players who can maximize the risk.
  • Gust: The reliability of the Gust projectile has been improved.
    • Gust did not reliably hit targets, especially when they were moving. We’ve made adjustments to the way Gust works to increase the chance it will hit your target.
  • Static Field: The radius of this ability has been decreased from 240 to 180.
    • We increased the radius of this skill when we rolled Blasting Staff into baseline for all staff skills. This had an unintended effect of making it easier to move around within the static field and avoid the stun while also avoiding enemy attacks. We are reducing the radius back to the original value to make the skill more effective.
  • Eruption: This skill now cripples enemies for 3 seconds in addition to its other effects.
  • Arcane Brilliance: The cooldown of this skill has been decreased from 25 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP only.
    • Players who slot Arcane Brilliance are taking a smaller overall heal to gain the utility of a blast finisher, but the overall value is still lower than other options in the heal slot. We are reducing the cooldown of this skill to allow for more frequent blasts and make it a more competitive choice overall.

Guardian
Support builds for guardians have fallen out of favor due to the strength of the support builds on other professions. In this update, we have looked at a few core skills on staff, mace, and shouts to help support guardians retain viability.

  • Detonate Orb of Light: The heal scaling of this skill has been increased by 20% in PvP only.
    • The healing of this skill was a bit low, considering the difficulty of hitting multiple allies. We have increased the heal scaling to better reward players who use this ability well.
  • Empower: Increased the base healing of this skill by 100% in PvP only.
    • Empower did not offer enough reward given the risk of a stationary 2.5-second channel, so we have significantly increased the healing granted by this skill.
  • Faithful Strike: The heal scaling of this skill has been increased by 100% in PvP only.
  • “Hold the Line!”: The protection duration of this skill has been increased from 4 seconds to 6 seconds in PvP only.

Necromancer
For this update, we looked at enabling some more bruiser-oriented options for the necromancer.

  • Life Siphon: The base healing of this skill has been increased by 25.7% in PvP only.
    • Life Siphon is an extremely long channel, opening the necromancer up to all sorts of punishment from enemies. We have increased the heal to better offset the risk taken.
  • Dark Pact: The damage of this skill has been increased by 33% in PvP only.
  • Vampiric Rituals: The protection duration of this trait has been increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP only.
    • Well utilities typically have longer cooldowns, and we felt that 3 seconds of protection was not enough to justify a Grandmaster trait slot. We’ve bumped this up to 5 seconds to make it a more interesting option.

Ranger
The axe has always been suited to work with hybrid damage stats, with the Might stacking of Ricochet combining with the bleeding from Splitblade and Winter’s Bite. The latter two skills have very low power coefficients, which prevented them from getting the maximum benefit from Might. We have significantly increased the power scaling of these two skills to grant them more synergy with the goal of the kit.

  • Splitblade: The damage per axe hit of this skill has been increased by 200% in PvP only.
  • Winter’s Bite: The damage of this skill has been increased by 150%.

Revenant
Jalis has struggled to remain competitive with other Legend options for the revenant. In this update, we are enhancing some of his underperforming skills with the goal of enabling a more bruiser-oriented build.

  • Inspiring Reinforcement: This skill now grants 2 seconds of stability upon cast. Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in PvP only. The damage of this skill has been increased by 50% in PvP only.
    • Inspiring Reinforcement was not a reliable way to gain stability in response to incoming crowd control because it didn’t grant stability until the field finished building, so we added stability on the initial cast.
  • Vengeful Hammers: The base healing of this skill has been increased by 43% in PvP only.
    • We felt that Vengeful Hammers did not provide enough value to warrant its expensive upkeep cost, so we have increased the healing.

Thief

  • Choking Gas: The daze duration of this skill has been increased from 0.5 seconds to 1 second. Poison duration has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Daze interval has been increased from 1 second to 4 seconds. All of these changes affect PvP only.
    • We felt that a skill that provides a pulsing AoE daze to such a large area was too strong in PvP. It allowed coordinated players to completely control downed-state situations within the area of effect. By limiting the daze to once per cast, it still allows for the AoE daze but makes the skill significantly less oppressive.

Warrior
In this update, we have taken a look at a few underperforming weapons for the warrior: rifle and torch. The torch exists as a more aggressive off hand for condition builds, but it currently does not provide enough pressure to warrant taking it. We have increased the burning output on both torch skills to make it a more competitive option.
The rifle lacks in sustained pressure because three of its abilities focused on utility. Because of this, the rifle struggled to kill enemies when Volley and Gun Flame were mitigated. We have increased the damage of Aimed Shot to provide another source of damage to the rifle kit.

  • Blaze Breaker: The number of burn stacks applied by this skill has been increased from 1 to 2 in PvP only. The cripple duration of this skill has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP only.
  • Flames of War: The burning duration applied each pulse has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds. The number of burn stacks applied by the final explosion have been increased from 2 to 4, in PvP only.
  • Aimed Shot: The damage of this skill has been increased by 68% in PvP only. The vulnerability applied by this ability has been increased from 5 to 10 stacks in PvP only.

Structured Player vs. Player
As part of the June 2017 Competitive Feature Pack, structured Player vs. Player will see a custom arena map for 2v2 battles, a new and improved PvP lobby to hang out in, and automated tournaments for a regular schedule of slaughter.
Daily PvP Achievements

  • The daily achievements to win a PvP match with a profession have been removed.
  • A daily achievement has been added to win a match.
  • A daily achievement has been added to participate in a PvP tournament.
  • The icon on the Potion of PvP Reward has been updated.

End of Match

  • We have introduced a new end-of-match feature for Ranked Conquest and Stronghold matches.
    • After victory is declared, players are teleported to a unique location on each map.
    • Each player on the winning team stands victorious on a pedestal with celebration skills.

Hall of the Mists

  • Hall of the Mists is a new map designed for a 2v2 team deathmatch.
    • In overtime, healing and stealth is disabled while the map is filled with a deadly fog that deals damage based on a percentage of maximum health.
  • Updated custom arena configuration to allow game-mode selection.
    • Added a new option for number-of-round victories required to win the match.
    • Respawn is disabled for this game mode.

Eternal Coliseum

  • The order in which the control points display in the score UI have been adjusted to match the order on the maps.

Courtyard

  • Courtyard has been given a unique murderball-style secondary mechanic.
    • An altar in the center of the map allows players to commune for a short duration to obtain an orb. Only one orb exists at any given time.
    • While a player holds the orb, score will be periodically given to their team.
    • More team score is given if the orb is closer to the center of the map.
    • The orb will deal damage to the carrier based on their maximum health.
    • Players who die while carrying the orb cannot be resurrected.
    • When a player holding the orb dies, the orb is returned to the altar in the center of the map.

PvP Lobby

  • Heart of the Mists has been given a visual overhaul.
  • Added a public free-for-all arena.
  • Added an exclusive VIP area accessible to players rewarded with a pass.
    • Timed passes are rewarded through tournament and league play.

Automated Tournaments
Automated tournaments are live!

  • Daily, single-elimination tournaments are run three times each day on a shifting schedule to fairly represent all time zones.
  • Qualifying Points (QP) are earned by participating in daily tournaments and are reset monthly. QP rewards range from 5 for participating up to 50 for first place.
  • Each month will conclude with a single-elimination tournament with a QP requirement of 100.
  • The winning team of each monthly tournament will have their likeness celebrated in the Heart of the Mists as statues until the next monthly tournament.
  • Tournament rewards include llama minis, gold, mystic coins, and more!
  • Tournament registration opens 15 minutes before the start.
  • Tournament registration requires a full party.
  • A new tab in the PvP panel lists all information related to automated tournaments including rewards, schedule, and live data.
  • Looking for Group has a new section dedicated to tournaments.

Link to blog post.
World vs. World
General

  • Simple nameplates for enemies have been changed to triangles instead of circles, making it easier to distinguish between enemies and allies.
  • The Loyalty pip has been renamed to the Commitment pip. The Commitment pip is obtained by completing wood division the previous week.
  • 1 up / 1 down matchmaking:
    • Starting this Friday at reset, WvW will begin doing 1 up / 1 down matchmaking. This means a single, third-placing world will move down one tier and a single, first-placing world will move up one tier. If there is a tie for last, no world moves down, which also means no world in the tier below can move up (as there’s no room). Similarly, if there is a tie for first, no world moves up, which prevents the next tier up’s last-place world from moving down. If there is a change in which worlds are being used for matchmaking purposes (such as when world links change), matchmaking falls back on the usual Glicko rating sort (plus a potential deviation-based shuffle). Even while 1 up / 1 down is active, Glicko data will continue to be updated as it has been when each week’s round ends. This way it is always current when it needs to be relied upon.
    • This is a new test to try to improve how quickly worlds can move into their proper place.
    • We can revert back to Glicko if it is determined that the new matchup style is more harmful than helpful.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions

  • A new Jormag Dye Kit containing six exclusive colors is now available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
  • A new God-Slayer Bow Pack is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
  • The Sport Sunglasses are back by popular demand for the summer and are available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 150 gems.
  • For a limited time, the Tormented weapon skins are available from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for 5 Black Lion Claim Tickets. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
  • Today is the last day for Inventor’s Sunglasses and Reading Glasses. Pick up yours today in the Style category of the Gem Store for 150 gems each.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed some shoulder-armor positions for characters using the Magic Carpet Glider.
  • The Replica Job-o-Tron Backpack will no longer chatter away when equipped but not displayed.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the lenses of the Sport Sunglasses to not display from both sides. Additionally, the frames have been made dyeable.