EU - Aurora Glade

Of Fire and Ice

gw003 20121216 1999872226

Temple of the Silent Storm Week

From 28 January—4 February the regular eight-team/three-round paid tournaments will be replaced by two-team/single-round paid tournaments in the Temple of the Silent Storm map. After the week is over, we’ll add Temple of the Silent Storm to the regular rotation of both free and paid tournaments.
 

Improved Achievement System

 

We’re adding a new rotation of daily achievements to add variety and encourage you to explore the open world. You’ll get different achievements every day of the week and a new achievement tracker in the UI to make it easier to track your progress.

 

New Achievement Laurels

You’ll earn these brand-new laurels as a reward for daily and monthly achievements!

Redeem these laurels for rewards like the brand new Ascended gear and Infusions!

 

Guesting

With the new guesting system, you can play with friends on other worlds in the same region (North America, Europe) without changing your homeworld. Guesting is free, but going forward there will be a gem fee for transferring home worlds, so make sure you’re on the home world you want to permanently play on before January 28!

 

New Utility Infusions and Ascended Amulets

We’re adding a wide range of new gear that can be purchased with the new laurels.

With 5 new Utility Infusions and 30 Ascended Amulets to choose from, there’s something for every style of player.

 

More Upgrades and Improvements

We’re making a ton of other improvements to the game this month, such as enhanced performance in WvW, tweaks to the dynamic level adjustment system, and UI improvements, which will be detailed in our release notes.

New Items in the Gem Store

It’s a new year, which means all-new items and a redesigned favorite in the Gem Store!

From Baby Quaggan Backpacks to Riding Brooms to the revamped Box o’ Fun, you’ll find it all in the Gem Store!

 

Fractal Improvements

A Recent Post has displayed a great improvement in how fractals work.

The first being if a player disconnects, they will be able to re-connect to thier party WOO!

Secondly any player can join any level of fractual and still get rewarded!

Congratulations

On behalf of the Leaders of The Magus Order, I am pleased to annouce the promotion of Celcia and Pyrithi to Officer Ranks though hard work and prologed assistance in all maters for the order.

I am also please to note it was Celcias' birthday as well so many happy returns.

Haloween

HOLIDAY
Happy Halloween! Let the trick-or-treating begin. The “Mad Kings” have dusted off their costumes and are taking to the stage, telling their jokes to make the children laugh. It’s a lighthearted holiday, and only children truly believe that the spirit of Mad King Thorn once appeared in Tyria. No one has actually reported seeing him in over two centuries. These days, he’s nothing more than a tale told to make children squeal and behave.
But, paranormal activity in Tyria is on the rise, and Durmand Priory scholars have taken notice. They’re not sure what’s going on, but they aim to find out! Something’s not right.
From October 22 through November 1, Tyria is under the shadow of the Mad King. The weeklong event will unfold in four acts, each introducing new content to explore and experience, including decorations for Tyria and the Mists, minigames, Halloween-specific dynamic events, holiday crafting recipes, and mind-blowing jumping puzzles.
Join us on October 31 (midday, Pacific Time), when we’ll celebrate the holiday pinnacle with a bang!
This is the premiere holiday release for Guild Wars 2, and we’re blasting out of the gate! Visit Lion’s Arch to begin digging into the Halloween content.

COMMERCE
Black Lion Chest Changes

  • Halloween items have been added to Black Lion Chests for a limited time only!
    • There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed weapon skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All weapon skins are tradable.
      • Chain Sword Skin
      • Ghastly Grinning Shield Skin
      • Greatsaw Greatsword Skin
      • Grinning Gourd Rifle Skin
      • Scythe Staff Skin
      • Severed Dagger Skin
    • There is now a chance to get new Halloween-themed shoulder armor skins by opening Black Lion Chests. All shoulder armor skins are tradable.
      • Deathly Shoulderpads Skin
      • Deathly Avian Shoulderpads Skin
      • Deathly Bull Shoulderpads Skin
    • All Black Lion Chests have a chance to give these items, but only until the end of the Halloween events.
    • Get Black Lion Keys from the Consumable section of the Gem Store to open your Black Lion Chests.
      New Items in the Gem Store
  • Halloween costumes are now available in the Gem Store! These costumes are on sale until November 6th.
    • The Witch’s Outfit can now be purchased in the Style section of the Gem Store for 700 gems. This set of town clothes comes with 4 Costume Brawl skills and 1 companion skill.
    • The Mad King’s Outfit can now be purchased in the Style section of the Gem Store for 700 gems. This set of town clothes comes with 4 Costume Brawl skills and 1 companion skill.
  • Spooky Tonics are now available in the Gem Store! Ghost, skeleton, and zombie tonics are all on sale until November 6th.
    • Each tonic turns you into a spooky creature for 1 hour.
    • While active, tonics give you access to Costume Brawl skills.
    • Tonics can be found in the Consumable section of the Gem Store for 35 gems apiece or 125 gems for a pack of 5.
  • A set of 3 spooky minis is now available in the Gem Store! This item is on sale until November 6th.The Devil Horns town clothes hat is now available for free in the Gem Store. This item is available until November 6th.
    • This set includes a ghost, skeleton, and spider miniature for 500 gems in the Minis section of the Gem Store.
    • These collector minis are account bound and cannot be traded.
  • The Phantom’s Hood town clothes hat is now available for 200 gems in the Gem Store. This item is on sale until November 6th.
  • Personalized Trick-or-Treat Bags are now available in the Gem Store. These items are on sale until November 14th.
    • Each bag contains food items, recipes, tonics, crafting materials, or pieces of candy corn. 
    • Personalized Trick-or-Treat Bags can be found in the Consumable section of the Gem Store for 100 gems apiece, 375 gems for a pack of 5, or 2,000 gems for a pack of 35.
  • Halloween PvP Finishers are now available in the Gem Store! These items are on sale until November 6th.
    • Replace your PvP finishing move with a scarecrow or special Mad King finisher for 1 hour.
    • These PvP Finishers can be found in the Consumable section of the Gem Store for 75 gems apiece or 275 gems for a pack of 3.
  • New town clothes hats are now available in the Gem Store!
    • Aviator Caps and Bunny Ears are both now available in the Style section of the Gem Store for 200 gems apiece.

COSTUME BRAWL

  • Costume Brawl is a spontaneous battle for points that can occur anywhere in the world by using town clothes, toys, and transformation tonics.
  • Equip town clothes, toys, or consume transformation tonics to gain access to Costume Brawl skills. Costume Brawl skills are labeled as such in their descriptions.
  • Using Costume Brawl skills puts you into Costume Brawl mode and makes you a valid target for other brawlers. 
  • Use your Costume Brawl skills to hit other players in Costume Brawl mode to gain points and avoid being disabled by taking too many hits yourself.
  • Gaining points in Costume Brawl is fun and can earn you achievements. 
  • To exit Costume Brawl, use the Time Out skill.
  • Entering combat will automatically remove you from Costume Brawl.

Halloween Events!

Halloween Coming soon 22/10/12!!!

 

Shadow of the Mad King

Halloween has a long history in Tyria, and in times past was always marked by the spirit of Mad King Thorn cavorting among the people unleashing his own brand of insanity. However, it’s been over 250 years since he was last seen, and for most people he is merely a figure of folklore. Despite this, rumors persist among the populace that something wicked this way comes.

Halloween


Halloween is coming! Festivities are afoot, and Tyria will be transformed with decorations, new mini-games, new dynamic events, and more. Despite the celebrations there are those who dread the coming of Halloween and all that it may bring, for it is the time of year when barriers between the realms are weakest. Be prepared for an epic adventure in four acts starting October 22 and running until October 31.

Black Lion Trading Company

Never one to miss out on an opportunity, Evon Gnashblade has stocked all new items at the Black Lion Trading Company, including Halloween costumes and new transforms that will allow you to play Costume Brawl with fellow costumed players.

PvP Paid Tournaments

Paid tournaments will be available for competitive, five-person teams. These tournaments require tickets to enter and give better prizes than normal tournaments. Participating teams will earn qualifier points that will allow them to compete in future, larger tournaments. Tournament tickets can be earned from winning normal tournaments or purchased in the Gem Store.

Tyria Evolving

The world continues to evolve with new events, jumping puzzles, bosses, mini-dungeons, and achievements appearing across a variety of maps.

Talk about it here!

Patch Notes 11/10/12

General

  • Fixed a recently introduced issue that could cause some players to getting stuck in loading screens primarily during PVP matches
  • Fixed a recently introduced issue that could cause some players to not see other characters models
  • Restored Asuran head sizes to the size selected during character creation
  • Fixed a bug with the Asuran character creation head size slider

Patch Notes 8/10/12

General

  • Fixed a bug in targeting that was causing left-dragging to deselect/select targets incorrectly.
  • Fixed a bug in targeting that was allowing users to deselect all targets using the select next target functionality.
  • Fixed a bug with human female sword and pistol animations.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing quickness to get stuck on players and enemies indefinitely.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Melandru’s Gaze that was rewarding the Mystic Staff instead.
  • Fixed a potential bug with skill challenge conversations not closing for all parties speaking with the NPC.
  • Fixed a bug in weaponsmith Destroyer recipes being swapped for Valkyrie and Berserker weapons.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipes for platinum and mithril ingot conversion taking cloth bolts instead of the appropriate ingots. This also fixes the issue with linen and silk bolt conversion recipes sometimes rewarding ingots.
  • Fixed the Mystic Forge recipe for Immobulus requiring a defunct item. It now requires giant eyes instead.
  • Fixed a bug with Rune of Divinity that was causing it to do 50% more critical damage than listed.
  • Removed laughing audio from crafting stations in Divinity’s Reach.
  • Raised the maximum karma limit.
  • Superior Rune of the Adventurer is now set to give 50% of endurance on heal.
  • The character select screen now reflects hidden armor choices.
  • Updated Rune of Earth and Rune of the Grove to have a 25% chance to grant 4 seconds of protection and 30-second recharge for superior runes, with 45-second recharge for major runes.
  • We’ve relaxed our anti-exploiting system for loot and events.

Camera

  • We’ve updated the camera to reduce the amount of camera smoothing currently in the game in order to lower the frequency of related bugs. We’re still looking into other camera issues, but we decided to make this quick change because it greatly improves the gameplay experience.

Events

  • Fixed a bug that could block “Escort Order of Whispers agents to Jormabakke Stead” in Snowden Drifts from restarting.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause duplicate versions of Agent Briathell to spawn in Snowden Drifts.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent the repair event for “Cascade Bridge” in Lornar’s Pass from triggering.

Dungeons

Caudecus’s Manor

  • Closed map exploits.
  • Updated the reward vendor for Caudecus’s Manor to include the missing exotic light helmet.

Citadel of Flame

  • Closed map exploits.

Twilight Arbor

  • Upper Spider Path: Increased the attack range of the Nightmare Tree. The area attack and its effect now take place at the same location.
  • Nightmare Tree Spider Path: The area attack now correctly does damage at the point of the effect.
  • Forward Upper Husk Path: Added damage to the Nightmare Tree’s immobilize skill. Also added damage to the Nightmare Tree egg launch skill.

Story

  • Reduced the health of the final boss in “The Source of Orr.”
  • Forging the Pact: Implemented changes to ensure that the cave section completes reliably.
  • Pets and Walls Make Stronger Kraals: Fix for possible stall during the taming step.
  • Battle of Fort Trinity:Lines of Communication: Batanga will now help you fight the Arcane Eye.
    • You cannot pick up the water orb until you defeat all of the saboteurs.
    • It’s no longer possible to trap players by closing the fortress doors on them.
    • Fixed a stall during “Retake the docks” objective.
    • Fixed a stall if players did not choose a greatest fear earlier in Chapter 7.
  • Fixing Blame: Warmaster Gurnn should now kick off his cutscene correctly.
  • Fixed a rare bug in “Shards of Orr” where Herboza would not become visible.

World versus World

  • The northernmost keep in all homelands has had its collision adjusted on the inner western gate.
  • Numerous items have been disabled for use in World versus World to prevent exploits and imbalances. This includes the Experimental Teleportation Gun, ettin gunk, drake eggs, seed turrets, and more.
  • Fixed WvW Orb of Power duplication on player disconnect.

Profession

  • Attributes gained from traits now apply to the downed state.

Elementalist

  • Glyph of Renewal: This skill will now revive downed allies only, not dead ones.
  • Signets of Earth, Fire, and Water: These signest have been updated to not fire at targets behind the player.
  • Signet of Fire: This skill is now able to hit targets at its indicated range.
  • Signet of Air: This skill now displays a hovering signet effect over the user when activated.
  • Whirlpool: This skill’s damage has been decreased by 33%.

Engineer

  • Grenade Kit: Grenade skills now have the same cast time underwater as they do on land.
  • Explosives Trait Grenadier: This trait now gives a bonus to underwater grenade skills.
  • Big Ol’ Bomb: This skill has been updated to be a blast finisher.

Guardian

  • We are moving towards retaliation being more of a counter to taking many hits rather than a general boon to keep up all the time. We also wanted to improve the combo finisher of the guardian, so we reorganized guardian greatsword skills to the following:Updated Bane Signet and Signet of Wrath so they can’t be fired at targets behind the player.
    • Skill 2: Whirling Wrath (10 second recharge)
    • Skill 3: Leap of Faith (15 second recharge)
    • Skill 4: Symbol of Wrath (20 second recharge)
  • Updated Signet of Judgment to apply three seconds of retaliation upon activation with or without traits.
  • Decreased the activation time of Signet of Judgment.

Mesmer

  • Signet of Domination can no longer be cast on targets behind the mesmer.
  • Added a much faster breakout for mesmer underwater mantras.
  • Phantasmal Warlock: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Chaos Armor: Decreased recharge to 35 seconds.
  • Chaos Storm: Increased recharge to 35 seconds.
  • Phantasmal Duelist: Increased recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Phantasmal Swordsman: Increased recharge to 18 seconds.

Necromancer

  • Updated Chillblains to properly function with the Greater Marks trait.
  • Signet of Spite can now be cast while on the move.

Ranger

  • Crossfire: Increased casting time by 40 milliseconds. This was done to fix some glitches in the animation that caused problems with this skill.
  • Removed the broken audio that played with Natural Healing whenever pets were in combat.

Thief

  • Pistol Whip: Reduced damage by 15%.
  • Basilisk Venom: Increased stun duration to 1.5 seconds. Stun breakers now work on this skill.

Legendary!

It Looks like two World Firsts have been acomplished 

1: World First Legendary Bifrost 

2 :World Frist Twilight (Second Legendary)

Bifrost : 

Twilight : 

1/8/12 Patch Notes

General

  • Fixed bugs for various stuck events and skill challenges.
  • Fixed bugs for various map areas that allowed players to get outside of the playable space.
  • Fixed a bug in dungeon speed-clearing code. Players should no longer experience reward reductions without triggering the speed-clearing debuff.
  • Fixed a bug that was automatically killing players as they entered Sharkmaw Caverns in Lion’s Arch.
  • Fixed an exploit in renown regions that allowed players to quickly complete them by interacting with objects while their inventory was full.
  • Fixed a bug that caused charr characters to enter a state where any fall resulted in a long falling yell.
  • Fixed a bug that caused older characters to have their monthly achievement reset upon completion before the current month ended.
  • Fixed the conversion on all items that were changed from soulbound to account bound to actually be account bound now.
  • Fixed a bug that was preventing certain music from playing.
  • Fixed an issue with the loot table for undead grubs.
  • Fixed a camera bug which occasionally caused the camera to get too close to the player’s backside.
  • Updated the Barrel and Green Plant environmental weapons to disappear after lying on the ground for a set time. This will prevent map issues caused by hundreds of these bundles idling on the ground.
  • Updated Rune of the Adventurer and Sigil of Energy to each grant 25% endurance when activated.
  • Updated map completion rewards for Plains of Ashford and all World-versus-World maps to match the map level/content.
  • Added an appropriate error message for players when trying to accept too many guild invites.
  • Armor that is currently equipped can no longer be transmuted.
  • Keg Brawl has received some updates:Master Weaponsmiths now sell their goods for coin instead of karma, as was originally intended.
    • Lob: This skill is now ground-targeted.
    • Throw: This skill now has the range of the old Lob but with a casting time.
  • Miss Mipp at Almuten Mansion now sells Curry Buns instead of directly selling outdated buffs.
  • Surfacing while downed underwater no longer grants invulnerability. This change was made to stop players from exploiting the surface of the water to maintain permanent invulnerability.
  • The Trading Post will properly refresh when using item context menus from your inventory.
  • Transmuted cultural armor now prevents opposing races from equipping it.
  • Valkyrie armor boxes will now properly contain a coat instead of two helms when crafted.

 

Patch notes 25/9/12

General
• Fixes to LOD on numerous objects in the world.
• Fixes to maps to prevent players from moving outside of the playable area.
• Fixed a bug that made pet footsteps excessively loud, especially in water.
• Fixed a bug with assists not working in keg brawl.
• Fixed numerous blocked events.
• Updated text and functionality when purchasing bank slots.
• Fixed loud sounds on portals to the Underworld in Godslost Swamp.
• Fixed several bugs that were preventing some skill challenges from resetting properly.
• All recipe items are now account bound. Many were previously soulbound.
• Updated Superior Rune of the Ogre Rock Dog so that it doesn’t summon when the player is underwater.
• Updated Sigil of Demon Summoning so that it doesn’t summon when the player is underwater.
• Summoned rock dogs and fleshreavers die when they enter water.
• Removed the lone 1 copper from city map completion rewards.
• Removed Mystic Forge recipes that were being used to reduce surplus supplies.
• Enemies in tutorial areas will no long drop loot. Instead, an award of 72 copper has been added to the rewards for completing the tutorial. This is to dissuade players from lingering in tutorial instances to farm the creatures in them.
• Obsidian Shards are now account bound.
• Box of Berserker’s Draconian Armor and Box of Rampager’s Draconian Armor now reward the proper items.
• Fixed various crash bugs.
• Added the rank 30-39 wolf finishing move.
• Fixed recipes for the Mystic Artifact, Mystic Barricade, and Mystic Trident.
• Fixed visible map completion percentage errors and the achievement not completing.
• Applied 10-second cooldown to Bowl of Saffron-scented Poultry Soup buff. This was done to keep elementalists from spamming condition removal with Signet of Restoration.

Black Lion Trading Company
• Added functionality and improvements to the Black Lion Chests, including a chance to receive new items like a permanent version of the Black Lion Trader Express.
• Black Lion Salvage Kits now properly display the correct percentages for rare materials.

Story
• Adjusted difficulty for the following story steps: “A Fragile Peace,” “Breaking the Bone Ship,” “Killing Fields,” “Political Homicide,” “Sabotage,” “Set to Blow,” “Stand By Your Krewe,” “The Ringmaster,” “The Stone Sheath,” “Track the Seraph,” “Unscheduled Delay,” “Unwelcome Visitors,” and “Welcome Home.” 
• Fixed bugs in the following story steps: “A Fragile Peace,” “Against the Corruption,” “Bad Blood,” “Forging the Pact,” “Stand By Your Krewe,” and “Tower Down.”
• Fixed exploits in “The Sound of Psi-Lance.”
• End of Story Loot Bags:
o These have been improved to only give green or better gear of level 78 or higher.
o The number of bags received has been reduced from 5 to 3.
o More improvements will be made in coming weeks. Players who complete the story before the final update will be equally compensated once the new rewards are in.

Dungeons

 General

• Updated vendors in the Ascalonian Catacombs and Caudecus’s Manor to sell level 80 versions of their unique skins rather than level 60 and 70. Players who purchased the level 60 and 70 versions will soon be given the opportunity to upgrade those to level 80 without having to use transmutation stones.


Citadel of Flame
• Fixed an exploit in Magg’s chain that was allowing players to skip the entire dungeon and still be rewarded.
• In Magg’s chain, if Magg happens to die in the lava field, he’ll teleport himself to the start of the area just outside it. 
• In Magg’s chain, Magg must be much closer to things to draw their initial aggro. This only affects the escort to the magmacyte rock.


Caudecus’s Manor
• Fixed an exploit that was allowing players to skip content.


Honor of the Waves
• Fixed a bug in the Butcher’s chain that prevented a boss from spawning.


Arah
• Fixed a blocking issue.


Ascalonian Catacombs
• Fixed blocking bugs in Detha’s chain.

Dungeon Rewards
We’ve made some significant updates to dungeon rewards. I wanted to try and clarify them here. All of these changes have been the result of an original exploit which was letting players receive upwards of 20 levels by completing a single dungeon run. We initially closed this exploit, which caused some new problems. The result is this new system which should increase dungeon rewards for players who play though them normally but help curb inflation of rewards for those who are using exploitative methods to farm them.

1) Dungeon tokens are now rewarded at the end of an explorable chain. This was done to stop players from repeatedly entering a chain and farming the first boss that dropped tokens rather than playing the entire chain. At some point in the near future, we will make up for this by making dungeon tokens a rare drop so that even players who are not completing a chain can make partial progress toward the rewards. 
2) Dungeons reward 20 tokens for completion and now reward an additional 40 tokens for the first time they are completed each day. This means that if players can complete all 3 chains of a dungeon in a day, they’ll receive a total of 180 tokens, which is enough to purchase some of the smaller rewards.
3) Dungeon tokens should be account bound. This will allow players to have a single character farm tokens for their other characters.

Professions


General
• Implemented a fix to make Heartseeker, Lightning Leap, Flame Leap, and Monarch’s Leap hit more reliably.

Elementalist
• Fixed bugs with Flamestrike and Ice Shards so they can’t be fired behind the player.
• Quick Glyphs: This Air Magic trait has been updated to apply 20% recharge reduction to the elite skill Glyph of Elementals.

Engineer
• Grenade Barrage: This Grenade Kit skill should now be usable underwater.
• Short Fuse: This trait is no longer overwritten by the Grenadier trait. Also, this trait now works with underwater grenades.
• Speedy Kits: Added a 5-second recharge to the trigger for this trait. This was to prevent players from exploiting it to gain vigor buffs of extreme duration.
• Invigorating Speed: Added a 5-second recharge to the trigger for this trait. This was to prevent players from exploiting it to gain vigor buffs of extreme duration.

Guardian
• Merciful Intervention: This skill has been updated to work with the Meditation Mastery trait. The tooltip for this skill has also been updated to display the healing amount when affected by traits.
• Elusive Power: This trait has been updated to not grant might when aegis was blocked. 

Mesmer
• Fixed text on “readied” mantra buffs.
• Veil: This glamour skill has been updated to show the appropriate active duration when not affected by traits.

Necromancer
• Taste of Death: This skill’s healing fact has been updated.
• Spectral Wall: This skill has been updated to apply the correct amount of vulnerability (10).
• Vampiric: Fixed a bug with this trait so that it now functions with projectiles.
• Close to Death: This trait has been updated to provide its listed 20% boost instead of the previous (unlisted) 10% boost.
• Banshee’s Wail: This Curses trait has been updated to apply extra swiftness.
• Spectral Walk: This skill has been updated to be more active and to work properly with its recharge trait. Also, Sever Spectral Bond has been changed to Spectral Recall.
• Minion Master: This Death Magic trait has been updated to properly affect the elite skill Summon Flesh Golem.
• Putrid Mark: This skill has been fixed to make it properly unblockable with the Greater Marks trait.
• Mark of Evasion: This trait can now trigger the Soul Marks trait.
• Reaper’s Protection: This trait has been updated to properly work with a variety of crowd-control effects.

Thief
• Bountiful Theft: This strait has been fixed so that it doesn’t apply 15 seconds of vigor twice.

Races


Norn
• Call Wurm: Autocasting has been removed from this skill to prevent an exploit. Additionally, the skill may now be cast on the move.


Player versus Player
• Legacy of the Foefire: Fixed an exploit that was allowing players to teleport past one of the gates.

World versus World
• Experimental Rifle: This item is no longer usable in World versus World.

Game update 17/9/12

General

  • Asuran players will now aim toward their targets when using a rifle.
  • Fixed various broken events and skill challenges.
  • Fixed various locations that allowed players to move outside the map.
  • Fixed various locations on maps where players could become stuck.
  • Discovery crafting may now use items directly from a player’s bank.
  • Fixed bugs in the Exploration achievement so players can now receive 100% map completion.
  • Added a system to limit the experience and gold that players can receive from speed-farming dungeons.

Story

  • Fixed bugs in “A Different Dream,” “A Fragile Peace,” “Dredging Up the Past,” "Forging the Pact,” “Pastkeeper,” “Ships of the Line,” “Stealing Secrets,” “The Priory Assailed,” and “The Source of Orr.”
  • Reduced the overall difficulty in “Dead of Winter.”

World-versus-World

  • Retaliation: This boon no longer reflects damage received from siege weapons.
  • The Experimental Rifle is no longer usable in World-versus-World.

Professions

Warrior

  • Smoldering Arrow: This skill’s casting time has been reduced.

Mesmer

  • The Prestige: This skill now requires full recharge if it’s interrupted at any time.

Thief

  • Descent of Shadows: This trait’s effect can now only trigger once every 8 seconds.

Engineer

  • Rocket Boots: This skill is no longer usable underwater. This is a temporary change until we can figure out why players can launch themselves into the sky using this skill.
  • Detonate Mine Field: This skill is no longer a blast finisher.

14/9/12 Patch Notes

General

  • The Mistfire Wolf skill will now properly unlock for existing characters on an account after upgrading to Digital Deluxe.
  • Fixed blocked events and skill challenges.
  • Fixed bugs that allowed players to go around map edges.
  • A number of items created by using Mystic Coins are now correctly set to level 80.

Story

  • Fixed a blocking bug in story chapter “Brute Force.”
  • Fixed a blocking bug in story chapter “Research and Destroy.”
  • Fixed bugs in story chapters “Forging the Pact,” “Battle of Fort Trinity," "The Ghost Rite,” “On Red Alert,” and “Tower Down.”

World-versus-World

  • Score interval increased from 5 minutes to 15 minutes.
  • Stonemist Castle points reduced to 35 points from 50.
  • Bonus thresholds reduced by half to prepare for one-week matches.
  • Castle lord, bodyguards, and capture point for Stonemist Castle moved to the first floor.
  • “Harpy Feathers” consumable effect disabled.
  • Bridges fixed to make passable for NPCs.

Professions

Ranger

  • More fixes to pet commands and AI.

Elementalist

  • Signet of Air: No longer has infinite range.
  • Whirlpool: Now works underwater in PvE.
  • Glyph of Renewal: Resurrection effects of Earth, Fire, and Water now surround the caster, not the target.

Mesmer

  • Deception: Movement now allowed after casting underwater.
  • Spatial Surge: Improved responsiveness.
  • Mind Stab: Improved responsiveness.

Warrior

  • Made several more skills usable while moving: Brutal Banner, Compassionate Banner, and Furious Rally.
  • Rush: Improved the ability to hit fleeing foes.

Guardian

  • Mighty Blow: Added a slight movement distance.
  • Bow of Truth: Now usable while moving.
  • Defender’s Shield and Honorable Shield: Merged together into the same trait.
  • New trait Glacial Heart: Critical hits with a hammer have a 50% chance to chill your target for 4 seconds. This effect can only occur once every 45 seconds.

Thief

  • Heartseeker: Reduced damage of the 100%-50% threshold by 20%. Damage thresholds changed. Old: 100%-66%, 66%-33%, 33%-0%. New: 100%-50%, 50%-25%, 25%-0%.

Engineer

  • Disabled the “stowing” auto-attack to prevent players from getting stuck holding these kits: Bomb Kit, Elixir Gun, Flamethrower, Grenade Kit, Med Kit, and Tool Kit.

Game Update 9/9/12

Skills & Traits

Mesmer

  • The Prestige – Fixed a bug so that Burning duration no longer amplifies when additional enemies are present.

Ranger

  • Beastmastery Trait: Instinctual Bond – Now grants 5 seconds of quickness to the player’s pet and can only occur once every 50 seconds.
  • Pets can no longer be revived using the “F” prompt. This is because you can either use F4 to swap pets which will bring that pet back alive or you can wait until you are out of combat at which point you pet will revive automatically. We felt it was doing a disservice to Ranger players to incentivize them to spend a long time reviving their pet when it was a very inefficient thing to do and happened after combat anyway. This will also help clear up “F” to interact functionality.

Guardian

  • Tome of Wrath – Removed Stability, added Retaliation; increased the health of the transform
    * Zealot’s Fervor – Players can now move while casting this skill; increased cast time to 2 seconds; reduced maximum targets to 5
    * Judgment – Knockdown is now 3 seconds
  • Tome of Courage – Removed Stability, added Protection
    * Heal Area – Base heal increased by 33%
    * Pacifism – Reduced maximum targets to 5; increased cast time to 2 seconds; reduced daze duration to 2 seconds
  • Shield of Absorption. The second half of this skill will now unlock in PvE.

Story

  • “Bad Blood” – Exiting the conversation will no longer arbitrarily lock the player into a choice
  • “Mirror, Mirror” – Adjusted difficulty.
  • “The Hatchery” You can no longer do the final step before doing the intermediate steps.
  • “Dredging up the Past” – Fixed blocking bug during the first step.

General

  • Fixes for various blocked events and skill challenges.
  • PvP games played/won will not increment in activities.
  • Fixes for various map bugs that allowed players to get out of the map.
  • Interact “F” should use the following priority:
    1) Your current selection
    2) Loot
    3) Revive/Stomp
    4) Anything else
  • Updated the recipe for Superior Rune of the Ranger to match the rarity of other Superior runes.