Game updates/2014-02-18

February 18, 2014

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Update - February 18, 2014

Living World: Escape from Lion's Arch

Lion's Arch is under attack! The Lionguard is scrambling to protect citizens and evacuate the city. The attack from Scarlet's armies left Fort Marriner heavily damaged and the Gate Hub Plaza in ruins. No corner has been spared, resulting in burning destruction, toppled boat buildings, broken bridges, and scorched fields. And a deadly miasma is spreading across the city, gaining lethality until the survivors are forced to retreat. Somewhere above it all, Scarlet watches the destruction, waiting for the moment when the final step of her plan can come to fruition.

Attack Cinematic

Upon logging in, players level 30 or higher will see a cinematic of the attack on Lion's Arch. Lower level players will watch this upon entering Lion's Arch for the first time. Players can rewatch the cinematic by talking to the refugee camp director at any of the three refugee camps located by the Vigil Keep in Gendarran Fields, by the Durmand Priory in Lornar's Pass, and on Stormbluff Isle in Bloodtide Coast.

• Note: All characters that were stationed in Lion's Arch before the attack will be relocated to an adjoining map.

Lion's Arch

• The city of Lion's Arch is being hammered from the all-out attack of Scarlet's forces.
  • Towers and monuments have fallen. Homes and stores are in ruin. Crumbled cliffsides and scorched fields line the city limits.
  • The Aetherblades, Toxic Alliance, and Molten Alliance have carved out areas of the city to attack.
  • Only the waypoints by the three entrances will be functional while inside the city.
• The established asura gates of Lion's Arch are no longer operational, and waypoints from other zones are contested.
• The miasma levels cycle every hour. The Lionguard musters its forces at the top of the hour outside the city entrances, ready to storm in.
• A new hastily erected asura gate connects to the Durmand Priory in Lornar's Pass, while the northeast exit to Icegate Gorge in Gendarran Fields has been permanently blocked.
• Map completion remains possible, including waypoints, points of interest, vistas, jumping puzzles, and diving goggles. Just watch out for Scarlet's troops!
• For players who need to follow their Personal Story steps, Captain Smash and Bouncer Kinna over by Icegate Gorge in Gendarran Fields will sneak adventurers into Lion's Arch.

Evacuate the Citizens!

Caught in all the chaos of the attack, the citizens of Lion's Arch need help. A tally of all the citizens the players rescue will be kept for each foray into the city. Working together with the entire map, players must search for survivors, defeat attacking troops, eliminate enemy champions, and escort survivors to safety. For each tier of citizens saved, all event participators will receive a number of Alliance Supplies as a reward.

• Citizens cower in corners throughout the city, waiting for rescuers to encourage them to flee. Help them reach an exit or a stealthed Whispers agent.
• Help the Lionguard establish a foothold, taking and defending rally points just inside each city entrance.
  • Rox and Braham are fortifying the Trader's Forum, Marjory and Kasmeer are working to secure Postern Ward, and Magnus is defending Fort Marriner.
  • If any of the three rally positions are held, an order representative will arrive with a beneficial buff.
• Stopping the miasma deployment by defeating the enemy troops will allow players to rescue five nearby survivors.
  • As a further bonus, if all three miasma deployments are simultaneously prevented within ten minutes, an additional 35 citizens will be saved.
• Some groups in Lion's Arch require an armed escort in order to successfully escape. Assist them by clearing their escape route and increase the rescue tally by five.
• Keep an eye out for piles of rubble where residents have stashed their heirlooms.
• As the miasma nears lethal levels, champions will attack Fort Marriner and the Lion's Shadow Inn. Elite enemies will land at the Grand Piazza. Defeating each boss event will save 10 additional citizens.
  Beware the miasma, and heed Captain Magnus's updates as he appraises its rising level. Miasma has no known antidote, and those who fall to the deadly gas will find themselves at one of the adjoining camps to recover from its effects. Be sure to secure the exit before it reaches lethal levels!

Vigil Keep, the Impromptu Hub of Services

Most of the services in Lion's Arch have found a new home at the Vigil Keep in Gendarran Fields.

• All home-city asura gates will now connect to a new gate plaza in the Vigil Keep.
• All WvW and PvP asura gates have also been hastily erected to connect to the Vigil Keep.
• The Black Lion Trading Post, Bank, and Guild services have moved to the Vigil Keep.
• Dungeon reward vendors and cultural weapon vendors have moved to the Vigil Keep.
• The powerful Zommoros, along with Miyani, have relocated near the new asura gates.
• Sonder the Seller, Scornheart, and Poyaqui are also available.
• Floating above is the captain's airship, the Havoc's Heir, a one-stop shop for all services.

Three Refugee Camps

Survivors of the attack have congregated at the doorsteps of Tyria's orders. At each camp, the Captain's Council and the Lionguard give relief and medical aid to refugees. Here, players will be able to return found belongings and heirlooms for helpful rewards. Hot-air balloons from Kryta provide free travel to the other camps in this time of need.

• Gendarran Fields: The main refugee camp lies just south of the Vigil Keep.
  • The Consortium has reestablished its asura gates to Southsun Cove and the Fractals of the Mists.
  • Kouris will still connect players to the activity of the day.
• Lornar's Pass: This small camp lies south of the Durmand Priory, nestled in the foothills.
• Bloodtide Coast: This camp lies along the north shore of Stormbluff Isle.

Rewards and Achievements

During the player's foray into Lion's Arch:

• Alliance Supplies will not only drop from the invaders, but players will also be rewarded for rescuing a number of citizens. They hold a variety of items, such as a chance for Refugee's Belongings, Spinal Shards, Spinal Blades Blueprint Scraps, Refugee Children's Drawings, Piles of Bloodstone Dust, and Powerful Potions of Slaying Scarlet's Armies.
  • There's a rare chance for Quaggan Tonics, Captain's Airship Passes, and even a Mini Captain Magnus.
• For those who take and defend the rally points inside Lion's Arch, an order representative will arrive and offer a 30-minute buff that grants combat boosts.
  • Vigil Valiance is obtained by defending Trader's Forum.
  • Priory Aethershield is obtained by holding Postern Ward.
  • Quickness of Whispers is obtained by securing Fort Marriner.
• Coordinate to stop three miasma deployments simultaneously to earn the Triple Threat achievement, which awards 10 Spinal Shards and bonus loot.
• Rescue enough citizens and work together with the entire map to earn five tiers of rewards.
  • As players surpass each tier, contributors are rewarded Spinal Shards, Refugee's Belongings, and Found Heirlooms.
    • Tiers are set at 100, 500, 750, 1000, and 1500 citizens rescued.
  • Those who remain until the miasma reaches lethality, participants will be rewarded with daily Dragonite Ore, champion bags, Blade Shards, and masterwork items.
    • For players who attain the highest tier, there's a chance for ascended materials and rewards from previous Living World releases.

When not rescuing citizens:

• After completing the escort events in Lion's Arch, search for NPCs in the refugee camps who will sell utility feast recipes, speed boosts, potions of Slaying Scarlet's Armies, or give players a bit of luck.
• Combine the four Spinal Blades Blueprint Scraps in the Mystic Forge to start constructing a Spinal Blades back item.
  • With Spinal Shards, add more blades to upgrade the Spinal Blades back piece until it reaches the ascended level.
• Found Heirlooms can be used to purchase Selfless Potions or Thoughtless Potions to display the player's halo or horns, respectively.
  • Find 30 heirlooms and earn the Memories in Your Hand achievement, which awards either 50 Alliance Supplies or 50 Empyreal Fragments.

More to achieve:

• Various achievements will challenge players to clear each of the three entrances to Lion's Arch, complete each of six escorts, and defeat the bosses that arrive as the miasma nears lethality.
• More challenging achievements will ask players to defend each of the three entrances to Lion's Arch and all of the rally points for a full evacuation cycle (Triple Threat achievement), or defend a special group of evacuees without a loss (All Bets Are Off achievement).
• Extraction Complete, the meta-achievement, awards 100 Alliance Supplies when players finish 15 out of the 28 Escape from Lion's Arch achievements and daily achievements.

Balance, Bug-fixing, Polish

World Polish

• Triple Trouble
  • A new achievement has been added to the Great Jungle Wurm encounter. This achievement is awarded when players complete the event and unlock the prestigious title of "Wurm's Bane."
  • The Wurm Demolitionist achievement has been lowered to 5 kegs, down from 30.
  • Wurmslayer progress is now awarded to any participating player in the Triple Trouble events.
  • Wurm Decapitator progress is now awarded to any participating player in the Triple Trouble events.
  • Successfully completing the Triple Trouble events now has an increased chance at ascended armor.

World vs. World

• Removed the requirement that players need to attain rank 30 in WvW before purchasing the Gift of Battle.
• The Air-Strike Grenade and Sentry Turret items are now account bound.
• Edge of the Mists:
  • Moved two tower guild officer NPCs that were interfering with bucket interactions.
  • Added trading post icons to the Black Lion trader NPCs in the starting areas.
  • Added missing interact text to one of the bridge-build locations.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the bonded elementals at Overgrown Fane to appear stacked on top of each other.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Retaliation to do PvE levels of damage instead of PvP levels of damage.
  • Reduced the rate of fire of the Badlands auto-turrets.
  • Removed duplicate titles from the Resourceful and Some Say It's Your Specialty achievements.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store

New Items and Promotions

• A new set of light, medium, and heavy armor in the Zodiac style are available in the Style category for 800 gems each.
• A new airship full of merchants, a bank, trading posts, crafting stations, and everything players might need all in one place now hovers over the Vigil Keep. A two-week Captain's Airship Pass (2 weeks) can now be purchased in the Services category for 150 gems.
• A permanent Captain's Airship Pass is available for sale through this introductory week, after which it will only be available during special sales. Players can find the permanent Captain's Airship Pass in the Services category for 1000 gems.
• A new Ascalonian-Leader Finisher is available for 800 gems in the Upgrades category. Players can now summon a ghostly champion and army to trample their defeated foes.
• Players should stop by the Gem Store to pick up their free sample of an Experience Booster, a Revive Orb, and a Crafting Booster!

Improvements

• Additions to the Black Lion Chest:
  • There is now a rare chance to get a Mini Marjory Delaqua or Mini Mai Trin from the chest.
  • For a limited time, every chest also contains a guaranteed stack of 5 Bags of Alliance Supplies.
• Golem Banker (2 Weeks) will now start its countdown timer when players activate it for the first time, so it is safe to stack unused ones in inventory. This will not affect golems previously purchased or waiting in mail.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• The Ascalonian-Leader Finisher is 600 gems in the gem store.
• Three minor sigils that were previously classified as rare are now correctly labeled as masterwork: Minor Sigil of Doom, Impact, and Luck.
• Black Lion Chests are now account-bound on unlock (instead of soulbound).
• Veteran Risen Abomination has been replaced with a lesser Risen Abomination during encounters with Tequatl the Sunless, to prevent the Vigil Megalaser from getting destroyed instantly (potentially breaking the event).
• Build: 30,097

Anomalies

• Two major services that are normally available in Lion's Arch are missing from Vigil Keep: the Laurel Merchant and any crafting stations. Both types of services are available in each of the major cities. You can also find them on the captain's airship, the Havoc's Heir, which however is only reachable by using a Captain's Airship Pass.

Bugs

• A large number of players report that their inventory window is resized each time it is opened.
• The overview display for achievments sometimes shows one or two recently completed, instead of three.
• Although Scarlet's Secret Lair remains accessible, none of the chests can be opened. This will be fixed in a future update.
• You cannot exit the restricted areas after using the asura gates between Vigil Keep and Fort Trinity.