Game updates/August 2021

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August 2021 updates
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Late Notes - August 31, 2021[edit]

General[edit]

  • The 9th birthday title has been renamed Long-Term Commitment.

Update - August 31, 2021[edit]

Festival of the Four Winds[edit]

On behalf of Queen Jennah of Kryta, and the Captain's Council of Lion's Arch, you are cordially invited to participate in the return of the Festival of the Four Winds!

High atop the Labyrinthine Cliffs, our Zephyrite friends have been working in tandem with Lion's Arch to host an incredible variety of fun vendors and events to entertain visitors from all across Tyria. This celebration of unity and peace between our cultures is more important than ever before, and we hope that you will join us in the festivities.

In this spirit of cooperation, Queen Jennah has personally overseen the reopening of the Crown Pavilion, featuring a variety of challenges for Tyria's finest to test their mettle!

Transportation to the festivities couldn't be easier! Special hot air balloons are now stationed in each nation's capital city. Visitors can also sail directly from the ship in Lion's Arch.

We look forward to seeing you at the festival! —Captain Ellen Kiel

  • The Zephyrite bazaar has returned to the Labyrinthine Cliffs! Visitors to the Labyrinthine Cliffs can try their hand at many festival activities, including adventures, races, and scavenger hunts:
  • For combat-inclined festivalgoers, the Crown Pavilion has reopened in Divinity's Reach. Challenge re-creations of humanity's greatest foes, legendary champions, and notorious figures!
    • The renowned Boss Blitz returns! Organize your companions to challenge 6 legendary foes—they'll gain strength as other bosses fall, so plan your battle carefully!
    • Adventurers yearning to show their skill at a solo challenge rejoice! The Queen's Gauntlet has been reopened!
    • Between Blitzes, blow off some steam in the most hazardous festival race since Halloween: the infamous Pavilion Pursuit!
  • New updates and prizes this year include the following:
    • Complete the Annual Four Winds Customs meta-achievement to earn the Zephyrite Traveling Boots, a new armor piece crafted in the Zephyrite tradition.
      • Last year's meta-achievement reward, the Sun-Blessed Vision, can now be purchased from the festival reward vendors.
    • The health increase of bosses per player in the Boss Blitz has been lowered.
    • In addition to granting might to players fighting the other bosses, breaking the defiance bar of a boss in Boss Blitz will now also give protection and stability to your allies in the fight.
    • New items have been added to the festival reward vendors in Labyrinthine Cliffs and the Crown Pavilion.
    • Contents of the Zephyrite Supply Boxes have been updated, including three new weapons crafted by a traveling weaponsmith.
      • The Zephyr Rucksack has been moved to the Super Rare item category to more accurately reflect its rarity.
    • The traders at the Bazaar in Labyrinthine Cliffs have updated their trading prices.
    • New guild decorations drawn from the architecture of the Zephyrites have been added.
    • Aspect Gatherer achievements now show a numbered list of crystals to collect.
    • The requirements of the (Annual) Zephyrite Lost and Found achievement have been reduced.
    • All sources of Festival Tokens now immediately add the tokens to the wallet.
    • The positions of some vendors in the Bazaar have been updated to clear footpaths and improve shopping convenience.
    • Numerous bugs and glitches have been fixed to ensure a safer and more pleasant festival for all participants.
  • Complete festival daily achievements to earn the Four Winds Zephyr daily achievement, contributing to the Four Winds Gale achievement, which rewards your choice of weapons based on Zephyrite crafts!
  • Earn Festival Tokens and Favors of the Festival throughout the festival events to trade for exciting prizes, including Zephyrite backpacks, the illustrious Sovereign weapon set, and items based on the latest wonder of the Crown Pavilion, the Watchknight Mk II.
  • Zephyrite Kite Baskets have been scattered across Tyria. Open them to claim prizes from the Zephyrite stockpiles.
  • The Festival of the Four Winds will be available for three weeks, from August 31 until September 21. Enjoy the festivities!

World Polish[edit]

  • The Twisted Marionette's public mode has returned as a cycling event in the Eye of the North. Every two hours, the Mist Stranger will call for adventurers to face the terrifying marionette.
    • The Twisted Marionette's entry point has been moved from the Scrying Pool to the Mist Stranger's new location in the main hall.
    • In the public version of the Twisted Marionette, the event will not begin until 50 or more players are in the map.
    • In the private version of the Twisted Marionette, the event will not begin until the squad leader instructs the Mist Stranger, located near the center waypoint, to start the battle.
    • Fixed a bug that caused the Inspire skill, which is available to players who have defeated their platform's Warden, to not revive downed players on the other platforms as its description states.
    • Relocated map-exit points in the Twisted Marionette encounter to be farther from waypoints to avoid accidental selection of the exit.
  • Maps with a public version, such as the Twisted Marionette, Dragonstorm, and Dragon Response Missions, will now return players to the map they entered from if they log out while in the map.
  • A new achievement, The Goldclaw Holiday Collection, has been added to encourage discovery of a hidden series of festival-themed novels, each available only during their associated festival. Progress in this achievement is not retroactive.

General[edit]

Profession Skills[edit]

General[edit]

To improve the stability of the game, performing any of the following actions will "reset" your status, removing ongoing skill effects such as damaging area effects, traps, preparations, missiles, and many boons and profession-specific enhancements.

This process will clean up many possible broken states in which a skill effect could be present when it should not have been. Some of these states caused duplication of performance-intensive skills such as traps, which degraded server performance for everyone.

The actions that trigger this skill cleanup include the following:

  • Swapping your Build Template
  • Swapping your Equipment Template
  • Changing specialization
  • Changing traits
  • Changing items equipped in a weapon slot via the Hero panel
  • Respawning after being defeated

Engineer[edit]

Pistol[edit]
  • Static Shot.png Static Shot: Fixed a bug that had unintentionally reduced the casting time of this skill by 0.2 seconds.

Revenant[edit]

Thief[edit]

Pistol[edit]
  • Body Shot.png Vital Shot: Fixed a bug that had unintentionally reduced the casting time of this skill by 0.2 seconds.
Deadeye[edit]
  • Fire for Effect.png Fire for Effect: The boons granted by this trait will now prioritize players within a party, then within a squad, before being applied to other potential targets.
  • Shadow Gust.png Shadow Gust: Fixed a bug that sometimes caused a normal autoattack to queue during the casting of this skill, causing players to use a normal attack instead of a stealth attack afterward.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store[edit]

New Items and Promotions[edit]

Black Lion Chest[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

Update - August 20, 2021[edit]

Bug Fixes:[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 118,898

Update - August 18, 2021[edit]

Bug Fixes:[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 118,800

Update 2 - August 17, 2021

Bug Fix[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 118,761

Update - August 17, 2021[edit]

Beta Event 1[edit]

We're excited to begin our first End of Dragons Elite Specialization Beta Event, running from 9:00 a.m. PDT (UTC-7) August 17 through 10:00 p.m. PDT (UTC-7) August 21. All players will see three new beta character slots on the Character Select screen, which allow players to create and play a fully geared, level-80 beta character of any race for the duration of the weekend. This character can be used in PvE, WvW, and PvP, and any core Tyria or previous expansion map content, including Heart of Thorns™ and Path of Fire™. Maps from the upcoming expansion, End of Dragons™, are not available for beta testing. The beta character slots are only accessible during an active beta event, and they will be deleted between Elite Specialization Beta Events. In this beta event, the following three new profession elite specializations are available for play:

Guardian—Willbender[edit]

  • Willbenders are protectors of the Canthan throne and fated guardians to the Weh no Su. Their sword arms are as strong as their loyalty—unflinching and ruthless. They are known for a swift hand and unmatched swordplay, striking before their foe has time to react.

Mesmer—Virtuoso[edit]

  • The virtuoso forgoes traditional illusions in favor of psychic daggers, wielded by the sheer power of the mind. Unleash a volley of sharp blades, then outwit foes with a sharp mind.

Necromancer—Harbinger[edit]

  • The harbinger is a gunslinger and alchemist, empowering their pistol and utilizing elixirs imbued with dark energies. But strength comes at a cost, and the harbinger must balance on a knife's edge between power and corruption.

Beta Character Limitations[edit]

  • Progress is not carried over from beta characters to live characters.
  • Beta characters do not share normal account-wide inventory with non-beta characters, e.g., wallet, karma, shared inventory slots, and bank access.
  • Beta characters cannot access the trading post.
  • Beta characters cannot mail gold or items.
  • Beta characters have access to a copy of your account's Legendary Armory. Legendary items newly added to your Legendary Armory while a beta event is in progress will not be usable by beta characters during that beta event.

General[edit]

Items[edit]

  • Fixed a bug with food effects that grant a boon or bonus on killing enemies that could cause the effect to fail to activate in certain content types or locations.
  • Fixed a bug with weapon sigils that grant a boon or bonus on killing enemies that could cause the effect to fail to activate in certain content types or locations.
  • Superior Rune of Vampirism.png Superior Rune of Vampirism: Fixed a bug that could cause the healing from the 6-piece rune bonus to fail to activate when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.
  • Superior Rune of the Afflicted.png Superior Rune of the Afflicted: Fixed a bug that could cause the death nova from the 6-piece rune bonus to fail to activate when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.

Profession Skills[edit]

General[edit]

Combo Fields and Finisher Skills[edit]
  • Combo fields have received updated, higher quality visual effects. Rectangular combo fields do not yet have updated visuals, but they will be updated to match in a future update.
  • Combo finishers will now prioritize using your own combo fields before those created by other players, where available.
  • The icon border for skills that are combo finishers will now be highlighted while you are standing within a combo field.
  • Projectile Finisher—Water Field: The radius around the struck enemy in which allies gain regeneration has been increased from 100 to 180.
  • Projectile Finisher—Light Field: The radius around the struck enemy in which allies are cleansed of a condition has been increased from 100 to 180.
Boons and Conditions[edit]

In this update, we're making adjustments to the confusion condition in PvE. Currently, it's not strongly relevant in most gameplay, as few enemies attack rapidly enough for it to be a significant damage source. However, it's also exceedingly powerful on a few specific boss fights in raids and elsewhere, which happen to have attack patterns that trigger confusion often. This has been a problem to balance around; it's not much fun if being very good in specific raid fights means that confusion-heavy specializations like mirage aren't up to par elsewhere. To address this, we're partially normalizing the confusion condition by making the damage-over-time component of confusion in PvE gameplay scale with the condition damage stat, making it overall more useful for general open-world and mission play. Each stack of confusion will be exactly half as powerful as a stack of the bleed condition. At the same time, we're halving the trigger damage dealt when an enemy activates a skill. Overall, these changes mean that confusion will be a more reliable source of damage during play for professions that make regular use of it, and they reduce the degree to which it is split in functionality between PvE and PvP.

  • Confusion.png Confusion: In PvE only, the damage over time caused by each stack of confusion has been increased from a flat 10 (at level 80) to 11+0.03 per point of condition damage. Damage dealt to all targets when they activate a skill has been reduced by 50%, matching the current damage in PvP and WvW game modes.

Elementalist[edit]

Weaver[edit]

Weaver has impressive damage potential in PvE, but as many weaver mains have noted, it's often reliant on assistance from other players to maintain the necessary weakness condition on their targets, and their fragility leaves little room for mistakes in play. With this update, we're making two PvE-specific changes: improving the weaver's ability to upkeep weakness on their targets via Superior Elements, and increasing the weaver's personal sustainability by increasing the amount of barrier granted by Elemental Refreshment.

  • Superior Elements.png Superior Elements: Increased the duration of applied weakness from 3 seconds to 5 seconds in PvE only.
  • Elemental Refreshment.png Elemental Refreshment: The total amount of barrier granted by this trait and the increase per point of healing power have been increased by 20% in PvE only.

Engineer[edit]

Scrapper[edit]

We're pleased with how scrapper's build options have expanded recently. Now that the dust has settled a bit, it's time for some more boons! With this update, we're adding extra concentration to the quickness scrapper builds to improve their flexibility and quickness uptime while retaining more damage, and we're providing a larger direct-damage enhancement to the dedicated power builds in the trait Applied Force.

  • Kinetic Accelerators.png Kinetic Accelerators: This trait now additionally increases your concentration by 10% of your power.
  • Applied Force.png Applied Force: Bonus power per stack of might has been increased from 10 to 15. Might now provides reduced condition damage by the same amount. (Result: +45 Power, +15 Condition Damage per Stack of Might)
Holosmith[edit]
  • Players can now use the mount key while in Photon Forge. Doing so will automatically deactivate Photon Forge.
  • Mounting will no longer reset Photon Forge's heat level to 0.
  • Changing specializations away from and then back to holosmith will retain your former Photon Forge heat level.

With scourge getting toned down in PvP, we're also taking a look at protection holosmith builds. Elixir Gun and Mortar Kit have been staples in tank-like engineer builds for a long time and are both things that we're keeping an eye on, but we want to see the impact of shaving down a few holosmith-specific elements (as well as Over Shield) before touching anything else.

  • Heat Therapy.png Heat Therapy: Reduced base heal per stack from 39 to 30 in PvP only.
  • Hard Light Arena.png Hard Light Arena: Increased cooldown from 50 seconds to 60 seconds in PvP only.
  • Spectrum Shield.png Spectrum Shield: Reduced incoming damage reduction from 50% to 33% in PvP only.
  • Over Shield.png Over Shield: Reduced protection duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP only.

Guardian[edit]

  • "Advance!".png "Retreat!": Guardians never retreat, so this shout skill has been renamed "Advance!" The voice acting has been updated appropriately to say either "Advance!" or "Charge!" at random, for a little variety.
Radiance[edit]
  • Renewed Justice.png Renewed Justice: Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to fail to activate when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.
Firebrand[edit]
  • Fixed a bug in which players could rarely become stuck in a tome with 0 pages remaining, causing players to need to reactivate the tome or use the weapon-swap key to exit. Now, in the rare cases where this occurs, attempting to use any tome-page skill will exit the tome, rather than failing to do anything.
  • Unrelenting Criticism.png Unrelenting Criticism: Fixed a tooltip display bug that caused the PvP duration of bleed to also display in the tooltip in PvE, showing two different bleed durations. The effect of this trait is unchanged.

Mesmer[edit]

  • Illusion of Life.png Illusion of Life: Fixed a bug that could cause affected allies to fail to be fully revived when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.
  • Medic's Feedback.png Medic's Feedback: Reduced revive pulse from 5% to 1% in PvP and WvW.

Necromancer[edit]

  • Death Shroud.png Death Shroud: Players may now use the mount key while in Death Shroud. Doing so will automatically deactivate Death Shroud.
Curses[edit]
  • Furious Demise.png Furious Demise: Fixed a bug that caused precision granted by this trait to not be used for bonus condition damage by the next minor curses trait, Target the Weak.
  • Target the Weak.png Target the Weak: The description of this trait has been corrected to include that it also increases the necromancer's condition damage by a percentage of their precision.
  • Lingering Curse.png Lingering Curses: The bonus condition damage granted by this trait now applies with any weapon, not only scepter.
Death Magic[edit]
  • Death Nova.png Death Nova: Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to fail to properly summon a jagged horror when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.
  • Soul Comprehension.png Soul Comprehension: Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to fail to properly grant a stack of carapace when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.
  • Flesh of the Master.png Flesh of the Master: Reduced minion health bonus from 25% to 15% in PvP only.
Soul Reaping[edit]
  • Dhuumfire.png Dhuumfire: Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to activate multiple times without triggering its internal cooldown when used with scourge specialization skills.
Spite[edit]
  • Unholy Fervor.png Dread: Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to fail to properly reduce the cooldown on shroud skill 3 when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.
Reaper[edit]
  • Reaper's Shroud.png Reaper's Shroud: Players can now use the mount key while in Reaper Shroud. Doing so will automatically deactivate Reaper Shroud.
Scourge[edit]

As the community has observed, scourge has quickly become dominant in many game modes, from PvP to PvE. In PvE, the barrier granted by damage-specialized scourges to nearby allies as part of their normal damage rotation has caused scourge to provide overwhelming support even while traited and geared as a pure DPS build. We would like a clearer distinction between scourges' support and damage builds. To this end, we're making a change to the scourge's healing skill, Sand Flare, so that it only grants barrier to the caster by default. The first-tier support trait, Abrasive Grit, was previously very underwhelming, especially when compared against its chief competitor in that tier, Fell Beacon. Abrasive Grit will now cause Sand Flare to affect nearby allies, restoring it to its previous target cap. With these changes, we're shifting some of the scourge's passive barrier-granting ability off of the damage-specialized scourge build and on to builds that have specifically chosen to trait for support.

  • Sand Flare.png Sand Flare: Barrier granted by this skill now only affects the caster by default.
  • Abrasive Grit.png Abrasive Grit: This trait has been reworked to the following: Sand Flare now also grants barrier to nearby allies. Granting an ally barrier removes conditions afflicting them.
  • Demonic Lore.png Demonic Lore: Fixed a bug that caused the internal cooldown of this trait to not occur under certain circumstances.
  • Herald of Sorrow.png Herald of Sorrow: This trait now renames the skill Desert Shroud to Sandstorm Shroud instead of to Harbinger Shroud. The effects of this skill are unchanged.

On the PvP side of things, we're making some additional changes to bring scourge down. Feed from Corruption is a trait that we've been looking at for a while, and given the continued performance of scourge, it's something we wanted to make sure to touch in this round of changes. For this update, we're primarily targeting the defensive boons as we look to address some of the scourge's overall bulk, but we also wanted to tone down the might generation that this trait could potentially create. We're also shaving down some of the scourge's barrier applications and Nefarious Favor, with the overall goal of making the scourge just a bit more killable.

  • Sand Cascade.png Sand Cascade: Reduced base barrier from 2,428 to 1,859 in PvP only.
  • Desert Shroud.png Desert Shroud: Reduced base barrier from 5,016 to 4,013 in PvP only.
  • Desert Empowerment.png Desert Empowerment: Reduced base barrier from 966 to 773 in PvP only.
  • Sandstorm Shroud.png Sandstorm Shroud: Reduced initial base barrier from 5,016 to 4,013 in PvP only. Reduced final base barrier from 1,684 to 1,327 in PvP only.
  • Feed from Corruption.png Feed from Corruption: The following boon applications from this trait have been adjusted in PvP only:
    • Might.png Might: Reduced stacks from 3 to 1.
    • Protection.png Protection: Reduced duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds.
    • Resolution.png Resolution: Reduced duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds.
    • Regeneration.png Regeneration: Reduced duration from 8 seconds to 4 seconds.
    • Stability.png Stability: Reduced from 2 stacks for 5 seconds to 1 stack for 3 seconds.
    • Vigor.png Vigor: Reduced duration from 6 seconds to 3 seconds.
  • Nefarious Favor.png Nefarious Favor: Reduced the number of conditions converted to boons from 2 to 1 in PvP only.

Ranger[edit]

  • Fixed a bug in which a stowed pet would be unstowed when entering or leaving water.
  • Fixed a bug in which the pet would be stowed after mounting a skimmer on water and then dismounting on land.
  • Fixed a bug in which the pet would be stowed when mounting a flying mount after gliding.
  • Maul (ranger greatsword skill).png Maul: Fixed a bug in which this skill would go on full cooldown when interrupted.
Druid[edit]
  • Celestial Avatar.png Celestial Avatar: Players can now use the mount key while in Celestial Avatar. Doing so will automatically deactivate Celestial Avatar. Any remaining Astral Force is lost upon deactivating Celestial Avatar in this way.
Soulbeast[edit]
  • Fixed a bug in which swapping Build Templates could leave players merged with a pet not in their current build. Swapping between soulbeast Build Templates while merged with a pet will now unmerge your pet, and then automatically remerge after the template swap completes.
  • Fixed a bug in which swapping Build Templates could leave players merged with a pet even when they no longer have the soulbeast specialization slotted.
  • One Wolf Pack.png One Wolf Pack: Fixed a bug that caused damaging strikes from this skill to fail to occur on certain large bosses, such as Tequatl the Sunless.
  • Beastmode.png Beastmode: On entering or exiting water, if players were previously merged with their pet, they will now automatically remerge after transitioning to water or land.

Revenant[edit]

Renegade[edit]
Shortbow[edit]
  • Sevenshot.png Sevenshot: Torment duration per hit has been reduced from 7 seconds to 6 seconds.

Warrior[edit]

  • Vengeance (skill).png Vengeance: Fixed a bug that could cause players to fail to fully rally when killing enemies in certain content types or locations.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store[edit]

New Items and Promotions[edit]

Black Lion Chest[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

  • Fixed a bug in which one of the idle animations on the Shimmerwing Skyscale Skin was playing fire-breath visual effects when it shouldn't.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

Update - August 3, 2021[edit]

Bug Fix:[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 118,189
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