Game updates/November 2017

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November 2017 updates
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Update - November 29th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

  • Raids—Hall of Chains: Fixed an issue that prevented the Statue of Darkness event from completing.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented players who are not instance owners from receiving credit for "The First City" story instance in a party.
  • Adjusted the health of Branded wyverns and Death-Branded Lieutenants in the "Eye of the Brandstorm" chapter.
  • Raids—Hall of Chains: Fixed an issue in which the Eater of Souls could die early.
  • Fixed an issue that caused players to become stuck if they teleported outside of the arena during an encounter in "The First City" story instance.
  • Fixed a server crash.
  • Fixed a client crash.
  • Akili will no longer get stuck during his escort event.
  • Revenge of the Capricorn: Fixed an issue in which the Capricorn ship appeared in the wrong location.
  • Fixed a bug with books in Istan.
  • Fixed a bug that caused too many Daily Domain of Istan achievements to be active in one day.
  • Corrected an issue in which Daily Domain of Istan achievements awarded extra achievement points.
  • Fixed a bug in which the Branded wyvern would become immortal and sentient, and then it would decide to block chapter progression.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 84,491

Update 3 - November 28th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

  • Raids—Hall of Chains: Completing the Statue of Darkness event will now properly reward an achievement.
  • Raids—Hall of Chains: The Surging Souls pattern no longer causes an errant wave to appear.
  • Brandstone elementals will now properly advance their kill objective in the Eye of the Brandstorm story instance.
  • Raids—Hall of Chains: Fixed an issue that prevented the statue events from resetting properly.
  • Raids—Hall of Chains: The Necro Dancer achievement now properly applies and reapplies the tracking effect when the encounter starts and resets.
  • Updated the tooltip for the Resplendent Avialan to clarify that this item unlocks a raptor mount skin.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented some players from reaching Istan.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Call of the Mists from being applied to players in the Hall of Chains raid instance.

11/28/2017 - Late Notes[edit]

General[edit]

  • Renown rewards and WvW reward chests can now be right-clicked to quickly take their contents.

Fractals[edit]

  • Agony will no longer reduce barrier application.
  • Skorvald's Supernova attack in the Shattered Observatory fractal can no longer be dodged.
  • The magical launchers in the Skorvald fight will no longer pull in downed players.
  • Time pockets, temporal anomalies, and Corporeal Reassignment are now more consistent in the Arkk fight.

Professions[edit]

Mesmer[edit]
  • Imaginary Axes.png Imaginary Axes: This skill will no longer hit the same target twice with the same axe.
  • Mirrored Axes.png Mirrored Axes —Phantasmal Seeking Axe: This skill will no longer hit the same target twice with the same axe.

Items[edit]

A new item, Gift of Desert Mastery, has been added to allow crafting legendary weapons by playing in Path of Fire™ maps.

Structured Player vs. Player[edit]

  • We've introduced a new PvP Conquest Timeline feature. During a PvP match, you can see a running timeline of both teams' scores. Events that affect the score will show up as icons on the timeline.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store[edit]

Bug Fix[edit]
  • The Mysterious Sands Chest has been updated to include the Dreamthistle Dagger skin.

China-Specific Release Notes[edit]

Bug Fix[edit]

  • Fixed an issue that prevented the zoom feature from zooming in on the face of the model when creating a new necromancer character of any race.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 84,459

Update 2 - November 28th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fix[edit]

  • Fixed a server crash.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 84,450

Update - November 28th, 2017[edit]

Living World–"Daybreak"[edit]

After a freak Brandstorm engulfs the Elonian city of Amnoon, a mysterious vision reveals that an encounter in the ancient ruins might determine the fate of Tyria. The commander embarks on a search for a secretive order of warriors who guard the way into the ancient city, just as the consequences of past choices come home to roost.

New Legendary Focus[edit]

A new legendary weapon is now available. Speak to Grandmaster Craftsman Hobbs in Lion's Arch to learn how to craft the new focus precursor, "Ars Goetia," and forge this new legendary focus.

World Polish[edit]

Elon Riverlands[edit]

  • Added a conversation line to Jimoh to help indicate that she can escort up to ten defectors north to the oasis camp.
  • Fixed a bug that caused one of the Deadhouse prisoners to remain hidden in their cell.

The Desolation[edit]

  • Added a fix so the second finisher used on each of the Maws of Torment portals will show the player's chosen finisher instead of the Realm Portal Spike Finisher.

General[edit]

Fractals[edit]

New Fractal: Twilight Oasis[edit]

  • Journey to the past and witness events that shaped Elona, for better or worse.

Fractal Revamps[edit]

Captain Mai Trin Boss[edit]

The Captain Mai Trin Boss fractal has a few pain points, namely the lack of diversity in the encounter, as well as the inability to progress the cannon transitions any faster through player skill. The fractal has been updated to reflect our new encounter-design standards and increase player engagement at all tiers.

  • Improved telegraphing and targeting consistency of Horrik's cannon attacks.
  • Captain Mai Trin will now fixate on the farthest player for a short time after a teleport.
  • Adjusted transitions to rely more on player skill for progression.
  • Improved mechanical escalation.
  • Implemented various bug fixes and improvements.
Molten Boss[edit]

The Molten Boss fractal was too short to be considered a full fractal, and it had some time-gated content that made replaying the fractal a bit tedious. Now, the fractal is full length and has received various improvements to bring it up to our new quality standards.

  • Improved the environment art and lighting.
  • Added new encounters reminiscent of the original dungeon.
  • Added new dialogue for the final bosses.
  • Removed unnecessary waiting.
  • Replaced a cinematic.
  • Improved telegraphing on the Molten Firestorm.
  • Reduced the amount of knockbacks in the second phase of the Molten Berserker.
  • Removed evades from the Molten Berserker.
  • Changed the outer ring in the second phase of the Molten Firestorm encounter to be much less punishing for melee players.
  • Reworked the Champion Molten Effigy encounter.
  • Rebuilt the Molten Alliance creature skillsets to be better telegraphed and more fair.
  • Added new content to the second phases of the boss fight at tiers 3 and 4.
  • Implemented various bug fixes and improvements.
Mistlock Instabilities[edit]
  • Two new Mistlock Instabilities have been added to the fractals.
  • Flux Bomb will no longer be able to appear in midair.
  • Adjusted which instabilities appear at some scales.

Fractal Rewards[edit]

Long-term uses for fractal currency have been lacking, so new rewards have been added that can be purchased using fractal currencies and materials. Additionally, some rewards, such as fractal encryptions, experience, and karma, were inconsistent, with some fractals providing too much and some fractals providing too little.

  • The karma reward formula has been simplified. Players will no longer be penalized for playing above their Personal Fractal Level or for playing above scale 90.
  • Tyrian Mastery experience rewards in fractals have been standardized so that tiers 1–4 respectively give 2, 4, 8, and 12 writs of mastery experience.
  • Standardized Fractal Encryption rewards for all fractals, with the exception of the Nightmare and Shattered Observatory fractals, which now reward extra Fractal Encryptions.
  • New account augmentations can be purchased from Deroir in the Mistlock Observatory.
  • Added ascended rings, accessories, and amulets with selectable stats to BUY-2046 PFR.
  • Added Mystic Clovers to BUY-4373. Purchases are limited to two per day.
  • Added equipment bags that can be purchased with Blade Shards to BLING-9009 after completing the harbinger's challenge in the Nightmare fractal. Purchases are limited to five per day.
  • Added Integrated Fractal Matrices to the material storage tab in the Bank.
  • Reduced the Obsidian Shard gold cost and increased the relic cost.
  • The Mistlock Observatory jumping puzzle now offers a small number of daily relics.
  • The Fractal Console guild decoration can now be constructed, and players can interact with it for unique effects.

Fractal Quality of Life Updates[edit]

  • Added Mystic Forge recipes with swappable states to existing cosmetic infusions, such as Celestial Infusion, Chak Infusion, Ghostly Infusion, etc.
  • Added Mystic Forge recipes with swappable stats for rare infusions.
  • Added expertise and concentration infusions.
  • Added a right-click "Consume All" option for fractal encryptions and keys.
  • When a party is defeated, astral force for Celestial Avatar and life force for Death Shroud will now refill.
  • Moved the first Cliffside Mistlock Singularity to a more convenient location.

General[edit]

  • Changed which fractals appear at scales 1–7.

Raids[edit]

Hall of Chains[edit]

  • An influx of murderous undead relentlessly hunt innocent worshipers of Grenth. Infiltrate the Underworld and join the struggle for control over the fates of the living and the dead.

Spirit Vale[edit]

  • Players who fall into the River of Spirits while the Sabetha encounter is active will now be teleported back to the main platform.
  • Sabetha's flame wall attack, Firestorm, has received general improvements to its collision detection.
  • Jumping will no longer negate the teleport from Unstable Magic Spike.
  • Gorseval now has a facing arrow decal, similar to Vale Guardian.
  • Gorseval's prisons now receive conditions and critical hits.
  • Revealed is no longer permanently applied when Gorseval is engaged.
  • Boss attacks now have more information in the combat log.
  • All bosses are no longer immune to weakness.

Salvation Pass[edit]

  • Improved messaging on Slothasor's Tantrum telegraphs.
  • Boss attacks now have more information in the combat log.
  • An achievement-tracking effect has been added to Environmentally Friendly.
  • Saboteurs now have Veteran status to assist with tab targeting.

Stronghold of the Faithful[edit]

  • Boss attacks now have more information in the combat log.
  • Revealed is no longer permanently applied when the Keep Construct is engaged.
  • Revealed is no longer permanently applied when Xera is engaged.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the Radiant and Crimson Phantasms from disappearing.
  • Fixed an issue in which conditions could damage the Keep Construct while invulnerable, allowing for phases to be skipped.

General[edit]

  • The Raid Mastery track, if locked, will now be hidden. This has been done to allow players who do not participate in raids to gain experience toward Spirit Shards. Completing any encounter inside of a Heart of Thorns™ raid will unlock and make visible the Raid Mastery track.
  • Various bosses now apply revealed directly to fixated targets and high-toughness targets through attacks.
  • Boons, barriers, and mounts are now removed more expediently when an event starts.
  • Event failure now refills astral force for Celestial Avatar and life force for Death Shroud.
  • The Rift Traveler Mastery has been renamed Rift Forger. Travel via Ley Rifts is now available to all players, and the Rift Forger Mastery will allow players to repair their armor.
  • All bosses are no longer immune to weakness.
  • Boss encounters had incongruent toughness values across the board. With a few exceptions, all encounters have had their toughness normalized.
    • Vale Guardian, Keep Construct, and McLeod the Silent remain unchanged.

Structured Player vs. Player[edit]

  • Players can no longer mount or glide in the Free-for-All arena found in the Heart of the Mists.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store[edit]

New Items and Promotions[edit]

  • For a limited time, the new Resplendent Avialan raptor mount skin is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 2,000 gems.
  • A new Elonian Landscape Dye Kit containing six exclusive colors is now available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
  • For seven days, the Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey returns to the Utility category of the Gem Store for 1,000 gems.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Re-arranged some of the shipwreck in the northwest of Southsun Cove. Previously, players could use the Springer to jump from a mast on the shipwreck onto the northwesternmost island, and from there reach the end of the Skipping Stones jumping puzzle. This shortcut has been removed.
  • Re-arranged some of the land around the start of Swashbuckler's Cove. Previously, players could use leap skills to jump to the end of the puzzle, skipping the lights, underwater sections and pirates. This shortcut has been removed.
  • Fixed a bug where, if a player mounted up but the mount hasn't finished loading, the camera would remain in place while the character could move around.
  • Build: 84,419

Update - November 13th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 84,172

Update - November 10th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 84,086

Update - November 8th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 84,023

Update 2 - November 7th, 2017[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]

  • Build: 83,991

Update - November 7th, 2017[edit]

Living World[edit]

  • As the gates to the Mad Realm fade, Halloween is drawing to a close. Finish your investigations and barter your Candy Corn Cobs, because the festival will end for the year on November 8 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC -8).

World Polish[edit]

Crystal Oasis
Domain of Vabbi
  • Fixed a bug in which the Mastery-point djinn in the Brand would create multiple shield pylons.
Lion's Arch
  • Fixed a bug that enabled certain NPCs to wander up onto the dais with the Black Lion Traders, making them more difficult to interact with.

General[edit]

  • Some new collection achievements for Path of Fire skins have been added.
  • Consumable karma bonuses that drop from Path of Fire events are now automatically used when entering your inventory. Old copies will have to be used manually but will no longer drop.
  • Rewards for several major events in Path of Fire have been overhauled, including Serpents' Ire and Junundu Rising.
  • Right-clicking a bouncy chest will automatically take the contents if there is no selectable item for most achievements and reward tracks.
  • Fixed a bug in which several ascended-armor recipe books offered exotic-weapon crafting recipes.
  • Moved the Halloween achievement Lunatic's Fashion to the Fashion category so that it will be available while the Halloween festival is inactive.
  • Several items can no longer be used in combat, by level-1 characters, or in the tutorial instances, as they can block player progress through the personal story.
  • Pulsing Brandsparks can now be crafted by all crafting disciplines.
  • The Primeval Steward in the Crystal Highlands[sic] now offers some additional crafting recipes, and some older items have had their costs rebalanced.
  • A useless item called "Black Diamond," which was not actually used in crafting recipes, has been removed from loot tables and replaced with the useful crafting material of the same name.
    • The old item, as well as the account-bound Brandspark Jewel and Sunset Jewel items, can be traded with some vendors in the Free City of Amnoon in exchange for the useful Black Diamond crafting material.
    • Guild Wars 2 Wiki note: Black Diamond/Brandpsark/Sunset Jewel merchant exchange was bugged, so the Merchants were temporarily disabled/removed whilst ArenaNet looked into the pricing issue.
  • Chests, including Buried Treasure and Superior Buried Treasure, have had some rewards changed.
  • Fixed bugs preventing some of the collectibles related to the Funerary weapon and armor collections from awarding the right materials:
  • Renown merchants throughout the Crystal Desert have new recipes available.
  • Priory Researcher Elisa[sic] now has new recipes available.
  • Removed the ability to sell Piles of Elonian Trade Contracts to vendors.
  • Scribing recipes for Path of Fire matrices now use 50 regular Quartz Crystals instead of 1 Charged Quartz.
  • Fixed a bug with the animation speeds of the Mini Springer Mount.
  • Fixed a bug with the Marshal's stat combination (Power, Healing, Condition Damage, and Precision), which should now provide appropriate stats when selected or used in ascended-quality gear.

Fractals[edit]

Personal Story[edit]

The Sacrifice
  • Enabled stricter enforcement of rules regarding player and NPC mounting in the climax of this instance to prevent potential stalls.
Beast of War
  • Sohothin skills will now remove stealth from the player.
  • Players joining their friends can now earn the rewards for completing the chapter.
Items

Profession Skills[edit]

General[edit]

Several new enemies in Path of Fire have attacks that can launch the player into the air, so with this update we are changing several stun-break skills to be usable while in the air. Certain types of skills, such as shadowsteps and skills that summon creatures, are exempt from this change, as allowing them to be used in the air would create undesirable gameplay behaviors.

  • Stun-Break Skills: Many stun-break skills have been reviewed and are now able to be used in midair. Stun breaks that could result in undesirable behavior are not able to be used in midair.
  • Taunt: This condition now has a proper conversion and will transform into 2 seconds of resistance. Keep in mind that stun breaks take priority over condition conversion.
  • Superior Rune of the Firebrand: Fixed a bug that caused the rune to indicate condition duration instead of condition damage.
  • PvP: Added Path of Fire elite specialization runes to PvP. (see below)
  • Rune of the Guardian: This rune now has a 2-second internal cooldown.
  • Barrier: The duration before decay begins has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds. The time for the barrier to decay has been reduced from 4 seconds to 3 seconds.

Elementalist[edit]

The weaver's sword has been underperforming a bit when compared to several of the core elementalist weapons, so we're tuning up several sword skills in this update to put their damage numbers in a better position. Additionally, Conjure Earth Shield is being updated to be a source of barrier, which we felt would be a good thematic fit for the earth skills it provides. Lastly, we'll be looking to tone down a few builds that increase damage exponentially against larger targets.

Skills[edit]
  • Polaric Slash.png Polaric Slash: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
  • Crystalline Strike.png Crystalline Strike: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
  • Fire Swipe.png Fire Swipe: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
  • Clapotis.png Clapotis: The casting time and aftercast of this skill have been reduced by 0.24 seconds.
  • Flame Uprising.png Flame Uprising: Increased the physical damage for the initial impact of this skill by 50%.
  • Cauterizing Strike.png Cauterizing Strike: Increased the base physical damage of this skill by 20%. Increased the damage against burning foes by 14%.
  • Pyro Vortex.png Pyro Vortex: This skill now pulses every 0.33 seconds, down from 1 second. Increased the number of pulses from 3 to 6.
  • Conjure Fiery Greatsword.png Conjure Fiery Greatsword:
    • Flame Wave.png Flame Wave: This skill now allows other skills to be cast during its animation.
    • Fiery Eruption.png Lesser Fiery Eruption: The cooldown of this passively activated skill has been increased from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
  • Conjure Earth Shield.png Conjure Earth Shield: This conjured weapon now utilizes a new enhancement, Tectonic Shift, which grants barrier every second it is active.
    • Stone Sheath.png Stone Sheath: This skill now applies 2 seconds of Tectonic Shift in addition to its current effects when successfully blocking an attack. The physical damage of this skill has been increased by 100%.
    • Magnetic Wave.png Magnetic Surge: The physical damage of this skill has been increased by 100%. In addition to its current effects, the beginning of this skill now grants Magnetic Aura to the user for 4 seconds.
    • Magnetic Shield (elementalist skill).png Magnetic Shield: This skill now applies 2 seconds of Tectonic Shift in addition to its current effects for each enemy struck by the attack. The casting time of this skill has been reduced by 0.4 seconds.
    • Crippling Shield.png Crippling Shield: This skill now deals double damage and inflicts 2 stacks of bleeding for 10 seconds (per target) if the user is under the effects of barrier.
    • Shield Smash.png Shield Smash: Increased the physical damage of this skill by 17%.
  • Conjure Frost Bow.png Conjure Frost Bow:
    • Frost Storm.png Ice Storm: Against nonplayer enemies, this skill now has a 0.25-second cooldown on each enemy, during which the enemy cannot be struck again by the skill.
  • Arcane Power.png Arcane Power: Reduced the number of stacks applied to allies from 4 to 2. The user of this skill retains 4 stacks on casting.
Traits[edit]
  • Final Shielding.png Final Shielding: The skill fired by this trait has been renamed to Lesser Arcane Shield.

Engineer[edit]

Engineer updates are focused around the holosmith and improving the synergy of the Photon Forge mode with other skills. To that end, the sword is seeing some improvements to smooth out rotations and to make heat stocking more valuable. Additionally, several holosmith skills are gaining combo finishers to synergize with core engineers' variety of fields.

  • Holosmith Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Berserker, Marauder, and Marshal options. This change will reset your current shoulder pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.
Skills[edit]
  • Sun Edge.png Sun Edge/Sun Ripper.png Sun Ripper/Gleam Saber.png Gleam Saber: Removed heat bonuses that increased critical-hit chance. Added a new heat bonus that increases damage by 10% while above 50 heat and 20% while above 100 heat.
  • Gleam Saber.png Gleam Saber: Increased damage by 10%.
  • Refraction Cutter.png Refraction Cutter: Increased blade projectile damage by 25%. Projectiles fired by this skill are considered projectile finishers. Increased projectile width and effect size.
  • Radiant Arc.png Radiant Arc: Reduced casting time by 0.1 second. Reduced aftercast by 0.1 second.
  • Holo Leap.png Holo Leap: The swiftness or superspeed applied by this skill is now applied at the end of the leap rather than at the start.
  • Photon Blitz.png Photon Blitz: This skill is now a 20% chance projectile finisher.
  • Holographic Shockwave.png Holographic Shockwave: This skill is now a blast finisher. This skill will now go on interrupt cooldown instead of full cooldown if it is interrupted before the shock wave is created.
  • Coolant Blast.png Coolant Blast: This skill is now a blast finisher. Chill duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Cauterize.png Cauterize: Increased number of conditions removed from 2 to 3. Conditions removed while above 50 heat increased from 4 to 6.
  • Photon Wall.png Photon Wall: Reduced aftercast by 0.25 seconds.
Traits[edit]

Guardian[edit]

For this update, we are focusing on the usability of firebrand mantras, which we feel are currently underperforming. By increasing the radius of these skills, we hope that they will be easier to use to support parties in conjunction with the existing tome skills. A few firebrand traits are also having their internal cooldowns adjusted to better synchronize with each other.

  • Firebrand Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Viper, Trailblazer, and Marshal options. This change will reset your current helm pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.
Skills[edit]
  • Firebrand tome skills now set each other on a 0.5-second cooldown upon equip.
  • Firebrand icon small.png Mantras: Fixed a bug that prevented proper resetting of mantra charges while mounted.
    • Mantra of Flame.png Mantra of Flame: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
    • Mantra of Lore.png Mantra of Lore: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
    • Mantra of Liberation.png Mantra of Liberation: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
    • Mantra of Potence.png Mantra of Potence: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
    • Mantra of Solace.png Mantra of Solace: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
    • Mantra of Truth.png Mantra of Truth: Increased the range of this skill from 300 to 450. Increased the radius of this skill from 120 to 180.
Traits[edit]
  • Healer's Resolution.png Healer's Resolution: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from granting retaliation when using Mantra of Solace's active skills: Restoring Reprieve and Rejuvenating Respite.
  • Liberator's Vow.png Liberator's Vow: Reduced the internal cooldown on this trait from 12 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Stalwart Speed.png Stalwart Speed: Increased the internal cooldown on this trait from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Quickfire.png Quickfire: Reduced the stacks of Ashes of the Just granted by this trait from 2 to 1. Reduced the internal cooldown on this trait from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Retribution (trait).png Retribution: Fixed a bug that was erroneously displaying increased damage on sword and spear attacks.

Mesmer[edit]

Today's mesmer update is focused around the Mirage's Axe. We've cleaned up several bugs and animation hang-ups that could cause the weapon to feel less smooth than intended. Additionally, we are adding camera refocusing to skills that shadowstep you to points around your target. These skills will attempt to face your camera behind your character after the shadowstep occurs so that it's easier to keep focus on your target.

  • Mirage: Added new UI effects to indicate when Mirage Cloak is active.
Skills[edit]
  • Axe Autoattack: Fixed a bug that could cause skills used in the middle of the attack sequence to have a noticeable delay before activating.
  • Lingering Thoughts.png Lingering Thoughts: Lowered aftercast by 0.1 second. Fixed a bug that caused this skill to show an incorrect casting time. Added a 0.25-second recharge between uses of this skill to prevent accidental double use.
  • Axes of Symmetry.png Axes of Symmetry: This skill will now rotate the camera to face your target after the shadowstep. This skill now performs a range check before casting. Shortened maximum distance to target after shadowstep by 20%.
  • Illusionary Ambush.png Illusionary Ambush: Increased Mirage Cloak duration to 1 second to be consistent with other skills. This skill now takes into account your currently wielded weapon when determining maximum shadowstep distance from the target. Updated minimum and maximum distances from target for random shadowstep calculations. This skill will now rotate the camera to face your target after the shadowstep.
  • Imaginary Axes.png Imaginary Axes: Increased seek distance for the follow-up attack by 20%. Increased stacks of confusion for the player version of this skill from 1 to 2 (clones still apply 1 stack). Increased damage by 20%. This skill no longer requires you to face your target.
  • Phantasmal Berserker.png Phantasmal Berserker: Reduced casting time from 1 second to 0.75 seconds.
  • Chaos Vortex.png Chaos Vortex: Increased projectile speed by 25%. Increased projectile damage by 20%. Removed confusion and torment conditions. This skill now inflicts bleeding (2 stacks for 6 seconds), burning (1 stack for 3 seconds), and vulnerability (3 stacks for 5 seconds).
  • Jaunt.png Jaunt: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from being recognized as an elite skill for the purposes of some rune effects.
Traits[edit]
  • Mirrored Axes.png Mirrored Axes: Fixed a bug that prevented clones from generating the bonus axe.
    • Phantasmal Seeking Axe.png Phantasmal Seeking Axe: Increased seek distance for the follow-up attack by 20%. Increased damage by 33%. Reduced angle variance.
    • Mirrored Axes.png Phantasmal Spinning Axe: Increased torment duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Increased damage by 33%.
  • Dune Cloak.png Dune CloakSand Shards.png Sand Shards: Fixed the incorrect skill facts to show the actual value of 3 stacks of bleeding for 4 seconds.
  • Shards of Glass.png Desert Distortion: Fixed a bug that prevented mirrors from spawning if Distortion was activated while jumping.

Necromancer[edit]

The reaper specialization from Heart of Thorns™ is seeing a few significant changes in this update, primarily centered around Reaper's Shroud. We drastically increased the damage of all shroud attacks while simultaneously increasing the rate at which life force is lost while in shroud. These changes are aimed at allowing the reaper to output more damage at the cost of some defense. In conjunction with these changes, we are also revisiting some underperforming shroud-based traits to focus their power into specific high points centered around entering or leaving shroud.

Skills[edit]
  • Blood Is Power.png Blood Is Power (World vs. World): This skill's PvP split has been extended to WvW and will now use the lower 20-second cooldown.
  • Deathly Chill.png Deathly Chill (World vs. World): This skill's[sic] PvP split has been extended to WvW and will now apply 1 stack of bleeding for 8 seconds upon chill application.
  • Manifest Sand Shade.png Manifest Sand Shade: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill's targets to be lost due to proximity between shades or the casting scourge. Made back-end changes to increase the priority of shade visibility.
  • Nefarious Favor.png Nefarious Favor: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill's targets to be lost due to proximity between shades or the casting scourge.
  • Sand Cascade.png Sand Cascade: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill's targets to be lost due to proximity between shades or the casting scourge.
  • Garish Pillar.png Garish Pillar: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill's targets to be lost due to proximity between shades or the casting scourge.
  • Desert Shroud.png Desert Shroud: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill's targets to be lost due to proximity between shades or the casting scourge. Increased the damage inflicted per strike of this skill by 25%. Increased the duration of torment inflicted on each pulse of this skill from 2 seconds to 4 seconds in PvE.
  • Reaper's Shroud.png Reaper's Shroud: Increased life-force consumption rate from 3% per second to 5% per second.
    • Life Rend.png Life Rend: Increased damage by 25%.
    • Life Slash.png Life Slash: Increased damage by 30%.
    • Life Reap.png Life Reap: Increased damage by 25%. Reduced life-force gain per hit from 2% to 1.5%.
    • Death's Charge.png Death's Charge: Increased damage by 25%.
    • Soul Spiral.png Soul Spiral: Increased damage by 40%. Reduced poison duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds. Reduced number of whirl finishers on this skill from 6 to 4.
    • Executioner's Scythe.png Executioner's Scythe: Increased damage by 33% on targets above 50% health. Increased damage by 30% on targets below 50% health. Increased damage by 28% on targets below 25% health.
  • Fading Twilight.png Fading Twilight: Increased damage by 8%.
  • Sand Swell.png Sand Swell: This skill can no longer be canceled by other skills before the portal is created. Fixed an issue where the displayed casting time did not reflect the actual casting time.
  • Chilling Scythe.png Chilling Scythe: Increased damage by 21%.
Traits[edit]
  • Reaper's Onslaught.png Reaper's Onslaught: Recharge reduction on shroud skills is now calculated per target hit by Life Reap.
  • Awaken the Pain.png Rending Shroud: This trait has been renamed to Awaken the Pain. This trait grants 5 might for 5 seconds when entering shroud and causes might on you to grant 40 power and 20 condition damage per stack at level 80.
  • Reaper's Might.png Reaper's Might: Fixed a bug that was preventing this trait from properly granting might on use of scourge shroud skills.
  • Dhuumfire.png Dhuumfire: Fixed a bug that was preventing this trait from properly inflicting burning on use of scourge shroud skills.
  • Unyielding Blast.png Unyielding Blast: Fixed a bug that was preventing this trait from properly inflicting vulnerability on use of scourge shroud skills.
  • Spiteful Spirit.png Spiteful Spirit: The attack caused by this trait now converts 2 additional boons on targets below 50% health.
  • Unholy Martyr.png Unholy Martyr: This trait's functionality has changed. It now causes the necromancer to draw up to 5 conditions from 5 allies within a range of 600 to themselves when entering shroud. When exiting shroud, the necromancer consumes up to 3 conditions, converting each condition into 7% life force.
  • Signets of Suffering.png Signets of Suffering: This trait now grants the passives for all equipped signets while in shroud, regardless of whether those signets were on recharge prior to entering shroud. Removed 20% recharge reduction. This trait now causes all signets to recharge by 4% each second that shroud is active.
  • Plague Sending.png Plague Sending: This trait has had its functionality changed. It now causes your first strike after entering shroud to transfer two conditions to your target.

Ranger[edit]

In addition to improving the reliability of some of the new Path of Fire pet attacks, we also did a pass on the soulbeast stances, which we felt needed a bit more tuning. Core ranger is also seeing an increase in the number of targets affected by spirits, which we hope will help ease the burden for raid groups feeling they need to always take two rangers in every group for full coverage. Finally, we are making a big change to Grace of the Land and moving its unique enhancement to be a standardized might gain instead. This trait has been too dominant even after earlier reductions and is providing too much bonus damage to a group from a specialization that is otherwise focused around healing and support. Coupled with changes to the warrior's Phalanx Strength and the deadeye's Fire for Effect traits, we'd like to see more professions that are capable of providing significant amounts of might in group settings.

  • Soulbeast Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Marshal, Viper, and Marauder options. This change will reset your current glove pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.
Skills[edit]
  • Beastmode: Mounting while merged will now preserve your state as having been merged so that when you dismount you will instantly reenter Beastmode. Fixed a bug that would temporarily stow a ranger's pet if downed when in the middle of merging.
  • Call of the Wild.png Call of the Wild: This skill now grants its unblockable enhancement to a ranger in Beastmode.
  • Bonfire.png Bonfire: Reduced the duration of burning from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds.
  • Whirling Defense.png Whirling Defense: Increased damage by 15%.
  • "Guard!".png "Guard!": This skill now grants its enhancements to a ranger in Beastmode.
  • "Search and Rescue!".png "Search & Rescue!": Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from pulling an ally to you and reviving them while in Beastmode.
  • Sharpening Stone.png Sharpening Stone: Decreased the duration of bleeding applied from stacks of this skill from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Water Spirit.png Water Spirit: Increased the number of targets affected by the Water Spirit from 5 to 10 targets.
  • Frost Spirit.png Frost Spirit: Increased the number of targets affected by the Spirit of Frost from 5 to 10 targets.
  • Sun Spirit.png Sun Spirit: Increased the number of targets affected by the Sun Spirit from 5 to 10 targets.
  • Stone Spirit.png Stone Spirit: Increased the number of targets affected by the Stone Spirit from 5 to 10 targets.
  • Storm Spirit.png Storm Spirit: Increased the number of targets affected by the Storm Spirit from 5 to 10 targets.
  • Spirit of Nature.png Spirit of Nature: Increased the number of targets healed each interval from 5 to 10 targets.
  • Seed of Life.png Seed of Life: Decreased the base heal value of this skill by 18.5%. Increased the healing scaling of this skill by 21.5%.
  • Griffon Stance.png Griffon Stance: Reduced the cooldown of this skill from 45 seconds to 40 seconds. Increased the might granted from evading a strike from 1 stack to 2 stacks.
  • Vulture Stance.png Vulture Stance: Increased the rate your strikes can trigger the hit effects from this skill by 100%. Reduced the duration of might and poison from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Removed the health threshold component of this skill; this skill now grants might and inflicts poison each strike.
  • Moa Stance.png Moa Stance: Added regeneration for 8 seconds to the boons granted by this skill. Increased the duration of Moa Stance's effect from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
  • One Wolf Pack.png One Wolf Pack: Increased the rate at which you could cause additional strikes by 100%. Reduced the delay before the additional strike lands from 1 second to 0.5 seconds. Reduced the damage of strikes from this skill by 10%.
Pets[edit]
  • Rock GazelleHeadbutt (gazelle).png Headbutt: This skill now moves toward the target during the attack, allowing the pet to track the target better.
  • Rock Gazelle—Charge (gazelle).png Charge: Reduced the activation period of this skill by 0.5 seconds and increased the movement speed so that it more frequently travels the indicated range of 900. The gazelle will now move through targets and may hit up to 3 in one charge.
  • Rock Gazelle—Kick (gazelle).png Kick: This skill has been sped up considerably and will now start its attacks beginning at 0.5 seconds.
  • IbogaConsuming Bite.png Consuming Bite: This skill now moves the iboga toward its target and recovers considerably faster between attacks.
  • Wilting Strike.png Wilting Strike: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from affecting the F2 skills of the rock gazelle, iboga, and jacaranda.
Traits[edit]
  • Pack Alpha.png Pack Alpha: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from affecting the F2 skills of pets from the Path of Fire region.
  • Unstoppable Union.png Unstoppable Union: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from stun breaking when activating Beastmode.
  • Oppressive Superiority.png Oppressive Superiority: Clarified the description of this trait to explicitly call out the percentile comparison for its bonuses.
  • Leader of the Pack.png Leader of the Pack: This trait now increases the duration of stance enhancements applied to the ranger using a stance skill by 50% in addition to its previous effects.
  • Verdant Etching.png Verdant Etching: Decreased the base heal value of the skill activated by this trait by 18.5%. Increased the healing scaling of the skill by 21.5%.
  • Grace of the Land.png Grace of the Land: This trait no longer grants a unique enhancement. It now grants 4 stacks of might for 8 seconds to up to 10 allies in the area of your Celestial Avatar skills.

Revenant[edit]

The off-hand sword weapon for the revenant had a bit of an identity crisis. While the main-hand sword is primarily an offensive weapon, the off-hand feels like it's trying to be both a defensive and utility weapon at the same time. We're reworking both skills on this weapon to be more accurately positioned as an offensive power option for the off-hand slot. We also took a hard look at the Invocation trait line and removed several of the harder-to-use traits based on energy thresholds. We've replaced them with new traits that reinforce the themes of energy management and legend swapping to strengthen the themes of this line.

  • Renegade Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Celestial, Viper, and Grieving options. This change will reset your current helm pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.
Skills[edit]
  • Duelist's Preparation.png Duelist's Preparation: This skill is no longer available on the revenant's off-hand sword.
  • Shackling Wave.png Shackling Wave: This skill has been reworked and will now deliver up to 5 strikes to random enemies in the area in addition to its initial impact. Immobilize duration has been reduced to 1 second and is increased by 1 second to all targets per target struck. Base damage of this skill has been reduced by 20%. Bonus strikes are equal to 25% of the initial impact each. The cooldown of this skill has been set at 15 seconds, while the energy cost is set at 10.
  • Deathstrike.png Grasping Shadow: This skill has been renamed to Deathstrike and has a reworked functionality. Activating this skill will now shadowstep the revenant toward their target, up to a range of 600 away, and deliver a strike that chills and slows the foe for 3 seconds while gaining fury. If this attack successfully lands, the revenant will immediately deliver a second attack that deals large damage. The cooldown of this skill is 20 seconds, with the energy cost being 20 as well.
  • Bloodbane Path.png Bloodbane Path: Increased the duration of bleeding per strike inflicted by this skill from 7 seconds to 8 seconds.
  • Sevenshot.png Sevenshot: Increased the duration of torment inflicted per arrow from 4 seconds to 7 seconds.
  • Spiritcrush.png Spiritcrush: Increased the duration of burning inflicted per interval from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Increased the duration of slow inflicted per interval from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.
  • Heroic Command.png Heroic Command: Increased the base might granted by this skill per stack of Kalla's Fervor from 1 to 2 stacks.
  • Orders from Above.png Orders from Above: Increased the duration of alacrity granted by this skill per interval from 1 seconds to 1.5 seconds.
  • Echoing Eruption.png Echoing Eruption: Decreased the amount of torment inflicted by this skill from 5 stacks for 10 seconds to 4 stacks for 8 seconds. Fixed a bug that was causing inconsistency with moving toward your target. Fixed a bug that could cause attacks from multiple revenants using this skill to miss a target.
Traits[edit]
  • Lasting Legacy.png Lasting Legacy: This trait no longer increases your maximum potential stacks of Kalla's Fervor. It now increases the effect of Kalla's Fervor from 30 ferocity and 2% condition damage to 50 ferocity and 3% condition damage, and increases the might granted from Heroic Command per stack of Kalla's Fervor from 2 to 3.
  • Radiant Revival.png Radiant Revival: Fixed a bug that caused the effect applied by this skill to use the wrong icon.
  • Charged Mists.png Charged Mists: This trait has been reworked. It now grants 25 extra energy to your new legend when you invoke while at or below 10 energy.
  • Song of the Mists.png Shrouded Mists: This trait has been reworked and renamed Song of the Mists, and it causes invoking a legend to cast a skill based on the legend you are invoking. This trait has swapped positions with Roiling Mists.
  • Spirit Boon.png Equilibrium: This trait has been reworked and renamed Spirit Boon and grants a legend-specific boon to yourself and nearby allies when you invoke a new legend.
  • Forceful Persistence.png Cruel Repercussion: This trait has been reworked and renamed to Forceful Persistence, and it causes you to deal 7% increased damage while maintaining an upkeep skill. Herald upkeep skills grant a 2% bonus but can be stacked. This trait has swapped positions with Cleansing Channel.
  • Incensed Response.png Incensed Response: Increased might stacks from 2 to 5. This trait now requires you to be the source of fury in order to gain might.

Thief[edit]

This update for the thief is focused mostly around the deadeye specialization and fixing bugs that were hindering them from reaching their full potential. Fire for Effect.png Fire for Effect has also been simplified slightly, as we felt the range restriction on the second set of might and short radius on might application made this trait difficult to use. This improvement, along with the changes to the warrior's Phalanx Strength.png Phalanx Strength and the druid's Grace of the Land.png Grace of the Land, should offer multiple professions the opportunity to grant group might. One important balance change in this update is the change to Unhindered Combatant. While thieves, and by extension daredevils, are intended to be slippery combatants, the escape potential for this trait was a little too high.

Skills[edit]
  • Deadeye Stolen Skills: These skills can now be used while jumping or during skills that jump into the air. Fixed a bug that allowed stolen skills to be wasted by casting them on targets other than your mark. Stolen skills will now always be cast on your mark even if your mark is not your current target.
  • Rifle: All rifle skills that fire projectiles will now attempt to face the target before determining if they should activate.
  • Death's Retreat.png Death's Retreat: Updated the description to indicate that this skill shadowsteps away from your current target. Improved the reliability of shadowstep in areas with complex terrain.
  • Death's Judgment.png Death's Judgment: This skill now only deals its bonus damage to your marked target. Updated skill description.
  • Free Action.png Free Action: This skill can now be used to cancel Kneel if the player is sent airborne by an enemy skill. Fixed a bug that could cause this skill to not remove all instances of the listed conditions.
  • Cursed Bullet.png Cursed Bullet: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from working with the Rending Shade trait. Boon steal from Rending Shade occurs before boon corruption.
  • Bandit's Defense.png Bandit's Defense: The recharge of this skill has been increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
  • Binding Shadow.png Binding Shadow: This skill now performs a range check before activating. Removed range and line-of-sight restrictions from the delayed attack.
  • Shadow Meld.png Shadow Meld: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from being recognized as an elite skill for the purposes of some rune effects.
Traits[edit]
  • Expeditious Dodger.png Expeditious Dodger: Swiftness granted by this trait will now occur at the end of the dodge.
  • Unhindered Combatant.png Unhindered Combatant: Breaking inhibiting conditions with this trait now causes the thief to lose all endurance regeneration for 4 seconds. Direct endurance gains will still apply the full amount. Swiftness granted by this trait will now occur at the end of the dodge.
  • Improvisation.png Improvisation: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from working with ammo skills. It now restores 1 use to affected skills.
  • Renewing Gaze.png Renewing Gaze: Updated the text description for clarity.
  • Don't Stop.png Don't Stop: Removed the erroneous cooldown skill fact.
  • Perfectionist.png Perfectionist: Updated the description to clarify that boons are only gained when reaching full malice stacks. Gaining malice while at full malice stacks will not trigger this trait. Removed internal cooldown.
  • Fire for Effect.png Fire for Effect: Added a 1-second internal cooldown to this trait. This trait now grants might around the player and the marked target regardless of distance, but it can only grant might to the same target once per activation of the trait. Might applied has been reduced from 10 stacks for 15 seconds to 8 stacks for 12 seconds. Increased might application radius from 240 to 360.

Warrior[edit]

Axe is a warrior weapon that is perhaps more damage focused than any other weapon in the game. However, in some cases it was actually a damage loss to use certain skills. The axe enhancements in this update are intended to make sure that every skill can be a damage increase over autoattacking to properly position the axe as a damage weapon for warriors. We are also normalizing the functionality of Berserker's Stance and Balanced Stance to be shorter with stronger effects, in order to prevent long stretches of stability and resistance chaining. Finally, we are making a reduction to the might duration of Phalanx Strength. This trait is a core component of many raid groups, but we feel that with the increased prevalence of other might sources, the power of this trait needed to come down a little bit in order to allow other options to be considered. We'll be monitoring them all closely and tweaking where necessary.

Skills[edit]
  • Cyclone Axe.png Cyclone Axe: The physical damage of this skill has been increased by 33%.
  • Throw Axe.png Throw Axe: This skill now deals 50% more damage if the target is below 50% health, or 100% more damage if the target is below 25% health.
  • Whirling Axe.png Whirling Axe: The physical damage of this skill has been increased by 33%.
  • Throw Bolas.png Throw Bolas: Reduced the ammunition recharge of this skill from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
  • Balanced Stance.png Balanced Stance: Reduced duration from 8 seconds to 4 seconds. Reduced stability duration from 3 seconds to 1 second. Reduced effect application interval from 3 seconds to 1 second. This skill now makes you immune to critical hits.
  • Berserker Stance.png Berserker's Stance: Reduced duration from 9 seconds to 4 seconds. Increased adrenaline gain per pulse from 3 to 7. Resistance per pulse has been reduced from 3 seconds to 1 second. Reduced recharge from 60 seconds to 30 seconds. Fixed a consistency issue where effect application would sometimes be delayed.
  • Natural Healing.png Natural Healing: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to remove an incorrect number of boons. Also fixed an issue in which this gave fewer stacks of Attacker's Insight than intended when removing multiple boons.
  • Decapitate.png Decapitate: Fixed a bug that caused the shock wave from this skill to fail if the initial attack killed the target. Fixed a bug that caused the shock wave to deal less damage than listed. Fixed a bug that caused the shock wave from this skill to hit fewer than 5 targets.
  • Throw Axe.png Throw Axe: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to not update its ammo recharge skill fact when equipped with the Axe Mastery trait.
  • Winds of Disenchantment.png Winds of Disenchantment: This skill now has an alternate effect when used by enemies.
  • Full Counter.png Full Counter: Increased recharge from 8 seconds to 12 seconds in PvP and WvW only.
Traits[edit]
  • Peak Performance.png Peak Performance: This trait no longer increases the damage of physical skills, but instead increases the warrior's strike damage by 33% (10% in PvP) for 5 seconds whenever a physical skill is used.
  • Phalanx Strength.png Phalanx Strength: Might duration granted by this trait has been reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds.
  • Revenge Counter.png Revenge Counter: Reduced the number of conditions transferred from 5 to 3 in PvP and WvW only.

Structured Player vs. Player[edit]

Season 9 starts today!

Players ranked Platinum 2 (1,600) and above can no longer duo-queue in Ranked matches while seasons are active.

The following amulets have been added:

Prefix Attributes
Avatar
  • Power, Precision: 1050
  • Healing, Vitality: 560
Grieving
  • Power, Condition Damage: 1050
  • Precision, Ferocity: 560
Harrier
  • Power: 1200
  • Healing, Concentration: 900
Marshal
  • Power, Healing: 1050
  • Precision, Condition Damage: 560
Swashbuckler
  • Power, Precision: 1050
  • Condition Damage, Vitality: 560
Wizard
  • Power, Condition Damage: 1050
  • Vitality, Precision: 560

The following runes have been added:

  • Weaver
  • Holosmith
  • Firebrand
  • Mirage
  • Soulbeast
  • Deadeye
  • Renegade
  • Spellbreaker

World vs. World[edit]

General[edit]

  • Proofs of Heroics and Testimonies of Heroics can now be used in the PvP lobby.
  • Oil pot range is now 800.

Eternal Battlegrounds[edit]

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store[edit]

New Items and Promotions[edit]

  • For a limited time, a new set of Shifting Sands weapon skins are available from the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket. Black Lion Chest Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
  • For a limited time, the new Reforged Warhound mount skin is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 2,000 gems.
  • The Black Lion Stables are pleased to open their doors and offer new mount adoption licenses. Each license will allow you to claim a random mount skin from the Black Lion Stables, and they are available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 400 gems each.

Improvements[edit]

  • The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Mysterious Sands Chest and can be previewed for a full list of its contents.
  • For a limited time, the Maguuma Series 1, Living World Season 1, and Dragon Minion miniature collections are available when using Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets. Black Lion Chest Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
  • Exclusive hair colors, eye colors, and accessory colors are now sorted by hue when using a Total Makeover Kit or Self-Style Hair Kit.

Mac Client[edit]

  • Fixed a bug involving character portraits going missing from several UI elements.
  • Fixed a bug affecting Intel HD Graphics 3000 hardware that could cause crashes in certain circumstances.
  • Fixed a bug that could cause certain UI views with many elements (such as the Guild Decorations view) to crash.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes[edit]