Game updates/October 2022

October 2022 updates
Thursday, 20 October 2022 Tuesday, 18 October 2022 Thursday, 6 October 2022 Wednesday, 5 October 2022 Tuesday, 4 October 2022
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Update 2 - October 20, 2022

Bug Fix:

• Fixed an issue that prevented completion of the WvW World Restructuring Beta Veteran achievement for players who made progress on it before the October 19 update. Players who have already completed the achievement requirements will automatically receive the reward when they next log in and change maps.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 136,147

Update - October 20, 2022

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused a server crash when using the Mystic Forge.
• Fixed a server crash.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the legendary enemies in the Mad King's Labyrinth from contributing to the Trick-or-Treat across Tyria achievement when defeated.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from completing the WvW World Restructuring Beta Veteran achievement. The period during which this achievement and the associated reward can be earned has been extended by 7 days, to October 28 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 136,081

Additional Notes - October 18, 2022

•  Enduring Recovery: Reduced endurance regeneration bonus from 25% to 10% in PvP and WvW when using the vindicator elite specialization.
•  Unwavering Avoidance: Reduced vigor duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in PvP and 3 seconds to 1 second in WvW when using the vindicator elite specialization.
•  Imperial Impact: Reduced protection duration from 1.5 seconds to 0.5 seconds in PvP and WvW. Reduced might stacks from 4 to 2 in PvP and WvW.
•  Song of Arboreum: Reduced vigor duration from 2 seconds to 0.5 seconds in PvP and from 4 seconds to 1 second in WvW.
•  Call of the Alliance: Reduced base endurance gain from 5 to 3 in PvP only. Reduced endurance gain per hit from 2 to 1 in PvP only.
•  Reaver's Curse: Reduced endurance gain from 2 to 1 in PvP only.
•  Tree Song: Increased energy cost from 20 to 25 in WvW only. Increased cooldown from 3 seconds to 5 seconds in WvW only.
•  Energy Meld: Reduced endurance gain from 25 to 15 in WvW only.
•  Saint's Shield: Reduced base healing and barrier from 869 to 582 in WvW only. Reduced healing and barrier attribute scaling from 0.5 to 0.33 in WvW only.

Update - October 18, 2022

Shadow of the Mad King

Once again, the gates of the Mad Realm have opened and Kryta's most infamous monarch, Mad King Thorn, has returned to hold court in Lion's Arch! Loyal vassals of the king are strongly encouraged to enjoy the festivities: meet the denizens of the Mad Realm in events across Kryta; tour the Mad Realm itself in the Mad King's Labyrinth and fearsome Mad King's Clock Tower jumping puzzle; compete with your fellow mortals in Lunatic Inquisition, Reaper's Rumble, and the Mad King's Raceway; attend to the king's whims in his notorious pastime of Mad King Says; or match wits and blades against royalty in Ascent to Madness.

• The Lion's Arch Captain's Council wishes to remind all citizens that they are not affiliated with the Krytan monarchy and cannot guarantee the safety of any individual who chooses to dabble in dangerous realms, mad or otherwise.
• The annual Halloween Rituals meta-achievement has been updated with a fashionable new reward: the Clawing Shadow Gloves! Earn this spooky new armor piece by completing a variety of Halloween activities and show your allegiance to the Lunatic Court with pride. Last year's meta-achievement reward, the Grasping Gaze Shoulders, can now be purchased from candy corn vendors if you missed it.
• The new Chained weapon set is now available! Progress the annual Halloween Rituals meta-achievement to earn a weapon of your choice. You can find additional tradeable Chained weapons as rare drops in Halloween Prize Bags, which are available from a new daily achievement.
• Three new weapons are now available as rare drops from Trick-or-Treat Bags. They can also be purchased from Sparking Stone in Lion's Arch.
• Two new miniatures are available for purchase from candy corn vendors.
• New Halloween-themed guild decorations have been added.
• We've resolved many minor issues to ensure a fun and polished festival experience for all visitors to the Mad Realm.

The gates to the Mad Realm will be open for three weeks, from October 18 until November 8. Have a happy Halloween!

General

• Xunlai Jade Sales Associates now offer a Mini Jade Bot in exchange for Research Notes.
  • Featuring the latest innovations in jade tech, this mini will adopt the look of your currently equipped jade bot skin.
• Remote-controlled jade bots will now adopt the look of your currently equipped jade bot skin.
• Replaced all four-slot bags awarded for leveling up or completing personal story chapters with eight-slot bags. Replaced bags awarded for completing the first and seventh chapters of the personal story with twelve- and eighteen-slot bags respectively.
• Items in your account bank will now be visible and available for use in the Mystic Forge interface.
• Looking for Group squad listings will now display an alert if the commander's map is full and you are not already on it.
• Clicking on skin and dye unlock alerts will now open them in the equipment preview window instead of opening the Hero panel.
• Fixed an issue that caused some visual effects to disappear earlier than intended, such as the telegraphs for Deimos's Annihilate attack.

Profession Skills

General

• Fixed an issue that caused the following skills to display as out of range when an ally was targeted:
  •  Solar Beam
  •  Astral Wisp
  •  Twilight Combo
  •  Measured Shot

Ranger

•  Celestial Being: Removed incorrect text referring to a reduction in pet attributes from the trait description.
•  Glyph of the Stars: Fixed an issue that prevented this skill from displaying a water field visual effect.

Thief

•  Measured Shot: Fixed an issue that caused Measured Shot to display every error as an out-of-range error.
•  Black Powder: Corrected this skill's tooltip to remove an unintentional stealth skill fact.

Warrior

•  Dragonscale Defense: Fixed an issue that caused this trait to apply the wrong boon in PvP and WvW.
•  Breaching Strike: Fixed an issue that caused this skill to do more damage than intended in WvW.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 135,930
• The three new weapons available from Trick-or-Treat Bags and Sparking Stone are Nightmare Splitter (axe), Harvest's Grin (staff), and Pale Light's Companions (torch).
• The two new miniatures available from candy corn vendors are Mini Fluffy Black Cat and Mini Black Labrador.
• The new guild decorations are Spider's Web Floor, Ephemeral Spider's Web Floor, Spider's Web Wall, and Ephemeral Spider's Web Wall.
• The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Romping Reapers Chest.
• The contents of Black Lion Statuettes have been updated.
• Dokkaebi weapon skins have been added to the game.
•  Angsiyan's Trust: This skill activates now in combat only.
•  Balance in Discord: This skill activates now in combat only.
•  Imperial Impact: Reduced stacks of might granted in PvE from 10 to 5.
•  Saint's Shield: Reduced base healing and barrier from 2,570 to 1,285 in PvE only. Reduced healing and barrier attribute scaling from 0.5 to 0.25 in PvE only. Reduced base healing and barrier from 1,054 to 527 in PvP only. Reduced healing and barrier attribute scaling from 0.5 to 0.25 in PvP only.
•  Vassals of the Empire: The boon duration increase granted by this trait has been reduced from 2 to 1 second.
•  Enter Shadow Shroud: Removed outdated tooltip fact.
•  Defense Field: Added a range skill fact. Added a new underwater version of this skill.

Update - October 6, 2022

Bug Fixes

•  Astral Wisp: Fixed an issue that caused the projectile to fail to attach to the intended target.
•  Glyph of the Stars: Fixed an issue that caused this skill to go on full cooldown when interrupted.
•  Invigorating Dismissal: Reduced endurance granted from 3 to 2 in WvW only.
•  Song of Arboreum: Reduced bonus vigor effectiveness from 50% to 25% in PvE and WvW, and from 50% to 15% in PvP.
•  Energy Meld: Reduced endurance gain from 25 to 15 in PvP only.
•  Tree Song: Reduced endurance gain from 2 to 1 in PvP only.
•  Scavenger Burst: Reduced endurance gain from 5 to 2 in PvP only.
•  Reaver's Curse: Reduced endurance gain from 5 to 2 in PvE and PvP.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Cal Cohen's comments on this update.
• Build: 135,438

Update - October 5, 2022

Bug Fixes

•  Reaver's Curse: Reduced endurance gain from 4 to 1 in WvW only.
•  Tree Song: Reduced endurance gain from 2 to 1 in WvW only.
•  Tactical Reload: Fixed an issue in which this skill would not reload ammo to skills that are not currently active on the skill bar.
• Mechanist: Fixed a bug that caused the jade mech to have more ferocity than intended.
•  Continuum Split: Fixed an issue in which this skill would not switch to Continuum Shift.
• Thief: Fixed an issue in which initiative skills would not be grayed out when the thief did not have enough initiative to use them.
• Fixed an erroneous prop in the Black Citadel.
•  Full Counter: Fixed an issue in which this skill did not interact properly with Berserker's Power, Adrenal Health, and Cleansing Ire.
• Fixed an issue in which auto-salvaging was giving the incorrect amount of research notes for recipes that produce multiple items.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Cal Cohen's comments on this update.
• Build: 135,374

Update - October 04, 2022

General

• The Jormag legendary variant skin collection is now available. Speak with Leivas after unlocking an Aurene-based legendary weapon to begin this collection!
• You can automatically salvage crafted items for research notes from the recipe window. Using this option does not consume charges from your research kits; you don’t even need to have one in your inventory.
• Item tooltips now display the types of salvage kits that can be used on that item.
• Items that were salvageable prior to the 9/13/2022 update and were incorrectly flagged as unsalvageable, such as collection items for legendary trinkets, are now salvageable again.

World Polish

• Fixed an issue that prevented the Hero panel preview from displaying correctly on high-resolution monitors.
• Changed the environment map used for lighting in the character selection screen to match the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons background.
• Fixed an issue that prevented some players from entering the Tower of Nightmares encounter in a squad.
• Fixed an issue that blocked players from accessing Canach's Lair through the Scrying Pool in the Eye of the North.
• Increased the frequency of the Desert Highlands event chain that begins with "Defend Second Spear Nayrim from the Awakened" to make it more accessible for players completing their griffon mount collection.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players who completed the story mission The Nightmare Unveiled from being awarded the achievement The Nightmare Unveiled (Historical).
• Fixed an issue that caused the waypoint in the squad version of the Tower of Nightmares encounter to direct players to the public version of the instance.

Raids

• Fixed an issue that caused Emboldened mode to reactivate after defeating challenge mode bosses, preventing some players from receiving the correct rewards for the encounter.

Profession Skills

Revisiting Elite Specialization Tradeoffs

Many elite specializations have some mechanical weaknesses compared to the core profession, commonly referred to as the "tradeoff" for the specialization's new mechanics. In some cases, these tradeoffs feel natural, like when a reaper loses access to Death Shroud and gains access to Reaper's Shroud, but in other cases, these tradeoffs feel unnatural and can contribute to making a specialization feel less fluid to play. For this update, we've started to look at these unnatural tradeoffs and evaluate whether they're still necessary for the balance of the game. In many cases, we've simply removed the tradeoff, with the expectation that these specializations can still be balanced in other ways.

300-Second Cooldown Traits

Back in February 2020, we increased the cooldown of many powerful passive defensive traits (such as Defy Pain) to 300 seconds because we didn't want these effects to have an impact in competitive modes, and for this update, we've revisited these traits with the goal of making them into healthier mechanics. In some cases, we've made the defensive effect trigger off something more active (like using an elite skill), and in other cases we've reworked the traits entirely.

General

The previous update to torment was a good change mechanically, as standing still to avoid increased damage isn't a realistic counterplay, but it left builds reliant on torment for damage in a tough spot. We're increasing the base values and reducing the bonus against stationary enemies to make torment damage a bit more consistent.

•  Torment: In PvP and WvW, damage has been adjusted as follows:
  • While moving: Increased base damage from 15.9 to 19.8. Increased condition damage scaling from 0.045 to 0.054.
  • While stationary: Reduced base damage from 31.8 to 26. Reduced condition damage scaling from 0.09 to 0.07.

Elementalist

The last set of catalyst enhancements in PvP pushed it a bit over the top. With other top performers like specter, bladesworn, and herald coming down in this update, we wanted to include a few smaller adjustments to catalyst, and we've shaved down a few of its more potent defensive tools.

"Eye of the Storm!" also gets a slight cooldown shave in WvW as part of a tuning pass on existing group stun breaks.

•  Earth's Embrace: This trait has been reworked. It now grants barrier when attuning to earth.
•  Final Shielding: This trait no longer grants Arcane Shield when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Arcane Shield after using an elite skill.

Tempest

•  Gale Song: This trait has been reworked. It now grants protection to nearby allies after using a healing skill.
•  "Eye of the Storm!": Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW only.

Catalyst

•  Fortified Earth: Reduced base barrier from 3,000 to 2,520 in PvP only. Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
•  Rocky Loop: Reduced damage reduction from 10% to 7% in PvP only.
•  Staunch Auras: Reduced stability duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP only.

Engineer

On the PvP side of things, we're revisiting an old powerhouse: grenade holosmith. While we don't want it back at the level where it dominated the meta, it's currently underperforming and there's room to bring it back up a bit.

For WvW we've primarily focused on scrapper. As we look to improve support diversity in WvW, it's clear that scrapper is an outlier. Builds like vindicator, tempest, warrior, or druid (after this update's changes) have the potential to be potent support options, but they aren't quite at the same level. We see scrapper as overperforming relative to where a support build should be, and so we've brought down its power in a few areas rather than raising other support builds to that overperforming level. We'll be keeping an eye on the support meta following this update and will make additional changes in future balance updates with the goal of creating many viable options.

Skills

•  Grenade Barrage: Increased power coefficient per grenade from 0.3 to 0.3333 in PvP only.
•  Shrapnel Grenade: Reduced cooldown from 6 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP only.
•  Freeze Grenade: Increased power coefficient per grenade from 0.2 to 0.5 in PvP only.
•  Magnetic Shield: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE and WvW.
•  Static Shield: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvE and WvW.
•  Utility Goggles: Increased resistance duration from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. This skill now removes one damaging condition in addition to its other effects.
•  Throw Mine: Reduced number of boons removed from 2 to 1 in WvW only.
•  Mine Field: This skill no longer removes boons. Instead, it cripples enemies that it strikes.
•  Fumigate: Increased cooldown from 12 second to 20 seconds in WvW only.
•  Cleansing Field: Increased cooldown from 15 seconds to 20 seconds in WvW only.

Traits

•  Over Shield: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of shield skills.
•  Medical Dispersion Field: Reduced healing conversion percentage from 10% to 7% in WvW.
•  Mechanized Deployment: This trait now removes a condition after using a toolbelt skill, in addition to its other effects.
•  Reactive Lenses: This trait no longer triggers Lesser Utility Goggles when disabled or blinded. Instead, it triggers after using a healing skill.
•  Lesser Utility Goggles: Increased resistance duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. This skill now removes one damaging condition in addition to its other effects.
•  Takedown Round: This trait has been reworked. It now grants increased outgoing strike damage while endurance is not full.
•  Kinetic Battery: Increased quickness duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Scrapper

Skills

•  Defense Field: This skill is now ground targeted. The spell area of effect created by this skill is now stationary. Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 35 seconds in WvW only.
•  Purge Gyro: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW only.
•  Sneak Gyro: Reduced pulse stealth duration from 1.5 seconds to 1 second in WvW only. Reduced number of pulses from 6 to 3 in WvW only. This skill no longer creates a smoke field in WvW. This skill now displays a visual effect to enemy players on activation.

Traits

•  Impact Savant: This trait no longer reduces vitality.
•  Gyroscopic Acceleration: Superspeed is now applied on the first pulse of wells instead of the final pulse.
•  Kinetic Accelerators: This trait no longer grants quickness in PvP and WvW. Instead, it grants might and fury.

Holosmith

Skills

•  Coolant Blast: Increased base healing from 4,740 to 5,250 in PvP and WvW.
•  Cauterize: Reduced burning duration from 3 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. Reduced the number of conditions removed from 3+3 to 2+2 in PvP and WvW. This skill now activates instantly.
•  Photon Wall: Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP only.
•  Prime Light Beam: Increased power coefficient from 0.01 to 1.0 in PvP and WvW.

Traits

•  Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit: Increased might duration from 6 seconds to 9 seconds in PvP only.

Mechanist

•  Aim-Assisted Rocket: Attacks performed by mechs will no longer trigger this trait.
•  Mech Frame: Variable Mass Distributor: This trait no longer grants your mech additional bonus ferocity based on your attributes.

Guardian

Dragonhunter

Hunter's Determination gets the "on elite skill use" trigger that a lot of similar traits received in this update, but we've also focused the effect on its defensive elements. After using an elite skill, the trait will immediately grant aegis and stability and create aegis fragments rather than creating a damaging trap that needs to be triggered.

Test of Faith will also receive a slight reduction, as it is one of the more overperforming aspects of dragonhunter damage builds in WvW.

Skills

•  Test of Faith: Reduced passthrough power coefficient from 2.22 to 1.87 in WvW only.

Traits

•  Hunter's Determination: This trait no longer grants aegis and casts Shards of Faith when disabled. Instead, it grants aegis and stability and creates aegis fragments after using an elite skill.

Firebrand

Mantra of Liberation is a skill that has long overperformed, but it's not something that we want to bring down in isolation, as the need for group stability and stun breaks in WvW cannot be understated. With the improvement to some existing stability options and the addition of other new ones in this update, we're taking the opportunity to bring down the mantra and rein in some of firebrand's dominance in WvW. Firebrand's strength goes beyond the power of an individual skill, and we're investigating some additional adjustments for a future balance update.

Skills

•  Mantra of Liberation: Reduced ammunition count from 3 to 2 in WvW only. Increased ammunition recharge time from 25 seconds to 30 seconds.
•  Liberator's Vow: Reduced quickness duration from 2 seconds to 1 second in WvW only.
•  Stalwart Speed: Reduced quickness duration from 2 seconds to 1 second in WvW only.
•  Blazing Edge: Increased cooldown from 15 seconds to 18 seconds in WvW only.

Mesmer

The primary change for mesmers in this update is the addition of distortion to both chronomancer and virtuoso. We've also tuned up Mantra of Concentration to be a more viable stability source in WvW with additional stacks, longer duration, and a larger radius.

We're planning a larger investigation into the balance between boon applications and boon removal in WvW for a future update, but for now we wanted to address a few outliers on mesmer, namely Phantasmal Disenchanter and Null Field.

Skills

•  Mantra of Concentration: Increased stability from 3 stacks for 3 seconds to 5 stacks for 5 seconds in WvW only. Increased ammunition recharge from 30 seconds to 35 seconds in WvW only. Increased range from 240 to 600.
•  Phantasmal Disenchanter: Reduced number of boons removed from 5 to 2 in WvW only.
•  Null Field: Increased cooldown from 25 seconds to 35 seconds in WvW only.

Chronomancer

Skills

•  Continuum Shift: This skill has been moved to slot 5 of the profession mechanic bar. Distortion is now accessible in slot 4.

Virtuoso

Skills

•  Bladeturn Requiem: This skill has been moved to slot 5 of the profession mechanic bar. Distortion is now accessible in slot 4.
•  Bladeturn Requiem: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Necromancer

Scourge

Scourge's punishment skills are a powerful source of cover conditions, breaking the usual expectation of a one-to-one boon conversion by always applying torment and cripple. We don't consider this one-to-two conversion to be a healthy mechanic and have made an adjustment to all punishment skills in this update. We're considering changing these skills to use the standard boon conversion table, but we wanted to try to maintain some of scourge's unique flavor, so we've started by increasing the number of torment stacks while removing the cripple application.

Trail of Anguish is another big outlier on scourge, as its lack of a target cap allowed it to have a much greater impact than desired in large-scale fights. We've updated the skill so it can only affect a maximum of ten enemies to bring it more in line with similar effects.

Skills

• Punishment skills no longer inflict crippled when removing a boon. Increased number of torment stacks applied when removing a boon from 1 to 3.
•  Trail of Anguish: This skill can now affect a maximum of 10 enemies.

Harbinger

• The squad UI now correctly displays the health of players using Harbinger Shroud.

Ranger

Traits

•  Shared Anguish: This trait no longer transfers incoming crowd control to pets. Instead, it grants stability to the ranger and their pet when swapping pets.
•  Stoneform: This trait no longer grants Lesser Signet of Stone when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Lesser Signet of Stone after using an elite skill.

Druid

Druid is a specialization that was intended to enable a more supportive playstyle for rangers, but it has always lacked the set of tools needed to compete with other support builds in competitive modes. In this update, we've added some reliable group protection to Verdant Etching, group stability to Glyph of the Stars, and more consistent astral force generation for all druid builds to Natural Mender. We've also made some usability improvements to a few of the clunkier druid skills.

Skills

•  Astral Wisp: This skill can now target allies. After attaching to a target, this skill will now pulse healing to allies around that target instead of creating a circling projectile that heals allies.
•  Glyph of Alignment (Base): Increased immobilize duration from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds.
•  Glyph of Alignment: Increased number of conditions removed from 2 to 3. Increased base healing from 2,585 to 3,076.
•  Glyph of Equality: Increased range from 360 to 600.
•  Glyph of the Stars: This skill is no longer channeled and instead creates the spell area of effect after an initial casting time.
  • Non-Celestial: Reduced the number of pulses from 7 to 6. This skill now grants stability instead of preventing condition applications to allies in the area.
  • Celestial: Reduced the number of revive pulses from 18 to 6. Increased the revive percentage per pulse from 4% to 12%. This skill now grants stability instead of protection, in addition to regeneration and vigor.
•  Glyph of the Tides: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
•  Glyph of Equality: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvE only.
•  Glyph of Rejuvenation: Reduced cooldown from 24 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
•  Glyph of the Stars: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 48 seconds.
•  Seed of Life: Increased range from 180 to 240. Reduced blossoming time from 1.32 seconds to 0.66 seconds. This skill now activates instantly. Reduced the number of conditions removed from 3 to 2 in PvP and WvW.

Traits

•  Celestial Being: This trait no longer reduces pet attributes.
•  Natural Mender: This trait no longer uses a stacking effect. Instead, it grants a flat amount of increased outgoing healing. This trait also now grants astral force every few seconds while not in Celestial Avatar.
•  Druidic Clarity: This trait now also removes conditions from nearby allies. Reduced number of conditions removed from 13 to 3.
•  Cultivated Synergy: Increased healing attribute scaling from 0.2 to 0.75.
•  Verdant Etching: This trait now grants protection to nearby allies after using a glyph skill instead of its previous effects.
•  Lingering Light: This trait no longer grants astral force while not in Celestial Avatar form.

Soulbeast

The big update for soulbeast is the removal of its tradeoff; soulbeasts will once again be able to swap pets while in combat. We've also increased the range of the stance sharing from Leader of the Pack to make it a more reliable stability option when sharing Dolyak Stance.

Traits

•  Elevated Bond: This trait no longer prevents pet swapping while in combat. Traits that trigger when swapping pets no longer trigger when entering Beastmode.
•  Eternal Bond: This trait has been reworked. It now grants healing when using a merged skill. You can swap pets while merged.
•  Leader of the Pack: Increased range from 240 to 600.

Revenant

Condition revenant is in a similar position to grenade holosmith in PvP: a once-powerful build in the meta that fell out of favor after a few rounds of nerfs and is currently underperforming. The build's resistance sources were reduced significantly back when the boon still granted full condition immunity, but now that it only negates nondamaging conditions, we're bringing the durations back up.

Skills

• Sigils that trigger when swapping weapons will now trigger when swapping legends
•  Demonic Defiance: Increased resistance duration from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP only.
•  Fiendish Tenacity: Increased resistance duration from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP only. Increased base healing from 132 to 165 in PvP and WvW.
•  Spirit Boon: Increased resistance duration when invoking Mallyx from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP only.
•  Echoing Eruption: Increased ammunition from 1 to 2 in PvP and WvW.
•  Pain Absorption: Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in PvP only.
•  Call to Anguish: Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in PvP only.

Herald

The recent update to Draconic Echo pushed power herald builds a bit over the top by granting easy access to a lot of quickness. The change was primarily targeted at PvE modes to make herald a viable source of group quickness, but it's clear that this isn't a healthy mechanic for competitive modes. Lingering facet passives is already a powerful effect, and we've changed the boon to might in competitive modes to bring the trait down to a more reasonable power level.

Traits

•  Draconic Echo: This trait now grants might instead of quickness in PvP and WvW.

Vindicator

The single dodge that vindicator has access to has been a long-standing point of negative feedback, and for this update we've adjusted the timing and endurance cost of the vindicator jump so it's more in line with regular dodges.

We've also made some small usability improvements to the vindicator's group stun break Awakening, increasing the range and removing the casting time.

• Vindicator no longer consumes all endurance to dodge. Reduced endurance cost of dodging from 100 to 50. Reduced dodge evade window from 1.6 seconds to 0.8 seconds.
•  Energy Meld: Reduced endurance granted from 50 to 25.

Traits

•  Awakening: This skill now activates instantly. Reduced energy cost from 35 to 30 in WvW only. Increased range from 360 to 600.

Thief

In addition to reworking the passive traits in the Acrobatics trait line, Meld with Shadows gets a slight shave off its superspeed duration, targeting the strong performance of deadeye builds in PvP.

Traits

•  Hard to Catch: This trait has been reworked. It now grants endurance when shadowstepping.
•  Instant Reflexes: This trait no longer grants evasion when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants evasion after using an elite skill.
•  Meld with Shadows: Reduced superspeed duration from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.

Specter

Specter is currently one of the most powerful specializations in PvP. The build has a lot of strengths, but the thing that stands out is the sheer amount of shroud health available, especially in combination with additional sources of vitality. We're reducing the shroud health by a significant amount, with the goal of making specters a bit easier to kill.

We do see specter's reduced initiative pool as one of the tradeoffs we want to revisit eventually, but given its current power level we didn't want to do so in this update. We'll be keeping an eye on the strength of specter going forward and will be looking for an opportunity to restore the lost initiative once it's less dominant.

• Reduced Shadow Shroud health scaling from 1.5 to 0.69.
• The squad UI now correctly displays Shadow Force in the party and squad UI while in Shadow Shroud.
• Enter Shadow Shroud is no longer usable when Shadow Force is too low.

Skills

Well of Bounty is another skill we wanted to make into a more reliable source of group stability, and to do so we've adjusted how it applies boons. Instead of picking from boons that the target doesn't already have, the skill will consistently apply the same boons on specific pulses, starting with stability on pulse 1.

•  Well of Bounty: Increased cooldown from 20 seconds to 30 seconds in WvW, and from 20 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP. This skill now applies the following boons:
  • Pulse 1: Stability
  • Pulse 2: Might
  • Pulse 3: Fury
  • Pulse 4: Vigor
  • Pulse 5: Resistance

Traits

•  Shallow Grave: This trait will no longer affect allies in Vapor Form. Reduced shroud-to-healing conversion from 100% to 33% in PvP and WvW. Reduced cooldown from 300 seconds to 120 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Warrior

Berserker is a specialization that was heavily impacted in competitive modes by the introduction of its tradeoffs, and it was one of the primary targets for improvements in this update. In addition to removing these tradeoffs, we've added adrenaline back to many of berserker's rage skills to make berserk access more reliable. The Defense trait line has also received some significant updates, tuning up some weak traits and improving some of berserker's key synergies with Adrenal Heath and Cleansing Ire.

We've also included a handful of improvements for power and support spellbreaker builds in PvP, both of which have been underperforming.

Skills

•  Call of Valor: Increased base barrier from 2,064 to 2,580 in PvP only.
•  Charge: Increased quickness duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP only.
•  Earthshaker: Increased power coefficient from 0.01 to 0.682 in PvP and WvW.
•  Skull Crack: Increased power coefficient from 0.01 to 0.75 in PvP and WvW.
•  Whirling Axe: Reduced power coefficient per strike from 0.373 to 0.298 in WvW only.
•  "To the Limit!": Increased endurance gained from 50 to 65 in PvP only.
•  "Shake It Off!": Reduced ammunition count from 2 to 1 in PvP and WvW. Reduced recharge from 75 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP and WvW. This skill now breaks allies out of stuns in addition to its other effects.
•  Signet of Rage: Reduced casting time from 1 second to 0.25 seconds. Increased might duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP and WvW.
•  Hammer Shock: Reduced cooldown from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
•  Counterblow: Reduced cooldown from 10 seconds to 8 seconds in PvP and WvW.
•  Pommel Bash: Reduced cooldown from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.

Traits

•  Berserker's Power: This trait now grants one stack of Berserker's Power, plus one additional stack per bar of adrenaline spent. Increased maximum stacks from 3 to 4. Bonus damage per stack reduced from 7% to 5.25%.
•  Aggressive Onslaught: This trait has been moved to the Grandmaster tier slot formerly filled by Merciless Hammer. Gain quickness when you disable a foe. While you have quickness, your movement speed is increased.
•  Thick Skin: This trait has been reworked. It now grants protection to the warrior when using a healing skill.
•  Adrenal Health: This trait now grants one stack of Adrenal Health, plus one additional stack per bar of adrenaline spent. Increased maximum stacks from 3 to 4. Healing per stack reduced from 133 to 100 in PvE, and from 100 to 87 in PvP and WvW.
•  Shield Master: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of shield skills. Blocking an attack or reflecting a missile now grants adrenaline instead of might.
•  Cull the Weak: This trait no longer applies weakness when striking an enemy below 50% health. Instead, it applies weakness when striking an enemy with a burst skill.
•  Defy Pain: This trait no longer grants Lesser Endure Pain when dropping below 50% health. Instead, it grants Lesser Endure Pain after using an elite skill.
•  Armored Attack: This trait has been removed and replaced with Resilient Roll.
•  Resilient Roll: Gain resistance at the end of your dodge roll.
•  Sundering Mace: This trait has been removed and replaced with Merciless Hammer.
•  Merciless Hammer: This trait now also increases damage from mace skills when striking a disabled foe. Reduced adrenaline gain from 10 to 7. This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of hammer skills.
•  Last Stand: This trait no longer grants Lesser Balanced Stance when disabled. This trait now applies barrier in addition to vigor when using a stance skill.
•  Cleansing Ire: This trait now removes one condition, plus an additional condition per bar of adrenaline spent. Burst skills still must hit an enemy to remove conditions.
•  Rousing Resilience: This trait has been removed and replaced with Stalwart Strength.
•  Stalwart Strength: Disabling an enemy grants stability. While you have stability, your strike damage is increased.

Berserker

•  Berserk: This skill has been moved to slot 2 of the profession mechanic bar. Core burst skills are now accessible in slot 1 of the profession mechanic bar for the berserker specialization.
• Berserk mode now activates instantly.
• Entering berserk mode no longer initiates an attack, and now counts as a rage skill instead of a level 3 burst skill.

Skills

•  Blood Reckoning: Reduced berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. Increased adrenaline gain from 10 to 30 in PvP and WvW.
•  Outrage: Reduced bonus berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline: 10 base adrenaline, plus an additional 10 when breaking stun in PvP and WvW. 5 base adrenaline, plus an additional 5 when breaking stun in PvE.
•  Shattering Blow: Reduced bonus berserk mode extension from 3 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline (10 in PvP and WvW and 5 in PvE).
•  Sundering Leap: Reduced berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. Increased power coefficient from 1.5 to 2.33 in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline: 10 base adrenaline, plus an additional 10 on hit in PvP and WvW. 5 base adrenaline, plus an additional 5 on hit in PvE.
•  Wild Blow: Reduced berserk mode extension from 4 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. This skill now grants adrenaline (10 in PvP and WvW, 5 in PvE). This skill now removes blind, weakness, and slow upon activation, and it knocks enemies down instead of knocking them back.
•  Head Butt: Reduced berserk mode extension from 2 seconds to 1 second in PvP and WvW. This skill no longer removes stability from the user, and it no longer deals increased damage when removing stability. Increased power coefficient from 3.0 to 4.5 in PvE only.
•  Rupturing Smash: Increased attack area from 180 degrees in front of the player to 360 degrees around the player. Increased daze duration from 1 second to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW.
•  Flaming Flurry: Increased projectile speed.
•  Blaze Breaker: This skill now creates a blast finisher at the initial casting location. Increased ammunition count from 1 to 2 in PvP and WvW.
•  Flames of War: Increased the number of conditions removed from 2 to 3 in PvP and WvW.

Traits

•  Fatal Frenzy: This trait no longer reduces toughness.
•  Dead or Alive: This trait has been reworked. It now grants 2 seconds of Blood Reckoning when entering berserk mode.
•  Bloody Roar: This trait now grants resistance when entering berserk mode in addition to its other effects. Reduced damage bonus from 15% to 10% in PvP and WvW.

Spellbreaker

Skills

•  Featherfoot Grace: Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
•  Full Counter: Increased daze duration from 1 second to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.
•  Breaching Strike: Increased power coefficient from 1.2 to 1.32 in PvP only.
•  Aura Slicer: Increased power coefficient from 1.32 to 1.45 in PvP only.
•  Disrupting Stab: Increased daze duration when interrupting an enemy from 1 second to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.

Traits

•  Attacker's Insight: Increased power, precision, and ferocity granted per stack from 35 to 45 in PvP only.
•  Revenge Counter: Increased resistance duration from 2 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only.
•  Magebane Tether: Increased might duration from 6 seconds to 9 seconds in PvP only.

Bladesworn

Skills

•  Tactical Reload: This skill now only recharges bladesworn skills instead of all warrior ammunition skills.

Traits

•  Dragon Trigger: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to have a shorter cooldown than expected.
•  Dragonscale Defense: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to have a shorter cooldown than expected in PvP and WvW. This trait now grants protection instead of stability in PvP and WvW. Reduced internal cooldown from 60 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 135,242
• Icy Dragon Sword has been renamed from Jormag's Breath to its current name.
• The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Spooky Shadows Chest.
• The contents of Black Lion Statuettes have been updated.
• Fixed an issue that allowed players to interact with the same door multiple times in a row during Help the East Precinct protect Grub Lane.