User:Endrosz/2012 November

Update - November 15, 2012

The Lost Shores Update

Something is stirring in the Sea of Sorrows. Ship wreckage is washing up on shore, whales are beaching themselves, local quaggans are leaving their undersea homes, and strange new creatures are being spotted along the Tyrian coast.

Dungeons

General

• If the owner of a dungeon instance intentionally leaves his party to kick out players and invite new players, it will now also kick that owner out of the dungeon to prevent people from kicking PUG members and inviting guild members for the final boss of a dungeon.

Fractals of the Mists

There are new stories being told in the taverns of Lion's Arch, usually in hushed tones by broken and bloodied adventurers. They weep into their ales and shake as they speak not about dragons or the undead, but of something new, a mysterious portal that has emerged in the city, beckoning the bravest to venture through it. Introducing a dungeon experience like no other—Fractals of the Mists! A series of unique "fractal" minidungeons, increasing in difficulty, offers players unlimited levels of challenge! With great risk comes great rewards, including new weapon sets, a back slot item, new Ascended loot, and much more!

• New level 80 dungeon with dynamic leveling so you can bring your friends!
• Endless and scaling. The deeper you go, the harder it gets!
• The portal to the Fractals of the Mists will activate with the Lost Shores content Friday at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Head west of Fort Marriner to the entrance and try your luck. Perhaps you'll survive and reap the rewards, or perhaps you'll be lost forever to the Fractals' bloody secrets.

Items

• The drop rarity of Rare and Exotic weapons from certain places in the world (champions, veterans, and players in WvW) has been increased. Rares and Exotics should be much more likely to drop and every champion should be guaranteed to drop loot. This was to ensure that world loot drops were not a significantly worse way of acquiring rare and exotic items than crafting and running dungeons.

New Rarity Type: Ascended

• Ascended rarity falls between Exotics and Legendaries on the rarity spectrum.
• Ascended items have higher stats than Exotics and come with slots for the new upgrade type, Infusions.
• Ascended rings and back slot items have been added to the game.

New Upgrade Type: Infusion

• Infusions are a new type of upgrade component that can only be slotted into a matching Infusion slot.
• Added 12 new Infusions of the offensive, defensive, and omni types to the game.
• Create Infusions through the Mystic Forge using new crafting materials.

PvP

• Raid on the Capricorn: Reduced the number of sharks from 10 to 6. They should no longer cover the Ruins capture point.
• PvP downed health is now 75% of what it was. This change was made so that in fights where players are slightly outnumbered, they can win those fights by killing off downed enemies through damage rather than needing to use a finishing move. This should not have too much impact on 1v1 fights or big team fights, but it should help players win 1v2 and 2v3 fights if they gain the initial advantage.

Update - 01 November 2012

Paid SPvP Tournaments

In addition to free sPvP tournaments, you can now play in paid sPvP tournaments! You can join them by going to the Heart of the Mists (using the crossed-swords icon in your quick-launch icons) and speak to the Tournament Master. You will need Tournament Tickets to play, which you can get through reward chests or the Gem Store! To see more info on the rewards for paid tournaments, look here.

WvW

• Closed a number of exploits that inappropriately allowed access to keeps.
• Orbs of power have been removed from WvW to address hacking and balance issues. They tended to strengthen teams already in the lead and were irresistible targets for hackers and cheaters, both of which could have an unfortunately large impact on any given WvW game. Orbs or some similar mechanic may return in the future, but only if we're confident that they won't create similar issues.