Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone, I recently had the opportunity to obtain a preview of the upcoming Sky Pirates patch and I thought I would share some information with you to help prepare for tomorrow when the patch lands.

This is done in a point format for ease of reading. I also wrote a wall of text if you like to read that instead: http://dulfy.net/2013/06/24/gw2-sky-pirates-of-tyria-patch-preview

Achievements

• Around 20 achievements, divided into 3 categories 1) Kill x aetherblade pirates in various regions of Tyria, 2) Achievements for getting aetherblade cache in 7 existing jumping puzzles/mini-dungeons 3) Achievements for the new dungeon – some are for completion, others are more skill based

• Kill based achievements require you to interact with the same hologram projectors you encountered in Dragon Bash. They now have a 50/50 chance to spawn Aetherblade pirates when you walk near them (some of them will still spawn holographic minions). You can also get these achievements by killing the pirates guarding the various caches if you don’t feel like running around.

• Cache based achievements are basically a bunch of existing jumping puzzles/mini dungeons with a new cache (jumping puzzle chest) placed into them. They don’t give any special loot but getting them give you an achievement. It is a way to recycle content basically. You will need to do Goemm’s Lab, Obsidian Sanctum, Vexa’s Lab, Fawcett’s Bounty, Hidden Garden etc to name a few. Some caches are located near entrance but others are located at the very end.

• Dungeon achievements – some are the standard killing bosses achievements while others are more skill based (i.e. avoid a boss mechanic or kill the boss within a time limit).

• Completing 12 of the achievements will reward you with a mini pet modeled after a boss in the new dungeon: http://imgur.com/a/7yOu2

• You can find a more detailed guide on Sky Pirate achievements for use tomorrow here: http://dulfy.net/2013/06/23/gw2-sky-pirates-achievement-guide

Dungeon – Aetherblade Retreat

• Like molten facility, if not harder. Very interesting boss mechanics not unlike raid boss mechanics seen in other MMOs
• You get a guaranteed rare from the boss chest and 1 gold every time you complete it. The dungeon is hard enough that Arenanet feels it is justified to give 1 gold for every completed run.
• 5 player dungeon, will upscale players to L80 but low level players may have a hard time.
• Boss chest has a chance to give you an exotic, tradeable monocle headpiece with berserker stats: http://i.imgur.com/MmLXHPW.jpg
• You may also find the recipe for an infinite tonic that will transform you into one of the bosses – you can jump with it and the tonic is tradeable once crafted: http://i.imgur.com/rYDUxRd.jpg

• More detailed writeup on dungeon mechanics: http://dulfy.net/2013/06/23/gw2-aetherblade-retreat-dungeon-guide

Aetherblade Armor (gemstore)

• I think alot of you have already seen this from datamining. You get 3 sets, one set for each armor type (i.e. light, medium heavy). They are suppose to be purchased from the gemstore I was told.

• Unfortunately both Charr and Asura uses the male model for both sexes.

• A gallery of the gemstore armor with different dye/race combos: http://dulfy.net/2013/06/23/gw2-aetherblade-armor

Scavenger Hunt

• Ingame scavenger hunt to promote the launch of Sea of Sorrows book, not really part of the Sky Pirates theme.

• Need to find 12 Marriner plaques. You can find all 12 of them using clues given inside the book (or just look for them blindly like I did) . You get an achievement and one time use consumable that give you 5 skill points.

• If you are not a fan of doing scavenger hunts on your own, you can cheat a bit using this guide: http://dulfy.net/2013/06/23/gw2-history-buff-marriner-plaques-achievement-guide

Jumping Puzzle

• Not released until second week on July 2.

• Can’t talk about it now but I will say I had a rough time doing it so it should be fun

I think that is it, let me know if you have any questions etc.

To further incentivize skilled play, there are achievements for…… killing the boss encounter in a set amount of time

What about giving a premium to zerker warriors?
they certainly need that…..

i hope dps is not involved otherwyse

FAIL

Great job on the notes!!
(as Always u.u your site is great)

“Bosses are not just tank and spank encounters one can find in vanilla dungeons. Instead, these bosses have raid boss like mechanics that requires players to pay their fullest attention and coordinate. Raiders from other MMOs will be at home here as they may have seen some of the mechanics here from previous raid encounters”
Then again, we’ll see.

1 gold/run

I just hope a party of braindead warriors can’t fly through it like they do CoF1 !

On paper this dungeon seem quite appealing!

Raid encounters = Gimmicks. Which I’m fine with, but nothing to write home to mom about if you master them.

Hard dungeons/instances are always welcomed.

Nick.6972:

Hard dungeons/instances are always welcomed.

Of course. I just wanted to use the term “gimmick”, since that’s what people always complained about in the last game I played that had pseudo raids :P

They finally made something that makes sense to wear as an engineer, and they put it in the gem store. Meh.
And that monocle will be a repeat of the jetpack fiasco. RNG+limited time dungeon means you’ll have to be lucky or waste an hundred gold to buy it from others. No fairness, just grinding for a chance that may never come.
Why couldn’t they do it like with the SAB, i wonder? Bah…

-cries-

oh gods not jumping puzzles.

wtb pocket mesmer with ports!

Dungeon walkthrough looks like insane fun.

Can’t wait now.

LordByron.8369:

What about giving a premium to zerker warriors?
they certainly need that…..

And what makes you think that zerker warriors would be the best way to kill the bosses fast?
Spending half a fight dead would not really kill the boss fast

Dulfy, did they happen to tell you (or did you find) if we’re going to be able to get any of the new weapons (rapier, revolver pistol, shield, weird scythe hammer thing, etc.)?

lordkrall.7241:

LordByron.8369:

What about giving a premium to zerker warriors?
they certainly need that…..

And what makes you think that zerker warriors would be the best way to kill the bosses fast?
Spending half a fight dead would not really kill the boss fast

the part quoted + null boss
for example.

Until today everytime they put some new mechanic. guard+war could Always overrid it.

But unless your dps is unrelated to your stats (that is a fail by itself negating the game structure like SAB) giving premium to Killing time is the worst thing to do in this game.

It punishes non zerker professions.

Will the armour sets be permanent additions to the gem store, do you think, or will they be limited time only? Wouldn’t mind picking some up, but don’t want to bother until I have my toons to a particular level (don’t want to constantly be transmuting armour skins as I level etc). Though if they’re limited time only, naturally I’d get them sooner and shove them in the bank.

So, now the dulfi guides come before the patch!?!?
wtf??

LordByron.8369:

the part quoted + null boss
for example.

Until today everytime they put some new mechanic. guard+war could Always overrid it.

But unless your dps is unrelated to your stats (that is a fail by itself negating the game structure like SAB) giving premium to Killing time is the worst thing to do in this game.

It punishes non zerker professions.

And how well did a full-zerk warrior do in the Molten Alliance Facility?

Guard+War couldn’t really “override” the mechanics in that dungeon.

DPS is important to killing fast indeed, but DPS is completely useless if you die within a few seconds.

skullmount.1758:

Dulfy, did they happen to tell you (or did you find) if we’re going to be able to get any of the new weapons (rapier, revolver pistol, shield, weird scythe hammer thing, etc.)?

Have not seen any of those weapon skins except on the Aetherblade mobs (one of the bosses carry the Rifle and the Aetherblade Thug carries the scythe hammer thingie). I am thinking they might be NPC only but they may surprise us

Also for those wondering about the timed achievement. The time limit is 15 minutes to kill the last boss encounter, which is quite doable as long you don’t screw up majorly I think.

dulfy.1493:

skullmount.1758:

Dulfy, did they happen to tell you (or did you find) if we’re going to be able to get any of the new weapons (rapier, revolver pistol, shield, weird scythe hammer thing, etc.)?

Have not seen any of those weapon skins except on the Aetherblade mobs (one of the bosses carry the Rifle and the Aetherblade Thug carries the scythe hammer thingie). I am thinking they might be NPC only but they may surprise us

Also for those wondering about the timed achievement. The time limit is 15 minutes to kill the last boss encounter, which is quite doable as long you don’t screw up majorly I think.

Huh, thanks. I, like others, really want the rapier and the revolver pistol skins.

lordkrall.7241:

And how well did a full-zerk warrior do in the Molten Alliance Facility?

Guard+War couldn’t really “override” the mechanics in that dungeon.

you bet they could.
Just standing inside the charr boss model for example and many stuff like that.

P.S. seems the mini has the handcannon (weapon skin)

A gold per run, huh? And here I thought Anet didn’t want us to make money in this game. At least that’s what I keep reading.

darkace.8925:

A gold per run, huh? And here I thought Anet didn’t want us to make money in this game. At least that’s what I keep reading.

I wouldn’t get too excited until you see how long a run takes you…

Probably take an hour’ish…

So COF1 still miles better, gold farming wise?

Btw what do people think about the armour?

All looks fairly ugly to me…

Theres been plenty of people myself included asking for much harder PvE content and it sounds like this might be a probe to see the backlash from the community for adding content that may require a brain. If this dungeon really is hard (every boss on the same tier or higher than a 1st encounter lupi) then expect 100x more people flooding the forums with the opposite opinion.

darkace.8925:

A gold per run, huh? And here I thought Anet didn’t want us to make money in this game. At least that’s what I keep reading.

But how long does it take to do the dungeon though? Thats where they’re gonna get us.

All you Necros out there make sure you bring stability along…lol

Also, you Rangers/Warriors with your massive condition removal bring that too…lol

skullmount.1758:

darkace.8925:

A gold per run, huh? And here I thought Anet didn’t want us to make money in this game. At least that’s what I keep reading.

But how long does it take to do the dungeon though? Thats where they’re gonna get us.

May take at least 30 minutes I think? Took us a while to complete during the preview as we were undergeared and some people were playing classes they never played before.

dulfy.1493:

skullmount.1758:

darkace.8925:

A gold per run, huh? And here I thought Anet didn’t want us to make money in this game. At least that’s what I keep reading.

But how long does it take to do the dungeon though? Thats where they’re gonna get us.

May take at least 30 minutes I think? Took us a while to complete during the preview as we were undergeared and some people were playing classes they never played before.

Hmm, interesting. Thanks.

Also, thanks for all the guides and stuff you do. They’re really helpful. I default to yours before checking the wiki..

Dulfy is the original Sky Pirate <3

I predict speed running of this new dungeon and a subsequent diminishing returns added for the completion of the dungeon too quickly, to follow in a patch a few days later

Oh thank God the light armour looks hideous compared to medium and heavy (heavy in particular look awesome). Wont have to spend time and money getting it then.

Are the new armor skins permanent, or will they be gone forever after a few weeks?

cool

lordkrall.7241:

LordByron.8369:

What about giving a premium to zerker warriors?
they certainly need that…..

And what makes you think that zerker warriors would be the best way to kill the bosses fast?
Spending half a fight dead would not really kill the boss fast

here comes lordkrall!

zerker is still the best way to kill the bosses fast because if you can stay alive you’ll be able to outDPS any other set of armor/gear out there.

And how well did a full-zerk warrior do in the Molten Alliance Facility?

Guard+War couldn’t really “override” the mechanics in that dungeon.

DPS is important to killing fast indeed, but DPS is completely useless if you die within a few seconds.

I don’t know what kinds of groups you run with, but I ran as a full zerker warrior and had no problem staying alive in MF, even on my very first run, then I tried it on my zerker guardian and it was even easier staying alive.

I’m mostly curious about the balance update. I wonder if the leaked notes are true?

lmaonade.9207:

here comes lordkrall!

zerker is still the best way to kill the bosses fast because if you can stay alive you’ll be able to outDPS any other set of armor/gear out there.

Exactly, “if you can stay alive”. That is the main thing here.
What makes people so sure that they will be able to stay alive long enough in zerker gear to kill the bosses?

lordkrall.7241:

Exactly, “if you can stay alive”. That is the main thing here.
What makes people so sure that they will be able to stay alive long enough in zerker gear to kill the bosses?

This isn’t GW1, where you stand still and soak up damage.

Kain Francois.4328:

This isn’t GW1, where you stand still and soak up damage.

Indeed, and situation where you can just stand still is those that reward zerkers the most.
So if these bosses makes it more or less impossible to stand still at all zerkers would most likely be at a disadvantage.

Dulfy, is the skill points for the scavenger hunt a one time account reward? Or can it be done once on each character? Thanks. I’m assuming its a one time account reward, so I want to know if I need to do it on a certain character that needs skill points right now.

skullmount.1758:

Dulfy, is the skill points for the scavenger hunt a one time account reward? Or can it be done once on each character? Thanks. I’m assuming its a one time account reward, so I want to know if I need to do it on a certain character that needs skill points right now.

One time since the reward is associated with your account bound achievment. The reward item is account bound though.

dulfy.1493:

skullmount.1758:

Dulfy, is the skill points for the scavenger hunt a one time account reward? Or can it be done once on each character? Thanks. I’m assuming its a one time account reward, so I want to know if I need to do it on a certain character that needs skill points right now.

One time since the reward is associated with your account bound achievment. The reward item is account bound though.

Ahh, so its going to be like the Karma jugs. Thanks for the info. You’re the best

Ok, lets assume for a moment they completely nerf and make zerker warriors unplayable, what makes you think players wont just switch to zerker guardians?

What do I have to do to get a decent NON trench-coat/skirt armor in this game?

Obviously just paying with real money doesn´t help much.

Ugh that Obsidian jumping puzzle is going to be hell isn’t it. :P I forsee lots of happy WvWers camping that.

Other then that everything sounds pretty fun.

Glad to see some reuse of jumping puzzles though. A reason for me to go back to them other then monthlies/dailies.

Edit: after further reading your trials through the dungeon. It sounds like a lot of fun. Some of the gimmicks may take a bit to get used to, but I will definitely try to complete it since it sounds like fun. I’ve gotten rusty from the GW2 dungeons so something with mechanics like old MMOs scares me a bit. :P

Looks good. Another site has the trait changes up as a preview as well. Looks like the leaked notes are real.

A hard dungeon! BRING IT ON!!

I don’t see myself farming it for a measly 1 gold. But it looks great from the guide, the visuals look great, and it also looks sizable as well, and with interesting fights.

I hope we don’t have too many people complaining about the difficulty. Everything in this game is a bit faceroll as it is and we needed a bit of a challenge to keep things interesting.

Also hard luck if you don’t have a geared level 80, but then what other MMO allows you to roll up a new character and experience endgame content straight away – none do, and neither should this game.

lordkrall.7241:

Kain Francois.4328:

This isn’t GW1, where you stand still and soak up damage.

Indeed, and situation where you can just stand still is those that reward zerkers the most.
So if these bosses makes it more or less impossible to stand still at all zerkers would most likely be at a disadvantage.

How so? Maybe for melee zerkers, but ranged DPS will still be able to pump out the big numbers. I do it all the time as a mesmer.

What about the weapons

Two things. 1- Are they really trying with these ugly armors? What is this crap… 2- Is the dungeon permanent or another mini dungeon bs that will be gone in ~2 weeks? Molten wasn’t hard at all and reward was none existent. If this gives you 1g and at least 1 rare it must be MUCH harder and im pretty happy about that.