Upcoming changes in Spring Quarterly Update

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Posted by: Mike O Brien

Mike O Brien

President -- ArenaNet

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Hi all,

This week we’re completing dev work and starting integration for the upcoming Spring Quarterly Update, which we’re preparing to launch in mid- to late April. It’s a busy week making sure everything comes together right and hits our quality bar.

I know that the discussion around legendary weapons is still fresh on everyone’s mind. But as we’re locking in the contents of the quarterly update, there are some specific things I should tell you about today.

The quarterly update will include changes to Fractals, and among those will be changes to the tiering structure. We’ll have to retire two of the current achievements, Casual Fractal Hero and Core Fractal Hero. While we’ll introduce new achievements to replace the ones we’re retiring, any progress made toward the old achievements will not count toward the new ones. If you’ve been working toward the old achievements, you have a few weeks or so left to wrap them up.

With the quarterly update we’ll also reduce scribing costs across-the-board. Here are some of the ways that will happen. We’ll reduce material costs on recipes: for example the Basic Ink Set will no longer require a Simple Ink Set, and each Sandpaper recipe will now require less Sand. Reducing the demand for basic materials will reduce their prices. We’ll add significant new supplies of Resonating Slivers, so that they no longer serve as a barrier to scribes who don’t have a guild supporting them. And we’ll increase drop rates of certain other components. These are going to be impactful changes, so we want to give you this advance notice, and encourage you to consider pausing here and waiting for the quarterly update before doing a lot of new scribing.

Two weeks ago we polled the WvW community about Desert versus Alpine borderlands. The majority of players asked us to bring Alpine back. We’ll do that. It actually takes quite a bit of time to dust off old content and bring it up to the current game state, so it won’t happen in time for the quarterly release. Instead we’ll launch the quarterly update with improvements to Desert, use that as an opportunity to get the community’s feedback on those changes, then we’ll swap to Alpine when it’s ready. Changing borderlands maps like this will disrupt matches in progress, but we think that making changes on live servers, where everyone can test, is worth the cost.

I wanted to give this early heads-up about these areas. You already know quite a bit more about the things we’re working on for the April Quarterly Update, but I’ll stop here for now. I think our jobs are to delight you with what we ship, not with big talk or big promises. So hang tight. Release day will be here soon enough.

Mo

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Posted by: Zavve.8205

Zavve.8205

Yay cheaper scribing! That alone makes me super happy lol

And bringing Alpine bl back?!?! omg yes!!!!

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Posted by: kuittaa.7360

kuittaa.7360

We surely know what you are NOT working on.

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Posted by: Sir Mad.1092

Sir Mad.1092

No new content, I guess…

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Posted by: unrivalled.7952

unrivalled.7952

Alpine BL HYPE!!! The long waiting is about to end soon™

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Posted by: Abelinkkin.9315

Abelinkkin.9315

I’m not level 80 so I don’t know what half of this means. I’m sure there is something in this post worth grabbing a pitchfork and rioting over… :P

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Posted by: Ltomato.8649

Ltomato.8649

Is Ad Infinitum (the legendary fractal backpiece) coming in this update?

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Posted by: Lord of Rings.5371

Lord of Rings.5371

Thanks for the updates.

Fire Water Air
FA

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

So let’s wait another four monthes for some actual content I guess.

Yay!

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Posted by: TerminalMontage.5693

TerminalMontage.5693

Nice!

I hope something is being done about Amalmagated Gemstones. Like, if they’re not cheaper to make I hope there is a new recipe to make them faster because the forge takes FOREVER.

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Posted by: Shampanix.3928

Shampanix.3928

I’m not that much of a wvw player, but I wanted to give it a shot when HoT started – then the amount of complaints killed my interest. Now you bring back old maps. Kinda sad but seems it had to happen.

But please Mo, what’s gonna happen with the new Desert map? That was a chunk of work I believe. Any future for it? Perhaps you could give us a hint if the map will be utilized in any other way instead of being thrown away?

And I am very, very grateful for you being transparent with us. And this is a great change to see – communication with player base <3.

Thanks Mo.

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Posted by: TPMN.1483

TPMN.1483

So Basically naff all content then?

As the AMA is delayed (there is no way you can take from the AMA → implement) for April.
I don’t see anything here to bring any players back at all.

The Fractal thing was in development after the release of the failed update to Fractals for the 3rd time. Lets see how much we can mess it up for the fourth time?

[MYTH] The Mythical Dragons -PvX http://mythdragons.enjin.com

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Posted by: Jacobbs.9468

Jacobbs.9468

Curious as to what changes are in store for fractals.

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Posted by: Titan.8215

Titan.8215

Hi MO, any changes to dungeons?

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Posted by: Maxwell.7843

Maxwell.7843

What about the new borderlands?
What happens to them?

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Posted by: SkyShroud.2865

SkyShroud.2865

nothing much about wvw other than the improvement to desert….
is this all that is or is this just a small snippet of april content?

Founder & Leader of Equinox Solstice [TIME], a Singapore-Based International Guild
Henge of Denravi Server
www.gw2time.com

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Posted by: DiogoSilva.7089

DiogoSilva.7089

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

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Posted by: Fermi.2409

Fermi.2409

So pretty much as expected- not much in the way of content and mostly just QoL stuff. I was kind of hoping for a dungeon reward restoration/revamp, but oh well.

Here’s hoping they can get some stuff rolling for the next quarter update

HAF 912 | i7-3770k @ 4.5 GHz | MSI GTX 1070 GAMING 8GB | Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
EGVA SuperNOVA B2 750W | 16 GB DDR3 1600 | Acer XG270HU | Win 10×64
MX Brown Quickfire XT | Commander Shaussman [AGNY]- Fort Aspenwood

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Posted by: Darknicrofia.2604

Darknicrofia.2604

what’s the scope on the skill balancing?

Darknicrofia Sage – Bad Gerdian, Merciless Legend, Platinum NA Solo Que

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Posted by: Sir Mad.1092

Sir Mad.1092

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Ah, after re-reading it, you may be right. I really hope you are, actually.

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Posted by: Ashandar.2570

Ashandar.2570

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Please keep in mind that one or more announced features may be suspended indefinitely at any moment.

In due time, all will serve the asura.

(edited by Ashandar.2570)

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Posted by: Moira Shalaar.5620

Moira Shalaar.5620

I think they should keep the Desert BL map as another option and run it like EotM. That way those who really like the Desert BL map can continue to play it while those who prefer to revert to the Alpine map can return to playing the way they love.

mid-2011 iMac; OSX 10.9.5; 3.4 GHz Core i7;
16GB RAM; AMD Radeon 6970M 2GB VRAM

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Ah, after re-reading it, you may be right. I really hope you are, actually.

Hope is nothing but missing information.

Hoping for anything more than what is announced by ANet is a bulletproof way to get disappointed.

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Posted by: Sariel V.7024

Sariel V.7024

We’ll have to retire two of the current achievements, Casual Fractal Hero and Core Fractal Hero. While we’ll introduce new achievements to replace the ones we’re retiring, any progress made toward the old achievements will not count toward the new ones. If you’ve been working toward the old achievements, you have a few weeks or so left to wrap them up.

Well, thanks for the warning. Guess I know what I’ll be diverting attention to tonight after my daily pvp losses.

What about the Elite Fractal achievements? Are those staying unchanged?

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Posted by: Celtic Lady.3729

Celtic Lady.3729

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Please keep in mind that one or more announced features announced may be suspended indefinitely at any moment.

I laughed.

And then I cried a little.

I don’t care what they announce any longer. From now on, I have to wait and see what actually makes it into the game.

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

If I’m not wrong, those aren’t all the april changes we’ll get, but simply some tweaks to prepare players in advance for what they should do or not do until then.

Please keep in mind that one or more announced features announced may be suspended indefinitely at any moment.

I laughed.

And then I cried a little.

I don’t care what they announce any longer. From now on, I have to wait and see what actually makes it into the game.

And soon afterwards it will get patched out of the game again…

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Posted by: Darknicrofia.2604

Darknicrofia.2604

inb4 April has been suspended indefinitely from the calendar.

Darknicrofia Sage – Bad Gerdian, Merciless Legend, Platinum NA Solo Que

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Posted by: Donari.5237

Donari.5237

Same question as in my PM to you from Friday: Will anything more be done to smooth out the currently released legendaries, such as the fail-event requirements and — oh, so very much and — the amalgamated gemstone situation? Those amalgamateds are prohibitive in many ways.

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Posted by: Jovel.5706

Jovel.5706

Why not keep one of the three borderlands as a desert map while the other two stay alpine and EB stays as EB?

Maybe line them up with EotM? Desert on the lower left, Alpine on the lower right, and ???? (alpine) on the upper north map with EB in the center. Discarding the desert borderland seems like a huge waste..

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Posted by: Ragnarox.9601

Ragnarox.9601

- Balancing – not mentioned
- WvW updates – not mentioned
- LS3 – not mentioned
- legendary armor and backpiece – not mentioned
- dungeons – not mentioned
….

So what do we get, wall of text, with nothing interesting or even needed. Typical.
So needed content has been suspended, figures.

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Posted by: Durzlla.6295

Durzlla.6295

Can we expect to see Desert Borderland come back? Or like rotate in or anything? I really enjoy Desert Borderland and would love to see it rotate in and out if possible (after some changes are made ofc). If not, i’ll be upset, but at least i’ll be able to go into WvW and play in the borderlands instead of just having no one there…

They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna

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Posted by: Donari.5237

Donari.5237

- Balancing – not mentioned
- WvW updates – not mentioned
- LS3 – not mentioned
- legendary armor and backpiece – not mentioned
- dungeons – not mentioned
….

So what do we get, wall of text, with nothing interesting or even needed. Typical.

WvW updates got a whole paragraph, what do you mean they weren’t mentioned?

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Posted by: Wiz.1543

Wiz.1543

MO, I like you attitude less talking more shipping. Which is the same moto I use when I work.

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Posted by: Danikat.8537

Danikat.8537

It’s slightly off-topic but can I just say thank you for putting this on the official forum.

I’ve never been able to get used to Reddit, and I don’t use Twitter. I do follow GW2 on Facebook, and sometimes check the official site but for me this is by far the best place to get info on changes to the game, and maybe I’m biased but it seems like the most logical to me for announcements like this.

Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).

“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”

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Posted by: Behellagh.1468

Behellagh.1468

You know I’m now having mixed feelings when I see MO starting a thread. On one hand it’s “yay, they’re talking to us” and on the other it’s “oh no, they’re talking to us, what’s wrong now”.

All these changes sound positive but you may get flack from dropping the fractal achievements. Nobody ever like when a reward they are working toward vanish just before getting it.

We are heroes. This is what we do!

RIP City of Heroes

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Posted by: Ragnarox.9601

Ragnarox.9601

- Balancing – not mentioned
- WvW updates – not mentioned
- LS3 – not mentioned
- legendary armor and backpiece – not mentioned
- dungeons – not mentioned
….

So what do we get, wall of text, with nothing interesting or even needed. Typical.

WvW updates got a whole paragraph, what do you mean they weren’t mentioned?

They didn’t mentioned staff that they promised like WvW revamp what they said are working on…guess that suddenly vanished and they are bringing back alpine BL. So alpine BL’s are that BIG wvw update? KeK.

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Posted by: Asumita.2174

Asumita.2174

If you don’t want to rip yourself off, I’d stop scribing until this “across-the-board” adjustment is implemented.

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Posted by: TPMN.1483

TPMN.1483

Oh wait – I just noticed.

This was posted on April 1st !
Its all one big joke.

Thank you for the reminder my friends in OZ !

[MYTH] The Mythical Dragons -PvX http://mythdragons.enjin.com

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Posted by: Fermi.2409

Fermi.2409

Oh wait – I just noticed.

This was posted on April 1st !
Its all one big joke.

Thank you for the reminder my friends in OZ !

There are 31 days in March… Good effort though

HAF 912 | i7-3770k @ 4.5 GHz | MSI GTX 1070 GAMING 8GB | Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
EGVA SuperNOVA B2 750W | 16 GB DDR3 1600 | Acer XG270HU | Win 10×64
MX Brown Quickfire XT | Commander Shaussman [AGNY]- Fort Aspenwood

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

Oh wait – I just noticed.

This was posted on April 1st !
Its all one big joke.

Thank you for the reminder my friends in OZ !

Pretty sure it’s March 30th in Washington. And, at most, March 31st elsewhere?

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Posted by: Leaa.2943

Leaa.2943

Alpine border omg, finally, i am just so happy!

I hope you can move the sentries over to alpine, and the dolly system because that would probably be the only thing i would miss from the border. The sentries is awesome and i believe we all feel that way.

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Posted by: James Quall.6029

James Quall.6029

What kind of statement does it make about the expansion when the best news so far is that they’re rolling back part of the expansion?

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

For some reason we got more content in the bi-weekly updates back in the old days than we get now in three month intervalls.

Seriously, what the heck are you doing with all those employees and all the time over there at ANet wonderland?

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Posted by: Lanaeris.3845

Lanaeris.3845

Hey, Mike.

I guess, like the rest of this forum, we are really worried about content that will retain the player base. QOL changes only help those who have exhausted content to no end. We want to know what you guys are planning to add so that we can decide whether or not to devote our time and money to your paycheck. We need a calendar or schedule detailing CONTENT releases.

Fractal QOL: Great, I’ve been doing fractals forever. QOL doesn’t add more of them.

WvW: People don’t want to test things, and I don’t think you will get the population to test things without making a big change.

We want content; and no, not black lion gem store filler for the money-spending addicts.

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Posted by: Sirendor.1394

Sirendor.1394

what’s the scope on the skill balancing?

Very interested in this question aswell. Will we see some balancing done on core versus. elite specialisations?

First the reset time, now borderlands. I appreciate the direction WvW is taking since you got in charge, MO! I applaud the directness of your communication and the fact you take feedback from players.

Also it’s not that the Desert Borderlands were “bad” in and of themselves, they just didn’t really work well for WvW. The main criticisms I saw were with things like the spine wall, the center PvE event and the verticality of the map making it unsuitable for fights. If you could work on removing/changing that around it will get a lot better already.

Gandara – Vabbi – Ring of Fire – Fissure of Woe – Vabbi
SPvP as Standalone All is Vain

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Posted by: Khisanth.2948

Khisanth.2948

o_O

Is there something wrong with my eyes are was there not a single mention of the issues with HoT and timers?

Also does this mean that anything not affected by the April patch will have to wait until August at the soonest?

(edited by Khisanth.2948)

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Posted by: Donari.5237

Donari.5237

Guys, I refer you to this sentence: “But as we’re locking in the contents of the quarterly update, there are some specific things I should tell you about today.” And to “I wanted to give this early heads-up about these areas. You already know quite a bit more about the things we’re working on for the April Quarterly Update, but I’ll stop here for now.”

He just gave a heads up to the things that people need to plan for. Like churning out the rest of the fractals for the achieves, if desired — that can’t so easily be done with a day or two’s notice.

Clearly this is not the whole of the news for the update, merely the need-to-know stuff.

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Posted by: Marcel.1857

Marcel.1857

The Old new Boarderlands. I´m impressed and overwhelmed.
Scribing should be cheaper although it costed me around 1.5k gold to reach scriber 400 by this guide , I guess it´s also nice for guys who haven´t lv the scriber so I don’t begrudge them.
In this term I hope they reduce the amount of “Badge of Tribute” which are required for sribing each wvw Guild Blueprints or rise the amount of “Badge of Honor” instead.

All in one I can´t wait for the patch. Old Boarders…….

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Posted by: Pat.9038

Pat.9038

Thank you!

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

Clearly this is not the whole of the news for the update, merely the need-to-know stuff.

Clearly.

Source?