Guild Wars 2

Please remember that this is “Material Storage”. Not “Stuff I Don’t Want To Spend Bank Slots On Storage”. Items that are not used in crafting or mystic forge recipes are VERY unlikely to be chosen. Sigils, Runes, Tomes of Knowledge, Boosters, etc are all not going to be chosen to add.

EDIT: That said, I am still very seriously considering things like Chak Eggs, Blood Rubies, and Petrified Wood.

There is no way we are getting out of this pet project without adding Blade Shards to Material Storage. I’m comfortable saying now that Blade Shards will definitely make the list of things to add to Material Storage.

WvW is available again, and today’s maintenance is complete.

Alright folks, here we go. I have said that we would look into the material storage system to determine if we could reduce the current restrictions on what is allowed to be deposited there. We have completed that investigation and are ready to talk about what all of you wish could be deposited into storage that currently cannot be. So, please, post your suggestions in our official forums—offered in English, French, German, and Spanish—or post in the inevitable Reddit thread that links back to this post. The Comms team and I will be monitoring those places for your suggestions and gathering your feedback. In about a week or so we will pool those suggestions in order to weigh their validity, and if there are any popular suggestions that are not desirable or possible, I will follow up to explain why. If I find that the number of valid suggestions exceeds the quantity we reasonably can add, we might have to talk about priorities. But for now, let’s pretend that the sky is the limit for the purposes of this discussion.

Here are some guidelines, to head off any paths that will not be fruitful for you:
• No Crafted Components. There are simply too many of them and I categorically refuse to add them all. I will not budge on this. There might be some one-offs I am willing to consider, but if your suggestion is that every single Boot Sole, Soup Stock, Jewelry Setting, and Weapon Haft should go in, you have become Sisyphus and that boulder is never making it to the top of the hill. Give up now.
• No Keys. I totally understand how much folks want this (my shared inventory slots are largely taken up by keys, so I get it!) but putting keys into material storage is not a viable way for you to get a key ring. Sorry.
• No pure Salvageables. I’m looking at you, Lumps of Raw Ambrite. If an item’s only use case is to salvage it into another item that can be put into material storage, then just salvage those items if you want them out of your inventory.

And now, commence with the suggestions!

This maintenance is for NA only.

The WvW team will be performing WvW maintenance on October 25, 2016, at approximately 11 AM PDT as we migrate WvW match data. We expect that there will be no downtime involved. If issues arise, we will update this thread. Otherwise, we will update the thread once the maintenance is complete.

We will be disabling WvW for a brief maintenance period on October 24, 2016 starting at approximately 11 AM PDT. We will update this thread to let you know when WvW has been briefly disabled, and again when it has been re-enabled.

Bug Fix:

• Fixed a bug in which players did not receive the intended first-time and daily rewards upon completing the Mad King’s Clock Tower.

We have disabled the “Cancel Build” skill related to WvW Beta Cannon Blueprints because the skill was not working as intended. The team is investigating making changes to the skill or item, and we will update this thread if more information becomes available. As this time, we suggest that you use the “Drop Bundle” skill instead of the “Cancel Build” skill.

We are so happy that this event is taking place again this year. Thanks to everyone who is involved, and to all who contribute to such a worthy cause!

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Still experiencing DR in the Labyrinth. Maybe it doesn’t apply for events. Sigh.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Last time I went in, a couple hours ago, I noticed that my loot drops still looked like they had DR ongoing even though that char had done some events elsewhere. I quit after a half hour. I’ll give it another try.

Can you give more details? I’m playing Labyrinth right now — have been doing so for a couple of hours — and I’m noticing a significant increase in drops and no DR apparent. I’m talking the whole gamut, from doors to the bosses or regular kills.

If you could give some details, it would be very helpful. Thanks.

So glad you guys were happy with the changes! Mo is tracking this thread, plus I sent him your notes of approval.

Thanks for your understanding, and… as a major fan and participant in the Shadow of the Mad King content (especially Labyrinth!) I just have to say thanks to our team for responding to your concerns to well!

Now, back into the fray!

jheryn.8390:

There were more people than I could count in my instance and we waited for an hour and not one sign of any of you. You cannot tell me that you didn’t know there were going to be many instances. Couldn’t you have divided yourselves up a bit?

Why tell us about the In-Game Events “with Devs” if only a very small minority of players actually got to attend? Very disappointing.

A lot of us hopped maps, and I’m real sorry that we missed you. It’s reminds me of my reply to people when they say “This is the first time I’ve seen you in the game!” I let them know that I’m in the game every night and for a long while on weekends and holidays but with so many worlds, and in some cases so many instances, it’s not unexpected that we might not come across one another.

With this event, devs were on the Clocktower, in the Labyrinth, and in various corners of Lion’s Arch in different worlds, both NA and EU. Some were in the starter zones, too.

I’ll give this subject some thought with the hopes of finding a way to make sure we have more coverage in the future. Thanks for the feedback.

Bug Fixes:

• Elementalist
  • Glyph of Elemental Power: Fixed a bug that allowed striking a downed enemy to activate this ability’s effect with no internal cooldown. Reduced the weakness applied from 6 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Cannon projectiles no longer pass through walls and gates.
• Deployable Cannons now take condition damage.

I’ve reviewed the suggestion. It’s hardly new.

Things you might want to know:

• Each of the threads in the sticky section of GW2 Discussion is pretty essential.
• We have an index thread for suggestions, but too many people failed to look there, and we were getting multiple suggestions a day, when it’s really most effective and efficient to post in the thread on the continuing topic.
• Customer Support made a sticky thread for a bunch of previously-stickied threads, and readership dropped by a huge amount, thus prompting the creation of new threads on the same topic, and causing the loss of valuable information on the topic at hand.
• Some of the sticky threads offer simple functionality information that is very valuable, and which was being lost before it was “stickied.”
• A sub-forum for sticky thread is absolutely out of the question, for multiple reasons.
• Yes, having sticky threads handy to which veteran forum members can point newer members is a very valuable thing.
  
  This is obviously something I’ve given a good deal of thought. We make periodic adjustment to stickies, and we may do so in the future.

The ArenaNet Team recognizes that, as a forum member and a player, you may want to share your feedback about the game. We welcome your doing so! We cannot reply to every thread on the Guild Wars 2 forums, but rest assured that most are read.

The purpose of this post is to provide a little guidance about how to give thoughtful, well-presented, and constructive feedback. Keeping a feedback or suggestion thread on-topic and relevant increases the likelihood that members of the Development Team will read the feedback and share it with their team members, even engage in the thread, if time allows.

If you create a feedback thread, we would appreciate it if you monitor the thread and send reports to the moderators when things veer off-topic or when the content of the thread becomes disruptive. Moderators then can kitten post content to ensure the conversation is on the right track. Do keep in mind, though, that it’s not appropriate to report a post simply because it contains a different opinion than your own.

When posting feedback, please keep these considerations in mind:

• Suggest improvements: “What can I suggest that will make this game content better?”
  • How do you think this particular element or aspect of the game could be improved?
  • What changes to other Guild Wars 2 content resulted in improvements that you liked?
  • How have you seen this particular problem solved in other games?
• Give details and examples: Not a generic “I don’t like this!” but a specific “I think this could be improved by {suggestions}.” And if someone asks a question about the topic, don’t just answer it — explain why you answered the way you did.

• Present opinions as opinions, not facts: Not “This is the only possible change” or “Your idea will not work” but “This is my idea” or “I believe {alternative suggestion} would be the better because {reasons}.”

• Speak from experience: If you’re offering an opinion on new or changed game content, get experience with it before commenting. If you offer input on a profession, skill set, or game mode, be sure you have sufficient background in the subject to validate your opinion. Opinions are welcome, but they’re always best when they’re grounded in fact and experience and, again, when they’re presented as a personal opinion and not an immutable fact.

• Be accurate: If your feedback includes inaccurate information, readers may discard it completely. Do some fact-checking and read through a thread before joining in. This helps you avoid making redundant or inaccurate comments.

• Use references: If there’s a dev forum post, a blog post, an interview, or an external resource, include links in your post so that readers can see you’ve done your homework and have reviewed previously-released information before offering feedback or making a suggestion.

• Avoid making it personal: Resist arguing with a person, but by all means debate a point being made. Not, “I think your idea is bad” but “I would prefer to see this handled a different way {details} because {reasons}.” Not “I know the game better than you,” but “In playing GW2 I have found…”

• Don’t take things personally: By the same token, don’t be offended if someone disagrees with your opinion or suggests alternatives to an idea you’ve put forth. Also, if you make a suggestion and the developers choose to move in a different direction, don’t let that bother you or color your opinion, but review the changes with an open mind and offer your thoughts without rancor.

• Share positives: Not all feedback involves a suggestion on how things could be changed or improved. Sharing your thoughts on things that you like in the game is helpful, because your satisfaction can help steer us in the right direction with future development.

As you can see, what you are saying is important, but how you are saying it is equally important. Your strongest points will be lost if they are delivered without details, if they’re presented in an aggressive or unpleasant tone, or if they are buried in a huge wall of meandering text.

By considering the points above, your feedback will be focused on providing solutions to problems rather than simply focusing on the problems. It will shine a light on content that you enjoy, so that we’re aware of that fact when making future updates and developing upcoming projects. These things are the heart of what we’re looking for from your feedback, and both will result in the best game possible!

We just released a new build. Are you in the new build and they are in the old build?

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug in which the decay timers on the deployable cannon were not applying.
• Fixed a bug that caused Mini Charles the Hellfire Skeleton and Mini Thailog the Gargoyle to account-bind on acquire. This will not affect previously obtained items.
• Skills and Balance:
  • Crossfire: Fixed a bug that caused this ability to give the lower bleeding value regardless of positioning.
  • Glyph of Elemental Power: Fixed a bug that caused this ability’s effect to have an unintentional reduced cooldown.

The poll has concluded! The final results (not including “Don’t Count My Vote”) are:

79.1% Yes, restrict ranked queue to one or two-player parties for Season 5.
20.9% No, do not restrict ranked queue to one or two-player parties for Season 5.

This means Ranked Arena will be restricted to solo players and two-player parties during Season 5. This change will not affect off-season Ranked Arena or Unranked Arena. After the end of Season 5 we will re-evaluate the experience and poll the community again to decide if the change should become permanent for all ranked seasons. Thanks for voting and we look forward to the changes coming to ranked play!

I wanted to follow up to let you know that this situation has been corrected, and your out-of-body experiences will now proceed as intended.

As a reminder, we held a poll 2 months ago and the community voted to beta deployable cannons: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/WvW-Poll-18-July-Cannon-Blueprints-Closed/page/3#post6252969

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug involving the reward tables for Personalized Trick-or-Treat Bags.
• Fixed a client crash.

Thanks! We’ll look into it.

0/18/2016 – October 18 Release Notes
Release Notes:
Living World
Halloween: Shadow of the Mad King
Come one, come all! Join us for this year’s Halloween! Play Mad King Says with old Mad King Thorn himself, jump to the top of Mad King’s Clock Tower, battle in the labyrinth, or fight Mad King Thorn in his realm. You will also see doors appearing and Trick-or-Treat Bags dropping all around Tyria.

• Parts of Lion’s Arch and the Heart of the Mists have been decorated.
• Trick-or-Treat Bags have been updated with new weapons, miniatures, and more!
• Trick-or-Treat Bags now have a chance to drop all over Tyria.
• Candy Corn vendors in Lion’s Arch have been updated with new items.
• Complete daily and permanent Halloween achievements!

Ember Bay

• Veteran Jade Armor and Jade Bow defiance bars no longer scale.
• Fixed an issue in which the Veteran Jade Armor and Jade Bow defiance bars immediately refilled when broken too quickly.
• Fixed an issue in which some Ether Towers weren’t properly awarding task participation when destroyed.
• Fixed an issue in which Ether Towers were difficult to hit with projectile attacks from certain angles.
• Fixed an issue in which Jade Constructs would not scale properly during the Caliph’s Steps events.
• Fixed an issue in which the Sloth Queen was not gaining her Hunger Crazed damage-reduction effect while chasing Tasty Slublings.
• Fixed an issue in which the destroyers in the Burning Grotto would sometimes become invulnerable.

World Polish
General

• Fixed a bug that could prevent progress in the Verdant Brink event “Extricate stranded nobles from vine chambers, and escort them to safety” when Minister Merula is defeated before reaching the rendezvous point.

Fractals
Thaumanova:

• Boss platforms have been changed to a more visible model.

Raids
Stronghold of the Faithful

• Keep Construct
  • Fixed an issue in which any players downed before transitioning the Keep Construct via the defiance bar would not be able to assist with destroying Xera’s phantasms.
• Xera
  • Bloodstones will no longer allow downed players to rally.

Items

• Many karma consumable items now have a Consume All option.
• Skritt Worker Contracts now have a 10-second cooldown between uses.

Profession Skills
General:

• Sigil of Demon Slaying: Fixed a bug that caused this sigil to indicate elementals in some instances.
• Superior Sigil of Draining: Fixed a bug that prevented the life-stealing effect from displaying in the combat log.
• Superior Rune of Altruism: Fury is now properly applied when the sixth effect of the rune is used with Bandage Self.
• Superior Rune of the Krait: Fixed a bug that prevented the sixth effect of this rune from working properly with certain elite skills.
• Superior Rune of Surging: Fixed a bug that prevented the sixth effect of this rune from working properly with certain elite skills.
• Superior Rune of the Sunless: Fixed a bug that prevented the sixth effect of this rune from working properly with certain elite skills.
• Seaweed Salad: An unintentional 10 condition-damage bonus has been removed.
• Caladbolg: Extraneous skill facts on Caladbolg tool tips have been removed.
• Combo and enemy rings: Fixed a bug that caused these to occasionally be culled.
• Boons: The duration-based boons Protection, Quickness, Regeneration, Resistance, Retaliation, and Vigor will now only stack up to 5 times instead of 9.

General—PvP Only:

• Downed state: Players will no longer become invulnerable when downed in PvP.

Elementalist
In this iteration, we’re looking at some specific improvements to dagger weapon types in addition to general utility and miscellaneous updates. Abilities with very long cast times have been reduced to no longer provide extended interruption openings.

• Impale: The aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.13 seconds. The damage of this ability has been increased by 20%, and the duration of bleeding has been increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Burning Speed: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
• Earthquake: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 45 seconds to 40 seconds.
• Drake’s Breath: The damage of this ability has been increased by 40%.
• Cone of Cold: The damage of this ability has been increased by 20%. Its base healing has been increased by 10%. Fixed a skill-fact bug that displayed this ability’s healing contribution lower than its actual levels.
• Ice Spike: The casting time for this ability has been reduced from 1 second to 0.75 seconds. Aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.5 seconds.
• Healing Rain: The casting time of this ability has been reduced by 0.3 seconds.
• Lightning Surge: The damage of this ability has been increased by 10%.
• Glyph of Elemental Power: The trigger chance of this ability has been increased from 25% to 100%. Weakness duration has been reduced from 6 seconds to 3 seconds. Internal cooldown can now be shared between elementalists. This ability will no longer apply conditions to nonenemies.
• Signet of Fire: The burning duration of this ability has been readjusted from 2 stacks for 10 seconds to 4 stacks for 6 seconds.
• Signet of Air: This ability now inflicts 8 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds in addition to applying blind in a radius of 240 around the target.
• Ether Renewal: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 3.5 seconds to 2.75 seconds.
• Harmonious Conduit: Updated the tool tips for overload skills to display stability granted when an attunement is overloaded while this trait is equipped.
• Elemental Surge: Immobilize duration has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
• Ice Bow: Ice Storm damage has been doubled in PvP only.

Engineer
We’ve been looking to improve the engineer and to support the areas it’s been lacking in so that the profession can perform more effectively in a DPS role. In order to improve purity of purpose, we have removed the daze functionality from the Gyro utility type for scrapper.

• Static Shield: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Block duration has been increased from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds.
• Flamethrower—Air Blast: The description has been updated to better specify the ability’s function. The burning stacks it applies have been increased from 1 to 2.
• Fire Bomb: The physical damage of this ability has been increased by 10% per tick.
• Concussion Bomb: Confusion duration has been increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds. The physical damage of this ability has been increased by 20%.
• Big Ol’ Bomb: The knockdown duration of this ability has been increased from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Mechanized Deployment: Fixed a bug that prevented the tool belt recharge-rate attribute from updating properly on the Hero panel.
• Poison Dart Volley: The projectiles fired by this skill will now land more consistently.
• Rocket Boots: The initial damage of this ability has been increased by 25%.
• Utility Goggles: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
• Glue Trail: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to affect certain friendly NPCs.
• Gear Shield: The block duration of this ability has been reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
• Gyro utility skills: Gyros will no longer daze anything in the area they affect when they die.
• Gadgeteer: Fixed a bug in which the overcharged versions of gadget skills did not have their recharge time reduced by this trait.
• Incendiary Powder: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to display longer than the attainable burning duration on skills.

Guardian
The guardian is faring well in multiple game types with a few exceptions. In the next balance patch, we’ll be normalizing some of the dragonhunter specialization’s defensive capabilities while increasing some effects for baseline guardian abilities.

• Shield of Courage: The baseline duration of the blocking effect has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
• Zealot’s Embrace: Projectile speed has been increased by 100%.
• Cleansing Flame: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 4.25 seconds to 3.25 seconds.
• Merciful Intervention: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 50 seconds to 40 seconds. Base healing power has been increased by 20%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 83%.
• Signet of Wrath: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. This change also modifies Wrath of Justice in the Radiance specialization.
• Symbol of Punishment: Skill facts have been updated to display the light combo’s field effect.
• Signet of Courage: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 4.25 seconds to 3.25 seconds.
• Purification: The cast time of this ability has been increased from 0.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds. The initial heal’s base healing value has been reduced from 80 to 40, with level scaling also reduced by 6%. The initial heal has had its healing-power contribution increased by about 33%.
• Piercing Light: Daze duration from this trait has been reduced from 0.5 seconds to 0.25 seconds.
• Hunter’s Determination: The ability triggered by this trait has been split from the utility skill and renamed Shards of Faith. The cooldown of this trait has been increased from 45 seconds to 60 seconds. The number of fragments dropped has been decreased from 5 to 3.
• Hunter’s Verdict: This ability can now be used underwater.

Mesmer
In this update, mesmers will see a reduction in readily available boon output through Signet of Inspiration. While we feel the reduction of boon uptime is necessary, we also want to help mesmer DPS builds remain sustainable. We have implemented several changes to help it maintain its effectiveness.

• Mind Slash: The damage of this ability has been increased by 6% in all game types.
• Mind Gash: The damage of this ability has been increased by 6% in all game types.
• Blurred Frenzy: The damage of this ability has been increased by 100% in PvE areas only.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
• Phantasmal Defender: The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
• Mirror: Base healing power per level has been increased by 10%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 33%.
• Mimic: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 90 seconds to 75 seconds.
• Signet of Inspiration: Added stability, quickness, and resistance to the signet’s passive skill. The active skill of this ability has been reworked and will now apply one of each of your boons to nearby allies for the same duration the passive skill applies them.
• Signet of Humility: The signet’s casting effect will now occur at the beginning of the ability. This ability can no longer target enemies behind the mesmer who casts it.
• Well of Calamity: Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to apply conditions through all forms of defense.
• Illusionary Avenger: Fixed a bug that allowed this illusion to activate Fencer’s Finesse.
• Spatial Surge: The aftercast has been reduced by 0.3 seconds.

Necromancer
We feel that necromancers have been faring quite well gamewide, providing play and counterplay in many spots over the last few months. In addition to a couple of minor bug fixes, we wanted to improve the viability of necromancer power builds, which have been somewhat lacking in presence.

• Rending Claws: The damage of this ability has been increased by 15%.
• Ghastly Claws: The damage of this ability has been increased by 13%.
• Unholy Feast: The number of boons converted to conditions has been increased from 1 to 2.
• Fading Twilight: The aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.11 seconds.
• Chilling Scythe: The aftercast of this ability has been reduced by 0.06 seconds.
• Death Spiral: The damage of this ability has been increased by 66%.
• Blood Is Power: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 30 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP only.
• Signet of Vampirism: When the Signets of Suffering trait is equipped, this skill will no longer corrupt boons on players who evade it.
• Lich Form—Jagged Horrors: These minions will no longer lose health over time and will instead die 30 seconds after they’re summoned.

Ranger
After a period of observation, the balance team will be changing the druid specialization’s nature somewhat. In this iteration, we’ll now be making healing types more healing-power based. We’ve reduced base values of many healing abilities while substantially increasing the overall healing-power contribution. This patch will also upgrade the ranger’s short-bow weapon—a change we’ve been looking forward to doing for a long time.

• “We Heal As One!”: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds in PvP only.
• Lunar Impact: This ability’s tool tip has been updated to display its blast finisher effect.
• “Search and Rescue!”: Fixed a bug that prevented the ability’s voiceover from playing.
• “Strength of the Pack!”: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 60 seconds to 75 seconds. The voiceover will now play when the ability completes instead of midcast.
• Maul: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Damage has been increased by about 10%.
• Sun Spirit: Fixed a bug that caused rangers to lose access to their Solar Flare skill in certain situations.
• Quick Shot: Rangers will now gain swiftness regardless of whether they’ve hit their target. The recharge time of this skill has been reduced to 8 seconds.
• Crippling Shot: In addition to its existing functionality, this skill will now immobilize your foe for 1.5 seconds if you are behind them.
• Crossfire: This ability will now bleed foes for 1.5 seconds when they’re struck from the front.
• Poison Volley: This skill’s cooldown has been reduced to 8 seconds. Its poison effect will last 2 seconds longer when this skill is applied from behind your target.
• Call of the Wild: This ability now also causes a ranger’s pet to become unblockable for the next 4 seconds.
• Hunter’s Call: This skill’s cooldown has been reduced to 20 seconds.
• Ancestral Grace: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 15 seconds to 18 seconds. Its base healing power per level has been reduced by 10%.
• Vine Surge: The velocity of the vines has been increased by 50%.
• Celestial Avatar: The recharge time of this ability has been increased from 10 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Cosmic Ray: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 50%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 52%.
• Seed of Life: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 20%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 33%.
• Lunar Impact: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 34%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 63%.
• Rejuvenating Tides: The base healing power for this ability has been reduced by 20%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 43%.
• Lick Wounds: Fixed a bug that caused your pet to briefly blink away from you if it was attacking an enemy before you activated this skill.

Revenant
One of the bigger changes for revenants in this update will be the reduced boon duration for the herald specialization’s Naturalistic Resonance effect. We’re adjusting a few different boon durations as a result of this and will continue to monitor the effects as time progresses.

• Enchanted Daggers: Attacks that are blocked or evaded will now remove stacks of Enchanted Daggers.
• Unrelenting Assault: Fixed a bug that prevented the ability user from being stunned when initiating an attack against foes with Shocking Aura.
• Inspiring Reinforcement: Stability duration has been increased from 1 second to 1.5 seconds per pulse. The resource cost has been increased from 30 to 35.
• Dwarven Battle Training: Fixed a bug that caused weakness to have increased effectiveness instead of reduced effectiveness. Revenant skills that inflict weakness will no longer display a revised condition tool tip.
• Facet of Light: Regeneration duration has been increased from 3 seconds to 4 seconds. Upkeep cost has been increased from 1 to 2 in PvP only.
• Naturalistic Resonance: Boon-duration increase has been reduced from 50% to 33%.
• Versed in Stone: The recharge time of this trait has been increased from 45 seconds to 60 seconds in WvW and PvP.
• Unwavering Avoidance: This trait now triggers when an attack is successfully evaded instead of during dodge rolls. The recharge time has been increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds. Stability duration has been increased from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds.

Thief
Changes for the thief profession are not overly extensive, but they are direct. The team is still observing the changes from previous balance updates, and we’re looking to fine-tune the profession so that it maintains a unique role in the game without breaking its core philosophies.

• Potent Poison: Fixed a bug that prevented the condition’s duration increase from displaying in the Attributes section.
• Pulmonary Impact: Fixed a bug that prevented this skill from doing damage while a thief was in the air.
• Bound: The damage of this ability can now be triggered in midair or underwater.
• Vital Shot: Increased damage by 15%.
• Dancing Dagger: Increased damage by 20%.
• Skelk Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Skale Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Spider Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 30 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Ice Drake Venom: The recharge time of this ability has been reduced from 40 seconds to 36 seconds. Its duration has been reduced from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.

Warrior
Warrior continues to hold its place among each game type, so the team isn’t looking to make massive adjustments at this time. For this update, we have a few quality-of-life adjustments and bug fixes, as well as a few functionality changes to skills like Whirling Axe and Rupturing Smash, which will help them achieve their purpose.

• Shield Bash: Fixed a bug that prevented the immobile condition from being removed when the Warrior’s Sprint trait is equipped.
• King of Fires: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait’s detonation from functioning with Head Butt.
• Berserker Stance: Fixed a bug that caused this stance to apply for less than the full 125% value when the Last Stand trait is equipped.
• Dual Strike: Increased damage by 34%.
• Whirling Axe: While channeling this skill, you move 50% faster.
• Bull’s Charge: Reduced the recharge time to 30 seconds.
• Signet of Fury: Reduced the recharge time to 20 seconds.
• “On My Mark!”: This skill now applies revealed for 4 seconds in addition to vulnerability.
• Signet of Stamina: Reduced the recharge time to 40 seconds.
• Wild Blow: Reduced the recharge time to 20 seconds.
• Flaming Flurry: Reduced the projectile variance by 10 degrees.
• Rupturing Smash: This attack now strikes as a single hit within an arc rather than a cascading damage attack. The effect for this skill has been sped up to better match its new functionality. The radius has been increased to 360. The ground decal size has been increased to match the new radius. The daze duration has been increased to 1 second.

Structured Player vs. Player

• A Halloween reward track has been added to the PvP reward tracks.
• The PvP lobby has been decorated for Halloween.
  • The Guild Challenger League Leaderboard and Guild Challenger flags have been temporarily disabled during the holiday.

World vs. World
Beta
Deployable cannons are now in beta! Purchase cannon blueprints from either the siege master or the permanent portable provisioner to test them out.
Deployable cannons have less health and deal less damage than their static counterparts but can be placed anywhere that other deployable siege weapons can.
We will be looking for feedback about deployable cannons on our forums and will be holding a follow-up poll to determine if they should become a permanent feature in the game.
General

• A Halloween reward track has been added to WvW reward tracks.
• New Mystic Forge recipes have been added to create 10 or 25 superior siege pieces at a time.
  • The Siege Master’s Guide is now worth 10 Spirit Shards.
  • Created two new guides:
    • Siege Novice’s Guide—worth 1 Spirit Shard
    • Siege Grandmaster’s Guide—worth 25 Spirit Shards
  • 10 Superior Siege Recipe:
    • 20 Siege Blueprints
    • 50 Elder Wood Logs
    • 50 Mithril Ore
    • Siege Master’s Guide
  • 25 Superior Siege Recipe:
    • 50 Siege Blueprints
    • 125 Elder Wood Logs
    • 125 Mithril Ore
    • Siege Grandmaster’s Guide
  • 10 Omega Golem Recipe:
    • 50 Alpha Siege Golem Blueprints
    • 100 Elder Wood Logs
    • 100 Mithril Ore
    • 3 Siege Master’s Guides
  • 25 Omega Golem Recipe
    • 125 Alpha Siege Golem Blueprints
    • 250 Elder Wood Logs
    • 250 Mithril Ore
    • 3 Siege Grandmaster’s Guides
• The southeast desert dolyak path has been fixed so that it no longer goes through lava.
• Fixed a bug in which Legendary Defenders were no longer attacking enemy players.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions

• Six new, exclusive eye colors have been added to the Total Makeover Kit, which is available in the Services category of the Gem Store for 350 gems.
• For a limited time, a new set of Gargoyle weapon skins is available from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
• The Candy Corn Gobbler Pack is available for a limited time in the Toys category of the Gem Store for 300 gems. Each pack comes with a Candy Corn Gobbler and 15 pieces of Candy Corn.
• The Black Wings Glider Combo is available for a limited time in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
• The Mad King’s Outfit is available for a limited time in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
• The Mad King Dye Kit is available for a limited time in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
• The Ghoul Backpack and Mini Set is available for a limited time in the Style category of the Gem Store for 600 gems.
• For a limited time, past Halloween miniatures are available when using Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets.

And… more information:

This issue will be resolved with today’s build. So when the ghoulies and ghosties appear, this probably will…disappear! Thanks for your patience, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused.

Thank you for making us aware of this. I was in the game about the time this was posted and had no difficulty accessing the Guild Hall in multiple guilds. I’m not sure what’s going on, but rest assured this is being discussed internally! I’ll post as we get more info.

My goal for this year, besides conquering the Clocktower and doing ridiculous numbers of Labyrinth runs, is acquiring that darling kitty, Mini Zuzu, Cat of Darkness. I love that little critter!

Yargesh.4965:

This will ’ve between 11 and midnight European central time. Will devs be on EU servers or only NA?

I’m glad you asked about this. We’ll be in the NA zones between 2 and 3 PM Pacific time / 5 and 6 PM Eastern Time / 9 and 10 GMT, but our EU Team members will be participating in the event earlier, most likely in the morning hours of October 18th… well “morning” for those of us in the studio, on the west coast of the US.

So you’ll be likely to find some of us just about any hour that you join on Tuesday, October 18th. We’ll hope to see you there!!

Answers:

• I did reach out to a few members of MGT — thanks for the recommendation.
• I am confident that the game will be working just fine — no need to postpone. If there are hot fixes, we’ll just log and join back in.
• Yes, a dance party seems very likely.
• Yes, a conga line seems even more likely. It’s been a long, long time since I led a conga, and although we don’t have that handy /follow system that we had in Guild Wars, I believe we can make it work.

Oh and the EU Team will be joining in early in the day on Tuesday (10/18) so you will likely catch some of us at different times of the day.

I’m looking forward to seeing you guys in the game!

As other have accurately pointed out, Living World stories are offered on a complementary basis to those who acquire them during their open periods. This season that’s the period from the release of one episode until the launch of the next episode, so thus far each has been offered for free for a period of approximately 2 months. The Living World story in Season 2 is offered to those who did not play during that period for in-game gold, which can be acquired for free by playing the game, or it can be acquired with the use of purchased gems. Nothing blocks progression and there are alternatives to acquire sufficient points to level one’s masteries without being involved with Season 2 at all.

Ayrilana.1396:

Were the living story episodes listed as part of HoT? Did they state that all those who purchased HoT would have full access to those episodes?

No, as you can see here there is nothing whatsoever about unlimited access to Living World episodes.

SoV.5139:

All I’m asking for is equal transaction meaning equal access,

But you’re not. You’re asking for free access to content that was intended to be offered, for free, for a limited period of time. That was clearly stated, and there is nothing incorrect or unfair in offering it within that framework.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Research is always a prudent thing to do. The game is advertised as exactly what it is. Core content, expansion content, buy to play. Living Story (optional) content, free if you log in during its active period(s). Otherwise, acquired at no cost by playing the buy-to-play content, or, if impatient, for cash.

Good luck.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You need 49 Mastery points to complete all Core Tyria Mastery tracks. You can acquire 50 Mastery points without ever touching Living World Season Two.

Both of these statements are particularly relevant and uphold what I said above.

At the end of the day, many forum members have offered you objective and reasonable responses, yet you dismiss them all. At this point, the thread has digressed into a circular discussion and merits closure.

Our billing provider will be doing routine maintenance on Sunday, October 16, 2016 between 7:00 AM and 2:00 PM Pacific Time (UTC -7). During that time, purchases will be processed completely and items or products will be transmitted. However, e-mail confirmation receipts may be delayed until the end of maintenance. This maintenance will impact both buy.guildwars2.com and store.guildwars.com but will not impact purchases made through the in-game Black Lion Trading Company.

Hey guys,

I posted some information about an In-Game Event coming up on October 18th. It’s a little in-game celebration of the launch of the Halloween Festival, and we hope you’ll pop into the game and join us.

Please head to the linked thread if you’d like to know more.

A couple of devs asked me to find a group that will attend events and play music. By that I mean you can “hire” the group to perform and they do so for payment in in-game gold.

Does anyone have contact info for that particular group?

Thanks for any info you can share!

This should be correct now, but some users are still seeing old values. Will investigate further when we get a chance.

A message from the Skills Team:

Greetings, Tyrians!

We are here today to talk about some of the build-thematic changes that will be coming with the next balance iteration. Depending on your chosen profession and your role in combat, these changes may require some stat-swapping on your gear. We feel that giving a bit of a “heads-up” is appropriate.

One of the most notable changes being made is to the healing values of the Druid as a primary healer. Base values for the Celestial Avatar heals will be reduced, while the healing power contribution will be enhanced significantly. The reasoning for these changes is that while we are excited about the Druid being an incredibly strong healer, we would also like to see that role as one of many choices in your attribute build.

Similarly, there will be changes in boon duration and boon application for a few professions. For the Revenant, we’ll be looking at reducing Naturalistic Resonance’s base boon duration. For Mesmer, we’re looking at making Signet of Inspiration’s boon sharing functionality a bit more controlled, giving each shared boon a fixed duration. To help compensate for these general reductions, we’ll be increasing both damage and a few different baseline boon durations.

As this update rolls out we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these changes, along with the remainder of the balance updates, and will make additional adjustments and tweaks as necessary. Thanks very much for your time!

-The Skills Team

Hey there,

With the launch of Halloween, ArenaNet team members are planning to invade Lion’s Arch to have a mini-celebration with you!

When: Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Time: 2:00 to 3:00 PM Pacific time (-7 GMT)

You might spot devs:

• Taking some time in the Clocktower
• Romping through the a-mazing Labyrinth
• Showing their special pow-ers in the Costume Brawl
• Trying to have the last say against the Mad King
• Generally hanging out to visit with players in the spirit of the season

We’ll be spreading out around the world, and will do out best to spend time on a lot of different worlds and servers.

Note: A few of us will also be meeting up in LA earlier in the day, when the festival kicks off, and you’re welcome to join us then, too. Look for that to happen mostly on the EU Servers.

Hope to see you there!

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Ensign.2189:

John Smith.4610:

Kind of ironically, his work is more applicable to a game economy than a real economy.

I don’t follow – Keynes’ insights flow from introducing transaction lags and breaking the neutrality of money via finance, neither of which applies to a game economy (at least, not to the GW2 economy). What parts do you think describe the GW2 economy well?

I think John’s speaking more along the lines that government (Anet) intervention is necessary to keep the economy in check. This is true with GW2, since Anet is always making adjustments behind the scenes to artificially influence prices. Example: Over abundant Silk? Increase the cost to make bolts, and introduce Ascended recipes that make Silk highly desirable, thus increasing values.

So for Anet to take a step back and let us move the economy on our own, that’s basically anti-Keynesian.

That is more what I’m referring to. Also because in a game economy there is the ability to opt-out of the economy entirely with little cost. This means that death spiral are far more likely and more common without strong regulation, especially with content changes.

FYI, S4 titles have been distributed to those who entered legendary division. Check your in-game mail.

Sartharina.3542:

MaX.7401:

So, from these basics assumptions, John Smith has decided to follow his former mentor Adam Smith and his invisible hand ?

I know that was bad I’m sorry for that.
Ok, I’ll just be leaving now …

Hi Keynes, sorry for you.

Keynes is an idiot best ignored anyway.

Kind of ironically, his work is more applicable to a game economy than a real economy.

Farming Flats.5370:

Gaile Gray.6029:

So excited for Halloween! Read all about it here!

I am determined to conquer the Clocktower. I will be spending far, far too many hours in Labyrinth. And I can’t wait to get the new rewards.

We’re having a little dev meet-up on October 18th from 2:00 to 3:00 PM Pacific Time. Hope to see you there if you can make it, but anywhere and everywhere during the festival!

so ?? mastery XP is going to count yes or no ???

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Halloween-Remember-what-you-told-us-last-year/first#post6342970

It is my understanding that the Labyrinth will give Core Tyria XP this year. None of the other activities will do so, but they were never intended to do so. So if the question is about Labyrinth, then yes, I believe that’s on the docket.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Donari.5237:

Ellie.5913:

If this is another what would we like in the gem store thread, I’d agree we need more variety and customization in bodies, faces and armors, outfits, and more dances, which could all be sold in the gem store. ( everyone looks so similar to me) And I would totally LOVE some stylish armor/outfits for a change like other games make. I’m sure Anet could make them too or maybe consider hiring some one who could . Something like this would be cool.

This is not that thread. This is an information thread about what sales are happening. A red post not far above yours asks people not to debate and discuss here.

Hopefully you will see this before your post and all the following derails (which are not your fault), including this post of mine, get moved or deleted.

That post, and many others was placed in this thread by a Moderator. I think they merged into the wrong thread. All the ‘derails’ were a separate thread down in GD.

Correct. The sticky thread, which is intended to be a listing of Gem Store offerings, became a victim of conversational zerging, it seems through a moderator error. I’ve split this off so that if you wish to continue the conversation, you may do so.

The sticky thread should be left without conversation, please, as it’s intended as a quick and easily-reviewed listing of Gem Store items.

Thanks.

A message from the PvP Team,
The new PvP Poll is up!
https://feedback.guildwars2.com
Please share your thoughts and feedback on the poll in this thread!

The poll is good to go!

Hey there,

We discovered that the link to the new poll, announced in today’s blog post, is not functioning properly. We’re working on correcting that, but in the meantime, we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience. We will get that fired up and ready to receive your input as soon as possible!

Folks, at this time and for the foreseeable future, we will not be able to expand the list of reportable offenses through the in-game report system. It’s a nice goal, and we’ve requested a modest expansion that would add a few extra types of offenses. (It’s not realistic to have every single possible infraction, as you can imagine.) However, such an expansion is far more complex than, say, expanding a drop down on a website. Expanding the in-game report list would require involvement of the Web, Programming, and Systems Teams and frankly, there are a number of other things that require more immediate attention.

So again, it’s important to note that we do have a working and workable system that anyone can use. Please consider using the in-game system as it is designed and submitting a ticket for other instances of concern. That will allow us to take care of all issues of concern as efficiently and meaningfully as possible.

If you feel that something is not being handled as promptly as it should be, feel free to talk to CS via a ticket.

Thanks so much.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I’ll pass this along.

Jourdelune.7456:

Josh Davis.6015:

Mel.8495:

more skill based? I think it is too hard to reach legendary
can you sell a legendary division booster in the gem store? I would pay 8000 gems for it

Not everyone belongs in legendary – it should be hard to get into.

As for the second question – no.

Hard or Grindy? I want a hard game that I can play 10 to 15 hours a week and still compete.

I suppose it depends on how high you want to go. Want to be top 100? You’re probably going to need to put more effort in.

Ayrilana.1396:

Gaile Gray.6029:

So excited for Halloween! Read all about it here!

I am determined to conquer the Clocktower. I will be spending far, far too many hours in Labyrinth. And I can’t wait to get the new rewards.

We’re having a little dev meet-up on October 18th from 2:00 to 3:00 PM Pacific Time. Hope to see you there if you can make it, but anywhere and everywhere during the festival!

Will there be a release page so that we know what will and will not be included in this year’s version?

Release pages usually come out with release. I anticipate that yes, there will be such a page.

Randulf.7614:

The labyrinth is always my fav and since Halloween itself falls on a Monday, that means we get at least 3 weeks this year \o/

Not sure I will pluck up the courage to do clocktower though………..

I’ve usually bailed after a few tries, but I’m told once you get to a certain point, you can progress, with trials, to the end. I’m definitely going to give it a go!

So excited for Halloween! Read all about it here!

I am determined to conquer the Clocktower. I will be spending far, far too many hours in Labyrinth. And I can’t wait to get the new rewards.

We’re having a little dev meet-up on October 18th from 2:00 to 3:00 PM Pacific Time. Hope to see you there if you can make it, but anywhere and everywhere during the festival!