12/16/14 – December 16 Release Notes
Release Notes:
Festival
A Very Merry Wintersday
The nights may be growing longer and colder, but Divinity’s Reach is merry with the warmth of the Wintersday spirit. Celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next in this traditional winter festival!
The Wondrous Workshop
- Enter Toymaker Tixx’s workshop inside his golem-shaped airship—Tixx’s Infinirarium—to corral mischievous toys and set things to rights!
Wintersday Festivities
- Celebrate the holiday with festive traditions: leap from snowflake to snowflake in the Winter Wonderland jumping puzzle, ring in the season in the Bell Choir activity, defend gift-bearing dolyaks in Toypocalypse, and store up precious presents in Snowball Mayhem!
Warming Grawnk’s Heart
- It’s your chance to save Wintersday! Grawnk has stolen ornaments from the children’s orphanage in Divinity’s Reach, and it’s up to you to track them down! If you succeed in your mission, you’ll be able to plant a beautiful Wintersday tree in your own home instance.
Wintersday Gift Tree
- The latest trend in Tyrian holiday decor, these trees provide Wintersday gifts year-round and are attractive in any home, whether it’s in the heart of the Black Citadel or the outskirts of Rata Sum. Receive yours by helping the orphans of Divinity’s Reach find their lost ornaments. Also, the Star of Gratitude provides additional rewards for those of you with empyreal fragments to spare.
Toys and Treasures
- Tixx has an assortment of new goodies for the citizens of Tyria! Complete three new collections to receive exclusive rewards, such as the Endless Gift Box Tonic.
- Enjoy other festive rewards like the new Magnanimous Choir Bell and the Rime-Rimmed Mariner’s Rebreather.
NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT
New Daily Achievement System
- Achievements have been divided into 3 categories: PvE, WvW, and PvP.
- The number of available achievements per day is based on the highest-level character on an account:
- Levels 1 – 10: 1 achievement per category
- Levels 11 – 30: 3 achievements per category
- Levels 31 – 80: 4 achievements per category
- Completing daily achievements now awards players with items and/or experience based on their corresponding content type, such as WvW daily achievements rewarding world experience.
- Completing daily achievements no longer awards players with achievement points.
- A new Daily Completionist achievement has been added and is earned by completing any combination of daily achievements from the three categories.
- Completing the Daily Completionist achievement rewards players with 10 achievement points.
- December will be the final month to include monthly achievements.
- Existing daily and monthly achievement rewards have been rolled into the new log-in reward system.
- For more information, please see this blog post.
New Log-in Reward System
- The first time you log in each day, you’ll receive a new item from the reward track.
- Progress on the log-in reward track will reset only after claiming the 28th and final reward.
- Players logged in after 4:00 p.m. PDT on December 15 will receive their first daily log-in reward chest after 4:00 p.m. PDT on December 16.
- Players last logged out before 4:00 p.m. PDT on December 15 will receive their first daily log-in reward chest immediately after the update.
- For more information, please see this blog post.
World vs. World
- The World vs. World Sneak Attack event begins December 16. For the next month of World vs. World, the following rules will apply:
- All player kills will award 1 point of world score. Using a finisher on a player while you have Borderlands Bloodlust will award 2 points.
- The white crossed swords that appear when an objective is under attack have been removed from all objectives in World vs. World. Now a player must scout the objectives in order to see them being attacked.
- All players will receive a Mist War Summons effect, which increases WXP gain by 15%, experience gain by 15%, and magic find by 50% while in WvW.
Structured Player vs. Player
- The PvP Ladder test season begins December 16. For the next month of Player vs. Player, the following rules will apply:
- Between the dates of December 16 and January 13, enter Ranked Arena during the ladder test season and compete for the top spots on the leaderboard to earn PvP-exclusive rewards.
- At the end of the season, the top 250 players on the ladder in each region will each receive a PvP-exclusive Mini Llama.
- The top 20 players in each region will receive a piece of the PvP-exclusive Glorious Hero’s armor, available only through tournaments and special events.
- The top five players from each region will receive an additional piece of Glorious Hero’s armor.
BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
General
The Contacts and LFG panel no longer resets continually when new entries are listed.
Items
Major Sigil of Leeching: Fixed a bug that occasionally caused this sigil to begin cooldown without triggering correctly.
BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items and Promotions
- A new Gifts Mail Delivery mail carrier is available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 350 gems.
- The new Arctic Explorer Outfit is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
- New Wintersday weapons are available from the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for 1 ticket each.
- Every Black Lion Chest also includes a guaranteed Personalized Wintersday Gift (for a limited time).
- The Royal Pass (2 weeks) has returned to the Special category of the Gem Store for 300 gems (for a limited time).
(edited by Moderator)