Guild Wars 2 news » July 9 Content Release Notes

LIVING WORLD

Bazaar of the Four Winds

The Bazaar of the Four Winds is gathering; merchants are converging from all corners of Tyria to sell their wares. It’s not just shady characters and risky trades—the mystical, flying Zephyr Sanctum has landed, bringing passengers and their magical quartz crystals and amazing movement skills to savvy traders and daring adventurers alike! What a joy it will be to experience the thrill of the trade—and the race. Let’s go!

The Labyrinthine Cliffs

• A bazaar has sprung up in the Labyrinthine Cliffs. Merchants have brought bulk orders of cooking ingredients from all over Tyria to the bazaar. The Labyrinthine Cliffs can be reached through the Sanctum Harbor docks in Lion’s Arch. Talk to the Transport Facilitator for passage.
• Zephyr Sanctum, a large-sailed flying ship populated by people called Zephyrites, has landed at the cliffs in order to trade. The Zephyrites have learned to master Wind, Sun, and Lightning skills that can be stored in their magical crystals.
• Wind Aspect crystals have a blue glow and allow players to leap high into the air. Sun crystals glow reddish-orange and grant players a burst of speed that can also get players through waterfalls. Lightning crystals are purple and allow players to launch themselves across wide gaps and leap with precision.
• The Zephyrites are looking to trade various resources (such as ore, wood, candy, and more) for Zephyr Sanctum supply boxes. These supply boxes contain new items, including recipes that use quartz for weapons and armor with a new stat combination.
• Players can participate in the Sanctum Sprint, a competitive race of up to 12 participants, where they’ll need to use Wind, Sun, and Lightning movement skills to complete the course for a reward chest and a rare chance to win one of the three Aspect back-slot items.
• A scavenger hunt in the Labyrinthine Cliffs allows players to use their mastery of Wind, Sun, and Lightning movement skills to activate Sky Crystals.
• Players can participate in Belcher’s Bluff, a new and permanent omnomberry juice drinking activity where players can seek out masters around the world to learn their signature skills. Players can also challenge other players in a PvP version that can be purchased from bartenders around the world.
• A fortune scrap vendor has been added who will trade fortune scraps for unique Zephyrite items. Fortune scraps can be found in kite fortunes, which have a chance to drop from all creatures in the game, or can be purchased in the Gem Store.

Open World

• Zephyrites are launching kite baskets that are landing in multiple explorable areas in Tyria. The kite baskets contain a chance at quartz (a new resource used for crafting), armor and weapon recipes for the new stat combination, and kite fortunes.
• Players can locate a handful of kite baskets at the top of several jumping puzzles throughout Tyria and open them for extra rewards.
• A new conversation will play when players visit Braham in Cragstead.

Achievements

• New achievements have been added to the Living World, Bazaar of the Four Winds category that involve traveling to Zephyr Sanctum, participating in the Sanctum Sprint race, collecting crystals, locating kites, and watching a quaggan show, among others.
• Completing the Bazaar Ambassador meta-achievement awards the player a permanent quartz crystal resource node for their home instance. Completion of this meta-achievement requires players to complete 16 of the Bazaar of the Four Winds achievements.
• Belcher’s Bluff has been added as a new achievement category in the Activity section.
• A new title, “Omnomnivore,” has been added for players who complete the Belcher’s Bluff meta-achievement.
• Completing the Lessons from the Sky scavenger hunt awards players a miniature model of Zephyr Sanctum, which allows players to view the ship at any time while in a city.

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT

Account Achievement Rewards

• Added a reward structure to achievement points. As players complete achievements and increase their achievement score, they’ll unlock new, exclusive rewards for their account. The rewards are retroactive for all achievement points earned prior to this update. Backlogged rewards will be given out once per day until the backlog is completed.
• As part of the account achievement reward system, permanent account bonuses have been introduced. This will apply across all characters on the player’s account, including magic find, experience from kills, karma gain, and coins from kills.
• Rewards include gold, gems, karma, laurels, consumables, PvP and WvW rewards, new exclusive armor and weapon skins, and more.

Updated User Interface for the Achievements Panel

• Added a summary page to the achievements panel that gives quick access to unlocked account achievement rewards, upcoming rewards, account bonuses, and recent achievements.
• Achievement categories are now grouped for easier navigation.
• Added details pages for all achievements. The details page holds additional information about an individual achievement, including rewards, requirements, point breakdowns, and suggested locations.
• Added a watch list. The watch list tracks up to 20 specific achievements and displays the top 6 in the user interface.

Structured Player vs. Player

• New PvP Map: Skyhammer!
  • This is a 3-capture-point Conquest map, wherein players also compete for control of a devastating floating energy cannon. The map’s setting is a high-tech asura lab spread across a series of tall desert plateaus, featuring jump pads and a multitude of ways to make enemies fall to their deaths!

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

World Polish

• Rata Sum
  • The Arcane Council has outlawed swimming in the waters beneath Rata Sum after reports of pollution by non-asuran races. Trespassers will be jailed!
• Wayfarer Foothills
  • It’s no longer possible to distract Ulfred by speaking to him repeatedly.

General

• Item icons that appear on the right side of the screen while autoloot is on will be correctly positioned when rapidly acquiring items.

Dungeons

Crucible of Eternity

• In the explorable version, it’s no longer possible to use portals to bypass the turrets defending the advanced golem.

Personal Story

• Enemies in the final story steps in Chapter 3 for norn (Assault the Hill, Silent Warfare, Sever the Head) have all been equalized to level 28.

Items

• Fixed a bug that caused the art on the Beaded Lancea and Beaded Harpoon Shooter to be swapped.

Profession Skills

General:

• Sigil of Paralyzation: This sigil no longer impacts fear duration.

Elementalist:

• Fresh Air: This trait now has its proper 5-second recharge instead of a 3-second recharge.
• Shatterstone: This ability will no longer cancel when autoattack is engaged.
• Rock Solid: This trait now has the appropriate icon.
• Stone Splinter: This trait now correctly adds 10% more damage when within 600 units of the target.
• Geyser: This skill will no longer cancel and go on interrupt recharge when immediately casting another skill.
• Flame Wall: This skill will no longer cancel and go on interrupt recharge when immediately casting another skill.

Engineer:

• Added a damage skill fact to all Detonate Turret skills.
• Elixir C: This utility skill will now correctly remove Torment.

Mesmer:

• Chaos Armor: This skill no longer automatically applies protection when activated. This buff now provides an equal chance to trigger regeneration, swiftness, or protection on hit with a 1-second internal recharge. The random condition applied now has a 1-second internal recharge per target. These changes apply to the Chaos Armor provided through combo finishers as well.

Necromancer:

• Mark of Blood: Updated the skill fact to display the proper regeneration duration.
• Dark Path: This skill will now cause the necromancer to shadowstep the full 1200-unit distance when hitting at max range.

Ranger:

• Pets: Updated the pet-damage skill facts so they better represent the actual damage done.
• Spotter: The buff that this trait applies now displays the correct text and reflects the actual effect of increasing precision by up to 150 points.
• Evasive Purity: This trait will now functions as expected.

Thief:

• Shadow Trap: This skill now has a maximum duration of 120 seconds.

Warrior:

• Berserker Stance: The duration of this skill has been increased from 4 to 8 seconds.

Structured Player vs. Player

• Target Golem—Light: Health increased from 10,000 to 14,000.
• Target Golem—Medium: Health increased from 12,000 to 18,000.
• Target Golem—Heavy: Health increased from 14,000 to 22,000.

World vs. World

• Siege blueprints are no longer account-bound and can now be mailed to other players and traded on the Trading Post. Players who already have any siege blueprints and want the tradable version can either obtain another or use the one they have and then use the “2” skill to pack it up again.
• The Outmanned buff has been renamed to Outnumbered.
• Build Master: Decreases the amount of time it takes to build siege engines. Build Master has been added to the Ranks and Abilities tab.
  • Build Master I: Spend 4 supply at a time when building siege engines.
  • Build Master II: Spend 6 supply at a time when building siege engines.
  • Build Master III: Spend 8 supply at a time when building siege engines.
  • Build Master IV: Spend 10 supply at a time when building siege engines.

• Repair Master: Decreases the amount of time it takes to repair walls or gates. Repair Master has been added to the Ranks and Abilities tab.
  • Repair Master I: Spend 4 supply at a time when repairing.
  • Repair Master II: Spend 6 supply at a time when repairing.
  • Repair Master III: Spend 8 supply at a time when repairing.
  • Repair Master IV: Spend 10 supply at a time when repairing.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

• Kite fortunes are now available in the Gem Store in the Consumable category and can be purchased in bundles of 5 for 120 gems, 10 for 200 gems, or 25 for 400 gems. These little boxes contain a fortune, a random boost that lasts 10 minutes, and some fortune scraps. Collect fortune scraps and bring them to the fortune scraps vendor in the bazaar (or the Black Lion Weapon Specialist in Lion’s Arch) to get a unique prize. There is also a chance to get a golden fortune scrap, which can be redeemed immediately for a prize.
• The Bazaar Quaggan Mini Pack is now available in the Gem Store in the Minis category for 500 gems. This pack contains three new quaggan minis: Poowulpi the Persnicketous, Peggellegg the Pirate, and Kookoochoo the Incredulous.
• Bring your fortune scraps and golden fortunes to the fortune scrap vendor in the bazaar (or the Black Lion Weapon Specialist in Lion’s Arch). This vendor has Zephyrite helms of Sun, Lightning, and Wind in all armor classes for 250 fortune scraps or 1 golden fortune scrap, as well as three back-slot items: the Lightning Catcher, Wind Catcher, and Sun Catcher, each for 150 fortune scraps or 1 golden fortune scrap. The vendor also has a Zephyr Sanctum Supply Box for only 10 fortune scraps.
• The Dragon Bash Mini Pack is still available in the Gem Store in the Minis category for 500 gems. This dragon-bashing pack is available until July 14.
• The Chop-It-All Logging Axe is still available in the Gem Store in the Services category for 800 gems. This electrifying logging axe is available until July 29.

Improvements

• The Tome of Knowledge has been added as a rare drop from Black Lion Chests. Using the Tome of Knowledge will grant the character one level and all associated benefits. If a level 80 character uses the tome, they will gain a skill point.

Bug Fixes

• Should players receive an error while purchasing gems, they will now be able to click a link in the error message to go directly to the Customer Support site.