Guild Wars 2 news » Release Notes for Twilight Assault

It’s time to take the fight to the villains! There’s trouble brewing in Twilight Arbor: Go on the offensive, get in there, and stamp it out!

LIVING WORLD

Twilight Assault

As if the Nightmare Court’s quest for the Nightmare Tree wasn’t enough, now the Aetherblades are up to something in Twilight Arbor. Scarlet has her minions hard at work, but the enemies they’ve made aren’t willing to leave them to it. The Lionguard is still hungry for payback after the assassination of Councilor Theo Ashford, and Caithe has also come looking for answers about Scarlet. It’ll take skill, strength, and smarts to stop the Aetherblades before they unleash Scarlet’s next madcap scheme.

Twilight Arbor Aetherpath

• Join Caithe to infiltrate a new level 80 dungeon explorable path through Twilight Arbor and disable the security so that Lionguard Turma’s forces can attack. The Lionguard owes the Aetherblades payback for their attack on Lion’s Arch during the Dragon Bash festival and for the murder of Councilor Theo Ashford.
  • To access Twilight Arbor’s explorable mode, at least one player in the party needs to have completed the story dungeon. Upon entering the map, talk to Caithe and choose the “Aetherblades” option to proceed down the Aetherpath.
  • Note: The Aetherpath supplants the Fyonna explorable path in Twilight Arbor. The Leurent and Vevina explorable paths are still available for level 55 play.
• Blaze a path through the jungle dense with indigenous wildlife and solve new puzzle encounters.
• Along the way, fight several new Aetherblade bosses with new mechanics, culminating in a unique legendary final boss at the pounding heart of the facility.
• Investigate the secret conflict between Caithe and Scarlet Briar and discover how the Aetherblades are using their stolen hologram technology.
• Participate in the final assault alongside the Lionguard and help them complete multiple objectives for extra achievements.

General

• Across the world, Aether Key Pieces have a chance to drop from all open-world creatures during this release. Combine five of these tradable pieces to form an Aether Key, which can be used to open one of several hidden Aether Chests in the new Twilight Arbor Aetherpath. These Aether Key Pieces will drop worldwide during the Twilight Assault release. After the release, they will only be found in the Tarnished Coast and Steamspur Mountain areas.

Rewards

• During the Twilight Assault release, the number of deadly blooms and empyreal fragments awarded for completing the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath will be increased.
• New, rare variants of the Nightmare weapon set have been added to the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath boss chests.
• Completing the Aetherpath will reward players with the Slickpack, an Aetherblade-styled back-slot item that teems and glows with electrical energy.
• Players who complete all the achievements for the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath will earn a fearsomely adorable miniature of the final boss to help players recall all the precious memories they shared together.

Achievements

• During this release, a new set of daily achievements challenges players to complete either Twilight Arbor or another dungeon that rotates daily. Completing story mode or any of the explorable mode paths will qualify. These daily achievements contribute toward Twilight Assaulted, the meta-achievement for the release.
• A new permanent achievement category has been added for the Twilight Arbor Aetherpath. The category has 17 specific achievements and a meta–achievement; all are tied to the new dungeon path. The achievements are awarded to players as they progress through the dungeon path, but also for completing other challenges. These include five events that occur after the final battle, one of which is finding and opening all the Aether Chests.
  • The Above and Beyond achievement is particularly difficult, requiring players to finish those five events in one run. Note: Completion of this achievement will not automatically complete the individual contributing achievements for the entire party.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

Rewards

• The rewards for fighting Tequatl the Sunless have been updated to more accurately reflect the difficulty of the encounter and coordination required to be successful.
• The chests awarded for completing the battery events have been improved, and they will now be awarded each time the corresponding event is successfully completed instead of once per day.
• The gold and rare-item drops awarded daily for successfully defeating Tequatl have been increased.
• The drop rate of the Sunless weapons has been increased significantly.
• Eternal Battlegrounds: Fixed an issue that allowed players to use movement skills to bypass upgraded walls at Red Keep and Green Keep.

General Bug Fixes

• To prevent unintended graphical anomalies with hairstyles and faces, all sylvari body patterns have been adjusted aesthetically to blend as nicely as possible.
• Fixed an issue where some environmental items were not visible after the player used a waypoint.
• Fixed an issue that prevented currency values from displaying on the achievement-point-reward splash screen.
• Fixed an issue that caused an audio-playback error after the player spoke with a scout.

World Polish

• Sparkfly Fen
  • Idle players will now be ejected from the hylek turrets during the Tequatl the Sunless encounter.
  • Players who stay behind to kill Tequatl’s fingers during the battery events will now get participation credit in the battery events.

Items

• The PvP Nightmare Trident has been updated to have the correct item name.
• Runes of Grenth:
  • This has been updated to correctly display “Chill Duration” instead of “Frozen Duration.”
  • This now applies the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
  • This has been updated to properly give its six-piece bonus.
• Runes of the Water:
  • This has been updated to apply the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
  • The six-piece bonus will now properly AoE heal.
• Runes of Balthazar:
  • This now applies the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
  • This has been updated to properly give its six-piece bonus.
• Runes of the Fighter have been updated to apply the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
• Runes of the Flock:
  • This has been updated to apply the listed cooldown (10 seconds).
• The six-piece bonus will now properly AoE heal.
• Fixed a bug when crafting the Satchel of Assassin’s Emblazoned Armor that caused it to create the recipe item instead of the actual satchel.
• The Experimental Rifle bundle weapon is no longer usable in dungeons.

Structured Player vs. Player

• Heart of the Mists:
  • Renamed two existing stat combinations.
    • Barbarian’s Amulet: Vitality, Power, Precision
    • Settler’s Amulet: Toughness, Healing Power, Condition Damage
  • The Wall of Champions has been updated to reflect the names of the winners of the Guild Wars 2 Invitational tournament.
  • The tournament master’s conversation has been updated to explain Solo Arena and Team Arena.
  • A quaggan has been hired to fill the vacant position left by the abrupt departure of the previous ticket merchant.
  • Glory vendors have a new PvP Items tab. Bags and back pieces have been moved here. This tab has purchase confirmation enabled.
• Temple of the Silent Storm:
  • Added map markers for the red and blue bases.
  • Removed the deep water from the central cave and added staggered platforms to the inside of the pits.
  • The minimap art has been updated.
• Spirit Watch:
  • Fixed a bug where the orb would not reset properly if the player carrying it switched to spectator mode.
  • The minimap art has been updated.
• Skyhammer: The minimap art has been updated.
• Raid on the Capricorn: The minimap art has been updated.
• Battle of Kyhlo:
  • Fixed a rare bug where the trebuchet would lose its map marker.
  • The trebuchet’s firing arc has been reduced to 180 degrees, so it can no longer get turned completely backwards.
  • The repair kit’s icon can now be seen through objects.
• Fixed a bug that caused a bright lighting effect to follow the player when under the effects of the dishonored debuff.
• Added new first- and second-place trophy finishers. These will be awarded to players who win select events, like the Guild Wars 2 Invitational tournament.
• Achievements: Increased the achievement point value of the profession-specific game winning achievements by 15 each.

World vs. World

• Consumable WXP items have been added to player loot bags in WvW, in values up to 25,000 WXP. These items are account bound.
• WXP boosters no longer affect WXP consumable items.
• World 1 Super Boom Box and World 2 Super Boom Box can now be used in WvW. They will automatically be de-equipped if the carrier takes damage.
• A consumable item that grants 5,000 WXP is now available from the laurel vendor in WvW.
• World rank bonus chests will now be awarded to all players on a server based on the results of WvW matches. Three chests will be awarded for 1^st place, two chests for 2^nd place, and one chest for 3^rd place.
• World rank bonus chests are now account bound.

Gem Store

• Fixed an issue where recent purchase history was not populating after buying items in the Gem Store.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

• The Permanent Mad King Finisher is now available in the Gem Store in the Upgrades category for 700 gems. Get ready for the Mad King with this regal finisher! Available until November 11, 2013.
• The Permanent Scarecrow Finisher is now available in the Gem Store in the Upgrades category for 500 gems. This spooky finisher will be available until November 11, 2013.
• The Instant Trait Reset item is now available in the Gem Store in the Consumable category for 70 gems each or 5 for 300 gems. Players can use this item anytime they are not in combat to instantly have all their trait points reset. This item is not usable in structured PvP.
• New, exclusive hairstyles have been added to the Total Makeover Kits and Self-Style Hair Kits. Three new styles have been added for each race and gender for a total of 30 new styles that can only be acquired through the Total Makeover Kits and Self-Style Hair Kits.

Improvements

• The Minis 3-Pack (Set 1) will only be available for purchase in the Gem Store for two more weeks. After October 14, 2013, minis from set 1 will only be available from the Trading Post, Mystic Forge, or through rare sales in the Gem Store.
• Many Gem Store items have had their rarity color updated to better match their cost, value, and availability relative to other areas of the game. The availability of these items has not changed.
• The Black Lion Chest has been updated:
  • Added an uncommon chance for Mini Holographic Scarlet.
  • Added an uncommon chance for Mini Caithe.
  • Replaced the chances of getting Minis 3-Pack (Set 1) minis with chances for Minis 3-Pack (Set 2) minis.
  • Removed the Black Lion Mining Pick, Black Lion Logging Axe, and Black Lion Harvesting Sickle.