Guild Wars 2 news » PvP Leagues and Sloth Attack on Guild Chat: A Summary

On the latest episode of the Guild Chat livestream, host Rubi Bayer was joined by Game Designer Hugh Norfolk, who talked about the second season of the PvP Leagues and the upcoming legendary PvP backpack. Hugh went over the recently announced changes for Season Two, and explained that the legendary backpack can be earned by dedicated players over time even if they don’t reach the upper divisions. There will be a new legendary backpack every year, but Hugh confirmed that the current style can still be earned after a new one is introduced.

In light of the season two changes, Rubi noted that some fans are concerned about the potential for deliberate disconnecting to avoid losing pips. Hugh said that the dishonor system will help mitigate that, and assured players that abusive behaviors will be monitored. He also encouraged reporting of those behaviors.

Next, Game Designer Crystal Reid and Visual Effects Artist Franco Galletta arrived to discuss the raid boss that was teased during the last Bells and Missiles segment on the previous episode of Guild Chat. Crystal said that the boss is based on an old design that she worked on several years ago when she was on the original Fractals of the Mists team. She got together with the environment artists and narrative team, and her original design document worked well for what they wanted to do. The creature was meant to be a grub, but when the document was sent over to the creature team, they returned something much sleepier and fuzzier: Slothasor!

Crystal said that she wanted to name it Slothasaurus, but Lead Narrative Designer Bobby Stein vetoed it since the sloth isn’t technically a dinosaur. They considered a different name, but everyone who saw the new name wanted Slothasaurus back. They settled on Slothasor as a compromise.

Crystal spawned the boss in neutral territory to give viewers a better look at it without spoiling the raid mechanics. Franco explained that in designing the visual effects for it, he wanted to combine natural anatomy with the creativity of story. While Slothasor retains some slothlike traits, it’s been warped by magic running wild; it now has glowing red eyes and teeth Franco described as reptilian. Slothasor is also accompanied by strange grub amalgamations called slublings.

Using the slubling’s poison spit as an example, Franco talked about the importance of color in encounters and how it’s necessary to create contrast so that players can see what they’re being attacked by. The visual effects then spiraled into the macabre, startling Rubi when the slubling’s head unexpectedly popped off.

If you missed this episode of Guild Chat, check out the recording below!