Audio Version

What We Did This Week

Allona

• 
  
• Upgraded the armour on my lvl 80 Necro. Crazy cheap (of course). Superior runes of the Krait were 88c each!
  
• Some more zone completion with alts.
  
• Testing out a BUNCH of different builds and playstyles with my mesmer.
  
• Unlocked several of the new grandmasters on a couple 80s.
  
• Spent an entire morning organizing the Guild bank…the glamour!
  
• Some more EoTM and a wee bit of regular wuvwuv (it was awful) and also one of the JPs towards the meta
  
• Bought the Cook’s outfit. I really, really like it. It dyes cool and is very different on each of the races. (Side note: I’m not hating the tonics as much anymore)
  
• Spent a bunch of gold on set 1 minis; only three left to go!
  
• Toured Lion’s Arch … really pleased with how they are showing progress, and the music is great! (Pretty sure it’s new this patch)
  
• Crystals!
  
• Racing Dolyaks!
  

Celeste

• 
  
• 88% MF
  
• Tallying up materials for Frenzy’s gifts
  
• World Bosses Train with Crell (who didn’t know it was me) and beat Tequatl for the first time (post-revamp)
  
• Labyrinthine Cliffs & dolyak racing
  
• Sanctum Sprint
  
• EoTM
  
• Made ~4g of money selling my jute scraps, Thank Computech100!
  

 

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We’ll be taking next week off due to real life and needing a break!

 

Report from Lion’s Arch

 

Patchnotes! Festival of the Four Winds

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/may-20-2014/ (YAY! A PRETTY PAGE!)

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-May-20-2014

• 
  
• “The Zephyrites have returned to Labyrinthine Cliffs in their large-sailed flying ships to support Lion’s Arch in its time of need. Although Lion’s Arch suffered a devastating blow as a result of Scarlet’s nefarious plans, Captain Ellen Kiel of the Captain’s Council is grateful to see the Zephyrites return with their generous offer of materials and moral support. And to help reinvigorate trade and provide some joy to its citizens, the Zephyrite Master of Peace and Queen Jennah of Kryta are hosting a festival to honor Lion’s Arch. Join Kiel and the adventuring group of Rox, Braham, Marjory, Kasmeer, and Taimi in Lion’s Arch at the Claw Island Portage Waypoint to meet the Zephyrite leader and kick off the start of the festival.â€
  

Zephyr Sanctum

• 
  
• Players can travel to Labyrinthine Cliffs to partake in all of the fun and excitement of the festival by speaking to the transport facilitator in Lion’s Arch, or by hopping in a hot-air balloon in Divinity’s Reach.
  

• 
  
• The Zephyrites and the strange denizens of the bazaar have not been idle since the last time the Zephyr Sanctum was docked. Players can participate in an all-new scavenger hunt for sky crystals, with new, harder-to-access locations.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: One of my guildies got several of the master ones before she knew that were supposed to be crazy hard. Basically kiboshed her ability to get any more.  :)
    
  
  
  
• Two of the locals, Barkeep Ixcic and Trader Owens, have also put together two brand-new events designed to delight the entire bazaar! (dolyak race and crystal essence gathering)
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: These are a nice addition to the Festival.
    
  
  
  
• Sanctum Sprint & Aspect Arena also returns
  

The Crown Pavilion

• 
  
• The Crown Pavilion in the human city of Divinity’s Reach has once again opened its gates. Join the golem Heal-o-Tron in assisting the city of Lion’s Arch. Donate enough money and he’ll kick off the all-new Boss Blitz in the trenches of the Pavilion.
  
• Enter the Queen’s Gauntlet to battle mighty representations of humanity’s most vicious enemies.
  

• 
  
• Face increasingly difficult challenges in single combat against a variety of unique bosses.
  
• Earn a new title for defeating Liadri: “The Blazing Lightâ€. (Not retroactive)
  

Lion’s Arch

• 
  
• Coriolis Plaza, in the Eastern Ward, is the new home to the asura gates connecting all the major cities of Tyria.
  
• Asura gate connections to the Mists have been reestablished at Fort Marriner.
  
• The Consortium operations have moved to Postern Ward, including access to Fractals of the Mists and Southsun Cove.
  
• A new rope bridge helps connect the Eastern Ward to Postern Ward and its recently added portal to Lornar’s Pass.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: I enjoyed this new bridge way more than I should have.
    
  
  
  
• Players can find that the bank and trading post have reestablished their services at the Canal Ward, flanking the exit to Gendarran Fields.
  
• Crafting disciplines, along with the Mystic Forge, have been relocated to the Western Ward. Guild services can be found at the Trader’s Forum. The activities director can be found at the Grand Piazza.
  

Festival of the Four Winds

• 
  
• Participating in festival content will earn players festival tokens, which can be spent at the festival reward vendor in the Labyrinthine Cliffs for a wide array of returning rewards from the first season of Living World content.
  
  • 
    
  • Hot Air Balloon Souvenir from Queen’s Jubilee, the Gift of Candy Corn from Blood and Madness, and the Fervid Censer from the Secret of Southsun.
    
  
  
  
• All activities and events in Labyrinthine Cliffs and the Crown Pavilion have a rare chance of dropping a Favor of the Bazaar or Favor of the Pavilion, respectively. Combining one of each will yield a Favor of the Festival, which can be used to purchase two new rewards—a Mini Panda or an Endless Dolyak Calf Tonic—from the reward vendor. Alternately, a Favor of the Festival can be used to purchase one of the returning Sovereign weapon skins from a vendor in the Crown Pavilion.
  
• The Zephyr Sanctum Supply Box traders have returned, once again giving players the opportunity to obtain quartz and recipes for Celestial armor in Labyrinthine Cliffs. The boxes now also have a chance to contain a set of rare returning rewards from season one, such as an Air-Filtration Device from the Nightmares Within or a Wind Catcher Skin from the original Bazaar of the Four Winds.
  
• Standing with the supply box traders near the docks in the Labyrinthine Cliffs is an asuran merchant who accepts spare piles of Blade Shards in exchange for Equipment Bags, each containing a piece of masterwork or better gear.
  
  • 
    
  • Celeste: Considering they weren’t doing anything in my bank I guess this is good?
    
  
  
  
• Participating in festival content will also earn players Queen’s Gauntlet Entrance Tickets, which can also be purchased in the Crown Pavilion. Winning fights in the Queen’s Gauntlet will award players with Gauntlet Chances, which have a rare chance to drop a further set of rare returning rewards, such as a monocle from the Sky Pirates of Tyria. Furthermore, Gauntlet Chances have a very rare chance to drop a recipe for crafting the new Chaos of Lyssa ascended back piece.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: Yay! I still have 222 entrance tickets from last year!
    
  
  
  

Achievements

• 
  
• Completing the Festival of the Four Winds meta-achievement will yield a bounty of festival tokens, as well as a single guaranteed Favor of the Festival for players to spend as they please.
  
• Players who didn’t complete the Queen’s Gauntlet achievements from the original Queen’s Jubilee release have another chance to do so.
  
  • 
    
  • Those champions who can best the epic final fight of the gauntlet will also be rewarded with a new title: “The Blazing Light.â€
    
    • 
      
    • Allona: Some kerfuffle about the fact that the title is not retroactive from last year.
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Added two more achievements to the daily achievement category.
  

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

General

• 
  
• The in-game clock’s server time feature is now displayed in UTC time and is now much more accurate to the server’s actual time. Daily resets will now occur at midnight as it appears when the clock is set to server time.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: What does this mean?
    
  • Celeste: Reset is now at 8pm EST/5pm PST
    
  • Allona: So no change…
    
  
  
  
• Guild “Last Online†times will no longer display as over 100 years ago if the system clock is behind the server.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: Or — in my guild’s case — they now display as unknown across the board.
    
  • Celeste: I’m figuring that once people have logged in since this Tues. it’ll update.
    
  
  
  
• Waterfalls everywhere have undergone audio redesign.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: This is actually a really sweet update.
    
  
  
  
• Fixed a bug that was causing the Delete button in the Mail UI to show up as “Delet.â€
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I hate typos, like, a lot.
    
  • Celeste: Ah the UI error I couldn’t unsee. Thank goodness!
    
  
  
  
• The Great Jungle Wurm in Caledon Forest no longer does full damage to itself from reflected projectile attacks. A certain number of the projectiles are no longer reflectable. :(
  

Guild Challenge Success and Reward Sharing

• 
  
• Guild Challenge success and rewards functionality has been brought in-line with other mission types.
  
  • 
    
  • Mission rewards are no longer limited to the triggering guild. All participants with the mission active will receive commendation rewards upon success.
    
  
  
  

Events

• 
  
• Champion Event Conversion on Starter Maps
  
  • 
    
  • Many champion events in the starter maps have been converted into veterans. This change is being made to ensure new players focus on learning the core game experience. The following events are affected: (all former champion spawning events, aside from world events)
    
    • 
      
    • Allona: Woooo! Frankly, this is a great move.
      
    • Celeste: I hope they still drop the colorful bags as vets. Which was basically the point of them I think.
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Underground Facility Fractal
  
• Based on the recent Collaborative Development Initiative (CDI), we’ve revisited the dredge factory fractal with intent to improve the overall experience. Too many dredge at high scales caused the play experience of this fractal to suffer both in terms of length and difficulty. With these two things in mind, we’ve redesigned a few core encounters in the instance to ease the burden of these symptoms.
  
  • 
    
  • Changes to all paths
    
  
  
  

Items

• 
  
• Exotic dungeon-reward weapons and armor are now account bound on acquire and soulbound on use. This does not affect any weapons and armor players currently have, only newly created items.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: I assume this is for drops…
    
  
  
  
• The legendary greatsword Eternity:
  
  • 
    
  • Added a new projectile replacement effect.
    
  • Added new weapon-drawing effects.
    
  • Enhanced the footfall effects.
    
  • Enhanced the drawn-state effects to further distinguish it from the legendary greatswords Sunrise and Twilight.
    
  
  
  

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

New Items and Promotions

• 
  
• New Phoenix weapon skins are available at the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for the introductory price of 1 Black Lion Weapon Ticket for the next four weeks. Black Lion Weapon Tickets can be found in Black Lion Chests.
  
  • 
    
  • http://dulfy.net/2014/05/20/gw2-phoenix-weapon-skins-gallery/
    
    • 
      
    • I have a ticket! THIS IS JUST LIKE SOPHIE’S CHOICE!
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Three new faces have been added for every race and gender and are available exclusively in Total Makeover Kits that can be purchased for 350 gems from the Services category of the Gem Store. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152238032379209.1073741841.114036714208&type=1
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: I like most of these, particularly one of the female sylvari faces and almost all the Charr. The human and norn are pretty decent too (I like the freckles!) … I have a request for the next time they introduce new humanesque faces: make a couple of the female versions a bit more mature. They are always lovely, lovely faces but they skew so young. I would love a mid-30s to late-40s option or two. There is one face available at character creation but it’s above the threshold I would like. :)
    
  
  
  
• The Bazaar Quaggan Mini Pack has returned for a limited time. Poowulpi the Persnicketous, Peggellegg the “Pirateâ€, and Kookoochoo the Incredulous can be purchased for the total price of 500 gems in the Toys category.
  
• This week only, a cute Mini Piglet is available in the Toys category for 400 gems.
  

Improvements

• 
  
• Kill streak boosts have been redesigned (and had their icon changed). The boost now lasts for one hour and adds kill streak bonuses separately. Kill streaks last 60 seconds from the most recent kill and stacks 10% bonus experience (up to a maximum of 100% bonus experience). Kill streaks can be restarted as often as necessary within the hour.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: I should try these on occasion, I have a million of them hoarded in my bank.
    
  
  
  
• Transmutation Crystals in the player’s inventory can now be double-clicked in groups of 25 and 5 to speed up placing them in the wallet.
  
  • 
    
  • Allona: Bwahahahaha! My husband just went through his stash of stones the day before!
    
  
  
  
• Spider Tonics—Costume Brawl: The Web skill description has been corrected to indicate cripple instead of knockdown. The target ring has been reduced in size as the skill does not have an AoE component.
  
• Trait NPCs in the Havoc’s Heir airship and the Royal Terrace will now sell trait books.
  

 

It’s not all rainbows and unicorns…

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2654d4/to_all_the_players_complaining_about_the_rewards/

• 
  
• Celeste: I did a Boss Blitz once so I can’t really comment too heavily as we got the Bronze reward. At the moment it feels like the content is a HUGE gold sink for people who aren’t playing at the top of their game/get stuck in a PUG instance. For organized guilds like this guy it was awesome. For me, not so much.
  
  • 
    
  • zylonite: This is so pointless. It’s like saying TTS beat teq today. (Celeste: I couldn’t agree more, man, could not agree more.)
    
  
  
  

 

Ask An Asura

 

time for a security refresher?

https://guildwars2.zendesk.com/entries/27626157-Two-Factor-Authentication

• 
  
• Allona: Confession time – I JUST set mine up an hour before the show. I downloaded the app last week, but it looked complicated to set up because I thought I had to log in to my mail account first… but no. Log in to your Guild Wars 2 account through the game website, go here: https://account.guildwars2.com/account/security and follow the links. I used the QR code and it was crazy simple. I feel silly for not doing it sooner.
  

 

Tales of Tyria

 

Before and After PreCursor prices

from Lady Verene of Under The Pale Tree

https://twitter.com/LadyVerene/status/467000301812449282/photo/1

https://twitter.com/LadyVerene/status/467000081548574720/photo/1

• 
  
• Allona: I’m tempted to flip The Bard …
  
• Celeste: Just don’t flip the table *wink wink*
  

 

Awesome Interview with Chris Whiteside over on Relics of Orr

http://www.relicsoforr.com/?p=3256

(Note this was pre-announcement of Bazaar but it’s really very good)

• 
  
• Allona: I just listened to this today. Good job guys!
  

 

Maclaine Deimer Posted a pic of an orchestra performing gw2 music that he’s composed

http://instagram.com/p/oMeaFvhBTL/#

(FYI, none of the in-game music or soundtrack was done by real instruments (aside from some vocals, obvs))

• 
  
• Allona: How cool would it be to experience something you created being performed like this.
  

 

Musical Instruments Guide and Experimentation

gw2mb.com (http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/25zks2/gw2mbcom_a_brand_new_way_to_compose_and_share/ )

• 
  
• Allona: Okay, stuff like this is why I love the GW2 community.
  

 

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