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WildStar – Start of the Second WildStar Closed Beta !

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Carbine Studios has just completed a very successful first Closed Beta for WildStar. Today marks the start of Closed Beta Two: The Dominion. This beta focusses solely on the second faction, the powerful galactic empire called the Dominion, and features new zones, dungeons, Battlegrounds and more.

Great news for European players; thanks to the feedback from a small group of non-US Closed Beta One testers, the Closed Beta invitations are no longer region-locked. So, regardless of your location in the world you’ve got the same chance as anyone to get invited to the Closed Beta!

Carbine Studios has already begun sending invitations to Closed Beta Two, so keep an eye on your inboxes and spam folders.

PATCH HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Exile faction have been hidden away for this round of beta, but give a warm welcome to the Dominion!
  • The Ruins of Kel Voreth have opened up for testing. This dungeon is intended for level 20 players.
  • Battleground: Smash & Grab is now available. This 10v10 Capture the Flag variant opens immediately at level 3, and is available all the way through the beta level cap of 30.
  • The old Attribute names (Strength, Dexterity, Technology , Magic, Wisdom, Stamina) have been renamed for more WildStar-ian flair: Brutality, Finesse, Tech, Moxie, Insight, and Grit.
  • Milestones and Attributes have had a major redesign. See the Class notes below for more details.

The full patch notes are available in English at the following address. http://www.wildstar-online.com/uk/news/wildstar_wednesday_welcome_to_closed_beta_2.php

WildStar: The Stalker [OFFICIAL]

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Today we’re also revealing a fourth class in WildStar: the Stalker! This stealth-based melee class uses claws and a special actuator suit to enable him/her to sneak up on unsuspecting foes and eviscerate them faster than they can say, “Dorian Walker.” Check out this video for a little taste of the Stalker’s combat prowess!

Guild Wars 2 Forum – Coming Soon To WvW !

Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wintersday is coming and along with all the other goodies there will be a few updates to WvW. Some of these changes are the result of forum feedback while others are part of our longer term plans for WvW. Here’s a quick preview of what WvW will get for Wintersday:

Advance notification of new builds
In order to allow WvW players to make good decions about siege placement, assault timing, etc. we’re adding a new build pre-announcement. This will be in the form of a message broadcast to all players some time before the current build expires. Because this notification is tied to one of the final steps in our build process, and those final steps take a variable amount of time, we won’t be able to say exactly when the current build will expire. Instead, the message will provide a window of time in which the new build will become available.

Alt+F4 is no escape
If someone that you’re fighting disconnects during combat (via Alt+F4, killing the client process, etc.) their character will be instantly killed, death penalties will be applied, and XP & loot will be handed out as usual.

No more insta-build walls & gates
Destroyed walls and gates will now rebuild when they reach 10% health rather than on the very first repair. This means that when attackers down a wall or gate defenders won’t be able to instantly rebuild it. Walls and gates which are destroyed can still be damaged if they have any health.

Breakout events
We’ve added a new event type to WvW called Breakout events which trigger when one or more teams have been pushed completely out of a map. They’re designed both to help players break out of severly camped portal keeps and to provide assistance in establishing a foothold in each map. Here’s what designer Matt Witter has to say about them:

Break Out Events are special WvW events that will happen when a team has lost control of all defensive structures, not counting supply camps. An NPC commander will appear in the team’s start area and an event will start that prompts players to gather around. Once enough players are in the commander’s presence he will summon his trusty dolyak to give all allies in the area full supply. He will then lead the charge to the nearby objective and give players protection and assist with building siege to assault the objective with. Those benefits, along with a defensive boon that he applies to all nearby allies, makes the attacking players a force to be reckoned with. Defenders will have their work cut out for them, as once the gate or wall piece is destroyed the commander will move to the tower lord inside and attack anyone in his path.

These changes are just a small part of what the WvW team has been up to lately. As you may have already heard, we’re hard at work on some larger updates that we plan to deliver in February. We’re not quite ready to talk about the details yet but as February gets closer we’ll start to reveal more of our secrets.

Happy Wintersday and we’ll see you on the battlefield!


ArenaNet Gameplay Programmer

Guild Wars 2 Forum – World vs World – Coming Soon To WvW.

Guild Wars 2 Forum – Game Update Notes – December 3, 2012

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Release Notes:
General

  • Fixed a bug that would cause a crash when repairing armor while transformed.
  • Area of effect heals and boons now prioritize players over minions and NPCs.
  • Guild leaders are able to demote other players of the same rank.
  • Weapon skills will now properly display their PvP and PvE split variants in the Weapon Skills tab of the Hero Panel instead of displaying both.

Events

  • Fixed a bug that caused NPCs not to resurrect other NPCs in various Orr events.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Warmaster Jofast and her caravan to not advance properly through Cursed Shore.
  • Fixed a rare bug that could prevent the event “Protect the trained skelk gathering kindling for Raintimber Mill” in Diessa Plateau from progressing.
  • Fixed a bug that could potentially prevent progress with the event “Protect Orl’s research krewe” in Metrica Province.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Stop the Inquest operatives from kidnapping adventurers” in Sparkfly Fen.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Raid the Separatist camp with the Warhound Village veterans” in Iron Marches.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent displaced spirits from rejoining their bodies in Iron Marches.
  • Fixed a bug that could prevent progress with the event “Protect the armory from the Flame Legion” in Plains of Ashford.
  • Fixed a bug that would prevent “Ireta the Smasher” from team switching correctly during the event “Prevent the brawl between the three legions.”
  • Fixed a bug that prevented Suwash from confronting Captain Jetsam in Lornar’s Pass in the event “Defeat Captain Jetsam.”
  • Fixed a bug that preventing events from running properly near Eldvin Monastery in Queensdale.
  • Fixed a bug causing skritt thieves to stop stealing harpy eggs in Harathi Hinterlands.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Crusader Soma to give up searching for the lost caravan in Timberline Falls.

Dungeon
Crucible of Eternity

  • Front door path: Fixed a bug that affected the aggro range of the Destroyer Specimen Boss.
  • Submarine path: Fixed a bug with Bjarl’s armor not going off when he charges and hits a tower.

Ascalonian Catacombs

  • Detha’s Path: Fixed a problem with Detha’s script where she would sometimes not start the event to fix the cannons.
  • Hodgin’s Path: Fixed a problem in Hodgin’s script at the “Collect scepter fragments” event that prevented the event from starting.
  • Detha’s path: Fixed a bug that caused the Ghostly Oozes not to use their basic attack properly, and spend a large amount of time loitering around players instead of attacking them.

Sorrow’s Embrace

  • Fixed multiple problematic doors that would not open and close when intended.

Twilight Arbor

  • Fixed a bug where Morrigu could die after defeating the final boss before the cinematic could start, which would break the dungeon and prevent players from receiving the final reward.

The Ruined City of Arah

  • Seer Path: Fixed an exploit where rangers using longbows could trivialize a fight by attacking at max range, and the Melandru boss would not fight back.

Fractals of the Mists

  • Cliffside: Fixed an issue where players could damage the final seal with their normal attacks.
  • Cliffside: Fixed an issue where players were able to attack and kill the first boss before triggering the cinematic.

Personal Story

  • Minor personal story bugs in multiple personal story steps were fixed.
  • The story step “Forewarned is Forearmed” has been fixed to avoid an error that prevented completion.
  • The story step “Time for a Promotion” has been fixed to avoid a problem that caused it to stall.
  • The story step “Silent Warfare” has had the difficulty adjusted.
  • The story step “The Artist’s Workshop” has been fixed to allow players to rally when they defeat hypnotized performers.
  • Players who completed the sylvari “mirror” storyline are now recognized by the NPCs in the story step “Through the Looking Glass.”

World vs. World

  • Invisible & invulnerable players can no longer contest capture points in WvW. WvW capture points now follow the same rules as PvP capture points.
  • All players will now correctly receive WvW bonuses. Players who transfer worlds will still be locked out of bonuses for the current and subsequent match.

Structured PvP

  • Heart of the Mists: Added light, medium, and heavy PvP Underwater Mask items to the PvP Armorsmith.
  • Battle of Kyhlo: The hit box on the trebuchets has been decreased so that they are less vulnerable to certain AoE skills.
  • Legacy of the Foefire: The red guild lord and his guards have been repositioned to more closely match the blue side.
  • Forest of Niflhel: Fixed incorrect names on the archer NPCs that guard each base.
  • Removed slots in the PvP locker for the Rawhide armor pieces, as they are not obtainable as PvP rewards.
  • PvP locker now can store consumable finishers up to rank 6, glory boosters, PvP salvage kits, and tournament tickets.
  • Updated the NPC names of archers in Forest of Niflhel.

Items

  • Updated the names of the level 80 rare armorsmithing boxes to match the names of the items they contain.
  • Runes of Balthazar and Orrian now properly apply quickness when the player is struck and below 20% health.
  • Updated Knight’s Jewel so that it appropriately grants Power rather than Toughness.
  • Updated the ingredients required to craft satchels and boxes of armor to match the ingredients required to craft the individual pieces contained within.

Commerce

  • Fixed an issue with the Boxing Glove skills remaining when players swap to armor from town clothes.
  • Mini pets are now usable in the Heart of the Mists.
  • Fixed Krait Tonic second skill description.
  • Fixed missing nightmare medium icons and pants using gloves icons.
  • Total Makeover Kit and Self-Style Hair Kit added to the Black Lion Chest as rare rewards.
  • Increased chance to get Mini boosters and Dye Pack boosters from the Black Lion Chest.

Profession
Elementalist

  • Updated elementalist conjured weapons to appropriately apply attributes to all players that pick them up.
  • Dragon’s Tooth: This skill’s blast finisher now triggers at spell location, instead of character’s location.
  • Electrocute: This skill now has a maximum range and line of sight requirement.
  • Impale: Fixed an exploit with this skill’s interaction with Signet of Restoration.
  • Arcane Resurrection: This trait now applies five seconds of aura to allies affected by it.
  • Evasive Arcana: This trait now has a blast finisher while attuned to earth.
  • Elementalists will no longer get into a state where they aren’t attuned to any element. This commonly results in the player’s skillbar being empty.

Engineer

  • Toss Elixir C: This skill’s underwater cooldown is reduced from 60 seconds to 30 seconds to match the land recharge.
  • Elixir S: Fixed a bug that would cause this skill to go on normal recharge when Fast-Acting Elixirs is equipped.
  • Smoke Bomb: Cleaned up skill facts.

Guardian

  • Ring of Warding: This skill will no longer affect non-attackable NPCs.

Mesmer

  • Updated the description for Blurred Frenzy to indicate that it gives evasion through “Blur,” instead of “Distortion”.
  • Phantasms will now properly have all boons applied to them via player traits.
  • Phantasmal Disenchanter can now be cast at the correct distance.

Ranger

  • Fixed a bug that allowed a ranger to have two traps of the same type active simultaneously.

Thief

  • Using a stolen bundle item should no longer destroy a bundle being wielded in their hands.

Warrior

  • Whirling Axe: This skill can now be cancelled by other skills.

Guild Wars 2 Forum – News and Announcements – Game Update Notes – December 3, 2012.

Wintersday – December 2012 | GuildWars2.com

Wintersday: The Wondrous Workshop of Toymaker Tixx

December 14 to January 3

The nights may be long and dark, but Tyrians of all races keep joy alive during the ancient holiday of Wintersday. While each race celebrates Wintersday in their own unique way, children all over Tyria share a common love of one thing: toys.

This year the city of Lion’s Arch will host the asuran Toymaker Tixx as their special Wintersday guest of honor. Before Tixx arrives in Lion’s Arch in his massive airship toy workshop, he’ll visit every major city in Tyria to deliver Wintersday toys and holiday cheer.

Wintersday – December 2012 | GuildWars2.com.

Guild Wars 2 Forum – News and Announcements – Refer a Friend Free Trial is Coming !

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We want you to experience Guild Wars 2 and Lost Shores with your friends, so on Monday November 12, we will turn on Refer a Friend Free Trial. You will be able to invite up to 3 Friends to play Guild Wars 2 with you for free from November 15-18.

To do so, you need a Guild Wars 2 account in good standing that was created before 23:59 PST (7:59 GMT) on November 6.

We will give you more details once the program goes live, but start thinking about who you want to invite!

Guild Wars 2 Forum – News and Announcements – Refer a Friend Free Trial is Coming.

Guild Wars 2 Forum – News and Announcements – Lost Shores Coming Soon !

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Something is stirring in the Sea of Sorrows – and we want to make sure that you are not missing out, so here is a schedule (without spoilers) for you, so you can plan ahead:

  • On Friday November 16th at noon PST (20:00 GMT) the weekend will kick off with an Event in Lion’s Arch that you don’t want to miss. This will trigger events in other parts of Tyria as well.
    *On Saturday November 17th at noon PST (20:00 GMT), another phase will kick in.
    Each phase is triggered by a special event, but you will be able to enjoy additional content afterwards even if you cannot make the kick-off time. There is one exception:

The event will culminate in a big Finale on Sunday November 18, make sure you will not miss it. This will be a onetime only event chain that will run multiple hours, and it will kick off at noon PST (20:00 GMT). Again, this will only run once, so make sure you will be there! There will be plenty of content available to enjoy that will remain permanently in the world as a result of the outcome of this event on Sunday.

We will give you more details once we get closer to the event, but wanted to give you an early heads up so you can plan accordingly.

Guild Wars 2 Forum – News and Announcements – Lost Shores Heads Up.

Crafting the Halloween Exotics : Guildwars 2 Reddit

English: Candy corn, specifically Brach's cand...

English: Candy corn, specifically Brach’s candy corn. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s what we know so far. There are 3 craftable exotics that corespond to the temporary 4 hour skins you can buy in LA. They are Arachnophobia, The Crossing, and The Mad Moon.

Each of these items corresponds to a new craftable gift.
Arachnophobia = Gift of Spiders (Huntsman)
The Crossing = Gift of Souls (Artificer)
The Mad Moon = Gift of the Moon (Weaponsmith)

Each gift recipe needs to be learned by creating the recipe in the Mystic Forge. The recipe to create the recipe is:
250 Candy Corn
10 Crystalline Dust
40 Elonian Wine
100 Rare Halloween Materials (Nougat = Souls, Skulls = Moon, Teeth = Spiders)

Once you have created the recipe in the mystic forge you can craft it with a 400 level crafter.

Gift of the Moon:

  • Gift of Thorns (500 TA tokens)
  • 250 Orichalcum Ingots
  • 20 Globs of Ectoplasm
  • 100 Corrupted Lodestones

Gift of Spiders:

  • Gift of Ascalon (500 AC tokens)
  • 250 Orichalcum Ingots
  • 20 Globs of Ectoplasm
  • 100 Destroyer Lodestones

Gift of Souls:

  • Gift of Knowledge (500 CoE tokens)
  • 250 Orichalcum Ingots
  • 20 Globs of Ectoplasm
  • 100 Crystal Lodestones

Beyond this I am unclear on. It hopefully is a simple recipe once you’ve crafted the unique gift because you’ve invested over 100g at that point.

Crafting the Halloween Exotics : Guildwars2.

Coming Soon | GuildWars2.com

Coming Soon

Halloween is almost here.
There’s a baleful moon on the rise and a chill in the air.
Ghosts bemoan their lonesome graves,
and bats in the belfry grow restless and crazed.
Prepare your costume; get ready for sweets.
It’s almost time to shout, “Trick or treat!”

Shadow of the Mad King

Release Overview

Halloween has a long history in Tyria, and in times past was always marked by the spirit of Mad King Thorn cavorting among the people unleashing his own brand of insanity. However, it’s been over 250 years since he was last seen, and for most people he is merely a figure of folklore. Despite this, rumors persist among the populace that something wicked this way comes.

Shadow of the Mad King is the first major game release for Guild Wars 2 and will go live on October 22. This new game update will include a number of new features for all of our players to enjoy, new content to explore and see, and a week-long Halloween event.

Release Highlights

Halloween

Halloween is coming! Festivities are afoot, and Tyria will be transformed with decorations, new mini-games, new dynamic events, and more. Despite the celebrations there are those who dread the coming of Halloween and all that it may bring, for it is the time of year when barriers between the realms are weakest. Be prepared for an epic adventure in four acts starting October 22 and running until October 31.


Black Lion Trading Company

Never one to miss out on an opportunity, Evon Gnashblade has stocked all new items at the Black Lion Trading Company, including Halloween costumes and new transforms that will allow you to play Costume Brawl with fellow costumed players.


PvP Paid Tournaments

Paid tournaments will be available for competitive, five-person teams. These tournaments require tickets to enter and give better prizes than normal tournaments. Participating teams will earn qualifier points that will allow them to compete in future, larger tournaments. Tournament tickets can be earned from winning normal tournaments or purchased in the Gem Store.


Tyria Evolving

The world continues to evolve with new events, jumping puzzles, bosses, mini-dungeons, and achievements appearing across a variety of maps.

NCsoft ArenaNet

Coming Soon | GuildWars2.com.

Guild Wars 2 – Beta Feature: Mobile Two-Factor Authentication

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As part of our ongoing commitment to security in Guild Wars 2, I am pleased to announce that we are making a mobile two-factor authentication solution available for beta testing, effective immediately.

Mobile two-factor authentication is an alternative means of securing your Guild Wars 2 account, and like e-mail authentication, is optional but strongly encouraged. Rather than sending you an e-mail when unauthorized login attempts occur, the game (or any of our online web sites) will prompt you for a six-digit number any time you log in to a Mobile Authenticator-protected account. Using a freely available app on three major smartphone platforms – iOS, Android, and Windows Phone – you can obtain the correct six-digit number unique to your account. These numbers change every 30 seconds and can only be used once; this ensures that without your mobile device, an attacker would not be able to compromise your Guild Wars 2 account.

Please be advised that this feature is currently in beta and we are actively working to get it up to our standards of quality. Use of this feature should be considered “at your own risk” until we have completed the beta phase. We have already identified two major improvements to the feature that we will complete before releasing this system for general use:

  • To increase security of your account, unlinking the Mobile Authenticator will require additional six-digit codes.
  • We will be introducing an option to “remember my current network” so that you will not have to authenticate every login from trusted environments.

Of course we will also be interested in your feedback on this feature, and will make sure to take into account your suggestions and opinions during final development.

Setting it Up:
Steps will be associated with either [Computer] or [Mobile] for where the step is taking place.

  1. [Computer] Navigate to https://account.guildwars2.com/account/security/totp and log in with your Guild Wars 2 credentials.
    - If you are redirected to the Security home page (https://account.guildwars2.com/account/security), be sure to add /totp back into the URL.
  2. [Computer] Identify the correct app for your mobile platform. Here are some suggestions:
    - Google Authenticator for iPhones and Android.
    - Windows Authenticator for Windows Phones.
  3. [Mobile] Download the application to your mobile device.
  4. [Computer] Click ‘Next’ on the Account Management page
  5. [Mobile] If your version of the Mobile Authenticator app has the ability to scan QR codes, use it to automatically scan the QR code displayed in Account Management [Computer] and skip to step #7.
  6. [Mobile] If your version of the Mobile Authenticator app does not have the ability scan QR codes, or that ability is not working with the QR code displayed, enter your credentials manually.
    - “Account Name” is the same as your Guild Wars Account Name.
    - “Key” is the secret code displayed in Account Management [Computer].
    - Select “Time Based” and not “Counter Based”
    - Select ‘Add’.
  7. [Computer] In the field below the QR code, enter the six-digit code now displayed from your Mobile Authenticator app [Mobile].
  8. Click ‘Next’.For more information, please refer to this Knowledge Base article – http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9238

Thank you in advance for your support, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on this initiative.

- Mike Lewis
Guild Wars 2 Security Coordinator

Guild Wars 2 Forum – News and Announcements – Beta Feature: Mobile Two-Factor Authentication.

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