Guild Wars Reporter 163

Celeste and Allona managed to talk for an excessive amount of time about a ton of GW2 news and somehow never even mention the Thief elite teaser image (AKA the Daredevil)!

Audio Version

What We Did This Week

Allona

Forgot to mention on last show, I picked up a couple Dwayna weapons – the greatsword and pistol … still seriously eyeing two more from the set, more news as events warrant
Missed Fungeons and Fraggles this week
Also missed Relics of Orr’s Plants vs Zombie event. :(
Didn’t lose guild missions with Maven … even with my 10 second penalty!
Anet took a healthy chunk of my paycheck this week: nabbed the Account Jump Start AND the Wedding Attire … which is now on every character on my account.
Allona got her 3rd birthday present! FINALLY decided on Glint’s Isolation dye.
Finished the Godskull weapons JUST TONIGHT! I had a few large skulls donated by guildie, Romo … and after several bare farming runs I just bought the last 8 I needed through buy orders on the Trading Post

Celeste

Finished Bandit and Krait weapon collections
World Boss train
3rd Birthday on Ostara, I got the Rosewood dye because it looks pretty good on leather.
Ran around on my warrior for a while still haven’t found the fun of it yet but I’m trying!
- A: We should get an all warrior party together for funsies!

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Report from Lion’s Arch

Patch Notes

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-August-25-2015

Ogre Wars Meta fixes in Fields of Ruin
Fixed a bug that prevented minions from quickly targeting your attack target.
- You’ve got to wonder if this was found out by someone attending PvZ
Various Profession bug fixes
Practice Button has been removed from the UI in PvP
Ranked arena now requires you to be Rank 20 before you can enter
New players will no longer need to complete a tutorial before entering the HotM
- A: I think this is a good move … it was scary and daunting, although the intention was the opposite
WvW
- “Fixed a bug that allowed Superior Arrow Cart and Guild Arrow Cart skills to ignore line-of-sight checks.”
- “Edge of the Mists: Fixed a bug that allowed players to delay the Mechanical Siege Devourer transform by using items like tonics and instruments.”
- “Service NPCs have been switched to a noncombatant team to prevent them from being killed through various exploits.”
- “Players will now be killed if they travel too far outside of the playable space on the maps.”
Fixed a bug that allowed players to rally off mesmer clones.
Fixed a client crash that occurred when players stopped spectating rangers in PvP.
- C: LULZ. You MUST watch only the rangers :P
Fixed a bug that allowed players in stealth to be finishable by enemies.

The Anniversary Sale Continues

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/anniversary-sale/

21 days of sales! Though a lot of them are expiring on the 29th
Account Bump Package – (800 gems) 20 Account-Bound Unidentified Dyes, 15 Transmutation Charges, 10 Experience Boosters, and 5 Black Lion Chest Keys!
Account Jump Start Package – (2000 gems) 30 Account-Bound Unidentified Dyes, 15 Transmutation Charges, 2 Bag Slot Expansions, 2 Bank Tab Expansions, and 10 Black Lion Chest Keys!
Wedding Attire (1000 Gems)
- A: A seriously amazing outfit set. Before this the only outfit that was different culturally was the Cook’s outfit (which is the main reason I love it). BUT the wedding attire is different for each race AND gender! So good.
- A: This is a good segue for something I’ve had a note on my computer about for a long time. Single outfits for Charr and Asura. I don’t mind when there’s no gender difference between them, I honestly don’t … BUT It always defaults to the male outfit which … meh. I would prefer one gender-neutral outfit that was thematically still tied to what was offered to the more humanoid races. Thus endeth my rant.
Romantic Gift Pack (400 gems) – bouquet of roses and box of chocolates
Return of Weapon Skins & Other Items

BWE2 Scheduled for Sept 4

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-second-beta-weekend-event-begins-september-4/

“starting at noon Pacific Time (UTC-7) on Friday, September 4, and running until 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) on Sunday, September 6.”
Progress was preserved from the previous BWE
What’s available: “the revenant, using the full selection of core specializations, weapons (including underwater combat), and legends. You’ll also be able to play with our new elite specialization system that grows your character professions into new elite specializations. You’ll be able to try out the chronomancer, dragonhunter, reaper, and tempest, as well as the newly announced elite specializations: berserker, and herald, as well as the thief specialization we’ll announce later this week.”
- ALL THE ELITES! (Well, except for Engi and Ranger *grumble grumble* – says the impatient Celeste)
“For our second beta weekend test, you’ll be landing in a different part of the map than the one we showed in our first beta weekend, and you’ll be able to explore a new area: the jungle-floor biome.”
- “you’ll find survivors from a ship of nobles that traveled with the Pact Fleet to witness the battle with Mordremoth and got far more than they bargained for, including one particularly famous noble who has gone…wild. The quaggan Baroosh and his village, who potentially joined the Pact in your personal story, were also aboard an airship that went down with the fleet when Mordremoth tore it from the sky. The survivors can also be found working with an ordnance corps to muster together a counterassault on the jungle dragon. Across this area, numerous new enemies are there to face off against, including your first encounters with the aggressive hylek tribes Coztic and Xocotl.”
  - C: I wonder who the noble is, I kind of want it to be Lord Faren so that we can find him in a bikini and roasting a hylek over some coals or something. That would be hilarious, a Feral Faren!
    - Faren! Faren! Faren!
Stronghold will also be active where pre-purchasers will have access to all the Mist Champions
Feedback pls: “During daytime, we’re showing two new outposts and a big pile of events that go along with them. Are they fun? Do they tell a compelling narrative that helps bring you into the world? Do the events feel meaningful, challenging, and interesting? The nighttime component of Verdant Brink will be relatively similar to BWE1; we look forward to sharing the expanded version of the night experience in future beta events.”
- A: Further to this: Did anyone else notice the Beta achievements in the Cheevo UI?

Points of Interest 30 – The Berserker!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW8GkFxlujk

lulz at hugh swinging the juggernaut from sarah cain, who btw is awesome…
thematically the berserker is sustained damage, more angry and more based around fire.
Torch
- Blaze Breaker
  - physical, hits 5 times
- Flames of war
  - turns you into a mobile fire field, persists if you weapon swap i.e. fire field and then GS to pass through an area, can be blasted and lept through to cause more burning
Utility – Rage Skill
- Heal – Blood Reckoning
  - converts outgoing damage into healing, condi dmg as well
- Wild Blow
  - Knockback an enemy and it will then knockback enemies behind it. 100% crit rate on the first hit, hits up to 5
- Shattering Blow
  - ‘summon a rock in front of you and then you punch it… the rock explodes and hit everyone in front of you’ (paraphrased)
  - can punch back (kinda reflect) back projectiles if timed correctly
- Thundering Leap
  - leap into an area and cause 10 stacks of vulnerability on up to 5, gives you adrenaline while leaping
- Outrage
  - Stun break, 10s recharge, get 3 adrenaline for each enemy near you when activated
- Elite – Headbutt
  - short ranged dash attack, stuns enemy for 3s, stuns you for 1s, gives you full adrenaline if it hits
Function Keys – Primal Burst Skills – 5s cooldown
- F2, Berserk Mode can be activated at 30 adrenaline to flip to primal burst
- Flaming Flurry
  - Sword – shoots off fireballs in a cone, will cut down projectiles approaching you with the sword swings,
- Arcing Sear
  - GS – expanding ring of fire, each ring applies burning, can be interacted with like a fire line
- Scorched Earth
  - Longbow – launches a bunch of small fire fields in a line, they’re small and short but this skill can be cast a lot more often, arrow doesn’t hit a target, 1200 range
- Gun Flame
  - Rifle – damages & burns, on hit explodes which causes daze
- Skull Grinder
  - Mace – single target, dazes confuses weakens cripples and blinds
- Rupturing Smash
  - Hammer – shockwave that cascades out in 5 directions ((sun ray style on from the front)), each wave knockbacks foes and causes dmg
- Decapitate
  - Axe – hits 1 target and then shockwaves behind that target (up to 5), leap finisher
Go to Dulfy for traits and the full rundown: http://dulfy.net/2015/08/21/gw2-berserker-warrior-elite-specialization-livestream-notes/
In PvP 101 a lot of what they talked about is what you could do to counter having a Berserker attack you.
- C: Wouldn’t it be cool if Chill also reduced adrenaline gains? It would certainly put Reaper even more in the opposite corner and ready to fight a Berserker
- Hugh also incidentally showed off the Wings of Glory
- Legacy of the Foefire was the focus map this week