Hunter graciously joins Allona to discuss ArenaNet’s recent blog post, the Blood and Madness patch, and community news-slash-outrage!

Hunter (AKA Hero)

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• Clocktower
  
• mad king’s labyrinth
  

Allona

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• Fungeons
  
• Alting
  
• Keyfarmed over the span of two weekends. Tried the city map completion method. It was casual. Got a scrap. I think I might try this method again.
  
• Bought a bunch of outfits. Pretty, pretty outfits
  
• Mad King Labrinthed! MAD KING LOOTTHINTHED!
  

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https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/tyrias-point-of-no-return/

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• A Living World
  
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  • When the season resumes on November 4, we’ll see the story pick up from the cliffhanger that left one of the world’s leaders fighting for survival, and the races of Tyria preparing for war against the Elder Dragon Mordremoth.
    
  • We also ponder the meaning of the vision given by the Pale Tree and the role that legends of Tyria’s past may play in a story that is yet to unfold.
    
  
  
  
• Holiday Festivals
  
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  • This coming Tuesday, October 21, the Mad Realm returns with our annual Halloween release. On December 16, we’ll release our usual holiday-themed festivities with Wintersday. Both of these releases will feature the same content as last year but with refreshed rewards, giving you fun new festival-themed items to earn.
    
  
  
  
• Into the Jungle
  
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  • As we go on this journey we’ll learn dark secrets of Tyria’s past, venture into stories with roots deep in the very heart of Guild Wars lore, and visit places that have only been rumored to exist.
    
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    • Allona: This. This is so very intriguing! And we will be chatting more about this in Tales of Tyria.
      
    
    
    
  
  
  

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates

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• Halloween
  
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  • Blood and Madness, our annual Halloween festival, returns for two weeks of ghoulish capers, spooky fights, and maddening fun!
    
  
  
  
• Lion’s Arch
  
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  • The citizens of Lion’s Arch have united to decorate the area with Halloween flair.
    
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    • Allona: I really like how it’s been decorated this year! Very much a “yes our city has been ravaged but, by gum, we’re decorating it!†situation.
      
    
    
    
  • Mad King Thorn himself appears in Lion’s Arch throughout the festival. Laugh at his mad jokes and play in his Mad King Says game.
    
  
  
  
• Open World
  
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  • In Lion’s Arch, Kessex Hills, and Gendarran Fields, the Mad Realm doors have returned. There are two varieties: the green Mad King doors and the red Bloody Prince doors.
    
  • The Heart of the Mists and home citadels in the Borderlands have also received a Halloween decoration makeover.
    
  
  
  
• Mad Realm
  
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  • The Mad King’s Labyrinth
    
  • The Lunatic Inquisition
    
  • The Mad King’s Clock Tower
    
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    • Allona: I have yet to make this. Not that I’ve tried a WHOLE lot. But I’ve been instructed to give a Mad Shout Out(â„¢) to Jack (or Mr. Daniels) for completing the JP at least 20 times(!) in the first day! Yay you!
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Rewards
  
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  • Trick-or-treat bags have been updated with loads of new items, including:
    
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    • Bottles of Batwing Brew
      
    • Maize Balm
      
    
    
    
  
  
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    • Recipes for the new Pumpkin Oil, Sharpening Skulls, and Lumps of Crystallized Nougat: These utility consumables provide unique bonuses when resurrecting other heroes.
      
    • New exotic amulets with unusual gems.
      
    • New miniatures, including the rare ghost cub Gwynefyrdd and tradable Mini Zuzu, Cat of Darkness.
      
    • Crafting materials, including ascended crafting materials.
      
    • Valuable tier 6 trophies.
      
    
    
  • Unlock the new Tricks and Treats collection by finding an old pillowcase. Complete the collection to earn your own Mini Candy Corn Ghoulemental.
    
  • Black Lion weapon collectors may be interested in the Bloody Prince’s Toybox.
    
  • A Halloween vendor merchant northwest of the Trader’s Forum Waypoint in Lion’s Arch will exchange your candy corn for candy corn cobs.
    
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    • Mini Zuzu, Cat of Darkness
      
    • new crafting recipes, as well as old favorites like Mini Bloody Prince Thorn and 20-slot Halloween Pail inventory bags.
      
    • The vendor will also combine your stacks of chattering skulls, plastic fangs, and nougat into refined versions. The resulting items can be used to craft exclusive Halloween weapons, including: Mad Moon (shield), Arachnophobia (short bow), and The Crossing (staff).
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Daily Achievements and Festival Achievements
  
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  • Allona: There are lots. Too many to go over, but I do like the addition of the Dailies
    
  
  
  
• World Polish
  
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  • Sparkfly Fen
    
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    • Tequatl the Sunless: Added telegraph circles to Tequatl the Sunless’s attacks.
      
    
    
    
  • Straits of Devastation
    
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    • Veteran Risen Spectral Guard: Fixed a bug that prevented this creature from upscaling with the number of players.
      
    
    
    
  • Creature Skills
    
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    • Champion Risen Megalodon: Reduced the damage of this creature’s charge skill by 50%.
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store
  
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  • The new Grave Finisher is available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 500 gems. Available for two weeks only!
    
  • A new Noble Count outfit is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 700 gems.
    
  • Devil Horns and the Phantom Hood have returned to the Gem Store for a limited time at the price of 200 gems each.
    
  • The Halloween weapons Chiroptophobia, Araneae, Dead Stop, Bloody Prince’s Staff, and Silly Scimitar have been reduced to the price of 2 tickets for a limited time at a Black Lion Weapons Specialist.
    
  • There are only four weeks left to use tickets for Lovestruck, Dragon’s Jade, Aetherblade, Fused, and Dreamthistle weapon sets. After November 18, these sets will no longer be available for purchase with Black Lion Claim Tickets this year.
    
  • Foil Wrapped Candy is available for two weeks. This item grants random 10-minute boosts and gives players a foil wrapper usable for in-game events.
    
  • Every Black Lion Chest now includes an additional drop of a guaranteed trick-or-treat bag.
    
  • Improvements: New Currency Exchange UI
    
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    • The Currency Exchange UI has been overhauled to be quicker to use and easier to understand.
      
    • Quick exchange options for both currencies are now visible on the front page of the Currency Exchange.
      
    • The comparison between Exchange for Gold and Exchange for Gems prices is much more obvious.
      
    • Fixed exchange amounts have been set to simplify the exchange process and remove confusing rounding points.
      
    • Added a preview of new balances.
      
    • Added an improved confirmation UI.
      
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      • Allona: And reddit and the forum asploded!
        

        http://kotaku.com/guild-wars-2-players-angry-over-currency-exchange-chang-1649519173

        
        

        Here are my thoughts:

        
        
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        • The simplified interface is pretty nice. Clean and easy to read.
          
        • I miss the graph that shows conversion rates
          
        • The Gold conversion side looks decent, the increments are reasonable; the Gem conversion side starts way too high and the increments are kind of insane. Personally I think it would be better to start at 10 Gems, not 400 (and maybe topping out at 800)! Doing that, I could see me hopping in and nabbing a small amount here or there with a quick click; but 400? no way.
          
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          • From Gaile Gray on the official Forums which sort of negates what I just said: You may be surprised to know this (I know I was) but very few people bought gems at smaller denominations than the first one offered in the new system. That’s not to say they never did, nor that there wouldn’t be the desire to do so. But overall, the current options were selected based on player purchases in the past.
            
          
          
          
        • Would it be possible to have an “Advanced†option that could take players to the original (or close to any way) version? Where players can customize the amounts?
          
        
        
        
      • Update: ArenaNet has responded with plans to update the Currency Exchange so players can use it as they wish. They offered the following statement:
        
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        • “It’s clear that quite a lot of you would like to have greater flexibility in using the Currency Exchange. Our intention when we designed the new interface was to streamline large volume purchases, which make up the majority of transactions.
          
        • In light of your feedback, we will update the Currency Exchange so that you can decide how you want to use it. We will keep the new streamlined system and also offer a new “Custom” button on the panel that you can use to exchange any increment of gems or gold.
          
        • We anticipate rolling this out soon. Stay tuned!”
          
        
        
        
      
      
      
    
    
    
  
  
  

Not really a question, but I received an awesome RP in-game mail from Particle Shift!

Laudation Selected Adventurer

Salutations Magnificus Magna Pirum

It would seem careless lab assistant once again left their personal possessions in the lab, even after repeated warnings.I decided to enforce the compliance with the lab’s careless possession policy, create and implemented 1.61803 seconds ago. As such any items from lab equipment, test materials, or test subjects left unattended will be donated.

As such, I am sending you this item. It appears to be a musical instrument of some form.

Particle Shift

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• And attached was a Tempest Dagger Skin! I am blown away by the generosity and the by the carelessness of some workers. :)
  

Allona’s tip of the week: Get in the Labrynth! It’s fun!

Hunter’s tip of the week:  do your dailies and your halloween dailies.

http://huntersinsight.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/point-of-omfgbloodstone/

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• A lot of clear allusions to things we probably saw in the original Guild Wars. But what are we talking about? Mursaat cities? We never saw anything of the sort in GW1, but that last cutscene sure seemed to reference a city of some sort. Or does it allude to settlements we’ve seen before?
  
• So the only thing close by that deeply relates to Tyrian lore and otherwise fit our criteria as a place that we’d likely be interested in going to, is probably the Bloodstone. And a dragon would assuredly be drawn to that.
  
• So that leaves a few questions if we are indeed going to be visiting the Bloodstone. Is it another part of Dry Top being released just as previous areas in the zone were gradually unlocked? Maybe it’s not even a zone, perhaps its a dungeon however unlikely. Perhaps it is in fact an entirely new zone. What form is this content going to take?
  
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  • Allona: And now I’m going to let Hunter talk about this! I will make “m-hmm†noises…
    
  
  
  

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