There’s truth in them thar seeds! Celeste and Allona talk about the recent Living World episode and some of the unexpected patch updates! (Thar also be spoilers)

Audio Version

What We Did This Week

 

Allona

• 
  
• Hunted down some collections stuff with Hunter … Treasure hunter I believe
  
• MoCK Fungeons and Fractals on Saturday, except I only Fractalled
  
• Guild missions with Maven … I came in 4th for the Guild Rush! Weeeeeee!
  
• Levelled my Thief to 61. Got her the Sylvari T2 armour.
  
• Played the Seeds of Truth and explored the new area! (AKA Died a lot in the new area)
  

Celeste

• 
  
• Messed about in Silverwastes
  
• Keyfarmed a little
  
• Played through Episode 7 and did the JP
  

 

Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter.

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Report from Lion’s Arch

 

Patch Notes – Seeds of Truthiness

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2014-12-02

“The death of the Zephyrite Master of Peace and Caithe’s hasty exit with Glint’s egg have left more questions than answers. Why did Caithe take the egg? And, more importantly, how do you catch a thief?â€

• 
  
• The follow-up to this is To catch a Thief you must become a thief.†Which, thanks to Caithe’s skills I think is the number one reason why there are new Thieves EVERYWHERE.
  

Rewards

• 
  
• Continue collecting Carapace and Luminescent armor with the addition of heavy, medium, and light boots and leg armor.
  
  • 
    
  • Earn pieces of Carapace leg armor by completing the Seeds of Truth storyline. Extra pieces can also be purchased for bandit crests.
    
  • Carapace boots can be found in Lost Bandit Chests. Additionally, players who receive the Boot Requisition Order will be able to purchase boot pieces for bandit crests.
    
    • 
      
    • It looks like you get this for an achievement in Silverwastes, Ambassador’s Aid (Assist Ambassador Ikkhit’ch by defending the skritt territory from bandit raiders)
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Recipes to craft ascended Sinister armor and weapons are now available.
  
  • 
    
  • Named for the fabled necromancer Verata, the inscription and insignia recipes can be purchased for bandit crests.
    
  • Recipes for weapons and armor can be found in recipe books in Lost Bandit Chests throughout the Silverwastes.
    
  
  
  
• New and exciting treasures can be found in Lost Bandit Chests.
  
  • 
    
  • Players who find the Essence of Time will be able to create the new focus, Eternal Sands, in the Mystic Forge.
    
    • 
      
    • The only reason to keep silky sand… it requires 250 for the forge recipe
      
    
    
    
  • Mini Mordrem Thrashers and Endless Mordrem Thrasher Tonics may be found.
    
  
  
  
• Bandit crest collectors have several new offerings.
  
  • 
    
  • Endless Mordrem Husk Tonic
    
  • Mini Mordrem Husk
    
  • Mordrem Fang Extraction Device
    
  • Bag of Rare Gear
    
  
  
  
• Complete the Drydock Scratch jumping puzzle to find a Magnificent Chest that contains masterwork and rare gear, empyreal fragments, patchwork knapsacks, jewels, and a chance to find the new welding torch.
  
  • 
    
  • C: This jumping puzzle gave me serious fits, I finished it (kinda, thanks to youtube) after I was stuck at 3 milestones for over an hour. I still haven’t finished it with all the milestones.
    
  
  
  

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT

Arenas

• 
  
• Team and Solo Arena have been merged into Ranked Arena.
  
  • 
    
  • A party of any size can queue, including solo players.
    
  • Player statistics from Team Arena and Solo Arena have been combined to create Ranked Arena stats.
    
  • Legacy Team and Solo Arena stats can be viewed in the PvP panel.
    
    • 
      
    • C: New UI is really sweet looking.
      
    
    
    
  • Rewards are unchanged.
    
  
  
  
• Unranked Arena has been added.
  
  • 
    
  • A party of any size can queue, including solo players.
    
  • Rewards are now the same as Ranked Arena.
    
  
  
  
• All maps are available for play in Ranked Arena and Unranked Arena.
  
  • 
    
  • During the leaderboard test season, ranked play will have a limited set of maps.
    
  
  
  

Matchmaking and Leaderboards

• 
  
• Matchmaking will take into account other parameters in addition to matchmaking rating (MMR), such as largest group size and team composition.
  
• Leaderboards will no longer use MMR as a basis. Instead, players will earn ladder points based on the quality of the matches they participate in.
  

Match Accept

• 
  
• Ranked Arena and Unranked Arena matches will now prompt players to accept the match before it can start.
  
• The client will flash and play an alert sound when matches are ready.
  
• Declining or failing to accept a match prompt within the time limit will cause players to accumulate dishonor and be prevented from queuing for a short period of time.
  

Map Selection

• 
  
• Players can now vote for the map they would like to play after accepting a match prompt.
  
• The list of selectable maps is randomly generated.
  
• The final map is picked via weighted roll. The more a map is picked by players, the higher the chance that map will be chosen.
  

Dishonor

• 
  
• Declining or not accepting a match prompt for Ranked Arena or Unranked Arena will result in dishonor and a timeout.
  
• Disconnecting at any time during a running Ranked Arena or Unranked Arena game will result in dishonor and a timeout.
  
  • 
    
  • Players must continue playing the game on reconnect.
    
    • 
      
    • C: Question – what if the match ends before they are able to reconnect? No harm, no foul?
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• When dishonor is given, an immediate timeout is also applied. During a timeout, Ranked Arena and Unranked Arena are unavailable.
  
• Timeout duration increases as dishonor accumulates on an account.
  

General

• 
  
• Rosters have been removed. Players will now queue with their party.
  
• Banker, trading post, and laurel vendor NPCs have been added to the Heart of the Mists.
  

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH

General

• 
  
• Megaserver: Joining a party member while playing on a map in which your guild has an active mission with an ongoing reservation in place will no longer silently fail.
  
• LET’S TALK UI CHANGES
  
  • 
    
  • Highlighting new items in your inventory is nice but it feels a bit too bright, it tends to obscure what the item is unless you hover over it.
    
  • SUPER red salvaging highlights are CRAZY useful if you open a billion baggies and then don’t know where everything landed in your inventory.
    
  • If you’re used to hitting F12 to log out you’ll see a new UI there as well, not sure why that happened though
    
  • If you alt tab frequently while loading screens are happening you’ll be pleased to see that the icon will now light up when you load in
    
  
  
  

Items

• 
  
• Gastronom Plikk in Rata Sum now sells the Vintner’s Guide used to unlock the Fine Wining item-collection achievement.
  
  • 
    
  • He’s near Auxiliary Waypoint
    
  
  
  
• The Observational Zymology Manual used to unlock the Brewmaster item collection is now available for purchase from many bartenders around Tyria.
  
  • 
    
  • except not from the barkeep in rata sum…
    
  
  
  

Structured Player vs. Player

• 
  
• The PvP panel stats tab has been reskinned.
  
• Scoreboard UI has been reskinned.
  
• Ready Button UI has been reskinned.
  
• Autobalance UI has been reskinned.
  

World vs. World

• 
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented player pets from attacking gates in Edge of the Mists.
  
  • 
    
  • C: I totally thought this was working as intended because your pet won’t attack an object you’re hitting in PvE either.
    
  
  
  
• Reduced the radius of the Siege Disabler trick from 450 to 300.
  
• Increased the skill recharge of the Siege Disabler from 5 seconds to 45 seconds.
  
  • 
    
  • Wow, that’s a HUGE increase!
    
  
  
  
• Decreased the duration of the Siege Disabler trick from 45 seconds to 35 seconds. The duration on Siege Golems remains unchanged.
  

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/new-mail-carrier-customization-exciting-updates-to-black-lion-chests-and-more-in-the-gem-store/

New Items and Promotions

• 
  
• Glint’s Winter Dye Kit is now available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems.
  
• The Black Lion Chest drops have been updated. Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each.
  
  • 
    
  • Added a new Teleport to Friend consumable as an uncommon drop. This consumable will take you directly to a party member in PvE.
    
    • 
      
    • C: This is something that my husband had been asking for since launch, but finding it as a consumable in an RNG situation seems really weird.
      
    • A: Maybe they’re testing the waters for this? Or maybe they are concerned about how an item like this would affect waypoint usage?
      
    
    
    
  • Home instance unlocks for orichalcum ore, elder wood logs, omnomberries, snow truffles, and lotuses have been added as very rare drops.
    
    • 
      
    • C: Can we talk about how this is terrible and awesome?
      
    • A: Argh!
      
    
    
    
  
  
  
• Winter’s weapons have returned to the Black Lion Weapon Specialists for the price of 2 Black Lion Claim Tickets each.
  
  • 
    
  • A: Yay! Although the prices on the TP have plummeted (unsurprisingly). Also, the frost effect is out of control! I even checked an older youtube vid for comparison. I’m hoping it’s just a preview glitch.
    
  
  
  
• The Wintersday Minis 3-Pack (500 gems, Fawn, Puppy, and Arctic Fox Kit), Toy Golem (350), Toy Soldier (350), Plush Griffon (350), Princess Doll (350), Toy Ventari (350), and Fancy Winter Outfit (700) have all returned to the Gem Store this year.
  

Mail Carrier Customization in the Wardrobe

• 
  
• Mail carriers have been added to the Equipment section of the Hero panel for accounts with a character higher than level 71.
  
• Once unlocked, players can select the default mail carrier for every character on their account to receive mail from the game or send their mail to other players.
  
• When sending mail, a one-time mail carrier can be selected from the Compose mail dialog, affecting only the current mail being sent.
  
• The currently selected mail carrier and additional options can be previewed in the Hero panel.
  
• A new Griffon Mail Carrier is available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 500 gems.
  
  • 
    
  • A: Um … so I like this more than I would have expected.
    
  
  
  

Improvements

• 
  
• The Replica Job-o-Tron Backpack will stop talking when the Hide/Unhide check box is unchecked.
  

 

The official Forums are getting some love

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Forum-Reorganization

We’re about to make the Guild Wars 2 forums more user friendly and a better place to discuss the game.

Starting December 9, the conversation and topic threads that make up our sub-forums are going to be streamlined. This will facilitate greater interaction between you and ArenaNet team members. It also will improve our ability to respond to any reported (flagged) posts and threads.

The consolidation will not affect the News and Information section. Some sub-forums will be placed in the Archives, where they will be available for view through the end of the year. Any future discussion around the topics within the archived sub-forums will now be part of one of the new reorganized sub-forums.

Here is what the forums will look like effective December 9:

News and Info

• 
  
• News and Announcements
  
• Game Release Notes
  
• Dev Tracker
  

Support

• 
  
• Account and Technical Support (Mac Tech support will be rolled into this sub-forum)
  
• Bugs: Game, Forum, Website
  

Game Discussion

• 
  
• Guild Wars 2 Discussion
  
• Living World Discussion
  
• PvP Discussion
  
• WvW Discussion
  
• Fractals & Dungeons
  
• Players Helping Players
  
• CDI (Collaborative Development Initiative)
  
• Lore
  

Professions

• 
  
• Elementalist
  
• Engineer
  
• Guardian
  
• Mesmer
  
• Necromancer
  
• Ranger
  
• Thief
  
• Warrior
  

Community Corner

• 
  
• API Development
  
• Community Creations
  
• Looking for… (Guild, PvP Team, WvW Recruitment)
  
• In-Game Events
  

Look for more information about a new opportunity for Guild Wars 2 forum members — our Forum Specialist Program — in a separate announcement.

Edited:

• 
  
• Adding Fractals & Dungeons
  
• Moving Players Helping Players to Game Discussion
  

 

Guild Wars 2 Forum Specialists Program – work for free!

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Guild-Wars-2-Forum-Specialists-Program

Basically be a forum ambassador in an unpaid, yet official capacity. There are tons of rules. It’s intriguing. Best of luck if you choose to apply!

 

Ask an Asura

 

Nightmare Court is made of Petulant Children and Genocidal Maniacs

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2o3k55/ls_spoilers_i_used_to_think_faolain_was/

We were talking about this on c3 and i think it bares repeating….

• 
  
• C: It feels like Faolin has been oversimplified and now seems like more of a crazy person than she ever was characterized as previously. I mean, we knew the nightmare court was nefarious and seemed to be very focused on making sure that the dream is altered with bad stuff for the Sylvari to experience. The thing is I didn’t realize it was more about free will and allowing the other sylvari to choose their own path (at least in the beginning). We saw this with Ceara/Scarlet in that the Pale Tree attempted to interact with her to tell her that she shouldn’t follow her path towards awakening Mordy but we really don’t know if that was motivated by the desire to keep others safe or to bring Scarlet back into the fold of being a ‘blossom’ rather than a ‘weed.’ For the Pale Tree to truly be seeking perfection from each of its offspring seems naive at best and to be downright untenable at worst. Even though they have the shared experience of the dream and apparently the psychic connection to the tree it feels like the Pale Tree is just a really overbearing, egotistical, and domineering parent.
  
  TL; DR: Faolin is Chaotic Neutral and wants all the Sylvari to choose their own alignment.
  

 

Allona’s tip of the week: Dynamic events often chain. Once you finish an event, either stick around or follow any NPC from the ended event to see if another one kicks off! These chained events have interesting story progressions! Take yer time, peeps!

Celeste’s tip of the week: Missing dialogue lines like me for the past few living world episodes? Try this tip http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2o2kud/season_2_episode_7_discussion_thread/cmj4j1r From tso “Check your audio settings, and see if the “quality” setting is all the way to the left (fastest). If it is, try moving it a notch or two to the right (towards highest quality).â€

 

Tales of Tyria

 

If you’re full of holiday spirit and want to be a Secret Toymaker, check out the gift exchange being curated by Randomm User

https://sites.google.com/site/secrettoymaker/ There are some guidelines for gifts but it should be pretty awesome, a fun way to meet new GW2 players, and share some holiday cheer :D

• 
  
• A: This is a super sweet idea!
  

 

There’s also the return of Nerdy Bookahs Wintersday giveaways, each week will bring something new

http://nerdybookahs.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/gw2-wintersday-giveaway-week-1/#english

 

Request for community events of the week/bi-week. Send us an email!

If you’ve got a burning question for our Ask an Asura segment, please let us know!

 

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Visit us on Twitter!

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Allona: @onebigpear

 

Say ‘HI’ to us in-game!

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