Guild Wars 2 Info

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Here are some additional notes, describing some of the balance changes and why we made these changes in various aspects of the game.
General balance

• Engineer Kit Sigils. The Engineer now benefits from the sigils on their weapons when they swap to a kit. So, this means that you will have the ability to get sigil procs on your Flame Thrower, or Grenade Kit, etc. This means we had to tone down some of the kits accordingly, the biggest of which was the Grenade kit.
• Engineer Grenade Kit Changes. We didn’t want to totally take away the power of this kit, but when it is able to proc sigil abilities, it becomes very strong due to its powerful AOE nature. So we’ve toned down this kit a little due to the sigils now working on engineer kits.
• Mesmer Phantasm changes. We decreased the delay for the initial attacks on Mesmer phantasms. This will make them more responsible when they are first summoned.
• Mesmer Portal. The Mesmer utility skill Portal now has a maximum # of times it can be used before it disappears. This means that 1 Mesmer can no longer send an infinite # of allies through a portal. The current # is 20, which may come down more later. We still want the Mesmers to feel cool for having such a powerful ability, but we also want to put a limit on the # of players a defending team needs to worry about coming out of 1 Mesmer Portal, especially in WvW.
• Underwater fields and interacts. We’ve gone through and improved our underwater combat experience. Many professions had a distinct lack of fields and/or interacts, but now have them so as to improve the player interactions with one-another for underwater combat. Most professions have the same fields as they do above water, but there are some differences as well, such as the Elementalist who now has a smoke field on their Murky Water skill.

PvP specific stuff

• Downed HP. This went from 75% of the old amount up to 85%. This has been something we’ve listened to players about, and many of them felt that the old # was slightly too low. The new # should mean that stomping is still VERY important, but if you need to safely DPS someone from range, that’s an option as well.
• Locking skill bars in free and paid tournaments. This is a change that will prevent people from cheesing the ability to swap skills and weapons in-between fights in a competitive game (either a free tourney or paid tourney game). This will mean that once the game starts (the countdown is done), you will be locked into your weapon sets, utility skills, elite, etc.

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Class balance philosophies
We normally try to employ metered and controlled balance changes with each pass, rather than huge reductions or improvements to classes. We want to get all classes on the same playing field, and we want to avoid “whack-a-mole” style balance. HUGH increases and HUGE decreases lead to meta instability, and thusly, we try to make multiple small tweaks rather than putting in massive changes that we have to later correct.
When designing and balancing the classes, we try to make sure that class roles and identities stay intact. So, in doing so, we make sure that there are rules and boundaries outlining the capabilities and weaknesses of each class.

• Warrior
  • We want the Warrior to be capable of good melee damage in a sturdy body. They can still do some decent damage at range, but they aren’t as good at it as the Ranger (with their pet). They have a hard time taking enemy boons down, and instead, have to just go through them with raw force. They may have a hard time with enemy conditions, and may need to ask for ally help in order to keep themselves free of hampering conditions.
• Guardian
  • The Guardian is a heavy armor class who relies on boons to make up for their low levels of innate health. They focus on area control and punishing enemies for the position on the battlefield. We want them to feel very powerful when their boons are active, but if those boons are removed, they will start to feel pressure. They can remove conditions more easily than the Warrior, but share the Warrior’s need to be in melee range to dole out maximum damage.
• Ranger
  • The ranger class combines its own innate abilities with the skills of their pets. We’ve balanced the class around the idea that you always have a pet with you to aid in any fight. The fact that the ranger can have multiple pets allows them to combine their pets in ways that most impact the current fight. We want the Ranger to have some of the evasion enjoyed by the Thief, as well as the mobility other classes employ. The class is able to deal physical or condition damage, and it can do this in melee or at range.

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• Engineer
  • The Engineer is a highly versatile class. While it doesn’t have the long range capabilities of the Ranger, or the melee capabilities of the Warrior or Guardian, they are comfortable at medium ranges in most fights. They have a lot of control, and use their boons to keep themselves (and allies) alive in a fight. They can use different kits based on the situation, but this extreme versatility comes at a cost in damage on their main hand weapons.
• Thief
  • Thieves are the masters of mobility, stealth and high single target damage. They can be very fragile if you counter their stealth with area of effects or large stacks of conditions, but they trade this fragility in order to have some of the highest burst damage in the game. They are able to help allies through traps, venoms and the mobility to flank most encounters.
• Mesmer
  • Mesmers rely on illusions in order to accomplish their goals. They need illusions to accomplish some of their highest damage and control, and without the illusions, they become fairly fragile. They can deal with enemy boons better than most classes, but enemy conditions can often be a problem. They share some of the stealth and mobility that the Thief enjoys, but suffer from a low health pool if you get past all their tricks.
• Ele
  • We see the elementalist as the king of versatility. The skill ceiling for the Ele is exceptional, as the ability to leverage all four attunements at the right time is crucial for understanding the elemetnalist. The Ele boasts some of the best team support and control abilities in the game, as well as some great area of effect damage.
• Necro
  • The necro boasts the highest natural health of all the caster classes, and also has death shroud to extend that life total even higher. While they don’t have some of the escape or damage reduction capabilities that other classes boast, they do have a lot of ways to win attrition fights. They have access to poison on multiple weapons, they are able to combine condition damage with raw damage, and they have multiple disables to interrupt enemy skills. Necomancers also have multiple movement disabling abilities, while allows them to chase down enemies who are low on health.

Going forward

• Tank vs spike vs physical DPS vs condie DPS. We want to keep making balance changes that allow all classes to have various builds they can use. We don’t want tanks dominating the game, and we don’t want spike builds dominating. It’s healthy to have multiple types of builds in the meta, so we’ll be improving the balance to facilitate a healthy meta.
• AOE balance. We feel that in PvP some AOE builds are too strong for the opportunity cost, and we’ll be bringing those in line in the next few patches.

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Hello, fellow Guild Wars 2 citizens! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mike Lewis, and I’m the security coordinator for Guild Wars 2 here at ArenaNet. One of my responsibilities is to actively combat botting in the game, and I’m proud to say we’ve been making some serious headway on this front.
First off, I’d like to thank all of our players for your part in making Guild Wars 2 the popular and successful endeavor that it has been thus far. Unfortunately, the popularity of our game has spilled over into less savory portions of the gaming world, and the presence of that element has been felt all across Tyria. I know many of you have seen the impact of bots in the game, and rest assured, we have been watching closely as well.
The bot occupation, I am happy to report, has been dealt a decisive blow.

Over time, we have heavily reinforced our initiatives to eliminate botting from Guild Wars 2. We have been seriously pursuing the botting issue since the launch of the game, and the results of our ongoing efforts are palpable.
In the month of November, we terminated over 34,000 accounts for operating bots in Guild Wars 2. Moreover, we have observed a serious decrease in the population of bots in the game – and so have you, our players. The number of bots reported every hour worldwide has dropped from more than 2,000 in October to a much healthier 20 as of this writing.
I want to take a minute to sincerely thank everyone who has reported bots in-game. Your information has helped us make this tremendous stride forward. All your diligent reporting has paid off; as you can see from these statistics, your vigilance has been deeply effective and is very much appreciated. Please continue to report any bots you may run across in the future—these reports are key to our ability to remove bots from the game.
I’d like to briefly outline the steps that we have taken to shut down botting.
Collecting and analyzing data is very important to us at ArenaNet. Data is the most powerful weapon in our arsenal against bots. We’ve gathered massive amounts of information about the habits of both normal players and automated bot players. We contracted a team of data specialists to help us build comprehensive tools that comb through this data and find effective ways to single out and terminate bot accounts. Automating this process has been a major focus of the ArenaNet security team, and we’re now seeing the considerable fruits of this labor.

Another way we identify and combat bots is through manual observation. Our GM staff is equipped to monitor the game around the clock and detect bots from within the game itself. We have a considerable task force assigned to patrolling the world and eliminating bots, as well as helping us continue to improve and refine our automatic detection tools.
Last but not least, we’re in a good position to monitor and investigate bot reports as they arrive from players. Aided by our analysis tools and strengthened by manual investigation as necessary, GMs are able to react quickly and efficiently to bot reports and terminate offending accounts in short order.
The combination of these resources is formidable, and we’ll continue to expand and refine our tools and processes as time goes on.
Thank you all for your dedication to the world of Tyria, for helping us to overcome this challenge, and for your continued support in making Guild Wars 2 the wonderful place that it has become. We’ve made great progress in freeing our community from the scourge of bots, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
I look forward to seeing you all in-game.

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If you’ve seen a “red post” from an ArenaNet staff member, you probably know that all of us have a title indicating which team we’re on; so without further ado, I’d like to take some time to introduce the Live Response Team and go into detail on what we do with bugs!
Who is the Live Response Team and what do we do?
The Live Response Team is a tight-knit team of developers from just about every discipline in the company. While we tend to rotate team members based on the skill sets needed and who’s available, our team goals have largely remained the same:

1. Fix exploits: Of our daily duties, these take the highest priority, and we work to fix these as quickly and efficiently as possible to protect the game. To that end, most of the team typically spends some time browsing forums and external sites, as well as monitoring the company’s public-facing exploits email inbox and bug queue for new exploit reports.
2. Fix high-priority game bugs: While the Live Response Team isn’t responsible for all of the bug fixes that make it into the game, we do handle a large majority of them. For example, you may remember the huge number of balance changes that went in with the 11/15 update; these were largely done by the Live Response Team.
3. Track player concerns and implement minor, quality-of-life improvements based on these concerns: As mentioned earlier, when we’re not fixing bugs, we’ll read through the forums and/or play the game and listen to what players are talking about. Based on player discussions and suggestions, we’ll work on new improvements and features to add to the game. If there are concerns that require more in-depth work than what we can handle, we’ll also bring those up with other teams for consideration.
4. Add minor additional content to allow continued character progression: While there are other teams dedicated to the larger batches of new content, the Live Response Team is responsible for some content additions, such as monthly achievements. While we can’t go into more detail on what’s on the horizon, there are some other changes coming up that will be implemented by the Live Response Team as well.

How does the Live Response Team determine which bugs to fix/exploits to remove/features to implement in each update?
To track the active bugs in the game, we use a bug tracking database and a priority system. For those of you who’ve worked in the video game industry, this process will be familiar: depending on the severity of the issue, each bug in our system is given a priority number depending on how many players or which systems it affects. For example, blocking, severely detracting, and highly visible issues are considered priority 1 or priority 2 issues, while text issues and minor graphic bugs are usually priority 3 or lower.

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What is the process for fixing bugs?
Fixing bugs and exploits for Guild Wars 2 often involves developers from different teams and disciplines collaborating together on systems that can affect multiple aspects of the game. From the time a bug or exploit is reported to the time it’s fixed, there are a number of interim steps that we go through to produce quality content and not introduce more problems.
When we receive a bug/exploit report, the first thing we do is investigate it and make sure that A: we can consistently cause it to occur and/or identify what is causing it, and B: write up a bug with the information necessary for the appropriate developer to fix it. The bug is then investigated and fixed by a developer(s) of the appropriate discipline, after which it goes through a rigorous quality assurance process to ensure that extraneous bugs are not introduced with the fixes and that the fixes work. In other words, while we are frequently aware of bugs as soon as they appear and are reported, fixing a bug/exploit involves a number of steps that cannot be bypassed without the possibility of introducing more problems.
Why isn’t “X” bug being fixed/“Y” exploit being removed?
We try to fix as many issues as possible in-between our game update milestones, but we have strict deadlines in place to make sure that all fixes have the time to go through the process I outlined. We are always working to improve our processes, and the Live Response Team frequently works with other teams to improve our workflow and the tools we use to gather data. While these changes are not always externally visible, they’re constantly happening.
What is the Live Response Team doing in the future?
Once we finish eliminating the more severe bugs that are lurking in the wild, there will be more time for us to focus on other parts of the game to make it even better! To help us reach that point sooner, please keep reporting bugs and exploits with as much clear, concise information as possible. Even though we may not post all the time because we’re busy working on the game, we’re always reading and listening to what you’re saying and taking that into account with each update we make.
Thank you for your support, everyone! We truly appreciate the way your bug reports help us improve the game, and we hope to keep improving Guild Wars 2 so that it will live on for years to come!

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• Magnetic Grasp now only applies a leap combo if the player is standing in the field.
• Ride the Lightning no longer resets attunement cooldowns.
• Fixed a bug with diminishing returns affecting the daily rewards from the Wintersday dungeons. We will be following up in the next few days with our plans for the players impacted by this problem.
• Fixed several exploits and bugs.

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Structured Player Versus Player

• Fixed an issue where Mesmer clones and illusions would spawn in with no equipment during tournaments.
  
  Wintersday
• Fixed an issue where content from previous days could appear in the Infininarium Instance.
  
  Black Lion Chest
• Fixed an issue with the Black Lion Chest that occasionally caused people to only receive two items instead of three. A compensation plan for those affected by this bug is in the works.

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Wintersday: Updated some Wintersday-specific crafting recipes that required an incorrect number of components.

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Additional Build Notes:
Event

• The gate to Arah in Cursed Shore will now only be closed when events directly in front of it are active.

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Fractals of the Mists Dungeon Improvements


Hello, everyone! I’m Isaiah Cartwright, lead designer on Guild Wars 2. I wanted to talk to you about two upcoming changes to the fractal dungeons: reconnect and party-tier improvements.
Currently, if a party member disconnects from a fractal dungeon run, they are unable to rejoin, which can cause a lot of issues for that player and their party. Our new system will allow players who disconnect to reconnect to their party and jump back into the dungeon. We certainly understand how frustrating this situation can be, and would like to apologize for the delay on this fix.

We’ve also made a few changes to the way party-level restrictions work. Currently, players who want to join a party are limited to the lowest fractal level in the party. This makes it difficult for lower fractal-level players to find parties, so we’ve modified the party-level restrictions to allow players of any fractal level to group up. At party creation, players can choose any fractal level up to the highest fractal level in the party. Upon completion of the fractal run, all players equal to or lower than the chosen fractal level will have their fractal level increased by one. All players above the chosen fractal level will gain karma, but their fractal level will not increase. Rewards from the fractal will be based on players’ personal reward level as long as the reward level is equal to or lower than the chosen fractal level. For example:

• Player 1 (fractal level 2)
• Player 2 (fractal level 21)
• Player 3 (fractal level 21)
• Player 4 (fractal level 21)
• Player 5 (fractal level 53)

Player 2 makes the party and sets the fractal level to 21, and the party goes on to beat three fractals. Here are the fractal-level results after the run:

• Player 1 (fractal level 3)
• Player 2 (fractal level 22)
• Player 3 (fractal level 22)
• Player 4 (fractal level 22)
• Player 5 (still fractal level 53, but gains karma for helping)

The goal is to allow everyone to play together and make partying less restrictive for everyone. We plan to ship these two features at the end of January.
Thanks for playing!

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Guild Wars 2 Wintersday 2012 Soundtrack
ArenaNet recently released the Wintersday music on Soundcloud!

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Wintersday
Wintersday has ended, and the residents of Lion’s Arch are tidying up, humming those bell-choir tunes as they work! They savor their memories of snowball fights, presents, toys, and Toymaker Tixx! And so the Lion’s Arch Council sends one last merry wish that the joy you felt at Wintersday will last all year long! Happy New Year!
The Wintersday Merchant will remain in Lion’s Arch for a while longer, allowing players to continue to exchange gifts.
Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store
After 11:59 p.m. PST on January 3, 2012, Wintersday items will no longer be available to purchase from the gem store.
Mesmer
Shatter skills now share a global 0.25 second recharge, to prevent multiple shatter effects triggering on the same illusion.
Shattered Strength: This trait now grants 1 stack of might per illusion shattered.

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• Fixed a bug when previewing racial armors from other races.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to acquire multiple pets summoned by the Ogre Pet Whistle.
• Fixed a bug that allowed tonics to be used repeatedly in quick succession.

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Colin Johanson on Guild Wars 2 in the Months Ahead


Happy 2013 everyone! I wanted to take the time to provide insight on some of the exciting features, events, and stories we intend to bring to Guild Wars 2 in the first half of the New Year.
It’s been a fantastic ride so far – in the few months since Guild Wars 2 launched we’ve sold more than three million games and have become the most critically acclaimed MMO of 2012. We’ve introduced the new Fractals of the Mists dungeon experience, brand-new PvE and PvP maps, events of all sizes, our Lost Shores world event, and two massive holiday events.
And this is just the beginning. Our goals for the New Year are to build on the areas of the game that were successful in 2012, to learn and apply lessons from things that didn’t work as well, and to make sure that 2013 is a year none of us will ever forget.

What Makes GW2 Unique and Successful?

Community and player relationships are key components to what makes Guild Wars 2 tick, and will be a massive part of what the game as we evolve it further.
Allowing players to share experiences in an open world where other players are seen as helpful, rather than competition, is a huge component of what makes our game what it is. Open world online games are always strongest when players are encouraged and rewarded to interact as a community, to support other each other, and when the flow of the game ushers players to go places where they run into other players across all levels and have shared experiences. Our shared loot system, dynamic level adjustment system, shared resource nodes, multi-player skill combos, and the ability for every player to revive one another are all examples of key game features that help support this concept of a community-driven experience.

Guild Wars 2 is a game that’s about these shared experiences. Through the dynamic event system, every time you log in, you can experience and share something different in the world with other players. Maybe you’re in a map you’ve been to before and see an event for the first time, or you’re in the midst of an event and it dynamically scales with more players arriving becoming more epic, or you’re fighting for control of Stonemist Castle in WvW, where each fight can play out differently.
Since launch, we’ve shown our capacity to really build and expand on this system of dynamic events with more unique events that are a living story. These special events and living stories like Wintersday, Halloween, and the Lost Shores invasion are all examples of this style of event run since the launch of GW2.
These key pillars — a sense of community and a dynamic, living world full of different experiences every time you log in — are what makes Guild Wars 2 what it is. But what does that mean looking forward to 2013?