Guild Wars 2 Guru: Seed of Truth Game Update Notes, Dec. 2, 2014

News from: Guild Wars 2 Guru

Seeds of Truth
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?
Achievements
After completing Seeds of Truth, showcase your tactical mastery as a hero of Tyria by completing challenging, episode-related achievements.
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.
• 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.
    
  • 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.

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.
    
  • 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.
• 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.

Items

• Gastronom Plikk in Rata Sum now sells the Vintner�s Guide used to unlock the Fine Wining item-collection achievement.
  
• The Observational Zymology Manual used to unlock the Brewmaster item collection is now available for purchase from many bartenders around Tyria.

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.
  
• 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.
  
• 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
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.
    
  • Home instance unlocks for orichalcum ore, elder wood logs, omnomberries, snow truffles, and lotuses have been added as very rare drops.
• Winter�s weapons have returned to the Black Lion Weapon Specialists for the price of 2 Black Lion Claim Tickets each.
  
• The Wintersday Minis 3-Pack, Toy Golem, Toy Soldier, Plush Griffon, Princess Doll, Toy Ventari, and Fancy Winter Outfit 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.

Improvements

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

Source: https://forum-en.gui...December-2-2014

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