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The Lost Shores Update
Something Stirs in the Sea of Sorrows...
Unravel a mystery of monstrous proportions in The Lost Shores, a massive one-time world event that will change Tyria forever!
November 2012 Release Highlights
Big changes are coming to Tyria in November. From the historic Lost Shores event on November 16-18 to the endlessly entertaining Fractals of the Mists dungeon and a brand new PvP map, after this month, Tyria will never be the same!
Lost Shores Weekend Event Nov 16-18, Begins November 16 at 12:00 PM (9:00 PM CET)
A spectacular one-time world event! Unravel a mystery of epic proportions in The Lost Shores, a storyline that begins at 12:00 PM (9:00 PM CET) on November 16. Join a fight against a formidable new threat that culminates in a once-in-a-lifetime, thrilling conclusion on November 18. Face a brand-new species, earn unique rewards, gather new crafting resources, learn new recipes, and much more! Lost Shores will change the face of Tyria—don’t miss it!
Free Trial Weekend Nov 15-18
If you’re an existing Guild Wars 2 player, you’ll have the chance to invite three friends to experience the world of Tyria during our special Free Trial that begins at 9:00 AM Pacific (6:00 PM CET) on November 15. Your guest will receive an invitation with a unique serial code that will allow them to play for free just in time for our epic Lost Shores world event. Supplies of trial keys are limited, so get your invites out early!
New Dungeon! Enter the Fractals of the Mists
Introducing a dungeon experience like no other—Fractals of the Mists! You’ll be pitted against a series of unique “fractal” mini-dungeons that get harder and harder as you progress, giving you unlimited levels of challenge! With great risk comes great reward, including new weapon sets, a back-slot item, new Ascended loot, and much more!
New Beta PvP Map: Temple of the Silent Storm
This brand new PvP map, set on a kodan iceberg, has a distinctive look and a more vertical layout than previous dungeons. Since this is a beta version of the Temple of the Silent Storm map, we need input from players like you before we introduce it permanently into the game’s PvP map rotation.
New Lost Shores Items from the Black Lion Trading Company
The Gem Store will be well stocked in November! Unique minis and brand-new weapon skins made just for the Lost Shores weekend event are just some of what the Black Lion Trading Company has in store.
New Ascended Gear & Infusions
Introducing Ascended items, artifacts of great power that can be improved by a special new type of upgrade called Infusions, which can be found in dungeons. Look for more information about Ascended gear soon!
Lost Shores Weekend Event
This one-time world event takes place from November 16 -18, with new content each day:
November 16 Begins at 12:00 PM PST (20:00 GMT)
They came from beneath the waves—the karka, a monstrous new species bent on destruction!
Defend Lion’s Arch
All hands on deck! Protect the city of Lion’s Arch against strange invaders from the sea in a desperate battle for survival. Race against time to help the Lionguard uncover the mystery of these formidable new creatures!
November 17 Begins at 12:00 PM PST (20:00 GMT)
The karka must be stopped at all costs, and the Lionguard needs your help to defeat this threat!
Retake Lion’s Arch
The nigh-invulnerable karka pose a threat to every living thing on the Tyrian coast! Join the fight and help drive the karka invasion from Lion’s Arch.
Discover a Brand New Map
Enter the lair of the karka—a lost island at the edge of the Sea of Sorrows. Introducing Southsun Cove, a completely new map full of wonder, danger, and exciting events! The counter-attack against the karka begins today!
November 18 Begins at 12:00 PM PST (20:00 GMT)
Be part of Tyrian history—join the final battle against the Ancient Karka!
An Epic One-Time Event This is it: the final battle against the fierce Ancient Karka on the brand-new Southsun Cove map. Only the combined might of the heroes of Tyria has any hope against a creature this powerful, which means we need you! This once-in-a-lifetime event takes place only on November 18—don’t miss it.
The Lost Shores Screenshots
Southsun Cove
Fractals of the Mist
Temple of the Silent Storm
Patch Details
General
- A one-time weekend-long event (Nov 16-18) that permanently changes Tyria.
- Prelude content up until the point of the event.
- Free trial event from friend referral program through weekend event (Nov 15-18)
- Players can invite up to 3 friends to play with them through the referral program.
- New Level 80 Zone: Southsun Cove.
- New BETA PvP Map: Temple of the Silent Storm.
- Conquest Type Map for mass testing before entering tournament rotations.
- A more "Vertical-type" Map Design.
- New Level 80 PvE Dungeon: Fractals of the Mists.
- New Enemy Type Introduced: the Karka.
- They have a heavily armored shell that players will initially be unable to penetrate. Once players can hurt the karka, damage you inflict will actually knock pieces of their armor off.
- New Dungeon Monster Condition: Agony.
- Monster Caused Debuff that does damage based on a % of the players health.
- Resistance to this stat is built through the new Infusion Upgrade Components, only obtainable from the Mystic Forge and used on Ascended Gear.
- Currently only present in Fractales of the Mists Dungeon.
- New Upgrade Component: Infusions.
- Obtained through special Mystic Forge Recipes.
- Only useable on special Ascended-quality gear.
New Level 80 Dungeon: Fractals of the Mist
- Fractals of the Mists is a five player dungeon created from 9 mini-dungeons, each with unique story environments.
- Each attempt randomly assigns a set of 3 of the mini-dungeons at a time.
- Players transported to a repair hub after each set before moving on to the next.
- Each additional set increases difficulty of the dungeon, as well as rewards offered to players.
- When the dungeon scale is at an even number, players encounter special boss encounters.
- Loot Tables feature Back Slot Items, New Weapon Sets, New Ascended Armor and more!
- Dungeon will have additional mini-dungeons added in future patches.
- "Mega-Boss" Encounter after 3 successfully completed mini-dungeon sets. *unconfirmed
- Some Monsters in this Dungeon use the Agony Debuff.
New Level 80 Zone: Southsun Cove
- Becomes available during the Weekend Event on November 17, 2012 at 12pm PST (20:00 GMT).
- An island located south of Lion's Arch in the Sea of Sorrows.
- Features New Crafting and Gathering Resources for New Crafting Recipes.
- Home of the Karka-type enemies.
- During the weekend event only, players will be scaled up through the upscaling system to allow for all levels of players to experience the new content.
New sPvP Map: Temple of the Silent Storm
- Conquest Type PvP Map not included in tournament rotations.
- Vertical Style Map layout with a Kodan iceberg setting.
- Players will encounter buffs in Dojos that affect the player, team or map.
- Meditation points allow for buffs, including one that resets capture points.
- Features killable Boss.
Gear
- New Armor Tier: Ascended.
- Stats slightly higher than Exotics.
- Ascended Gear allows for upgrades through Infusion.
- Allows for players to to tackle new challenges introduced now and through the future for this dungeon as it's expanded.
- Infusion upgrades will be used to make your character more powerful.
- Currently, Only Armor tier to have Infusion Upgrade Slots.
- Players obtain Ascended-quality gear through the Fractales of the Mists dungeon.
- In the Lost Shores Update players can obtain Ascended quality Rings and Back-slot Equipment.
- Players will be able to acquire Ascended Rings in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon.
- Items worn on the back can be acquired through special Mystic Forge recipes.
Crafting
- New Crafting and Gathering Resources.
- 200 New Crafting Recipes Available.
Black Lion Trading Company
- New Item Skins added for purchase through Gems.
- New Event Items added for purchase through Gems.
- New Mini-Pets added for purchase through Gems.
Event Schedule
- November 15, 9am PST (17:00 GMT)
- Free Trial period through friend referral program begins.
- Players can invite up to 3 friends to play with them through the referral program.
- November 16, 12pm PST (20:00 GMT)
- Defend Lion's Arch against the Karka Event.
- November 17, 12pm PST (20:00 GMT)
- Retake Lion's Arch from the invulnerable Karka.
- Discover a brand new map – Southsun Cove, an island located in the Sea of Sorrows.
- November 18, 12pm PST (20:00 GMT)
- An Epic multi-hour one-time event - "Battle the Ancient Karka" in Southsun Cove.
Linsey Murdock on the new Tier of Gear
Greetings citizens of Tyria! My name is Linsey Murdock. Some of you may remember me as the Guild Wars Live Team Lead before the lovely and talented John Stumme took up the cause so I could work on other projects. As a game designer for Guild Wars 2, I primarily work on crafting and items, which is why I am here to talk to you today about some exciting new features coming up for items progression that my team has been working on.
As we watch Guild Wars 2 mature in its Live environment, we have found that our most dedicated players were achieving their set of Exotic gear and hitting “the Legendary wall.” We designed the process of getting Legendary gear to be a long term goal, but players were ready to start on that path much sooner than we expected and were becoming frustrated with a lack of personal progression. Our desire is to create a game that is more inclusive for hardcore and casual players alike, but we don’t want to overlook the basic need for players to feel like they are progressing and growing even after hitting max level. Adding item progression is a delicate process normally undertaken in an expansion, but we feel it’s important to strive to satisfy the basic needs of our players sooner rather than later.
We have always worked hard to create a sense of satisfying progression rather than gear grind and this new item progression initiative is no exception. By adding challenging new combat mechanics to end-game content and ways to mitigate those mechanics through gear progression for high-end players, we can add personal progression without making the game feel like an endless treadmill of gear that is just out of your reach. Original Guild Wars fans may recognize that we took a familiar approach to our new progression. The first end game mechanic we will introduce is Agony, which will be encountered in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon, and is mitigated by Infusions.
New Condition: Agony
In the upcoming Fractals of the Mists dungeon, we’ll introduce a new monster condition called Agony.
This extremely dangerous condition ticks percentages of player health away and can’t be cleansed by normal means. Players who wish to delve deep into the Fractals will find that Agony makes progress increasingly difficult, until they reach the point where some defense against this condition is a must. The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions, a new type of upgrade component that can be acquired in the Mystic Forge.
New Upgrades: Infusions
Infusions are a special new type of Upgrade Component that can only be slotted into special Infusion slots on gear.
There are multiple types of Infusions and Infusion slots. In November, we’ll introduce Offensive, Defensive, and Omni Infusions of Fine rarity from new Mystic Forge recipes. Infusion upgrade types must be paired with their like slot, with the exception of the rare and versatile Omni Infusions which can be slotted into any type of Infusion slot.
For now, Infusions slots can only be found in gear of a new rarity type: Ascended.
New Rarity Type: Ascended
In November we’ll unveil the first Ascended items. This new rarity type falls between Exotic and Legendary on the spectrum of rarity and has slightly higher stats than Exotics.
Ascended gear works a little bit differently than other gear types. The stats and functionality normally added to gear through upgrade components are actually built into Ascended items. Instead of upgrade slots, Ascended gear has Infusion slots, and rarer versions of the items also come with additional Agony Resistance built into them. Players will be able to acquire Ascended Rings in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon, and Ascended items worn on the back can be acquired through special Mystic Forge recipes.
The Future of Items Progression
This is just the beginning. In November, we’re only adding the first level of Infusions and Ascended Rings and Back slots, so that leaves us a lot of room to build upon these levels of Item progression in future content.
As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.
You’ll also see more Legendary items in the future and an update to our existing Legendary weapons. Legendary items were always intended to be on par with other “best-in-slot” items. So fear not, all existing Legendary weapons, which are currently on par with Exotics, will be upgraded to be on par with Ascended weapons at the same time that we add Ascended weapons to the game. Thus Legendaries will remain “best-in-slot” items. All Legendary items going forward will be of Ascended power. We also have plans to add more fun ways to acquire Legendary precursor items with a more “scavenger hunt” feel than they are acquired currently.
The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative. We’re going to add tons of new high-level content to Guild Wars 2 in the future. As we introduce the new high-level content, we’ll also roll out complimentary Ascended and Legendary items (to say nothing of the other rewards you can earn by playing the content).
I hope you are all as excited about these new items as I am!
Soruces: Guild Wars 2 Official Site, Guild Wars 2 Official Wiki, Various unofficial GW2 News Posts
