Guild Wars 2!

[SanguisAevum]

Are there any free programs to capture in-game video?

i use "bandicam"

works well.

[Togath]

In the past three months? Aside from the Lost Shores update, and a couple of others, there isn't much. Lost Shores added a level 80 zone and a new dungeon. There's an update that added back items to dungeons and made the champ/legendary bosses in dungeons drop bags that give karma and cash or something.

If you left before Lost Shores came out, there's a new item rarity, but right now, only rings and a few back items have it. It's a small upgrade from Exotics, and kinda sorta annoying to get.

As for warriors, I'm really not a fan of using Shields. I've played my war since Headstart, and I've always felt that the shield's really only worthwhile for select bosses (survivability boost, and whatnot) or PvP/WvW. Axe/Axe are my preferred weapon for leveling/open world PvE, when mobility really isn't a massive concern.

Sword/Warhorn or Sword/Axe are my primary melee set for dungeons. Sword/Warhorn is for fights where I'll need to move about more, while Sword/Axe is better when we're dealing with silver enemies. Sword/Warhorn takes more investment than Sword/Axe, so I'd look into Sword/Axe.

Offhand Sword is an interesting option that I've been toying with lately, and isn't half-bad if you want to stack condition damage like crazy. The block is also really, really handy.

As far as Longbow vs. Rifle, I'd keep both in my backpack. The Longbow is notable because it's your only method of generating a combo field. The Rifle is pretty damn good for direct damage, but the longbow brings conditions and AoE abilities that aren't half bad. I like the Rifle for dungeons, and the Longbow for leveling/open world PvE.

I'll probably aim for my main leveling weapons being dual swords and a bow, wth a rifle, and an axe for offhand for grouping then.

[Karoht]

Fraps used to be the standard for machinima capture. The free version isn't bad, but it isn't good by comparison.

Xsplit is completely recommended, but it isn't free. It is cheap though. 24.99 gets you a 1 year access, or you can pay something like 4.99 for a month at a time. I should point out that Xsplit probably the most popular of the capture programs, as it also does livestreaming and is supported by websites like twitch.tv

[Shadow]

I use PlayClaw3 and I love it.
I've used Bandicam, Fraps, etc. Nothing compares to PC3 as far as I'm concerned.

edit: it has a free version, but I paid for it (relatively inexpensive, around $30 if I recall) because the voice chat overlay doesn't work in the free version, and the record lenths are minimal. With the limitations of the free version, it's basically just to see if you like it or not. But you can try it out for free, or at least you could when I got it.

[GenericMook]

I'll probably aim for my main leveling weapons being dual swords and a bow, wth a rifle, and an axe for offhand for grouping then.

That's a decent enough setup. Most people tend to use Greatswords or axes as warriors to level. It's 'cause you have a trait option that gives you an insanely high crit at lower levels (up till level 40, maybe?). I'm not a fan of it, because Greatsword isn't any fun. Axe mainhand is actually a really good option for direct damage, but it's got the same problem that Greatsword has: It's pretty mindless. I use swords due to the mobility and the snare.

As for your setup, I'd switch Rifle and Bow's place. Rifle synergizes better with Sword/Sword, due to the bleed stacking capabilities. Bow synergizes with Axe Offhand due to the whirl taking advantage of your only combo field.

[Togath]

As for your setup, I'd switch Rifle and Bow's place. Rifle synergizes better with Sword/Sword, due to the bleed stacking capabilities. Bow synergizes with Axe Offhand due to the whirl taking advantage of your only combo field.

I'll probably aim for those comboes then(either sword+sword & rifle, with my secondary weapons being sword+axe & bow).
And aye, the mindlessness of axe+axe or greatsword was my main reason for having tried duel swords, bows, and rifles.

[GenericMook]

Yeah. That's not something I like to see on warriors. I doubt I'm the only person that makes fun of 5 signet Greatsword Warriors wearing black CoF or Armageddon armor.

You might also want to look into Mace offhand. It's an interesting alternative to offhand Sword.

And Hammer is also a fantastic weapon. So long as a foe isn't CC-resistant, you can seriously drop the amount of time it can actually attack.

[Togath]

Yeah. That's not something I like to see on warriors. I doubt I'm the only person that makes fun of 5 signet Greatsword Warriors wearing black CoF or Armageddon armor.

You might also want to look into Mace offhand. It's an interesting alternative to offhand Sword.

And Hammer is also a fantastic weapon. So long as a foe isn't CC-resistant, you can seriously drop the amount of time it can actually attack.

I'll look into hammers as well then.
Also for armour I've been going for golds/yellows/oranges, usually mixed with (light)greys or purples, which seem like less used colour schemes.
I do sort of wonder why all black became so common.

[GenericMook]

I dye my armor differently depending on which zone I'm in, given the insane amount of dyes I've got unlocked on my warrior.

And as far as skill advice goes, here's what I can give:

Healing:

Spoiler

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Adrenaline Surge is pretty good. It's by far your strongest heal, but all it does is heal.
Mending is arguably better than Adren. Surge due to condition removal.
Healing Signet kinda sorta sucks. It's got the shortest recharge, but it's also the weakest heal. the Regen on it kinda sucks too.

Utility:

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Banners are only really, really awesome when there's plenty of people. For example, I use Banners during the Claw of Jormag/Temple of Balthazar events because there's just so many people there. For solo play, on the other hand, they're kinda ****ty. I'm not a big fan of them.

Physical skills are pretty useful. Bull's Charge is a reliable movement skill, and you get a stun out of it. Kick and Stomp are really nice if you've already got other CC options. Throw Bolas is fantastic in dungeons against melee bosses. After all, if they can't hit you, they can't do much else.

Shouts are pretty good overall. People tend to use them in conjunction with the Rune set that lets your shouts remove conditions. I keep "Shake It Off!" and "For Great Justice!" on my bar when I'm soloing. SIO is also a stun breaker, which is useful for stuff like Fear. "Fear Me!" is situational and depends upon the person. I'm not a fan of it 'cause I hate having enemies scatter. Hilarious in WvW, though. "On My Mark" is kinda weak, though. You can time it with the Rifle's 4 skill to get a lot of Vulnerability on a target, which is nice.

Stances are... really underwhelming. The only two good ones are Frenzy and Balanced Stance. Frenzy makes you a burst monster, and it has other uses too, like upping rezzing speed or casting your heal way faster. Balanced Stance is good for Stability.

Elite:

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Most of the time, Warriors tend to stick with Signet of Rage. It's simple, very practical, and does its job fine. It's a straight buff. With the right trait selections, you can get it up most of the time, actually.

Battle Standard stands out in massive events. When you see several people together over something and they're downed, you can just toss this there and boom, they're up. Other than that, it's pretty alright.

Rampage costs too many skill points and doesn't last nearly long enough. I've never tried it, or seen warriors use it.

[Hullabaloo]

Patch notes spoilered because there are so many

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LIVING STORY
Flame and Frost: Prelude
A mystery presents itself in this first entry in a multipart Living Story series. What could be causing such discord in the foothills of the Shiverpeaks? All those poor homesteaders and ranchers displaced with nowhere to go calls into question if the storms could be that bad—or if there’s something more sinister stirring up the flame and frost. The ground is shaking, and the sky is falling in northern Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau. Norn and charr refugees, crawling from the wreckage of their homes, are fighting their way to shelter in Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel. Many are in shock and wounded; most have only what they can carry on their backs. A call has gone out for volunteers to assist them in their time of need, when the environment itself seems to have become their enemy.
Achievements

A new Living Story achievement category has been added, which will contain a series of achievements specific to the storylines unfolding in Tyria.
The first Living Story achievement, Refugee Volunteer, has been added. Players who complete this achievement by playing the Flame and Frost: Prelude content will be rewarded with the Volunteer title. They will also receive a karma reward via in-game mail.
More achievements will be added as the Living Story continues to unfold.

Events

New Living Story events have been added to Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau.

Heralds

Starting shortly after the January 28^th^ update, heralds will begin appearing in cities across Tyria. Their task is to keep adventurers apprised of the events currently underway that are driving the Living Story forward. Be sure to check in with them if you need direction.

Other Content

Persistent world content related to the story of the refugees has been added to Wayfarer Foothills, Diessa Plateau, the Black Citadel, and Hoelbrak. This content will continue to change and evolve as the story unfolds, so be sure to keep checking back.

NEW FEATURES AND CONTENT
Daily/Monthly Achievements
Rewards
A new currency has been added: the laurel. Players earn one laurel for completion of the daily achievement category and ten laurels for completion of the monthly achievement category. This new currency can be spent at laurel vendors in all of the major cities to obtain over 90 items, including:

A new category of infusion, the utility infusion
Ascended amulets
Crafting starter kits
WvW blueprints
Obsidian shards
New boosters, advanced harvesting tools, and crafting trophy bags
A new, unique miniature: Goedulf, the mythical wolf-cub spirit that protects lost norn children
A new, unique miniature: Chauncey von Snuffles III, who placed second in the Divinity’s Reach Fanciest Cat competition

UI

Achievement tracking UI has been added to provide at-a-glance information on daily and monthly achievements as well as quick access to the achievements panel.

Achievements

New daily achievements have been added.
Daily achievements now rotate on a daily basis.
Daily achievements now only have a single tier.
The number of achievement points awarded for daily achievements has been adjusted.

Dungeons

Polished dungeons and removed the ability to use waypoints while any player is in combat.

Dynamic Leveling

Attribute calculations for dynamic level scaling have been rebalanced. In general, this means weaker when adjusted down, stronger when adjusted up. Rewards when adjusted down have been increased to compensate. It is now possible to receive your own level of loot from any level of enemy.

Fractals of the Mists

Players can now reconnect to the Fractals of the Mists if they are disconnected.
Players can now connect to a fractal map even if they are not part of the original group that created the fractal instance.
Players can revive at a checkpoint in fractal maps if the entire party is out of combat.
Players are no longer prevented from entering fractal maps. The difficulty of the fractals is shared, and players will receive rewards based on their “reward level.”
Reward level increases as players complete fractal rounds.
If players have a higher reward level than the current fractal difficulty, they will receive bonus karma at the end of a round. However, item rewards are set to the minimum of the fractal scale and reward level.
Daily Fractals of the Mists bonus chests are awarded after defeating the kraken. The rewards are now based off of the minimum of the player’s reward level or current fractal scale.

Guesting

Players may now log in to a world other than their home world as a guest.
On the character select screen, click the “World Selection” button.
Choose a world you would like to guest on and click the “Guest” button.
Select any of your characters and select “Play” to log in to the world you chose as a guest.
Guesting has some limits and restrictions:
You may only guest on worlds in the same region as your home world. Players on American home worlds cannot guest on European worlds or vice versa.
You may not participate in World vs. World for any guest world. If you choose to enter World vs. World, you will be moved back to your home world. Only changing your home world using a world transfer can change your World vs. World participation.
You are only eligible to guest on 2 different worlds at a time. Each time you guest on a world, that world becomes available to play on for the next 24 hours. After 24 hours, you may choose to guest on a different world. You may log in to any active guesting world as many times as you wish with no restriction.
Guesting on worlds that are full or highly populated increases your risk of being put into an overflow map.
While guesting, all guild influence earned will be applied to your home world, and you will only have access to your home world guild benefits, including the guild vault.

World Transfer Fee

It now costs a gem fee to transfer your home world.
Gem fees for world transfers are based on the population of the world you are transferring to.
Each account is still limited to one transfer every 7 days.
Players still cannot transfer to servers that are “Full.”

Orr

The Risen creatures all across Orr have had their population density adjusted.
Areas, chests, and merchants in Orr now offer better rewards.
See “World Polish – Orr” below for more details.

UI Improvements

Changes have been made to the attributes section of the hero panel to cleanly display more information.
Several PvP dialogs no longer take UI focus away from chat when opening.
Players can once again preview armor and weapons that cannot be equipped by their character.

Structured Player vs. Player
January 28th – February 4th Is Temple of the Silent Storm Week

Instead of 3-round paid tournaments, there will be a 1-round match between 2 teams on the Temple of the Silent Storm map.
The price for entry will be 3 tickets per player.
Rewards for the test will be reduced from the normal paid tournaments.
After the game is finished, both teams will be returned to the lobby, where they can reenter the tournament queue.
To participate, go to the PvP lobby and speak to the Tournament Master.
At the end of this period, the Temple of the Silent Storm map will be added to the tournament rotation.
Skillbars now have team-colored backgrounds in sPvP.

World vs. World

Character load times in WvW have been improved through the use of preloaded placeholder models.

BALANCE, BUG-FIXING, POLISH
Dungeons
General

Fixed a bug where creatures in dungeons were no longer becoming invulnerable to players they couldn’t reach.
Updated the costs of several dungeon reward items to be consistent with their costs in other dungeons. These include leggings, chestpieces, and shoulder armor from Ascalonian Catacombs; tridents and assorted armor pieces from Sorrow’s Embrace; and focuses from Caudecus’s Manor.

Fractals of the Mists

Swampland fractal: The tripwires have been rebuilt to reflect their names. Several have been lifted out of the ground and made more visible.
Fractal Marshes: The traps in the first area now scale with the difficulty scale of the fractal.
Fractals: Added day or night time to specific fractals. Day and night do not cycle.
Underwater Fractal: The Jelly boss will no longer try to devour NPCs like pets and minions before they try to eat players. If no players are around, it will eat NPCs.
Fixed various exploits and minor bugs.

Ascalonian Catacombs

Story—The Lovers: Reduced health for both bosses and damage from Ralena.
Story—Coffin Intro: Additional coffins cannot be interacted with once the boss shows up.
Story—Ranger: Damage has been reduced for the trap skill.
Story: Some enemy group compositions have been altered.
Story—Adelbern: Reduced damage and modified his melee attack.
Explorable—Detha’s Chain: Decreased the recharge time for cannons in the final event and modified their attacks.
Explorable—Detha’s Chain: Adjusted the respawn rate of the groups at the “Defend Detha and her traps” event.

Arah

Story: Reduced most veterans to regular strength during the ship events.
Story: Attacking dragons have reduced damage and no longer knock back on their flyover barrages.
Story: Zhaitan’s acid pools do less damage.
Explorable: Fixed issues that may have prevented events from starting or ending properly across all paths in the dungeon when an NPC was potentially dying, reviving, or being interacted with.
Explorable—Seer Path: In the Dwayna fight, the sparks will now target players primarily, and their attacks have been adjusted in a way that should make them chase the player as initially intended.

Citadel of Flame

Story: The Baelfire fight now has a safety net in case players fall off. If players die in a dangerous area, their body is teleported to a safe location for players to revive.
Story—Forgefire Armory Boss: This boss’s damage has been reduced.
Story—Bolok Barracks Boss: The group composition of the reinforcements summoned by Bolok Barracks boss has been modified.
Explorable—Magg’s Chain: The event to defend Magg while he plants a bomb has been rebuilt.
Explorable—Magg’s Chain: The respawn rate of creatures in the magma field has been adjusted.
Explorable—Rhiannon’s Chain: The torch event at the start has been adjusted to only require 3 torches instead of 5; enemy groups have also been adjusted accordingly.

Sorrow’s Embrace

Explorable—Inquest Path: The infinitely spawning waves have been adjusted to no longer spawn when fighting with the golem miniboss. They will continue once the golem event completes. The group compositions were also adjusted to add more variation.

Crucible of Eternity

Explorable—Evolved Destroyer: This enemy’s health has been reduced. The time window before the shield turns back on has been increased.
Explorable—Subject Alpha (All): The enemy’s health has been reduced.

Twilight Arbor

Explorable: Leurent’s Elite Guard shields have been fixed so they no longer deal damage after they disappear.
Explorable—Leurent Boss Encounter: The group composition has been adjusted.
Explorable—Worm Boss: Spit puddles have reduced damage, but more puddles are created with each attack.

Honor of the Waves

Explorable: Aldus Stormbringer adds are no longer veterans and have adjusted respawn times.
Explorable: Aldus’s invulnerability shield now properly decrements to melee and area attacks.
Updated the effect for the Cone of Cold skill used by Controller Andal to match the area affected by the skill when he turns.

World Polish – Orr
General

Uncontested waypoints have been added to Cursed Shore and Straits of Devastation. Players that have already achieved map completion will retain it without having to discover these new waypoints.
Updates have been made to the small statues to the human gods throughout Orr.
New map icons to indicate the location and status of the statues have been added. Mousing over the icon will display more detailed information.
The visual effect surrounding each of the god statues has been updated to be more noticeable and to more accurately reflect the range of its influence.
Various Risen creatures have had their animations and size updated.
The music that plays during key events that take place at the Orrian temples to the gods and the Gate of Arah has been updated.
The difficulty of events to claim and defend the Orrian temples and the Gates to Arah will now scale to accommodate a larger number of players.
The visual impact of taking control of the Orrian temples has been increased.
Various Risen creatures have had their skills adjusted to use fewer crowd-control skills.
Fixed a bug that prevented the “Arah Waypoint” from updating properly when the gate to Arah was open in Cursed Shore. This also caused the Arah dungeon marker to erroneously display as contested. The gate to Arah should only be closed when the events leading up to it are active.

Events

Grenth Temple Chain
“Use portals to fight shades, slay the Champion Risen Priest of Grenth, and protect Keeper Jonez Deadrun.”
Clarified event text to provide more guidance on event mechanics.
Updated enemy waves that appear when the priest reaches certain life totals.
Added several new abilities to the Champion Risen Priest of Grenth.
Fixed an issue that would cause enemies to stop spawning if waves were killed in the wrong order.
Adjusted enemy wave compositions, start locations, and respawn times.
Adjusted the stacks of corruption that enemy shades apply to players during the fight.
Updated the visual appearance of the portals to Grenth’s domain and the effect applied to players who step in.
Fixed a bug that prevented the Risen Priest of Grenth from attacking properly during the event “Stop the Risen Priest of Grenth from retaking the Cathedral of Silence.”
Fixed a bug that would cause Pact troops to stall at points in the event chain.
Dwayna Temple Chain
Adjusted the difficulty of the events that take place inside of the temple.
Updated the skills for the Risen Priestess of Dwayna.
Updated the skills for the Statue of Dwayna.
Adjusted the terrain within the Cathedral of Zephyrs.
Added a boss camera during the fight with the Statue of Dwayna.
Melandru Temple Chain
Updated the Risen Priest of Melandru’s skill set.
Updated the music that plays during the boss fights.
Adjusted the terrain inside the Cathedral of Verdance to allow for better creature and player movement.
Added more noticeable environmental effects to the temple’s contested and uncontested states.
Updated the participation rewards for the event “Defend the Pact interruptor from Risen attacks” to be more consistent with holdout events at other temples in Orr. Players who participate will earn three times the normal event rewards.
Lyssa Chain
Adjusted the difficulty of the events to take over and defend the Cathedral of Eternal Radiance.
Fixed a bug that prevented the force field surrounding the Risen Priestess of Lyssa from resetting properly.
Balthazar Chain
Adjusted the strength of the Risen Priest of Balthazar’s skills.
Adjusted the number and compositions of enemies that appear during events to take over and defend the Cathedral of Silence.
Promenade Chain
Updated the participation rewards for the event “Ensure that the Pact holds the Gates of Arah” to be consistent with the holdout events at other temples in Orr. Players who participate will earn three times the normal event rewards.
Fixed a bug in the event “Aid the Pact soldiers around the airship wreck” that would cause the event to restart prematurely.
Fixed a bug that could cause the Risen High Wizard to not flee after successfully defending the Pact camp at the Gates of Arah.
The Gladiator Chain
Adjusted the start and restart conditions for the event chain.
Adjusted the difficulty scaling of the events.
Added visual effects to the event area and Risen creatures featured in the event.
Changed the starting condition and location of the event “Kill the Risen broodmother.”

Items & Rewards

A new Orrian Jewelry Box has been added to karma vendors across Orr.
The item “Heavy Moldy Bag” has been updated to drop more frequently.
Various Risen creatures have had their loot tables updated to provide more varied crafting materials.
The karma vendors featured in temple chains offer new exotic wares.

World Polish – Other
General

Fixed the descriptions for some armorsmithing packs that stated an incorrect level for the armor contained within the pack.
Fixed a bug that caused the Mystic Forge to give inappropriate rewards when given level 80 masterwork swords.
Updated the Moa Tonic’s Screech skill description to correctly show only one daze stack.
Bandithaunt Caverns: It’s no longer possible to create an infinite number of bombs in the caves.
Locking your Windows User Account will no longer result in the Guild Wars 2 launcher being invisible.
Trait buffs are no longer reapplied after being resurrected while in a transformation that disables traits.
Renown regions now reward karma upon completion.
The contacts list has been significantly improved to enhance performance in crowded maps and for players with many followers and friends.
Loot interactions now take higher priority than mesmer portals.
Fixed a bug that could cause rectangular skills to fail to hit the correct targets.
Fixed a bug that could cause chain skills to sometimes interrupt dodge rolls.
Fixed a bug that could cause projectiles to sometimes disappear if passing through a field that had expired.
Fixed a bug that allowed skills that steal or remove boons to manipulate effects that they were not intended to be able to affect.
Weapons now continue to grant bonus stats while bundles are equipped.
Bundles from player skills (engineer kits, elementalist conjured weapons, warrior banners) now have base damage that is consistent with the highest rarity weapons available at the level of the player.
WvW & PvE: Our culling system has been updated to use affinity culling, which favors allowing players to see important enemies regardless of the local player population density.
Lionguard Lyns has returned to Lion’s Arch but no longer has Black Lion Keys available. Donations toward the rebuilding of Lion’s Arch will continue to be accepted until late February, at which time Lionguard Lyns must return to her normal Lionguard duties. Liquidate those Captain’s Commendations while you can.
Golem in a Box has been updated to have a 20-second recharge and has been disabled in WvW.
In PvE, if a player is awarded loot by killing a creature and the loot is of uncommon rarity or higher, a chest will appear that contains the loot that would previously have been on the corpse. If the rarity of the loot on the creature is lower than uncommon, the loot will remain on the creature’s corpse.

Events

Fixed a bug that could cause events around Eldvin Monastery to not run properly in Queensdale.
Fixed a bug that could prevent the event to fight the Shadow Behemoth from starting in Queensdale.
Frostgorge Sound—“Claw of Jormag” Event: Fixed a case where the ice shield would not appear correctly.
Blazeridge Steppes Event: The ogre beastmaster in Sootpan Kraal now heals a limited amount each fight.
Master Engineer Steelclaw in the Fields of Ruin now uses a consistent gender for her scenes/greets.
Diessa Plateau: Fixed a bug that prevented players from using the cattlepult if a cow wandered too far away, blocking the betting minigame.

Personal Story

Fixed Zojja and other NPCs having invisible headgear in cinematics.
“Armor Guard”: Fixed errant minimap marker.
“A Tangle of Weeds”: Increased the size of the instance so it’s much harder for the lich to fear players out of the map.
“Volcanic Extraction”: NPCs are now more durable.
Norn Chapter 3: Fixed an issue where the wrong cinematic was playing.
“A Sad Duty”: Strengthened the Pact defenders.
“Suspicious Activity”: Fixed a minor cosmetic bug.
“A Grisly Shipment”: Playing the story step with party members no longer prevents progression.
“Source of Orr”: Fixed an issue that could prevent progression after defeating the Eye of Zhaitan.
“Fixing Blame”: Warmaster Gurnn should now start his cinematic correctly.
“On Red Alert”: Fixed an issue that could prevent progress if the player bypassed part of the story step.
“Romke’s Final Voyage”: Fixed an issue that could prevent progress when playing the story step with party members.
“A Sparkling Rescue”: Zojja will now help players in combat.

Skill Challenge

The terror of Ancient Shark Pistrix and his gang of “landsharks” has finally come to an end. Players will now interact with the corpse of Pistrix in his cave in Sparkfly Fen to complete this skill challenge.

Items

Fixed a bug that prevented Endless Halloween Tonics from being listed on the Trading Post.
All Halloween tonics have a two-second cooldown for removal.
Fixed an issue where some rebreather models would cause light armors to display incorrectly.
Transmuting weapons now preserves the higher rarity of the two items.
Sigil of Doom: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Sigil of Intelligence: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Sigil of Leeching: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Life-stealing food buffs based on critical hits no longer affect gadgets.
A Mystic Forge recipe has been added to upgrade the Triforge Amulet to an ascended version with a utility infusion slot.
The Orichalcum vein in Southsun Cove is now a regular vein instead of a rich vein.

Profession Skills
General

Cancelling executing skills that have no recharge via the [Escape] key or stowing weapons will now trigger a 0.5-second cooldown for that skill.
Gadgets placed by players (such as turrets) will now apply boons and conditions based on those players’ stats. Those conditions and boons will not be reduced to level-1 values when the triggering gadget is destroyed.
Updated skill facts.

Elementalist

Fixed a bug that caused several spells, including Tornado, Arcane Shield, and most frequently Whirlpool, to sometimes fail to display any graphics.
Arcane Power: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Arc Lightning: Fixed a bug which would cause this skill’s animation effects to continue playing after the skill ended.
Evasive Arcana: This trait no longer enables players to break knockback effects.
Glyph of Renewal: Increased this skill’s cast time while underwater from 1 second to 3.5 seconds.
Ice Spikes: This skill now appropriately displays area-of-effect rings.
Rock Spray: Skill facts for this skill now display the proper distance and bleed damage.
Vapor Form: This skill will no longer allow players to rally off of kills that grant zero experience. This skill will now also properly restore death state on completion.

Engineer

Removed collision from engineer turrets that were causing player pathing issues.
Elixir X: Fixed a bug where this skill’s tooltip did not reflect the cooldown reduction from Fast-Acting Elixirs.
Hair Trigger: Fixed a bug which prevented this trait from working correctly for some skills.
Healing Turret: Fixed issues with this skill’s description when the Deployable Turrets trait was equipped.
Incendiary Ammo: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.Reinforced Shield: Fixed a bug which prevented this trait from reducing Static Shield’s cooldown if the Throw Shield skill was activated.
Reserve Mines: This trait’s area-of-effect rings now display the appropriate area that they can be triggered at.
Speedy Gadgets: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from reducing the cooldown of Throw Mine.
Toss Elixir S: This skill will no longer remove transforms from players.

Guardian

Absolute Resolution: This trait now functions with Battle Presence.
Battle Presence: This trait no longer misses pulses or spams “immune” text.
Empower: This skill now appropriately applies might for 10 seconds.
Selfless Daring: This trait no longer enables players to break knockback effects.
Shield of the Avenger: Fixed the damage displayed in this skill’s Command variant.
Spirit weapons are now susceptible to attacks.
Sword of Justice: Fixed the damage displayed the descriptions for this skill and its Command variant.
Sword Wave: This skill is now able to strike gadgets that are low to the ground.
Zealot’s Flame: Added burning information to this skill’s description.

Mesmer

Cleansing Conflagration: This trait should now remove a condition at the beginning of The Prestige instead of at the end of the skill.
Duelist’s Discipline: This trait no longer reduces damage dealt by the Illusionary Duelist.
Illusion of Life: This skill should no longer allow players to rally off of creatures that grant no experience.
Portal Exeunt: Updated the skill fact of this skill to reflect the actual duration. Also added a description to the Portal Uses marker.

Necromancer

Fixed a bug that caused some minions to be overly aggressive.
Mark of Evasion: This trait no longer enables players to break knockback effects.
Necrotic Traversal: Fixed a bug which caused this skill’s descriptionto display an incorrect amount of poison damage.
Spinal Shivers: Fixed a bug which caused this skill to enter its full cooldown if used when facing away from the target.

Ranger

Fixed a bug where aquatic ranger pets could sometimes get on land.
Drake Pet: This pet will now activate its Tail Swipe skill on a regular basis, and the casting time of that skill has been reduced by 1.25 seconds.
Entangle: This skill’s bleed effects now properly scale with condition damage and duration.
Sharpening Stone: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Opening Strikes: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.

Thief

Leeching Venoms: This trait no longer affects gadgets.
Shadow Refuge: Added a radius skill fact to this skill’s description.
Smoke Screen: This skill’s blinding pulse no longer follows the thief.
Spider Venom: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Devourer Venom: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Ice Drake Venom: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Skale Venom: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Basilisk Venom: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.
Assassin’s Signet: The number of uses on this skill’s effect will now decrease if an attack lands or if the attack is negated by Blind, Block, Evade, Obstructed, or Invulnerable.

Warrior

Arcing Slice: Updated this skill’s description to correctly state the boon it applies.
Banner of Strength: This skill’s descriptions have been updated.
Banner of Discipline: This skill’s descriptions have been updated.
Banner of Tactics: This skill’s descriptions have been updated.
Empowered: This trait should now appropriately increase damage for the Stability boon.
Reckless Dodge: This trait no longer enables players to break knockback effects.
Vengeance: This skill is no longer able to rally a player off of kills that grant zero experience.

Structured Player vs. Player

Legacy of the Foefire: Fixed a bug that prevented certain melee skills from hitting the front red/blue base gates.
Legacy of the Foefire: Fixed a bug that allowed friendly and enemy projectile skills to penetrate the red/blue base gates.
Legacy of the Foefire: Red/blue keep NPCs have been modified to avoid spawning before the match start countdown begins.
Legacy of the Foefire: Red/blue lords have been modified to remove up to 3 conditions at the beginning of their heal skill.
Legacy of the Foefire: Red/blue guards and casters have been modified to engage enemies when the lord enters combat.
Battle of Kyhlo: Fixed a bug that could cause the repair kit to disappear after switching teams.
Heart of the Mists: Two unused glory vendors have been removed.
Fixed trebuchets not being targetable by ranged attacks after being repaired.

World vs. World

Siege is no longer usable while inside a WvW jumping puzzle.
Multiple areas have had their terrain adjusted to prevent players from bypassing gates and walls to get into objectives.
Superior siege will now be saved properly when maps restart.
In WvW, different types of loot chests will replace the bag drop depending on loot rarity. Players should now see bags for loot that is lower than uncommon rarity and chests for loot that is uncommon rarity or higher.

BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE
New Items

Plush Quaggan Backpack Cover is now available in the Gem Store for 300 gems in the Style category. This adorable skin can be applied to any back-slot item, but it also comes with a basic back-slot item with no stats in case you don’t have one.
The Riding Broom is now available in the Gem Store for 250 gems in the Style category. Simply equip this toy and activate its skill to ride the broom. Riding the broom does not provide a speed bonus.

Improvements

Evon Gnashblade’s Box ‘o Fun has been revamped and is now available in the Consumable category for the new low price of 1 for 80 gems or a bundle of 5 for 320 gems. The revamped design offers more control over what effect the box has on those that interact with it.
All weapon and armor skins now have the option to be converted to PvP skins. When activating a skin you will be given the choice to either apply the skin to a PvE item or convert the skin to a PvP-only item. Either action will consume the skin. This change applies to all unused weapon and armor skins in the game, regardless of when the skin was first released.



World Polish – Other
Items

Visual effects on some legendary weapons have been polished:
Eternity: Fixed a bug that caused the Sunrise effects to play on the Twilight version of the sword.
The Moot: Added visual-effects polish and footfalls.
Kamohoali’i Kotaki: Added visual-effects polish.
Frenzy: Added visual-effects polish.
Kraitkin: Added visual-effects polish.
Quip: Added visual-effects polish and footfalls.
The Predator: Added visual-effects polish and footfalls; updated projectile and hit effects to match the weapon’s look.
Howler: Added visual-effects polish and footfalls.
The Dreamer: Updated the projectile effect.

The achievement hunter in my yells 'yes!' The husband and employee of me says 'uh-oh'!

For anyone on TC, are any of you in Doob guild? I joined last week, and just wanna see if I know anyone from here.

[Togath]

I'll be interested to see what the new fluff items look like(the fact that you can get those sorts of thinGS with gold is a nice change from most other games with that sort of fluff-item store).

Also, are any of the Norn racial skills usful for a warrior?

[Turalisj]

None of any of the racials are useful for anyone.

[Togath]

None of any of the racials are useful for anyone.

What about the sylvari healing seed and the norn owl?

[GenericMook]

Yeah, I wouldn't even bother with any of the racial skills. I don't think any of the Norn ones are any good. The Sylvari's healing seed thing isn't bad, but depending on your profession, there are better choices.

Also, the Quaggan backpack is adorable. The limbs move when you run!

[Shadow]

Engineers get the most mileage from racial skills. In general they're nothing to write home about, and are generally sub-par compared to normal class specific skills. But some of the toolbelt skills associated with them are pretty decent, meaning Engineers get more from them than other professions. Examples include AoE condition removal, 2s block, something akin to a p/p thief's Unload, various boons/condition, etc.

edit: But these are usually things which are available via kits anyway, so while an Engy gets more use out of them than other professions, they're still usually less than stellar choices in general, and are best for fluff/RP/thematic purposes.

[Togath]

I'll probably avoid the racial skills then..
Which professions would be good? Do any other then cooking have decent profits prior to endgame?

[Penguinizer]

The Asura racial skills are fantastic for me as a Mesmer. Radiation Field and the robots are great for PVE and Technobabble is great for WvWvW.

[mucco]

I'll probably avoid the racial skills then..
Which professions would be good? Do any other then cooking have decent profits prior to endgame?

Don't count on any craft to give you profits. You might be able to scrape a few golds every now and then, but it's pretty hard to do.

[Toastkart]

why oh why did they make guardian spirit weapons totally useless?

In all honesty, I think more of the pets/minions of other classes should have taken the guardian spirit weapon model and been balanced around that rather than making the spirit weapons act like the rest of them.

Not that I used them much myself, but guardians now have an even more limited number of viable builds, which is something of a contradiction to what devs have stated being an area they wish to improve.

-edit-

I'll probably avoid the racial skills then..
Which professions would be good? Do any other then cooking have decent profits prior to endgame?

I kind of miss the good old days when classes were referred to as professions. I've kind of fallen into referring to them as the former myself.

Anyway, don't take a crafting profession because it's going to make you money. It won't, at least not any time soon. Take it because you want to craft your own weapons/armor/etc., particularly at high levels. If you gather your own materials, you can significantly cut down on the cost of rares and exotics for your characters.

[mucco]

Eh, necros ignore all the minion skills too. I really wish minions were an utility thing that you could slot for some kind of benefit every now and then.

By the way, someone made a build with spirit weapons. It involved a trait that makes them burn the foes, and then +damage on foes with burning stacking. You might want to check that out.

[Toastkart]

Eh, necros ignore all the minion skills too. I really wish minions were an utility thing that you could slot for some kind of benefit every now and then.

not entirely true, as there wouldn't be so much complaining on the official forums about how bad they are if no one used them. Probably 50-60% of the necroes I see around are minion masters, although that doesn't count for much.

By the way, someone made a build with spirit weapons. It involved a trait that makes them burn the foes, and then +damage on foes with burning stacking. You might want to check that out.

Which is sort of my point. That build is no longer really viable because, especially in areas with heavy aoe, the spirit weapons don't last near long enough.

Also, I hereby revise my earlier statement about the change making spirit weapons totally useless. They're now just mostly useless. Yes, they can benefit from boons now, but they can also be cc'd, and as I mentioned, have such low health that anything with aoes is going to get rid of them fast. It's hardly a fair tradeoff. But against non-aoe heavy mobs, the difference isn't very noticeable most of the time.

[mucco]

Wow, really? I haven't seen a minion master necromancer in ages. Also I know that they are really discriminated... I mostly play dungeons or WvW/sPvP though, which are the places where your build matters.

Myself, I'm running non-condition necro and it's a total blast. It's so much more fun than bleedspam!

[GenericMook]

The main reason that Necros and Guardians have the right to complain is that they have an entire branch of their utility skills that are basically useless. Doesn't matter if they bother with MM/Spirit Weps or not, the skills are kind of a waste to invest in. Plus, not to mention all the trait acrobatics you have to do in order to make them even moderately effective. Do the same trait acrobatics, and you can come up with a far more optimized setup with, say, condition damage shenanigans on a Necromancer.

It's a real shame, to be honest. Spirit Weapons were already kinda lackluster, since they were just good minions in the earlier levels. I wouldn't even bother bringing them into PvE zones past level 30, let alone bringing them into dungeons/sPvP/WvW. It's a real shame, since the Spirit Weapon shenanigans build was probably one of the cooler build ideas, IMO.

[Hullabaloo]

The guardians shield is probably the most useful of the bunch, but with the randomness of when the shield will put up the dome, its ability can be better mimicked by other skills much better.

Thats the main problem with them. The bow does not remove the condition as quick as a condition removal skill would. The sword does not attack right away or even the target. The mace knocks back, but at random times, where a more timely knockback (ie the mace skill) can be hugely useful.

I have three shouts loaded up most of the time. 'Rawr!'

[Togath]

What is a new build and how do I stop the game from auto loading whatever the **** it is?

[GenericMook]

New version of the game, and as far as I can tell, there's no way to prevent it. It's kinda unfortunate, but most of the time, the unannounced ones are kinda small.

IIRC, if you're in a dungeon or doing PvP, it gives you an extended timer, which is pretty nice.

[Togath]

New version of the game, and as far as I can tell, there's no way to prevent it. It's kinda unfortunate, but most of the time, the unannounced ones are kinda small.

IIRC, if you're in a dungeon or doing PvP, it gives you an extended timer, which is pretty nice.

is it like patch?, why is it at 8pm on a wendsday?

[GenericMook]

As far as I can tell, it's just bug fixes covering anything missed in yesterday's update.

[Togath]

As far as I can tell, it's just bug fixes covering anything missed in yesterday's update.

Ah 10 letters

[Turalisj]

is it like patch?, why is it at 8pm on a wendsday?

The devs put it out as soon as they can. Yes, it's annoying, but it's better than bringing the game offline for an extended period.