Game Update Notes: May 21, 2024

05/21/2024—May 21 Release Notes Note to users of third-party programs: The game may not launch or work properly after we release a new build if you use a third-party program, due to possible incompatibilities. ArenaNet cannot offer support if a third-party modification breaks, interferes with, or prevents you from playing Guild Wars or Guild Wars 2. Our policy regarding third-party programs can be found here. Release Highlights The final major release of Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure is here, bringing the commander deeper into the world of Nayos, to the Citadel of Zakiros, where the indomitable Midnight King himself resides. The Wizard's Vault has been updated with new rewards and objectives. A new fractal dungeon has been added: the Lonely Tower. A challenge mode difficulty tier for Convergences has been added, as well as a new Convergences boss. A new Mastery tier, the Wayfinder Mastery, has been added to the Astral Ward Mastery track. New events and adventures have been added to Inner Nayos and Amnytas. A sixth guild slot has been unlocked for all accounts. Six new relics have been added. The second tier of the legendary Obsidian armor set has been added. Quality-of life updates have been made, including custom reticles for the action camera. A new ranger pet, the juvenile spinegazer, is now available. Updates have been made to World vs. World. The Midnight King After Peitha's failed gamble at the coliseum, turmoil grips Inner Nayos. Eparch hunkers in the spires of Zakiros, amassing unfathomable power. Isgarren has yet to commit the full might of the Astral Ward, but the time for Peitha's forces to strike runs short. Shoulder to shoulder with an unlikely alliance of soldiers, wizards, and demons, the wayfinder spearheads a desperate attempt to overthrow the Midnight King and take the throne of the Realm of Dreams. Wizard's Vault The Wizard's Vault's inventory has been updated for the new season! Last season's unique rewards are now available in the Legacy shop. New Special Objectives for the season have been added, and more will appear over the course of the season, including Special Objectives associated with Bonus Events and Festivals. Shop Inventory Updates The Legendary Weapon Starter Kit has been updated to set 4, with two new kits and two returning kits available. Fractals The Lonely Tower Immediately following the foundation of the Astral Ward, Eparch finally returned to Tyria to strike back against Isgarren's "betrayal"—this time with a full entourage. Help Isgarren, Mabon, and Dagda navigate the crumbling halls of the Wizard's Tower and push the Kryptis back to where they came from. In order to make room for the new fractal, the fractals found on the following levels have been adjusted: 21, 25, 43, 50, 66, 75, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, and 100. General A new ranger pet, the juvenile spinegazer, is available to tame inside of Inner Nayos. Squad messages under a certain length can now be viewed on the minimap by hovering over a commander tag icon. The maximum number of guild membership slots has been increased from 5 to 6 for all players. Reduced the number of correct channels required to open both lesser and greater arcane chests. Fixed an issue that prevented charge time from being properly reduced if a player with both Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire and Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure skyscale Masteries unlocked held the key to charge the Wall Spring ability before clinging to a wall. Kryptis rifts will now attract more enemies than before, and when enemies are defeated, reinforcements will arrive sooner. This change applies to all Kryptis rifts except those found in Inner Nayos. Fixed an issue that caused the list of active rifts accessed by using Scan for Rift to display Mount Maelstrom's map when viewing rift activity in Seitung Province and Seitung Province's map when viewing rift activity in Mount Maelstrom. Fixed an issue that prevented certain tier 2 Kryptis rift events from scaling properly. The bird whistle required to complete the Skyscale Toys collection is now available for purchase from Ohtrogg, Bird Whisperer, who is in Grostogg's Kraal near Ebbing Heart Run in Iron Marches. The Rising Spirits Mastery now activates upon entering most ley lines outside the Horn of Maguuma region. All lounge passes available for purchase from the Black Lion Trading Company now provide an option to teleport to the Wizard's Tower. To see this option, players must first unlock access to the Wizard's Tower by completing the sixth Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure story chapter, Tower of Secrets. Fixed an issue that could cause progress toward completing the Defeat the Fire Elemental World Boss or Complete Events in Metrica Province objective in the Wizard's Vault to be awarded when events in Iron Marches were completed. Chapters 4 and 8 of the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure story will now properly award credit toward completing rift events in the following maps: Desert Highlands, Bloodstone Fen, Jahai Bluffs, Straits of Devastation, Auric Basin, Fireheart Rise, Dry Top, Amnytas, Inner Nayos, Frostgorge Sound, Cursed Shore, Bitterfrost Frontier, Iron Marches, Ember Bay, Crystal Oasis, Southsun Cove, Verdant Brink, Seitung Province, and New Kaineng City. Fixed an issue that prevented multiple updrafts in Skywatch Archipelago, Amnytas, and Inner Nayos from properly recognizing Mastery progression. Fixed an issue that prevented the Qinkaishi Falls point of interest icon on the Echovald Wilds map from flashing when a player who had not discovered it moved their mouse over it. Unified the icon colors used in the Skyscale Target Practice adventures. Jade tech offensive and defensive protocols' effect cooldowns have been reverted to 30 seconds, down from 90 seconds. Note that the issue that allowed these effects to trigger more frequently than every 30 seconds remains fixed. This is in line with the original intent of these effects—to provide a temporary boost of power at the start of combat—and prevents the unintended behavior of using them to permanently maintain boons. Sons of Svanir in Bjora Marches will now count toward the Sons of Svanir's Bane achievement and the Defeat 100 Void Enemies or Sons of Svanir objective in the Wizard's Vault. Sons of Svanir enemies in the Dragonstorm event will now count as Sons of Svanir instead of icebrood for achievement progress. Fixed an issue that prevented the Lady Shamshir bounty event in Domain of Istan from restarting properly. Fixed an issue that prevented Ballistician Dexa from moving, halting progress in the "Collect scrap metal to help Ballistician Dexa build her siege weapon" event in Cursed Shore. Fixed an issue that caused an enemy in the "Clear Broken Spit of the Risen sea creatures replicating themselves" event in Straits of Devastation to be inaccessible, preventing event completion. Fixed an issue that could cause Captain Fa to become stuck during the Battle for the Jade Sea meta-event, halting event progress. Ramses and Arina will now display markers to indicate that optional conversation dialogue is available during chapter 11 of the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure story, Duress. In chapters 11, 12, and 13 of the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure story, party members will now be able to see conversations when the instance owner initiates them. A new achievement for collecting minis from Secrets of the Obscure has been added. Entering the Wizard's Tower or Lion's Arch will retroactively update progress. Action Camera Reticle Settings The ability to customize the shape and color of action camera targeting reticles has been added. This feature can be found in the General Options tab of the Options panel, below Cursor Contrast settings. This setting applies to all action camera uses, including aiming the skyscale's Fireball skill. Skywatch Archipelago Lowered the difficulty of the "Protect the injured Rift Hunters" event to make it easier to complete with one player. Amnytas Additional events and adventures that can be completed solo have been added to Amnytas. Decreased the number of ritual moves needed to complete the "Mimic Dagda's ritual moves to lend power to the summoning" objective during the "Defeat Nourys, the Eyes of the Abyss" stage of the Defense of Amnytas meta-event. The starlight lantern previously located in Cellar of Arcana in Amnytas has been moved outside, west of the point of interest, to make it available even when players cannot access the cellar. The Great Debate Hall's point of interest radius has been adjusted, and it can now be unlocked by standing near the main gate while it is closed. Fixed an issue that caused Forro's dialogue to play from their character model instead of the player's communication device during the "Help Forro purge corruption from the animals and return them home" event in Amnytas. Fixed an issue that caused the creatures in the "Help Forro purge corruption from the animals and return them home" event in Amnytas to display odd pathing behavior when moving into their kennels. Inner Nayos The Road to Heitor and the Fangs that Gnash event chains have been rebalanced to allow shorter overall run times with the introduction of the Into the Spider's Lair meta-event. Inner Nayos map completion rewards have been updated to standard map completion rewards. The Gift of Inner Nayos is not included in this reward. The number of starlight lanterns that must be lit to complete the Illuminating Inner Nayos achievement is unchanged and will persist regardless of map completion progress. The Inner Nayos explorable zone's first waypoint will now be unlocked upon entering the map for the first time if a player has access to Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure and has completed chapter 11 or has started chapter 14 or chapter 17 of the story on any character. Added a fishing supplies vendor to the Astral Ward camp. New fishing holes will appear in bodies of water around Nyedra Surrounds and the Citadel of Zakiros following successful completion of the Into the Spider's Lair meta-event. Added a cooldown to the hint that appears when running out of loose vegetation during the "Use your skyscale to pick food and deliver it to the starving Kryptis" event. Fixed an issue that caused loose vegetation to remain visible after completing the "Use your skyscale to pick food and deliver it to the starving Kryptis" event. Reduced the cooldown of the Throw Food special action skill from 5 seconds to 3 seconds in the "Use your skyscale to pick food and deliver it to the starving Kryptis" event. Fixed an issue that prevented Frode and Emund's dialogue from playing properly over the player's communication device during the Fangs That Gnash event chain. During the "Defeat the Champion Avatar of Envy" event, encounters with Nereidum, Chosen of Charybda or Vespera, Scribe of Charybda will now alternate instead of the chance to encounter them being randomly determined. Reduced the frequency of dialogue lines heard while destroying Kryptis turrets in the "Use your skyscale to intercept magic around the extractor" event. Fixed an issue that caused some moving Kryptis turrets to have higher health compared to other turrets in the "Use your skyscale to intercept magic around the extractor" event. The Wizard's Tower A laurel vendor, guild bank, and Black Lion Chest merchant have been added northeast of the Empyrean Plaza point of interest. Jade tech offensive and defensive protocols, a charging station, and a jade bot workbench have been added west of the Empyrean Plaza point of interest. Items Stealth now correctly affects players wearing Perfected Envoy armor. The World Boss Portal Device available from the Black Lion Trading Company now includes notifications and teleporting options for Convergences. To access this option, players must first unlock the Wizard's Tower by completing chapter 6 of the Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure story. Purchasing the Saryx Backpiece or Possession Infusion from Nikki the Lost in the Wizard's Tower now correctly requires completion of the Legendary Temple of Febe achievement. Drakkar's Hoard containers are now stackable. Fractal Weapon Crate containers are now stackable. The recipe components for the following enhancement stations have been updated: Sharpening Stone Station Tuning Crystal Station Maintenance Oil Station Fixed an issue that prevented players from teleporting back to their previous map from the Noble's Folly lounge. World vs. World Attack and defend events will now display the health bars of tower, keep, and castle lords. Siege disruptors are now unblockable. The Chilling Fog tactic has been renamed Healing Mist. This tactic will now deploy a healing mist throughout objectives that pulses healing to allied forces inside the objective for the duration. The amount of supply provided by the Supply Drop tactic has increased from 100 to 200. Keeps' base supply amount has increased from 400 to 450. Their supply increase at tier 3 has increased from 200 to 250. The capture boundaries for Stonemist Castle and the northern camp in Alpine Borderlands have been slightly increased. A new one-time purchase container has been added to Legendary Commander War Razor's Titles tab. This container will allow all players to select a title representing the current WvW world names in preparation for their retirement with World Restructuring. Added the Next Team Creation Lockout timer to the Guild Panel UI. Once the countdown timer is complete, players will be unable to change their WvW guild membership until the next WvW reset for their region. Profession Skills Engineer Holosmith: Fixed an issue that caused some players to use the engineer version of certain sword weapon skills instead of the holosmith version, even when the holosmith elite specialization was equipped. Surprise Shot: Increased the cooldown from 8 seconds to 12 seconds in PvP only. Particle Accelerator: Increased the cooldown from 10 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP only. Aim-Assisted Rocket: Fixed an issue that caused this trait to begin its internal cooldown when a missile struck an ally. Flashbang: Reduced the dazed duration from 1 second to 0.5 seconds in PvP only. Lock On: Reduced the revealed duration when striking a stealthed target from 6 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP only. Reduced the revealed duration when disabling a target from 6 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only. Mesmer Mantra of Recovery: Increased the cooldown from 15 seconds to 24 seconds in PvP only. Time Warp: This skill no longer inflicts chilled. Effervescence: Fixed an issue that caused this skill to be easily cancelled early. Ranger Force of Nature: Reduced the damage bonus from 15% to 10% in PvP and WvW. Reduced the stability stacks from 5 to 1 in PvP only. Reduced the mace-skill recharge reduction from 100% to 20% in PvP only. Rampant Growth: Reduced the damage coefficient from 1.0 to 0.91 in PvP only. Heavy Shot (Juvenile Siege Turtle): Reduced the damage coefficient from 1.0 to 0.5 in PvP and WvW. Revenant Coalescence of Ruin: Reduced the damage coefficient from 1.75 to 1.45 in PvP only. Increased the height of the damage hit box. Field of the Mists: Reduced the damage coefficient from 1.35 to 1.1 in PvP and WvW. Urn of Saint Viktor: Reduced the strike damage reduction and the condition damage reduction from 50% to 33% in PvP only. Increased the cooldown from 2 seconds to 10 seconds in PvP only. Thief Venomous Volley: Reduced the poison duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds in PvE only. Harrowing Storm: Reduced the torment duration from 4 seconds to 2 seconds in PvE only. Cunning Salvo: Fixed an issue that caused this skill to restore profession-mechanic resources when reflected by a non-thief player. Malicious Cunning Salvo: Reduced the bleeding stacks from 2 to 1 in PvE only.

Bug Fix: Fixed a client crash in Skywatch Archipelago.

Bug Fixes: Fixed an issue that could prevent follow-up events from starting properly after completing the "Defeat the loyalist reconnaissance patrol" events. Fixed an issue that caused Frode's lane to stall during the Fangs that Gnash event chain. Fixed an issue that prevented Karax's defiance bar from activating during the "Defeat Karax the Harvester" event. The health bars of objective lords in WvW have been temporarily removed from the assault event UI in order to fix an issue that causes the health bars to appear out of sync with the lord's health. They will still be displayed in the defense event UI.

Bug Fixes: Fixed an issue that caused Karax the Harvester to become invulnerable. Fixed an issue that prevented Living World episode pricing from being displayed in the Story Journal. Fixed an issue that allowed players who do not own Secrets of the Obscure to use its combat features in PvP.

Bug Fixes: Updated the scaling of defend events to fix an issue impacting the health of lords in castle, keep, and tower events. Fixed an issue that caused chapter 12 of Secrets of the Obscure, The Survivors, to stall.