Game updates:2006

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Update - Thursday December 21, 2006[edit]

  • Removed the purpose column from the Party Search panel and added collapsible purpose groups instead.
  • Added a new “Guild” purpose to Party Search.
  • Added an option to filter out other language districts from the Party Search panel. This feature is available only in Europe.
  • Re-enabled control-clicking on the skill bar in outposts. This feature was inadvertently disabled in a previous build.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Guild information and unlocked Hero skills to disappear when reconnecting after a disconnect.

Update 2 - Wednesday December 20, 2006[edit]

Update - Wednesday December 20, 2006[edit]

Wintersday Festival[edit]

Wintersday approaches, can you all see the signs?
The grentchies and the snowmen will soon all align.
For a battle in the end is what we shall face;
To determine the wintery fate of the whole human race.
Dwayna and Grenth will vie for our favor;
Through threats and presents of a wintergreen flavor.
In the end one shall win, one shall surely prevail;
And the length of the winter is the final detail.
So stock up on snowballs and clear all your packs;
For gifts of all sorts will rain down on your backs.
And if you should see a small urchin or three;
Remember the spirit of the season — 'Tis better to give than receive.


The Wintersday Festival has arrived! Kamadan, Lion's Arch, Droknar's Forge, and Ascalon City are decorated for the occasion, and over the coming days, holiday activities will begin as special guests arrive to join the fun. Everything leads up to the big Winterday [sic] celebration on January 1, which will take place every three hours in Lion’s Arch and Kamadan (on the hour in Lion’s Arch and 15 minutes past the hour in Kamadan). Be sure to collect Candy Cane Shards for use in the big celebration!

Party Search[edit]

The new Party Search panel allows you to advertise when you’re looking for a group to join, and to search for other players and parties to join you. With the Party Search panel, you can join up with other players even when they are in a different district from you. In any town or outpost, press ‘P’ to bring up the new Party Search panel. If you’re the leader of your party, or if you’re not in a party (all solo players are treated as parties of one), you can use the “Seek Party” checkbox to add your group to the list of available players and parties, and to advertise what you’re looking for. As a party leader, you can select another group and click “Join” to propose merging with that group. After clicking “Join”, you will see a question mark icon next to that group indicating that you are waiting for a response from them, and they will see an icon next to your group indicating that you have invited them. If you receive an invitation from another group, you can select that group and click “Join” to accept the invitation, merging the two groups. If you accept an invitation to join a group which is currently in a different district from you, your group will automatically travel to the other district. If you are alone, you will travel immediately upon clicking “Join”. If you have other people traveling with you, the game will provide a 10-second countdown and give each player the option of canceling.

Reconnect After Disconnect[edit]

While playing in a mission, explorable area, or PvP game, if your game client loses its connection to the Guild Wars game servers due to Internet connectivity issues, or if the game client or your computer crashes, you will have the opportunity to reconnect to the game servers and resume exactly where you left off, for a period of ten minutes after the disconnection. During that ten minute period, your character will remain in the world. If your character was performing an action like attacking or spell-casting at the moment of disconnection, your character will complete the action. If your character was in a party, the other members of your party will be notified of the disconnection. You must reconnect from the same computer that you were playing on when the connection was lost.

New Titles[edit]

  • The new Commander title track is available to players who compete in Hero Battles. Players receive one point toward the Commander title for each victory.
  • The new Gamer title track is available to players who compete in Snowball Fights and other holiday-themed games. During the Wintersday Festival, players who compete in Snowball Fights receive 10 points for each victory. Other holiday event games will be scored differently.

Other Updates[edit]

  • The Guild Wars Official In-Game Store now sells the 2006 edition of Guild Wars (original Prophecies campaign), which has been available at major retailers since its release in early 2006, and is called Game of the Year Edition in America and One Million Edition in Europe. The 2006 edition contains seven bonus items that were not part of the original Guild Wars box. Players who purchased Guild Wars (original Prophecies campaign) through the in-game store since its launch there in July will receive a free upgrade, and other players who own the original Guild Wars can choose to upgrade through the in-game store for a small fee.
  • Demo accounts can no longer trade or drop items, to reduce the use of demo accounts by commercial gold/item farmers.
  • Characters that come to Elona from a foreign land now get Heroes that start at level 15, and can play two new quests, Securing Champion's Dawn and A Land of Heroes.
  • Six additional quests have been added to Istan, and many existing quests have been updated.
  • Additional treasure chests are available throughout the continent of Elona.
  • The PvP Equipment Builder now allows the player to specify the dye color of weapons and off-hand items.
  • The Skill Bar in the Skills and Attributes panel now shows tooltips even if tooltips have been disabled for the primary Skill Bar.
  • The Quest Log panel now allocates more space to the list of quests when the list grows large.
  • Heroes' Ascent now requires parties with a minimum of four human players.

Balance Changes[edit]

Bug Fixes[edit]

Update - Friday December 15, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that caused some monsters to remain permanently aggressive toward their targets.

Update - Wednesday December 13, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed bugs and made improvements to the Domain of Anguish mission.
  • Fixed bugs and made improvements to the Mallyx the Unyielding quest.
  • Reduced the number of gems needed to purchase the Armbrace of Truth from 25 of each type to 15 of each type.
  • Increased the quantity of some of the rewards produced by opening a Coffer of Whispers.
  • Increased the chance of finding gemstones in the Domain of Anguish.
  • Added slash commands for emotes in the following languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), and Polish.
  • Updated the font used to display the Polish language.
  • Improved Polish translations.

Update - Friday December 8, 2006[edit]

Update - Tuesday December 5, 2006[edit]

Update 2 - Friday December 1, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday December 1, 2006[edit]

Hail, Almighty Heroes!
Your efforts on behalf of Elona and the living world have been praised in song and legend, and you have earned high praise amongst even the True Gods themselves. However, let it be known that your task is not yet complete. The evil you fought still infuses the Realm of Torment with its malignant magic.
Those who followed the Dark God thrive in hidden places where the light of truth does not shine. Chief among these followers is Mallyx the Unyielding, a great and terrible Margonite leader who tamed hordes of demons in his dark lord's service. Mallyx has now fallen back to his Ebony Citadel within the Domain of Anguish, where he plots to usurp the powers of the gods and sit upon his dark master's throne.
Mallyx has rallied the last remnants of the Margonite army along with their greatest surviving leaders. In addition, vast hordes of demons, titans, and other vile creatures have all flocked to his unholy banner. Only the bravest of heroes may halt Mallyx's rebellion. If you are worthy, then scour the Domain of Anguish and cast down this would-be usurper.
Meet me at the Gates of Anguish and I shall tell you more of what lies ahead, and show you how the last shreds of the Dark God's power may yet be crushed.
High Priest Zhellix of the Forgotten



Update - Thursday November 30, 2006[edit]

  • Made preparations for the Domain of Anguish event.
  • Added 2 new quests in Istan and 6 new quests in the Realm of Torment.
  • Modified monster behavior so that they now prefer targets within their guard ranges.
  • Fixed several reported bugs with follower NPCs in order to improve their combat performance.
  • Removed the "kiting" behavior of henchmen in the first round of basic training in order to give new players an easier introduction to PvP.

Skill Changes[edit]

  • Aria of Zeal Aria of Zeal: Increased casting time to 2 seconds.
  • Cyclone Axe Cyclone Axe: Modified so that it now requires an enemy target.
  • Energizing Finale Energizing Finale: Increased the Energy cost to 10 and reduced the amount of energy gained per shout or chant to 1.
  • "Incoming!" "Incoming!": Increased Energy cost to 10 and decreased duration to 1..5 seconds.
  • Jagged Bones Jagged Bones: Modified so that it may now be used on allied minions.
  • Restful Breeze Restful Breeze: Modified so that its behavior more accurately matches its description.
  • "Stand Your Ground!" "Stand Your Ground!": Increased energy cost to 10.
  • "Watch Yourself!" "Watch Yourself!": Changed armor gain to 5..25, based on the Tactics attribute.

Update - Tuesday November 28, 2006[edit]

  • Made preparations for the Chinese closed beta test.
  • Fixed several infrequent client crash bugs.

Update - Wednesday November 22, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that prevented some players from joining parties in the Team Arenas.
  • Fixed a bug and made improvements to the following quest: Reclaiming the Temple.

Update - Tuesday November 21, 2006[edit]

Update - Monday November 20, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday November 10, 2006[edit]

  • Added the extra Prerelease Bonus Pack character slot to accounts that have both the Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Pack and the Nightfall PvP Edition access keys.
  • Updated the translations for the npc "Shiloh [Hero Skills]" in the map Sunspear Great Hall.
  • Updated Corsair bosses Midshipman Morolah and Admiral Chiggen so that the bosses drop their correct unique item.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the skills “Rampage as One” and “Strike as One” to activate without a living pet. (This was missed in the last build)
  • Fixed a bug that caused the boss "Zelnehlun Fastfoot" to not attack.
  • Fixed a bug preventing some monsters from fighting in the Consulate Docks mission.
  • Fixed a bug which allowed the attacking team in the Isle of Solitude Guild Hall to open the gate to the defendeing team’s base.
  • Fixed bugs and made improvements to the following quests: "Signs and Portents," "No me, No Kormir," and "Sunspears in Cantha."
  • The most recent "My Guild Battles" game is now visible to members of the participating Guilds for up to 24 hours (previously the time was only one hour).

Update - Tuesday November 7, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday November 2, 2006[edit]

End of Halloween Event[edit]

Now sadly, the madness is ended
Laughs abounded and no tears were shed
King Thorn has returned to the Underworld
Pumpkin still very much on his head.
No more scares for Elona and Tyria
No more transformations or spooky décor
Peace comes at last, though we can’t help but ask:
Will the Mad King return once more?!

Game Updates:[edit]

  • Modified damage text so that its size scales based on the distance from the viewer.
  • Fixed various quest NPCs that were inappropriately body-blocking players.
  • Added an option to adjust the damage text size.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Heroes to equip more than one elite skill.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some dyes from stacking.
  • Fixed a bug that caused skills requiring upkeep to be removed whenever cinematics began.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Lightbringer Title bonus to be used during PVP matches.
  • Modified the Trade panel to report offered trades in units of gold, not platinum.
  • Removed the previously enforced time delay between fighting and salvaging or identifying an item.
  • Increased duration on the skill "Exposed Defenses" [sic] to 5..20 seconds. (This update was missing in the previous skill update.)



Update - Friday October 27, 2006[edit]

Notice From Kormir[edit]

Ahai, Sunspear!

You have been selected from among your fellow heroes to be trained as a leader of our Order of the Sunspears. The members of our Order are the guardians and protectors of our nation of Elona, and travel throughout the land, dealing with threats to our people. Though you may have the basic skills of a hero, you must now learn how to use them in conjunction with others whom you will lead into battle. Congratulations on your promotion!

You initial assignment will be in the Province of Istan, where our Order’s Great Hall is located. Istan is a thriving land of heroes, located near the ruins of our earliest cities. Here you will find threats ranging from relentless predators and animated, carnivorous plants, to the ever-present threat of the corsairs that plague our shores.

Yet Istan is not the only concern of the Sunspears. Kourna, across the channel, has a large standing army and is ruled by its Warmarshal, Varesh Ossa, but still has needs of heroes to inspire its people. Further north is the Province of Vabbi, a wealthy region controlled by indolent merchant princes, yet regularly threatened by inhuman tribes. As a leader of the Sunspears, you will journey through these lands, and beyond them, into the Desolation from which the undead lord Palawa Joko first invaded our land. Wherever the people of Elona are threatened, the Sunspears should be there to protect them.

The Order of the Sunspears is an ancient order, dating back to our earliest dynasties, but we need capable and inspired leaders now more than ever. A new darkness has been spreading across our land, causing native creatures to become more savage, and spawning new abominations never before seen. Dark times loom before us, and we must be prepared.

Again, congratulations on being selected to become a Sunspear leader. You will have your work cut out for you, but I am confident you will be up to the tasks ahead.

As a Sunspear, you never fight alone.

Kormir Spearmarshal, Order of the Sunspears

Elona Awaits You![edit]

The Guild Wars Nightfall campaign is now available for purchase at retail stores and through the online Guild Wars store. Players who purchase Guild Wars Nightfall may now create new Paragon and Dervish characters, bring existing characters to the region of Elona, acquire new skills, armor, and weapons, recruit Heroes to join their parties, and participate in new Hero Battles against other players!

Heroes[edit]

  • Heroes are NPC party members who can join your party, level up with your character, and use weapons, armor, and skills of your choosing. You recruit Heroes by completing certain quests and adventuring throughout Elona, but you can bring only three at a time into your party. Since you and a friend can each bring three Heroes into a mission, two players can now complete any eight-player mission.
  • After recruiting a Hero, you can use the “Add Hero” interface in the party formation panel to invite the Hero into your party whenever you’re standing in a town or outpost.
  • If you and another player both invite the same Hero, one of them will be the “real” Hero who will interact with NPCs in cinematics and other scripted sequences, and the other will be an “imposter” who will use a generic name for the duration of the mission.
  • Whenever you control a Hero, you will see a button next to the Hero’s name, which you can click to bring up the Hero Control panel. This panel provides advanced options for direct control of the Hero. You can use it to adjust the Hero’s AI mode between fight, guard, or avoid combat, to order the Hero to cast a certain skill, or to order the Hero not to cast a certain skill unless directed to do so by you.
  • Whenever you control a Hero, you will also see a button on the Compass that you can use to give orders to the Hero. To use it, simply click the button, then click anywhere in the Compass or in the world where you would like the Hero to walk.
  • Heroes level up like players do and acquire attribute points at the same rate, except they do not need to complete quests to gain their final 30 attribute points. Instead, they get 15 bonus attribute points when they reach level 10, and another 15 bonus attribute points when they reach level 15.
  • Whenever you recruit a Hero while playing through the campaign, that Hero becomes unlocked for use with your PvP characters. Heroes that you recruit also come with skills, and those skills become unlocked on your account when you recruit the Hero.
  • Heroes don't maintain their own inventory of skills. Instead, they are able to use any skill that you have unlocked on your account.
  • Heroes don't maintain their own backpack or inventory of items. Instead, you can drag items from your inventory onto a Hero to equip him. Your Heroes can use weapons that you have customized for yourself.
  • Hero Trainers, located in various locations around Elona, will teach you a skill (and unlock it on your account for use by your Heroes) in return for a Hero Skill Point. You get a Hero Skill Point each time you gain a new rank of the Sunspear or Lightbringer titles.
  • Hero Armor NPCs, located in the outposts of Challenge Missions in Elona, can craft upgraded armor for your Heroes in return for certain items that you can acquire inside the Challenge Mission. Players can find enough of these items to upgrade their own Heroes, but not an unlimited supply, so we encourage players to spend these items on their own Heroes rather than selling them or giving them away.

Hero Battles[edit]

  • Hero Battles are a new PvP game type that allow players to compete head-to-head for the first time.
  • Each Hero Battle pits one player and his three Heroes against another player and his three Heroes.
  • To access Hero Battles you must unlock at least three Heroes onto your account. If you haven't already unlocked the first three Heroes, just complete Zaishen Basic Training with a PvP character, then talk to the Priest of Balthazar, who will give you free unlocks.
  • To enter a Hero Battle, travel to the Hero Battles outpost on the Battle Isles, invite three Heroes into your party, then click “Enter Battle.” You will be automatically matched against an opponent of similar skill level.
  • To win, you must score 20 points before your opponent does. You get one point for every enemy you kill, and one point for every 30 seconds that your team holds the center shrine.
  • There are also a number of strategic points around the map, which can grant you a strategic advantage against the enemy if your team controls them.
  • If neither team has scored 20 points when the game clock reaches 10 minutes, the game goes into sudden death, where the next team to score a point wins.
  • There is no death penalty on this map, and all players and Heroes respawn every 30 seconds.
  • Players get 20 Balthazar's faction for each point scored and 100 faction for winning.

Lightbringer and Sunspear Titles[edit]

  • The new Sunspear title can be earned by completing quests in Elona and fighting Sunspear enemies. By earning ranks in this title you can gain Hero skill points and the new PvE-only skill Sunspear Rebirth Signet. This skill increases in effectiveness as you gain more ranks in the Sunspear title.
  • The new Lightbringer title can be earned by hunting demons in Elona. For each rank of Lightbringer, you gain increased damage and damage reduction against demons. You can also earn the PvE-only skills Lightbringer's Gaze and Lightbringer’s Focus [sic], which can be used to fight demons. These skills also increase in effectiveness as you gain more ranks in this title.

Guild Observer Mode[edit]

  • You can now watch your guild compete in Guild Combat regardless of your guild's rank. Just open the Observer panel and then look for your guild's game under the heading “My Guild Games.”

Update - Wednesday October 25[edit]

New Features of Guild Wars Nightfall[edit]

Today we are publishing the new features of Guild Wars Nightfall in anticipation of the campaign's release this Friday, October 27 at 12:01 am PDT. Players won't be able to acquire Heroes or participate in Hero Battles until they can play through the Nightfall campaign, but many of the other features of Nightfall are available today as free updates.

Skills and Attributes[edit]

  • Skill selection, attribute adjustment, and secondary profession selection are now centralized on the new Skills and Attributes panel.
  • Your characters can now change their secondary professions whenever they are standing in a town or outpost. PvP characters can change to any secondary profession, while Roleplaying characters can change to any profession that character has previously learned.
  • You can now save and load templates containing Skill Bar setup, attributes, and professions. This allows you to switch a character between different roles quickly, and to share your strategies with your friends.
  • To save a Skill Template, click the disk icon inside the Skills and Attributes panel, then click “Save to Template.” The template will be saved to a small file in the Templates/Skills folder below the Guild Wars installation directory. You can copy this file to other computers, share it with your friends, or post it on the Internet.
  • To load a Skill Template, click the disk icon, then click “Load from Template.” You can load any template that matches your character’s primary profession.
  • If your character doesn't have as many attribute points as the character who saved the template, the attribute levels will automatically be adjusted down for you.
  • If your character doesn't have access to skills that were saved in the template, those skills will appear grayed out.

Equipment Templates[edit]

  • PvP characters can now save and load Equipment Templates containing a complete set of armor and weapon selections.
  • To save an Equipment Template, click the disk icon inside the Inventory panel, then click “Save to Template.” The template will be saved to a small file in the Templates/Equipment folder below the Guild Wars installation directory.
  • To load an Equipment Template, click the disk icon, then click “Load from Template.” You can load any template that matches your character’s primary profession.
  • Loading a template will replace your character’s current weapons and armor, unless your character is using weapons or armor that were acquired through roleplaying.
  • If you load a template that uses item upgrades that are not currently available on your account, the items that require those upgrades will not be created.

Equipment Builder[edit]

  • Equipment can be made for any PvP character, including PvP Heroes, using the new PvP Equipment panel.
  • You can open the PvP Equipment panel whenever your PvP character is standing in a town or outpost by clicking on the PvP Equipment button within the Inventory panel or by pressing “J” on your keyboard.
  • To create an item, click on the portrait of the character you would like to build the item for, then select the tab for the type of item you would like to create. Choose the item, upgrade components, and color from the list of available selections.
  • If you would like the item to be equipped immediately, select the “Equip Immediately” option before clicking “Create.” The new item will be placed onto your character, and the old item that your character was previously wearing will be destroyed. If you choose not to equip immediately, the new item will be placed into your character’s inventory instead.
  • Items created with the PvP Equipment panel cannot be upgraded or salvaged.

Armor Insignias[edit]

  • New armor crafted in Elona or through the PvP Equipment panel can contain swappable insignias, which provide the same types of bonuses that previously were permanent parts of the armor, plus new bonuses that are being introduced with Nightfall.
  • With the use of armor insignias, you can now mix and match different armor bonuses with different armor appearances. Additionally, the use of insignias simplifies the process of creating armor with the PvP Equipment panel because you can choose the armor appearance and bonus separately.
  • Outside of the PvP Equipment panel, you can only place an insignia on a piece of armor if that armor has a blank insignia slot. Certain types of armor crafted in Elona include blank insignia slots.
  • Like other types of armor upgrades, insignias must be unlocked on your account before you can use them in the PvP Equipment panel. Because some insignias are replacements for bonuses that used to be inherent properties of PvP armor, those insignias are already unlocked on your account.
  • Because insignias allow you to place bonuses on certain types of headgear that could not receive bonuses in the past, some existing high-end headgear from Tyria and Cantha is being updated with this build to include new bonuses.

Weapon Inscriptions[edit]

  • New weapons found in Elona or created through the PvP Equipment panel can contain swappable inscriptions, which provide a variety of weapon bonuses and enhancements.
  • Like armor insignias, weapon inscriptions allow you to swap bonuses between different items you acquire by playing through the roleplaying content, and they simplify the process of creating items with the PvP Equipment panel by enabling you to choose the base weapon and the weapon bonuses separately.
  • You can only place an inscription in a weapon if that weapon has a blank inscription slot. Inscriptions and inscription slots are sometimes found on rare weapons dropped by monsters in Elona.
  • Inscriptions must be unlocked on your account before you can use them in the PvP Equipment panel. Inscriptions that provide bonuses that were previously inherent bonuses of PvP weapons are already unlocked on your account.

New Item Upgrades[edit]

  • Shields, wands, and focus items created through the PvP Equipment panel or found in Elona can now have upgrades applied to them.
  • Shields can have a Shield Handle upgrade plus one inscription.
  • Wands can have a Wand Wrapping upgrade plus one inscription.
  • Focus items can have a Focus Core upgrade plus one inscription.
  • These new upgrades are equivalent in power to inherent item bonuses that were found in previous campaigns.

New Salvage/Upgrade System[edit]

  • Salvaging an item with upgrade components now gives you the ability to pick which item you would like to salvage.
  • If you salvage an item to extract a magical component, there is now a 50 percent chance that the base item will not be destroyed.
  • When you upgrade an item with an upgrade component, you now see a preview of what that item will look like after the upgrade.

New Dye System[edit]

  • The new dye system improves the appearance of base dye colors and mixed dye colors. The new system is used when you newly apply dye to an item. Existing item colors are not affected.
  • Newly crafted armor now starts out gray. If you dye it to another color and then later want to restore it to its original appearance, just dye it gray. Vendors now sell gray dye instead of dye remover.
  • White and brown dye colors are now available as loot drops.
  • Silver is now an equipment color option during character creation.
  • A new Dye Preview panel lets you preview the effect of dye color combinations on your items before applying the dye.

New Damage Interface[edit]

  • The new Damage Monitor panel shows all skills that your opponents have recently used against you. You can hover the mouse over any skill icon to get a tooltip explaining that skill.
  • The numbers that float above characters’ heads are now bigger, and use different animations to help distinguish between damage, healing, and experience.
  • When an enemy uses a skill against you, the skill icon will display next to the damage number. The Options panel allows you to switch from displaying skill icons to displaying skill names.

PvP-Only Character Creation[edit]

  • The PvP character creation process has been simplified. During character creation, you now choose only the character's primary profession, character appearance, and name.
  • Newly created PvP characters start off with a set of equipment and six basic skills for their primary profession, so you can start playing immediately.
  • To outfit your PvP character with other skills and equipment, you can use the new Skill and Equipment Templates systems.
  • So that your PvP characters have immediate access to skill and equipment swapping, new PvP characters you create now start in the Great Temple of Balthazar once you have unlocked Random Arenas on your account.
  • You can still access Zaishen Basic Training by walking from the Great Temple back into the Isle of the Nameless and talking with the Master of Paths.
  • First-time PvP players must complete Zaishen Basic Training to gain access to the Random Arenas and to gain the ability to purchase unlocks from the Priest of Balthazar.

Balthazar's Faction[edit]

  • The rate of Balthazar's faction has been doubled for all types of PvP!
  • In high-level arenas, players now earn 40 faction per unique kill, 50 faction for winning, 50 faction for a flawless victory, and 50 faction for a five-game winning streak.
  • In Heroes' Ascent, players now earn 40 faction per unique kill, 200–800 faction for winning (depending on the map), and 200 faction for a flawless victory.
  • In Guild Combat, players now earn 40 faction per unique kill, 1,000–4,000 faction for winning (depending on their guild rating), and 200–800 faction for a flawless victory (depending on their guild rating).
  • In Alliance Battles and Competitive Missions, players now earn 6 faction per kill.

Henchmen Controls[edit]

  • Henchmen controls are now available on the Compass. To direct your henchmen, click the Henchmen button on the Compass, then click anywhere on the Compass or in the world to select where you’d like your henchmen to go.

Improved Hero/Henchmen AI[edit]

  • Heroes and Henchmen now take into account Conditions and Exhaustion when choosing which skills to cast. They also consider attribute levels for stolen skills, and combo states for Assassin skills.
  • They have improved combo awareness for some important skill combinations.
  • They have improved knowledge of skills, so that they make smarter decisions about which skills to cast.
  • They manage their Energy better.
  • They are better at kiting opponents.
  • They are better at getting out and staying out of AoE damage spells.
  • They move in formation around their leader, with melee characters in front and ranged or casting characters in back.
  • They follow their leader whenever they haven't been specifically directed to move to a point. The leader for Heroes is the player who owns the Hero, and the leader for henchmen is the party leader.
  • They also know how to have fun.

Improved Monster AI[edit]

  • Monsters no longer run from AoE damage when they are very healthy, or when they think they're very close to killing their opponent.
  • Melee monsters are more intelligent about keeping themselves spread out, so that they don't put themselves into a position where they're highly susceptible to AoE attacks.

Gameplay Changes[edit]

  • The rarity of items within locked chests is now properly randomized.
  • Armor swapping is now disabled during PvP games.
  • Certain situations that caused players to get stuck and not be able to move have been fixed, and a new command “/stuck” has been introduced to help players free their characters if they become stuck.

Title System Changes[edit]

  • The Treasure Hunter and Seeker of Wisdom titles now confer a benefit to players who earn them. For each rank of either title earned, the chance of an item not being destroyed when salvaging a magical upgrade component is increased by 3 percent from a base of 50 percent.
  • The Hero, Gladiator, and Champion titles now confer a benefit to players who earn them. Gaining ranks in these titles increases the maximum cap of unspent Balthazar's faction. The cap increases by 2,000 faction points for each of the first five ranks of the Hero title and 5,000 faction points for each subsequent rank, and the cap increases by 5,000 faction points for each rank of the Gladiator and Champion titles earned.

Materials Storage[edit]

  • The Materials Storage panel, which was previously a feature of Guild Wars Factions, is now available to all players.

User Interface Improvements[edit]

  • While forming a party, you can now control+click on your Skill Bar to announce your skill setup to your party members.
  • Called targets now remain active for up to 30 seconds after being attacked by their caller, and do not go away when the caller changes targets.
  • During Guild Combat, a countdown timer now displays the amount of time remaining until the team that holds the shrine will gain a morale boost.
  • In all types of PvP, the new score screen option “Team Status” shows a summary of the Health and morale of your entire team, including allied NPCs.
  • A new option “Hide UI” on the login screen allows you to use the login screen as a screensaver. The client continues to download game assets in the background while in screensaver mode.
  • The text and audio languages can now be independently selected in the Options panel.
  • Other new options enable you to keep windows open when pressing escape, to disable tooltips on Skill Bars, and to disable tooltips on effect monitors.

Equipment Balance Changes[edit]

  • Reduced the cost of all armor sets found on Shing Jea Island.
  • Updated the Henge of Denravi Axe to have +5 inherent Energy instead of +25 inherent Health.
  • Updated the Henge of Denravi Bow to have +5 inherent Energy instead of +10 inherent armor.
  • Updated some Fiery Flame Spitters that had a 15% recharge chance instead of the normal 10% chance.
  • Green item staffs, crafted staffs, and collector staffs with any sort of recharge bonus have been updated to reduce the recharge time of all spells with a chance of 20% instead of the attribute-specific bonuses they had previously.
  • Updated a sword received from a quest in pre-Searing Ascalon to remove the inherent +5 armor while enchanted bonus. It now deals an additional 15% damage while Health is above 50.
  • Updated the Warrior’s Dreadnought and Dragon armor suits to +10 vs. elemental to match how the armor bonus works under the new insignia system.
  • Updated the Warrior’s Sentinel armor suit to +20 vs. elemental (req. 13 Strength) to match how the armor bonus works under the new insignia system.
  • Updated the Necromancer’s Tormentor armor suit to add 6 holy damage on the chest, 4 on the leggings, and 2 on all other pieces. It was previously 5 damage for all pieces.
  • Updated the Assassin’s Saboteur, Infiltrator, and Vanguard armor suits to have +10 armor vs. all physical damage and an additional +10 armor vs. a specific type of physical damage. The Condition reduction bonuses were removed to match how the bonuses work under the new insignia system.
  • Updated all instances of Stonefist Gauntlets to remove the -5 armor penalty to match how the bonus works under the new insignia system.
  • Updated all instances of the Lieutenant's Helm to remove the -10 armor vs. physical penalty to match how the bonus works under the new insignia system.
  • Updated maximum level headgear found in Prophecies and Factions with a +1 Energy bonus to equalize it with possibilities found in Nightfall and at the new PvP Equipment panel. Warrior headgear that already had built-in armor bonuses will remain unaffected.

Skill Balance Changes[edit]

Assassin[edit]

Elementalist[edit]

Mesmer[edit]

Monk[edit]

  • Bane Signet Bane Signet: decreased casting time to 1 second.
  • Peace and Harmony Peace and Harmony: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
  • Ray of Judgment Ray of Judgment: decreased casting time to 1 second.
  • Smite Smite: this skill is now a spell instead of an attack.
  • Spirit Bond Spirit Bond: expires after 10 attacks or Spells.
  • Succor Succor: decreased Energy cost to 5.
  • Watchful Spirit Watchful Spirit: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
  • Zealot's Fire Zealot's Fire: decreased casting time to .25 seconds, decreased recharge time to 30 seconds. You now lose 1 Energy whenever this skill triggers.

Necromancer[edit]

Ranger[edit]

  • Archer's Signet Archer's Signet: increased number of bow attacks affected to 1..7.
  • Call of Protection Call of Protection: increased damage reduction to 5..20.
  • Concussion Shot Concussion Shot: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
  • Debilitating Shot Debilitating Shot: reduced Energy reduction to -1..10. This skill now falls under the Marksmanship attribute.
  • Dual Shot Dual Shot: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
  • Heal as One Heal as One: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds. This skill now resurrects your pet.
  • Marksman's Wager Marksman's Wager: increased duration to 18 seconds.
  • Run as One Run as One: decreased recharge time to 25 seconds.
  • Expertise: For each rank of Expertise, the Energy cost of all of your attacks, Rituals, touch skills, and Rangers skills are decreased by 4%. Several skills, especially those related to Energy costs and skill recharge times, become more effective with higher Expertise.

Warrior[edit]

Start of Halloween Event[edit]

When the moon shines down on the Elon
Like the eye of a ravenous drake
Keep a lantern close by and the darkness at bay
For on this holiday night, they say
A spirit returns, pumpkin on head
Wicked deeds (and bad jokes) will abound
He'll bluster and shout
Spread chaos about
'till a banishment for his mischief be found
Heed my tale, ye brave heroes
From lands north and south
Listen wherefore I say:
Bind your sanity close, lest you lose what you love most
When the monarch of madness appears.

Update 2 - Monday October 23, 2006[edit]

  • Added the PvP Editions of Guild Wars Prophecies and Guild Wars Factions to the online store. These PvP Editions provide access to PvP for those who don't already own the underlying campaign, and they also provide all skill unlocks for the entire campaign.

Update - Monday October 23, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday October 20, 2006[edit]

  • Made preparations for the Factions Boardwalk weekend event.

Update - Saturday October 14, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed the district selection menu in American districts.

Update - Thursday October 12, 2006[edit]

  • Made preparations for the Factions Green Drop Weekend.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some skill effects from being displayed the first time they were used.

Update - Thursday October 5, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

Heroes' Ascent Updates[edit]

  • Removed Burial Mounds from rotation.
  • Raised the team count for Broken Tower to 3.
  • Reduced the play time for Broken Tower to 4 minutes.
  • Reduced the play time for Courtyard to 4 minutes.
  • Added levers to Scarred Earth so that players can open gates leading out of the center region of the map. Gates still open automatically as teams are defeated.



Update - Monday September 25, 2006[edit]

  • Completed the Nightfall World Preview Event weekend and restored the game to its normal state.

Update - Sunday September 24, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a skill bug that was being exploited in PvP matches.

Update - Saturday September 23, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a crash that prevented German language users from obtaining the quest, Primary Training, in Kamadan.

Update 2 - Friday September 22, 2006[edit]

General Updates:[edit]

  • Changed default positions of Dialogue, Mission Goals, and Unlock boxes.
  • Fixed miscellaneous preview event bugs.

Skill Updates:[edit]

  • Arcane Zeal: Changed the maximum amount of energy gained from 5...7...7 to 1...6...7.
  • Trapper's Speed: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to decrease the time to place traps more than intended.
  • Spirit of Weariness: Fixed a bug that caused this spirit to remove more energy than intended.

Update - Friday September 22, 2006[edit]

Welcome to the Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event! This weekend, players can get a sneak peak at the new features of Guild Wars Nightfall, create Paragon and Dervish characters, use Nightfall skills, and play through a portion of the Nightfall roleplaying campaign.

All active Guild Wars accounts will automatically have access to the Preview Event. Players without a Guild Wars account can download the client from www.guildwars.com and then create a free account for the weekend by using one of the following access keys:

America: 2BBQF-MG981-PRQD7-KDM6Q-C78H3

Europe: 944NC-B1LJ4-MD6L9-718L6-1HM38

Please note that all Nightfall content and features are being presented in beta form, and are subject to change and improvement before the final release.

Campaign Overview[edit]

  • As a newly inducted member of the legendary Order of the Sunspears, you will be able to explore all of Istan, the great island province of the nation of Elona.
  • While playing in Elona, you will have the opportunity to meet and recruit Heroes into your party. Heroes are party members that follow your orders and use skills and equipment of your choosing.
  • During this preview event, any new characters you create in the nation of Elona are temporary and will be reset prior to the release of Guild Wars Nightfall. These beta characters cannot travel outside of Elona, cannot access account storage, and cannot sell items to traders.

Heroes[edit]

  • You can recruit new Heroes by completing certain quests. After recruiting a Hero, you can choose to bring him along in any mission or explorable area by adding him to your party using the party formation interface. Regardless of how many Heroes you recruit, you can invite a maximum of three Heroes into your party at any given time.
  • Other players in your party can also bring along Heroes. If the maximum party size of a mission is eight, you and another player can play together and each bring three Heroes.
  • Heroes have skills, attributes, weapons, and armor just like players do. You can use the Skills and Attributes panel to select their skills and attributes, and the Inventory panel to select their equipment. (During this preview event, you cannot yet customize your Heroes' armor.)
  • When a Hero is in your party, you will see a button next to that Hero's name, which you can use to bring up the Hero Control panel. Within that panel, you will see that Hero's portrait, current Health and Energy, Skill Bar, and combat mode (aggressive, defensive, passive). The Hero Control panel is an advanced interface that you don't need to use, but if you would like to change a Hero's combat mode or force him to cast a specific skill, you can do it there.
  • While playing the game with one or more Heroes in your party, you will also see flag buttons next to the Compass, which you can use to give them orders. To order a Hero to move to a certain spot on the map, click the flag button and then place the flag on the map. To undo that order, double-click the flag button.
  • Heroes don't maintain their own inventory of skills. Instead, they are able to use any skill that you have unlocked on your account.
  • Heroes don't maintain their own backpack or inventory of items. Instead, you can drag items from your inventory onto a Hero to equip him. Your Heroes can use weapons that you have customized for yourself.

User Interface Changes[edit]

For the duration of the World Preview Event, the game will use certain elements of the Guild Wars Nightfall user interface:

  • The new Skills and Attributes panel centralizes management of skills and attributes, both for player characters and Heroes. It replaces both the old Skill panel and the Attributes page from the Hero panel.
  • The updated Inventory panel contains a character selector, so it can be used to manage equipped weapons and armor for both player characters and Heroes.
  • The Compass includes new controls that allow the player to issue orders to both henchmen and Heroes.

All of these user interface changes are being presented in beta form. After the conclusion of the weekend event, they will be removed from the game again until the release of Guild Wars Nightfall.

Nightfall World Preview Event Limitations[edit]

The following features will be part of the release of Guild Wars Nightfall, but are not available during this preview event:

  • Skill Templates - In Nightfall, you will be able to save and load skill and attribute builds to disk, enabling you to quickly switch strategies and outfit your Heroes.
  • Hero Battles - After the release of Nightfall you will be able to unlock Heroes for your use with your PvP characters, and you will be able to bring Heroes into a new type of PvP where players can compete head-to-head for the first time.

Also, the following issues are known to exist with the features being previewed during this weekend event:

  • Hero AI for using skills is still under development.
  • Heroes cannot capture skills using Signet of Capture, nor can they control pets using Charm Animal.
  • Hero armor cannot yet be upgraded using runes.
  • The visual appearance of Hero armor in the Inventory panel, and the text descriptions of the Hero's attributes and items, do not take into account the sex of the Hero.
  • The tutorials in Prophecies and Factions have not been updated to reflect the Nightfall user interface changes.

Update - Wednesday September 20, 2006[edit]

General Updates:[edit]

  • Added new trophies to the Great Temple of Balthazar for the Guild Wars Factions Championship and the Guild Wars (Prophecies) World Championship.
  • Added an Observer Mode option to automatically observe random games.
  • Added an option to hide the user interface while observing a game.
  • Added an option to mute sound while Guild Wars is running in the background
  • Modified all windows and panels accessible from the Menu so that they remember whether they were previously open when entering a new map.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some Prophecies and Factions monsters from using their Ranger skills.
  • Fixed a bug in the skill Plague Signet that caused Conditions to transfer with incorrect durations.

Preparation for the World Preview Event[edit]

The following Guild Wars Nightfall updates and balance changes are being published in beta form, in preparation for this weekend’s World Preview Event. After the conclusion of the weekend event, they will be removed from the game again until the release of Guild Wars Nightfall:

  • Updated the artificial intelligence of all henchmen.
  • Added new armor foley sound effects.
  • Capped adrenaline gain so that no player ever receives more than double adrenaline from adrenaline-boosting skills.
  • Increased earshot range to the radius of the Danger Zone (the inner white circle on the mini-map Compass).
  • Modified the skill Contemplation of Purity so that the number of removed Hexes and Conditions is determined by your Divine Favor attribute.

Update - Monday September 18, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed text received when adding a Nightfall Prerelease Bonus Key, so that it no longer incorrectly states that the account already has the bonus.
  • Fixed a bug that affected the drop rates of XP scrolls.

Update - Friday September 15, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday September 14, 2006[edit]

General Updates:[edit]

Guild Battle Updates:[edit]

Skill Updates:[edit]

Assassin[edit]

Elementalist[edit]

  • Mind Burn: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
  • Mind Freeze: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
  • Mind Shock: decreased Energy cost to 5, decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
  • Ether Prodigy: increased damage per Energy to 3.

Mesmer[edit]

Monk[edit]

  • Balthazar's Aura: decreased duration to 8 seconds.
  • Bane Signet: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Banish: this skill now does double damage vs. summoned creatures.
  • Divine Boon: increased recharge time to 10 seconds, decreased amount healed to 15...51...60.
  • Extinguish: increased cast time to 1 second, increased recharge time to 12 seconds.
  • Purge Signet: decreased cast time to 2 seconds.
  • Signet of Judgment: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Zealot's Fire: increased recharge time to 45 seconds.

Necromancer[edit]

Ranger[edit]

Ritualist[edit]

  • Ancestors' Rage: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
  • Blind Was Mingson: decreased recharge time to 15 seconds, decreased Blindness duration to 3...7...8.
  • Bloodsong: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds, increased damage to 5...21...25.
  • Boon of Creation: reduced Energy gained to 1...5...6.
  • Channeled Strike: decreased recharge time to 6 seconds.
  • Defiant Was Xinrae: decreased Energy cost to 15.
  • Disenchantment: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds, increased damage to 5...17...20.
  • Displacement: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Dissonance: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds, increased damage to 5...17...20.
  • Dulled Weapon: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
  • Essence Strike: increased damage to 15...51...60, increased Energy return to 1...7...9.
  • Gaze from Beyond: decreased recharge time to 10 seconds.
  • Ghostly Haste: increased spell recharge reduction to 25% faster.
  • Grasping Was Kuurong: increaed damage to 15...63...75.
  • Guided Weapon: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Life: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
  • Mend Body and Soul: increased heal amount to 20...96...115.
  • Pain: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds, increased damage to 5...25...30.
  • Painful Bond: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
  • Preservation: decreased recharge time to 30 seconds.
  • Protective Was Kaolai: increased duration to 15...51...60 seconds.
  • Recuperation: increased Energy cost to 25, decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Ritual Lord: decreased Spirit recharge to 15...51...60%.
  • Shadowsong: increased Energy cost to 15.
  • Shelter: increased Energy cost to 25, increased damage taken to 75...51...45, decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Soothing: increased Energy to 25, decreased level to 1...7...8.
  • Spirit Burn: increased damage to 15|60, increased conditional damage to 15...39...45.
  • Spirit Light: decreased Energy cost to 5, increased Health sacrificed to 17%.
  • Spirit Light Weapon: Changed the way this skill worked to always heal for 1...8...10 Health per second, and an addition 1...8...10 Health if you are near a Spirit.
  • Spirit Rift: increased damage to 25...113...135.
  • Spirit Transfer: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
  • Splinter Weapon: decreased recharge time to 5 seconds.
  • Tranquil Was Tanasen: increased duration to 5...17...20.
  • Union: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Vital Weapon: decreased recharge time to 12 seconds.
  • Wailing Weapon: decreased recharge time to 25 seconds.
  • Wanderlust: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Weapon of Quickening: increased duration to 5...21...25.
  • Wielder's Boon: increased conditional amount healed to 15...63...75.

Warrior[edit]

Update - Friday September 8, 2006[edit]

Update - Wednesday September 6, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that prevented some players from making purchases in the online store.

Update - Tuesday September 5, 2006[edit]

  • Completed the weekend event and restored the Heroes Ascent party size to 8.

Update - Friday September 1, 2006[edit]



Update 2 - Thursday August 31, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday August 31, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday August 18, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday August 17, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Added a Kurzick Recruiter and a Luxon Diplomat to the Great Temple of Balthazar. These NPCs are able to transport PvP characters to the Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry outposts. They also are able to transport roleplaying characters who have previously visited these outposts.
  • Added Zaishen Representatives to the Fort Aspenwood and Jade Quarry outposts. These NPCs are able to transport players to the Great Temple of Balthazar.
  • Made preparations for this weekend's double faction event in Jade Quarry and Fort Aspenwood.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented party size indicators from appearing over players' heads in outposts.
  • Fixed a bug in the Kaanai Canyon Alliance Battle map that allowed Kurzick team members to leave their base before the game had started.
  • Fixed bugs and made improvements to the Raisu Palace explorable area.
  • Fixed a bug in the appearance of the intoxication effect.

Skill Updates[edit]

  • Modified Edge of Extinction so that creatures must have less than 90% Health remaining in order to be affected.

Update - Saturday August 12, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday August 11, 2006[edit]

  • Made preparations for this week's Double-Your-Fun Weekend event.
  • Fixed a bug that caused sound to drop out on some sound cards.

Update - Friday August 4, 2006[edit]

  • Modified henchmen respawn behavior in PVP battles. Henchmen with 60% Death Penalty will not respawn when they die.
  • Fixed a bug in Elite missions that caused rare items to drop less frequently than intended during the Elite Weekend event.

Update 2 - Thursday August 3, 2006[edit]

  • Made preparations for the upcoming Elite Weekend event.
  • Fixed a bug that caused some clients to crash during Elite missions.
  • Eased excessive messaging filter restrictions for party chat, guild chat, and whispers. Restrictive filters for these forms of chat were inadvertently reintroduced in the previous update.

Update - Thursday August 3, 2006[edit]

  • Returned Zaishen Supply Masters to the Great Temple of Balthazar. The Supply Masters will remain until August 7, 12:01am (Pacific daylight time).
  • Fixed a bug that caused crackling sounds and static on some sound cards.
  • Added support for additional European credit cards to the online store.

Update - Tuesday August 1, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Restored the original cycle of maps to the Random and Team Arenas now that the Nightfall PvP Preview Event is over.
  • Added new guild emblems based on winning concepts from the recent Factions Guild Emblem Contest.
  • Fixed a bug that caused henchmen and certain NPCs to run incorrectly into the midst of combat.
  • Fixed a bug that caused Obsidian Keys and Phantom Keys to stop dropping in the Fissure of Woe and the Underworld.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed players to earn Gladiator Title points in Zaishen arenas.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented teams smaller than 4 from entering the Team Arena.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some teams from entering the Heroes' Ascent tournament.
  • Fixed a bug that caused some players to crash during cinematics.
  • Removed all PvP spears and scythes from player inventories.

Skill Updates[edit]

  • Assassin's Promise: no longer recharges the caster's skills when the caster dies.
  • Restored the following skills to their normal behavior now that the Nightfall PvP Preview Event is over:



Update - Friday July 28, 2006[edit]

  • Updated the store so that Europeans no longer need to enter a state.
  • Reduced the restrictiveness of the excessive messaging filter for party chat, guild chat and whispers.
  • Updated the appearance of party member health bars so that they no longer overlap.

Update - Thursday July 27, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Updated the list of available PVP character templates to include the templates designed by the Esoteric Warriors guild.
  • Added key bindings for the following game functions: Drop Item, Follow, Suppress Action, Zoom In, and Zoom Out.
  • Modified cinematics so that minions no longer decay and mission time no longer elapses while cinematics are playing.
  • Updated the Trade dialog to reduce the likelihood of a common scam. The Trade dialog now displays a message whenever the trade offer is modified.
  • Added a secondary profession changer to the Great Temple of Balthazar.
  • Added a Championship Trophy to the Great Temple of Balthazar.
  • Moved the positions of the Xunlai Agents in the Great Temple of Balthazar.
  • Updated the appearance of the Guild roster. Invitations are now issued from within the invitee and guest lists, and the number of online and total members is displayed for each guild rank.
  • Updated the appearance of the Options dialog. Option settings are now divided into tabbed categories.
  • Updated the art used for Health bars.
  • Added a new effect that desaturates screen colors when your character is dead.

Skill Updates[edit]

  • Arcane Mimicry: added a restriction so that it cannot be used on Elite Dervish Form skills.
  • Consume Soul: updated to match its description. The caster must target and touch a Spirit.

Temporary Skill Balance Changes[edit]

The following skill balance changes will be in effect only during the Nightfall PvP preview event:

  • Balthazar's Aura: reduced duration to 8 seconds.
  • Divine Boon: increased recharge time to 10 seconds.
  • Zealot's Fire: increased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Increased earshot range to the radius of the Danger Zone (the inner white circle on the mini-map radar).

Update - Monday July 25, 2006[edit]

Update - Monday July 24, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Pets now receive a Morale Boost when the team they are on earns a Morale Boost.
  • New character sorting options are available on the character selection screen.

Amended Update Notes for July 13[edit]

  • Updated Ranger pets to acquire Death Penalty when they die. This currently applies on PvP maps only.
  • Updated the wording of Shouts to use the phrase "within earshot". This is not a change to how the skills work. It is only meant as a clarification of how large their range is. The size keywords for area-of-effect skills are now:
    • Adjacent: Melee attack range.
    • Nearby: One and a half times Adjacent range.
    • In the Area: Two times Adjacent range.
    • Within Earshot: Three times Adjacent range.

Update - Friday July 14, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday July 13, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Imperial Supply Master Kagno is no longer stationed in Shing Jea Monastery.
  • Added a crafting material storage upgrade for the Xunlai Agent storage vault. To purchase the upgrade, visit one of the new Xunlai Representatives in Shing Jea Monastery or Kaineng Center. (PvP characters gain access to the crafting material storage once any roleplaying character on the account purchases it.)
  • Added the ability to split stacks of inventory items. Holding the Shift key while dragging a stack of items allows you to "split off" a portion of the stack before moving it.
  • Modified the algorithm that causes the alliance battle line to shift. A faction that pushes into enemy territory will temporarily gain a "momentum bonus" that helps it drive the battle line further into enemy territory.
  • Added support for EAX audio when sound quality is set to maximum.
  • Modified the Burning Isle guild battle map so that Flame Cursed Sentinels are now Lesser Flame Sentinels. Lesser sentinels are vulnerable to all Conditions, do not heal when out of combat, and slowly die on their own in the first 25 minutes of the match.
  • Updated Mesmer Courtly and Virtuoso armor sets so that the +15 armor bonus applies only to the piece the bonus is on, not to the entire body. The bonus is now active whenever the equipping character activates any skill (not just spells).
  • Updated Warrior Ascalon and Knight's armor sets so that the damage reduction applies only when the corresponding location of the body is struck. The damage reduction applies only to physical damage, and the amount of reduced damage was increased from 2 to 3.
  • Updated shields, armors, and runes with damage reduction abilities so that they only reduce physical damage.
  • Increased the inherent armor level on all unique (green text), promotional, crafted, and collector shields so that they behave the same way as other shields when the characters equipping them do not meet the necessary attribute requirement.
  • Updated all Ascalon Bows so that they now include their bow type in the name.
  • Raised the armor penetration bonus for the following promotional items: Bonecrusher, Bear's Sloth, Rhino's Sloth, and Rhino's Charge.
  • Raised the conditional Energy bonus on the following promotional items: Quicksilver, Unicorn's Wrath, Peacock's Wrath, and Luminescent Scepter.
  • Raised the conditional damage reduction on the following promotional items: Bronze Guardian, Hog's Gluttony, Spiders Gluttony[sic], and Serrated Shield.
  • Removed the increased attack rate and decreased damage attributes from the fire wand found at the collector outside of Nolani Academy.
  • Reduced the chance to halve skill recharge time from 20% to 10% on Rockmolders dropped prior to the item being corrected.
  • Fixed bugs and made improvements to the following quests: The True King, A Monk's Mission, and A Second Profession.
  • Improved support for hardware acceleration on some low-end audio cards.
  • Fixed a bug that caused a number of skill sounds to play incorrectly as non-positional sounds.
  • Improved the pathing in the Sunjiang District explorable area and the Imperial Sanctum outpost.

Skill Updates[edit]

All Professions[edit]

  • Lowered the cap for Healing Reduction to 40%.*
  • Lowered the cap for Recharge Reduction to 50%.*
  • You can no longer be knocked down immediately after you respawn from a resurrection shrine.

*Note: like all reduction caps, these only affect the cap from multiple sources. Any single skill that exceeds this cap will still work. Thus, skills such as Lingering Curse or Ritual Lord still gain their full effect.

Assassin[edit]

Elementalist[edit]

Mesmer[edit]

Monk[edit]

  • Air of Enchantment: added a minimum 1 Energy cost; increased recharge time to 8 seconds.
  • Divine Spirit: now reduces energy cost for Monk spells, not all Monk skills.
  • Infuse Health: fixed a bug that occasionally caused it to execute without healing the target.
  • Life Sheath: now renews damage reduction when it is cast on a target that already has Life Sheath on it.
  • Signet of Rejuvenation: reduced recharge time to 8 seconds; increased the conditional heal to 15..75 Health.
  • Spell Shield: no longer disables skills more than once when renewed.

Necromancer[edit]

Ranger[edit]

Ritualist[edit]

  • Displacement: Changed the skill's description to match its behavior.
  • Draw Spirit: reduced cast time to .25 seconds.
  • Lamentation: increased the target's needed proximity to a corpse or Spirit to "in the area".
  • Wielder's Boon: increased conditional heal to 15..60 Health.

Warrior[edit]

Update - Friday July 7, 2006[edit]

  • Updated the Hall of Heroes so that 3 teams compete instead of 5, games take place every 6 minutes instead of every 12 minutes, and the winning team is awarded 2 Celestial Sigils instead of 3.
  • Updated the requirements to earn a Champion title. Fewer points are now required, and players receive a point for defeating any guild with 1200 or more rating points. Please note that points are earned only when the guild ladder season is open.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented some players from leaving the Dragon Arena.

Update - Wednesday July 5, 2006[edit]

Notice from Leifei[edit]

Attention fellow citizens of Cantha,

On behalf of Emperor Kisu, I extend warm thanks to all those who fought for the empire during the past few days. Though the Dragon Festival is a time of celebration for us, this year's holiday was marred by violence spurred on by demonic outsiders. It was only through the efforts of those willing to lay their lives down for the empire that the portals that spawned these vile beasts were torn asunder.

Let these past events serve as a reminder: no matter what adversities threaten to dismantle the Dragon Empire, we shall endure.

This marks the end of this year's Dragon Festival. Go in peace and prosperity. Long live the emperor!

- Captain Leifei

Other Updates[edit]



Update - Friday June 30, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that prevented Festival Tickets from being sold to merchants.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed Enduring Toxin to be reapplied at an exceptional rate.

Update - Thursday 29, 2006[edit]

Dragon Festival[edit]

The Dragon Festival has begun! Characters who wish to receive their Dragon Helm must collect 250 Jade Wind Orbs, which can be earned by undertaking quests, competing in the Dragon Arena, or taking part in the festival games. Emperor Kisu will honor us by appearing at the Shing Jea Monastery every 2 hours on the final day of the festival to reward those who have gathered 250 orbs. If you cannot attend the final day of the festival, take heart! The emperor has stationed an Imperial Supplymaster at the monastery, who will stay for a few days after the festival's end to give Dragon Helms to those who have gathered their 250 orbs.

Other Updates[edit]

Update - Wednesday June 28, 2006[edit]

Dragon Festival[edit]

Attention fellow citizens of Cantha,

On behalf of Emperor Kisu, it is my pleasure to announce this year's Dragon Festival, a five-day celebration of games, dance, drink, and revelry, where we commemorate the dawning of the Age of the Dragon and all those who helped to rebuild our great lands after the Jade Wind. Throughout the duration of the festival, citizens of our great empire convene at Shing Jea Monastery to socialize with others, partake in carnival activities, and amass collections of Jade Wind Orbs to be redeemed for special prizes. Fans of sport can flex their muscles in the Dragon Arena, where battle prowess and longevity are recognized and rewarded.

There will be no shortage of engaging entertainment, so we hope you make the journey to our lush island and join us in revelry.

Other Updates[edit]

  • Added two new quests for characters created in Cantha: The Minister's Test and Capturing the Orrian Tome.
  • Increased the minimum level restriction for alliance battles to 20.
  • Modified Gatekeepers and Master Architect Gunther so that they no longer leave their posts in the Fort Aspenwood competitive mission.
  • Made improvements to the following quest: Refuse to Drink.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused monsters to appear without any Health.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented cinematics from playing if one player in the party failed to load.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes caused guild thieves to die immediately after resurrecting at their base.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed the Retreat skill to activate in response to dead Spirits.
  • Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented mission goals from appearing properly.

Update - Saturday June 17, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that occasionally prevented the victory chest in the Hall of Heroes from dropping items.

Update - Friday June 16, 2006[edit]

  • Added Priests of Balthazar to all Alliance Battle outposts.
  • Added 4 new maps to the Random Arena and the Team Arena.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the caravan to stop moving in Gyala Hatchery.
  • Fixed bugs and made improvements to the following quest: The Shadow Blade.
  • Fixed the descriptions of several Ranger skills, which were displaying incorrect values after the last update.
  • Fixed a bug that caused henchmen to drop gold when they died.
  • Fixed a bug that caused monsters to drop loot even if your party had no part in killing them.
  • Fixed a bug in PvP that caused dead players to receive morale boosts for the deaths of opposing team members.

Update - Thursday June 15, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Added the winning items from a recent community contest to the game. (See The Scribe for more information.)
  • Added faction bonuses for individual kills in alliance battles and competitive missions. Each kill awards the team's members with 1 Luxon or Kurzick faction point and 3 Balthazar faction points.
  • Improved faction bonuses awarded at the end of an alliance battle. Both the winning and losing teams' members earn 2 Luxon or Kurzick faction points for each point scored during battle. The winning team's members receive an additional 250 Luxon or Kurzick faction points.
  • Improved faction bonuses awarded at the end of the Jade Quarry competitive mission. For each jade slab brought to a team's base, the team's members receive 40 Luxon or Kurzick faction points. The winning team's members receive an additional 250 Luxon or Kurzick faction points.
  • Improved faction bonuses awarded at the end of the Fort Aspenwood competitive mission. For each gate that was knocked down at least once, the Luxon team's members receive 80 Luxon faction points. For each percentage point of progress toward Gods' Vengeance, the Kurzick team's members receive 4 Kurzick faction points. The winning team's members receive an additional 250 Luxon or Kurzick faction points.
  • Added a confirmation dialog when attempting to sell an equipped or hot-keyed inventory item.
  • Corrected the levels of several NPCs in The Divine Path.
  • Updated the location of the dye trader in Kaineng Center.

Item Upgrades[edit]

Updates over the past several months have improved a number of weapons and armors; these updates applied only to newly generated items, not to items already in player inventories. This update applies past improvements to the following inventory items: Victo's Battle Axe, Drago's Flatbow, Stoneherder's Flatbow, Tarnok's Recurve Bow, the Bludgeoner, Flint's Wand, Korvald's Cane, Ivor's Smiting Rod, Brimstone Wand, Gordac's Needle, Bortak's Bone Claw, Ritualist Shaman's Obsidian Armor, Elementalist Aeromancer's Armor, Elementalist Geomancer's Armor, Elementalist Hydromancer's Armor, Elementalist Pyromancer's Armor, Warrior Knight's Armor, Warrior Ascalon Armor, Warrior Dragon Armor, Warrior Platemail Armor, Monk Censor's Armor, Monk Judge's Armor, Monk Wanderer's Armor, Monk Sacred Armor, Monk Saintly Armor, and Mesmer Rogue's Armor.

Update - Friday June 9, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday June 2[edit]

  • Opened alliance chat to all members of the alliance, not just guild officers.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players from sending alliance chat messages while observing a game.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented players on the ignore list from being correctly ignored in guild and alliance chat.

Update - Thursday June 1[edit]

General Updates[edit]

Skill Balance Changes[edit]

All Professions[edit]

  • Shadow stepping no longer moves you farther than the radius of the radar.
  • Soul Reaping now only gives half Energy from Spirits.
  • Updated the Victory or Death path for all NPCs on all guild halls so that the NPCs now spread out at the flag stand.
  • Adjusted the flag spawn locations on all guild halls to be equal distance from the flag stand.

Assassin[edit]

Mesmer[edit]

  • Stolen Speed: reduced casting time to 1 second; reduced recharge time to 3 seconds; corrected the wording on this skill.
  • Arcane Languor: increased duration to 1..8 seconds.

Elementalist[edit]

Monk[edit]

Warrior[edit]

  • Furious Axe: increased adrenaline gained when blocked to 3.
  • Auspicious Parry: increased recharge time to 2 seconds; decreased adrenaline gained to 1..4.
  • Signet of Strength: the number of attacks now update when reapplying this skill.

Ranger[edit]

  • Archer's Signet: the number of attacks now update when reapplying this skill.

Ritualist[edit]



Update - Monday May 29, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed an exploit that was allowing parties to enter guild battles with more than 8 players.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing Ghostly Heroes in the Unholy Temples to refuse relics.

Update - Friday May 26, 2006[edit]

Update - Tuesday May 23, 2006[edit]

Update - Friday May 19, 2006[edit]

Update - Wednesday May 17, 2006[edit]

Update - Wednesday May 10, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that was preventing some players from completing the Aurios Mines mission.

Update - Tuesday May 9, 2006[edit]

Update - Monday May 8, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday May 4, 2006[edit]



Update - Thursday April 27, 2006[edit]

Note From Togo[edit]

Pahbahzhen, Brother Mhenlo,

Our worst fears have been realized. A plague is spreading across Cantha the likes of which I have never seen nor even imagined. Our healers have found no way to combat this affliction, and all our attempts to learn of previous outbreaks in the imperial archives or through consultation with the spirits of the dead have proven fruitless.

Truly, Mhenlo, I have never known a monk with a greater gift for healing, and though you are young, you have traveled far and wide. I would not ask this of you for myself, for I know full well that the last few years have shown you more than enough misery and strife, yet I do ask. I ask you to come and lend us your insight.

I ask in the name of all you love and remember about Cantha. The sweeping grandeur of Shing Jea Isle. The towering spectacle of Kaineng City. The breathtaking majesty of the Jade Sea. The dark beauty of the Echovald Forest. And, of course, all of us who have been proud to call you friend these many years. Return to us, Brother Mhenlo. We need you.

Master Togo 27 Suzhen, 1582

Cantha Awaits[edit]

The great continent of Cantha is now open to all accounts that have an active Guild Wars Factions key.

  • New Canthan characters may now be created using any of the six core professions or the two unique Factions professions, the Assassin and Ritualist.
  • Factions characters created for the Factions Preview Event may be used once again, though they have had their items, skills and levels reset.
  • Factions skills may be used in PvP once again and may be unlocked on the Priest of Balthazar.

On accounts with both Guild Wars Factions and Guild Wars Prophecies, players may take characters back and forth between the continents of Cantha and Tyria. The first journey to a new continent must be done through a quest. After that, characters may travel quickly and easily using the Ship Travel icon on the world map.

Updates[edit]

  • The Day of the Tengu event has come to a close.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented guild scrimmages while a guild battle or another guild scrimmage was underway. There is no limit to the number of guild scrimmages a guild may conduct at one time. Guild scrimmages do not prevent a guild from participating in a guild battle.
  • Ensured that all monster-dropped uncommon and rare armor pieces have the appropriate runes.
  • Introduced a new command: /resign. This command allows a team to forfeit a mission as a group. All party members must type "/resign" for it to take effect.

Update - Wednesday April 26, 2006[edit]

Note From Togo[edit]

Pahbahzhen, Brother Mhenlo,

Today marks five years since you completed your studies with us and returned to your homeland in the distant northern kingdoms. You were one of the last Tyrian students I trained. Therefore I want you to be among the first Tyrians to learn that, although Shing Jea Monastery remains closed to foreign students, our noble emperor has reopened the port at Kaineng Center to ships of every nation. Trade and travel between Tyria and Cantha are once more returning to something resembling normalcy. And it is with even greater hope that I look upon this year's crop of new students at our humble monastery. It has been some time since I have seen such a promising group of young Canthans so eager to take up the mantle of the hero.

At long last, we have forged what I believe is a permanent peace between the Tengu and the humans of Cantha. The last of the Tengu Wars, which you saw for yourself when you trained here, has been over for almost a year now. Emperor Kisu has declared a day of celebration marking the one-year anniversary of the peace treaty, and I would invite you to join us if you are able (though I certainly understand if you are not, with the troubles Tyria has recently faced).

And yet, I am troubled. In my many years, I have learned to trust my instincts, and my instincts tell me that despite peace breaking out from Shing Jea Island to the Canthan mainland, my homeland stands on the verge of dark times. There is talk of a strange disease that strikes the remote settlements, and the piratical cultists of the Crimson Skull grow bolder by the day. The two warring vassal factions—the Kurzicks and Luxons—have been brought to the negotiating table through Emperor Kisu’s efforts, but I cannot help but feel that the two sides are not sincere. The emperor is hopeful, and I serve his wishes, but each faction seems to see only the immediate threat posed by their lifelong enemies. My instincts tell me that their conflict, if it continues, only serves to aid this dark force I cannot yet name.

Be watchful, my young friend. Though you call Tyria your home, Cantha may soon need your help.

Master Togo 23 Suzhen, 1582

Welcome to Cantha[edit]

Travel to and from Cantha[edit]

In order to travel to Cantha for the first time, a Prophecies character must take the "Mhenlo's Request" quest from Firstwatch Sergio in Lion's Arch. Following the quest steps will unlock ship travel to Cantha for that character. Your account must have an active Guild Wars Factions key or Guild Wars Factions Preorder key in order to travel to Cantha.

Similarly, in order to travel to Tyria for the first time, a Factions character must take the "Chaos in Kryta" quest from Guardsman Chienpo in Kaineng Center. Following the quest steps will unlock ship travel to Tyria for that character. Your account must have an active Guild Wars Prophecies key in order to travel to Tyria.

As always, PvP-Only Characters cannot leave the Battle Isles.

Day of the Tengu[edit]

Players using the Guild Wars Factions Preorder key for early access may travel to Shing Jea Monastery and talk to the Master of Celebrations to take part in a special event called the Day of the Tengu. Native Canthan characters will find their way to the monastery very quickly. Characters coming from Tyria will need to take the following steps:

Features[edit]

Alliances[edit]

Alliances will not be available until the official launch of Guild Wars Factions on April 28th.

Titles[edit]

Players will now be able to earn titles, which can be shown to other players. Use the Titles tab in the Hero panel to select a title for display. Only titles toward which you have made any progress will appear in the list.

Titles apply to a single character or a whole account, as appropriate. A player can display only one title at a time but may earn any number of titles. Many titles have multiple levels, with each new level indicating an increasingly difficult level of achievement.

Sample Titles:

  • Canthan Explorer. You must explore 60% of Cantha to earn the first level of this title. (Character based.)
  • Skill Hunter. You must capture 90 Elite skills to earn the first level of this title. (Character based.)
  • Gladiator. You must have 25 win-streaks of 10 consecutive wins in the Random Arenas maps to earn the first level title. (Account based.)
  • Champion. You must win 50 high-rated GvG battles to earn the first level of title. (Account based.)

Guild Services[edit]

A Guild Lord NPC now appears in guild halls outside of combat. Guild members may talk to this NPC to hire service NPCs for the guild.

Guild Scrimmages[edit]

Guilds now have the ability to fight scrimmage battles. Scrimmage battles occur between two groups in the same guild hall and do not count toward ladder standing. To initiate a scrimmage, a group of one or more players must initiate a guild battle and choose "initiate a scrimmage match." Any other group of one or more players in that guild hall may then choose to join the scrimmage battle, which will initiate after a short countdown.

User Interface[edit]

The general appearance of the user interface has been updated to mark the arrival of Guild Wars Factions. In addition, several new features have been added:

  • While zoomed-in, the world map now shows the names of all explorable areas your character has visited previously.
  • In addition to showing the map name, the large text that appears when you first enter a new map now features a second line indicating the type of the map and, if applicable, which alliance owns the map.
  • The Party window indicates if a member is out of compass range by dimming that character's name.
  • Health bars in the Party window and Target Display can now indicate when a character is under the effects of a Weapon Spell.
  • The icon that appears in the Party window when a party member calls a target now shows the hotkey to select the called target. (As always, hold down CTRL when attacking or using skills to call your target.)
  • New customizable targeting hotkeys have been added for Target Next Party Member, Target Previous Party Member, Target Party Members 9 –12. In smaller parties, these hotkeys will target NPCs in the Allies section of the Party Window.
  • Clicking on an enemy while holding a bundle item now causes you to follow that character instead of causing an error message.
  • Henchmen now sometimes chat during a mission. In outposts, players can talk to henchmen by double-clicking on them.

Skill Changes[edit]

The arrival of Assassins and Ritualists has caused many core professions to re-evaluate their skills. (Please note that the number ranges below, such as 3..8, are for attribute 0 to attribute 15.)

General[edit]

  • Signet of Capture: now gives 250 XP for each level you have when used to capture an Elite skill.
  • Without Death Magic, you can control no more than two undead servants. For every two ranks of Death Magic, you can control one additional undead servant.
  • The number of undead servants you control is now displayed.
  • Attempting to use a healing skill or to cast a Hex or Enchantment spell on a Spirit now causes a warning message to display.

Mesmer[edit]

Necromancer[edit]

  • Barbs: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Mark of Pain: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Weaken Armor: decreased recharge time to 20 seconds.
  • Unholy Feast: decreased cast time to .75 seconds.
  • Wither: increased Health degeneration to 2..4.
  • Verata's Sacrifice: decreased Enchantment duration to 5..10 seconds; increased recharge time to 60 seconds; skill now instantly recharges if you have 3 or fewer undead servants; this skill now only affects undead servants you control.
  • Blood of the Master: decreased Energy cost to 5; decreased recharge time to 2 seconds; decreased sacrifice to 5%; this skill now sacs 2% more Health per creature healed.
  • Animate Bone Minions: decreased Energy cost to 15..
  • Death Nova: this skill no longer damages the caster and the caster's allies when an uncontrolled creature with Death Nova dies.

Elementalist[edit]

Monk[edit]

Warrior[edit]

  • Mighty Blow: increased damage to 6..35.
  • Staggering Blow: increased Weakness duration to 5..20 seconds.
  • Axe Twist: decreased adrenaline cost to 7.
  • Skull Crack: increased attack speed to .5 seconds; decreased Dazed duration to 10 seconds
  • Savage Slash: increased Energy cost to 10; increased recharge time to 20; decreased attack speed to .5
  • Flourish: this skill now recharges Pet Attack skills.

Ranger[edit]

PvP NPC Changes[edit]

New Guild Battle NPCs have been recruited from Cantha for the remainder of the Guild Wars Factions Championship.

Guild Lord Upgrades[edit]

  • Weapons were upgraded to match standard PvP weapon damage.
  • The Guild Lord now deals a bonus damage against other NPCs (including the enemy Guild Lord and Thief).
  • Improved the Guild Lord's attribute assignment and equipped him with the following skills: Cyclone Axe, Cleave, Warrior's Cunning, and Power Shot.

Ghostly Hero[edit]

The Resurrection Priest now wields a Smiting staff instead of a hammer.

Armor Changes[edit]

New armor designs from Cantha have begun to influence armor crafters in Tyria. Existing armor sets will not be updated yet, but a means to upgrade existing level-20 armor for free will be provided in the near future.

Elementalist[edit]

  • Aeromancer's armor: now provides +10 armor vs. elemental damage and +10 armor vs. lightning damage.
  • Pyromancer's armor: now provides +10 armor vs. elemental damage and +10 armor vs. fire damage.
  • Hydromancer's armor: now provides +10 armor vs. elemental damage and +10 armor vs. water damage.
  • Geomancer's armor: now provides +10 armor vs. elemental damage and +10 armor vs. earth damage.

Mesmer[edit]

  • Rogue's armor: no longer provides less Energy than standard armor.

Monk[edit]

Warrior[edit]

Obsidian Armor[edit]

  • The word "obsidian" has been added to armor names, in accordance with the naming convention introduced in Guild Wars Factions. For example, the Monk leggings that provide additional armor against physical damage are now called "Judge's Obsidian Pants" instead of "Judge's Pants." (This change does not affect armor crafted prior to this update.)
  • Now includes new armor sets using the same statistics as armor only available in Cantha.
  • No longer includes multiple armor sets with the exact same appearance and attributes.

Weapons, Shields, and Focus Items[edit]

  • Significantly improved the quality of rare (gold) and uncommon (purple) items.
  • Restricted Vampiric and Zealous weapon components to occur only on rare weapons.
  • Upgraded Sundering weapon components to provide a maximum Armor Penetration of +20% (Chance: 20%).
  • Added weapons with +5 Energy to PvP-Only character creation.
  • Added weapons with +15% damage and -5 Energy to PvP-Only character creation.
  • Added weapons with +15% damage and -10 armor while attacking weapons to PvP-Only character creation.
  • Added new Focus items to PvP-Only character creation.
  • Improved bonuses on wands in the PvP-Only character creation screen to better match what is dropped by monsters.

Runes[edit]

  • Increased probability of finding Superior Vigor and Superior Absorption runes.
  • Changed new rare (gold) armor to only provide superior (gold) runes.
  • Changed new uncommon (purple) armor to only provide major (purple) runes.
  • As always, you must use an expert or superior salvage kit to extract a rune from armor. These changes will not affect loot that dropped prior to this update.

Miscellaneous[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that dramatically decreased the chance of finding uncommon and rare loot in explorable areas.

Update - Tuesday April 25, 2006[edit]

Note From Neiro[edit]

Fellow citizens of Tyria,

Due to growing violence between the Kurzick and Luxon refugees we have so graciously allowed to live in Kryta, we have been forced to take drastic measures to ensure your safety. We have purchased passage on separate ships to return the survivors from both groups to their homelands in Cantha until such time as they can learn to live in harmony. If they cannot do so there, they will not be given the opportunity to spread their strife here.

There will be two exceptions: Meika Ulrikar of the Kurzicks and Dalos Ekarus of the Luxons have requested that they be allowed to stay in Kryta and become citizens. After reviewing the situation, the Lionguard has granted this request—both shall be allowed to remain in Kryta as citizens of our land, being the only two (among many) who have found a way to stop fighting each other. Furthermore, they shall be granted property near the city of Lion's Arch as a gift for their willingness to overcome the ancestral hatreds that so darken the minds of their people. Treat them well, people of Tyria; they may be strangers in many ways, but they have chosen peace and must be shown we of Tyria respect that decision.

-Lionguard Neiro

General Updates[edit]

  • Added a Titles tab to the Hero panel. Full support for titles, including the display of titles to other players, will not be available until the release of Guild Wars Factions.
  • In PvP, the victorious players can no longer be killed after a battle ends. This prevents remaining effects, such as Disease or the Edge of Extinction Spirit, from wiping out a winning team after the battle has ended.
  • Improved quest marker support for destinations outside of the character's current map.
    • The zoomed-out world map now shows the location of the destination map.
    • The zoomed-in world map shows an arrow at the appropriate exit for the current map and displays the name of the destination map in green.
  • The entries in the Control Setup dialog box are now grouped by category. Categories and entries within each category are now sorted alphabetically.
  • Added DirectX 9 renderer support for anti-aliasing with GeForce 3 and 4 graphics cards.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented the maintained Enchantment Unyielding Aura from ending if its caster died.

Update - Wednesday April 19, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday April 6, 2006[edit]

Note From Neiro[edit]

Attention fellow citizens of Tyria,

As our new friends from the southern continent of Cantha have begun settling into their homes, we have received countless reports of violence raging between the Luxon and Kurzick factions within North Kryta Province and Nebo Terrace.

These societies are longtime enemies, and it appears their war has followed them onto our lands. We ask all citizens of Kryta to report any crimes, acts of violence or cruelty, or other disruptive public displays instigated by members of either faction. In the meantime, the Lionguard will investigate a peaceful resolution to the bloodshed.

-Lionguard Neiro

General Updates[edit]

  • Improved account management UI, making it simpler to add registration keys to existing accounts.
  • Fixed a bug that caused some users to experience intermittent audio dropouts.

Update - Monday April 3, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug causing some users to experience audio drop-outs of specific sounds.
  • Added new bonus items to support the new Guild Wars '06 Edition package in Europe.



Update - Wednesday March 29, 2006[edit]

Attention fellow citizens of Tyria,

You have no doubt gazed with sorrow upon the scores of refugees displaced by the terrible conflict raging in the southern lands of Cantha. Were it not for the noble efforts of hired heroes, these poor souls would be spending another cold night in filthy gutters.

Mukesh the Merciless and his vile undead horde have been purged from the grounds of Nebo Terrace. The Kurzick homeless are pitching camp there as I speak. Likewise, the ettin thugs led by the notorious—and odiferous—Smuush Fatfist have been quashed, making possible the Luxon settlement being built in North Kryta Province.

By order of the White Mantle, I declare both Nebo Terrace and North Kryta Province fit for habitation and trade.

-Lionguard Neiro

Update - Thursday March 23, 2006[edit]

Please join us for the three day Guild Wars Factions Preview Event, starting this Friday, March 24 at 8:01 AM GMT.

Overview[edit]

  • Two factions, the Luxons and Kurzicks, are engaged in a desperate struggle for control of the continent of Cantha. During this event weekend, players can create roleplaying characters in Cantha, join one of the two sides, and engage in battle for control of territory.
  • We are not yet allowing existing roleplaying characters from Tyria to travel across the ocean to Cantha, but during the preview event, new Factions Campign roleplaying characters created on the continent of Cantha will start at level 20, with high level armor and a wide variety of skills. (These preview characters are temporary, cannot travel off the continent of Cantha, and will be reset prior to the release of Guild Wars Factions.)
  • After creating a new Factions Campaign character, talk to Senji to choose your secondary profession, then talk to Master Togo who will guide you to the side of your choice.
  • A variety of quests and missions will allow you to gain faction with the Luxons or the Kurzicks. These include Competitive Missions, which allow two random teams of eight to square off in a strategic battle.
  • After gaining faction with the Luxons or Kurzicks, you can spend it for your own personal gain, or transfer it to your alliance to help your alliance gain standing with the Luxons or Kurzicks.
  • You can also participate in Alliance Battles to help the Luxons or Kurzicks gain territory. As a nation gains territory, it rewards those alliances that have the highest standing with that nation by granting them control of territory.

Faction Points[edit]

  • Each individual player earns Luxon or Kurzick faction by completing quests and participating in Competitive Missions and Alliance Battles.
  • The Luxons and the Kurzicks hate one another. If you have more of one faction than another, many NPCs of the opposing side will not speak to you.
  • You can talk to Faction Reward NPC, located in the Kurzick or Luxon capital, to spend faction for your own benefit. For this weekend, the only thing you can get is Amber or Jadeite, used to craft special armor sets.

Alliance Standing[edit]

  • An alliance is a collection of guilds, led by the guild leader that created the alliance. Each guild that isn't in a larger alliance is considered an alliance of one. (During this Factions Preview Event, forming alliances is not supported, so each guild is its own alliance.)
  • Form a guild (which is also an alliance) by talking to the Guild Registrar in the Marketplace. As always, forming a guild takes 100 gold, and players can be invited for 100 gold.
  • The alliance leader may talk to a Kurzick or Luxon Ambassador, located in the Kurzick or Luxon capital, to choose a side for his or her alliance. Doing so costs 500 gold.
  • Once an alliance has chosen a side, alliance members may talk to the Kurzick Scribe in House zu Heltzer (for Kurzick alliances) or Luxon Scribe in Cavalon (for Luxon alliances) to spend the appropriate faction to raise the standing of their Alliance. This is the only way for an alliance to gain standing and have an opportunity to be granted control of a territory.

Territory Control[edit]

  • The on-going war between the Luxons and the Kurzicks is most directly manifested in the form of Alliance Battles, which support 12 players (3 parties of 4 players each) per side.
  • To join an Alliance Battle simply talk to the Kurzick Kommandant in House zu Heltzer or the Luxon Navigator in Cavalon.
  • Every three hours, the nation that has won more Alliance Battles moves the battle lines and takes territory away from the opposing nation.
  • There are several potential Alliance Battle maps. Map layouts vary, but all the maps have the same goal: be the first side to reach 500 points. Points are gained by controlling strategic locations on the map and by killing enemies. Only one map is active at a time, depending on where the current battle lines are located. As the battle shifts deeper into Luxon or Kurzick territory, the Alliance Battles are biased to favor the losing side.
  • Control of territories is granted to the alliances with the highest standing. The best territories -- the ones closest to the capital city -- go to those with the very highest standing.
  • The resurrection shrine closest to a controlled outpost is guarded by Kurzick or Luxon NPCs matching the side that controls the outpost. Players not aligned to that side may not use the resurrection shrine unless they kill or bribe the guards.

Other Changes[edit]

  • Guild Wars Factions uses DirectX 9 if available for video rendering. Guild Wars will still continue to run on systems that have only DirectX 8 installed, but the new Factions content will look much better if DirectX 9 is available.
  • The PvP Character Creation interface now allows players to select the homeland of newly created characters. Canthan characters, which have a different visual appearance than existing Tyrian characters, are available to players who have access to Guild Wars Factions content.
  • The Hero Panel now displays faction earned with Luxons and Kurzicks for Factions Campaign roleplaying characters.
  • The Map Area window now displays the current state of key controllable resource points on certain competitive maps.
  • The skill casting interface has been improved so that attempting to cast a skill while running does not cause the skill to fail.
  • There is now a sigil trader in the International District of Heroes' Ascent.

Bug Fixes[edit]

  • Fixed the functionality of the Ritualist preorder staff Spiritbinder. Previously this staff was not giving the +10 energy bonus specified in its description. If you have preordered Guild Wars Factions and have an old nonfunctioning Spiritbinder staff, you can destroy it and then type "/preorder" to get a new one.
  • Fixed the Guild Lord and Ghostly Hero AI so that these characters no longer run away from where they should be standing. The Guild Lord and Ghostly Hero also now carry axes instead of swords, to justify their use of the skill Cyclone Axe.
  • Fixed the AI for the boss monster Maxine Coldstone so that she no longer unequips her bow while fighting at melee range.
  • Fixed a bug that was causing some parties to appear larger than they really were in outposts.

Update - Tuesday March 14, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that caused some users to experience sound dropouts.
  • Fixed a number of audio glitches and performance problems in the Fire Island Chain.
  • Fixed an issue that caused DirectSong to stop playing music after the first song.

Update 2 - Monday March 13, 2006[edit]

A note to players:

As you may be aware, we experienced some technical issues that resulted in the need to conduct an approximately one-hour roll-back of Guild Wars on Monday, March 13th. What prompted our decision to do the roll-back was the fact that the game economy was at risk, because during a brief window of opportunity, a huge number of items had been purchased for ridiculously low prices. This infusion of items into the economy would have devalued all the items in the game, and would have crippled the game economy.

We have an absolute commitment to take whatever means are necessary to protect the game economy, and by extension, to protect the items that you possess on your account. We apologize for any inconvenience that the roll-back may have caused.

We will continue to investigate the situation to assure that a repeat of today’s incident does not take place.

Thank you for your understanding, The Guild Wars Team

Update - Monday March 13, 2006[edit]

  • Corrected error in Heroes' Ascent map that prevented teams from progressing beyond the first level.

Update - Saturday March 11, 2006[edit]

  • We are continuing to prepare the game servers for the March 24 Factions Preview Event. To pre-stream all the latest Factions content to your hard drive in preparation for the event, you can simply leave your Guild Wars client running and sitting at the login screen.

Update - Friday March 10, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday, March 9 2006[edit]

General:[edit]

  • This week we are pre-streaming a lot of new Canthan maps and artwork to clients in preparation for the March 24 Factions Preview Event. As always, you can download new data in the background by just leaving your Guild Wars client running and sitting at the login screen.

Arena Combat Updates:[edit]

  • When players enter the Random Arenas through an International District, they will now be placed on teams consisting of other players who entered through an International District. Previously, players were always placed on teams with other players from their own territory.
  • Teams in both Random and Team Arenas can now be matched against opponents from anywhere in the world.

Guild Combat Updates:[edit]

  • Guild Lords will now walk instead of run out of the base at "Victory or Death!" to give their teams a better chance to keep up with them.
  • Updated NPCs in the Isle of the Dead guild hall map so that they will now patrol the low ground near the flag at "Victory or Death."

Skill Training Updates:[edit]

Skill Updates:[edit]

Item Updates:[edit]

Map and Quest Updates:[edit]

AI Updates:[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that caused Henchmen and pets to be left behind or to run back to their original locations after cinematics.
  • Updated AI so that creatures and Henchmen no longer try to heal or enchant Spirits.

Audio Updates:[edit]

  • Improved the performance of the game's audio engine.
  • Added a new slider to the Game Options panel to adjust sound playback quality.
  • Added support for DirectX 3D sound (DS3D) hardware acceleration.

User Interface Updates:[edit]

  • Added a "Sort by Campaign" option to all skill lists.
  • Added the ability to access the options panel (F11) or to logout (F12) from pre-game screens such as character selection and creation.
  • Added the ability to customize the position of the mission goals pop-up window using the Customize Layout interface.
  • Updated the Guild Roster page to display the guild's home territory.
  • Fixed party size numbers shown over the heads of party leaders so that the count includes Henchmen.
  • Fixed a bug that caused the district selection control to lock up when a player canceled party travel, or when a non-leader chose not to leave his party after acknowledging that he did wish to leave the current district.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented detached start menu items from being correctly hidden during cinematics.
  • Fixed the display of skills that are unavailable due to being in a campaign that the player doesn't own. Previously, if such a skill was an adrenaline skill, the skill's adrenaline charge state would override the unavailable state.

Update - Friday March 3, 2006[edit]

Fixed the following newly introduced bugs:

  • The skill Bull's Charge was knocking down moving foes when used with any type of weapon, not only with melee weapons.
  • The skill Fevered Dreams was incorrectly spreading Conditions to allies of both the caster and target, rather than just enemies of the caster as specified in the skill description.
  • The skill Warrior's Endurance did not correctly match its description in the update notes.
  • Monsters were not responding to damage taken from the skill Balthazar's Aura.
  • Certain elite skills, such as Peace and Harmony and Blood is Power, could not be captured using a Signet of Capture.
  • Kepkhet Marrowfeast was neglecting to guard her nest.
  • The Party Window was periodically failing to display certain team allies such as Bodyguards.
  • The Skill Monitor was not correctly displaying skill interruption.

Update - Thursday March 2, 2006[edit]

General Updates[edit]

  • Updated Adrenaline behavior so that death removes all Adrenaline.
  • Updated Exhaustion behavior so that if you cast an Exhaustion spell while your maximum energy is below 10, your maximum energy can be reduced to below zero.
  • Fixed a bug that allowed attack speeds to stack past 33%.
  • Fixed a bug that prevented attack debuffs from reducing a target more than 33% (maximum is 50%).
  • Fixed a bug that kept speed boosts from having an effect on you if you had a debuff slowing you by 50%.
  • You are no longer considered "attacking," "using a skill," or "casting a spell" while you are running to get in range of a target.
  • Fixed a bug that caused attack skills with non-weapon attributes to calculate damage and critical hit chance incorrectly.
  • Clarified various skill descriptions.

Equipment Updates[edit]

  • Added two +30 Health, Received Damage -5 (Chance: 20%) shields to the PvP character creation screen; updated monster drops to make the Received Damage -5 (Chance: 20%) drop possible.
  • Shields on the PvP character creation screen with the "while Hexed" bonus now have +60 Health and -3 damage reduction.
  • Reduced the Lieutenant's Helm Hex duration bonus to 20%, and added it to the PvP character creation screen.
  • Increased the Monk’s PvP Ascetic Leg Design to +2 Energy to match the armor bought off of vendors.
  • Increased the PvP hammer with additional damage while hexed to 20%.

Mesmer[edit]

Necromancer[edit]

  • Offering of Blood Offering of Blood: increased sacrifice to 20%.
  • Unholy Feast Unholy Feast: reduced number of targets affected to 1..4; increased damage to 10..65; reduced recharge to 20 seconds.
  • Enfeebling Blood Enfeebling Blood: reduced recharge to 5 seconds; reduced sacrifice to 10%.
  • Chilblains Chilblains: Poison now only lasts 10 seconds.
  • Deathly Chill Deathly Chill: increased unconditional damage to 5..50; decreased conditional damage to 5..35.
  • Shadow of Fear Shadow of Fear: reduced recharge time to 5 seconds.
  • Plague Sending Plague Sending: reduced cast time to 1 second; increased recharge time to 5 seconds; fixed a bug that caused this skill to transfer default durations instead of remaining duration.
  • Blood Renewal Blood Renewal: fixed a bug that allowed the heal to heal twice when stacked.
  • Insidious Parasite Insidious Parasite: fixed a bug that prevented the numbers from displaying.
  • Mark of Subversion Mark of Subversion and Soul Leech Soul Leech: changed their damage from normal to life stealing to match their skill descriptions.
  • Order of the Vampire Order of the Vampire: no longer triggers if you have other Necromancer Enchantments on you.

Elementalist[edit]

Monk[edit]

Warrior[edit]

  • Eviscerate Eviscerate: increased adrenaline cost to 8 swings.
  • "I Will Avenge You!" "I Will Avenge You!": reduced attack speed to 25%; fixed a bug that caused this skill to trigger off of dead ally minions.
  • Thrill of Victory Thrill of Victory: decreased recharge time to 8 seconds.
  • Bull's Strike Bull's Strike: now triggers on moving instead of fleeing.
  • Defensive Stance Defensive Stance: increased duration to 5..20 seconds.
  • Crude Swing Crude Swing: increased damage to 1..20.
  • Shield Bash Shield Bash: Skill reworked. "The next attack skill against you is blocked. If the attack was a melee attack skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 15 seconds, and the attacker is knocked down."
  • "Shields Up!" "Shields Up!": now blocks 50% of the time.
  • Defy Pain Defy Pain: decreased adrenaline cost to 6 swings.
  • Protector's Strike Protector's Strike: reduced swing time to .5 seconds; increased recharge time to 3 seconds.
  • Griffon's Sweep Griffon's Sweep: increased damage to 5..20.
  • Deflect Arrows Deflect Arrows: now ends only when you successfully hit with an attack.
  • Warrior's Endurance Warrior's Endurance: increased duration to 10..23 seconds.
  • Dwarven Battle Stance Dwarven Battle Stance: now also increases attack speed by 10%.
  • Disciplined Stance Disciplined Stance: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Wary Stance Wary Stance: reduced recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Riposte Riposte: increased damage to 20..80.
  • Deadly Riposte Deadly Riposte: increased damage to 15..75.
  • Shield Stance Shield Stance: decreased recharge time to 45 seconds.
  • Flurry Flurry: fixed a bug that reduced your damage more than 25%.
  • Thrill of Victory Thrill of Victory: fixed a bug that caused you to gain a little bit of Health when you hit with the attack.
  • Gash Gash: fixed a bug that caused this skill to deal its damage twice; increased damage to 5..20.
  • Bull's Charge Bull's Charge: now triggers on moving foes instead of fleeing foes.

Ranger[edit]

Guild Battle Updates[edit]

  • Added silver and gold trims for the guild capes of tournament season winners and runners-up.
  • Improved the paths that guild NPCs take when running out of their guild hall during Victory or Death.

Map and Quest Updates[edit]

User Interface Updates[edit]

  • Expanded availability of Japanese language support to include non-Japanese accounts.
  • Fixed a target calling bug that prevented secondary called targets from being promoted to the primary called target when the previous primary called target expired.
  • Fixed several bugs that caused the incorrect display of Energy.
  • Changed the color of GM chat text from green to purple.



Update - Tuesday February 28, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed unlocking of arenas so that the Team Arenas are unlocked for new accounts after five consecutive wins in the Random Arenas. Previously they were incorrectly unlocked after six consecutive wins.

Update - Friday February 10, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday February 9, 2006[edit]

Update - Monday February 6, 2006[edit]

  • Added Traditional Chinese translations in preparation for today's launch of Guild Wars in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
  • Fixed a recently introduced bug that players could exploit to attack their own teammates.
  • Fixed a problem that could cause players to get redirected to International Districts after playing in an Arena battle.



Update - Thursday January 26, 2006[edit]

Update - Monday January 23, 2006[edit]

  • Fixed a bug that was making it impossible to complete the Iron Mines of Moladune mission.
  • Repaired teleporters in the Nomad's Isle Guild Battle map.
  • Removed challenges that were incorrectly added to some players' quest logs.
  • Fixed several crash bugs.

Update - Friday January 20, 2006[edit]

  • Improved the visual appearance of the Battle Isles world map.
  • Provided Free-For-All Weekend demo users with the ability to use prebuilt PvP characters without skill restrictions, and also with the ability to unlock skills from the original campaign.
  • Fixed a bug that was preventing players from earning Faction by killing NPCs and players in Guild Battles.
  • Fixed map travel issues that could temporarily redirect players into the wrong districts.
  • Fixed a problem with the skill "Flesh of My Flesh" ignoring "Frozen Soil."
  • Fixed a crash bug with the Assassin skill "Recall," and miscellaneous other crash bugs.

Update 2 - Thursday January 19, 2006[edit]

Update - Thursday January 19, 2006[edit]

Note From Kuro[edit]

Attention citizens,

The Tomb of the Primeval Kings has been overrun by the enemies of Balthazar. The Zaishen Order recognizes that many of you may wish to help conquer this foe. While this is admirable, only those truly devoted to the teachings of Balthazar should attempt to enter the Tombs.

Those wishing to become as great as we, the Zaishen, should take heart. Members of our order await your arrival at the Great Temple of Balthazar. We will train you in the ways of war, so you may continue the personal squabbles that seem to consume so much of your daily routine.

If you truly wish to better yourself, take the ship to the Great Temple, and hone your skills with the Zaishen.

May the blessings of Balthazar follow you on your journey.

-Commander Kuro of the Zaishen Order

Guild Wars Factions Free-For-All PvP Weekend[edit]

With this update, we roll out the first parts of Guild Wars Factions, including the new login and character selection/creation screens, boat travel between continents, and a weekend sneak preview of the two new professions. (The weekend event lasts from Friday January 20 8:00 am GMT to Monday January 23 7:59 am GMT.)

All high-level PvP has been moved to the Battle Isles, which can be reached using the ship off the coast of Lion's Arch. On the Battle Isles, you'll find a new explorable area with Training Arenas, NPCs who can help you test all aspects of your character's build, updates to existing PvP Arenas, and all-new Zaishen Challenges, where you and your friends can practice against teams of computer AI opponents. All of this content is now organized into a natural progression, so that players can experience the basics of PvP before moving on to advanced challenges.

New Computer AI Challenges[edit]

  • Training Arenas: a series of four maps designed to teach the basics of PvP and Arena Combat. Beat all four maps to unlock the Zaishen Challenge on your account.
  • Zaishen Challenge: an Arena where you can play the computer AI team of your choice on the map of your choice. Beat five different computer AI teams to unlock the Zaishen Elite Challenge.
  • Zaishen Elite Challenge: the ultimate AI challenge. See how far you can get in a series of random Arena matches against increasingly difficult AI teams.

New Unlocking of Existing PvP Types[edit]

  • Win five-in-a-row in the Random Arenas to unlock the Team Arenas on your account. (Existing accounts have the Team Arenas unlocked already.)
  • Win five total games in the Team Arenas to unlock the Tournament (Heroes' Ascent) on your account. (Existing accounts have the Tournament unlocked already.)

Changes to Guild Combat Mechanics[edit]

Miscellaneous Improvements[edit]

  • When a party leader uses Map Travel in a town or outpost, his entire party travels with him to the new map.
  • During PvP matches, the Party window now displays your team color.
  • Skill icons for Enchantment and Hex spells are now displayed with a small marker in their upper-right corner.
  • Text descriptions and icons of various magic item upgrades have been improved.
  • The location and visibility of hint popup windows can now be modified using the Customize Layout interface.

Miscellaneous Fixes[edit]

  • Ghosts in The Underworld are no longer considered fleshy and will not leave exploitable corpses.

Update - Friday January 13, 2006[edit]

Please do not be alarmed.

Though the strange occurrences you are witnessing outside the Tomb of the Primeval Kings have not, as of yet, been fully explained, we, the Zaishen Order, are here to provide for your safety.

Be advised: Those who dare approach the entrance to the Tombs in the coming days risk great peril. You would do well to leave this matter to the trained Zaishen experts who are already hard at work. We will not interfere with your comings and goings if you do not interfere with ours.

As a service of Balthazar you have been notified.

-Commander Kuro of the Zaishen Order.

Update - Friday January 06, 2006[edit]

Another Wintersday has come to a close,
And the sun shines anew.
The Grentchies have been banished again,
And Dwayna has smiled upon you.

Happy New Year!!!

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