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Rin wrote on 2012-11-15 17:29
Official page for the Lost Shores update:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/november-2012/#the-lost-shores
Quote from Massively:
We're just days away from Guild Wars 2's next big content patch and special event. So far the Lost Shores have been shrouded in mystery. Will the shores ever be found? Who lost them? Exactly how absent-minded does one have to be to misplace an entire shore?
There are other, more pragmatic mysteries too. What is the content update all about? What can we expect? What sort of name do you give to a race of evil, bow-legged crustaceans? Happily, we're equipped to shed a little light on all those and more. Read on for our Lost Shores content primer!
Timeline
Everything starts, as we've known for some time, on November 15th. While the Lost Shores event itself won't begin until Friday, Thursday will see the introduction of the patch and the beginning of the free friend referral period. The Lost Shores event kicks off on Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST, and the finale event begins on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST. The event and trial weekend will end Sunday evening.
Once the event is over, we'll still have access to oodles of stuff, like the new dungeon, zone, and PvP map.
Low-level characters and friends recruited for the free trial weekend will be able to take advantage of side-kicking to play level 80 content for the course of the weekend, since the whole goal is to allow them to see all the cool stuff. Side-kicking is not one of the things that will be lingering on after the weekend is over, so be sure to take advantage of it while you can.
The Lost Shores
The one-time Lost Shores event is the belle of the ball, despite all the other content coming in, so let's talk about that first.
The Lost Shores is all about the karka, a race of new-to-us foes from the depths of the sea. After being driven to their surface from their murky hives, the karka settled in Southsun Cove until the Consortium, a merchant outfit from Lion's Arch, got all up in their wheelhouse. Now it's up to players to resolve a grudge match between the karka and basically everyone else.
Aside from being a new type of foe, the karka also bring in new mechanics and skills. Part of the event will involve players racing around Tyria to try to figure out how to damage these baddies. You see, as they mature, karka develop a nigh-impenetrable outer shell, which players will have to get through to start doing meaningful damage. ArenaNet has put in some fancy new shaders to make the effects of damage more visible; as players chip away at the karka, they'll see bits and pieces of shell and armor falling off.
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/betapvpmap-1352663266.jpg]
Temple of the Silent Storm
PvP players rejoiced to hear about a new sPvP map that'll be debuting in this patch. This map takes place on one of the Kodan's floating sanctuaries. Called the Temple of the Silent Storm, the location is the Kodan's place of meditation and training. This iceberg map will be "very vertical." Players moving through the rooms of the dojo will find buffs to meditate on and a powerfull boss; killing that boss will result in the killing team gaining ownership of all the capture points in the map.
Fractals of the Mists
ArenaNet's Colin Johanson briefly introduced the brand-new dungeon as one that gets more challenging the farther in you go. Conventional wisdom would suggest that that's nearly always the case, but Johanson left out a key detail: In the Fractals of the Mists dungeon, you can go indefinitely farther in.
The Fractals of the Mists is made up of nine mini-dungeons, each with its own story and environment. A party of five will enter the dungeon and be faced with a random set of three of these dungeons at a time. Upon completing those three, the party will be transported to a hub to rest, repair, and merch -- and the difficulty scale for the dungeon will be raised. Every time the difficulty scale is at an even number, players will face a special boss encounter.
With great challenges come great rewards. The patch will introduce ascended items. Ascended armors are "slightly more powerful than exotics" and can, in some cases, hold slots for infusions. Infusions will allow you to increase your character's power. Guild Wars players are familiar with infusing armor, although I'll be my hat that the process doesn't involve creepy Seers this time 'round.
Source:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/11/12/guild-wars-2s-lost-shores-content-primer/
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Rin wrote on 2012-11-15 17:30
Quote from Massively:
Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores update is just around the corner -- that is, if you can consider nighttime to be a corner. What I'm trying to say is that Lost Shores goes live tomorrow. We brought you a content primer a couple of days ago to give you the basics of what's going on. Now it's time to take a closer look at what's to come.
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/ssc01.jpg]
Getting started
Things are going to kick off for real on Friday at 3:00 p.m. EST. You'll want to be in Lion's Arch if you want to get in on the action. If you haven't looked around lately, there are some new (as of the beginning of this month) structures, posters, and NPCs roundabout the Claw Island Portage waypoint just West of Fort Marriner. That'll be a happenin' spot on Friday because it's where the karka invasion will begin. Players (of all levels) will have to rally to the defense of Lion's Arch and beat off the karka en masse. In addition to fighting off the beasties, you'll need to start helping Research Assistant Bardus by bringing him karka bits that you've hacked off the young'uns.
Once the karka have been beaten back, research begins in earnest. Over the next day or so, you'll be flitting about Tyria to aid Head Researcher Levvi and Inspector Ellen Kiel as they gather information about this threat from the deeps. The tricky thing about karka, you see, is that they've got a nearly impenetrable outer shell that matures as they age. While stomping out some of the hatchlings and young karka isn't a serious problem for a mighty explorer such as yourself, the big ones are going to require something special -- and it's up to you to figure out what!
Armed with the knowledge of how to defeat these crustacean horrors, you'll find it's time to take the fight to the karka! That means heading to the white shores and shimmering pools of Southsun Cove.
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/ssc05-1352931155.jpg]
A tropical paradise
Southsun Cove is a new sort of environment for the world of Guild Wars 2. What makes it so special isn't its tropical flair, stunning scenery, or new wildlife; it's the fact that, unlike pretty much every area in Guild Wars 2 to date, Southsun hasn't been explored or settled. Upon first landing, players will have events to clear the beachhead, set up camps, and push onward into the island. You won't be able to just discover waypoints; you'll have to escort NPCs around to set them up. You'll see changes to the landscape as you press inland: The Consortium and Lionguard will be clearing trees to make way for forts and roads, paths will appear, and bridges will be constructed. ArenaNet's trying to give players a sense of trailblazing.
Like Orr, Southsun Cove will not have renown hearts for players to complete. After the island is settled and the weekend is over, some of the original events will cycle out, since it wouldn't make sense to have to reclaim the beachhead every time you want to get to a now-settled island.
Southsun is glorious, despite the rather hostile wildlife. Curtains of steam, lines of geysers, gigantic flora, and pale blue pools make the area well-worth the trouble of hacking your way through baddies.
Of course, there's more to explore than just an island.
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/ssc02.jpg]
The Fractals of the Mists
The Fractals of the Mists "infinite dungeon" will be introduced over the course of the weekend. This dungeon is accessed from Lion's Arch near the Claw Island Portage waypoint. You'll find an Asura gate chilling back by the Consortium encampment, and that gate will take you and your party into a sort of nexus called Mistlock Observatory. From there you can repair armor, sell stuff, buy fancy stuff (which we'll get into in just a bit), or talk to Researcher Dessa and her Krewe about what you're doing and why you're doing it. Dessa, a particularly brilliant Asura, has found a way to lock down parts of the Mists and make them real and accessible locations. Unfortunately, those locations are now swarming with a "motley menagerie of everything cruel and lethal" -- and it's up to you to sort them out, hero.
From Mistlock Observatory you'll be able to go into the fractals themselves. You'll be sent into three random fractals and returned to the Observatory after you've successfully defeated the foes in all three. Each time you beat three fractals, your difficulty scale will increase by one. If you're going in at a later time, you will be prompted to enter at the highest common difficulty. (So if you have unlocked level five but someone else in your group has only level two difficulty, you'll be unable to enter at anything above level two.) However, you always have the option of selecting a lower difficulty.
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/ssc03.jpg]
Beating the final encounter of each fractal will earn you a chest as well as boss loot. Chests award players a handful of items and a number of fractal relics. For level one difficulty runs, that number was five, but I don't know whether that increases with difficulty. Fractal relics can be exchanged at one of the Observatory vendors for a variety of items like a Gift of Ascension, a 20-slot fractal exotic/rare/uncommon equipment box, a consumable that grants you a skill point, obsidian shards, and Infusions. For 75 relics you can buy a Simple Infusion that grants you +5 resistance to Agony in a defensive Infusion slot, or you can go big and spend 225 for a Versatile Infusion that also offers +5 Agony resistance and can go in any sort of Infusion slot.
Each fractal presents a different environment with different goals and scenarios. Fans of Cantha will be thrilled to run through a recreation of the Jade Sea. Staunch Human supporters will be disgusted to find themselves taking on Charr form. Charr will be even more disgusted to find out that they'll be playing as Flame Legion. Disaffected ex-puzzle jumpers will be filled with despair when they find themselves running into mini jumping puzzles. All players will be taken aback when they see what I'm pretty sure was Doctor Manhattan chained to a gigantic mountainside temple. The word "temple" at the end of that sentence makes this a perfect time to segue from the dungeon into the new sPvP map!
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/ssc04.jpg]
The Temple of the Silent Storm
The Temple of the Silent Storm map is, like those that have come before it, based around three capture points. The capture system is augmented by the map's unique secondary mechanics, meditations. At different points around the map, players are able to meditate to charge a special boon for their team. Meditating on ferocity will earn everyone on your team an extra three points per kill for a short while. Meditating on stillness will grant your entire team double points for both kills and captures for a short while. Finally, the meditation on tranquility, which spawns every six minutes in contrast to the much shorter respawn rate of the other two meditations, captures all three control points for your team.
The tranquility meditation might sound to those of you prone to woemongering like an insta-win button, but calm down. While acquiring that buff surely isn't going to hurt your chances of success, it isn't going to be a tide-turner all on its own. If your team isn't in a position to hold any or all of the points you've just magically capped, you're not going to make up for a huge point difference. It can make a meaningful difference in the way a match plays out, but it's not going to make up for sucking badly.
The map is riddled with staircases, slopes, and elevation differences. There are multiple ways to get to most points, plenty of chances to avoid foes, and just oodles of opportunities to stomp your enemies off a ledge. It's really quite a joy.
[Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/massively.joystiq.com/media/2012/11/ssc006.jpg]
But wait, there's more!
Southsun comes with all the normal bits and bobs of an explorable map like jumping puzzle funtimes, level 80 harvesting nodes, karma vendors, and all that good stuff. Moreover, new crafting materials are being introduced. Karka will occasionally drop karka shells, which can be used in a number of crafting professions. All over Southsun Cove you'll find a new node called the Passiflora, which can be used to acquire two types of crafting materials.
There are, of course, other items coming into the game with this patch. There's been no shortage of talk about the new Ascended item tier, and ArenaNet has made efforts to clarify what that whole deal is about. Unfortunately, acquiring kickass new reward items was not a part of my preview experience in the Lost Shores.
Don't forget that the multi-hour, chaining, one-off, finale event starts Sunday at 3:00 p.m. EST. Get ready to kick some crustacean hiney!
Source:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/11/15/a-spoiler-free-jaunt-through-guild-wars-2s-lost-shores/
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Rin wrote on 2012-11-15 17:31
Official teaser of the Lost Shores:
[video=youtube;K2ddErJ2c5I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ddErJ2c5I[/video]
Official teaser of the Fractals of the Mists:
[video=youtube;z78-u18is_g]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z78-u18is_g[/video]
Preview of the entire content:
[video=youtube;QjBLTOzDsyU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBLTOzDsyU[/video]
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ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2012-11-15 17:57
Thank for all the info! Hmmm I think I'm starting to feel a little sick...I may have to use a sick day tomorrow! xD
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Eirys wrote on 2012-11-15 18:06
Might log on for this! I'm only level 50-60 though... :(
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ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2012-11-15 18:11
Quote from Eirys;981647:
Might log on for this! I'm only level 50-60 though... :(
Who are you in game? I can invite you along to do some dungeons if you want, my friends and I try to run stuff fairly often and usually need 1 or 2.
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Rin wrote on 2012-11-15 18:58
Quote from Eirys;981647:
Might log on for this! I'm only level 50-60 though... :(
You'll be sidekicked up to lv 80.
Also, he's Christian.5861
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ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2012-11-15 19:23
I just realized he's probably in the Mabi guild haha.
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Kaino wrote on 2012-11-15 19:59
You guys should all get on more so we can all do stuff together! Let's kick some Karka butt :u