Guild Wars Reporter

After a one-day recording delay, Celeste and Allona get together and refuse to get off the speeding, out-of-control speculation train. REFUSE! Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona A couple dungeon runs A couple key farms A b...

Celeste and Allona experience The Dragon's Reach (Part 1, dontcha know), talk about its potential ramifications, and discuss the week's news for GW2. Note: thar be spoilers. Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Alt’ed a bit Stayed up waaaay to late last night to get the episode completed. A podcaster’s job is never done.  :) While waiting for some of the story bits to get unbugged, on a hot tip from Hunter farmed foxfire clusters; made 8ish gold. Celeste Finished my monthly Key farming extravaganza to get the leyline staff skin (still need 1 more scrap after 5 chests) Finished The Gift of Wood Got through Living Story before everyone else :P   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   PSA: About the Living World http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2c299b/psa_a_full_bltc_queue_will_prevent_episode_3_from/ Having a full queue of items to pick up in the Black Lion Trading Company (100+ items) will block the new LS episode. If you are the kind of guy who buys lots of items, pick up your items before the update hits (if you pick them up after updating, you'll get the episode upon picking up the last full tab). Allona: I may have laughed more than was strictly necessary at The_Russian’s response to a question. Celeste: Another worthwhile PSA, don’t bother starting Episode 3 without having world completion (or very nearly so)   Patchnotes! https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-July-29-2014/first#post4249390 The Dragon’s Reach, Part 1 With an Elder Dragon’s corruption spreading, the heroes of Tyria set out in an attempt to gather allies to meet this new threat. But with problems of their own close to home, will world leaders add their support or just introduce more challenges? Achievements After completing The Dragon’s Reach, Part 1, players can showcase their tactical mastery as heroes of Tyria by completing challenging episode-related achievements. There are also explorer achievements rather than episode achievements, so be sure to keep your eye on the other tabs there as well. Rewards New kites can be found in the Buried Locked Chests throughout Dry Top. Kite types include: Crystal Shard Kite Ventari Follower Kite Prosperity Mine Kite Allona: They apparently give a 5% speed boost, unless there’s a sandstorm, and then they’re 33%. So… yeah. I’m a bit pouty about that. More on this later in the show... Gentt now trades Sandy Bags of Gear for Unidentified Fossilized Insects. The ambrite short bow, Vespidae, has been renamed to Culicidae. The ambrite weapon recipe and ambrite fossilized insect descriptions have been updated to better describe the weapons they make. Players will be able to obtain a mysterious seed. Through hard work and cultivation it could sprout into a unique new back item. Celeste: This looks pretty cool but it also looks like a HUGE gold sink. Items All recipe unlock items have received new icons. Icons now match the rarity and type of the output item. Similarly, the rarity of all recipe items now matches the output item’s rarity. Fixed a bug causing Chaos of Lyssa, Chaos of Lyssa (Infused), Light of Dwayna (Infused), and Shadow of Grenth (Infused) to become soulbound when equipped. All soulbound versions of these items will become account bound. Updated the karma vendors at the Orrian temples to each sell armor sets with a single stat combination. http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2c2sc6/new_temple_armor_stats/ (Not retroactive) Stealth update! Not listed update includes: Some lightning type effects around dry top (http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2c2m7y/spoiler_hidden_update_to_dry_top)

Celeste is back! She and Allona delve in to the newest teaser trailer, The Dragon's Reach: Part 1, its potential impact on the game, and just generally yammer about all things GW2. Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Finished t...

While Celeste is away, Allona is joined by the beautious Prof. Enzo and they talk (Enzo talks anyway… Allona rambles) for an excessive amount of time about the second episode of the Living World, Entanglement. Celeste's cat-herding and video-editing skills were sorely missed! Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Who cares!   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   Entanglement! https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-July-15-2014 The lethal vines that plague Brisban Wildlands have begun to spread. And now there’s trouble in the town of Prosperity, where the asuran prodigy Taimi was left alone to research the threat. As the search begins for the mysterious ley line hub, look out for new threats and learn who’s been watching from atop the mesa above Prospect Valley. Achievements After completing the Entanglement episode, players can showcase their tactical mastery as a hero of Tyria by completing challenging, episode-related achievements. Rewards Crafting recipes for a new ambrite weapon set can now be found on the tier vendor. Players can now raise Favor of the Zephyrites to tier five in Dry Top. Be on the lookout for unidentified fossilized insects found in Buried Locked Chests, which are required in the crafting of these new weapons. Someone with a keen interest in entomology should be able to help players identify what is encased within.   BLACK LION TRADING COMPANY GEM STORE New Items and Promotions New Ley Line weapon skins have been added to the Black Lion Weapons Specialist for the introductory price of 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket per weapon. Tickets and ticket scraps can be found inside Black Lion Chests. A new Mini Chickenado is now available in the Toys category of the Gem Store for 500 gems. A new Permanent Ley Line Finisher is now available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 800 gems. Each race and gender now has three new hairstyles available exclusively from Self-Style Hair Kits and Total Makeover Kits in the Services category of the Gem Store. Bug Fixes Royal Terrace Passes will no longer drop from Black Lion Chests.   Then we talk for an hour about the story … THe amazing story! This is what ANet said they wanted to do: Changes to the maps, story having game-wide effects. Character development: Jory going off the deep end? Tension between Taimi and Rox? New combat mechanics: Wolves that do more when flanking, Inquest dodging more, boss fight with the shield, NPC allies actually doing things in combat. One negative: Discourages the use of alts. All the sand/lockpicks/geodes are stuck on one character. How about that cutscene? The main image: dragons or gods? https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/short-story-what-scarlet-saw/ season 1 short story - is relevant   Request for community events of the week/bi-week. Send us an email! If you’ve got a burning question for our Ask an Asura segment, please let us know!   Contact Info email: gwreporter-at-mmoreporter-dot-com twitter: @gwreporter site: guildwarsreporter.com voicemail: 616-666-6778 (or use the widget on the right hand side of the website) youtube: mmoreporternetwork (remember to ‘like’ our videos and subscribe to the GW Reporter playlist) facebook: gwreporter tumblr: gwreporter.tumblr.com   Visit us on Twitter! Celeste: @celeookie Allona: @onebigpear Enzo: @ProfEnzoGW2  

Celeste and Allona get crazy meta by being a podcast discussing another podcast that discusses GW2's Living World. Oh, and the new trailer… we definitely talk about that too. Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Mini set 1 achievement … soon I will have gold again! All the Dry Top region achievements (with some dumb luck (hylek), some help (quicksand, diving goggles), and a ringer (diving goggles)) Personal story for my necro … she’s been 80 for a while, but was only at lvl 16 in her story. Discovered that only Allona had ever been to Southsun! What?! Related to that point, fought the Karka Queen with Tilde, my warrior, and unlocked one of the new grand master traits! Bittermalted very, very briefly Celeste Got the Mini set I achievement! Karka Queen Finished up Metrica with Benj, I think we’ll be heading into Brisban next instead of going to caledon because of some disturbing imagery (slightly spoilery)   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   Entanglement begins on July 15th! http://youtu.be/6TsfcJz99n4 We open on a view of centaurs, the biconics walking through a cavern, and then… Not Fort Trinity but that other place in Timberline Falls, Concordia in the Gyre Rapids area. Allona: I went to Concordia … I’m not so certain that’s it. I’m also really glad that they grabbed that asura…. awww nope, it’s just really close (http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2a0pr7/dry_top_is_one_of_the_most_immersive_zones_in_the/) From @Miktar https://twitter.com/Miktar/status/486935114044416001 “Also, I wonder how many people have noticed that many waypoints around Tyria suddenly have thorn vines trying to reach them.” http://abload.de/img/worldmap070914foeer.jpg , Surprising that the one at Thaumanova is not reacting. Though this could be reasoned by the fact that they seem to avoid the 1-15 zones when it comes to radically altering the world. “There are new books in the Durmand Priory about Scarlet, Leylines, and Waypoints. That's attention to detail.“ - https://twitter.com/Miktar/status/486934962789421056 Then we close on a view of Prosperity and a person who is (presumably) dead by being strangled in the mysterious vines   Points of Interest - Episode 2 http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/c/4590714 Episodes will be discussing the living world a few days after its release Some cute fanart spotlights Ideas and questions will be sourced from MMORPG’s Bill Murphy (Managing Editor) “A Zephyrite ship has crashed” - Angel McCoy indicates that just one ship crashed rather than the whole fleet Allona: Ha! Vindication! Josh Foreman and Tammy Foote, environmental artists A lot of “environmental challenges” in the new area - Angel McCoy Angel McCoy scripted and wrote Scarlet’s Room (with help from other coders as well) - “it helped me tackle some of the subjects that I’ve had on the shelf for a year… and really get that out there [to the fans]” Allona: I meant to talk about this last week. That instance was wonderfully scripted and also had a ton of interesting tidbits. Personal Favorites: Angel - Scarlet’s Room, Theo - Seeing the biconics back together Easter Eggs: Theo - Why was Morning lying when she was dying and speaking with the group? Kasmeer’s gift (her ability to tell if people are lying) is going to be really important later on. Allona: Is it mesmer related (ie: similar to seeing through illusions)? Or just something she can do? “We do have a long term plan, and we’ve had a long term plan since the beginning. So this is your hint from me, Pay attention. If we share it with you pay attention.” Angel McCoy Diving platform in the investigation achievement, built by Josh Foreman, blame him.

Celeste and Allona make it through the sandstorms of Dry Top, and sleepily (but with subtle enthusiasm) chat about the Gates of Maguuma episode one! Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Marathoned Key’s last few personal story chapters and finished the Arah story fungeon, pre-LW season two extravaganza While waiting for Arah to start ran through Malchor’s Leap with Hunter and RAN IN TO ASTARLYN DURING AN IN GAME EVENT! I was pretty excited. Got my ranger to 80 … at four now! Did a ton of JPs with Mock Did a few more Boss Blitz’s trying to gold … got a couple silvers Got the new assassins outfit … it’s purty ~whispers~finishedthestoryofthefirstepisodeinoneday Celeste Tried to finish my monthly, failed by a couple of hours did some jumping puzzles with MoCK Turned in all my tokens and got my mini panda Messed around in Dry Top with Allona Played on my Engi with Benj in Metrica, where I had lots of artifacting and crashes Mini Frostbite!   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   Gates of Maguuma patch notes https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/july-01-2014/ https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-July-1-2014 Story Journal! Works exactly like they had said it would. “There’s a strange disturbance in the tangled western reaches of the Brisban Wildlands, and it’s up to you to find out what’s afoot! Meet up with Seraph forces in Brisban and get to the root of the problem.” C: Ha! Root! “You’ll need to find the ship and its inhabitants and figure out what went wrong…  Meet up with Marjory, Kasmeer, Braham, Rox, and Taimi and Scruffy to investigate what’s causing such a commotion and how it’s connected to the fallen Zephyr Sanctum.” “As you venture through Dry Top, keep an eye out for Inquest devices and operatives. They’ll stop at nothing to reach their nefarious goals, so you’d best be prepared for a fight!” “Completing the story of a Living World episode will unlock skill-based achievements with unique rewards that can be earned when replaying the episode.” “This release brings in a whole passel of new rewards, including new crafting materials. Refine Ambrite into sheets to be used in crafting gear with bonuses to Toughness, Healing, and Vitality, or harvest cacti to create delicious new dishes! You’ll also have a chance to find the new Adventurer’s Spectacles and Adventurer’s Scarf, which can be combined to create the stylish and functional Adventurer’s Mantle!” These items are from the chests that appear during the storms, RNG based. “‘Kick from Guild’ will no longer appear in user context menus outside of the guild roster.” A: BEST PART OF THE PATCH! (not really, but I AM super happy about this) “Inquest engineers no longer create flame turrets under water.” “Characters that logged out while in the Mad King’s Labyrinth will be rerouted to Lion’s Arch.” C: Umm, where were they going before? Back to the labyrinth? “Mai Trin and First Mate Horrik should now scale appropriately with fractal levels.” Lots of profession skill changes A: Most importantly the update to Blurred Inscriptions! ~bias~ Finished the story already? Guess what? “Even if all of this new content is not to your taste, I suggest you take one moment to log into your account in the next 13 days. This is free content, and we want it to be accessible to our players forever, still free. So we've created the story journal to make that happen.” (source) Next Story starts in (roughly) 2 weeks.   FINALLY. Some respect. http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/29kyhb/commander_of_the_pact_acknowledged/ C: I’m over the moon to see this in-game. Seriously. A: This was a super nice nod to the personal story.

Celeste and Allona chomp at the bit, wishing it were next Tuesday; and take delight in the newest teaser trailer! Audio Version What We Did This Week Allona Played my ranger a bunch. Got moar petz! Took the GW1 lore tour put on by WoD. Some guild mission … also with WoD. Explored Cursed Shore with my necro. I love the Cursed Shore. Got my mini panda! Felt it necessary to toodle around in the Bazaar … not sure why.  ;) Celeste Got from 57 to 61 on my guard by doing boss blitz finished the meta, just a few more events for the monthly   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   The Gates of Maguuma open July 1st https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-gates-of-maguuma-open-july-1/ C: My jaw dropped when the zephyr sanctum exploded A: I was so bummed, the twitters spoiled it for me! Speculations: C: I think having the Asian zephyrite in the front was a slight slap at players (like me) who want to go to Cantha and thought that the airships would be our best way of getting there :( C: The zephyrites were attacked b/c they are/were housing Glint’s Baby, perhaps by the Sinister Triad (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sinister_Triad, Bandits (which have connections to the white mantle, who have connections to the last mursaat and more) , Inquest & Nightmare Court uniting in Brisban Wildlands, there’s a whole event cycle around it) who may be under Mordy’s influence. A: Yup! many theorize that the Zephyrites are caring for Glint’s baby; with the inclusion of the inquest golem I think the inquest (through the triad -- also is that like an evil opposite nod to Anet’s first name, Triforge? Will all Sinister Triadians have goatees? Oooh! Canach has a goatee! Canach is the ST leader!) are trying to further their studies of the dragons by getting one of their own. C: Giant Duststorm over the Drytop? C: Oink confirmed. A: Eff yeah! C: Wild Speculation, instead of going further south we’ll go further west and then North to the Isle of Janthir to completely wipe out the Mursaat. Even though I think it would be a pretty awesome race to add for players. HINT HINT. Maybe they retreated and rebuilt and have been in cahoots with the White Mantle. No Tengu for now. A: I read GW2N.com’s analysis of the trailer and they mentioned it looked like the explosions came from inside the ships. If so, I wonder how they got there? Sabotage! I bet it was someone with a goatee - http://gw2n.com/n/the-gates-of-maguuma-trailer-analysis A: Cal wondered aloud if Evon sabotaged the ships! I think that’s a really interesting theory! He could have wanted to get back at the zephyrites for the election and they’re trading success since he’s fallen so far since the last time they were in Lion’s Arch. Plus, you know, it might reflect badly on Ellen Kiel.   Points of Interest https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-points-of-interest/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBOLjWQ4KBw&feature=youtu.be&a Hosted by Kate Welch - follow up each of the living world season 2 releases with a brief 20 minute livestream with various content creators of that release where you can participate with #GW2PoI. This is more with living world and story time whereas Ready Up will still be a PvP/Competitive content. A: Yay! PvE cast! Confirmed: No signpost repairing in Season 2. C: lulz A: But how will people know where to go?! They just can’t follow a clearly demarcated road like chumps! Theo Nguyen created Liadri, direct your ire towards him, his advice: ‘sorry, not sorry. get better.” A: Good man. Own it. Representation: We’re much more focused on that so that players can self-identify with the characters. A: This does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. With the finale,

Celeste and Allona are given the gift of patch notes, and are blessed with an amazing listener voice mail. Happy one hundred and eleventh to us! Audio Version What We Did This Week Allona Gots mah monthly … like, today Played my ele for a bit, just exploring the world with friends Did F/F path of Twilight Arbor with WoD Ran a couple paths of Ascalonian Catacombs with MoCK. It was fun because one of the runs was Loganus’, who is a new guildie, very first time in a fungeon. We may also make Hunter’s head explode running with us.  :) Another bronze boss blitz, gold is the new diving goggles! Celeste Daily, World Boss rotation working on metrica and caledon completion on my mesmer   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   Patch Notes https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-June-17-2014 World Boss times Low-Level Rotation—The four world events in this rotation will continue to activate 15 and 45 minutes past the hour, regardless of other rotations. Standard Rotation—The six world events in this rotation will continue to activate on the hour and 30 minutes past the hour. This rotation is now independent of all other rotations. The TBD event slot has been removed. Hardcore Rotation—The three world events in this rotation now activate more frequently, at the following times: 03:30 PST / 10:30 UTC – Karka Queen 04:30 PST / 11:30 UTC – Tequatl 05:30 PST / 12:30 UTC – Evolved Jungle Wurm 08:00 PST / 15:00 UTC – Karka Queen 09:00 PST / 16:00 UTC – Tequatl 10:00 PST / 17:00 UTC – Evolved Jungle Wurm 11:00 PST / 19:00 UTC – Karka Queen 12:00 PST / 20:00 UTC – Tequatl 13:00 PST / 21:00 UTC – Evolved Jungle Wurm 16:00 PST / 23:00 UTC – Karka Queen 17:00 PST / 24:00 UTC – Tequatl 18:00 PST / 01:00 UTC – Evolved Jungle Wurm 19:00 PST / 02:00 UTC – Karka Queen 20:00 PST / 03:00 UTC – Tequatl 21:00 PST / 04:00 UTC – Evolved Jungle Wurm 23:00 PST / 06:00 UTC – Karka Queen 24:00 PST / 07:00 UTC – Tequatl 01:00 PST / 08:00 UTC – Evolved Jungle Wurm A: Aaaaand at least one online timer has been updated - http://gw2.limitlessfx.com (thank you awesome community) C: http://howar31.github.io/GW2Timer/ too “Fixed an issue that caused Tequatl to fly away and never return if he burned too quickly during his vulnerable phase.” ouch. Claw Island: Areas and points of interest, once they are discovered, will remain revealed when viewed from other maps. A: So curious was this means moving forward. Waypoints and markers visible on maps different from the player’s current map are now always displayed as uncontested. When teleporting to a waypoint on a different map, if that waypoint is contested in the destination map copy, the player will be redirected to the nearest uncontested waypoint. C: I’d not seen very many WP be contested before I was trying to WP, though to be fair I don’t typically run around on maps that are contested often. A: Ahem … imma just gonna leave this here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdtNNow4TCE&feature=youtu.be&t=16m59s All players who qualified for rewards from the Spring 2014 Tournament have been given 100 additional WvW Tournament Claim Tickets. A: Man, I wish I had got my act together for this season! C: Me too! Henge got Silver T.T For two weeks, all Black Lion Chests will contain a guaranteed bonus Dragon Coffer. Black Lion Chest Keys are available in the Special category of the Gem Store for 125 gems each. Dragon’s Jade weapons can now be purchased from Black Lion Weapons Specialists for the introductory price of 1 Black Lion Claim Ticket for the next four weeks. Black Lion Claim Tickets and Ticket Scraps can be found inside Black Lion Chests.

Celeste and Allona are as happy as the rest of the GW2 community with the news of the upcoming story journal. Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Guild beach party with WoD! I won prizes in the scavenger hunt! But somehow, couldn’t manage to finish a dolyak race (so pathetic). Died hitting a sandbar where everyone else jumped easily in to water. They were amazed at the mad skillz. Mini dungeons! Vexa’s Lab and Tears of Itlaocol. Pig Iron Mine JP, notable for my hitting the rocks and dying while attempting to jump in the water, like everyone else had already effortlessly done. A couple more boss blitzes, still no gold for me. Sad panda. Oh, and was unable to work last Thursday because Anet dropped an amazing bombshell… more on that later! Celeste Figured out a big armor change for my ele, which lead to… CM paths 2&3 Thanks to a listener who was SUPER awesome and sent me a Desert Rose Skin. All the feels for it.   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Lion’s Arch   Story Journal! https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-story-journal/ Starting with Season 2, each new episode of Living World will use the same UI as your personal story. A green star will mark locations, and a green story UI in the top-right side of your screen will summarize the current step your character is on. The gold star UI we previously used for Living World will only be used for holiday festivals in the future. When your character is actively on a Living World story step, you will have one single green star leading you to the next step in the world and the top-right UI will reflect that step, just like you experienced in your personal story from levels 1-80. During the livestream they showed off a purple star locator that will be active when you’re replaying a story episode. Chronologically, the Season 2 story will take place after Season 1, which in turn occurs after your character’s personal story and the story of Zhaitan in Guild Wars 2. For dialogue purposes, NPCs in Season 2 will assume your character completed their personal story and Season 1, even if they did not. You do not need to complete the personal story on a character in order to play the Living World content, although it will make more sense if you do! Celeste: YAAAAAAAAAY~! No more clueless pact members who say they weren’t available to help LA in its hour of need! Allona: Oooh! Hopefully we can have an awesome chronology! I liked the chronologies that were in GW1. And! And! Does this mean that Orr will start looking different? Because that would be crazy awesome. To go along with this change, we’re modifying the story Journal in your character’s Hero Panel so it will track all of your character’s story steps. From that panel, characters who are level 80 will be able to select between playing their personal story and the Living World story. For the Living World story, you’ll be able to select which unlocked episode you’d like to play. Characters under level 80 will be able to see the available episodes, but will not be able to play them until they reach level 80. Think of the Living World story as the constantly expanding continuation of your character’s storyline once they reach level 80. Celeste: This means that the big endgame of GW2 is now what they said it was going to be, story expansion and horizontal progression (though they haven’t said horizontal was still really happening explicitly). If you’re eager to get the rewards on a lowbie you can always use the wardrobe after you get it on a lv 80. (((Twitch stream: Showing off the UI http://youtu.be/9P6Zmg16eEM?t=16m57s for the stream To unlock an episode and have it added to your story Journal,

Celeste and Allona return from their foray into Arah last week to a teaser image and a wee patch. Sadly, a day early for the BIGNEWS™ from ArenaNet, but more time for us to calm down to go over that next show!  ~fans to help calm down~ Audio Version ...

Audio Version What We Did This Week Allona Upgraded the armour on my lvl 80 Necro. Crazy cheap (of course). Superior runes of the Krait were 88c each! Some more zone completion with alts. Testing out a BUNCH of different builds and playstyles with my mesmer. Unlocked several of the new grandmasters on a couple 80s. Spent an entire morning organizing the Guild bank…the glamour! Some more EoTM and a wee bit of regular wuvwuv (it was awful) and also one of the JPs towards the meta Bought the Cook’s outfit. I really, really like it. It dyes cool and is very different on each of the races. (Side note: I’m not hating the tonics as much anymore) Spent a bunch of gold on set 1 minis; only three left to go! Toured Lion’s Arch … really pleased with how they are showing progress, and the music is great! (Pretty sure it’s new this patch) Crystals! Racing Dolyaks! Celeste 88% MF Tallying up materials for Frenzy’s gifts World Bosses Train with Crell (who didn’t know it was me) and beat Tequatl for the first time (post-revamp) Labyrinthine Cliffs & dolyak racing Sanctum Sprint EoTM Made ~4g of money selling my jute scraps, Thank Computech100!   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter. We’ll be taking next week off due to real life and needing a break!   Report from Lion’s Arch   Patchnotes! Festival of the Four Winds https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/may-20-2014/ (YAY! A PRETTY PAGE!) https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-May-20-2014 “The Zephyrites have returned to Labyrinthine Cliffs in their large-sailed flying ships to support Lion’s Arch in its time of need. Although Lion’s Arch suffered a devastating blow as a result of Scarlet’s nefarious plans, Captain Ellen Kiel of the Captain’s Council is grateful to see the Zephyrites return with their generous offer of materials and moral support. And to help reinvigorate trade and provide some joy to its citizens, the Zephyrite Master of Peace and Queen Jennah of Kryta are hosting a festival to honor Lion’s Arch. Join Kiel and the adventuring group of Rox, Braham, Marjory, Kasmeer, and Taimi in Lion’s Arch at the Claw Island Portage Waypoint to meet the Zephyrite leader and kick off the start of the festival.” Zephyr Sanctum Players can travel to Labyrinthine Cliffs to partake in all of the fun and excitement of the festival by speaking to the transport facilitator in Lion’s Arch, or by hopping in a hot-air balloon in Divinity’s Reach. The Zephyrites and the strange denizens of the bazaar have not been idle since the last time the Zephyr Sanctum was docked. Players can participate in an all-new scavenger hunt for sky crystals, with new, harder-to-access locations. Allona: One of my guildies got several of the master ones before she knew that were supposed to be crazy hard. Basically kiboshed her ability to get any more.  :) Two of the locals, Barkeep Ixcic and Trader Owens, have also put together two brand-new events designed to delight the entire bazaar! (dolyak race and crystal essence gathering) Allona: These are a nice addition to the Festival. Sanctum Sprint & Aspect Arena also returns The Crown Pavilion The Crown Pavilion in the human city of Divinity’s Reach has once again opened its gates. Join the golem Heal-o-Tron in assisting the city of Lion’s Arch. Donate enough money and he’ll kick off the all-new Boss Blitz in the trenches of the Pavilion. Enter the Queen’s Gauntlet to battle mighty representations of humanity’s most vicious enemies. Face increasingly difficult challenges in single combat against a variety of unique bosses. Earn a new title for defeating Liadri: “The Blazing Light”. (Not retroactive) Lion’s Arch Coriolis Plaza,

Celeste and Allona are joined by special guest, Professor Enzo, our personal WvW ringer. We discuss GW2 news and answer all of our listener emails! All of them! Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona EoTM - made some decent in...

Celeste and Allona recap a bunch of the community's Living World season 2 predictions, intersperse their own; and touch on the recent China release. Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Lots of alting still. Been super fun. AC Path 3 with Romo, Saint Evil, and some PUG peeps. It was the one path I still needed to do, and it went crazy smooth! Afterwards I got an AC ax for my Necro … my first purchase with dungeon tokens! Got an epic daily yesterday! I needed four more revives and managed to find the exact amount of defeated NPCs post the SB fight… got the last one revived with literally 5 seconds to spare! (after this I learned that healing power does not -- like I thought -- impact reviving times) Celeste started something and I bought a precursor to begin my journey! Someone had posted The Bard for 20g less than the next price… decided to nab it! Now I am poor. Shout out to Saint Evil from MoCK getting his 10K AP chest! Celeste Did some solo bittermalt to level up and mess around ENGI PVP   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Vigil Keep   China is starting off with S2 of LS https://twitter.com/HuntersInsight/status/463696086243082240 This has lead to a lot of confusion on the CN game as to why NPCs are congratulating them for defeating Scarlet and why they have to hang out in Vigil Keep.   GW2’s Reception in China http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/24ue7j/reception_of_gw2_in_china/ onmnirai’s comment sums up most of the others well: Lot of complaints about server/connection issues. Largely impressed with game design, especially the attention to detail (random NPC interactions are often cited) and the pacing (no need to grind just to keep up is a big plus) which is very attractive for working adults/casual players Friendly atmosphere (no open world PvP, shared nodes etc) also a refreshing change of pace Payment model (even with their VIP system, which is very affordable especially since you can buy gems with gold) is generally well-received It's generally positive, but then again the forums are supposedly screened so it's possible that the harsher criticisms are being censored (it is china...). General criticisms are basically from people who are too used to/prefer the traditional grindy asian-MMO type games, complaining about the level downscale/no open world pvp preventing them from showing off epic gear and pwning nubs in low level zones etc. Allona: These all sound so familiar! ;)   Wooden Potatoes’ Predictions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzMNn41Itl4 1-4 new maps in Maguuma / Potential Bloodstone visit Starts in Brisbane Wildlands Finale will be 2nd pale tree reveal / sylvari birth tree Caithe and Faolin knew of Mordremoth More Trahearne & Pact SAB returns No LA reconstruction Allona: I can see its rebuilding being part of S2. No Zephyrites until we’re going to focus on Kralkatorrik Allona: I feel like we will come across them in our journeys west. They might have a connection to the black market traders Belinda has gone out to find. Begins with Dragon Bash (possibly hosted by Norn) No Tengu Allona: ~muttermutterbetterbetengumuttermutter~ Fractals patch Malyck returns, Soundless will have a role   Distilled Will’s Season 2 Predictions http://dwpgaming.blogspot.com/2014/05/gw2-living-story-season-2-thoughts.html Lion’s Arch reconstruction - “But, as WP rightly points out - the Captain's Council, those responsible for running LA, are in ruins themselves. They are without a base of operations and they're battered and bruised. They will probably require assistance to get the city back up and running.” This leads to the return of the Consortium.

Celeste and Allona enjoy a new gem store item and kit out their characters on the cheap! Thriftiness FTW! Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona AC Path 2. Crell joined us! It was fun and (mostly) painless. Except for the lag and disconnects. More on that later… Guild Missions with Wardens of Destiny. Well, mission … I caught the puzzle. Thankfully it was the one puzzle I had done before so I sorta knew what I was doing. Some zone completions with both my warrior, Tilde, and necro, Jerzzi. Mostly Queensdale. Got my ranger to 60 which means I finally could get the T2 Charr cultural. Which is actually awesome. And, because I’m a rock star, I bought the cheapest superior runes I could find -- runes of the privateer. I LOVE THEM AND MY PARROT AND IDONTCURR WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS! (addendum: I forgot to mention that the major runes are over 5 times to cost of the superior for some reason.) Celeste World bosses rounds on my ranger continues! AC, CM, and almost TA story, harathi and queensdale completion on my guardian, meaning I went from lv32 to 50 in the past week. Ghosteater and more world bosses   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Vigil Keep   Biggest news from GW2 this week? Llama finisher in the Gem store for 800 gems http://gfycat.com/SilkyNearFireant “When it comes to humiliating your foes and jazzing up the battlefield, nothing compares to the brand-new Llama Finisher! Kill your enemies and summon up a dancing llama, complete with a disco floor and lightshow!” Allona: This is possibly the most ludicrous and amazing thing ever! I think the idea for this must have come after a rockin’ anet staff party. There’s also a mini kitten for 400 gems and the Mad King’s Outfit for 700 gems, which are cool and all, but LLAMA FINISHER!   Megaserver is 100% https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-megaserver-rollout-is-complete-2/ “Our megaserver team will continue to monitor the performance of the technology on live and evaluate your feedback. We will continue to tweak and update the way the system works until it is providing even better megaservice!” Allona: I don’t know why, but I am tickled pink by ‘megaservice’. Also, I am still pleased with the megaservers. I’ve heard about some not great experiences from a few people, but hopefully those are anomalies and will be fewer and fewer as time goes on. Celeste: I’ve had a lot of issues with the megaserver. Most notably with disconnects. Terrible ones where when your game reconnects you’re in a separate instance and don’t get credit for the events you were participating in. Keep in mind that I’ve had a mostly positive experience with megaservers and being able to play with tons of people on maps that were typically empty on my home server. Allona: Oh yeah! I guess I didn’t put the disconnects and poor performance down to the megaserver, but yeah … those are frustrating. It was the most difficult part of AC for sure.   Ask An Asura - Legendary edition (aka: all Celeste all the time)   Find out what you need: http://bravevesperia.com/ Mystic clovers are probably the best thing to start up with as you’ll get them done and then can focus on the item that is one of the hardest to get. Another thing to take into account is that you’ll get t6 mats from the mystic clover recipe so it makes sense to take care of that first. Celeste: I ran through 44 obby shards to get 13 clovers unfortunately. Getting those T6 mats can be tricky but I think the best way to go towards that goal is to amass as much gold as you possibly can. Best way: dungeons! AC 1+3, CoF 1+2, SE 1+3, and HoTW 1 to get started. Not to mention that you’ll need to run dungeons to get certain recipes for your legendary.

Celeste and Allona settle in for a relaxing chat about GW2 and rely on our friends in the community for this week's show. Audio Version What We Did This Week   Allona Redesigned Allona’s look (armour and weapons only) Fractals with Romo! Other than some 'agony' agony it went really well. Guild missions with the guild Amazon Basin. They did four, but I had to miss the last one. Unlocked one of the new grandmasters in Orr with mah guildies. It was at the Ship of Sorrows chest … which, yeah, I didn’t know existed. Update on the previous week’s gem rampage: I forgot to mention I also got the Basic Ore Node. Go me! A few world bosses … more than I usually manage to hit. Celeste Thief PvP Fridays Dailies, including more world bosses   Livestreaming Wednesday’s at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at twitch.tv/mmoreporter. You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes! Remember to rate and/or review Guild Wars Reporter.   Report from Vigil Keep   Boon or Bust: April Feature Pack Rehash http://kormirshighroad.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/boon-or-bust-the-april-feature-pack/ The Wardrobe A lot more flexibility and customization options More bank space! Harder for new players early on as transmute charges are harder to get Allona: Unless they buy them Celeste: How so? You still get them from map completion and certain parts of the personal story! Allona: You previously got three stones for a city map completion and now you get one charge. Three chances to transmute items have been reduced to one. Celeste: This really only seems to harm players who are new to the game and less likely to have an excess of skins. Tonics = pointless Megaservers and Event Bosses More players = more dynamic experience = more opportunities to take on champs and lesser fought world bosses Guilds can -- if they’re able -- take control of boss fight times Loading screens of death (not literal death, just no fun waiting) Higher travel costs due to waypoint hopping because of ‘contested’ waypoints … plus with added benefit of more loading screens! Allona: I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised that this hasn’t seemed as bad as I was fearing. I was in a party with people already in Orr, so I wonder if that made the difference. World boss times are less flexible and lack spontaneity. Celeste: While this is true, it feels like you’re able to get a rotation going on whichever megaserver you’re on. Pick a time to be on and you’ll likely end up playing with the same group of people. Allona: Agreed. I get the lack of spontaneity, but I really like the regularity. Speaking of world bosses… http://howar31.github.io/GW2Timer/ awesome little timer! Allona: Got my new homepage! Runes and Sigils Complete rune sets are more rewarding at the 5th and 6th tiers Healing builds should be a viable option for players who want to play support Boon durations are lowered Allona: Really! I had no idea this was a thing. Miscellaneous Champ bag loot scales with magic find Free armour repair Champ train in Frostgorge dissolving (boon?) Champ train in Queensdale going strong (bust) Champ loot changes devalue loot for new players Allona: I need a bit of clarification, I feel dim that I don’t get this one. Celeste: because the bags are dropping based on your magic find, players who are new to the game aren’t going to have a whole lot of luck getting good drops from these bags, combined with the lowered guaranteed gold, these bags and champ farming in general is less of a draw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2lYvJwbb5A&list=UUSzOtbN2xTsI8aQPM2sMmpQ Feature Pack Primer Video for those that may be in need of explanations (easy to link up to people who may be returning to the game) Traits and Acquisitions Simplified point system for traits Resetting trait points on the fly is a thing!