Game updates/January 2020

January 2020 updates
Thursday, 30 January 2020 Wednesday, 29 January 2020 Tuesday, 28 January 2020 Thursday, 16 January 2020 Wednesday, 15 January 2020 Tuesday, 14 January 2020
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Update - January 30, 2020

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which being downed or defeated while running through certain light puzzles resulted in certain rewards not appearing until reentering the light puzzle.
• The merchant Humble Stone in the village of Still Waters Speaking now offers a limited supply of spare Restored Boreal weapons to players who have previously crafted them.
• Damage from the boneskinner has returned to intended levels.
• Opened up the Strike Mission: Whisper of Jormag to all players, not just players who have completed the story content.
• Prologue: Bound by Blood: Braham once again will be able to overcome the mental prison of his guilt and leave his cell in the "Bad Blood" chapter.
• Fixed an issue that blocked players from accessing the Bjora Marches Reward Track if they had previously unlocked it.
• Increased the drop rate of Ice Shards for the Eternal Ice Shard Home Instance Node.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,784

Update - January 29, 2020

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue that prevented Drakkar from properly transitioning through phases.
• Fixed an issue that caused players to remain in combat in Whispering Depths after the "Champion of the Ice Dragon" meta-event ended in failure.
• Fixed an issue that caused Jhavi Jorasdottir to lose focus on the task at hand, stalling the "Champion of the Ice Dragon" meta-event.
• Fixed a client crash.
• Fixed a server crash.
• Fixed an issue with the Strike Mission timers in Bjora Marches.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,733

Update 2 - January 28, 2020

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which players who were not instance owners could be removed from an instance when its boundaries were updated.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the final reward chests from appearing for some players in the "Shadow in the Ice" light puzzles.
• Fixed server crashes.
• Fixed an issue that allowed the Sacred Pegasus Griffon Skin to be rewarded multiple times from the Black Lion Chest.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Ruler of the Skies meta-achievement from correctly tracking the progress of the Skyscale Rider achievements. The Skyscale Rider achievements are now visible in the Ruler of the Skies meta-achievement in the Explorer section of the General achievements category.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,724

Late Notes - January 28, 2020

Living World

• As frosty corruption spreads across the Bjora Marches, both the drop rates and vendor costs for Eternal Ice Shards have increased.

Items

• Shining Aureate weapons have been updated with an improved appearance and additional effects.

Update - January 28, 2020

Living World

New Episode: Shadow in the Ice

When Braham, Rytlock, and Crecia all go missing, the commander travels through the western mountain pass to find them. On the other side lies a frozen lake steeped in norn history, and the terrifying foe that calls it home.

• As Bjora Marches expands for the new episode, numerous event updates, achievements, and secrets have been added to the existing half of the map. Use your new Masteries to find them all!
• Grothmar Valley: Three new Icebrood Saga Mastery points can now be obtained in this map.

General

• The Looking for Group tab now includes a Guild Plaza category to help players find new guilds and guild members.
• The Looking for Group tab's Role-Play section has been renamed Role-Playing. Its Fountain of Rurikton category has been renamed Role-Play—Party, and a new category has been added for Role-Play—Squad.
• The Living World and expansion categories of the Looking for Group tab are now sorted so that the newest content appears at the top instead of the oldest.
• The last member to leave a guild will get an additional confirmation dialog box that warns the players of the deletion of the guild and its assets.
• Fixed a bug that could prevent players from receiving the Golden Firestarter achievement when they earned a gold medal in the Firecracker Lighting adventure.
• Fixed a bug that rewarded a bronze chest to players who achieved a gold rank in the Lunar New Year race adventure.
• Fixed a bug that caused players to receive lower event credit than intended for destroying targets in Celestial Challenge.

Items

• Icy Runestone: The vendor who sells these now has a confirmation check and sells up to 100 runestones at a time.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store

New Items and Promotions

• The new Sacred Pegasus Griffon Skin is now available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 2,000 gems.
• For a limited time, the Etherbound Gauntlets, Etherbound Greaves, and Etherbound Pauldrons skins return to the Style category of the Gem Store for 500 gems each.

Black Lion Chest

• The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Heart's Delight Chest and can be previewed for a full list of its contents.
  • The new Fine Black Lion Dye Canister—Green has been added as the guaranteed item for the duration of this chest.
  • The new Sacred Pegasus Griffon Skin is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of this chest.
  • The new Whale Spirit Glider is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of this chest.
  • The Svanir Gauntlets return as an uncommon drop for the duration of this chest.
  • The Alchemist and Lovestruck weapon collections are available as uncommon and rare drops respectively for the duration of this chest.
  • Unused versions of the Glyph of Reaping and Glyph of Flight are available as rare drops for the duration of this chest.
• The items available in exchange for Black Lion Statuettes have been updated. Black Lion Statuettes are redeemable by using the statuette itself or by redeeming them at any of the Black Lion Chest Merchants located in every major city.
  • A new selection of single armor skins has been added, including the Toxic Gloves, Toxic Mantle, Scarlet's Spaulders, Scarlet's Grasp, Shadow of the Dragon Gloves, Foefire Greaves, and more.
  • The exclusive Exalted Gloves, Exalted Shoulders, Jeweled Scarab Package, the Golden Talon Longbow have been added.
  • The bonus collection has been updated to a selection of character outfits including Logan's Pact Marshal Outfit, Braham's Wolfblood Outfit, Marjory's Shrouded Outfit, Taimi's Outfit, Kasmeer's Regal Outfit, and more.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,677

Update - January 16, 2020

Bug Fix:

• Fixed a server crash.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,494

Update - January 15, 2020

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed Mac client crashes related to wind and light effects.
• Eternal Battlegrounds: Fixed assorted environment issues around Stonemist Castle and Mendon's Gap.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,472

Late Notes - January 14, 2020

General

• Thirty-seven new guild emblems that were created by ArenaNet's creative partners have been added to the Emblem Design section of the Emblemer panel.

Items

• White Mantle Portal Device: Portal Exit now has a 1-second recharge after Portal Entrance is used.

Profession Skills

Necromancer

•  Spectral Walk: Unslotting this skill while it is active no longer removes swiftness.
•  Lich Form: Exiting Lich Form no longer removes stability.

Thief

•  Shadow Portal: Fixed a bug in which Meld with Shadows did not increase the stealth duration of this skill.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in which red lines were outlining parts of the Grand Lion Griffon and Cozy Wintersday Mounts Skins when certain dyes were applied.
• Fixed a bug in which the Winter Monarch Cape wasn't displaying properly in the preview window of the Gem Store.
• Fixed an issue that caused utility effects to expire when players used the Snowflake Gobbler.
• The Mythic Weapon Collection was never intended to have an achievement associated with it. The achievement has been removed from the Black Lion Collections section of the Achievements tab.

Update - January 14, 2020

Lunar New Year

As another new year dawns on Tyria, join the festivities in Divinity's Reach! The Year of the Rat is upon us, and the Lunar New Year Festival returns with new rewards and activities. Collect and open lucky envelopes to earn essences of luck, delicious foods, fireworks, valuable items, and a chance to find the new Lucky Rat Lantern backpacks!

• A new Lunar New Year activity has been added, the Celestial Challenge! Complete a variety of events in this group activity to earn the favor of the celestial animals. Rewards increase in quality and quantity with the number of events you complete before opening the final chest. Visit the pavilion in the center of Divinity's Reach to join the fun! New achievements have been added for completing the Celestial Challenge, and its annual achievement has replaced the Sparking Celebration firework achievement in the Annual achievement category.
• The Lunar New Year annual meta-achievement, Lunar New Year Customs, has been updated with a new reward, the Fireworks Spaulders shoulder armor!
• A new daily meta-achievement, New Year's Fortune, has been added. Complete three Lunar New Year daily achievements in a day to receive extra rewards, as well as progress in the repeatable achievement Best Wishes for the New Year.
• A new festive weapon set has been added for the new year! Modeled on traditional local weaponry, the Shining Aureate set can be obtained by completing the Best Wishes for the New Year achievement.
• Two new minis, the Mini Lunar Rat and Mini Essence of Luck, have been added to the Lunar New Year rewards vendor. The Mini Essence of Luck is also available as a rare drop from the Celestial Challenge.
• The number of Divine Lucky Envelopes that can be purchased per day has been reduced from 16 to 8; however, the 8 additional Divine Lucky Envelopes can be purchased at a reduced price by earning Tokens of the Celestial Champion, which drop from the Celestial Challenge and from completing Lunar New Year daily achievements.
• The race event in Divinity's Reach has been updated with new checkpoints and its own adventure.
• Lucky envelope rewards have been updated with new items for the Year of the Rat, including a new backpack to celebrate the Year of the Rat in style.
• A new guild decoration has been added to commemorate the Year of the Rat.
• A new festival invitation, Invitation to Lunar New Year, will be included in the festival announcement mail for easy travel directly to the celebrations. If you misplace your invitation, it can be repurchased from Sarettokk in Lion's Arch.
• A new weekly vendor has arrived in Divinity's Reach for the festival, trading limited supplies of rare goods for exotic-tier Essences of Luck.
• For ease of use, a new festival merchant has been added to handle selling festival reward items, while Phaedra continues to offer lucky envelopes.
• A number of festival-related bugs have been fixed to ensure a happy holiday for all heroes.

Lunar New Year will be active until February 4 at noon Pacific Time (UTC-8). See you in Divinity's Reach!

General

• Fixed a bug that caused guild banners and Spirit Banners to persist indefinitely. They will now remain in the world for one hour.
• Fixed a bug that allowed any number of ascended feasts to be placed in close proximity to each other.
• Spirit shards will now be earned when experience cannot go to other forms of progress, such as Masteries or gaining levels.
• Slightly improved load times on some NVIDIA graphics cards.
• Fixed a bug that caused Dragon Bash decorations to appear in Hoelbrak story instances.
• Fixed a rare crash that could happen when entering instances.

Profession Skills

Guardian

•  Shield of the Avenger: The tooltip for this skill has been updated to note that this skill blocks missiles.
•  Portent of Freedom: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill to put friendly targets in combat.
•  Unhindered Delivery: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill to put friendly targets in combat.
• Dragonhunter Traps: Traps now disappear without activating if their skill is unequipped.

Ranger

•  Glyph of Equality: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill to put friendly targets in combat.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store

New Items and Promotions

• The new Celestial Rat Cape is now available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 500 gems.
• For a limited time, the Staff of Fortune skin returns to the Gem Store at a discounted price of 450 gems—a savings of 25%.
• For a limited time, the Celestial Rooster Glider and the Flying Boar Glider return to the Gem Store at a discounted price of 350 gems each—a savings of 30%.

Black Lion Chest

• The Black Lion Chest has been updated to the Year of the Rat Chest and can be previewed for a full list of its contents.
  • The Evon Gnashblade Lucky Envelope has been added as the guaranteed item for the duration of this chest.
  • The new Black Lion Exclusive Mount Selection is available as an uncommon drop for the duration of this chest.
  • The Fire-Breathing Package returns as an uncommon drop for the duration of this chest.
  • The Starlight Wings Backpack and Glider Combo returns as an uncommon drop for the duration of this chest.
  • The Crimson Lion and Zodiac weapons collections are available as uncommon and rare drops respectively for the duration of this chest.
  • Unused versions of the Glyph of Alchemy and Glyph of Industry are available as rare drops for the duration of this chest.
• The items available in exchange for Black Lion Statuettes have been updated. Black Lion Statuettes are redeemable by using the statuette itself or by redeeming them at any of the Black Lion Chest Merchants located in every major city.
  • The exclusive Roaring Dragon Glider, Mini Celestial Rooster, Watchwork Wings Package, and Springer Kit Backpack are currently available.
  • The bonus collection has been updated to a selection of backpack skins including the Fire Quiver Backpack, the Replica Job-o-Tron Backpack, the Plush Baby Aurene Backpack, and more.

Improvements and Updates

• For a limited time, the Lunar New Year miniatures have been added to the Black Lion Miniature Claim Ticket Vendor. Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets are dropped from Black Lion Chests.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 101,409
• The northern wall of Stonemist Castle has been moved. The eastern wall of Mendon's Gap was also modified.
  • Both of these changes appear to have unintentionally been pushed live, since upgrade objects such as Cannon remain positioned at the previous wall locations.
• Guild banners and Spirit Banners now play a short tune when placed.