Waypoint

Example of a waypoint

Destroyed Thistlereed Waypoint

“

This is a waypoint. Waypoints appear on your compass, which is in the lower-right corner of your screen. You can also see them on the world map, which you can access by pressing "M." Press "M" again to close the world map. To teleport to a waypoint, open your world map and click on the waypoint to which you want to travel.

— Watchman Rebec

Waypoints, commonly abbreviated to "WP", are a method of transportation and fast map travel in Guild Wars 2.

Mechanics

Players can instantly travel to a waypoint by using the map. Before a character can use a particular waypoint for map travel, it must be discovered through exploration. Undiscovered waypoints will be displayed on the compass and map, and approaching the waypoint will unlock it for that character.

Map travel within a city is free (except for travel from the home instance), but traveling to waypoints in other parts of the world costs a fee in coin based on the distance between the character's current location and the destination waypoint, as well as the character's non-scaled level.

During and after dynamic events, waypoints can become contested if the area is taken over by enemies. These waypoints will be unavailable for map travel until they have been liberated. Contested waypoints are not shown as contested when viewed from a different map; attempting to travel to a contested waypoint will take you to the nearest available one, for the original cost.

A normal zone in the base game typically has between 10 and 20 waypoints, while expansion content generally has less than 10 in a zone, following player feedback that waypoints were too numerous.

Waypoints cannot be used while in combat (the message "you cannot map travel while in combat." appears in red text if you try to do so). Defeated players can choose to be revived at a waypoint for the same fee as regular map travel. If a character is defeated with no coin, they can be revived for free at the nearest waypoint.

Along with points of interest, Shift-clicking or Ctrl-clicking on a discovered waypoint on the compass or map creates a clickable link in chat. Double-clicking on a discovered waypoint allows to bypass the confirmation window.

Lore

According to Technician Penn, waypoints are mini-gates and magical matter-transportive devices devised by the asura to make it easier to travel long distances.

During the events of Season 2 of the Living Story, it is revealed that waypoints will only function if placed on a ley-line. If a waypoint was not placed on a ley-line, it would eventually fail, and the asura would remove it in order to ensure the waypoint network remained stable. Therefore, the asura have unknowingly mapped the location of ley-lines all over Tyria. This discovery by Scarlet Briar allowed her to locate the massive leyline hub under Lion's Arch, disrupt it, and awaken Mordremoth.

Shortly after, Mordremoth's vines started entangling waypoints, even destroying some like at Fort Marriner. Taimi deduced Mordremoth's vines were attracted to the waypoints' magical resonance and developed a machine that could tap into the waypoint network and retune waypoints to a different frequency that was less attractive to the Mordrem. There was some inconsistency in the Living Story as to what frequency would be less attractive to the Mordrem. In The Machine, Taimi says they needed a higher frequency, but in Recalibrating the Waypoints she says they needed to vibrate at a slower rate.

Taimi's machine was commandeered by Councillor Phlunt when it was found to work, and since then, vines have no longer been seen attacking waypoints. The implications of this machine are that the waypoint network can be "hacked", and that waypoints are somewhat programmable.

Map icons

Available/unlocked

Locked

Contested

Hover

Jade Bot Personal Waypoint

New characters

Each new character starts with one waypoint unlocked in each of the starter maps of the 5 races:

Unlocked waypoints
Asura	Soren Draa Waypoint —
Charr	Smokestead Waypoint —
Human	Shaemoor Waypoint —
Norn	Horncall Waypoint —
Sylvari	Astorea Waypoint —

This allows characters of different races to play together and explore each others' starter zones.

Personal Waypoint

Players can use (Left-ALT+Left-click on the map to place a permanent marker (white star) that is visible to others in the party as a blue star. These are called personal waypoints. What you see: , what party members see:

When you mouseover another party-member's personal waypoint a popup displays the character's name and your distance from the waypoint.

• 

  Your Waypoint

• 

  Waypoint of a party member

These markers can be moved by repeating the above key-mouse combination in a new location or removed with a Left-click at the waypoint's current position. It will remain in its place until moved or removed even between map changes or gaming sessions. It is character-based, each character on an account may have a different one.

Although called "personal waypoint" they are just markers. They do not behave like actual waypoints, you cannot use them to teleport your character to another location.

Jade Bot: Personal Waypoint

Example of a Jade Bot Personal Waypoint

Players with the Jade Tech Waypoint mastery from the Jade Bot mastery track can place a waypoint where they are located.

• To place a personal waypoint, use the mastery skills button below the weapon swap button, to the left of the skill bar. Select the Jade Tech Waypoint icon in the popup.
• There is a 10 minute skill recharge after using the waypoint. The skill recharge timer is paused while you are logged out or you are on a different character.
• You cannot place the personal waypoint while on a Skiff or while swimming, which means you cannot place the waypoint under water. However, you can place it while mounted, either on land or while on a skimmer over the surface of water.
• Adrenal Mushrooms will reset the skill cooldown.

Cost

In brief, the cost of using a waypoint increases with both character level and distance.

Reducing travel costs

This section non-exhaustively links to several useful methods of lowering or avoiding waypoint costs.

See also: Asura gate, Portal Scroll, Guild Waypoint 15% Discount

Formula

Waypoint cost versus level for travel from the Cornucopian Fields to Vigil Keep waypoints (41,573 units)

The total cost of traveling to a waypoint depends on your level and the distance traveled , and can be determined as follows:

Waypoint cost = C1 * [ 0.78 + max(0, (0.0003 / 24) * (Distance - 14400)) ] + C2

There are two level dependent constants, C1 and C2, which are determined by a lookup table:

• C1 scales linearly between levels 0 and 80 from 4  to 50 .
• C2 is zero up to level 30, and scales linearly between levels 31 and 80 from 0  to 1 .

The distance for this equation is measured in the unit that appears when hovering over markers on the minimap or in skill descriptions, i.e. inches.

Base fee

Character Level	Base Fee
1	3
2	4
3	5
4	5
5	5
6	6
7	6
8	7
9	8
10	8
11	9
12	9
13	9
14	9
15	10
16	11
17	11
18	12
19	12
20	12

Character Level	Base Fee
21	12
22	13
23	13
24	14
25	15
26	15
27	16
28	16
29	16
30	16
31	19
32	22
33	24
34	27
35	29
36	32
37	34
38	36
39	38
40	41

Character Level	Base Fee
41	44
42	46
43	49
44	51
45	53
46	55
47	58
48	61
49	63
50	66
51	68
52	71
53	73
54	75
55	77
56	80
57	83
58	85
59	88
60	90

Character Level	Base Fee
61	92
62	94
63	97
64	1  0
65	1  2
66	1  5
67	1  7
68	1  10
69	1  12
70	1  14
71	1  16
72	1  19
73	1  22
74	1  24
75	1  26
76	1  29
77	1  31
78	1  33
79	1  36
80	1  39

Map completion

• There are 486 waypoints that count towards map completion.
  • Waypoints in dungeons, WvW, PvP areas, and in zones added after the game's launch (such as Southsun Cove, The Silverwastes, and the Heart of Maguuma zones) do not count.

Related achievements

• Adventure Guide: Volume One: Using Waypoints — Travel using a waypoint.  Waypoints allow you to travel quickly around the world. They are unlocked by visiting them once. You can teleport to any unlocked waypoint for a small amount of coin. (0)

Notes

• In Season 1, when Captain Ellen Kiel was elected to the Lion's Arch Captain's Council, the fees for using a waypoint were reduced.
• If you have not unlocked any waypoint in a map and become downed, you will automatically unlock the nearest waypoint.
  • If the only waypoint(s) you have unlocked in a map is contested and you become downed, you will automatically unlock the nearest uncontested waypoint.

Bug:

Traveling to a waypoint is unsuccessful if attempted in the midst of losing a connection to the server, or if attempting to waypoint to another map with a different build number from the one you're on. You will still be charged for the waypoint cost, and unfortunately there is no refund.

Trivia

• Some waypoints were destroyed during Living World Season 2 and have yet to be repaired. While they are still needed for map completion, and can be selected as travel destinations from the world map, they are shown in each map as permanently contested even if no foes are around.

Addition of waypoints

The number of waypoints required for map completion has changed over time, from 477 during the first Beta Weekend event to 503 when the game launched. Since then, other waypoints have been added, and the WvW waypoints, along with all WvW Vistas, POI's, and Hero Points have been removed from the map completion requirement. All of these ARE still available, and the WvW Hero Points are still added to the character's totals.

Update	Added	New total
Game launch	-	503
28 January 2013	6	509
26 February 2013	2	511
26 March 2013	1	512
15 October 2013	1	513
18 November 2014	-29	484

See also

• Asura gate
• Chat link format/0x04 codes
•   Central Tyria Waypoint Unlock Cache
•   Central Tyria Waypoint Unlock Package
•   Expansion Waypoint Unlock Package
•   Waypoint Unlock Box
•   Emergency Waypoint
• Waypoint Research Material