Arenanet has been hard at work creating and tweaking the highly anticipated Guild Wars 2. With plans to host a bunch of “preview weekends” similar to what they did for the original Guild Wars, they have taken to their blog yet again, to tell us they are adding all sorts of new things to the game, as well as revising and improving on as many aspects of the game as they think need it.
So below I have summarized all the changes/additions they have mentioned in the article:
1. When you reach zero health in Guild Wars 2, you go into a unique “downed” mode. While in this state, you have a set of four skills that you can use in an attempt to fight back.
2. If you manage to kill an enemy before your downed bar reaches zero, you will rally, getting back up to continue the fight.
3. If you are unable to get a kill before your bar runs out, you will be defeated and have to either go back to a previously unlocked waypoint or wait for another player to come by and revive you.
4. The first three skills that a player gets while downed are determined by their profession while the fourth skill is shared by all professions.
5. They turned this fourth skill into a channeled heal that is interrupted by damage. This means that as long as there are no enemies around to damage you, you’ll be able to revive yourself.
6. The more often you are downed, the shorter your downed meter will become until eventually you will go straight to being defeated.
7. When a player is defeated, and not just downed, a random piece of their armor will be damaged. When a piece of armor is damaged, it imparts no penalty but serves as a warning. If a player is defeated while all of their armor is damaged, then a random piece of armor will break. When armor breaks, it ceases to provide any benefit to the player and must be repaired by visiting an armor-repair NPC in town.
8. The compass now provides different zoom levels that let you get a better view of your surroundings. Just scroll the mouse wheel in and out to zoom.
9. If you need a better look at the world just beyond the compass’s edge, you can also pan the map by right-clicking and dragging. The map will snap back to your character’s position once you start moving again.
10. Meta-events are all about immersing the player in the story of an area in a way that incorporates standard events and helps to make the world feel even more alive.
11. A meta-event can cover a much larger region than a standard event might; you could as much as a quarter of the map thrown into turmoil by a meta-event.
12. They have started an implementation of hidden areas with interesting challenges.
13. Some areas will test your platforming abilities, requiring you to make a series of difficult jumps before you find your treasure at the end, while others contain dangerous foes that will stop at nothing to see you dead.
14. Updated Conditions:
- Bleed: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks intensity.)
- Poison: Inflicts X damage per second. Reduces outgoing heals by 33%. (Stacks duration now.)
- Burning: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks duration now.)
- Cripple: 50% movement-speed reduction.
- Chill: 66% movement-speed reduction. 66% skill cooldown increase.
- Immobilize: 100% movement-speed reduction.
- Weakness: Attacks result in a glancing blow 50% of the time and endurance regeneration is slowed.
- Vulnerable: Lowered the amount of armor it reduces, but allowed it to stack so that it creates moments of super-high vulnerability for damage spiking.
- Blind: Your next hit misses.
- Fear: You flee from your opponent.
- Confusion: Inflicts X damage each time a foe attacks. (New condition; stacks intensity.)
15. Updated Boons:
- Aegis: Block the next attack
- Protection: 33% damage reduction.
- Regeneration: Regenerates X health per second.
- Fury: 20% Critical Chance increase.
- Might: X damage per attack increase. (Stacks intensity now.)
- Vigor: Faster endurance regeneration.
- Swiftness: 33% movement speed increase.
- Retaliation: Does X damage to an opponent each time they hit you. (New boon.)
16. In addition to updating the functionality of boons and conditions, Arenanet is also working on improving their visibility. For instance, since vigor and weakness manipulate endurance, the endurance bar UI should reflect this. And because poison affects heals, your healing skill should look different when you are poisoned.
