Come Home to Lion’s Arch in the Next Update & Specializations

[Karizee]

Come Home to Lion’s Arch in
the Next Update

by The Guild Wars 2 Team on June 9, 2015






The next content update is bringing changes to Guild Wars 2, and we’re excited to tell you all about them.


Lion’s Arch Rises

Citizens! The good people of Lion’s Arch have been working hard and waiting patiently, and after a long period of healing, it’s nearly time to unveil the brand-new face of the city. In light of the relentless attacks on the port, the new design is fortified against attacks while still providing a warm and welcoming cultural center for the city’s diverse residents.

We asked for your help in deciding the names of significant landmarks, and players from around the world answered the call. The results are in, and the following names will be part of the new Lion’s Arch:

Canal Ward → Commodore’s Quarter
Lighthouse → Phoenix Roost
Lion’s Court → Lion’s Court
Air Base → Lion’s Arch Aerodrome
Memorial → Field of the Fallen

Keep an eye on the official Guild Wars 2 forums for an upcoming discussion of player events to celebrate the grand opening.


Specializations

Core specializations are also on their way, bringing updates to traits and skills for each profession and making it easier than ever to create the builds you want to play. Read up on core specializations in this blog post by Jon Peters, and check out the recording and summary of our four-hour specializations livestream for an overview of the changes to each profession.

Stay tuned for more information on what you’ll find in the next update!


https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/c...e-next-update/

[zito]

/yawn

Nice that lions arch is being fixed but still nothing new to do

[Deleted]

so all the players had in all this was we got to choose 5 names?

I thought from the previous post that they'd give us more options like being able to choose the theme for the new buildings etc. but oh well.

[Arlee]

I was hoping for actual events to help rebuild

[Kazgrel]

so all the players had in all this was we got to choose 5 names?

I thought from the previous post that they'd give us more options like being able to choose the theme for the new buildings etc. but oh well.

Well, they could've simply done internal polling and never asked for player input or made a poll.

That said, had they presented a couple different "themes" for how the city would be rebuilt would've been cool.

[Edge-]

I was hoping for actual events to help rebuild

I was too, but honestly I was totally expecting ArenaNet to do nothing. At least I wasn't disappointed!

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Well that was quick! Wasn't expecting to see the new one till at least August/September.

Wait a minute; no release date was given.

So we might be waiting till at least Auguest/September afterall...

[Karizee]

I was hoping for actual events to help rebuild

Dunno why you silly corgi, they've been crystal clear that there would be no Living Story until HoT launches ....Speaking of which!


Data mining from today's patch revealed these codes:

963421_0699 Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns—Prepurchase
963422_0030 Thank you for your purchase.
963263_0867 Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns—Deluxe
963374_0817 This is only available in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns—Deluxe.
963383_0957 Thank you for purchasing Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns—Deluxe.
963311_0238 Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns—Ultimate
963358_0198 Thank you for purchasing Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns—Ultimate

My speculation is that they will open up pre-purchase at E3 next week.

[zito]

be no Living Story until HoT

Who said content updates had to be part of the living story? Because the living story is it's own entity, it's not the name of content updates like W* did with their "drops"

[Karizee]

Who said content updates had to be part of the living story? Because the living story is it's own entity, it's not the name of content updates like W* did with their "drops"

An event like helping rebuild Lion's Arch would definitely fall under Living Story. They can't hold it as a one-off event, no more temporary content remember? We can still get permanent and festival-type content added outside of LS - speaking of which, did you see the data-mining from a couple months back with the new SAB monsters? I'm predicting the anniversary for that

But it will be fun to explore the new Lion's Arch, I'm wildly curious about the Aerodrome and the (speculated) Guild Hall center.

[PACOX]

Wait, so are specializations (the core ones) coming next week too? Nothing in the post says they are coming later but it's not exactly confirmed. They did change the shape of the trait icons (today's patch notes) because of specializations.

Not sure a out others but it's a pretty he change in my book, especially if specializations ship with the trait changes as well.

[zito]

An event like helping rebuild Lion's Arch would definitely fall under Living Story.

No it would fall under the Living world not the living story. Actually it could fall under the living story if they tied it into the current story, which it has no relation to at the moment so no.

[rhandric]

Wait, so are specializations (the core ones) coming next week too? Nothing in the post says they are coming later but it's not exactly confirmed. They did change the shape of the trait icons (today's patch notes) because of specializations.

Not sure a out others but it's a pretty he change in my book, especially if specializations ship with the trait changes as well.

If I interpret the last paragraph right, core specs will be in the next update as well as the LA updates. But I didn't see a date for the next update which will bring them.

[Edge-]

No it would fall under the Living world not the living story. Actually it could fall under the living story if they tied it into the current story, which it has no relation to at the moment so no.

Yeah. I wasn't expecting any story elements with voiced scenes and the like, but I was hoping that they'd do something to actually get players engaged with the rebuilding, even if it was just going out and harvesting/turning in some materials or doing some events in the town or something.

Honestly feel like it's a huge missed opportunity for more player engagement with the world, and in particular the most important city (IIRC) in GW2 right now.

[PACOX]

Well there's the karka inside the building material so there might be a small event?

[Arlee]

Dunno why you silly corgi, they've been crystal clear that there would be no Living Story until HoT launches ....Speaking of which!

My speculation is that they will open up pre-purchase at E3 next week.

It didn't have to be living story... i mean I could see how it could have been done as part of it but this could have been done as an event type thing. Like a "rebuilding of Lion's Arch" month long event. Each week there could have been new ways for players to do things to help out and at the end of the month bam new LA which everyone could feel like they played an actual part in if they had wanted to. It would have been cool

I will be very surprised if they don't announce pre-purchase during E3.

Wait, so are specializations (the core ones) coming next week too? Nothing in the post says they are coming later but it's not exactly confirmed. They did change the shape of the trait icons (today's patch notes) because of specializations.

Not sure a out others but it's a pretty he change in my book, especially if specializations ship with the trait changes as well.

Next content update, they haven't set a date yet though. It could be next week or a few weeks from now. Either way they need to do it soon to minimize impact on the Tournament coming up in August. Also, the trait changes need to happen at the same time specializations go in because those two systems are interdependent.

[Deleted]

A HoT Ultimate? Did they also have beside a Deluxe an Ultimate version for GW1?
(Lol why Ultimate)

[Karizee]

No it would fall under the Living world not the living story. Actually it could fall under the living story if they tied it into the current story, which it has no relation to at the moment so no.

It is Living World now, Lion's Arch is changing now. It has been changing ever since the Battle for Lion's Arch, this is like the 4th iteration of the map. But the minute they add gameplay to it, it becomes Living Story.

It didn't have to be living story... i mean I could see how it could have been done as part of it but this could have been done as an event type thing. Like a "rebuilding of Lion's Arch" month long event. Each week there could have been new ways for players to do things to help out and at the end of the month bam new LA which everyone could feel like they played an actual part in if they had wanted to. It would have been cool

I agree, but unfortunately that's just the kind of thing those who complained about temporary content would complain about, that they couldn't be here for that month or whatever.

[Arlee]

I agree, but unfortunately that's just the kind of thing those who complained about temporary content would complain about, that they couldn't be here for that month or whatever.

Yes well... those people can suck on an egg But that is a valid point... I suppose. Idk... I think having make major story things replayable but still have some temporary content which is nifty would be a good balance. But then I guess I'm biased because I never minded temporary content in the first place.

* Sigh...Slowly kicks small rocks on the ground while looking sad

[Karizee]

Yes well... those people can suck on an egg But that is a valid point... I suppose. Idk... I think having make major story things replayable but still have some temporary content which is nifty would be a good balance. But then I guess I'm biased because I never minded temporary content in the first place.

* Sigh...Slowly kicks small rocks on the ground while looking sad

I'm looking at how they handle Silverwastes to get some clues on how they will interweave Living World with Living Story - we've had the LW zone changes (more vines springing out of the ground, more areas opening up), the events tied to those areas (more events added as time goes on), with the LS (story leads you into the area, achievements/rewards are permanently available and tied to completing both story instances and open world events).

The events will stay, even when/if we defeat Mordremoth in the future? Mordremoth's lieutenant VineWrath as a permanent dynamic open world boss similar to Tequatl even though Zhaitan is defeated? We still get the "we are all working together to do the thing" type feel of S1, but with the permanence of S2.

But speaking of rocks, tell me that doesn't have SAB written all over it's googly-eyed face lol.