Stocking Up on War Supplies

The Drizzlewood Coast map is unlike most other Living World Season maps. For those that have played it, you know it resembles a World vs World map more than anything else, with several map lanes to push against the enemy, territory to claim and more. The map currency here is War Supplies, a currency that is used to purchased all manner of helpful things, like using special mastery skills from the new Waystation deployable. The extended map in the upcoming episode which will take us to the Frost Citadel, and will still use War Supplies. So it’s best to play the map today and do as many meta events as possible to keep a healthy amount for the release.

Claim Uncollected Icebrood Saga Mastery Points

This one’s a no-brainer. The new episode will bring more mastery tiers to the Waystation skill and ArenaNet even hinted at more unlocks, so it’s best to grab mastery points now. Check your Achievements panel to see which episode still has mastery points to claim, and try and grab them before the update goes live. We’re thinking you’ll need between 6-8 mastery points this time.

Stock Up On Stormcaller and Boneskinner Weapons

Jormag Rising will also introduce new upgrades for two weapon sets that arrived in earlier episodes. If you don’t have all the Stormcaller or Boneskinner weapons laying around, then it’s time to collect them. If you have a bunch of Gold laying around, you can simply buy them off the auction house to save you time as the steps to unlock the collection can take a week of casual play.

The post Guild Wars 2: How To Prepare For Jormag Rising! appeared first on Mmos World.

The costs of the charr civil war are mounting as a steady stream of legion troops—lured by overwhelming Dominion victories and propaganda—defect to join Bangar’s forces. There may still be a chance to turn the tide. Rendezvous with Rytlock to join a parley with Crecia, the legion imperators.. and Ryland.

New Map: Drizzlewood Coast

This dense and beautiful woodland is the stage for a brutal civil war between the Dominion and the United Legions. With diminished resources, strategy is key. Claim territory from enemy forces led by Ryland’s Steel warband and push back the front lines in a map-wide meta-event.

Waystation Synchronization Mastery

For progression, Guild Wars 2 will be introducing a brand new Mastery in this episode. The Essence Manipulation Mastery tracks expand with a 4th tier, allowing you to use your special action skills on enemies regardless of their essence. Skills will chain to nearby enemies with bonus damage if their essence is aligned to the skill.

New Strike Mission

Unsurprisingly, we are also getting a new Strike mission. These mini-raids are great for introducing players to the game’s raiding content. In this new one which is named Cold War, players must survive an onslaught from waves of Dominion forces, culminating in an intense final battle.

Rewards Galore

Guild Wars 2 isn’t known as Fashion Wars without a reason, as it constantly pushes out new cosmetics, weapons and more for players to chase. No different in this episode. Unlock two new weapon sets, a four-piece armor set inspired by the ceremonial garb of norn Bear shamans, a new emote, and more!

Be sure to join our community Discord: https://discord.gg/D8MYHkG

The post Your Guild Wars 2 Guide 2 Everything New In The Icebrood Saga Episode 3: No Quarter appeared first on Mmos World.

Dragon Wars

With the crystal Elder Dragon Kralkatorric defeated in the previous Living World Season, the Icebrood Saga begins with a celebration. In the Charr homeland of Grothmar Valley, Imperator Bangar Ruinbringer has called for a Legion-wide celebration. Uniting the Blood, Ash, Flame and Iron Legions of Charr is unprecedented, but warranted for a significant time in Tyria’s history. As the Pact Commander, we are invited to see the celebrations first hand, and unfortunately, things don’t go as planned. The story this episode is a great mixture of intriguing plot-lines and an almost carnival-like festival vibes. Not only does it establish some excellent and strong key characters like Bangar and Crecia, we also get to see a lot more from companions we know like Rytlock. Marjory and Kas also return. With five chapters in total, the build up is well worth the time spent – the climax is both shocking and will keep players guessing and wanting to know what happens next, and whether or not the antagonists succeed in their mission. To sum it up, Aurene is seen as a threat – and the antagonist in this episode wants an elder dragon for their own to even the odds.

Grothmar Valley

Another highlight is the episode’s new map Grothmar Valley. With large open scenic fields and views, the game takes players back visually to Ascalon-ish as first seen in the original Guild Wars game. A big plus is that there are no repeatable heart tasks. Players will instead need to complete meta events – four for the four Charr Legions – in order to earn the new map currency and rewards. It’s also a busy map because the meta events requires plenty of player co-operation, so it’s nice to see everyone getting involved. The downside is that during off-peak hours when maps are empty, these events are near impossible to complete in small numbers or solo.

The New Jumping Puzzle

ArenaNet finally listen to feedback about adding more jumping puzzles in-game. In Bound By Blood, players are invited to try their hand at the Gauntlet of Khan-Ur. Located right beside the hidden vault of Khan-Ur, the JP will test your speed and endurance. Players will need to carry a lit torch through the obstacle course and light braziers at check points. Should you fall into the waters below, the torch goes out and you’ll need to re-start from a lit check-point. Players get additional achievement points for running the gauntlet in less than 5 minutes, which is totally possible even without the help of Mesmer portals. It’s also easier that any of the Living World Season 3 jumping puzzles which should make most Guild Wars 2 players happy.

That Metal Concert

Remember what we said about there being four meta events? Well one of them is probably Guild Wars 2’s most insanely fun ones to-date. Bangar Ruinbringer has brought Tyria’s favorite metal band, the Metal Legion, to perform in Grothmar Valley. This makes for an excellent event! The band will play three original metal songs and during the concert players will work together to ensure the crowd has a good time. To achieve this, the hype meter must be filled. That means, fixing broken amps, subduing crazy fans, jumping in the mosh-pit, and other side events need to be handled. Because of the fast-paced nature and the fact that the metal songs are actually really good, this is one meta event you won’t soon forget in Guild Wars 2.

Strike Missions

And finally we have Strike Missions. For players who have completed the fifth chapter for the prologue’s story, Strike Missions will become available. You can enter via a formed Squad of up to ten players, or join a public match-up. Players will need to take down an Elemental Construct boss – whom you’ve faced before in the story’s climax chapter. However, it’s harder now and requires more than a couple of players to complete comfortably. While it’s a good way to farm for daily drops to get rewards, the overall difficulty of the boss in itself is underwhelming. This will be true for most end-gamers and raiders in Guild Wars 2. The good news is, it’s a start. ArenaNet has said more difficult ones will become available as more Living World Saga episodes come out, which evolves the boss mechanically and visually.

The post Guild Wars 2 Bound By Blood: Top 5 Highlights appeared first on Mmos World.

The Storyline Continues

The Icebrood Saga marks the beginning of a new adventure in Guild Wars 2’s storyline. It is a time of tentative celebration for all the races of Tyria in the wake of the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik’s heroic defeat by the members of Dragon’s Watch. But whispers from the Northern Shiverpeaks tell tales of ancient forces stirring from their slumber. While the Sons of Svanir—a renegade cult of norn who have turned away from worshipping the Spirits of the Wild—devote themselves to the elder ice dragon Jormag, stories of the dragon’s strength and virtues begin to spread alongside its corrupting influence.

A New Map

Another good source of excitement is seeing places we’ve not been to yet in Guild Wars 2. The prologue will take us to Grothmar Valley. What we know from the trailers and teasers so far is that it’s the staging ground for a massive Charr celebration. We’re hoping the Valley offers all the usual nooks and crannies one can expect from maps in Guild Wars 2. We’d love nothing more than to explore and chance upon plenty of organic events that ties into the zone and story. Plus, seeing a rock concert up close and personal couldn’t hurt! With a new map, expect new achievements to hunt and collect as well.

Strike Missions

The Icebrood Saga will introduce a wealth of new features, including Strike Missions, which are epic 10-man boss encounters that combine the group coordination skills of raids with the large-scale conflict of a Guild Wars 2 meta event. New boss creatures will also populate the environments of Grothmar Valley and the Northern Shiverpeaks, including the ominous, newly-awakened Drakkar first seen in the original Guild Wars, while new Masteries will be available in Episode One and Episode Two that will explore the history and influence of the Spirits of the Wild, the mystic animal deities of the norn.

Upcoming Systems Changes

Beyond just the new story and map in the prologue, Guild Wars 2 is also looking to shake things up elsewhere. They just recently bumped up the Chef crafting profession to level 500 which is a good start. Chefs can now cook Ascended level food that’s awesome – they are 1 hour long buffs of multiple stats that everyone in the vicinity can enjoy. Plus, it had an interesting journey to 500, which is more than what the other crafting professions could offer. In the future, we can look forward to build templates and some WvW pvp changes that have been outlined recently. Additionally, we have the world restructuring and alliances in the works too. Overall, Guild Wars 2 can look ahead to an exciting for the MMORPG in Tyria, and it all begins with the new Icebrood Saga arriving next week!

The post Guild Wars 2 2019: Here’s Why We’re Excited For The Icebrood Saga Prologue appeared first on Mmos World.

Heart of Thorns Expansion Comes Free With Every Purchase of Path of Fire

The big announcement for expansions wasn’t that there’s going to be a new one after the Icebrood Saga, which honestly is a little disappointing. However, every purchase of the Path of Fire expansion will now come bundled in with the game’s first one, Heart of Thorns. This is consistent with what most modern MMORPGs do when including older content as part of a current purchase. Heart of Thorns owners who bought the content at launch will also receive compensation with a free gift pack. For players who already own Path of Fire but not Heart of Thorns, it will be added to your account sometime this week. If you haven’t picked up Path of Fire, the current expansion which introduces the awesome mount system, grab yours today here.

Gear/build Templates Are Working and Coming Soon

For players who’ve been wanting and needing a way to change builds and specializations on the fly for their characters, there’s good news. Guild Wars 2 showed off a working system of the build template in action during the presentation. As expected the system looks like it does exactly what players need it to do. Currently, players need to manually switch out traits, specializations and gear before tackling specific content. That’s looking to be a thing of the past. This feature is expected to arrive very soon.

New 10-player Strike Mission Bosses

One of the more exciting features announced at Pax West by Guild Wars 2 was the addition of more group oriented content. Strike Missions sound interesting. These are new 10 player instances where everyone takes on a single boss monster. The cool thing is, the aesthetic and mechanic of the boss fight will organically evolve over time as more content and episodes roll in. This does keep things fresh and increases replay value. It’s also a tad bit difficult, but a good introduction to Raids in Guild Wars 2, according to the developers.

A New World Bosses and Masteries

As players are traversing uncharted territories in the new maps and environments of Grothmar Vallety and Northern Shiverpeaks, it makes sense to populate the world with new boss monsters to fight. It’s been confirmed that players will encounter more than one, and they are structured like traditional world bosses – on a timer with good loot of course. Additionally, you can expect new Masteries to arrive in Episode 1 and 2 of the new Living World saga. These will explore the history and influence of the Spirits of the Wild, the mystic animal deities of the Norn. Thus, if you haven’t played a Norn before it might be a good idea to make an alt and play through the personal story for some background.

Prologue Quest: Bound by Blood

And after all that, Guild Wars 2 players won’t have to wait long to begin the new adventure. Coming on September 17th, everyone who owns the Path of Fire expansion can start the prologue quest for the Icebrood Saga called Bound By Blood. The prologue will serve as a narrative introduction in the characters, setting and the new map before the next conflict arrives. We should also see the more emphasis on the Charr and Norn races of Tyria.

All in all, exciting stuff and times ahead for Guild Wars 2. Want to check out Guild Wars 2 for free right now? Start your adventure in Tyria here.

The post Top 5 New Features and Additions Coming To Guild Wars 2 With Icebrood Saga appeared first on Mmos World.