The second part of the year of Guild Wars 2 continues, starting right where we left off after the Super Adventure Box update. We were taken back to Southsun Cove, in the secret of southsun update; refugees were over-filling the cities. A body of traders by the name of the Consortium gave shelter to those refugees in need of a new home. The island is a beautiful, tropical place and at first it appeared to be a great idea but it wasn't long before the traders began to treat the refugees like prisoners. The wildlife on the island had also began to become more and more aggressive, it was up to the player and inspector Kiel to get to the bottom of the problems and discover the secret of southsun cove.
This update introduced Crab Toss; a mini game where a group of players are placed within a circular arena, the aim for each player is to attempt to hold onto a crap launched into the arena while stopping the other players from holding the crab. This update also brought traps to world vs world and a couple of backpack skins. It took two months worth of living story updates to complete, the secret of southsun was the setup event, the follow up was know as the Last Stand at Southsun. During the Last Stand at Southsun living story event, the culprit behind the attacks from the wildlife was Canach; a Sylvari hired by the Consortium to explore the island. The player was sent to Canach's lair to defeat him and stop the spread of the pollen causing the high aggression levels in the wildlife.
Dragon Bash, the next update brought a month long celebration with lots of mini-games and activities including Dragon Ball and Moa Racing. There wasn't much in terms of a story to this event, just a group of fun activities. Sky Pirates of Tyria brought the Aetherblades. They disrupted the celebrations of Dragon Bash, specifically the effigy lighting ceremony.
New activities and celebrations came with the Bazaar of the Four Winds update, traders from the far reaches of Tyria re-settled in Lion's Arch to sell their goods. The flying Zephyr Sanctum landed and gave it's movement powers to the people as well as offering their magical crystals. This update was full of activities and achievements but didn't push the story forward. The Cutthroat Politics update allowed the players to vote for one of two candidates to fill the vacancy in the Captain's Council created by the assassination of Captain Theo Ashford by the Aetherblades (in the Sky Pirates Update explained above). The first of the two candidates was Evon Gnashblade, he promised a price cut on Black Lion Keys, research into the Fall of Abaddon fractal and a rotation of popular activities such as Crab Toss and Southsun Survival. The second candidate was Ellen Kiel, she promised a reduction in waypoint costs, research into the Thaumanova Reactor fractal, and a rotation of popular activities such as Crab Toss and Southsun Survival. This update added new back items and minis of the two candidates. Ellen Kiel was elected with 52% of the votes. The great part about this vote was that the players were able to directly choose which fractal was researched and therefore the content to be developed for the game.
The Queen's Jubilee celebration update brought many changes to the game. These changes included the addition of the wallet; a way of showing all of the game currencies in one place! A solo queue for PvP, champion loot updates, updates to the effects detail system, World vs World and the addition of permanant finishers. Queen Jannah has ruled for ten years and Divinity's Reach was ready to put on a show. A new arena was added - the Crown Pavilion - as a symbol of her people's endurance. This was meant to be a celebration event, however the update to follow showed that not everyone at the Queen's Speech was there to celebrate. During the speech, Scarlet Briar (in the title image of this post) took control of the Watchknights and attacked Queen Jannah. This event marked the anniversary of Guild Wars 2. Scarlet didn't only attack Divinity's Reach though, she continuously attacks the zones of Tyria (these events can be played in-game today).
There we have it; an entire year of Guild Wars 2! When writing about many of these updates; I felt I could have delved into more detail. I plan to go back to the beginning and have singular posts on each of the updates. The return of the other Lore series and the adventure of Andru Rhaelis though the original Guild Wars is also in the works. Check back for more soon!
Dragon Bash, the next update brought a month long celebration with lots of mini-games and activities including Dragon Ball and Moa Racing. There wasn't much in terms of a story to this event, just a group of fun activities. Sky Pirates of Tyria brought the Aetherblades. They disrupted the celebrations of Dragon Bash, specifically the effigy lighting ceremony.
"They murdered Captain Theo Ashford and fled to their hideouts..."
They murdered Captain Theo Ashford and fled to their hideouts (within Lion's Arch and Gendarran Fields). Inspector Ellen Kiel and and the Delaqua Investigations led to the discovery of a scheme to generate an opening on the captain's Council, which would be filled by the Aetherblades' leader; Captain Mai Trin. This patch introduced a new dungeon (Aetherblade Retreat) where the players were able to fight back against the Aetherblades within their own hideout. At the end of the dungeon, the leader of the Aetherblades was killed and her reign of terror ended.New activities and celebrations came with the Bazaar of the Four Winds update, traders from the far reaches of Tyria re-settled in Lion's Arch to sell their goods. The flying Zephyr Sanctum landed and gave it's movement powers to the people as well as offering their magical crystals. This update was full of activities and achievements but didn't push the story forward. The Cutthroat Politics update allowed the players to vote for one of two candidates to fill the vacancy in the Captain's Council created by the assassination of Captain Theo Ashford by the Aetherblades (in the Sky Pirates Update explained above). The first of the two candidates was Evon Gnashblade, he promised a price cut on Black Lion Keys, research into the Fall of Abaddon fractal and a rotation of popular activities such as Crab Toss and Southsun Survival. The second candidate was Ellen Kiel, she promised a reduction in waypoint costs, research into the Thaumanova Reactor fractal, and a rotation of popular activities such as Crab Toss and Southsun Survival. This update added new back items and minis of the two candidates. Ellen Kiel was elected with 52% of the votes. The great part about this vote was that the players were able to directly choose which fractal was researched and therefore the content to be developed for the game.
The Queen's Jubilee celebration update brought many changes to the game. These changes included the addition of the wallet; a way of showing all of the game currencies in one place! A solo queue for PvP, champion loot updates, updates to the effects detail system, World vs World and the addition of permanant finishers. Queen Jannah has ruled for ten years and Divinity's Reach was ready to put on a show. A new arena was added - the Crown Pavilion - as a symbol of her people's endurance. This was meant to be a celebration event, however the update to follow showed that not everyone at the Queen's Speech was there to celebrate. During the speech, Scarlet Briar (in the title image of this post) took control of the Watchknights and attacked Queen Jannah. This event marked the anniversary of Guild Wars 2. Scarlet didn't only attack Divinity's Reach though, she continuously attacks the zones of Tyria (these events can be played in-game today).
There we have it; an entire year of Guild Wars 2! When writing about many of these updates; I felt I could have delved into more detail. I plan to go back to the beginning and have singular posts on each of the updates. The return of the other Lore series and the adventure of Andru Rhaelis though the original Guild Wars is also in the works. Check back for more soon!
