Game updates/20060119

Update - Thursday, January 19
Attention citizens.

The Tomb of the Primeval Kings has been overrun by the enemies of Balthazar. The Zaishen Order recognizes that many of you may wish to help conquer this foe. While this is admirable, only those truly devoted to the teachings of Balthazar should attempt to enter the Tombs.

Those wishing to become as great as we, the Zaishen, should take heart. Members of our order await your arrival at the Great Temple of Balthazar. We will train you in the ways of war, so you may continue the personal squabbles that seem to consume so much of your daily routine.

If you truly wish to better yourself, take the ship to the Great Temple, and hone your skills with the Zaishen.

May the blessings of Balthazar follow you on your journey.

-Commander Kuro of the Zaishen Order

Guild Wars: Factions Free-For-All PvP Weekend

With this update, we roll out the first parts of Guild Wars: Factions, including the new login and character selection/creation screens, boat travel between continents, and a weekend sneak preview of the two new professions. (The weekend event lasts from Friday January 20 8:00 am GMT to Monday January 23 7:59 am GMT.)

All high-level PvP has been moved to the Battle Isles, which can be reached using the ship off the coast of Lion's Arch. On the Battle Isles, you'll find a new explorable area with Training Arenas, NPCs who can help you test all aspects of your character's build, updates to existing PvP Arenas, and all-new Zaishen Challenges, where you and your friends can practice against teams of computer AI opponents. All of this content is now organized into a natural progression, so that players can experience the basics of PvP before moving on to advanced challenges.

New computer AI challenges:


 * Training Arenas: a series of four maps designed to teach the basics of PvP and Arena Combat. Beat all four maps to unlock the Zaishen Challenge on your account.
 * Zaishen Challenge: an Arena where you can play the computer AI team of your choice on the map of your choice. Beat five different computer AI teams to unlock the Zaishen Elite Challenge.
 * Zaishen Elite Challenge: the ultimate AI challenge. See how far you can get in a series of random Arena matches against increasingly difficult AI teams.

New unlocking of existing PvP types:


 * Win five-in-a-row in the Random Arenas to unlock the Team Arenas on your account. (Existing accounts have the Team Arenas unlocked already.)
 * Win five total games in the Team Arenas to unlock the Tournament (Heroes' Ascent) on your account. (Existing accounts have the Tournament unlocked already.)

Changes to Guild Combat mechanics:


 * Five minutes after Victory or Death starts, both teams' Guild Lords will now rush out of their base to engage in combat.
 * In the Burning Isle guild hall, NPCs now take the high path to avoid lava when Victory or Death occurs, and Flame Cursed Sentinals no longer drop loot.
 * The Guild Lord's Amulet of Protection now interacts correctly with Deep Wound. (See Fansite Friday #62 for more information about the Guild Lord's Amulet of Protection.)

Miscellaneous improvements:


 * When a party leader uses Map Travel in a town or outpost, his entire party travels with him to the new map.
 * During PvP matches, the Party window now displays your team color.
 * Skill icons for Enchantment and Hex spells are now displayed with a small marker in their upper-right corner.
 * Text descriptions and icons of various magic item upgrades have been improved.
 * The location and visibility of hint popup windows can now be modified using the Customize Layout interface.

Miscellaneous fixes:


 * Ghosts in The Underworld are no longer considered fleshy and will not leave exploitable corpses.