On January 8, the new Guild Wars 2 story episode “Everything or Nothing” was released. With it, not only new content came to the game, but also an exciting plot twist. Our author Alexander Leitsch found it very successful and summarizes 5 reasons why it’s worth taking a look at the episode.
In a regular rhythm of two to four months, ArenaNet releases a new episode of the seasonal content “Living World”. The structure is always comparable, but the quality varies greatly. “Everything or Nothing” gets many things right that went wrong in previous episodes.
In particular, the new area “Thunderhead Peaks” and the new story stand out. But the developers have also done many things right with the additional innovations.
An area with long-term tasks
The big problem with the new areas in Guild Wars 2 lies in long-term motivation. In most cases, players explore a map in the first days after release, and once they’ve seen everything and completed every achievement, they leave it. In Thunderhead Peaks, things are a bit different.
Motivation through Dwarven Treasures: One reason for daily visits is the Dwarven Catacombs. Here, you can find not only a lot of rare (yellow) items but also the exquisite Serpentine Jewels. You need these for crafting a completely new weapon set.
At first glance, the catacombs may seem a bit confusing. You first need a “Light of Deldrimor” plate. You can obtain this, for example, by assembling the two plate parts from the meta-events on the new map. Alternatively, other players can sell it at the Trading Post, and you can buy it from them.
With the plate, you visit Frodak Steelstar, the Dwarf in the catacombs. He gives you a teleport plate in one color and the Light of Deldrimor. From now on, you have 30 minutes to navigate through the catacombs and uncover hidden treasures with the light.
The great thing about it is that the treasures are always in different locations, and you only need to enter three of the five different vaults each day. Moreover, the tasks within the catacombs are varied. Sometimes you need to complete jumping tasks, and sometimes solve small puzzles.
The Dragonblood Weapons: While the rewards from the Dwarven Treasures are already quite pleasant, it’s the new weapon set that truly makes daily visits worthwhile.
The Dragonblood weapons in Exotic form each require three exquisite Serpentine Jewels. You can also earn these with some luck through meta-events, which you ideally completed for the plate parts.
The Dragonblood weapons are also tied to a collection with many achievement points and Ascended weapons. This is especially appealing for achievement hunters.
While most episodes grant between 100 and 200 achievement points spread over 30 to 50 achievements, “Everything or Nothing” significantly surpasses these values. 353 achievement points and a total of 112 different achievements await you.
This is partly due to the crafting of the Ascended Dragonblood weapons. Each weapon comes with four additional achievements.
Useful resources on the map: Lastly, ArenaNet also adjusted the materials on the map. While usually in areas for level 80 characters only the highest tier of materials exists, the new map features many deposits of platinum and iron ore.
This is not only valuable for selling but is also frequently used in the crafting of the Ascended Dragonblood weapons.
Drama in the Story
In terms of story, ArenaNet has really delivered a fireworks display this time. If you haven’t played the story yet, you should skip this paragraph.
Fight with an Elder Dragon? Throughout the episode, we are prepared for the fight with Kralkatorrik. In the first section, the dragon Glint teaches us how to forge Dragon weapons again. Only with these can we penetrate Kralkatorrik’s scales and deal damage.
Additionally, we learn to combine powers with the dragon Aurene that we have raised and use them purposefully.
Meanwhile, our allies gather on the map. Everyone is present:
- Familiar characters from our guild like Taimi, Gorrik, Canach, or Rytlock
- The Pact with Marshal Logan Thackeray
- The free Awakened
- Zephyrites
- Corsairs
- Sun Spikes
- Olmakhan
- Exalted
- And even the Skyscale, who supply us with oil on the map.
The Grand Finale: In the final episode, we finally face Kralkatorrik. The battle is well thought out. All weapons are ready, and with the help of Skyscale technology, we can amplify the resonances and coordinate the attacks.
Just when it looks like the dragon has been defeated, it rises up to attack us. Aurene throws herself at it, and what the dragoness had already foreseen in previous episodes happens.
She is pierced by crystals and dies. Our group, severely injured by the explosion of the attacks, stands there perplexed. It all concludes with Braham’s question of how things will proceed, and our answer: We don’t know.
And that is what has been done really well. Rarely have we faced a riddle in an MMORPG like this. Aurene was our hope in the fight against the dragons. She was supposed to absorb the magic that is released with every dragon’s death. Players are now eagerly speculating on how it might continue.
An entertaining fractal
If you are more interested in group content rather than the open world, you can look forward to the new fractal “Siren’s Reef” in this patch. There is a story to discover here as well.
The story of the new fractal: Together with the cabin boy Weyandt and Captain Strohm, we have landed on an island belonging to a famous ghost pirate queen.
Together with the two NPCs, we search for treasures, solve puzzles, and in the end, we confront Captain Arabella Crowe. At the end of the instance, Weyandt takes over the crew and the ship after he himself has murdered his captain.
This Weyandt is, by the way, the same one who encountered us as a ghost pirate in the jumping puzzle in Lion’s Arch. Here, too, a small side story has concluded.
Difficulties and instabilities: Overall, the fractal mechanics are rather simple. However, with the newly introduced Mistlock Instabilities, which make all fractals a bit more challenging, general variety has been brought into play.
New instabilities include, for example, a slippery floor, fiery projectiles from recently defeated enemies, or birds attacking us out of the blue. What’s new, though, is that every negative instability also brings a small advantage somewhere. The slippery floor, for example, comes with additional duration of stability.
A simple but cool longbow
Admittedly, at this point, opinions may differ. The new legendary longbow Pharus is not as spectacular as some other legendaries. But due to its simplicity, the bow is versatile.
Combines with all armors: While for example, the previous longbow Kudzu was thematically only combinable with Sylvari or leaf patterns, Pharus is very flexible due to its white effect.
In terms of sound, the longbow is unique and unmistakable. However, they are not as annoying as, for example, the shots from the shortbow Dreamer, which shoots with neighing unicorns.
I personally found the weapon so beautiful that I invested many hours to craft it for myself.
General innovations round off the patch
With the episode, ArenaNet also released two small innovations. These include a new combination of attributes and a practical feature for bank and material storage.
Prophetic values for support classes: The new Prophetic values offer significant advantages for support classes wanting to deal damage as well. They consist of:
- Power
- Precision
- Ferocity
- Concentration
The last value increases the duration of boons and is therefore perfect for Chronomancers, Berserkers, and Renegades. On Reddit, there is already an overview of current damage values and influences of the attributes on the meta in raids.
Number of stored items: Those who do not have their material storage and bank memorized will welcome this small feature. When hovering over an item in the inventory, you can directly see in the preview how many of these items you own.
This feature is extremely practical for planning larger tasks, such as the Legendary weapons! It fits well with the previously mentioned adjustments to inventory management from November.
No Dragonblood weapons or Legendaries without gold. Be sure to check out our Gold Guide for 2019:
