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Guild Wars update brings big love for Mesmers and more surprises in Kryta
Log into Guild Wars and look around. Chances are you'll notice a lot more Mesmers running around than usual. The newest Guild Wars update arrived last night, bringing the long-anticipated Mesmer skill balance. This class suddenly looked like a lot more fun to many players, inspiring them to dust off their neglected Mesmers. The effects of this update spread to other areas of the game as well.
The Mesmer balance wasn't the entirety of the update -- War in Kryta continues to escalate in ways that are bringing some potentially nice rewards for players who are keeping up with events. Follow along after the jump and we'll take a look at some of the details of this update!
If you're not familiar with the Mesmer class, you're probably wondering what the big deal is. Why were so many skills updated and why is it so important? The ArenaNet team spent a fair amount of time explaining just that with the developer update page, but in short, Mesmers weren't reaching their full potential with their original skill set. The update began with a change to the Fast Casting attribute itself -- the team gave it different functionality in both PvE and PvP -- and built on that.
Other areas of the game were also altered to reflect these changes -- Necromancers, Elementalists, and Assassins saw a few significant changes to their skill bars as well. As this was a large update for the Mesmer class, ANet took the time to go through it and explain the reasoning and thoughts behind many of the changes. The developer notes on this update are a fairly long read, but well-written and nicely broken up so you don't crash into a wall of text. They're a must-read for anyone with a Mesmer, and it wouldn't hurt for other players to take a look through them as well, as they explain the changes brought to elite areas that were also introduced with this update.
The War in Kryta part of this update brought some exciting additions to fans of this storyline. If you've progressed to where you have access to Lion's Arch Keep, you'll find a couple of additions to the area. There are two collectors and a "Wanted by the Shining Blade" signpost similar to the Zaishen signposts in the Great Temple of Balthazar. The signpost gives a similar bounty quest, but rewards War Supplies rather than Zaishen coins.
War supplies can also be acquired by trading three Confessor's Orders -- an item dropped by Peacekeepers and White Mantle -- to Master Scout Braden, also in Lion's Arch Keep. Finally, you can get War Supplies by escorting Courier Falken around Kryta. Even if you're not interested in gaining War Supplies, that last item is worth your time simply to see him use his Falken Punch skill. He can be found directly outside any town in Kryta, although you may have to zone in and out a few times in order to get him to spawn.
Everything in the update is available now, so look through the notes and log in to check it out for yourself. We'll be off taking a second look at the minions -- is it us, or are they suddenly enormous?
