Details on the newest content update to Guild Wars 2 made their way to the official site yesterday with the completion of the Last Stand at Southsun information page. This next phase of the Southsun Cove event will kick off May 28th and bring with it a new renegade villain, a solo story dungeon to put an end to him, and a final onslaught that takes place on the island beginning on June 5th. Aside from the event’s additions, the update will bring players some WvW updates, custom arena updates, and a couple of cool items obtainable through completing achievements on Southsun Cove.

Here is a bit of information on the WvW-specific additions:

New Improved World XP

• We’re improving the way we award World XP to World vs. World players! Now you’ll gain rewards for a much wider range of activities in the Mists – everything from destroying siege weapons, repairing walls, escort missions, and more.

Greater Variety and More Rewards in WvW

• We’re adding new WvW daily achievements to the list you can choose from so you can earn World XP for playing the way you want. And every time you gain a new World rank, you’ll earn a bonus chest packed with useful WvW loot!

Introducing Infusions and Ascended Gear in WvW

• Now you can purchase Ascended rings and amulets and upgrade your WvW abilities with six new Infusions that give your character special WvW bonuses! Just speak to the new Laurel and Badge Merchants on each map.

For more details as well as the usual host of nifty screenshots and a wallpaper, check it out here.

There were a couple of interesting– if somewhat vague– PvP updates issued on the official forums over this past weekend. One of which was concerning the public, non-beta release of Custom Arenas. The other was a hint of sorts by Devon Carver directed toward future WvW and matchmaking updates.

Originally posted by John Corpening (Source)

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Hey guys, thanks for the question. There are a few issues and updates we want to address before we make Custom Arenas available to everyone. At this time there is no announced date for the end of the beta period. We are eager to get these out to you but we want to make sure known issues are addressed first.

Originally posted by DevonCarver (Source)

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In the coming weeks, nay months, you’ll see many changes to WvW. We should have something to announce regarding the matchmaking in the coming weeks.

‘Many’ changes to WvW? Let’s see what ArenaNet’s definition of many is, shall we?

Over the weekend, ArenaNet published a video starring Guild Wars 2 Narrative Designer Scott McGough as he talks a little about the ambitions and goals for the Consortium, who play a large role in the events currently going on in Southsun Cove. Watch out Black Lion Trading Company– it seems you’ve got a bit of a competition. He also touches on the goals and ambitions that ArenaNet has concerning May’s content update and the Living World story arcs as a whole. Jump past the cut to take a look.

Oh, yeah, and it seems ArenaNet is gearing up to release additional information on the next phase of May’s Southsun event. On the Secret of Southsun information page, there is a new teaser box for a May 28th update known as “Last Stand at Southsun.” The box doesn’t link to a page just yet, but that will change in the near future we’re sure! All we know so far is that it involves “A desperate villain– a monstrous plan!”

Killerx here to help guide you on the role of PvP conditioning as a Ranger. A little warning in advance: This is a heavy conditions build. You will do amazing bleed damage but there is little room to no room for anything else in the build besides these condition abilities and pets. In this guide I will explain how to build and play as a Ranger with this setup. As a condition Ranger, you apply conditions by using ranged weapons like Shortbow (1200) and Axe/Dagger (900). Anything else except these weapons and setup will not get you the heavy condition damage you want.

A condition Ranger depends on the Shortbow as a primary weapon. They only use their secondary weapons when in a 1 vs. 1 situation or when they are able to come closer to the battle area for high burst damage. This is generally only when mobility is not an issue.

As a preamble of sorts to today’s new Secret of Southsun content update, the ArenaNet team posted a few interesting information tidbits on the forums yesterday regarding the update and the changes we’ll see. First off, there will be parts of this Southsun update that will be permanent and others that will be temporary. The story part, in particular, will stick around for only one month. The story will also be more condensed and not so spread apart like Flame and Frost‘s story content often was. Today’s update will also bring other lasting changes to the island.

Originally posted by Robert Hrouda (Source)

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The Southsun Shore stuff will not be like the previous Flame and Frost stuff in regards to how time-spanning it was. We’re a separate team than that one, and we have been working on this content while you all were playing F&F content.

Our story will last a month and then be over with, and as a result is more condensed. We’ve been listening to the feedback on F&F, and tried our hardest to adjust where possible. So our temporary content will last just the month, but we are making some permanent changes to the island that will persist after the living story bit is over.

In another thread, Anthony Ordon also told players that the system to travel to Southsun Cove will change a bit with the update. We still won’t be able to skip on over to the island via the open world (boo!), but we will be able to finally use the standard practice for traveling across Tyria– an asura gate.

Originally posted by AnthonyOrdon (Source)

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There will indeed be a new asura gate linking Lion’s Arch to the new resort on Southsun Cove.

I agree that it seems possible to travel to Southsun from other areas when you’re looking at the map, but we’ve never had support for travel to other zones by swimming across the sea. In the context of the game world, I believe there are some pretty nasty things out in the deep water that would make it difficult to swim that far.

Scott McGough and Angel McCoy, two of the Narrative Designers working on Guild Wars 2, published an interesting developer blog last Friday detailing some of the lore and living world-centered reasons as to why exactly we’re taking a sharp turn of sorts back toward the not-so-paradise-like Southsun. May’s update, as it appears, is one that’s a bit of a transition phase in between major living world events. Here’s the scoop:

“May represents a transition—the Flame & Frost arc is now complete, and our plan calls for content to build on what came before while also kicking things off in a new direction. With that in mind, Team Spring Break first focused on the essentials: characters, story, and gameplay.

We needed to get players from the Shiverpeaks and Diessa Plateau down to Lion’s Arch and its environs so they could be a part of the story’s next phase. Savvy lorehounds will no doubt remember that the Consortium offered its help to those displaced by the Flame Legion/dredge alliance, but the Consortium isn’t exactly a charity organization—they want something in return for their assistance. Following the refugees’ progress and challenges on the Consortium’s Southsun Cove settlements proved to be the stepping stone we needed to bridge Flame & Frost with what comes next.”

Interesting little tidbit there. Make sure to check out the full developer blog for more info.

Hello! Killerx here to help guide you on the role of PvP Bunkering as a Guardian. The purpose of being a Bunker is to stay on a cap point and keep and defend it. You stay alive by using your abilities and avoiding enemy player attacks while holding your ground at your cap point. Make no mistake– you may die quite a bit– but that’s okay as long as you’re certain your team members are there to help win the day and and hold your team’s cap point. 

Teamwork is essential to being a successful Bunker. Your team must have your back when necessary while you are defending. If your team is slacking off and they are not responding to your gurgling cries of help, try to stay alive as long as possible. Do not give your cap point away for free. Let the enemy work for it! Don’t ever forget that.

Another Guild Wars 2 content update is right around with the corner with yesterday’s announcement of The Secret of Southsun, a new advancement in the post-Molten Alliance story that takes place in Southsun Cove. Players will be tasked to pair with the Lionguard in order to uncover the secret behind the strange animal attacks on the island. In addition, the update will be adding in a new crab-tossing mini-game and the introduction of supply-removing traps in WvW:

Introducing Traps in World vs. World

Traps are fiendish items that can be purchased from the new Traps and Tricks Outfitters on each WvW map. We’re starting with anti-stealth fields and traps that remove supply from enemy players, but in the months ahead we’ll introduce even more ways to spread mayhem in the Mists!

The Secret of Southsun launches on May 14th. For more details, a wallpaper, and some nifty screenshots, check out all the info on the official announcement.

In a forum post yesterday, Colin Johanson shared some thoughts on what direction ArenaNet may take Magic Find in the future. Many players, as well as the developer team for the most part, agree that Magic Find in Guild Wars 2 is kind of a poorly-implemented stat in hindsight. The team wants to change Magic Find, but from the sounds of it, they are still working on an overall plan with no ETA in clear sight. Here’s what Colin had to say in one thread where players have been responding with some great ideas for altering Magic Find for the better:

Originally posted by ColinJohanson (Source)

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Some fun ideas in here, we’re also actively discussing ways on how we’d best like to alleviate having to make players choose between having better stats, or using magic find. It’s not a choice that’s great for game play and there isn’t really anything that fun about it, even more so when group composition is taken into account. Ideally we’d also like to keep the ability to slowly build your magic find over time, but doing this at the cost of using better stats isn’t the right way to do that.

No ETA on any changes here, just want to point out we agree there is an issue here that goes against what we want Gw2 to be, and is something we want to address.

Along with this week’s Flame and Frost: Retribution update, Guild Wars 2 received the new Molten Facility dungeon and the epilogue Living World story content that are both pretty awesome and getting rave reviews so far. There is one downside, however. Neither will be around forever. Temporary content is something that– by and large– we don’t see a lot of in MMORPGs except when it comes to holiday events and special expansion releases, but ArenaNet is trying something a little different with Living World content and the changes it brings to Tyria.

Colin Johanson talked a bit about the temporariness factor of Living World yesterday on the official forums. He also mentioned the fact that yes, Living World story content will continue to be a focus in Guild Wars 2 and will cause the game beneath our feet to shift, but not everything will be temporary. Keep reading to see what he had to say.