Come Jan. 28, a new storyline is set to play out over the coming months for Guild Wars 2, one that all players can enjoy.
"The sky falls and the ground shakes in the lands of the north. Charr and norn refugees crawl from the wreckage of their homes in the Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, struggling to find shelter in the south. The call goes out for volunteers to assist the victims in this time of need, when earth and sky seem to have become the enemy."
Flame and Frost: Prelude is the prologue to a multi-stage narrative that will bring big changes to Guild Wars 2 in the months to come. Beginning next week, a slew of new features hits the game, including what lead developer Colin Johanson teased in his blog update last week.
"We've shown some of the promise of a truly living world, but we still have so many ideas on how to take this to the next level. Put simply, we've barely scratched the surface.
Coming to the world of Guild Wars 2 as of next week are the following:
* New achievement currency for daily/monthly achievements - Laurels, which can be redeemed for rewards like new Ascended gear and Infusions
* Speaking of Ascended gear and Laurels, with 5 new Utility Infusions and 30 Ascended Amulets being added for players to choose from, there's something for every style of player.
* Improved Achievement System - Players get different achievements every day of the week, as well as a new achievement tracker in the UI to make it easier to track progress.
* Guesting to allow playing with friends on different worlds. With the new guesting system, you can play with friends on other worlds in the same region (North America, Europe) without changing your homeworld. Guesting is free, but going forward there will be a gem fee for transferring home worlds, so make sure you're on the home world you want to permanently play on before Jan. 28.
* New items in the Gem Store
* From Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, the regular eight-team/three-round paid tournaments will be replaced by two-team/single-round paid tournaments in the Temple of the Silent Storm map. After the week is over, the map will be added to the regular rotation of both free and paid tournaments.
* Several more game improvements and balancing enhancements, which will be detailed by patch notes that will eventually be released.
