Guild Wars 2 Guru: Fractured

News from: Guild Wars 2 Guru

It's been a long few months, but Ellen Kiel will finally make good on the promise that led her to winning the Lion's Arch Council during the Cutthroat Politics update last August. In addition to the Thaumanova Reactor, the developers are using this opportunity to introduce and rework a few mechanics for Fractals in general. Once you've read through some of the changes below, you'll definitely want to check out the new Fractured trailer!

Unless you were on board with Evon Gnashblade, that is...

Update: Here is an article detailing some of the more specific changes to Fractals.

New Event

• The Nightmare Continues: The Tower of Nightmares, which has occupied players for weeks, is headed for collapse, but the fight isn’t over yet. Players can continue their battle against the vile Toxic Alliance to destroy the foul structure and prevent its evil from spreading.

New Features

• Three Fractals: In addition to illuminating the strange circumstances of the Thaumanova Reactor meltdown, players can experience two more historical events thanks to further Fractals research. The Molten Furnace Fractal allows players to relive the daring raids on the Molten Alliance facilities, while the treacherous Aetherblade Fractal has players infiltrating the Aetherblade’s old base of villainy.

• Two Boss Fractals: The Jade Maw of the Solid Ocean Fractal is no longer the only challenge awaiting players when they make it to the end of each set of three fractals. Special boss encounters with the Aetherblade captain Mai Trin and the two Molten Alliance champions from the Molten Facility have been added to the rotation.

• Agony Resist Updates: Developers are evolving the way Agony Resistance works on items, so players will now be able to collect drops granting Agony Resistance and combine those to continually increase their level of Agony Resistance.

• Fractals of the Mists Leaderboards: Players soon will be able to earn the envy and adulation of friends and strangers thanks to new leaderboards. Players whose current personal reward level for the Fractals of the Mists is above 30 will be reset to 30 so the competition can begin in earnest.

• Fractal Progression Changes: The difficulty curve in fractals levels 1-30 is being adjusted, and fractals beyond level 30 will have new, special challenges. Every fractal players enter with a fractal level above 30 will have a special Mistlock Instability which will add new difficulties to that level or change how it is played.

• Obsidian Sanctum Update: Players will now be able to enter the Obsidian Sanctum, the Eternal Battlegrounds jumping puzzle, directly through the WvW menu. Additionally, a new arena space has been added for combat between opposing groups of players, and the Borderlands Bloodlust buff will no longer apply in the Obsidian Sanctum.

New Rewards

• Fractal Reward Updates: In addition to earning daily fractal rewards like Empyreal Fragments, Fractal Relics and Pristine Fractal Relics at all levels, players also will earn a gold, or more, making the Fractals of the Mists more rewarding.

• Fractal Tonic: A new, infinite tonic with the ability to transform players into any number of friends and foes from within the Mists awaits as a rare reward found within the Fractals of the Mists.

• New Runes and Sigils: Players braving the dangers of the most difficult fractals will find their valor rewarded by a chance at new sigils and runes to adorn their gear.

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