The first episode of The Icebrood Saga  arrives on November 19! Watch the trailer below and visit the release page for all the details.

You can unlock the most current episode of Living World for free by logging in to Guild Wars 2 before the release of the next episode. If you’ve purchased Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™, you can play it right away. If you don’t own the expansion, your unlocked episodes will be available in your story journal as soon as you upgrade your account.

I love Living World Masteries, but non-mount Masteries often offer only one progression track. Since multiple progression tracks give players more meaningful reasons to play together in a map—and more new things to do after putting in time playing their level-80 characters—I set out to develop a system that would give players a crystal-clear way to progress toward the endgame rewards in The Icebrood Saga . The result of the team’s hard work is Essence Manipulation, which is made up of three Masteries, each with two tiers. Combined with the two-tiered Raven Spirit Mastery, that’s eight tracks of player progression!

I started with ideas and inspiration from games that use the old “rock, paper, scissors” approach to their balance and progression systems. For example, players want to obtain “rock” and level it up so they can defeat powerful “scissor” creatures. Games like the Monster Hunter™ series even incorporate this into their gear and weapon progression.

Our goal was to make this type of system, in which the game mechanics are heavily interconnected, an important part of “Whisper in the Dark.” To satisfy that goal, it would need to be integral to fighting the enemies on the map, completing Strike Missions, and obtaining rewards. Communicating the system to the player is key, because it can be very complex, so you’ll discover information about it through achievements, icons, props, enhancements, open-world dialogue, and NPC conversations.

A lot of team members contributed feedback, and we spent months designing, implementing, playtesting, and iterating to bring Essence Manipulation to life. Essence Manipulation is divided into three separate Mastery tracks: Vigilance, Resilience, and Valor. Each is strong against another:

• Vigilance is strong against Resilience.
• Resilience is strong against Valor.
• Valor is strong against Vigilance.

Different types of enemies on the map embody these essences, and share their weaknesses:

• Svanir embody the essence of Vigilance.
• Fallen embody the essence of Resilience.
• Aberrant embody the essence of Valor.

Unlocking the Essence Manipulation Mastery allows you to pick up essence orbs that drop from corresponding enemies. Picking up an orb immediately grants a temporary enhancement stack with benefits that improve with the Mastery’s second tier:

Vigilance

• Gain 5 seconds of fury, 15% endurance regeneration, and 4 seconds of swiftness.

Resilience

• Gain 10 seconds of might, 400 health, and 4 seconds of swiftness.

Valor

• Gain 3 seconds of quickness and 4 seconds of swiftness.

Obtaining 30 stacks will activate the Mastery’s passive benefits for fifteen minutes, making it easier to fight creatures weak against that essence. While active, you’ll also gain access to powerful offensive abilities through a special action skill. These abilities will be available for use in specific situations, like at certain enemy health thresholds or when defiance bars are exposed.

The percentage chance will increase with each tier unlocked, and the offensive abilities will become more powerful after unlocking the second tier.

Vigilance

• Gain a 33% chance to steal life on critical hits to Fallen enemies. Gain the ability to use the Shattered Psyche special action skill. Gain a 1.5-second cooldown reduction when picking up an essence.
• Shattered Psyche: This powerful blast deals immense damage and causes lesser creatures to float in the air. (Applies 15 seconds of fury at tier 2.)

Resilience

• Gain a 30% duration reduction from conditions from Aberrant creatures. Gain the ability to use the Spirit Nova special action skill. Gain a 1.5-second skill cooldown reduction when picking up an essence.
• Spirit Nova: This powerful blast deals immense damage and launches lesser creatures. (Applies 10 stacks of might for 8 seconds at tier 2.)

Valor

• Gain a 10% damage reduction from Svanir enemies. Gain the ability to use the Night Terror special action skill. Gain a 1.5-second skill cooldown reduction when picking up an essence.
• Night Terror: This powerful blast deals immense damage and pulls lesser creatures into its destruction. (Applies 8 seconds of quickness at tier 2.)

Players will also find special chests in Strike Missions and the open world that can only be opened with the Essence Manipulation Mastery the chest is weak to. Bigger chests will need the second-tier Mastery to open, so you’ll want to upgrade your Essence Manipulation for maximum potential rewards!

Once you’ve trained an essence, you’ll have some fun decisions to make about how you build your character and play in the map. You might decide you have enough stacks of might from resilience and forego might-enhancing traits for something else. With Build and Equipment Templates, this exploration and experimentation is easier. Players who’ve fully trained Essence Manipulation should be able to take down tough enemies—including champions and Strike Mission bosses—with fewer than the recommended number of allies.

When roaming the map, you can choose to be as efficient as possible by farming up essence orbs in a creature-specific area, then head for events with creatures that are weak against that essence, farming up the next round of orbs and grabbing chests along the way.

You’ll first need to unlock the second tier of the Raven Attunement Mastery track. After that, choose an essence to start with and train it by gaining experience and Mastery points. You’ll find an NPC in the map named Researcher Yarixx who can give you a tutorial at any time, even if you don’t have the Mastery unlocked yet.

The next episode of The Icebrood Saga  will introduce another tier for each essence, for a total of three tiers each. Trust me—you’re going to need the extra power. We’re so excited for you to explore the many different facets of these new Masteries!

If you’re interested in learning more about how we developed and iterated on Essence Manipulation—including some of the challenges we faced—don’t miss the next episode of Guild Chat at noon Pacific Time (UTC-8) on Friday, November 15.

—Clayton

We’ve partnered up with players to showcase their creative Guild Wars 2-inspired content on the official Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel. Read on for this week’s scheduled programming, and don’t forget to check out the Guild Wars 2 category on Twitch for more great streams!

The Guild Wars 2 Art Show (by Fiaoradd)(English)
Noon Pacific Time (UTC-8)
Watch Fiaoradd create art on this week’s show!

ArenaNet Livestream: Let’s Play Guild Wars 2 World vs World (English)
9:30 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-8)
Join the World vs. World development team in the Mists for their weekly stream. This week they’ll be playing on EU servers.

If you need help converting times into your own time zone, you can use this tool. Thanks for watching!

We’ve teamed up with Alienware to give you a chance to win some sweet prizes! The grand prize is an Alienware 25″ Gaming Monitor and a copy of Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ Ultimate Edition. Alienware is also giving away ten copies of Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Standard Edition.

To enter, visit the official Alienware Gleam competition portal from now until November 19 and choose from the list of ways to enter, like following Alienware and Guild Wars 2 on social media. The more entries you complete, the more chances you have to win!*

*This promotional sweepstakes is open to residents of the United States and Canada and is available from November 8 to November 19, 2019. Please see Official Rules for additional terms and conditions.

A signal intrusion during our Extra Life livestream contained an ominous message: the first episode of The Icebrood Saga, “Whisper in the Dark,” arrives November 19. Keep an eye out for more information in the days to come!

You can unlock the most current episode of Living World for free by logging in to Guild Wars 2 before the release of the next episode. If you’ve purchased Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™, you can play it right away. If you don’t own the expansion, your unlocked episodes will be available in your story journal as soon as you upgrade your account.

We’re partnering up with Quiznos this November to provide you with a bundle of items in celebration of The Icebrood Saga! Journey to Quiznos and purchase your favorite sub, and you’ll receive an Icebrood Saga Hero’s Bundle containing an account-bound Mini Icebrood Saga Ogre, an Item Booster, a Karma Booster, an Experience Booster, and a 10-slot bag. Get yours while supplies last!

You’ll also receive a code for off Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ Standard or Deluxe edition. With Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, you’ll have access to The Icebrood Saga  Living World content as well as Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ for free!

For a limited time, Quiznos has added two delectable new sub sandwiches to their menu: a Prime Rib Horseradish XL Sandwich and an Italian Prime Rib Sandwich. Try them out and get your bundle! Download the Quiznos Toasty Points mobile app before you order to start earning points, which you can redeem for free Quiznos menu items at participating locations.

The free code promotion runs from November 1 to November 30, while supplies last.*

*Only available at Quiznos located in the United States and Canada. View terms at www.guildwars2.com/legal/quiznos.

We’ve partnered up with players to showcase their creative Guild Wars 2-inspired content on the official Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel. Read on for this week’s scheduled programming, and don’t forget to check out the Guild Wars 2 category on Twitch for more great streams!

The Guild Wars 2 Art Show (by Fiaoradd)(English)
Noon Pacific Time (UTC-8)
Watch Fiaoradd create art on this week’s show!

ArenaNet Livestream: Let’s Play Guild Wars 2 World vs World (English)
9:30 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-8)
Join the World vs. World development team in the Mists for their weekly stream. This week they’ll be playing on EU servers.

If you need help converting times into your own time zone, you can use this tool. Thanks for watching!