I’m surprised that there hasn’t been too much arguing over the current elections taking place in Guild Wars 2 with Cutthroat Politics. Perhaps everyone is too busy thinking about the next bit of content, Queen’s Jubilee. Last Friday ArenaNet took several of us lucky press members on a little tour of the content, and I must say there is plenty to keep even the roughest and toughest players busy.
Queen’s Jubilee event takes place in Divinity’s Reach, as the Queen celebrates her coming into power 10 years ago. It also focuses on the human spirit, and how the race has gone through several hardships. Now all the other races may or may not take offence to this event. When you get right down to it, this is just a huge political stunt by the Queen to show off.
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Charr and Humans may have a more peaceful relationship than they did in the past, but it would be interesting to see how Charr handle the invitations to this party.
So how do you get to the Queen’s party? Players will find hot air balloons scattered throughout the world, except Southsun and Orr. These balloons are being sought out by citizens who are trying to get to Divinity’s Reach. But wouldn’t you know it, those pesky Aetherblades and Bandits are causing trouble. If you successfully escort your objective to the balloon, you can join the ride straight to Divinity’s Reach.
Whether you want to celebrate the humans “greatness” or not, there are several activities that anyone can take part in. Players can find some torch runs where you have a time limit to ignite braziers along a route. Now this may seem easy, but once you see the route you need to take you’ll realize some parkour may be called for to meet the time limit. While it isn’t a jumping puzzle, it may feel like one.
Next we have a new area called the Crown Pavilion. A large glass eagle structure is built overhead to symbolize humanity rising to protect itself. You will also meet Watchknights, an awesome robot that will assist the Seraph in protecting humans. I can’t wait to see these things in future story arcs!
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Once again the art team turns out some interesting building designs.
The whole place is split into six sections, with each representing a threat humanity has overcome. In one section you could be fighting centaurs, the next could house destroyers! Actually, the Queen isn’t housing dangerous threats in Divinity’s Reach. Instead, Mesmers cast illusions over the watch knights to give them the appearance of different enemies. When you defeat an enemy, you’ll notice a cool animation of the illusion failing as the Watchknight falls to the ground.
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What every game needs more of, robots!
These areas will feature some tough dynamic events. To make things interesting each zone will have something going on to make them a bit more challenging. . The pirate zone could have cannons constantly firing at you. The destroyer zone could have heat that reduces your energy regeneration. It adds to the challenge nicely, but the best part is the type of bosses you’ll face. Each boss is of legendary strength, and has attacks that can really do some serious damage to large groups of players, so be sure to spread out!
If you’re a lone wolf, you can try the Queen’s Gauntlet. Here you use tickets found from drops to take part in a one on one fight with a boss of your choice. There are three tiers of bosses for you choose from. Each one is very unique, and will require different types of skills, and weapon combos to beat. No single build be able to take on each and every boss. This really rings with the way the original Guild Wars was designed. It wasn’t uncommon for players to constantly switch around skills and skill points for different missions.
Be sure to bring your A-Game, because you’ll be fighting in a glass dome allowing other players to watch you. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll notice you’re actually fighting on steel grate sections for a floor. After a certain amount of time, the floor sections open up leaving you to fall to your death. When you land on the ground, pray that players revive you, rather than laugh at your failure.
Once you’ve proven you’re awesome, you can take things to the next level. You can add gambits that allow you to get even greater rewards, but of course, you’ll receive a handicap. These include having no energy, so no dodging, or you can do the entire match while on fire. You can have up to 5 gambits active at a time so if you really want to prove you’re the best of the best, throw on a crippled gambit to.
The Queen’s Jubilee isn’t a massive addition in terms of content, but instead offers far greater challenges than previous events. For those that aren’t looking to push themselves to the limit, the event will still have plenty for you to do. I for one am ready to give the gauntlet a try. I’ll be taking notes as I watch other players try out the more difficult bosses. The Queen's Jubilee will also a much needed break from all these mini PvP-style games Cutthroat Politics brought us. It will be nice to join together with other players to bring down powerful enemies.
David North / David North is a freelance writer for MMORPG.com. David loves to play and makes games, but now he writes about them! If you want to creep on him and make fun of his ability to draw, follow him over on twitter @David_the_North.
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