The Midnight King is the newest update for Guild Wars 2 and the final content update for the Secrets of the Obscure expansion. In the previous two releases, we made progress toward Eparch’s tower. However, our big show of force failed, and we’ve been at a standstill ever since. The Midnight King takes us to the next stage of the fight. Last week, I had the opportunity to tour the new update and to play through the new fractal. There’s a fair amount to cover here, so let’s jump right in.
Lonely Tower Fractal
This new fractal takes place shortly after the founding of the Astral Ward and sees us assisting Isgarren, Mabon, and Dagda in clearing the Wizard’s Tower of kryptis. As we jump into the action, the wizards have been taking heavy losses and are reeling from that. In some ways, this fractal reminded me of the section in the SotO story where we had to reclaim the Wizard’s Tower from kryptis. However, this felt far more treacherous, and the methods of clearing them out differed. In hindsight, clearing out during the SotO launch story was a more refined way to regain control of the tower. Almost as if they have had time over the years to refine the process.
In one of the first rooms we came to, some astral purifiers needed to be channeled on, but of course, the kryptis attacked during the channel. These are the same ones in convergences and a few other places that will steadily move toward their target until their breakbar is broken. After that, they are easily disposed of. My first impulse was to have multiple people channel to try and get each spot charged as quickly as possible. However, that didn’t work well at all. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if coordinated groups will be able to manage it.
My favorite part of this fractal was fighting both Cerus and Deimos together, which was pretty wild. Since this took place a long time ago and is fractal rather than a raid or strike mission, both of their mechanics are toned down a bit from other places we’ve seen them. Additionally, they seemed to each target a different player, and we had to keep them separated, which is often much easier said than done. The fight with Eparch at the end is also good and has an interesting mechanic, using orbs of emotions that players need to collect to get various buffs. As good as that fight is, the fight with Cerus and Deimos was more chaotic and fun, which is a big part of why I liked it so much.
Into the Spider’s Lair
In this update, Inner Nayos gets a third meta event, which might sound like it would result in the entire meta being time-consuming. Gunnar Talbot, Lead World Designer on Inner Nayos, spoke about this and how they decided to make it so both previous meta-events can be completed simultaneously to unlock the Into the Spider’s Lair section of the map meta. Overall, this is an excellent idea for cutting down on the total time it takes a map to go from new to completing the final meta event. The one downside is for players who would like to do the entire meta sequentially. That’s a natural tradeoff, and making the full meta take less time will likely help Inner Nayos have a longer lifespan.
One surprise in this meta is both Zojja and Dagda show up to help. Since the story in Inner Nayos has been that Isgarren isn’t willing to commit his whole force to attack Eparch in his realm, we’ve been working with a ragtag team of volunteers. To have two members of the Wizard’s Court join us wasn’t something I was particularly expecting. Additionally, how they show up with no real explanation also causes me to wonder if they discussed it with Isgarren first or if they just went of their own accord. If it’s the latter, that could potentially lead to some issues in the future for them and perhaps us as well.
After some initial events, we split into two groups to descend through opposite spires and attempt to make it through the citadel. Keeping with the theme of respecting the player’s time and making it easier to get back into action if you die, a new temporary waypoint in the citadel will open up once the full attack starts. Additionally, ley lines to various openings in the tower become active once the group clears them. As someone who consistently forgets to put down my jade waypoint and then finds a way to hurl myself off a platform to my death, I appreciate the addition of a temporary waypoint.
I also recommend doing both paths and paying attention to all the dialogue throughout the event. It’s all interesting, sometimes hilarious, and for anyone even mildly interested in the story/lore, it offers some fascinating tidbits. This not only applies to the final fight but also to the various generals we run into on the way to the final fight of the meta.
As a final update to the Secrets of the Obscure expansion, this new meta line is an appropriate way to end things. I’m also happy the final fight is in a meta event rather than a strike, raid, or story instance. Sure, it’ll quickly get to the point where the event succeeds more often than it fails, but until then, these large meta-boss fights feel epic in a way those other options don’t. This is a great way to close out an expansion, and I can’t wait to see where we go next.
