Check out ZAM's early look at the new festival coming to Guild Wars 2: Dragon Bash!

The first weekend after the patch, June 14^th-17^th, players can attend a fireworks event in the heart of Lion’s Arch. This event will first take place at 9 a.m. PT and then every two hours throughout the weekend. Attending this event will give the achievement The Big Boom in the Big City which awards players with the Gift of the Dragon Bash item. Using this item gives three account bound Horns of the Dragon Skin helmet skins (one for each light, medium and heavy armor types).

Throughout the festival, players will encounter holograms out in the open world. Activating these holograms will spawn holographic minions of Zhaitan who drop Zhaitaffy and Dragon Coffers. Killing 300 of these holographic minions rewards the So Lifelike achievement.

Zhaitaffy is both a consumable and currency. It is awarded through losing at Dragon Ball, dropped by monsters throughout the game world, dropped by the holographic minions and is a common drop from the Dragon Coffers. Eating 250 of these candies will award players with the Zhaitasty achievement. Zhaitaffy can also be traded at a merchant near the Mystic Forge in Lion’s Arch for different candy consumables, fireworks (10 Zhaitaffy for a 9 use fireworks) or Jorbreakers (think jawbreakers and Jormag’s Tooth). Jorbreakers are traded for 1,000 Zhaitaffy and 100 Jorbreakers can be traded for the Holographic Dragon Wing skin. Both Zhaitaffy and the Jorbreakers can be traded.

Dragon Coffers come in two variants. The normal coffers are awarded for winning Dragon Ball and dropped from mobs and holographic minions. The Rich Dragon Coffers are bought from the gem store. Both coffers have the same loot drops – including fireworks, holographic mini-pets, holographic dragon wings skins and Jade Dragon weapon tickets – but the Rich coffers have a higher chance at these rare items while the regular coffers will give Zhaitaffy more frequently. While not as high a chance for the rare loot, the regular coffers seem to have a pretty good chance at dropping from mobs, especially from the holographic minions. The regular coffers can also be traded.

Completing The Dragon Bash Experience meta-achievement awards the Holographic Shattered Dragon Wings skin after completing 10 of the Dragon Bash achievements, something that cannot be done during the first week of the festival.

In addition to the all of the Dragon Bash rewards, ArenaNet is giving away a special promotional and free item in the gem store to celebrate the release of the third GW2 novel Sea of Sorrows at the end of June. The promotional item is a new accessory called the Polla Doll. This doll was the good luck charm for Cobiah Marriner, the founder of Lion’s Arch and major character of the new book. The accessory is similar to the ring given in Collector’s Editions of the game, being a low level accessory giving minor stat boosts as well as a bonus to experience.

Also available through the gem store, though not for free, is Marriner’s Horn. This horn is similar to the Unbreakable Choir Bell players could acquire during WintersDay but with a few differences. Using the horn lasts for a longer period of one hour, has notes in a different key compared to the bell and allows players to channel a note and play it for up to four and a half seconds.

Didn't see anything you liked? Wanted to see more content coming out? Well lucky for you this is only the first week of content! Keep your eyes open next week for even more on what the Dragon Bash is bringing to Guild Wars 2!

Matt "Mattsta" Adams