The Queen's Jubilee will kick off in Guild Wars 2 next week!

The Queen's Jubilee, the next content update in Guild Wars 2's two-week update cadence, launches next Tuesday, August 6th. The jubilee is in honor of Queen Jennah, queen of Kryta, who will be celebrating 10 years of her rule. The celebration will take place in Divinity's Reach where players will be able to join the festivities and compete in ceremonial combat in the new Crown Pavilion.

New Events:

• Hot Air Balloons -- These hot air balloons can be found throughout Tyria to transport players to the celebration in a quick and stylish ride.
• The Opening Ceremony -- Players can attend the dedication of the Crown Pavilion, a new gladiatorial arena commissioned by the queen for the event. After the dedication players will witness its inaugural contest.
• Enter the Crown Pavilion -- This new mini-zone features mighty representatives of humanity's enemies. Representing various cities of Tyria, players can be named champion of a nation and gain access to unique reward vendors.
• Queen's Gauntlet -- Face off against increasingly difficult challenges of single-combat against unique bosses. Show off in front of friends and the world. Players can also take on special gambits which will make the fights more interesting but give more prestigious rewards in return.
• Ignite the Beacons -- Race around the course to light all of the Beacons set up within Divinity's Reach.

New Rewards

• Watchwork Mechanisms -- Watchwork technology is the latest and greatest of innovations in Tyria. Players can use watchwork parts in new crafting recipes or as currency to buy new rune and sigil recipes as well as the new Sovereign Weapon Set.
• Mini Watchknight -- This new miniature is modeled after the queen's new mechanical sentinels and is awarded for completing the Queen's Jubilee meta-achievement.

Additional New Features

• Account Wallet -- This wallet will keep hold of all account currencies including dungeon tokens, coins, karma, laurels, Guild Commendations, Fractal Relics, Badges of Honor, gems and glory.
• PvP Solo Queue -- A separate queue for players who want to play solo. This means players don't have to form parties for ranked matches and won't be matched up against pre-made parties. The queue also includes a leaderboard separate to the ranked team leaderboards.
• Bonus Rewards for Dungeons -- Each day, finishing a unique path will award a bonus reward for completion: 1 gold for explorable dungeons and 50 silver for story dungeons. These replace the guaranteed gold drops from the dungeon's bosses.
• Mini-Game Rotation System -- As promised by both Captain's Council candidates, the daily mini-game rotation will go live. This rotation will initially include Sanctum Sprint, Keg Brawl, Southsun Survival and Crab Toss.

That may not be all there is coming in this update. Along with the images included in the press release was the following image titled Permanent Finishers. This of course referring to PvP finishers which currently only exist in 1 hour consumable versions.

Update:

Permanent Finishers are indeed coming in the next update. Players will be able to select a finisher as their default, though this can be changed to any available Finisher including Rank Finishers and special Finishers available through the Gem Store.

WvW gets a new mastery line, this time in the form of Supply Master. This line will give bonuses such as supply pick-up speed, Courier Speed after picking up supply, and a chance to get back some of the supply used.

Champion Loot Update! All champions in the game will now award a new bonus loot bag for anyone who qualifies for loot. The bags have a chance for rare crafting materials, items that award skill points, and more!

Matt Adams

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