Hey everyone prepare for a wall of text,
in this thread I will be writing what I think of the updates Arenanet recently posted.
So let's jump right into it shall we.
I will be doing it in the same order as the post does.

Downed & defeated:

So as we all know Guild wars 2 will have a unique style of "dying" while we can't actually call it that.
We will be going into a downed state once your health-bar depletes this is you second shot to be revived by yourself.
You get 4 skills where the first 3 are determined on your profession and the last is for everyone the same.
Now this last skill has changed from being a skill well lets call it "shout for help" to a channeling skill that if completed it will rally you from a downed state, but not to forget this skill will be interrupted by damage.
Now I guess your wondering why would this be a great addition well what if you die far from a waypoint nobody is around to revive you and you can't rally because there are no monsters in the area, well you can just for your downed bar to be depleted what could take a long time and then you would need to walk back to the top of that very mountain or you could use skill 4 and revive yourself since you won't be taking damage.
Now what is my perspective on this well I personally guess this is a great addition as well for the ease but as well for keeping pressure on enemies.
Why the pressure see it this way your in a big battle with your party/guild/friends/random people and you get downed if they are able to get the enemies of you, you can revive yourself while the rest keeps doing damage to the enemy.
So do I think this 4th skill helps more then it did yes cause it can be used tactic-wise as well.

Now this isn't all stated under this subject there's as well a lot stated about penalties and such.
This means as most of you know if you die in a game you get a penalty even as early as super mario or pac-man you had 3 lives you die well guess what 2 lives left.
So what did they implement in guild wars well first off they had it so that the downed "health-bar" would decrease faster, now they tweaked this around to be an exact number if you're defeated your downed-bar will decrease 25% faster and this effect will go away after a minute so to say if you would die 4 times in a minute it's straight to being defeated.
Now they first had a penalty for when you were defeated traveling to waypoints would cost double the money.
They changed this because it wasn't really a penalty, they implemented something else what I will write about in a little bit further down the page.
So since they did this with the downed-bar they as well show you what penalty you have so if you die 3 times in minute you'll see it and know you got to be carefull for a minute.
Now I like this way they're taking this it's really to show you, "hey you're to low of a level/experience/party members so if you don't want to keep being defeated don't come here at the moment".
I really like it, it's a warning for the player and I guess it's kind of hard but it gives you a good indication.

So there's more in this subject, as I mentioned earlier there is another penalty.
And here it goes, The other penalty around occurs when you have been defeated not downed but defeated.
As we all know in GW1 you had the death penalty taking up to 60% of your life, in WoW you have your armor being damaged and/or resurrection sickness and so on.
But this wouldn't be Arenanet and Guild Wars 2 if it wasn't different so what did they do.
Well the moment you're defeated a random armor piece will get "damaged" it isn't a penalty yet.
What do I mean with it isn't a penalty yet well once it is damaged it is more like a warning for you, cause once you are defeated several times every armor piece will be damaged.(as in being defeated as much as your pieces of armor)
What happens then, is if you are defeated without repairing your armor a random piece will break.
Yes it will break and then you can't use any of it's stats anymore.
Broken is broken and it needs repair, at a repair vendor you will easily find in towns/outposts.
So what do I personally think of this, well I think it's a great addition as in gameplay.
It isn't like any other armor mechanism seen before, you will have alot of warnings(Damaged pieces) before you will get the penalty.
And it will only occur when you're defeated.
So if you're somebody who plays carefull and tactfull you will see yourself sending alot less money on repairing then somebody who will charge and just fights like he/she doesn't care.
And worth to note it the repairing prices won't be expensive.
So that's it about this subject on to the other.

The compass:

There have been some little changes to the compass but still very worth it.
So we all know our GW compass you have your pings and you're able to draw lines.
But now there are some additions coming up in GW2, so here go.
The compass now will be scrollable and there are as well buttons for zooming in and out.
We've all seen this I know but we didn't have it as of yet.
Now here's the compass update Arenanet style.
If you're going to be richt-clicking and draging your mouse in the compass you can look at your surroundings.
So it's not just what is being displayed but you can use it to go beyond the little circle.
I personally think this should've been standard in alot of games but Arenanet is again the one doing it.
And it will help alot in game-play.
So that was it about this little subject.
Now on to something very very awsome.


Meta events:

So what are these meta events?
Meta events simply are dynamic events but able to be of a larger scale the regular events.
The information given in the post says centaurs attacking a human outpost but as well as others.
But from this idea I would like to think of a scenario while I'm actually explaining more of it.
So wonder you're a human and your walking around in a province Kryta.
Suddenly you get an information arrow about this meta event.
So you go there and try to fight these centaurs off.
If you succeed they will retreat if you don't they will capture the outpost.
Yeah pretty standard you might think but no.
These events tell you about the area these events are larger of scale they might even take as much as a quarter of the map.
These events also include destroying catapults killing centaur captains and so on.
See it somewhat as intense as the fight against tequatl the sunless.
They as well give you more story about the area as well as they co-operate with regular events.
So to say honestly I will be looking out for this because this is just another confirmation GW2 will be a living Wold.
Now I could keep going on about this subjects but there are still others to talk about.
So lets go on shall we.


Hidden Treasures:

Well this subject is kind of awsome, as is everything ofcourse.
As we all remeber the treasures in GW was byt the light or just in an area they were there.
Now in GW2 it will be alot more challenging cause these hidden treasures arent just lying around.
No they are actually implemented in hidden areas.
These hidden areas differ from eachother cause here is the GW2 twist to it.
There are ofcourse areas that request of you to kill every bandit well pretty simple.
But there are as well areas that transform GW2 into a platformer yes a platformer.
There will be jumping puzzles and such like jumps you think you can't make but you actually can if you have a little faith.
And for me these hidden areas are already a treasure but for all your effort there will be a chest as well.
So be sure to look out for these awsome areas.
It can be just everything from a ruin to a cave to everything.


Boons & conditions:

So to be honest here I am going to do a little copy paste but only the changes so you can compare them.
What they did to the system is making it a bit more challenging as in old conditions wouldn't have you on the edge of your seat cause they weren't strong enough to scare you.
Some of them did but some just needed improvement.
This is the same for boons but not as much as the conditions.
As well they are working on making it more visible when you poisened or have another conditions this will be shown with skills.
Is it dangerous changing a system like this in late-development?, yes but it is worth it in my oppinion.
Why?, well when I'm poisened/slowed/dazed/ect. I want to have the effect instead of just keep on wandering as if nothing ever happened.
So I like the extra challenge and hope to see it in action soon.
now for the copy&paste here are the stats:

Old Conditions


  • Bleed: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks intensity.)
  • Poison: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks intensity.)
  • Burning: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks intensity.)
  • Cripple: 50% movement-speed reduction.
  • Chill: 66% movement-speed reduction. 66% skill cooldown increase.
  • Immobilize: 100% movement-speed reduction.
  • Weakness: 20% damage reduction.
  • Vulnerable: X armor reduction.
  • Blind: Your next attack misses.
  • Fear: You flee from your opponent.


Updated Conditions


  • Bleed: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks intensity.)
  • Poison: Inflicts X damage per second. Reduces outgoing heals by 33%. (Stacks duration now.)
  • Burning: Inflicts X damage per second. (Stacks duration now.)
  • Cripple: 50% movement-speed reduction.
  • Chill: 66% movement-speed reduction. 66% skill cooldown increase.
  • Immobilize: 100% movement-speed reduction.
  • Weakness: Attacks result in a glancing blow 50% of the time and endurance regeneration is slowed.
  • Vulnerable: Lowered the amount of armor it reduces, but allowed it to stack so that it creates moments of super-high vulnerability for damage spiking.
  • Blind: Your next hit misses.
  • Fear: You flee from your opponent.
  • Confusion: Inflicts X damage each time a foe attacks. (New condition; stacks intensity.)


Old Boons


  • Aegis: Blocks the next attack.
  • Protection: X armor increase.
  • Regeneration: Regenerates X health per second.
  • Fury: 20% Critical Chance increase.
  • Might: X damage per attack increase.
  • Vigor: X maximum health increase.
  • Swiftness: 25% movement speed increase.


Updated Boons


  • Aegis: Block the next attack
  • Protection: 33% damage reduction.
  • Regeneration: Regenerates X health per second.
  • Fury: 20% Critical Chance increase.
  • Might: X damage per attack increase. (Stacks intensity now.)
  • Vigor: Faster endurance regeneration.
  • Swiftness: 33% movement speed increase.
  • Retaliation: Does X damage to an opponent each time they hit you. (New boon.)


Conclusion:

I'm very happy with what I read it gives me the feeling they're still on top of everything even in late game development, alot of companies could learn from this and this even these little changes are the ones I will be playing Guild Wars for.
Well hope you like my oppinion/explanation.
And please reply if you have other toughts about it.

Yours sincerely,

Mastino