Guild Wars 2's PvP/WvW Balance Patch Now Live, Adds New Skin And Mount Rewards

ArenaNet is calling on all PvP players to prove themselves in mortal combat -- well, you'll get to rez after you die, so it's only semi-mortal -- in Guild Wars 2's Call To Glory update, which went live today. The update brings Swiss tournaments, shorter seasons, new cosmetic items, and a slew of balance changes, as well as limited-time events to help you earn some of those new rewards.

Last week's announcement post runs down all the new stuff, including the new Warlord's Armor set and the Guildrider skin for the WvW Warclaw mount. Also, from today until March 3, you can earn +25% reward track progress in both PvP and WvW, as well as bonus Magic Find in both modes and a bonus to Rank Points (in PvP) and Experience Points (in WvW).

The patch notes for the update include a few general improvements to the game, including better UI options for reverting your build and making it easier to tell the difference between downed and defeated characters. The balance notes that follow are long and involved and include "several large systemic changes to various game mechanics" geared toward PvP and WvW characters but some of which were also carried over to PvE. Notably, control skills have a longer casting time across the board, while cooldowns for stability skills -- which counters control -- have been reduced.

Finally, one late addition to the patch notes is: "Fixed a bug that caused an unimplemented currency to show up in the Wallet." Oops. Is it a spoiler when developers spoil their own future content?