GW2's Next Raid Arrives Next Week, Along With Shiny Weapons

Raids don't usually sneak up on MMORPG players, but that's just what happened today, with the announcement of Guild Wars 2's next raid. The Key of Ahdashim continues the storyline from the last raid, Mythwright Gambit, and drops just one week from today, June 11.

In the new raid, players will visit the ancient city of Ahdashim in pursuit of Zommoros's rival, the djinn Qadim, whom they bested in Mythwright Gambit. Qadim plans to use the power of the city to become the world's top djinn, which will turn him into "a black hole of magical corruption, infecting every djinn alive -- and through them the natural world itself." That sounds bad.

In concert with the new raid comes a limited-time open-world event that will have players collecting Condensed Ley-Line Essence items from world bosses throughout Tyria, which they can exchange with skritt near the Mystic Forge in Lion's Arch for Shiny weapons that they can then make Ultra-Shiny. And yes, those are the actual titles of the weapons, and not just descriptors -- these are skritt we're talking about.

That event lasts from June 11 to June 25, though the weapons will still be available via the raid afterwards. For more on the new raid and the Shiny weapons, visit the GW2 site.