Guild Wars 2 Opens Its First New WvW Borderlands Map for Testing

A new Borderlands, in gray-box

Guild Wars 2 has its first new World vs. World Borderlands map in over a decade in testing. The Seared Borderlands replaces the Alpine and Desert Borderlands for the beta, running until December 8, and it is inspired by Ascalon before and after the Searing. The map is in a gray-box state — the art is not final and neither is the map itself — and ArenaNet is explicitly asking for feedback on how it plays, with a dedicated feedback thread on the official forums.

Fractal Incursion returns for three weeks

Alongside the map test, the Fractal Incursion is back for three weeks, ending at noon on December 1. It brings quickplay fractals and hourly open-world incursion bosses in Snowden Drifts, Diessa Plateau, Kessex Hills and Brisban Wildlands, plus new white and black Agony Lenses for Eikasia. The weekly achievement now pays out in three steps instead of one, so progress is rewarded as it is earned.

War Score goes live Friday

The update also finishes the new War Score WvW scoring system: it is fully released after its beta, and it turns on with the WvW reset on Friday, November 13. The same November 10 update carries a skills and balance update, and the Extra Life bonus event runs November 10 to December 1.

What it means for buyers

This is a play-now story, not a buy-now one: the map beta is free to join for anyone with the game, and it runs only until December 8, so WvW players should log in while the test map is live. Fractal players have three weeks of restocked rewards, ending at noon on December 1. See the Guild Wars 2 page for the verified sellers listed there.

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Guild Wars 2