World vs World Seasons returns with a new name, format and rewards!

At the end of last year, ArenaNet held the first season of World vs World (WvW) which had servers competing in a 7-week long battle for supremacy in Guild Wars 2. Today, Devon Carver announced that WvW Season 2 is being replaced with the WvW Spring 2014 Tournament which runs from March 28 through May 16.

The name change is to reflect the changes to how match-ups are made. Instead of being a pre-made season schedule, servers will fight it out in a Swiss-style system that matches worlds based on their current record. This means that the last week will never have a 6-0 server facing off against a 0-6 server, which should make for an interesting and competitive battle throughout the 7-week tournament.

In addition to the match-up changes, the meta achievement and personal rewards for players is seeing an improvement. The meta and achievements are being toned down from what players saw in WvW Season 1 to allow for more players to be able to achieve them. This along with the addition of Edge of the Mists, where players will also be able to complete the meta, will eliminate the queue times that might have prevented players from finishing the Season 1 meta. Each achievement that is part of the meta will also have an associated item reward (in addition to the standard achievement points).

For the meta achievement rewards, players who complete the meta will be awarded a set number of tournament tickets at the end of the tournament based on their world's ranking. These tickets can then be turned into a new merchant in exchange for a variety of items including (but not limited to) obsidian shards, dragonite ore, ascended accessories and two band-new sets of weapon skins that won't be obtainable anywhere else in the game!

Lastly, the way your world is determined for tournament rewards is changing. Instead of being permanently tied to your current server at the start of the tournament, your tournament reward world will be determined by your activity in WvW. Now players can be rewarded based on their new server if they are willing to prove their new allegiance on the battlefield. For players that might have switched during the tournament, a new NPC in all of the WvW maps will tell you which world you are currently associated with for the tournament rewards.

Matt "Mattsta" Adams

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