UPDATE : http://www.guildwars2hub.com/guides/basics/complete-guide-guild-missions
BE THANKFUL THAT I DID NOT WASTE INFLUENCE ON SPEEDING UP PERKS. Blame Tristan for wasting influence occasionally.
Complete Guide to Guild Missions by Lewis B
Overview
Guild Missions are designed to provide content that compliments existing PvE gameplay. In many ways Guild Missions provide a clear framework for guilds to undertake fun activities as a group, as opposed to requiring Officers or Guild Leaders to think of spontaneous activities for their guild to participate in. Guild Missions vary between five different mission types, each of which offers a steep challenge for the guild to overcome, with worthwhile rewards. While the point of entry to unlock Guild Missions might be steep (we’ll cover this a little later on) this content is design to stretch even the largest guilds while most can readily be completed by the smallest number of players.
Acquisition
Guild Missions can be unlocked by spending influence within your guild panel. The first tier of Bounty costs 30,000 influence to unlock (a steep price but certainly one to work towards) with other tiers costing 50,000. Once unlocked, the Guild Mission can be activated for an additional cost of 200 influence per attempt.
It should be noted however that to gain the ability to spend your influence on Guild Missions, you will have had to apply several upgrades within your guild panel to the four categories: Architecture, The Art of War, Economy, and Politics. At the time of going to press, we were unable to establish in game what upgrade tiers are a pre-requisite, but have contacted ArenaNet for a definitive list.
Where you are successful in completing a Guild mission and in this case Bounty, you will be rewarded with a new guild currency known as Merits. Merits are then used, alongside further influence, to unlock additional tiers of Guild Missions or for additional Guild benefits.
What does benefit smaller guilds is the fact that Merits are fundamental to unlocking higher tiers and are restricted to a set number you and your guild can earn each week. The key here is the fact that larger guilds can’t just use up all their influence to buy their way into higher tiers, they have to earn them through Merits which don’t come easy.
Guild Missions
As stated in our overview, there are a total of 5 Guild Missions, each distinctly different. You should also be aware that there are no Guild Mission activities in any of the Orr zones due to ArenaNet wanting to breathe new life into quieter zones. Hurrah!
Guild Bounty
Your guild is tasked with tracking down and capturing various targets for the Orders. These people are wanted for a variety of reasons. The clues provided by the “Guild Mission” tab are incredibly cryptic, with the entire game world (with the exception of Orr) a potential location. The key is to quickly discover the location, though this in many respects is like a needle in a haystack, before intercepting and killing the individuals. With a timer of 15 minutes to find two bounties in the first tier, it’s a tough call. What will be key here is map and game knowledge but also communities working together to quickly find and publicise where NPCs are located.
Where many people might think “Oh well eventually, it will be on Wiki anyway” this is inevitably true, but ArenaNet have implemented such a huge navigation path to the NPC’s that you could spend 15 minutes searching an entire zone, even when you know they are there. In addition, the Bounty you get every time you activate the mission is random, adding another spanner in the work..
The break down of Tier difficulty is as follows:
There are a total of 15 Bounties to participate in.
Guild Trek
Guild Trek involves the Tyrian Explorer’s Society setting your guild a challenge; to find the list of locations before time runs out. Unlike the other Guild Missions, this is arguably the easiest as it simply involves finding a location within Tyria. For those that have map completion, it makes life incredibly easy and as a result, the Guild Mission bares the lowest number of merit rewards.
There are a total of 150 Guild Treks to participate in.
Guild Challenge
Your guild is tasked with taking part in a Guild Challenge, in what can only be described as a bloody difficult event. Similar to all other Guild Missions and once activated, you will need to find the location of the challenge, before activating it (highlighted on the floor of the event by a shield symbol).
One guild challenge, undertaken in Iron Marches to the south of Champions Shield, sees you and your Guild having to defend a series of supply barrels within an abandoned fortification, against the Flame Legion. As the event starts and the repairs of the turrets surrounding the derelict fortress begin, the Flame Legion will begin to flood in from all sides. It’s your job to kill them as quickly as possible, while protecting the supply barrels.
There are a total of 6 guild missions to complete and they scale according to the number of people participating. Even with the best gear available and downscaled to level 60, the Flame Legion in this particular Guild Challenge are incredibly tough to kill so it is absolutely key to work together and coordinate tactics before you start.
It should be noted that this event has never been successfully completed, even by internal testers and developers and although we lasted for a long period of time (4 minutes remaining) we still failed multiple times, even with ArenaNet on hand to help.
There are a total of 6 Guild Challenges to participate in.
Guild Rush
Guild Rush uses real world locations, as tracks, to test you and your guilds skills over terrain, traps, and other hidden dangers. For the Guild Mission to be successful, you will have to cross the line with a certain number of your guild members, within the time limit. To make the challenge more difficult and because the content isn’t instanced, the locations you participate in are still inhabited by the enemies of the zone who will readily attack you, just as they normally would.
If that wasn’t hard enough, you have to pass through all the markers (similar to competitive Skiing) to qualify for the reward at the end. Along each track there are power-ups that you can collect which provide swiftness or regeneration, though you can still receive boons from those not participating. Lastly, participation is always determined by you and your guild being transformed into another creature or object, such as a chicken or bear which provide their own limited set of skills.
It is up to you and your guild to decide who transforms and participates, but the key to success is undoubtedly having some of your guild remain in their physical form so that they can accompany and buff you along the track, as dying when transformed will send you right back to the start.
For a successful rush, the number of those needed to cross the line varies but can be as much as 15 people. Where guilds have far fewer members, they are free to run the tracks multiple times in order to complete it, just be sure to pass through every marker!
There are a total of 6 Guild Rushes to participate in.
Guild Puzzle
The Guild Puzzle requires high levels of group coordination to overcome a puzzle as well as jumping challenge. Unlike the other challenges, these really lend themselves to five players participating but are difficult due to limited time you have to complete them (30 minutes).
One particular Guild Puzzle set in Brisband Wildlands, beside Gallowfields Waypoint, sees you and your guild enter Proxemics Lab. Once inside you first have to locate batteries amongst hidden treasure to unlock the sealed door, while trying to avoid Skritt who are intent on stealing it from you, before navigating several jumping puzzles. After this, there is a physical puzzle that involves control panels and transformation (I won’t spoil it here) before eventually reaching the maze.
Similarly to the Guild Challenge, the rewards for completion are the highest but reflect its difficulty both in the coordination needed and time constraints.
There are a total of 2 Guild Puzzles to participate in.
Rewards
First and foremost, the rewards for completing Guild Missions are generous. Not only do they have a chance of dropping a precursor for everyone in the guild who completes them (we can only assume it replaces one of the two items you're rewarded with) but they also provide 50 silver, 2 Commendations (another new currency) and two rare weapons or armour (though loot tables suggest this also includes exotics). The potential then, once you have all five Guild Missions unlocked at all tiers, is to earn over 4 gold per week and 12 Commendations (I don’t believe Trek offers Commendations). In addition to this, your guild will also be rewarded with incremental Merits based on the tier of Guild Mission you are participating in.
Summary
BE THANKFUL THAT I DID NOT WASTE INFLUENCE ON SPEEDING UP PERKS. Blame Tristan for wasting influence occasionally.
Complete Guide to Guild Missions by Lewis B
Overview
Guild Missions are designed to provide content that compliments existing PvE gameplay. In many ways Guild Missions provide a clear framework for guilds to undertake fun activities as a group, as opposed to requiring Officers or Guild Leaders to think of spontaneous activities for their guild to participate in. Guild Missions vary between five different mission types, each of which offers a steep challenge for the guild to overcome, with worthwhile rewards. While the point of entry to unlock Guild Missions might be steep (we’ll cover this a little later on) this content is design to stretch even the largest guilds while most can readily be completed by the smallest number of players.
Acquisition
Guild Missions can be unlocked by spending influence within your guild panel. The first tier of Bounty costs 30,000 influence to unlock (a steep price but certainly one to work towards) with other tiers costing 50,000. Once unlocked, the Guild Mission can be activated for an additional cost of 200 influence per attempt.
It should be noted however that to gain the ability to spend your influence on Guild Missions, you will have had to apply several upgrades within your guild panel to the four categories: Architecture, The Art of War, Economy, and Politics. At the time of going to press, we were unable to establish in game what upgrade tiers are a pre-requisite, but have contacted ArenaNet for a definitive list.
Where you are successful in completing a Guild mission and in this case Bounty, you will be rewarded with a new guild currency known as Merits. Merits are then used, alongside further influence, to unlock additional tiers of Guild Missions or for additional Guild benefits.
What does benefit smaller guilds is the fact that Merits are fundamental to unlocking higher tiers and are restricted to a set number you and your guild can earn each week. The key here is the fact that larger guilds can’t just use up all their influence to buy their way into higher tiers, they have to earn them through Merits which don’t come easy.
Guild Missions
As stated in our overview, there are a total of 5 Guild Missions, each distinctly different. You should also be aware that there are no Guild Mission activities in any of the Orr zones due to ArenaNet wanting to breathe new life into quieter zones. Hurrah!
Guild Bounty
Your guild is tasked with tracking down and capturing various targets for the Orders. These people are wanted for a variety of reasons. The clues provided by the “Guild Mission” tab are incredibly cryptic, with the entire game world (with the exception of Orr) a potential location. The key is to quickly discover the location, though this in many respects is like a needle in a haystack, before intercepting and killing the individuals. With a timer of 15 minutes to find two bounties in the first tier, it’s a tough call. What will be key here is map and game knowledge but also communities working together to quickly find and publicise where NPCs are located.
Where many people might think “Oh well eventually, it will be on Wiki anyway” this is inevitably true, but ArenaNet have implemented such a huge navigation path to the NPC’s that you could spend 15 minutes searching an entire zone, even when you know they are there. In addition, the Bounty you get every time you activate the mission is random, adding another spanner in the work..
The break down of Tier difficulty is as follows:
- Tier 1 – 2 enemies within 15 minutes
- Tier 2 – 4 enemies within 15 minutes
- Tier 3 – 7 enemies within 15 minutes
There are a total of 15 Bounties to participate in.
Guild Trek
Guild Trek involves the Tyrian Explorer’s Society setting your guild a challenge; to find the list of locations before time runs out. Unlike the other Guild Missions, this is arguably the easiest as it simply involves finding a location within Tyria. For those that have map completion, it makes life incredibly easy and as a result, the Guild Mission bares the lowest number of merit rewards.
There are a total of 150 Guild Treks to participate in.
Guild Challenge
Your guild is tasked with taking part in a Guild Challenge, in what can only be described as a bloody difficult event. Similar to all other Guild Missions and once activated, you will need to find the location of the challenge, before activating it (highlighted on the floor of the event by a shield symbol).
One guild challenge, undertaken in Iron Marches to the south of Champions Shield, sees you and your Guild having to defend a series of supply barrels within an abandoned fortification, against the Flame Legion. As the event starts and the repairs of the turrets surrounding the derelict fortress begin, the Flame Legion will begin to flood in from all sides. It’s your job to kill them as quickly as possible, while protecting the supply barrels.
There are a total of 6 guild missions to complete and they scale according to the number of people participating. Even with the best gear available and downscaled to level 60, the Flame Legion in this particular Guild Challenge are incredibly tough to kill so it is absolutely key to work together and coordinate tactics before you start.
It should be noted that this event has never been successfully completed, even by internal testers and developers and although we lasted for a long period of time (4 minutes remaining) we still failed multiple times, even with ArenaNet on hand to help.
There are a total of 6 Guild Challenges to participate in.
Guild Rush
Guild Rush uses real world locations, as tracks, to test you and your guilds skills over terrain, traps, and other hidden dangers. For the Guild Mission to be successful, you will have to cross the line with a certain number of your guild members, within the time limit. To make the challenge more difficult and because the content isn’t instanced, the locations you participate in are still inhabited by the enemies of the zone who will readily attack you, just as they normally would.
If that wasn’t hard enough, you have to pass through all the markers (similar to competitive Skiing) to qualify for the reward at the end. Along each track there are power-ups that you can collect which provide swiftness or regeneration, though you can still receive boons from those not participating. Lastly, participation is always determined by you and your guild being transformed into another creature or object, such as a chicken or bear which provide their own limited set of skills.
It is up to you and your guild to decide who transforms and participates, but the key to success is undoubtedly having some of your guild remain in their physical form so that they can accompany and buff you along the track, as dying when transformed will send you right back to the start.
For a successful rush, the number of those needed to cross the line varies but can be as much as 15 people. Where guilds have far fewer members, they are free to run the tracks multiple times in order to complete it, just be sure to pass through every marker!
There are a total of 6 Guild Rushes to participate in.
Guild Puzzle
The Guild Puzzle requires high levels of group coordination to overcome a puzzle as well as jumping challenge. Unlike the other challenges, these really lend themselves to five players participating but are difficult due to limited time you have to complete them (30 minutes).
One particular Guild Puzzle set in Brisband Wildlands, beside Gallowfields Waypoint, sees you and your guild enter Proxemics Lab. Once inside you first have to locate batteries amongst hidden treasure to unlock the sealed door, while trying to avoid Skritt who are intent on stealing it from you, before navigating several jumping puzzles. After this, there is a physical puzzle that involves control panels and transformation (I won’t spoil it here) before eventually reaching the maze.
Similarly to the Guild Challenge, the rewards for completion are the highest but reflect its difficulty both in the coordination needed and time constraints.
There are a total of 2 Guild Puzzles to participate in.
Rewards
First and foremost, the rewards for completing Guild Missions are generous. Not only do they have a chance of dropping a precursor for everyone in the guild who completes them (we can only assume it replaces one of the two items you're rewarded with) but they also provide 50 silver, 2 Commendations (another new currency) and two rare weapons or armour (though loot tables suggest this also includes exotics). The potential then, once you have all five Guild Missions unlocked at all tiers, is to earn over 4 gold per week and 12 Commendations (I don’t believe Trek offers Commendations). In addition to this, your guild will also be rewarded with incremental Merits based on the tier of Guild Mission you are participating in.
- Bounty – (Tier 1) 15 Merits, (Tier 2) 20 Merits, (Tier 3) 25 Merits
- Trek – (Tier 1) 5 Merits, (Tier 2) 7 Merits, (Tier 3) 10 Merits
- Guild Challenge – (Tier 1) 30 Merits
- Guild Rush – (Tier 1) 15 Merits
- Guild Puzzle – (Tier 1) 30 Merits
Summary
- Guild Missions become available after your guild has upgraded the four categories within the guild panel, to a certain level.
- Guild Missions cost 50,000 Influence to unlock and 200 influence to activate.
- Higher tiered Guild Missions can be purchased with further influence and Merits (awarded from completing Guild Missions.)
- Merits are awarded on a tiered basis and are a natural limiting factor due to how many you can earn in a week, preventing large guilds unlocking all tiers instantly from influence they may have stored.
- 2 Commendations are awarded to each individual who completes a guild event and can be traded for items from the new vendor in Lions Arch.
- Further rewards for completing a Guild Mission include two rare items or higher and 50 silver.
- Precursors are part of the reward loot table for completing a Guild Mission.
- Having World Completion is a huge benefit when participating in most of the Guild Missions as Waypointing quickly to far flung locations is a must.
- Working together is paramount to successfully completing Guild Missions, as without it you will fail.