My goodness, that lady's bikini is awfully close to body tone from this far away, isn't it?

If the sun and sandy beaches didn't give it away, I've spent most of the last week or so of Guild Wars 2 time in Southsun Cove. Karka Island! Sunny Orr! Whatever you call it, I hope we can all agree that Southsun Cove is a terrible place filled with awful monsters that nobody in their right mind, in-universe or otherwise, would ever want to visit without the lure of titles and shiny -- literally, one of them glows, and the other glistens -- backpieces.

With Guild Wars 2's first multi-month living story arc drawing to a close, I thought this might be a good time to do a little bit of reflection on how the living story is treating Guild Wars 2 so far. Sure, what we've seen so far isn't necessarily indicative of the way things are always going to be, but it's a good starting point. (In fact, it's our only starting point. Unless, of course, you like rampant and foundless speculation as a starting point. This is, after all, the internet.)

To expand the conversation a bit, I think we're including holiday updates as part of the living story. It's seasonal, but it also fits into the grander scheme of providing changing content to keep the world moving and to keep players engaged. That means that what we've seen to date includes all of Flame and Frost, Wintersday, Halloween, and the Lost Shores event. Also, I guess the Super Adventure Box? I mean, it's returning and it had a lore tie-in and stuff. Maybe? I'm not sold.

Guild Wars 2 recently got its first big non-holiday content update, which added a new zone, a new PvP map, a new dungeon, and a bunch of items. In addition to the permanent content (which seems, with a few glaring exceptions, to be very well-received), ArenaNet threw in a one-time event over the weekend (which was not received very well). In response to player reaction, the team has posted a new blog post that acknowledges the pitfalls of the Lost Shores event and laid out plans for moving forward.

Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores update is just around the corner -- that is, if you can consider nighttime to be a corner. What I'm trying to say is that Lost Shores goes live tomorrow. We brought you a content primer a couple of days ago to give you the basics of what's going on. Now it's time to take a closer look at what's to come.

Skip on below the cut for a spoiler-free look at the Lost Shores content. I mean, reasonably spoiler-free. I'm going to tell you that the karka are involved and that there's a dungeon where you fight things. We can't really have much of a conversation elsewise, but what I'm not going to do is give away any big finales or gotcha moments. Now that we understand each other, let's get going.

Earlier today, Guild Wars 2 players got their first real idea of what's awaiting them in the Lost Shores content update. They responded with an collective outcry against the introduction of Ascended items, which inhabit a new tier of item rarity. The roar of outrage was a little muddled, however, as there weren't a whole lot of details about what purpose Ascended items serve. A new blog post clarifies the whole issue. Get ready for some knowledge!

One of the primary design purposes for the Ascended item tier is to bridge the gap between Exotic gear (which fairly casual players can have a reasonable certainty of acquiring without too much angst) and Legendaries (which are for the hardest of hardcores). Specifically, Ascended items will be used specifically to combat new endgame mechanics. Foes within the new Fractals of the Mists dungeon will inflict Agony on players. Agony can only be mitigated by Infusions, which can be put only into Ascended armor. As players get to higher levels of difficulty within the dungeon, they will eventually find a point at which they have to counter Agony (by Infusions) before they can hope to proceed. Rather than being upgraded with normal components, Ascended gear has upgrades built-in, and upgrade slots have been repurposed into Infusion slots.

November's update will include only Ascended rings and back items. More Infusions and Ascended item types will be added with time. When Ascended items are added to the game, Legendary weapons will be updated so they are still the best available option (as opposed to being on-par with Exotic weapons, as they currently are).

October is gone, and with it went the Mad King. He's returned to his realm, and if the number of his slippers I have piled up in the corners of my bank vault is any indication, he's ill-prepared to deal with any sudden drops in temperature. On the first day of November, Lion's Arch citizens marveled at the sudden disappearance of all the festive decorations, applauded the continuity of the lion statue's still being absent from the Piazza, and set about life as normal.

Until they saw the whales.