On the latest episode of the Points of Interest livestream, host Rubi Bayer was joined by Game Designer Roy Cronacher to discuss Shiro, the revenant’s final core legend in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™.

Shiro Tagachi’s legend hearkens back to the Factions® campaign for the original Guild Wars®. He was once the trusted bodyguard of Canthan Emperor Angsiyan, but an agent of the fallen god Abaddon twisted him, convincing him that Angsiyan planned to have him killed at a Harvest Festival ceremony. Shiro murdered his master during the ceremony, and he was slain in turn; his death scream released the Jade Wind, a powerful magical force that petrified vast areas of Cantha. His attempt to return to power made him the main villain of Factions, and he returned once more in the Nightfall® campaign as one of Abaddon’s generals. Shiro is causing significantly less trouble these days than he did 250 years ago, but revenants can now channel his power in battle for a highly mobile, assassin-like playstyle.

Roy said that the development team has been closely watching the feedback from tests, which has resulted in many changes to the revenant. Among the most impactful of those changes is that revenants now have the ability to swap weapons in combat. Since each of the revenant’s weapon choices is focused on a particular style of play, Roy said that it felt awkward to lock players into just one. With weapon swapping, revenants can freely choose the weapons that suit each of their two active legends.

Playing a revenant also felt a bit slow and underpowered in previous tests, so cast times on some abilities have been reduced. Several weapon skills in the axe and mace sets have also had their condition output increased. Roy said that damage output in beta tests might be low because the most important part of testing is making sure the profession plays well; raw numbers can always be adjusted later. He also confirmed that underwater weapons are in development for the revenant.

Roy followed the livestream with a forum post detailing the changes coming to the revenant profession. You can read it here!

Joshua Davis was on next to talk about the ongoing Golem Rush event in World vs. World, and he compared it to a previous special event called Sneak Attack, which had been intended to test a permanent change to WvW mechanics. He reassured viewers that Golem Rush is not a test of eternal golem supremacy but rather is part of a new type of event created to spice up the game mode temporarily. Josh encouraged players who have ideas for future events to post them on the forums.

If you missed the livestream, you can watch a recording below!