Details for Guild Wars 2’s Feature Pack due in September have begun to trickle out of the ArenaNet offices. The first post is a preview on the PvP Visual and Reward changes that are coming. One of the most interesting snippets from this post are changes to Standard Enemy Models. The premise being that in PvP, it’s really important to know exactly what skills your foe is using and when. With that in mind ArenaNet are implementing an option that allows all foes you’re fighting against to be replaced by a standard human model. This then shows just one set of animations that you can learn for each attack. It’s quite a sensible solution and it’s acknowledged by ArenaNet that it should only really be used by high end PvP players.

In addition to that, there’s two new unique armors making their way to PvP. The first is the Glorious Heroes set designed for players taking part in the public tournaments at a super high level, while the Glorious Armor set is for the likes of you and I who play PvP on a daily basis but not to that degree. The first screenshot (although tiny) does look pretty cool.

When designing this armor set, we really wanted to bring something unique and, well, glorious to PvP. We started out by asking questions like, “What would a god of war wear into battle?” and “What would embody the glory of combat?” As we looked for the answers to these questions, we turned to mythology for inspiration. We also looked to the most glorious place of all: the Hall of Heroes from the original Guild Wars. One of the key visuals from the Hall of Heroes is its majestic statues with ornate wings, which we decided to incorporate into our new armor sets.

Coupled with the new armors is also a tracker that allows you to pick up your rewards once you’ve reached the necessary milestones. It’s a good idea to give players a visual target in this way and it allows for an easily recognisable goal.

Outside of the blog post there’s also been some other news trickling out of Gamescom regarding several other incoming changes.

• Account bound commander tag with four different colors for 300g each: This was already covered by other sites
• New WvW trap: Siege Disabler, that can be thrown on enemy siege to disable it completely
• New WvW ability to enhance siege golems that adds overall survivability.
• Major combat log improvements, now featuring all information, customizable, and with colors and skill details

There’s also some news of Combat Log changes so that it displays full information about what's happening to your character. Lastly, WvW is also receiving a new ability:

• New ability: Siege Golem Mastery that improves Siege Golem skills (total cost 75 points)
• 5 points: "Increases your piloted golem's movement speed for 15 seconds after destroying a gate or a wall" (grants Super Speed)
• 15 points: "Increases your piloted golem's base power and precision by 15%"
• 30 points: "The shield bubble now also heals nearby allies"
• 50 points: "Increases your piloted golem's base vitality and toughness by 15%"
• 75 points: "Your piloted golem will safely eject you once it's defeated"
• New trick consumable: Siege Disabler that disables enemy siege for 45 seconds and golems for 20 seconds. Cost of 10 supply and a 1200 range.