Guild Wars 2 tests map queueing feature, finishes DirectX 11 migration, and fixes the Elementalist exploit

Guild Wars 2 released a minor update today with some interesting implications for players trying to join specific maps that are already full.

“Players can now add themselves to a queue to join party members in open-world maps that are currently at their maximum player capacity,” ArenaNet explains. “The queue can be reached through the party and squad UI by right-clicking on a player in your party that is within the instance you wish to join and selecting Join Instance. If that map instance is full, you will receive a new pop-up that will ask if you’d like to enter a queue for the same instance as your existing party members. Accepting this pop-up will put you into a queue, which will give you the option to travel to that map instance as soon as capacity allows. Refusing the queue will result in the same behavior as before this update.”

“This feature is an upgrade to the megaserver system, which was first introduced in April 2014. We are introducing it as a beta while we keep a close eye on live issues and monitor your feedback.”

The patch also finishes out the game’s migration to DirectX 11 as DirectX 9 has been entirely phased out. RIP.

Something not present in these notes is a fix for the Elementalist exploit that allowed some players to run around mass-murdering whole fields of players in PvP. On Saturday, ArenaNet disabled some key Elementalist traits while it worked on a long-term solution for the exploit – a solution that players were hoping would be live with today’s patch, but it’s not mentioned in the notes. [This was fixed after publication; see below for the latest.]