[Living World: 2013-08-20] The Queen's Speech (PREVIEW)

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/august-20-2013/


Detailed descriptions of the below items are available at the above link, but here's a general synopsis:

Quote :

The celebration of Queen Jennah’s rule continues in Divinity’s Reach! All over Kryta, people are talking about The Queen’s Speech, which is rumored to contain a major surprise. What will the Queen reveal to her people and the world? Find out on August 20!



Events:

• Developer Livestream - August 20
  
• The Queen's Speech - Begins August 20
  
• Guild Wars 2 Anniversary Bash -- August 31

New Rewards:

• Birthday Gifts

New Features:

• World vs. World XP And Point Adjustments
  
• World vs. World Trebuchet Mastery
  
• The End Of Culling In PvE

This preview page is pretty barebones compared to previous Living Story preview pages as ANet is taking great care not to ruin whatever surprise is in store for the world of Tyria and us players. They claim what is coming will tie together the previous Living Stories and set the stage for the future. Of utmost importance is that this is the first Living Story where we start to see a more "permanent" effect on things compared to the mostly-temporary stuff we've had in past Living Story updates. Whatever it is, it apparently involves some character named Scarlet, who was Mai Trin's boss (dialogue at the end of the Aetherblade Retreat dungeon in the Aetherblades Living Story). You can see that The Queen's Speech page has been "vandalized" a couple of times by Scarlet and her gang. Apparently, someone "mysterious" actually knocked on the door of a Guru moderator and handed him/her a strange package. (Pic at the link)








Discussion(s) about this:

[Reddit] The Queen's Speech


[Reddit] The Queen's Speech announcement page was mysteriously vandalized


[Reddit] Watch out for Scarlet on August 20th

[GW2 Guru] Watch out for Scarlet on August 20th


[Reddit] The Queen's Speech page has been defaced... again!

In keeping secret, ANet decided not to give any day-early previews to the big MMO fansites out there:

[Reddit] No Monday Previews

are they capable of secrets or is it damage control ^.-

There is also going to be a 10-day Black Lion Trading Company sale starting on August 23rd, so if you are in the market for character slots, bank panes, or bag slots, or whatever else, hold your coin!

Anyways, the update is out (this is just a preview topic), so I'll start a new thread with the Update Notes and what-not.