Explore Guild Wars 2: The Lost Shores - terror from the deep, and a new island to conquer

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This weekend, Guild Wars 2 capital Lion's Arch will be besieged by an army of giant crab monsters from the Sea of Sorrows in a one-time event. Get ready to defeat them on home soil, then launch a weekend long invasion culminating in server-wide assaults against a boss that will only ever be defeated once. Can't wait? We've put together a quick video to preview the new content - the invasion, their newly discovered island, and a randomised, infinite dungeon called Fractals of the Mists.

(Yes, that's how you pronounce 'weekend'. What of it?)

The Lost Shores is a free update for all active players, kicking off tomorrow - November 16th, to be clear, and November 16th 2012 for any time travellers who need an extra push - at 12:00PM PST / 9:00 PM CET / 8:00 PM GMT. The new enemies, the Karka, will start by invading Fort Marriner's western gate. One dev told us that everyone will be boosted to Level 80 while in this area, another not. Even at Level 80 though, these guys don't mess around. They get two health bars to represent their hardened shells, and armies of hatchling facehugger types to get in your way and slow you down.

After the initial invasion, players will be sent around Tyria in search of a solution - literally - capable of weakening the Karkas' shells and allowing for a more successful counter-attack. From there, Saturday sees an invasion of their island in the Sea of Sorrows, Southsun Cove, where everyone will work together with both the Lionsguard and a trading group called the Consortium. Here, everyone will be boosted to Level 80 for the duration. Finally, on Sunday, big boss the Ancient Karka wants to say hello..

Evil? No. Just a little crabby.

Evil? No. Just a little crabby.

The Fractals of the Mists also opens for business this weekend, as does a new beta PvP map, and they'll be sticking around - as will the new island, though ArenaNet is hazy on what will actually be there once the Karka are dealt with. Fractals of the Mists offers a set of challenges, randomly selected, covering the classic RPG zones - volcano, aquatic, swamp, Aztec, Futuristic sorry, that's the Crystal Maze. After every three, you get a break. After every six, there's a boss fight with a tentacled monstrosity called the Jade Maw in the middle of a solidified ocean. Then, the difficulty rises, introducing enemies capable of inflicting Guild Wars 2's new Agony condition, but also serving up a new item tier, Ascended, and special infusions that let you mitigate and survive it. This tier has been a little controversial , but so far at least, its mechanics only apply to this one dungeon.

See the full details on The Lost Shores here. To take part, you simply have to be in Guild Wars 2 for the attack on Lion's Arch. If you miss the initial assault there, an in-game UI will point you to where you need to be for the duration of the event. If you miss the weekend, you're out of luck. ArenaNet is working on something for December though, so keep your eyes peeled for winter-themed updates.