Guild Wars 2 Living World Season 3 Episode 3: A Crack In The Ice Is Now Live

AreaNet announced today that Guild Wars 2 Living World Season 3 Episode 3: A Crack in the Ice has gone live. Players can now venture into a new map in the Northern Shiverpeaks known as "Bitterfrost Frontier." The new map is sufficiently cold and imposing, limiting your vision with a near-constant haze of falling snow.

A new five-player Nightmare Fractal in which players "face a challenging echo of the toxic Tower of Nightmares" was introduced alongside Living World Season 3 Episode 3. Having played through the Fractal, I can ensure you that it is sufficiently challenging and will keep you on your toes every step of the way. There are a number of mini-bosses leading up to the final boss, a large number of AoE traps, and even a new type of trap that requires players to dodge around projectiles bullet hell-style as they attempt to disarm it. Furthermore, the final boss is challenging from start to finish, offering razor thin margins for dodging AoEs and a final stage in which adds attempt to push you out of a small bubble of safety and onto a deadly poison-covered floor.

Additionally, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is 50% off until tomorrow. If you've yet to grab the expansion, now is the time.