The players' choice from July finally comes to Tyria with next week's patch.

Next week's content patch for Guild Wars 2, Fractured, brings the long awaited addition of new fractals to the Fractals of the Mists dungeon. During July's Cutthroat Politics content, players elected Captain Ellen Kiel over Evon Gnashblade to fill the vacant seat on the Lion's Arch Captain's Council. In order to garner the players' support, both candidates had promised the expansion of the dungeon, and next week Ellen Kiel's promise is fulfilled.

• Three Fractals: Ellen Kiel's promised Thaumanova Reactor along with Living World dungeon remakes with the Molten Furnace Fractal and the Aetherblade Fractal
• Two Boss Fractals: The Jade Maw no longer stands alone! Players will randomly get the Jade Maw, the Aetherblade Captain Mai Trin or the two Molten Alliance champions from the Molten Facility for the bonus fractal.
• Agony Resist Update: The way Agony Resistance works on items is evolving. Players will now be able to collect drops granting Agony Resistance and combine those to continually increase the level of Agony Resistance.

• Fractals of the Mists Leaderboards: Players will now be able to show off their fractal dedication with the new leaderboard.
• Fractal Progression Changes:
• Players over personal reward level 30 at the time of the patch will be reset to to level 30. This is to make the new Leaderboards competitive in a race to the top.
• The difficulty curve in fractals 1-30 is being adjusted.
• Fractals above 30 will have a special Mistlock Instability which will add new difficulties to the level or change how it is played.
• Fractal Reward Updates: In addition to earning daily fractal rewards such as Empyreal Fragments, Fractal Relics and Pristine Fractal Relics at all levels, players will also earn a gold or more.

• Fractal Tonic: A new, infinite tonic will allow players to transform into any number of friends and foes from within the Mists. The Fractal Tonic is a rare reward found within the Fractals of the Mists.
• New Runes and Sigils: Braving the "dangers of the most difficult fractals" will award a chance at new sigils and runes.

Fractals are not the only thing coming with the next update. Players will now be able to enter the Obsidian Sanctum, the Eternal Battlegrounds jumping puzzle in World vs. World, directly through the WvW menu. Additionally, a new space has be created within the Sanctum to allow for combat between opposing groups of players and the Borderlands Bloodlust buff will no longer apply within the Obsidian Sanctum.

With Fractured, players will also still be able to participate in the Tower of Nightmares content. The Tower of Nightmares is headed for collapse, but the fight isn't over yet! Players can continue to fight against the Toxic Alliance to destroy the structure and prevent its evil from spreading.

Matt "Mattsta" Adams

Follow me @MattstaNinja