This shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that we're nearly halfway through December, but Guild Wars 2's annual Wintersday event has now arrived once more. It has brought with it a variety of minigames, a bit of a tricky jumping puzzle with some nice rewards at the end, a brand new race that will take you all across Divinity's Reach, a bunch of new cosmetics to collect, secret items to hunt, and the list goes on for a little while.

The general idea behind the Wintersday event is pretty much the same as it was in the previous couple of years, but if you don't know much about it, allow me to share with you the original trailer. Have a look, its not a very long video:

Besides the festive atmosphere, this patch has also brought with it some very, very important changes to the balance between condition and power builds. If you're interested in all of the details you should head over here, but long story short, the duration of most conditions has been increased while their damage has been decreased in order to compensate. This should make condition builds a lot less front-loaded in terms of damage, but a lot more consistent over the course of a fight, especially if there is a lot of movement involved. And if you're a fan of the Mirage Elite Specialization, you'll also be glad to hear that these changes have brought about the return of the highly enjoyable Clone Mirage build/playstyle!

You can find the full patch notes, including all of the bug fixes and balance changes, by heading over to the official forums. Have fun with the new event!