Guild Wars 2 Data: Guild Wars 2 - Queen's Jubilee Patch Preview

Below is a summary in point format for rapid consumption.

LIVING WORLD

Hot Air Balloons

These hot air balloons will be in all zones except Orr and Southsun Cove. They are designed to be visible from far away but are also marked on the map.
There will be quite a few events/achievements here involving escorting the dignitaries to the balloons and stopping the Aetherblade pirates from attacking the balloons.
Up the tower are some chests player may find and also taking the balloon is a free ride to DR.

Ignite the Beacons

This is a mini activity in DR outside the main attraction. You will find various NPCs marked as torchbearers that you can talk to start this activity.
You will need to lit all the beacons from Point A to Point B before the flame on your torch runs out. This isn't very straightforward and you may need to use some shortcuts and a bit of urban parkour.
You get a permanent torch as a reward which may come handy in various jumping puzzles etc.

Crown Pavilion

Giant arena separated into two layers. Bottom layer is separated into six segments with each segment containing enemies from humanity's past: Ogres, centaurs, bandits, pirates, destroyers, and flame legions (in case you need to go on a Charr killing spree).
Each segment is designed for 20-30 players at the same time and you will find many veterans and sometimes a group event (champion) boss.
There will usually be two group event bosses up at a time, while they are alive they will apply specific debuffs to the entire zone (i.e. pirate boss will throw rain cannonballs on you from time to time, bandit boss will spawn bombs around corners that you can step on, destroyer boss can make your endurance regen slower)
All of the group event bosses have powerful AoEs that are designed to demolish large zergs that clump up.
Doing the group events will reward you with Watchwork Sprockets, a new currency for the patch, and Queen's Gauntlet tickets.

Queen's Gauntlet

This is a 1vs1 PvE arena activity taking place on the upper layer of Crown Pavilion. There will be six glass domes suspended below a circular track high above the air.
Only 1 player can be inside the dome at a time and you will need a Queen's Gauntlet ticket to participate. Some sort of lineups may be expected.
There are three tiers of NPCs (4 NPCs per tier) that you can fight in 1vs1 matches. Each have special abilities and the 4th NPC of each tier is usually an end-boss that is slightly more challenging. If you beat the endboss of Tier 3 (only 8% of the testers at Arenanet have done so after several weeks), you will get a minipet modeled after the endboss.
There are time limits in each of these matches and if you fail to kill these NPCs within the time limit the floor will open up and you will dropped to your death below so expect to see bodies falling from the sky from time to time.
Some examples of boss fights: Quaggan boss that grows in size and damage output the more you hit him, a boss that summon tornado that increase in density with time and causes knockdown, boss with a one shot mechanic that can be only avoided by standing in a black pool that also tick for damage
All of the bosses are supposedly beatable with every profession but you may need to change your traits/weapons etc. Some require burst dmg, others require good mobility/cc breaker etc

Gambits

If you want to increase the challenge and earn extra rewards/achievements, you can use the gambit system, which also costs Queen's Gauntlet tickets.
Gambits are debuffs placed on you that will last for the entire duration of the fight. They range from debuffs that prevent you from dodging, debuffs that make you take increased dmg or deal reduced damage, debuffs that cause knockdown/cripple
There is an achievement for putting on 5 gambits on yourself while defeating the third tier boss, which some have deemed it "impossible"

Achievements and Rewards

There are two separate achievement tracks for Queen's Jubilee and Queen's Gauntlet
Queen's Jubilee achievements involves escorting emissaries, doing events in Crown Pavilion, Beacon of Kryta torch runs, etc. There isn't enough achievements to complete the meta (requires 16 achievements) so you will need to do some Jubilee dallies (details not shown). You get a mini watchknight for the meta reward.
Queen's Gauntlet achievements involves beating various tier bosses, beating some bosses in a specific manner (i.e. letting quaggan boss get to 10 stacks of his buff before killing him), and using various gambits. Rewards are given for defeating first tier and third thier endbosses in addition to the meta.
The Watchwork Sprockets you earn can be used to purchase recipes for new runes/sigils, and the new Sovereign weapon set.

OTHER FEATURES

Account Wallet

Accessed via the Hero menu or from bottom of your inventory. This thing stores karma, coins, gems, laruels, glory, badges of honor, fractal relics, guild commendations, and various dungeon tokens.
There is no stack limit so go crazy with it. You will need to login with each character once to get their stuff sent to the account wallet.

Permanent Finishers

Also accessed via the Hero panel, you can find event specific finishers here (i.e. snowman, gift from wintersday) as well as the usual rabbit deer, dragon rank finishers. You can pick any finisher you have unlocked and activate it.
Temporary finishers will still be rewarded and their usage will replace the permanent finishers for the duration.
You can expect to buy some new finishers in the gemstore.

PvP Solo Queue

They are calling PvP Tournaments Arenas now and solo queue is available and separate from team queue. It also have its own leaderboard.

Royal Terrace

New microtransaction they are testing out. Special VIP area right next to the Crown Pavilion designed for rich folks who can afford to buy temporary passes to this area. Area has alot of convenience features such as crafting stations, mystic forge etc. Basically a place for all the rich players to hang out.

Mini-game rotation

Talk to the game master in LA to play the minigame that is on rotation for that day.

Guild Wars 2 Data