Christmas isn't just a time for goodwill to all men, obsene alcohol consumption and for a present providing Asura to prance about Lion's Arch. 'Tis also the season for kicking the snot out of rival server dwellers.
Along with Guild Wars 2's Wintersday event, ArenaNet will be tweaking the game's WvW battles; a process which they've detailed on their forums .
Changes include the game now treating disconnects as instant kills. Death penalties will be applied, and any opponent they were fighting will be credited with XP and loot as per a regular kill.
Walls and gates have also been overhauled, and can no longer be instantly rebuilt when destroyed. Instead they must first reach 10% health, with attackers still able to damage the incoming structures before they hit that mark.
Finally, events will be added. According to their designer, Matt Witter, "Break Out Events are special WvW events that will happen when a team has lost control of all defensive structures, not counting supply camps. An NPC commander will appear in the team's start area and an event will start that prompts players to gather around."
"Once enough players are in the commander's presence he will summon his trusty dolyak to give all allies in the area full supply. He will then lead the charge to the nearby objective and give players protection and assist with building siege to assault the objective with."
"Those benefits, along with a defensive boon that he applies to all nearby allies, makes the attacking players a force to be reckoned with. Defenders will have their work cut out for them, as once the gate or wall piece is destroyed the commander will move to the tower lord inside and attack anyone in his path."
These tweaks will eventually be followed up with a larger round of changes, due in February.
