Flux

“

Last Halloween, the Lunatic Court followed through on an ill-conceived plot to free Mad King Thorn from his realm. Seals were broken, bizarre acts were performed, terrible jokes were deciphered, and it seemed at the time that all the fuss had been for nothing.

But since then, instability has begun to seep into the world, gathering in the places where the influence of the Mists is felt most strongly. The instability has resulted in fluctuations – changes that alter the experience of playing in our competitive venues. Fluctuations seem to come and go, bringing new effects with them every month.

The introduction of Flux is a compelling tool to help us keep our competitive formats dynamic, while allowing us to further balance the game. Because slight shifts in the meta are expected from Flux to Flux, it allows us to better target overly problematic builds. If powerful builds can thrive in environments that are not suited to them, we can review the skills to bring them more into line. We want to encourage gameplay where the team that wins does so because they've played more skillfully.

The Flux system is the precursor to several improvements that will be coming in a PvP-specific update. We'll be taking a look at improving some titles, the incentives to play, the rewards for various formats, and more. Look forward to it!

— Developer updates

Flux is an environment effect present in Player versus Player areas that changes on the first of every month (UTC). Flux only affects player characters and does not affect NPCs.

Flux icon

List of known effects

Flux	Month in effect
...	2012-5 May 2012
Hive Mind	2012-4 April 2012
Meek Shall Inherit	2012-3 March 2012
Keep Yourself Alive	2012-2 February 2012
Xinrae's Revenge	2012-1 January 2012
Courier's Haste	2011-12 December 2011
Hidden Talent	2011-11 November 2011
Minion Apocalypse	2011-10 October 2011
Massive Damage	2011-09 September 2011
Quickening Terrain	2011-08 August 2011
There Can Be Only One	2011-07 July 2011
Unyielding Spirit	2011-06 June 2011
Lone Wolf	2011-05 May 2011

Trivia

• Flux was introduced on the April 28, 2011 update and stopped affecting the Ascalon Academy battles on October 6, 2011.
• There was no Flux in effect for the first two days of January 2012.
• Minion Explosion is an unimplemented Flux that can be found in the Gw.dat.

External links

• Evaluation of the impact of Flux on the meta at PvX