A new Guild Wars 2 update has introduced a new gliding mastery to the game's competitive World versus World game mode. The mastery allows players to glide down from tall structures.

The new War Gliding Mastery was added to the game mode's Ranks and Abilities window last Tuesday. The new mastery line requires a total of 60 World Ability Points to complete and gain access to all gliding functionality.

The gliding mechanic was first introduced with the game's first expansion pack Heart of Thorns which released on October 23, 2015. However, the mechanic was limited to the Player versus Elements game mode only.

According to a developer post on the game's official forum, the new gliding mechanic was added to the game mode as a test to see if it has a place in the competitive mode.

Gliding only works in new territory zones marked on the player's maps. Once an objective is captured, the attacking team will gain control of the territory after which they will be able to use their gliders.

To make the new mechanic work on existing maps the update included minor tweaks to prevent players from gliding over an objective's walls and gates.

If the test is successful the gliding mechanic will become a new addition to the game mode that could in theory introduce new combat tactics and machanics.