Ace update from my experience yesterday. It's light on content but also not artificially bloated with running-around achievements or unnecessary padding. It's cool seeing people running around with their icons on and I continue to enjoy the repurposing of existing content to provide extra reward if completed under certain conditions (in this case, achievement points for doing a handful of things you'd do anyway while supporting your candidate). I really hope that there's some kind of additional campaigning by Gnashblade and Kiel before the next update.
The Candidate Trials are great. Just a really fun little instance and a great challenge. The combat shines in scenarios like that IMO. Our group beat t4 on the first try with a
very close call, Jest was the last one alive with 30 seconds left and was able to lock down the plunderer enough for a win. I can't imagine that focusing effort on where the plunderers spawn and run back to was unintended, as our strategy just naturally shifted in that direction. Definitely looking forward to trying to solo a few rounds as well as getting better at the T4. I did note I was playing it primarily for the challenge and achievements, as the rewards seem to be rather haphazard- there seems to be no completion reward at all, which is peculiar.
Went through a few rounds of Southsun Survivor. Didn't win, but got closer each time. It's really great. The feeling of encountering someone who is also clearly out of supplies and scrambling to a pick up with no idea of who will get a kill off first is exhilarating. Learning the skills initially is a little stressful, and you can find your life ended in an instant. Though it's pretty satisfying to get a kill by summoning a karka from beyond the grave. Also, like Sanctum Sprint before it you seem to make pretty decent silver just for completion.
Haven't tried Aspect Arena, but Katoki hates so I will probably wind up enjoying it quite a bit.
Also, does anyone know if the guaranteed rares in the Loot Bags you get from these mini games scale with character level? I have been playing with my lvl 53 alt and so far have been getting lvl 50ish rares... I'm wondering if I start playing with my main I will get lvl 80ish rares and be able to actually salvage them for ectos...
I'm sure that's the case. I haven't done 6 rounds yet but all the rewards tend to scale like that.
How long does a typical game last?
That's the thing, there's really no telling. It's all up to the survivors.
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edit:
Apparently, the
new COF1 speed record uses the tried-and-true classic party setup of a Mesmer, a Warrior, two Thieves and a Ranger. Hmmmm.
We have almost 1K hours between us now. 
