This week in Guild Wars 2

Posted by on June 22, 2012 in | | 1 Response

The theme of the week seemed to be dye: a recently announced change to the Guild Wars 2 dye system had lots of folks waving their pitchforks and burning brands in excitement. Poor Crystin Cox was (unjustly, in my opinion) taking the brunt of the blame for the change from account-based dyes to character-based … you’d think she’d stolen everyone’s favourite toy out of the playpen because the crying and wailing has been that loud. It’s a reminder of the bad habit certain rulers sometimes indulged in dealing with messengers who brought bad news…

I’m ambivalent about the announced change (and we’re still in beta: remember that it could change again before release). To say that my original Guild Wars characters are under-decorated would be kind: I’m aesthetically challenged and colour swatches and dye samples don’t get me excited at all. Back the day when I had to wear a jacket and tie to work, I had to figure out in advance which tie “worked” with various jacket/shirt combinations. If I didn’t, I risked going to work looking like the office jester. So my concerns about dye really don’t rank on my list of issues: I found the starter set of dyes to be more than adequate for my very limited colour needs.

The positive news of the week is that we’ll have a brief stress test to keep us occupied for a few short hours next Wednesday. Nobody could be upset about that, could they?

Official Guild Wars 2 news

  • Forbes — NCsoft And ArenaNet Focus On The Fans With Guild Wars 2. “More gamers have been able to explore Tyria in the Guild Wars 2 beta weekends of late. One of the most anticipated games of this year bypassed E3 2012 in favor of letting more players explore the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game world through events that will also allow ArenaNet improve the gameplay experience before the official launch. NCsoft-owned ArenaNet has spent the past five years developing a new experience working with the millions of Guild War fans who love the fantasy world. Guild Wars 2 has been designed with the help of gamers. The developer lines the halls of its beautiful Bellevue, Washington studio with fan art, as well as an occasional life-size Charr created by an extremely talented gamer.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 Facebook page: A day in the life of ArenaNet. “The ArenaNet team is working hard after the second Beta Event.”
  • ArenaNet blog — Is it Fun? Colin Johanson on How ArenaNet Measures Success. “To begin this blog post, let me pose a question: How do you measure the success of an MMO? Historically, it’s been easy to point to success with traditional MMOs: subscription numbers were the ultimate means a company used to measure how well a game was doing, and customers typically looked at those same numbers as well to gauge the success of the game. The number of concurrent users — how many players are online at a given time — was also important, but that number was usually hidden from users, since it typically painted a less rosy picture of a game’s health when compared to the number of active subscriptions.”
  • IGN — We Can All Get Along in Guild Wars 2. “MMORPGs tend to inspire a particular kind of devotion in many of their players. These online worlds can and do swallow people whole and it’s no real surprise, considering the breadth and depth they offer. Hungry players are all too keen to dive in, to sample everything, and it can be great to see them getting so wrapped up in their game.”
  • ArenaNet blog — Help Us Stress Our Servers on June 27. “All players who have pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 are invited to participate in our upcoming stress test. This four-hour test event will run on Wednesday, June 27th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PDT (GMT-7). We won’t wipe characters for this event, so if you played in our previous betas, you can pick up right where you left off. All we need you to do is log in and have fun—leave the stress to us!”
  • BWE2 RPGamer — Guild Wars 2 – Beta Weekend Event Follow-Up Interview. “ArenaNet has been holding Beta Weekend Events for the upcoming Guild Wars 2 approximately once a month. After participating in both events, we sent them some follow-up questions about their general experience with the betas and some specific issues that were popular in community discussions about the game. We tried to get a little bit of everything in there, from class balance to PvP to the cash shop. Our questions were answered by Producer Chris Whiteside and Lead Game Designer Eric Flannum.”

Recent GuildMag posts

  • Let Beta Dye — “I have seen a lot of websites not publish full and correct information recently in regards to the dye system and it is starting to bother me because it is only adding fuel to the fire and misinformation.”

Fan articles and blog posts

  • TalkTyria.net — Dyeing From The Colors. “Of the countless features in Guild Wars 2, there are those which receive nought but praise, of these there are some that are easily missed until presented in front of the players. Almost everyone thinks about WvW, or Dynamic Events, or the ever branching Personal Story, but what about armor dye? The dye system introduced in Guild Wars 2 has come a long way from the original system in Guild Wars; having been over hauled completely in the first game to the point of being unrecognizable, similarly this new system is constantly being changed with every step towards the game’s final release.”
  • BWE2 Divinity’s Reach — To End All Things. “A story of past events. The following account tells the tales of a traveler dreaming of glory and fame, of hopes long lost. Adventurer of Tyria, come gather round the flickering fire, I have a story to tell. A story of a fool who thought he could save the world.”
  • Guild Wars Insider — AETA: Proper Care, Deployment, and Naming of a Rifle. “After spending some time last week putting together a list of things I’d like to see changed about my favorite grenade-toting profession, I figured it was time to start making suggestions that could be used by the people who read the AETA Field Survival Guide, instead of making suggestions to the almighty Overlords of the AETA. So I pondered life, love, and why breakfast cereal gets better with age, despite being perishable.”
  • BWE2 Hunter’s Insight — Top 7 Events In The Guild Wars 2 Beta. “There are going to be a lot of events in Guild Wars 2 but so far we’ve only been able to play through 7 zones. I’ve seen a lot of really cool events so I thought I’d pick some out. One thing I noticed however is that a lot of cool events are tied together. Instead of picking 3 events from the same chain, I’m going to limit myself to one event from each zone.”
  • Reborn Reality — Money and Time (are not the same thing). “Guild Wars 2 is revolutionary on every level. The world is dynamic. Your story is personalized. The combat system is unique. If that wasn’t enough, ArenaNet is also seeking to reform the model for the traditional MMO economy. In the past, MMO’s have been all about grinding: you did the same thing over and over again in order to earn gold, experience, and loot. In Guild Wars 2, you are rewarded just for doing something, whether it be gathering materials, participating in epic WvW battles, or helping farmers tend to their crops (since you apparently have more knowledge about growing carrots than they do).”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Melee vs Ranged in Structured PvP. “Welcome to the second round of The Last Whiskey Bar. In it, Sardu and Lewis B square off in a bar brawl to the death in GuildWars2Hub’s take on the traditional point / counterpoint format. This week we decided to tackle another major topic focused on structured PvP in Guild Wars 2: Which is the dominant factor when it comes to structured PvP: melee or ranged combat?”
  • Killabytes Online — The Problem(s) With PvE. “PvE in Guild Wars 2 is enjoyable, its fairly varied, the more action orientated combat greatly contributes to that but there are some issues with it that after the second BWE I simply can’t ignore (continue reading after the jump).”
  • BWE2 Nerdy Bookahs — Guild Wars 2: Divinity’s Reach Screenshot Gallery. “Today, I’m picture-guiding you through Divinity’s Reach. After going through Lion’s Arch during the first BWE, I realized that I had forgotten to look at the human capital. Still, when BWE2 started, I headed straight for the Black Citadel because I had found it much more interesting at first glance. Also, how exciting can it be? Yet another medieval-looking town. *yawn* Right? Boy, was I wrong. Well yes, it is a medieval-looking town, but at the same time, it’s still very pretty and had cute little corners and interesting architecture. My favorite part was the laundry in a backyard. I also have pictures from Hoelbrak which I wanted to show first but by popular demand (well, two people on Twitter), I am going to show Divinity’s Reach first. ;) “
  • BWE2 GamerRazmus — Beta Weekend Event 2. “Last weekend Guild Wars 2 had its second Beta Weekend Event. I absolutely had a blast! During BWE1 I had a lot going on in real life and didn’t get to participate as much as I would have liked, but last weekend I got to play a lot. Wow! This game is awesome!”
  • BWE2 IGN — Guild Wars 2, World. [Raphia: An interactive map showing various points of interest in the areas of Tyria we've had access to in the beta weekend events so far.]
  • BWE2 Malefic Incantations — Tough Love. “I’ve had a lot of good things to say about Guild Wars 2, but this post is going to be about some instances where the game needs work. I should clarify what I mean by that, because the fact is AAA games routinely ship at the level of quality and polish of the most recent beta weekend, receiving and deserving high praise. GW2 is shaping up awesomely. However, as a fan and a long-time Guild Wars player I know ArenaNet is capable of more, of doing even better, and it would be awesome if my feedback helped the game’s development. I hope that my criticism is more helpful and constructive than the idle whining often seen on forums and in /map chat.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — GW2 Feature Implementation Wish List. “While the official Guild Wars 2 forums were still active after the second weekend beta event, there was a player-made topic asking for wish lists of features and fixes players most hoped to see before GW2 launches. The thread had some great ideas and suggestions for the developer team. Guild Wars 2 is looking very impressive even though it’s still in its beta stages, but there’s always room for improvement! In fact, many of these features are seen as almost necessary to some players.”
  • BWE2 GW2 WvW — Price of Progress : The Thief. “That didn’t last long did it? While being able to execute the correct moves, in the correct positions, at the correct times is a solid chunk of what makes a great player tick, the other 50% of the equation is one that a lot of people do not put enough emphasis on. If you do not enter the battle with the correct tools you’re doomed from the start, and today that’s what I intend on preventing.”
  • BWE2 Guild Wars 2 Hub — Necromancer Group Support Skills and Traits. “Following the first beta weekend event, I noted that players took to the social play that Guild Wars 2 inspires much quicker than I had anticipated. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t expect people to play socially at all, but the industry itself has conditioned us for solo play over the past 8 years to the point where I was beginning to give up hope that we may never see another truly social MMOG for another decade.”
  • GW2 WvW — Friendly Hardcore Guilds – They Live Again in Guild Wars 2! “In entries before, I spoke of my remorse for the loss of the Old Ways. As of ten years ago, much of the beliefs and philosophies of running fun and cooperative guilds has begun to fizzle out. The idea of playing with a group of friends, a fellowship, and a band of brothers – started to die out in favor of more structured and determined guilds. The guild name became precious, became the key focus of all things. The world must know the guild’s name, and all must take notice that there is only one guild that is greater than the rest. These ideals came into being with EverQuest, Final Fantasy XI, EVE Online, and later World of Warcraft. People became a resource, something that was faceless and easily replaced. This was the mindset of a business, and that model was steadily being applied to guilds.”
  • Hunter’s Insight — Guild Wars 2 Cosplay. “I’m not really a fan of cosplay. I’m sure it’s great fun for anybody actually sewing up the fabrics and making their imaginations reality but I can’t be bothered.”
  • BWE2 Killabytes Online — GW2 – General PvP Pointers. “During the second BWE I spent more time PvPing then I did in the prior BWE, for both normal SPvP and Tournament SPvP. From the time spent trying these modes, I came across some general points I feel will be useful for anyone looking to get into PvP (for solo play).”
  • GW2 WvW — Gameronomist’s Guide to PvP Part 2: Competition. “Today I am going to talk about competition. What it is, how it makes people react, and how to overcome the most natural mistakes and behaviors that make competition a dreaded thing for most people. Make sure you read Part 1, as I will be referring to it often.”
  • BWE2 Divinity’s Reach — Almuten Mansion. “One of my favorite places in the game is a rather out-of-the-way house called Almuten Mansion in Gendarran Fields. At first glance you notice two themes: a cool-looking mansion and a rather bland renown heart asking you to clean up the house. If you are unfamiliar with renowns, these are extremely different from dynamic events, and instead are basically your standard run of the mill quests with the reward of permanently unlocking a vendor offering you decent upgrades. However, as I completed the arguably “boring” quest, I slowly became attached to the place.”
  • BWE2 Demajen — The Secret World & Guild Wars 2 Combat: That Sense of Hitting. “This post is basically a followup to my last TSW post on the third beta weekend event: Hell Raised. During that post I tried to articulate my thoughts on combat in The Secret World and why it didn’t really pop for me. What I should have done was get some FRAPS footage of my own experiences in the beta but, as often happens with me, I only realise I need screenshots and footage after the beta events have ended. Which makes me feel really dumb.”
  • BWE2 GW2 WvW — Engineer: The Long Range Scout Tank. “So during the last BWE I finally got to really sink my teeth into WvW. I was quickly faced with the startling reality that my build I had theorycrafted to death was next to worthless in WvW. My full condition dmg/support dual pistol engineer was painful to play. While incredible in sPvP it did not carry over into the large and face paced world of the Eternal Battle grounds.”
  • GameSpy — Five Reasons Why Guild Wars 2 Will be Better Than Star Wars: The Old Republic. “You can already see the signs of dissention in Guild Wars 2‘s official forums. One player complains that Guild Wars 2‘s combat isn’t anywhere near as action-based as TERA‘s (and therefore it sucks), another person says leveling feels too much like a grind, and some of ArenaNet’s diehards say it feels too different from Guild Wars 1 for their tastes. It’s the sort of critical ball that started rolling with blinding speed about a month after Star Wars: The Old Republic‘s release and led to one of the most negative player backlashes in MMORPG history. But despite all that, I don’t think Guild Wars 2 will suffer the same fate. Sure, some of these concerns are valid, but I think ArenaNet has made enough good decisions to keep fans happy.”
  • BWE2 Guild Wars Insider — Death Becomes You: Necro Life Support. “The Necromancer is no stranger to death. While wheeling and dealing death is a natural course of action, being a supportive Necromancer can be the glue that holds the hideous amalgamation of a group together, not unlike a Flesh Golem. This past Beta Weekend I took the ol’ Necro out for a spin in sPvP and chose as many supportive traits and skills as possible.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Exploring GW2: Plant a Flag, Get Points. “There’s been a few things floating around the internet regarding an explorer’s flag. We’ve seen some datamining data on Curse’s database site. It appears that there are little meta games where players can put on their explorer’s hat and try to find the farthest point in the world and claim it as their own.”
  • GW2 Guru — June 2012 Community Townhall #3 EU+NA. “Guild-World.Com (A subsidiary of fragworld.org) is happy to announce our 3rd Community Town Hall for Guild Wars 2. Due to popular demand this time we will be having one for EU as well [that and Arenanet made us :)] These events are a chance for guild leaders, officers and fansite admins to come together and talk about recent happenings in the community, to meet other guilds and discuss the future of the game. Also its valuable to Arenanet as another place to get constructive feedback about Guild Wars 2. They listen and provide feedback for each townhall. You may sign up here on this thread and/or our calendar”
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. “Remember when the Pale Tree was just an odd little sapling? When “Kodan” was just the Dwarven Recruitment Officer in Gunnar’s Hold? The original Guild Wars is riddled with memories for me. I may have spent only a paltry 2,500 hours in-game, but they’ve been superbly full hours. I had two big surges of nostalgia this past week: once when I was hip-deep in the Fissure of Woe and remembered how utterly awesome I’d felt the first time I got a Chaos Axe drop, and again as I ran through the hall of burning trees in the third level of the Cathedral of Flames and thought about the countless times I’d run through there on my Smite or 600 monk, buddied up with my best friend and dropping the Enchanted Weapons like flies.”
  • BWE2 Reddit — BWE2 Survey Results are here! “First off, thanks for your participation in the BWE2 survey event. This survey was largely put together by JimmyBisMe so kudos to him. As for the results, we had over 3,700 survey responses. That’s a LOT of data. One of the problems we ran into is that with this much data, the Google docs platform was stretched to it’s limit in terms of reporting, especially because we had so many big multiple selection questions. Next time, we want to use a more professional platform, which will help code and manage our data a bit better.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — The Spectator Mode We Deserve. “I know from various places Arenanet has mentioned that “spectator mode” is currently road mapped for “whenever the community yells enough about it that they prioritize it over other features,” so before we get too far, this is me yelling about it.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Discovering Tyria: The Maguuma Jungle. “The Maguuma Jungle is the region on the west side of the mainland continent of Tyria. It is a massive jungle area in the south and an arid desert to the north of the region (Although the desert is still considered part of the jungle). The southern areas such as the Tarnished Coast is the surface homeland of the diminuitive Asuran race and their mighty floating capital of Rata Sum. The determination and ingenuity of these small asura is evidenced by the location of their capital. The Tarnished Coast boasts quite a hostile environment outside the city. 250 years in the past there was quite a large population of Krait and shamanistic Simian’s that attacked any traveller’s they saw on sight. This coupled with the appearance of the Destroyers put the area around Rata Sum near the top of the “Tyria’s Most Dangerous Regions” list.”
  • BWE2 Nerdy Bookahs — Guild Wars 2: Hoelbrak Screenshot Gallery. “With Hoelbrak, the series of screenshot galleries is finished… for now. As soon as they let us into Rata Sum or The Grove, me and my print-hitting finger will be back! ;) Unfortunately, Hoelbrak was also the most boring one for me to go through. As the wiki entry says, Hoelbrak is basically a hunting lodge that became the biggest settlement. When you go into Hoelbrak expecting a settlement, it’s alright, I guess. But I went there after having been to Divinity’s Reach and it was a bit disappointing because the latter is a city/town and Hoelbrak… isn’t. The colours in the sky are still amazing, though. I always love regions like that in MMOs, especially during the summer. ;) All in all, it was a bit too much ice and blue at once for me. Anyway, here it is, the last screenshot gallery (for now!).”
  • Hunter’s Insight — The Dye Is Cast. “Being that I have criticized the dye system over the past couple months as being kind of a grind, I should probably mention that dyes have changed yet again. Dyes are now character based and are instantly usable when they drop. A big change from the 24 hour wait after turning a colourful seed into the dye manufacturer NPC in your home instance.”
  • BWE2 Guild Wars Insider — The Vanguard: Guardian Skill Tiers. “While the announcement of the tiered trait system created a bit of a stir in the community, comparatively little has been said about the tiered skill system. I went into the last beta weekend without knowing exactly what this would mean for us, and it caused me a bit of frustration.”
  • B-Team Gaming — Interactive Crafting Node Map. “Click this menu to open a list of node types. Once you select a node type – you can then click on the map to add a node type. Once you’ve placed a node onto the map, click and drag the node to the location you would like to save it at. When you’ve got the node in the right placement. Click the node again to open the Info Window and edit the Vein Type (Normal/Rich) and the description. Once you’ve got your information the way you want it. Save the node. You’ll get a notification in the bottom left when your node has saved.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Four Big Reasons to Play an Engineer. “Guild Wars 2 has all of the conventional classes like Warrior, Thief and Necromancer but it also has the best class ever, the Engineer. Every game has people swinging swords and casting fireballs, but what every fantasy game might not have is a gun toting, turret dropping, kill-it-with-fire badass. Welcome to Guild Wars 2 and it’s Engineer. This class comes equipped with guns, rocket launchers, a mixture of alchemy and different gadgets up his sleeve that makes a Warcraft Gnome jealous.”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Lore School: Rytlock Brimstone. “Welcome back to Lore School, class. Today we’re going to meet another character you’ve heard a little bit about so far, and may have even interacted with. If you ignored the title of this article, then I’ll give you a few hints. He’s a Charr, quite famous, comes in a real-life figurine, wields a flaming sword and chased Kralkatorrik‘s corruption all over the Plains of Ashford last beta weekend. Has it clicked yet that we’re talking about Rytlock Brimstone yet? How about now?”
  • Whispertrance — 5 Reasons to be Excited: Guild Wars 2. “I’ve never played the original Guild Wars, so when Guild Wars 2 was announced I really didn’t pay it much mind. At that point in my life I was still heavily immersed in World of Warcraft, spending time grinding out heroics and raids for the best gear so I can do the same thing over and over with progressively more advanced players. I lost myself in it, as many WoW players do, but for all the wrong reasons: it was time-consuming, it was repetitive, and it was the only way to “progress” in the game. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was slowly burning myself out. Over time the flame died away, and I realized that I had been wasting so much time just doing the same thing over and over and over, ad nauseum.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Tiered Utility Skill Unlocks: For or Against? “The gloves come off this week for the latest round of The Last Whiskey Bar. While both Lewis and Sardu agree that the tiered trait system is a perfectly viable switch, apparently the same doesn’t necessarily apply to other aspects of the game.”
  • GW2 WvW — Fear the Reaper : A Necromancer Primer. “The best defense is a good offense, at least, that’s what I’ve been told. I actually subscribed to this idea for a long time. All of that changed when I played the first Beta Weekend for Guild Wars 2. When you play a necromancer, the story is different. The best defense is in turning your enemy’s strength back on him. You need not attack, you need not defend. You need only look upon your foe and turn his might to weakness against your gaze.”
  • Divinity’s Reach — Debates and Dilemmas: Tiered Traits. “During the last BWE there was a profound change in design to traits. They are now tiered, and there are many differing opinions in the community over whether this was a positive move for the game. During the Reddit AMA, ArenaNet provided 3 main reasons for the change and advantages of the new system: ease of understanding by new players, expanse of diversity of viable builds, and facilitation of overall balance. Is this new system better for the game?”
  • The Feral Engineer — Engineer Turret Ideas. “All of the following is my opinion and each idea for change stands on its own I do not expect to see any or all of these changes at once just something I think would help the Engineer class without overpowering it.” [Raphia: Another set of suggestions that would improve the engineer's role in the PvE game. I'd be happy to see these implemented.]
  • The Sprocket Formula — Guild Wars 2 and the End Game. “Guild Wars 2 is doing a wonderful job of doing away with traditional aspects of the MMORPG world. When it comes to the end game, Guild Wars 2 continues this trend. Due to there being no gear treadmill, there are many gamers scratching their heads wondering what they’ll do after they hit level 80 and finish their personal story. Here, you will find all you need to know about all your end game options and, chances are, you’ll be surprised at just how many there are.”
  • Distilled Willpower — Philosophy and Religion in the New Tyria – Part 2! “This is a continuation of my previous post which covered “The Changing Relationship with the Gods” and focused on the human and charr’s changing relationship with their deities. This time I want to look at the new philosophy of the sylvari, and the old of the asura and norn.”
  • BWE2 The Vigilant — A Tale of Two Betas – GW2 and TSW. “Let me start by admitting that I am a huge Guild Wars 2 (GW2) fan with 50/50 in my Hall of Monuments and the Collector’s Edition already pre-purchased. I’ve played in both pre-purchase Beta Weekend Events and milked as much as I could from the Stress Test time. I heard about The Secret World (TSW) a while ago, but knowing that I’d be fully committed to GW2, I didn’t bother following it that closely. However, last weekend I found myself with nothing do and the good folks at www.mmorpg.com were giving away TSW beta keys, so I thought I’d take it for a spin. Having played and enjoyed both games, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare the two. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on how the two titles stack up against each other.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — GW2build.com. “The Luna Atra skill tool for Guild Wars 2 remains one of, if not the most popular, out of all those online. As a product, not only is regularly kept up to date but it’s also incredibly slick and is probably one of the most attractive skill tools to use (can a skill tool be attractive?).”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Barlow’s Box o’ Fun – Do Sylvari Fart? “This is what happens when Sardu accidentally lets Barlow out of his crypt for too long. While most of us busy ourselves with build discussions or the contemplation of core game mechanics, Barlow clearly isn’t afraid to address the hard hitting topics many of us wonder about, but don’t dare vocalize.”
  • GW2 WvW — Building a WvW character from the ground up. “Strategy of Infamy Gaming is back with another guide on how to build characters for WvW, or better stated, how he evaluates what makes a good WvW character. He also touches on a few points as to why character building is different in WvW as opposed to SPvP. I hope you all enjoy.”
  • Divinity’s Reach — Illusionary Magic: Tips on Mesmer Skill Selection. “While the newly tiered skills provide additional guidance and direction for the novice mesmer, you may still have questions about which utility skills are best for you as you level up. Ultimately skill selection comes down to personal preference. These tips are geared to those players who are drawn to this mysterious profession but intimidated by its complexity.”
  • BWE2 Attached to Keyboard — Experiences from the Second Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend. “After the success of the first community survey following the first beta weekend, it was time to do it all over again! Just like last time, I asked members of the Guild Wars 2 community for the experiences of their servers to gather data that would help people to pick their server and to generally capture the state of the in-game Guild Wars 2 community. And everyone really delivered (which is why this is a little later than I’d have liked)! Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey, encouraged a friend to or posted it somewhere for people to see. You are the backbone of this community.”
  • BWE2 The Feral Engineer — State of the Engineer BWE2. “After this last beta event, its time to do a quick update on how the Engineer is doing as a whole. And while I was not able to participate in the event, I am going on second hand sources (which everyone doing something like this should rather than going purely based on your own opinions). This is mostly in regards to PvP, and to be honest, I don’t really care about PvE since its limited to 5 man dungeons and world events where viability isn’t really an issue. Also, this is all completely subject to change, who knows, maybe Arena Net has a super elegant way of doing things that have nothing to do with anything I bring up in this post. So lets hop to it.”
  • GW2 WvW — Castability For eSports. “Another week, another wonderful reading experience with The Structure! I hope everyone’s dealing well with their GW2 withdrawals! Just remember there’s the stress test on Wednesday (June 27) from 10am to 2pm PDT (1pm to 5pm EDT, 5pm to 9pm UTC)! This week, we’re going to talk a little bit about eSports and Guild Wars 2. I’ve written about GW2′s eSports viability on my blog before, but this time I’m actually talking about what kind of stuff we’re seeing already that makes it fully-castable.”
  • GW2 WvW — Why Guild Wars 2 isn’t another MMO rehash. “Imagine a gaming company where the developers actually listened to their players… I know, I know you are scratching your head right now thinking this writer is crazy. However, I would counter that this is the thing in and of itself that is right now separating Guild Wars 2 from the pack. As an avid MMO fan who has been playing since the days of Ultima Online and EQ1 at release I feel I have definitely grown spoiled over the years. While not a part of the newer “entitled” generation that covets easy gear over team work and challenging game play, I have still become used to the creature comforts that have risen over the years.”
  • Chronicles of Tyria — Beetlestone vineyard wine, anyone? “I’d like to take a moment and thank everyone who are sending screenshots of New Krytan waiting to be deciphered and already deciphered! It’s amazing how much details Guild Wars 2 has, even in places you wouldn’t think to look! With this said, some of you may be wondering why your submissions aren’t yet mentioned here. There’s one simple answer to this; very, blurry, alphabet. It’s hard to decipher blurry writings and I want them to be well deciphered before posting them.”
  • Just One MMOre — Comparing Guild Wars 2 and Runes of Magic‘s Armor Customizing and Coloring Systems. “I had fun exploring Guild Wars 2‘s customization features, during the last beta weekend event. In many ways I found it very flexible for anyone to have fun from the moment a character is created. I also found some restrictions. Runes of Magic also has a robust armor customizing and coloring system. In many ways, these two MMOs share very similar systems, while delivering the goods to players in slightly different ways. In a nutshell, I found RoM‘s features to be slightly more robust than GW2‘s, but I also found that I liked the way GW2 handles the integration with gameplay and the cash-shop to be better. I have a list of pros and cons for how each game handles customizing characters.”

Videos and podcasts

Fanfic

Community Events

No community events were submitted this week.

This section is intended to help you to publicize your guild or alliance event, and as long as your event is open to the whole Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 community, we’ll list it here. Send us the details at community@guildmag.com and we’ll get it out to the fan community (given that we only do a weekly wrap-up, try to send the information at least a week in advance).

One Response

  1. This week in Guild Wars 2 « Quotulatiousness
    This week in Guild Wars 2 « Quotulatiousness June 22, 2012 at 18:55 |

    [...] week’s community round-up column at GuildMag is now online. Again this week, there’s lots of footage from BWE2, mass foaming-at-the-mouth [...]

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