The stress test dropped out of everyone’s thoughts less than 24 hours after it finished as we got the big news from ArenaNet we’ve been waiting for all this time: Guild Wars 2 goes live on August 28th (and the head start begins on the 25th). I’d written a short journal entry about the stress test, but thanks to the miracle of bad timing, I published it almost to the minute of the release date announcement being posted to Twitter. And you know, I don’t blame anyone for skipping over anything to to do with the stress test when news of that urgency comes out. Almost completely drowned out by the big news was the smaller nugget of information about the final beta event running from July 20th to the 22nd.
I like to think that this weekly round-up is the most comprehensive in the GW2 community, but I certainly don’t find everything. If you’re a blogger, podcaster, or video maker and you’d like me to link to your material, you can send me a link to your site at the community email address (that’s community@guildmag.com). I can’t guarantee that you’ll always get a link: I try to avoid linking to too many posts that are similar to others I’ve already linked, but I will try to help get new content out to our readers.
- Official Guild Wars 2 news
- Recent GuildMag posts
- Fan articles and blog posts
- Videos and podcasts
- Fanfic
- Community events
Official Guild Wars 2 news
- Art of Kekai Kotaki — Farewell ArenaNet. “This is a farewell from me. I am leaving ArenaNet after a little more than over 8 years of being here (my first day was 11/24/2003, it was so long ago that I was 21). This comes with a certain amount of sadness as this was my first job in the gaming industry. I first started doing ground textures for the original Guild Wars and I end it being the Concept Art Lead on Guild Wars 2. I’ve had a pretty good run, worked hard played hard, but all things must eventually come to an end. I am leaving to go search for new endeavors. For all I have done here, this is all I have done.”
- Announcing the Guild Wars 2 Launch Date. “Earlier this year I told you that 2012 would be the Year of the Dragon, and that the next few betas would help us nail down our actual launch date. Well, after the results of our latest stress test, I’m happy to announce that we’re ready to nail down that date. Guild Wars 2 will officially launch on Tuesday, August 28th.”
- Guild Wars2 Junkies — Interview with Lead Designer Eric Flannum. “We got a chance to ask Guild Wars 2 Lead Designer, Eric Flannum, a few questions about the game ranging from World vs World, class balance, PVP vs. PVE progression and more. We’re very excited to share this with, especially on the same day that Arenanet has announced that the game’s launch is August 28, just two months from now!”
Recent GuildMag posts
- Age of Deceit – Diplomacy. ““It is an outrage! How dare these savage barbarians leave my Empire like that!” The second Emperor of the Dragon was almost as hysterical as a child whose favorite toy was taken. He stamped with his feet and hit the intricately carved armrest at every word, while the courtiers and servants worriedly looked around, fearing the emperor might start a fire in his anger. “I will show them that traitors will be dealt with extreme prejudice. General!” Yian Zho looked sternly at the armor-clad statue that stood beside the throne. Ralahn-Tor thought that he had to wear his heavy war uniform the whole day as a form of punishment for his former disobediences – or to break his will.”
- The Road to Guild Wars 2 Chart. “NCSoft redistributed all of their old press asset kits this week in one big asset kit containing all kits from the past few years. Since I’ve skimmed through those all myself before it was pretty easy to filter out the old stuff until I stumbled upon the interesting chart below, which details the road from the original Guild Wars till the release of Guild Wars 2, somewhere in 2012.”
- Dynamically Spoken — Episode 3: Rewriting the Code. “Welcome to the next episode of Dynamically Spoken! As always, Steven and I are joined by a guest speaker; this time Sly Lasko from LootJunkie! Our third episode is all about uncovering exactly how ArenaNet are making Guild Wars 2 the herald of next-generation MMOs — and this time we actually reached our target of 40 minutes!”
- Four brief hours in Tyria. “It was the briefest of visits: Wednesday’s stress test lasted only four hours. Barely enough time to get comfortable before the end-of-event activities began. I wanted to squeeze as much enjoyment out of this time as I could: deciding what to do meant eliminating a few otherwise attractive options. My guild is on Cavalon, which is a lightly populated North American server: WvW would probably not be worthwhile in the middle of the work day (especially if ArenaNet’s ranking algorithm is still having issues — there’s no fun in losing when the winning server has many, many times the number of points that yours has).”
Fan articles and blog posts
- Reddit — Latest leaks and rumors. “I want to share some of the latest leaks and rumors for this week because well, why not. As always, don’t take this too serious because it COULD be fake.”
- Guild Wars Insider — Lock & Key: Murder in the Mists. “I have a question for you, my fellow thieves. You’re in WvW, and your team is on the ropes. What, as a Thief, do you do?”
- Hunter’s Insight — Profession Impressions. “It’s a little late to call these first impressions. We’ve had 2 beta weekends and a stress test so I’ve had a bit of time to think about it. Still it’s not as though I’ve been playing the game for months so here are some basic thoughts. I’ve got more time logged on the medium classes, thief, engineer, and ranger, so there will be more detailed thoughts there. Also as I didn’t play a whole lot in the 2nd weekend, perhaps some of these concerns have been addressed? I’m not sure.”
- TalkTyria.net — New Krytan; the language of Tyria. “Running around Tyria, exploring hidden places, jumping puzzles and overhearing NPC conversations are some of the things that make Guild Wars 2 such a great game. The world of Tyria is filled with details, most of which we walk by and leave unnoticed. Not because we don’t care, but because they are so very well camouflaged into the world that we don’t pay attention. Just like “in real life”. So much to see, so much to do, so very little time to get everything done!”
- New Krytan Translator “Want to know what the symbol means? Want to practice your new Krytan? Use the symbols to start.”
- Guild Wars Insider — AETA: Supporting as an Engineer in WvW Part 1. “Hello everyone! Welcome once again to another meeting of Alchemists Explosions and Tinkerers Anonymous. This week, I’d like to talk about how to be a team player – specifically, being on either a red, blue, or green team with ambitions of taking over the world. That’s right, this week we’re going to talk about what it takes to be an effective team player in World vs World conquest! There are several roles one can take when going into the Mists, but we’re going to focus on supporting everyone else as they have all the bloodletting fun.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Mesmer: An Analysis. “You would think if you read the official Guild Wars 2 forums, that the Mesmer was unplayable in its current form. The last profession to be revealed and confirmed by Jon Peters as the roughest around the edges, there has to be a certain level of acceptance from the community that changes will be made and tweaks implemented in order for ArenaNet to get it to where they want it to be.”
- Reddit — Stitched the map of the planet Tyria together (not the continent). “With a little bit of exploring I found a globe portraying the planet Tyria, so I saved the textures and stitched them together to form this map.”
- GW2 WvW — Classroom of Immaculate Siege Dominance – Catapults: The Nuts and Bolts. “What’s that, Timmy? I couldn’t hear you over the sounds of large boulders hitting stone walls. Oh, you’re wondering why we are out by a big stone wall today? That is an excellent question! Class, we are on a field trip today to see in action, a living, breathing catapult!”
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Five Reasons to Love the Guild System. “Never underestimate the influence of guilds in MMO’s. There’s a reason why many MMO developers hold summits and conferences to share information and solicit feedback from guild leaders. Being in a close knit guild helps to bring the multiplayer aspect of these games to the players. Guilds mean so many different things to different people, some people value the friendship of their guild mates, while others value the skill and competency, and others still value just having people who share common interests in their guild chat. Regardless of the reasoning, most people would agree that guilds help to foster community, as they give players a reason to come together, even if that reason is as simple as meaningful conversation.”
- GW2 WvW — The Minion Master. “So. I think we all need to be clear about this, right off the bat, and I don’t think there’s really much “discussion” that will need to happen to reach an honest consensus. Everybody hates warriors. Especially when they run up to you with that manic look in their eyes, that we all know means their adrenaline bar is full and you’re about to be smote out of existence. We all know that feeling. So, in our theoretical world, you’re alone at a control point and one of those pesky warriors comes frolicking along. He looks over at you and it’s hate at first sight; suddenly, there’s the look in his eye.”
- Guild-Hall.cz — BWE2 Turnaje z pohledu hráčů (část 2). “Today we asked some of the top GW1 players about their opinion on GW2 and PvP stuff, their answers are very interesting and be sure to expect another part of that article with next 4 guys from TOP guilds of GW1 within few days..” [Raphia: Don't worry: only the title is in Czech, the interview is in English.]
- Reddit — I’ve cracked the Asuran alphabet. “Took me quite awhile, but it was very exciting when the pieces started to come together. I have the cipher written down on a notepad, but it’s full of scribbles and crossed-out runes and terrible handwriting! I don’t know if I have a scanner or not, but if I do, I’ll try cleaning it up and uploading it for the future.”
- Hunter’s Insight — An Ocean Of Bloody Bargains. “Guild Wars 2 hasn’t really made a secret of the fact that they are going to merchandize the hell out of the game. You’ve got the insane $150 Collector’s Edition, the Rytlock Plushie, various books, and more recently the mouse and headset from Steel Series.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Examining the Focused Rituals Necro. “In today’s spine-tingling installment of Grenth’s Grog, Sardu dives headfirst into the pros and cons of a build wholly focused on ground targeted area attacks. The playstyle of a Focused Rituals necro is far more active than many other build concepts, but offers an extremely high degree of control over the battlefield than those that focus primarily on single target attacks.”
- The Feral Engineer — Mechanics. “Engineers did receive a substantial boost across the board but a few bugs ruined the experience for most (such as blunderbuss not working correctly). I agree with the point that turrets need more tool belt integration rather than another deploy button while inactive and a detonate button while active. This is where ArenaNet can really make turrets shine and the primary component to fixing the problems with turrets. However, the randomness of the Elixirs adds to the fun of the Engineer and really shows that Alchemy is not a perfected practice yet (if you notice, most of the engineer technology isn’t really perfect). And the utility kits are fine, we have too much of it as is.”
- Guild Wars Insider — Death becomes you: The Lowdown On Traits? “Looking through the various trait lines of the Necromancer, it’s not difficult to spot traits that are useful in almost any build, such as Hemophilia and Close to Death. On the flip side of the coin, you’ve got to wonder what the devs were thinking when they designed some of our traits. The clearest example is Toxic Landing in the Curses line, which creates a poison cloud when you take falling damage. The trait also halves falling damage. How is this useful?”
- Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: What to do when zombies chew your face off. “I’ve been having something of a Guild Wars renaissance of late. Part of it has to do with a few friends getting into the game again (mostly for Hall of Monuments reasons), and part of it has to do with having time to breathe, which means time to play Guild Wars. Mostly, I feel, it has to do with the sound of time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near: I know that after Guild Wars 2 releases, the likelihood of going back to the home I’ve made in Guild Wars is pretty slim. Sure, it’ll still be there, and diehards like me will still be logging in, but the stage will have a new star (if, in fact, it doesn’t already), and that’s kind of sad. So I’m taking what time I have to enjoy Guild Wars as thoroughly as possible.”
- Divinity’s Reach — Niche Traits. “Today, I want to address a seemingly simple question, do niche traits have a place in Guild Wars 2? Let me place a definition on what I mean by a “niche trait” to start out this discussion. To me (and I believe most people), the term simply means a trait that is activated by a very specific condition, and occasionally out of the ordinary situation.”
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Discovering Tyria: The Vigil. “Last week we explored some of the flora and fauna of the Maguuma Jungle. We went over some of the monsters you’re likely to find there and how the Asura and Sylvari survive in such a harsh environment. Then, at the end of last week’s column I let out a bit of a teaser about what I’ll have going on the next few weeks; The orders of Tyria.”
- Under the Pale Tree — The long wait…has come to an end. “For years now, we’ve been obsessively tracking every bit of info about Guild Wars 2 that makes it to our impatient hands. We’ve watched videos, speculated on everything to the sun and back, theorycrafted builds, planned characters, drew fanart, even got to finally try then game recently… And today, we learned when that journey of waiting will come to an end.”
- Yoshi’s Guild Wars 2 Hub — Profession Guide: Elementalist. “I started this blog with my current profession guides four months ago. Needless to say, they’re out of date. We hadn’t even seen the trait system at that time, so it’s time to write a whole new set, starting with the elementalist.”
- GW2 Guru — Ten Things To Do To Prepare Yourself For Release. “Today we have ten things for you that you can do to prepare for Guild Wars 2.”
- Greibach’s Normal Form — 8/28/2012. It’s Been a Long Road. “It’s finally here. I’m going to say that again, just to get the tingles that accompany it: it’s finally here. We have a concrete release date for GW2. No longer will we have to speculate, dissect every piece of information, and feel like we are taking shots in the dark. It’s finally here. I just can’t stop saying it. We’ve come a really long way together as a community. We’ve seen huge swings in information, excitement, and numbers throughout the past 5 years. Just thinking about the history of GW and GW2 combined is staggering. A total of 7 years, 4 months, and a few days separated the release of GW1 and GW2. For those of you still in primary/secondary school, that is over half the time you will spend in your pre-college years. For those who are/were in university, that’s almost 2 full degrees worth. To put it in terms for those of us die-hard GW1-ers, we’ve been waiting for GW2 for almost three times as long as new content was being released for GW1. And our wait is finally coming to an end. I’m just going to take another minute to let this feeling sink in.”
- GW2 WvW — How to Prepare for the Guild Wars 2 Launch. “For a while now I’ve been withholding this article. Quite frankly there wasn’t much reason to release it until the time was right — and that time is now. For many months people have been bouncing around the theory that there was to be some big announcement from ArenaNet on a certain date. This date was 06/28/2012. Originally this date was 28/06/2012, which was more of an EU date-time table, but was altered when ArenaNET released additional photos of their office.”
- Guild Wars Insider — The Vanguard: Guardian Utility Skills – Heals & Consecrations. “Hello again, my shield brothers and sisters! Last week we went over the new skill tier system for our utility and elite skills, and now the time has come to look at individual skills in depth.”
- Malefic Incantations — A Somewhat Religious Experience. “Today is a big deal. Some stuff happened in the real world and that’s important too, but this is a gaming blog. We have a release date. It’s safe to say that my friends won’t see me for awhile once August 28, 2012 rolls around. The wait isn’t over — but we know exactly how long we’ll be waiting. The burning question that everyone has — and only superfans knew not to ask — finally has an answer.”
- Player Attack — Guild Wars 2 melee is bad, let me count the ways. “Unfortunately what they’ve ended up doing is creating a sort of Unholy Trinity: Ranged, Regeneration and Running the hell away. There’s a little more to it, I just like the idea of an Unholy Trinity. (Suggest your own gaming-related unholy trinities in the comments?)”
- GW2 WvW — Love is a Battlefield. “Welcome, everyone, to another week of The Structure! I’m sure you all know by now, but ArenaNet announced to us yesterday that Guild Wars 2 will launch on August 28! That means head-start access for pre-purchasers beings August 25. Also, the final BWE will be July 20-22. Now with that out of the way, I figured I would go with another “for new players” topic this week and give everyone the lay of the land — literally! This week I’m going to cover the important points of the two SPvP maps we have thus far: Battle of Kyhlo and Forest of Niflhel!”
- Attached to Keyboard — Quest Types in RPGs. “Escort the caravan. Rescue the princess. Kill ten rats. Cliches, everyone one. Aren’t you sick of them? Don’t you wish that developers would drop them and do something different? This actually has nothing to do with Guild Wars 2 or any other particular MMO. It’s a general problem with all rpg games. In order to progress through the game you have to have your character do something, and there’s only so many different types of somethings you can do.”
- GW2 WvW — Beer and MMOs, The Final Chapter. “We reach the last installment of the series, the swan song, the conclusion of an epic trilogy, if you will. The hope here is for this to be more Return of the King or Toy Story 3, rather than Godfather III, or gasp, Alien 3. Trilogies are hard, if only due to creative lethargy and the general difficulty of surpassing the impact and overall success (lol) of the predecessors in the series. The reality is that this article is likely more along the lines of a Rob Schneider film, like, say, Deuce Bigalo. For the masses, an absolute trainwreck and disgrace, but for the few who find the humor in it simply because it’s odd and highly sophomoric, an under appreciated gem.”
Videos and podcasts
- YouTube — TriggerSadGamer: Guild Wars 2 BWE2 Part 3 – Think Of The Glory! “Anyway, this video we find myself a champion among the norn after a successfully defeating the giant snow wurm Issormir! I’m a PIMP! … Anyway, I end up helping some fellow norn over at Raven’s shrine… Then proceed to throw their precious eggs in the dirt… I’d feel bad, but ya know… I don’t.”
- Guild Wars 2 Live — Tyria Talk – Should You Play Guild Wars 1? “Tyria Talk is a show dedicated to chatting about the upcoming MMO, Guild Wars 2. In episode 29, I answer a question I get asked frequently: Do I need to play Guild Wars 1 in order to enjoy Guild Wars 2? Watch the video to hear my thoughts on the subject.”
- Guild Wars 2 Live — Ranger PvP Basics Guide. “Ranger PvP build, short bow axe/warhorn. Build is centred around pet effectiveness. Gameplay show elements of when to engage, patience. The importance of positioning. Axes and their effectiveness.”
- Guild Wars 2 Live — Ranger sPvP Play-through and Commentary. “A gameplay video demonstrating how I play and use my Ranger build effectively.”
- YouTube — TheSparrowsJourney: GW2WvW.com Contest Entry – The Sparrow’s Journey. “This is where the magic happens! These are the memorable moments of my exciting journey on every game I touch! Let it be fun, let it be scary, let it be strange, let it be bugs, let it be irritating, let it be crazy, let it be rage… let it be the Memorable Moments of The Sparrow’s Journey!”
- GW2 GM — Font of Rhand Dungeon and How to Get There. “A complete run through the font of Rhan and how to get there courtesy of WoodenPotatoes!”
- YouTube — traxdagamer: Guild Wars 2 BWE2 Part 1 – Everything Changes. “Starting off my Beta Weekend Event #2 coverage finally! Lets see what this mesmer has up her sleeve.”
- The Sprocket Formula — Episode 3: BWE 2 and ascalon catacombs. “In Episode 3 we talk about all the changes that were made to the trait system, the new zone, impact of the personal story, changes we want to see in the engineer class, and our adventure through the ascalon catacombs story mode.”
- YouTube — SageLikeOne: Guild Wars 2 Beta 2 – Episode 8 – More multiples in sPvP. “I am still on the Mesmer for some more beta Structured PvP, and I am still getting killed left and right.”
- Guild Wars 2 Live — Little Things that make this MMO special. “An overview of the little things that make Guild Wars 2 stand out from the rest of the MMOs and transform it in an MMO that feels alive and authentic”
- Guild Wars 2 Live — Azy’s Guide – Eternal Battlegrounds Part 1. “This vid covers the basics of WvW for those who are new to it. The other videos in the series will cover a bit more like Stonemist and the various objectives throughout the map.”
- The Enigmacast — Episode 1. “The guild discuss the Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Two. things that are right, and things that need work.”
- YouTube — matthewwebermusic: Guild Wars 2 Asura Theme – (Electronic Remix) by Matthew Weber. “This is my (Electronic/Techno/Wub Wub) version of the Asura Theme. Please Enjoy! Orchestrated and Arranged by: Matthew Weber. Original Norn Theme: Jeremy Soule”
- YouTube — TriggerSadGamer: Guild Wars 2 BWE2 Part 4 – Game Crash. “Yeah, I get around to doing most of the heart quests in this one, so there isn’t that much done Personal Story-wise… Oh well… At least I got to play with baby leopards!!! THAT WAS SO FREAKING ADORABLE YOU HAVE NO IDEA… Well, unless you played in the beta already… Whoops! xD”
- YouTube — SageLikeOne: Guild Wars 2 Beta 2 – Episode 9 – extras (tiered skills, mystic forge, gemstore, transmutation). “I am showing off some of the little extras from the last beta, this time Tiered Utility skills, The Mystic Forge of Lion’s Arch, the gemstore and cash-shop and the use of the transmutation stone. There is also a bit more of the dye-system as well.”
- YouTube — TheSparrowsJourney: Guild Wars 2 – The Gem Store and Items Overview. “A lot of people tried to use the Black Lion Trading Company, also known as Gem Store, on the last beta weekend. But for some reason it wasn’t always available either due to a bug or service problems. Players didn’t get a chance to try it out and the goodies you can buy. Luckily I have been blessed by the trading company (!) and on this video you can check an overview of the store as well as some specific items I chose to buy and try out!”
- Tales of Tyria — #37: Stream-ception. “This week we pull back the curtain to show everyone out there exactly how we make the show. What hardware do you need? What software? How much bandwidth is used? How do you get started streaming or recording GW2 to post on Youtube? But first we go over this week’s news and feedback from last week. Stay tuned at the tail end, because after the show we spend another 45 minutes talking about release date speculation and board games.”
- YouTube — traxdagamer: Guild Wars 2 BWE2 Part 2 – A Friend In Need. “More story events with my lovely Mesmer. How will she choose to handle her troubled friend? Recorded 6/8/2012″
- YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Guild Wars 2: FULL World Map, Never Before Seen! “Something incredibly exciting to me that I wanted to share with you all, 30 full minutes of goodness!”
- Gamebreaker.tv — GuildCast 29: ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 Is Much Bigger Than Expected. “Hold the presses! Guild Wars 2 is not out today! Yes, that’s not exactly news to most people but apparently to Gamestop it is. As much as we would like to get our grubby hands on ArenaNet‘s shiny new MMO, we are going to have to wait just a bit longer. Well, maybe more than a bit. Who knows? We ponder the possibilities. Wednesday, June 27 sees another chance to go tearing through Tyria with the latest GW2 stress test. Though with only four hours it’s a good idea to plan ahead, we mull over the options of what will be available.”
- Guild Wars 2 Stratics — Guild Wars 2 Ranger Pet Location Guide by MardooGames. “For all the Ranger professions fans in the Guild Wars 2 Player Nation this video is for you. MardooGames on YouTube has a video with annotation links on it. You click the link of the Ranger pet you are looking for and the main video will change to that particular pet.”
- Yoshi’s Guild Wars 2 Hub — Alright, the video is back up! “Alright, the video is back up! Here’s everything you need to know about boons and conditions!”
- Gamebreaker.tv — WoodenPotatoes Discusses The Tyria Map Inconsistencies. “Recently Reddit was a buzz because that_shaman came across a map of Tyria but now that the dust has settled, WoodenPotatoes decided to take a look at this map and found some interesting lore mistakes that he speculates on in his video. If you know your lore which many Guild Wars original fans will, then looking at this map will raise certain questions.”
- Guild Wars Insider — The Guild Wars Insider Podcast Is Back! “The GWI Podcast is back on track with Seven, Nord and Xerelin at the wheel. The podcast features the latest news and info around Guild Wars 2 and the community, so be sure to tune in each week!”
- YouTube — RobotGlitch: Guild Wars 2 WvW PvP 28 – Cow Launcher. “World vs World cow launching and a small battle in which our group was trying to take a camp when the opposition arrived to defend it. Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Event #2 – June 10, 2012″
- YouTube — traxdagamer: Guild Wars 2 BWE2 Part 3 – The Apothcalypse. “We head out to defend the most dangerous of establishments… a drug store. Recorded 6/8/2012″
- YouTube — TheSparrowsJourney: Guild Wars 2 – The Pirate Captain’s Outfit skills. “After trying out the gem store and specifically the Pirate Captain’s outfit I noticed my bundle of skills/abilities had been completely changed! Indeed, you get a whole lot of new abilities. I would call it actions because although they’re quite funny and exciting they’re also pretty harmless :D”
- Divinity’s Reach — A New Island Discovered. “… a charr dagger/dagger elementalist utilizes Ride the Lightning, jumping skills, and a quite unique sense of humor and creativity, to find what he later terms “Bandit Isle.” This video shines for two reasons. We finally found out why elementalists were included in the game, and more importantly, that scary, mind-tripping water. First, we all know ele’s can’t fight, their real purpose is for the explorers in the game. Go venture forth with Ride the Lighning and reach places other professions could only dream of. We’ll do the fighting for you, just run along and go explore kids. All kidding aside, that water. That is some creepy stuff. It’s a mix between a mirage/shroomy wasteland. I really have to give the members of GuildSource for not only the discovery and creation of the video, but the awesome sound effects and commentary as well.”
- Gamebreaker.tv — Top 3 Reasons To Be An Engineer In Guild Wars 2. “When you think of the Engineer from Guild Wars 2, what comes to mind? For me it’s elixirs, utility kits, and turrets. This week I will give my impressions of the Engineer and go into detail on why you should consider playing this mad scientist style profession.”
- YouTube — swdrgn: Guild Wars 2: Sexy and I know it. [Raphia: Dutch posted the link to this one, saying "Awesome music clip on 'I'm sexy and I know it' with Guild Wars 2 footage. (Via @valiantgw) Not for kids eyes. :P "]
- GW2 WvW — Our Three Epic PvP Video Finalists. “Our Epic PvP Video Contest Finalists. Each of these folks is in the money. Every one of our entries were great, however these stood out above the rest. They are listed here in no particular order.”
- YouTube — MrTrace626: Game With Friends – Guild Wars 2 Beta: Menus. “Jeremy and Victor introduce the menus of Guild Wars 2 because no one else will, haha. Don’t forget to check up on us at our channel. “
- YouTube — TheSparrowsJourney: Guild Wars 2 – Tyria Map Traveling. “We can finally set our plans as we have been presented with the Guild Wars 2 release date ;D On 28th (maybe 25th for the most) August 2012 new adventures are about to begin on the world of Tyria. And what better reason to celebrate with a new *special* video than this? Allllllrighty then, this is my release date celebration video, enjoy :)”
- YouTube — traxdagamer: Guild Wars 2 BWE2 Part 5 – Breaking the Blade. “We do some crafting, set up to get some revenge and oh-my-god-lets-talk-about-traits-really-fast-before-the-video-runs-out. Recorded 6/8/2012″
- YouTube — ParaLyze08: Guild Wars 2 – Guardian Underwater Combat (Trident). “Another short vid showing some Guardian underwater combat, and meeting some Quaggan! HelloOOoo!”
- Contains Moderate Peril — Guild Wars 2 – The Emperor’s New Pew Pew. “One of the benefits of having purchased Guild Wars 2 is that I have guaranteed access to all the respective betas. I am away on a short vacation for the next few days so will not be participating in tonight’s server stress test. However here is some video footage I took from the last beta test. It’s nothing fancy, just me and Brian running around like headless chickens killing anything we see and getting over excited as gamers do whenever they gets their hands on something new and shiny. I have taken to the Ranger class and the use of a long bow because it’s a combination I usually avoid. However I have finally succumb to the allure of pew pew because it is great and mindless fun.”
- Gamebreaker.tv — GAMEBREAKER Fans Predict The Guild Wars 2 Launch Date. “Think we forgot about you? No, you don’t get off that easy! Here’s our first recap of Over/Under, looking back at the predictions people made of the Guild Wars 2 launch date back on June 4. In hindsight, we probably should have pushed the target date back a bit — maybe it was just our unrelenting optimism coming through.”
- YouTube — FluffyGuild: Guild Wars 2 Thief Solo Adventure – Dual Pistols Are Awesome! “Join me as I roam the lands of Tyria visiting death upon the monsters that lurk therein. I’m running around on my Thief, with a dual pistol set up. I am a gun-slinging maniac!”
- Gamebreaker.tv — Top 5 Warrior Weapons You Need To Know In Guild Wars 2. “One of the most exciting and unique experiences that Guild Wars 2 offers involves the way even a specific classes play style will drastically change based on the weapon you have equipped. In order to find perfect synergy amongst your talents and secondary skills, you first need to understand the basics of what abilities you will have based on the weapons you will have equipped. That’s why today I’m going to break down the top 5 weapons you will want to know when it comes to playing a Warrior in Guild Wars 2.”
Fanfic
- Chronicles of Tyria — Azalea, The Sylvari. “I ran. My ripped feet seared upon burning red earth, as hot embers from crackling flames stung my eyes. Withering corpses followed me, and their shapeless darkness gained swiftly. Sickly flesh snagged my foot, and I stumbled. Offal and flesh hung loosely on blackened bones as they slowly lurched forward, and decayed fingers raked against my green skin.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Diary Of – Entry 9: Into The Dark. “Squeezing past the gargoyles that failed to spew fire, like the first we encountered when we arrived in the dungeon, we leap over the edge to a nearby wall and begin to work our way across a series of collapsed archways and pillars that form a rugged path. I’m tentative to make the last jump as looking down, I can see the fall may kill me, but also I’d be forced to rerun the spike trap gauntlet we narrowly avoided. I can still see the corpses of those crippled by the spikes, lying at the base of the pillar.”
Community Events
- Twitter — Guild Wars 2 Marathon. “An online charity marathon hosted on @GuildWars2Live. We will be working with Child’s Play charity.”
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).


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