This week in Guild Wars 2

This week in Guild Wars 2

Posted by on November 2, 2012 in | | 1 Response

This week’s volume of posts is much lighter due to the GW2 Halloween event — it’s been a long time since I’ve had a collection this short. I’ve included links to several articles that discuss the special event, but a lot of posts this week were time-specific to the various phases of the event. With all the interesting Halloween content to do, I didn’t darken the doors of WvW at all this week, although I was not crazy enough to try the Clock Tower jumping puzzle.

If you’re somehow already bored, ArenaNet is already dropping big hints about the next major content addition coming to you in mid-November. Expect a lot of speculation on your forums and on the blogs as we come up on this new content release.

Official Guild Wars 2 news

  • Guild Wars 2 wiki — Game status updates. “This is the current status of the most important issues we’re tracking with Guild Wars 2 live service. (This page is updated by ArenaNet staff and protected against non-admin editing.)” [Raphia: This page on the wiki should be one you bookmark for reference (I'll continue to list it every week).]
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Martin Kerstein posted on the topic FOV (Field of View) Changes Beta Test: “We’re ready to beta test a change to our FOV (Field of View) that should provide a better experience for those with widescreen monitors. We want your feedback about the change to help us decide whether to deploy it to all players.” [Raphia: The feedback thread from participating players is here.]
  • GW2Guru — Quotes from ArenaNet: Botting. “Last Friday, Gamespy did an article on Guild Wars 2 and botting, something that has been on the mind of many members of the community since launch. We have seen statements from ArenaNet over the last few months about botting, but to those playing the game, we’re still seeing the same names in the same popular spots in Tyria. In response to the article and the countless of threads that get closed on a daily bases on the official forums, Colin Johanson has given a new statement”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Martin Kerstein posted on the topic Free World Transfers: Limited to Once Every 7 Days: “Due to community concerns about the effect of free transfers on world versus world, starting on November 1 we are going to change how often players are allowed to transfer worlds. After the update, players will be able to transfer worlds once every 7 days instead of once every 24 hours. We are also actively working on getting the guesting functionality in place. Thank you for your understanding.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Martin Kerstein posted on the topic Hurricane Sandy Interrupts our Halloween Event [Merged]: “We heard your questions about extending the Halloween event for those of you affected by Sandy. Unfortunately we cannot do that, but the reason why we can’t is exciting: We are preparing for our big November update, which will start on November 15, and there will be content that will be in the game prior to that, leading up to the event. But we also want to use this moment to remind you all that your personal safety is much more important than any computer game. If you could be affected by the storm, please listen to the authorities and take every precaution to ensure you and your loved ones are safe. Tyria will still be there once the storm is over.”
  • GuildWars2.com — The Lost Shores. “Something stirs in the Sea of Sorrows… Unravel a mystery of monstrous proportions in The Lost Shores, a massive one-time world event that will change Tyria forever! “
  • MMORPG.com — Guild Wars 2 New Content Preview with Pokket and Colin Johanson. [Raphia: GW2Guru has a summary here.]
  • GuildWars2.com — Update Notes – November 01, 2012. “Halloween has come and gone. You put Mad King Thorn back in his place with as much skill and enthusiasm as we’d hoped. We on the Halloween Team would like to thank you for participating with such gusto. It did our hearts good to know so many of you were enjoying the pumpkins of our labors (so to speak). Thank you! Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy has made these past few days very hard for some of our players on the east coast of the United States. We would like to extend our condolences to all those affected by the storm. We recognize that because of power failures and the general situation, many players have been unable to meet Mad King Thorn in Lion’s Arch. One of the fake Mad King Thorn actors has decided to stick around until 11/15 to ensure that those who couldn’t play due to the storms still receive the “Attend the Party” achievement. If you missed the final event, you will be able to speak to him at the Grand Piazza in Lion’s Arch and receive both your achievement and a Halloween hat.”

Fan articles and blog posts

  • Hunter’s Insight — One Time Only Post. “This post will be readable one time only to the people who happen to be around when it is posted. I’m not going to say why I’m doing this but it will be a big event! If you can’t be around to read my post at the time of posting hopefully you can read it later on YouTube. Also reading it on YouTube would spoil it for you, so I hope you don’t have to do that but you will since you are spineless nerds.” [Raphia: Hunter felt quite strongly about ArenaNet's decision to hold a one-time-only event on Sunday.]
  • Kill Ten Rats — Annals of Horrible Game Design: Mad King’s Clock Tower. “We have a new contender for the worst piece of content ever put into a game. The Mad King’s Clock Tower is the holiday jumping puzzle for Guild Wars 2.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — The Golden Secret. “There’s one simple, golden secret that I use on the Trading Post. If you buy one of something and flip it successfully, then you should buy two the next time. After two are flipped then you should buy 25. After that? 50.”
  • Distilled Willpower — The Mouse Ran up the Clock. “I have to disagree with some of my lovely fellow bloggers out there about the latest piece of GW2 controversy – the Mad Kings Clock Tower. A jumping puzzle so devilishly difficult that the creator – Josh Foreman – has stated that he anticipated only 5% of players would be able to beat it.”
  • Hunter’s Insight — The Maddening Clock Tower. “There are a lot of negative vibes going around in regards to the Mad King’s Clock Tower in Guild Wars 2. It’s the Halloween themed jumping puzzle you can find after talking to an NPC inside the Mad King’s Realm. It’s got an achievement and rewards a pair of exotic boots for your armour class. There are a lot of complaints.” [Raphia: I avoid jumping puzzles just as much as I avoid stepping in front of speeding transport trucks. The complaints and frustration some users are airing over the Clock Tower? That'd be me on the easiest jumping puzzle.]
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Farming Is Fun. “I’ll be perfectly honest with you, farming in this game is quite fun. Just head over to Orr with a few friends or hunt around for people farming on their own and join them. There are no penalties for grouping together or just tagging monsters in an unofficial group setting.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — …Because he was hung over! “I made sure to be in Lion’s Arch at noon, server time, on Sunday. I was not disappointed. The animation and eruption of the Mad King out of the lion fountain was just breathtaking. I was on the edge of my seat. Then it was over. I saw a lot of fuss over the fact that there would be such an event, and ArenaNet made sure that it was a non-essential, momentous experience. For those that missed it, YouTube provides.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Bunker Down. “You’ll be hearing the phrase “bunker” a great deal at the moment, especially if you partake in structured or tournament PvP. For those unaware, a bunker is a player whose sole purpose is to hold a control point.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — System for Making Gold. “Have you read these three articles? They should create for you a system for making gold”
  • Flame Throwing — Setting up Camp. “Most of you probably already know that Engineers have emerged as an excellent Bunker profession, something I figured would happen after first playing with the shield and turrets. What I didn’t expect was that the best bunker build wouldn’t use turrets at all (imho).”
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: The good, the mad, and the Lunatic. “Things have been getting spookier and spookier around the land of Tyria. If you’re a Guild Wars 2 player, I sincerely hope for your own sake that you’ve been able to get some time in-game in the last few days. A lot has been going on — there’ve been scavenger hunts, dark tales unfolding, spectral energy levels rising, maddening races up clock towers, and so much more!”
  • Raging Monkeys — Off the Chest: Unlearning Convenience, One-time Events and what would you do in a Sandbox? “It’s one of those days where I have too many thoughts on different blogging topics which don’t warrant a blogpost of their own but still, in my mind, ask for more dedicated commentary. I tend to leave longer replies on my fellow bloggers articles for this reason and often that’s good enough; yet for a while now, I’ve been thinking about a format or style of post that allows rambling on various topics that have come up, vexed me and yet didn’t quite make it into a single post – usually because I feel somewhat late to the party or then I simply cannot bring myself to present you with anything less than a WoT. It’s true.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Free World Transfers: Limited To Once Every 7 Days. “ArenaNet confirmed late yesterday evening, that as of the 1 November, players will now only be able to transfer worlds once every 7 days instead of every 24 hours. The positive in this for those who do transfer servers more frequently is that they are actively working on the guesting feature as soon as possible.”
  • Taugrim’s MMO Blog — The Decline of Henge of Denravi Due to Server Transfers. “The top WvW server in Guild Wars 2 for the six weeks following launch was Henge of Denravi (HoD). Our server, Blackgate (BG), faced them in September and HoD fielded a high number of players coupled with high organization, mainly due to the efforts of the Titan Alliance (TA) between PVP guilds. We couldn’t take a tower or depot without triggering a significant reaction within a short period of time. HoD dominated, and it was impressive to watch.”
  • Divinity’s Reach — Halloween. “Let’s talk about it. It’s the subject of the first major patch to Guild Wars 2, and this content has been extremely controversial with the community. There has been an explosion of dialogue over the last several days over on other blogs and forums detailing the drop rates of the Black Lion chests and the “difficulty” of the jumping puzzle. While one or two pieces of content may have not lived up to your expectations, I don’t think anyone can argue that Halloween has not been an overall great addition to the world of Tyria.”
  • Attached to Keyboard — Vitality vs Toughness. “Having looked before at the offensive attributes Power and Precision, it’s time to turn the microscope on Vitality and Toughness. If you haven’t read the post on Power vs Precision I suggest you do as I’m going to be building a little on the theory.”
  • Massively — Choose My Adventure: Guild Wars 2, Tyria and beyond. “Last week’s polls were interesting to watch. I wasn’t sure which Guild Wars 2 class I was going to end up with. As it turns out, I’ll be playing a male Asura Mesmer. The Mesmer won out by a measley seven votes, thus changing my fate from a turret-dropping, technological mastermind to that of a magical duelist.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Black Lion Underground – 31 October 2012. “By previous monetary standards, I’m poor. Fear not however, because I’ve made some (hopefully) worth while investments, while also treating myself in the process. After having all this money, it’s surely a reward for all the hard work. Having levelled my engineer I was in need of several items, having levelled her predominantly through crafting at the cost of around 15g.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Act IV Halloween – Waning of the Event. ” The end is nigh. No more MK dungeon farming – still some time to stock up on mats and aim for achievements. I promise, as unlikely as it seems to you – after all you’re a smart player who follows the markets so much so that you head to outside resources (like this site!) – the majority of players won’t have thought as far ahead as to realise that there will be recipes after the event and no materials for them ’til now. Some won’t even realise until it’s much, much too late. “
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Twilight Arbor Explorable Guide – “Let’s Go Forward > Forward!” “As the second part of our guide to Twilight Arbor’s (TA) explorable mode, we’re covering the path “Forward > Forward”. I would consider this route just as easy at “Let’s Go Up” but there are some tricky groups to fight especially with the number of Nightmare Court Knights. Overall and with a little practice, this can be just as quick as “Let’s Go Up” with much of the content easily avoided.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Twilight Arbor Explorable Guide – “Let’s Go Forward > Up!” “As the third part of our guide to Twilight Arbor’s (TA) explorable mode, we’re covering the path “Forward > Up”. I would consider this route a little trickier than the other two based on the second to last and last boss being difficult. Thankfully most of the “trash” enemies are Husks, making for a relatively simple run through. This path still has the potential to be incredibly quick (I’ve completed it in as little as 22 minutes) but has certain sections that can cause a real headache.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Cooking Tips (Not Spoilers). “Cooking is the only GW2 crafting skill with legitimate discovery rather than following obvious formulas (although Artificing potions can be non-obvious). On many puzzles, people are looking for tips rather than spoilers, so let me give you a few pointers on the skill advancement side.”
  • GameTrailers.com — MMO-ing: Is Guild Wars 2 the New Top Dog? “ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 hit store shelves on August 28 and has had a few months to win us over… or scare us away. It’s been well-received by critics and holds an impressive aggregate score of 90 on Metacritic. Players in Tyria are even experiencing their first holiday event with this week’s Shadow of the Mad King content.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — On the Sleeve, On the Mad King’s Tower. “I had a blast for Halloween in Guild Wars 2! It was one of the best holiday events I can remember. I sadly did not get to participate in the new meta-events in Kessex Hills, Queensdale, and Gendarran Fields, but I made sure to try every other new thing at least once. One whole night was dedicated to the Mad King’s Tower, which was the most controversial addition to the Shadow of the Mad King.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Magic Find Chest And Mystic Forge Confirmation. “Yesterday over on the official forums, ArenaNet finally confirmed that Magic Find does not effect chests. As a result, utilising Magic Find gear will only benefit you when out in the game world killing creatures. Isiah Cartwright goes on to state that this was intended so people don’t equip Magic Find gear before opening a chest. Interestingly, two posts down from this Isiah then goes on to confirm that Magic Find also doesn’t effect the Mystic Forge, based on the fact the Mystic Forge and Chests have their own loot tables.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Damage Versus Support. “I was going to save this link until Dolyak Delivery but having continued to read the thread over the last few days, I felt it merited its own discussion here on Guild Wars 2 Hub. The thread on the official forums discusses the disparity between offensive and defensive skills, with the game having a clear focus on the offensive.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Guild Wars 2: Guardian Paladin 2.0 Build. “Hello, all. Around two weeks ago, I came up with a Guardian Paladin WoW-style build. Some viewed it as a glass cannon. “Can’t possibly live,” some said. Well, they were proven wrong. But I was not satisfied with that build at all. It didn’t have enough sustained healing for my liking, and not quite enough defenses.”
  • Dragon Season — It’s been a Hell of a Year [Update #1]. “It’s already been twelve months. Twelve months full of joy, excitement, new people and countless hours of team work. Who could ever imagine that a group of friends with a shared love for video games could achieve so much in so little time?”
  • Kitten Crafting Station — Halloween Aftermath. “The Mad King Thorn has come and gone back to the Underworld. What we had this Halloween was a great time doing events, completing achievements, discovering recipes and obtaining new items. There’s a few Halloween related things you can still do while waiting for the next year to pass, which revolve around the items and other benefits obtained during the event.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Legendary Aspirations: “So You Want Your First Legendary Weapon?” “What I wanted to do for the community today is to give you a realistic view of chasing a legendary. This is the view from a person actually chasing it himself. As usual, I’ll get to the point and give you the facts. This is the fastest way to achieve your goals. Let’s go right into it. Feel free to discuss everything listed, and add suggestions if you happen to have any. “
  • Distilled Willpower — I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles – Mordramoth: The Deep Sea Dragon? “With The Lost Shore coming later this month, significant speculation has begun as to what the “monstrous” threat to Tyria might turn out to be. Seeing as the threat appears to be coming from the sea, the general theory is that we are going to see the emergence of the “Deep Sea Dragon” or, more affectionately: “Bubbles”.”
  • Dorkadia — Guild Wars 2 – The Early Levels. “I have a terrible illness when it comes to video games. I act like I’m a Jack Russell with a caffeine high and a bad case of ADHD. I have the attention span of a kitten in an Ikea store. No matter how engaging the plot, no matter how linear the quests are, no matter how much the game says “Do X plot point, then do Y quest,” I just merry wander off the beaten path, hither and yon, until I realize I’ve completely lost track of what I was supposed to be doing or end up in an area where my just-out-of-tutorial-ass is promptly eaten by a dire rabid grizzly bear elder lich god.”

Videos and podcasts

Fanfic

  • Foundation — Lost Souls: Hoofbreakers II. “Fujiko stepped into a scene of slaughter and pillage. The little door set into the massive outer gates of Divinity’s Reach close shut behind her, but she didn’t even notice. Her attention was fixed on the burning village further down the hill. Dozens of different impressions overwhelmed her senses: The screams of the fleeing villagers, the wailing of the wounded, the clear ring of clashing steel; the crackling of burning wood, sometimes accentuated by the hollow sound of a building collapsing. The scent of blood, ashes and burnt flesh.”

Community Events

There were no new community events 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 November 2, 2012 at 16:52 |

    [...] post-Halloween edition of my Guild Wars 2 community round-up at GuildMag is now online. With so many posts being tied to the various phases of the Halloween special event, [...]

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