This week in Guild Wars 2

Written by  //  November 23, 2012  //  Community  //  2 Comments

For anyone in the US who isn’t still in a trytophan-induced nap, here’s the weekly round-up of blog posts, videos, podcasts and other interesting links from the Guild Wars 2 fan community. It’ll give you something to do while the rest of your family is out battling the Black Friday mob spawns.

I know the reaction to the new content in the Lost Shores has been decidedly mixed (see links below for the cheers and the groans), but overall I think it’s been a good addition to the game. I’m not really a dungeon fan, but I found there was a lot of fun to be had in the new Fractals of the Mist dungeon. It had some buggy issues to start with as I found out on my initial run with members of my guild, but the sheer variety of challenges makes it a great team-building exercise.

The actual one-time-only events over the weekend left me less than excited. The initial battle against the invading karka was a stop-action lagfest for me (older computer and low-end graphic card), and seemed to depend much more on pure dumb luck than skill. There was so much delay between me triggering a skill and the skill actually firing that I couldn’t tell if I was doing anything useful at all (not to mention being unable to detect incoming damage before going into the downed state…) I also found that there was a very low drop rate from karka — even when you don’t have a zerg to take it down — I killed 147 karka over the course of the weekend, but less than 10% dropped any loot.

The big final event went on so long that I had to log off before it was over (I’d played for more than 2 hours) due to a real life commitment, so I didn’t get any of the rewards for finishing the event. I probably lost money over the event due to the amount of damage to my armour that I had to have repaired: I was joking with my guild that this fight will be remembered for years as “The Battle of the Bikinis”.

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 Disconnect at the end of Lost Shores Event – Read this: “We have a team looking into disconnection problems that prevented some people from receiving their event rewards. We will implement a solution so that people who participated will get their rewards, but this takes work on our end, so it will not happen today.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Habib Loew posted on the topic Can you fix it (culling) ?: “We are working on a fix (a collection of fixes, really) for culling and character loading issues. The fixes require significant changes to a number of game systems and thus require time to implement. We’re not yet ready to discuss a release date for the current set of fixes, but we’re working hard to improve the experience as quickly as we can.”
  • GuildWars2.com — Black Lion Trading Company Black Friday Weekend Sales! “The Black Lion Trading Company is celebrating the biggest shopping day of the year with a Black Friday sale of their own.”
  • GuildWars2.com — Chris Whiteside on the Lost Shores and Beyond. “Last weekend we released our free Lost Shores mini-expansion, which introduced a new level 80 map, a brand new PvP map, over 400 new items and rewards, as well as The Fractals of the Mists — an infinite dungeon that increases in difficulty the deeper you progress. We’re very excited about the new content, and from the reactions we have seen, so are many of you. Players have already spent an incredible amount of time in the new Fractals dungeon, and their reaction to it has been phenomenal. A lot of players really enjoyed the trailblazing aspect of unveiling the new Southsun Cove map, specifically the feeling of discovery and being part of the land grab.”
  • IMDb.com — Full cast and crew for Guild Wars 2.
  • Guild Wars 2® would like your feedback! “We value your feedback and would like to hear your opinion on the recent Lost Shores event so we can make your future experiences in Guild Wars 2 more enjoyable. This survey should only take a few minutes of your time to complete; you can get started by clicking on the link below.”
  • GW2 Black Friday deal — Sale prices only available on Friday, November 23, 2012, 12:00:00am to 11:59:59pm PST. To get these great deals, log into the game and access the Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store by pressing “O”.

Recent GuildMag posts

  • Halloween – The Aftermath. “Halloween is the first real-world event that will be in Guild Wars 2 and I guess for me it was a bit of a testing ground to see what would happen. I’m not a Halloween person, coming from Australia, which inherited it from overseas. Having never played the original Guild Wars, I’ve only heard of events like these, so it was a hopeful heart when I logged on to see the new changes the world had for me — “Hey, join us in Gendarran Fields, the doors seem to be bugged and are throwing us all candy.””

Fan articles and blog posts

  • GWOnline.net — Dungeons: don’t just zerg, think! “I’ve done a few dungeons now, mostly in pick-up-groups, mostly with people who don’t know the dungeon well. And while we almost always complete the dungeon, here’s a common scenario… we get stuck, we die and wipe a few times, we struggle, we find it’s dumb and frustrating, and we finally succeed. But there’s a pattern to the success… success usually means someone in the team figured out how to beat the task at hand.”
  • Reddit — Fractals of the Mists is the best 5 player dungeon in any game ever, hands down! [Raphia: A party from my guild had a lot of fun (and a lot of fail) in our first attempt in this dungeon. Bug issues were present, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun in spite of that.]
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Complete Guide to Fractals of the Mists. “Fractals of the Mists are an all-new dungeon experience in Guild Wars 2, introduced with the Lost Shores content update. While many core gameplay staples carry over from the standard dungeons, the way you approach and progress through the fractals can differ in some significant ways. In this guide we’ve compiled plenty of useful information to get you started in the new dungeons, along with plenty of tips and important details to be aware of based on our hands-on time with them so far.”
  • Divinity’s Reach — Fractals and Frizzles. “My night started with battling the Karka that were emerging in Lion’s Arch. I’ll condense my impressions of this starting event into a later article with the other events that occur throughout the week. However, tonight I want to focus on the Fractals of the Mists. It’s a new dungeon that features 9 randomized fractals that you experience with your group in packets of 3. You essentially start out in a hub, finish 3 randomized fractals, and then return to the hub. Each time you finish a set of 3, the difficulty level increases by one. On even difficulty levels for example 2,4,6, after your set of 3 you participate in an encounter on the scale of the Claw of Jormag or another Meta Event.”
  • Inventory Full — Lost In The Mail: GW2. “To begin with a digression, I was about to rummage in the cliche bag and come up with “much-heralded” as an opening to this brief run through the first phase of Guild Wars 2‘s “Lost Shores” event when it occurred to me what an inappropriate phrase that would have been. Much hyped, certainly, but heralded? I haven’t heard a peep from my own personal Herald for weeks. Perhaps my singular lack of enthusiasm for any of his previous proposals has led him to seek employment elsewhere. Or maybe it’s just because I never paid him.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #4. “Market #4: Gold Dye”
  • voo’s review — Guild Wars 2: The Lost Shores, A Lost Opportunity? “By now you’ll know all about the shiny new content that The Lost Shores update has brought with it the Fractals of the Mist dungeon, the Temple of the Storm PvP map, the introduction of the Consortium and the new Ascended tier items, which have been received with mixed feelings from the player base. But what I want to talk about the weekend event surrounding this new content.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Lost Shore Weekend – Black Lion Keys. “The potential economic shenanigans from the Lost Shore patch are not as spectacular as the recent Halloween event (there’s a lot of ‘account bound’ stuff so far) but the content is amazing. Have you guys ran any fractals? I’ve never had a better MMO dungeon experience, seriously!”
  • Reddit — I had a blast! “Haha, pun intended. This was a great event, culling aside. The reinforcements bits were a little tedious, could’ve been halved in the time they took. Other than that, it was excellent. Lengthy, fairly challenging, sensible in terms of world lore, and satisfying. We beat down the Ancient Karka over a full two hours until its shell broke, and then we SMASHED ITS STUPID FACE IN!”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #5. “Market #5: Iron Ore”
  • Demajen — The Lost Shores World Event. “Tedious, drawn-out, and atrociously scaling, The Lost Shores world event does exactly the opposite of what I imagine ArenaNet wanted for its free trial weekend. Rather than showcase all the awesome features of the game — the things it does absolutely right — it instead highlights many of the problems with the game’s engine and systems that have been heavily criticised by many since launch: criticisms that I have long blown off as “something ArenaNet will fix sooner rather than later”.”
  • Hunter’s Insight — The Pros and Cons of One Time Only. “The last time I commented on one time only events I was dismissive and ridiculed the idea. In truth there are both reasons to like the events and reasons to dislike them. So here’s a more thorough hashing out of the issue.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Final Karka Event – Worth It In The End. “IF you can tolerate the lag (I was absolutely dejected at this aspect spoiling my experience); IF you can avoid death or get a resurrection when the inevitable one shot by karka arrives; and IF you can tolerate the style of the event (I hear some players were lag free but otherwise upset with the format); This final Lost Shore event is great.”
  • Inventory Full — No Need To Be Crabby About It. “It ended with a bang. After two hours of non-stop mayhem, the Ancient Karka slipped under the hitherto unseen lava, lurched back up like any good horror film baddie, then slumped over the lip of the pool, dead. And a massive chest appeared.”
  • Divinity’s Reach — The Shores of Lost Potential. “As promised, let’s talk about a pretty filled weekend of Guild Wars 2 events. I’ve been fairly vocal on the addition of the ascended gear, and brought my first impressions on the latest dungeon. However, I have avoided talking about talking about the events, primarily because I wanted to see them all first.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #6. “Market #6: Devout “Set” of Armor”
  • Kill Ten Rats — The Weekend Lost to Rocky Shores. “Last weekend was a big step in Guild Wars 2 because it had an event centered around new, permanent content. Instead of creating a quest chain to introduce every player on their own time, ArenaNet created a story revolving around the event. It is this story that gives players the reason to explore the new zone Southsun Cove (as well as the new dungeon). For a good rundown of the event head over to Inventory Full.”
  • Reddit — My 5 year old son is better at GW2 than me (or A 5-year-old’s guide to GW2). “When I first started, I was kinda befuddled for a bit on the leveling since the game was so much different than what I was used to. However, recently my wife has let my 5 year old son play it about 30 minutes a day, and after watching him, my wife told me that it was absolutely fascinating how he played and she (my wife :P) can’t explain how he levels so quickly. She (my wife :P) encouraged me to play together with him, since in a very short amount of play time he has reached level 12. So last night I took my Necro over and we played together. He was very excited to teach me his tips and tricks to success in GW2, so I thought I would share.”
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2‘s Lost Shores recap. “I won’t be the first one to point this out, but almost as annoying as his eagerness to tell the citizens of Tyria about his new tourist destination (he was so eager that he actually interrupted himself — constantly) was Subdirector Blingg’s use of the phrase “most unique.” No idea what I’m talking about? Then you likely didn’t get a lot of hands-on time with Guild Wars 2 over the weekend. While Southsun Cove and the Fractals of the Mists are still around for your enjoyment, you missed out on the Lost Shores event itself.”
  • Under the Pale Tree — Drowned by Ambition. “So this past weekend in Guild Wars 2 was the Lost Shores event, a large update that added a new level 80 zone, a new dungeon, new stat and item types, a refer a friend trial weekend…and a three day event chain.”
  • Mana Obscura — On the Shores of Lag. “By far the most damaging part of the event was the mass combat, starting with the Karka Invasion on Friday. Even with overflow technology limiting the number of players in each area, Guild Wars 2 struggled to cope with the sheer weight of gamers zerging giant crabs. The server-side lag and unresponsive combat was just a prelude for the grand finale on Sunday.”
  • Killabytes Online — The Lost Shores Events – My Experiences. “As many of you know, with the new content release of the Lost Shores came the release events which took place over the weekend starting Friday. I myself was unable to attend the event on Friday but did make it to the one on Saturday, and the one last night (just about). Much like with the content released, my initial thoughts on the events, especially after participating in them were mixed (more on the content in future posts) as their was some clear positive and negative aspects to them so I felt it was better to take some time to let collect my thoughts and feelings on them, which I’m now ready to divulge.”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Lost Shores Weekend in Review. “Hello my GuildWarsInsider friends, hopefully you’ve recovered from the weekend where you no doubt stomped on many a karka, and ran the Fractals of the Mists until you reached level 9000. Here at GWI we took the the chance to stream the event for all those that couldn’t participate, and today I’d like to share my thoughts. What did ArenaNet do good and bad? Was it a success? How will the results of this event effect the game going forward? “
  • GW2Guru — Guru State of the Game Stream – Featuring ArenaNet Developer Jonathan Sharp. “Guru‘s State of the Game was founded to fill a need in the absolute top of the competitive scene. A need for a place where the most experienced players can have genuine and constructive discussion with equal and like-minded people, all in a serious environment.”
  • Distilled Willpower — It’s a Karka/It’s Karka-lackin’. “The Lost Shores release event has polarised… ok, not polarised – I’d say largely pissed off the community in a number of ways. I think people appreciated the concept, they liked the scenery and liked how the Karka were actually a challenge. But there were several elements of it’s implementation that people felt were either inconvenient, frustrating or just downright wrong. I disagree with some peoples’ gripes and agree with others.”
  • Twitter — TriggerSad. “The most amazing charr you will ever see!”
  • Contains Moderate Peril — Account Hacking In Guild Wars 2 – Adding Insult To Injury. “On Monday a fellow Guild member received several emails indicating that there had been potential unauthorised access to their Guild Wars 2 account. When they logged in it soon became apparent that their account had been compromised and that all their in-game gold had been stolen. Naturally they posted in the official forums and notified ArenaNet by email.”
  • GW2Guru — sPvP Resurrection Timer Adjusted & Clarification on PvP, WvW and Balance Teams. “Today we have a quote from Jonathan Sharp regarding a change in resurrection timers in sPvP. Recently, ArenaNet made the decision to change the timers from a wave-type system to a flat timer for each death on the field. After taking in some feedback from the community, they have decided to reduce the timer from 20 seconds to 15 seconds.”
  • Massively — Free for All: What I learned from the Guild Wars 2 free weekend. “Before this free trial weekend for Guild Wars 2, I had spent a total of around an hour and a half in the game. I also spent more time watching my wife play the game during beta. Our PCs, at the time, were in the same office, if that helps you picture just how much exposure I had. At first, neither one of us was impressed; it felt like RIFT 2.0. That’s not entirely a negative; while RIFT is not my favorite game and while I have not played beyond something like level 17, I do respect the game and think it is a high-quality game. Both games are wonderfully crafted.”
  • Greibach’s Normal Form — The Turbulent Waters of the Lost Shores. “It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything here. Mostly, I’ve just been really busy, both with real life and with playing. With all the flurry of activity surrounding Halloween and the Lost Shores, I’ve found myself with quite a lot to cover, and quite a bit to say about it. There have been some highs, and some lows in the past few weeks, and I think that Guild Wars 2 is in for some turbulent waters as they chart their future course.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Fractals of the Mists Hub Update. “Innuendo and I have gotten together this week to take on the Fractals and provide unique guides for each one. Surprisingly there are still a huge number of players who have yet to run a single Fractal and having grouped with random players, it’s also apparent how little information there is on each Fractal and what you have to do (it’s painstaking to explain each encounter).”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #7. “Market #7:Elder Wood Log.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — The Lost Shores Event Survey: Give ArenaNet Feedback. “Between The Lost Shores event’s frequent bugs, the fact that it was a one-time only deal, and the somewhat tedious nature of the event’s final phase, many players were left wanting for more after Guild Wars 2′s recent one-time world event. Do one-time events deliver more frustration– especially if bugs are introduced– than excitement? Was the event pushed out too soon? These are good questions that ArenaNet is currently looking for feedback on. The team has released an anonymous survey that participants can use to deliver their feedback on the event.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Fractals of the Mists: The Flaws. “After the initial shine has worn off and the grind begins, are Fractals as good as the community makes out and is there significant room for improvement?”
  • Divinity’s Reach — Building Relationships. “Very few companies adopt transparent policies and communicate them throughout the community. Even fewer do it well. In development, ArenaNet promised to create a MMO with a different set of principles than their competitors. By doing so they began to build a relationship with their players, more intimate than I have ever seen in the large-scale, corporate.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Farm Karkas At The Lost Shore – Super Secret Mesmer Build. “I know a lot of classes have no problem farming mobs at a great rate. This isn’t always the case with a mesmer (a profession I love dearly). In fact I levelled a warrior exclusively for farming, though I turned him into quite a durable shout healing, condition removing tanky fellow.”
  • 4PlayerNetwork — MMOs: Guild Wars 2 Impressions. “This past weekend, I had the opportunity to play Guild Wars 2 during an invite-a-friend trial. While I really only scratched the surface of the game, I still wish to put down my initial thoughts to spark a discussion or possibly put my doubts to rest. Frankly, I did not particularly enjoy the time I spent with Guild Wars 2. That is not to say it’s a bad game by any means, but there were certain aspects that really kept me from enjoying the experience.”
  • Twitter — Trisha Jessica. “WHY CAN’T I MAKE POUTINE IN #GW2… you guys anti-canadian?! #chef #ranger #human #guildwars2″
  • Distilled Willpower — Fractals as Mash-Ups in Play-Space. “The beauty of the Fractal of the Mists dungeons is that they allow ArenaNet to push out wacky and off-the-wall ideas which they might not necessarily be able to knit together into a full dungeon – but are nonetheless fun enough to work as a 20-30 minute instance. Fractals support ArenaNet’s half-baked ideas (and ANet are the kings of half-baked ideas – hello “personality system”) and give them leave to do… well, pretty much whatever they like.”
  • Dragon Season — Guides for Guild Wars 2. “More updates to our Guides for #GuildWars2 thread”

Videos and podcasts

Fanfic

  • Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 4: Downward descent. “Azalea, the sylvari, has finally escaped the terrifying talons of the Nightmare Court, and fled into the jungles of the Caldeon Forest. She stumbled upon a small group of travelers who mercifully took care of her. Hans, a human elementalist, and his companion, Lurk the asuran necromancer, are being escorted by the charrs, Kilgar”

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).

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  • http://twitter.com/free_rs Free-Runescape

    I’m happy with the lost shore atleast…but I know aaaaloooot of people that dont think so. But meh, new content is new content.

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