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This week in Guild Wars 2

Posted by on November 30, 2012 in | | 2 Responses

It’s been another busy week in the community, with lots of discussion (and angst) over the revelations coming out of Chris Whiteside’s marathon Reddit AMA. There’s also some early speculation about what we’ll be seeing in the Wintersday celebrations set to start in a couple of weeks.

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.)”
  • Reddit — I’m the Studio Design Director on Guild Wars 2, AMA. “Hello, everyone. I’m Chris Whiteside. I’m the Studio Design Director at ArenaNet. Last week I wrote a blog post about our recent update, The Lost Shores, as well as provided you all with a peek of what we have in store for the future. I’d like to take this opportunity to answer your questions as a follow-up to that blog post and discuss our philosophy for Guild Wars 2 moving forward.”
  • Gamasutra — Video: Guild Wars 2‘s programming tricks revealed. “Courtesy of the GDC Vault is another free video from its extensive archive of recorded GDC sessions. This time, ArenaNet’s Cameron Dunn talks about the programming challenges of shipping its ambitious MMO Guild Wars 2 in “Guild Wars 2: Programming the Next Generation Online World,” from GDC Online 2012.”
  • GuildWars2.com — Wintersday: The Wondrous Workshop of Toymaker Tixx. “December 14 to January 3: The nights may be long and dark, but Tyrians of all races keep joy alive during the ancient holiday of Wintersday. While each race celebrates Wintersday in their own unique way, children all over Tyria share a common love of one thing: toys. This year the city of Lion’s Arch will host the asuran Toymaker Tixx as their special Wintersday guest of honor. Before Tixx arrives in Lion’s Arch in his massive airship toy workshop, he’ll visit every major city in Tyria to deliver Wintersday toys and holiday cheer.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Mark Katzbach posted on the topic Lost Shores Feedback Thread: “We have confirmed that we can provide everyone who did not have the opportunity to loot the chest with a reward for their participation. All affected players will receive a reward regardless of whether or not they have contacted Support. We’re working very hard on this, and you should have a reward in your in-game mail early next week.”
  • Facebook — We want to see your Guild Wars 2 creations!. “It’s no secret that the Guild Wars 2 community is a talented group. We see it all the time through amazing fan-created content–our fans treat us to views of their Guild Wars 2-related work on a daily basis. We’d like to shine the spotlight on our community’s work, so step up and share it with us! We want to see your work, so link us to your creations: cosplay, digital or physical art, music, cooking, guides, videos, machinima, and more. If you created a Guild Wars 2-themed item we’d love for you to share it with us, so post links to your work, and thank you for sharing your talent with us!”

Recent GuildMag posts

  • Web Developer Wanted! “We’re looking for a new website developer to join our ever-growing team of volunteers. This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to be part of an active Guild Wars 2 fansite or gain experience working on a live website. Details of the role may be found below – to apply, visit this page. We’re also after team members for our other roles; be sure to check them out too!”
  • Mind Wrack 101: Why? “There’s a point in every mesmer’s life where they have to face one important question: “Why?” As in, “What’s in store for me if I choose mesmer?” or “Why would anyone in their right mind play mesmer?” Either way, you should know what you’re signing up for when you don your mask.”
  • You Shall Not Pass – Exploring the Guardian. “I’ve never been a fan of melee in any game. Why stand in the middle of a storm of metal death and pain when you could instead stand on a nearby hilltop and throw fireballs at people? So during the beta weekends I decided to get the guardian out of the way so I could be justified in my shunning of the profession. What actually happened was I played my guardian for the entire beta weekend, then the next beta weekend, and now my Asura guardian is tearing it up all across Tyria.”
  • Postcards From Tyria – Lake Feritas. “My name is Griphos Sleekhorn. I am a proud member of the Iron Legion currently wandering through Tyria in order to find new or long-forgotten weapons that we can use to fight against the rising threat of the Elder Dragons. But there is beauty in this land besides the blood-stained grass, burning trees and smoking flame-throwers, and I want to show my life is more than death and violence. So these are for you mom…”
  • Gaming With No Time: A Guild Wars 2 Story. “Guild Wars 2 was released just two months ago at a time of change in the real world: the seasons shifting with the seas of Tyria as Orr rose from the depths, bringing with it the undead hordes of Zhaitan. But in that month so many people have already mastered the art of PvP, scoured the world for secrets, and fought against the power of the Elder Dragons. Unfortunately, the changing seasons also meant that some of us had to go back to work or school, which puts a severe restraint on the amount of time available to save the world from evil dragons. I’ve definitely felt the burn myself, having been unable to even touch the game in a week because of deadlines constantly piling up. However, it’s not all bad as I’ve discovered. While it’s certainly not as good as being able to play the game on demand, I’ve found a few silver linings to the otherwise very dark storm cloud.”
  • Lala’s Escapades – Under The Sea. “You dive into the clear, cool water and paddle around a bit, getting your bearings. But all of a sudden you’re surrounded by terrible creatures! They pummel and bite you, and then this message pops up – “You are defeated. Revive at a waypoint.””

Fan articles and blog posts

  • Guild Wars 2 Stratics — Dulfy.net: GW2 Captain’s Council Commendations guide. “If you have been stumped or need a little guide to help you with the Captains Council Commendations then Dulfy.net has one just for you. They put together a very well informative guide and posters have been adding more information and tips if needed. Great guide and all the credit goes to Dulfy.net and their wonderful gaming community. Communities like this is what makes the Guild Wars 2 community really shine in an online world of MMO’s.”
  • Dulfy.net — GW2 Dive Master Achievement guide. “GW2 Dive Master Achievement is completed using diving goggles found throughout the world. There are 37 locations with diving goggles and all 37 are required to complete this achievement under the Explorer section. You must hit the water successfully while wearing a diving goggle to get it “counted” towards the achievements (it is helpful to press 1 or 2 ability on the goggle while falling down to ensure that it gets counted).”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Uncategorized Fractal Guide. “In the first of our fractal guides, we take a look at Rata Sum as you’ve never seen it before. Set some point in the future and decimated by time, Uncategorized Fractal takes around 15 to 20 minutes to complete and contains some fun but challenging environmental encounters.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #8. “Market #8: Jute Scrap”
  • Dulfy.net — GW2 Consortium Chest Skins and minipets. “GW2 Consortium Chest weapon skins, breather skins, shoulder skins and minipet list with pictures. Consortium Chest can be purchased from the gem store for 250 gem/chest or 1800 gems/10 chest. “
  • Nerdy Bookahs — GW & GW2 Advent calendar. “We have more than 40 miniatures, 10 unopened birthday presents from years 2 – 7, zaishen keys, and more to help you fill your Hall of Monuments! If you already have more than 30 HoM points or don’t care about Guild Wars 1 and only like Guild Wars 2, we’ll also have something for you: miniatures, unidentified dyes, and Guild Wars 2 in-game t-shirts* will be given away each time alongside the Guild Wars 1 giveaways!”
  • Dulfy.net — Fractal Weapons gallery. “These Fractal weapons drops from L20+ of the Fractal of the Mists dungeon.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Making Money Instead of Gold. “Thanks again for reading this blog. If you’ve been on the email list for a bit then you’ve probably heard me say “What can I do to help you?” more than a few times. I’d like to repeat that same question here, and try my best to answer your inquiries publicly.”
  • Nerdy Bookahs — Advent Calendar – First Week (25.11. – 02.12.) “We start this year’s giveaways with three different things you can win: A bundle with Guild Wars items, a bundle with Guild Wars 2 items and one Guild Wars 2 in-game t-shirt code.”
  • Dulfy.net — Ascended gear and infusion recipes. “Here are a list of the new Ascended quality gear (back slots/backpieces), rings and infusions discovered by the GW2 community. All of the Ascended backpieces have infusion slots and their recipes involves using the Vial of Condensed Mists Essence, a rare drop from the new Fractals of the Mists dungeon. Note that Infusions can be only applied to Ascended backpieces/ring infusion slots and the stats it provides (Agony Resistance) is only useful for high levels in Fractal of the Mists dungeon.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Patience And The Art of Buy Orders. “Patience. Patience is the core to the art of buy orders. There are other variables when you head to the trading post and look for a likely niche to flip items in, but the patience required… the patience required never changes.”
  • GWOnline.net — 13 skills unlocked, so many to go! “After a few months of beta testing and three months after the release in August, the GWO forums have “unlocked” thirteen skills of Guild Wars 2′s attunement swapping profession – the Elementalist.”
  • Massively — Guild Wars 2 staff tackles the ascended gear controversy head-on. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Guild Wars 2, following the news that ArenaNet would be implementing a new tier of gear to the game. Studio Design Director Chris Whiteside and President Mike O’Brien took to Reddit today for an Ask Me Anything (AMA), accepting the brunt of the blame while denying that the team had gone against its stated design manifesto.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Watch Out for Christmas Bubbles and Market Manipulation. “There’s some speculation about this hike. It’s a pretty pronounced spike and it’s counteracted after with a sharp drop. My own theory is this is one big spender (or a conglomerate of big spenders) trying to create the bubble early. What do you think?”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Question Box Thingy: Do One Time Events Belong? “Ouch. So, despite ArenaNet’s best intentions, The Lost Shores didn’t go exactly as planned for most folks as far as the one-time world event was concerned. It’s a shame what happened, but it’s also reassuring to know that the development team plans on making some much-needed improvements to the way the game handles events like these. I also found it reassuring to know that ArenaNet really wanted our feedback on one-time events in general. Why? Personally, I tend to think that in today’s MMO world, there are simply better options.”
  • Inventory Full — Hope You Like Our New Direction: GW2. “Tightening a few bolts here and there? Only to be expected shortly after launch. Revamp the entire dungeon experience? That’s tantamount to admitting you got the whole thing wrong from the beginning.”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Ask Me Anything with Studio Design Director Chris Whiteside. “ArenaNet’s own Chris Whiteside did an almost 10-hour marathon ask me anything over at Reddit’s r/Guildwars2/ board. There was a ton of good information and insights about new content and fixes coming down the pipeline, and as you can imagine, a massive AMA such as this can be difficult to weed through. Never fear, because we here at Guild Wars Insider have curated the best responses for your viewing pleasure!”
  • Demajen — Let’s Talk About Fractures. “Guild Wars 2 is a popular game. It’s popular for many reasons, one of which is undoubtedly that there is no subscription fee. This has brought a considerable number of players from all online communities together. When the game launched, this was great. The community was quite wholesome. People were just playing the game. But now, you look at any GW2 forum and are overwhelmed with a barrage of negativity and dissent.”
  • Inventory Full — It’s Not What You Say. “Syp and The Nosy Gamer both posted some interesting observations today on voice acting and how it affects storytelling in MMOs. I’d had it in mind to write something on this for a while but it’s a complicated topic to do justice. You’d think it would be easy to tell good voice acting from bad but my emotional reaction begs to differ.”
  • Dulfy.net — GW2 Chris Whiteside AMA on Reddit. “Chris Whiteside, the Studio Design Director at ArenaNet, recently posted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. Here is a summary of that AMA in a Q&A format for ease of reading.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — AMAA Ascended Gear. “Chris Whiteside, Studio Design Director at ArenaNet, headed up a lengthy Ask Me Anything (“AMA”) session on the Guild Wars 2 subreddit yesterday. A “transcript” is also available. The point of discussion seemed to be largely about Ascended items and the apparent destruction of ArenaNet’s “no grind” philosophy. This was no accident since Whiteside was a major deciding force in starting the Ascended gear as soon as possible in fragments.”
  • Malefic Incantations — Opt Out: Chris Whiteside AMA. “I didn’t have the stomach to make perusing the forums and reporting the good bits into a regular feature here, but Today’s AMA answers a bunch of important questions and spurred me to action. I understand the AMA is not finished yet, so I will edit/comment in new answers if it proves needed.”
  • Divinity’s Reach — Reddit AMA. “We were lucky enough to have several ArenaNet developers, most notably Chris Whiteside, join us on Reddit for an Ask Me Anything session.”
  • Massively — Guild Wars 2 sells makeovers, explains authenticator issue. “If you haven’t been completely satisfied with how you styled your Guild Wars 2 character to look but don’t have the heart (or time) to reroll, ArenaNet has a solution… for a price. The studio added two options to the game’s cash shop that allow players to fiddle with their characters’ visuals.”
  • Distilled Willpower — Moving Forward from “When it’s Ready” “Before the release ANet’s philosophy was always “When it’s ready”. They would never even show us content until they were absolutely sure that it was ready to ship, that’s why we didn’t see the sylvari for ages, and we learned about each of the professions with, usually, a few months in between each reveal.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Chris Whiteside AMA – Ascended Gear Crazy Town. “This evening Chris Whiteside, studio design director at ArenaNet took to reddit in order to let community members ask him anything about the game. It turns out community members mostly want to ask about Ascended gear and why ArenaNet is trying to ruin the game. As someone who has written about ascended gear and its effect on the game, some of his answers were reassuring.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Happy Dragon Hour. “I find myself irrevocably drawn to the Dragon Timers used to countdown when big, repeatable world events will start in Guild Wars 2. My favorite is on the weekends when I can leave the website up and do chores and play with my kids until the appointed time. Two hours until Claw of Jormag’s window opens; plenty of time to go outside and deal with more leaves. Most dragons are even nice enough to give me a bit of a notice before swooping down to get bashed good.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #9. “Market #9: Major Sigil of Bloodlust.”
  • Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2: No New Gear Tiers…For Now. “ArenaNet’s Studio Design Director, Chris Whiteside, spent a good portion of his day (and evening) yesterday interacting with fans and answering questions on Reddit. On many topics, Mr. Whiteside couldn’t go into much detail about their plans, but he was candid about missteps and areas where he thought ArenaNet could do better.”
  • Inventory Full — Battle Plans. “I spent half an hour before work and most of my lunch hour scanning the recent Ask Me Anything interview Chris Whiteside from ArenaNet did for Reddit. There’s a quick-read version with just the questions Chris and others from ANet actually answered, which Ravious also links to in his piece about it at Kill Ten Rats, but I think it’s worth browsing the whole thread because many of the questions that didn’t get answered are more interesting than those that did.”
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: The spotter’s guide to the Fractals of the Mists. “Welcome to the Mists, volunteer! What’s that you say? You didn’t volunteer? Well, you’re here, aren’t you? I’d say that’s good enough. Now, if you and your party will be so kind as to pop into these unstable fractals and clear out all the ravening monsters inside, I’d be… “What are fractals,” you ask?”
  • bitprophet.org — Guild Wars 2 Trial Impressions. “I recently played a free trial weekend of Guild Wars 2. The tl;dr is that I enjoyed myself quite a bit, but am on the fence about purchasing. Below are my thoughts on various aspects of the game, prefaced with some background.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — The Mechanic’s Workshop: Story Mode Dungeons, Fractals, and LFG. “Just so this is clear (I would hate to mislead you), this isn’t a discussion about the dungeon mechanics themselves. By and large the story mode dungeons serve their purpose. They are simple, straightforward encounters that are slightly more challenging than your average dynamic event chain. The Fractals I’ve done thus far have all been a blast as well. Every time I’ve tried either story mode or fractals I’ve been successful, even with complete packs of scrubs I found LFG’ing in map chat. This is a discussion about that last sentence there, and why it’s ruining my days.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Cliffside Fractal Guide. “Cliffside Fractal is longer than most and takes around 30-35 minutes to complete. With an experienced group, it can be as little as 20. Having played with several pick-up groups, the challenge here is encouraging your party to pay attention to the basic environmental factors as well as the core mechanic of the fractal (Cultist Hammer), which I’ll explain in more detail below. Rather than horizontal progression across the fractal (like most in the Fractals of the Mists) this is all about going up, up, up!”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #10. “Market #10: Strong Ring (level 44).”
  • Relics of Orr — Mike O’Brien, I’ll Judge Based on Details, Not By Slippery Slope Arguments. “Having seen a recent post to Eurogamer by Robert Purchese, I saw some flavor of talk that I really wanted to see introduced, from ArenNet’s perspective, on the more controversial ascended gear issue. And it came from the Prez himself.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Wintersday Spikes – Market Speculation Part II. “Did you know that when you search for images on Google with the search term ‘spike’ you get mostly images of a well known vampire? I decided I’d run with that after another long day of work and a nice, tired buzzing in my head.”
  • GWOnline.net — GWOnline Events – December Update. “Welcome back for December’s update on our now monthly round of contests and competitions, or as we like to call them; events. Firstly lets check over Novembers happenings”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Rally! “An exciting mechanic I do not see in enough games is a state between fully capable and dead. Some games weaken the player as injuries accumulate, but most follow the trope codifier in letting you (and your enemies) operate at full power with 1 hit point and instantly die to the next falling leaf. For this post, I am less interested in gradual weakening than a transitional dying state. This is variously known as dying, downed, unconscious, “fight for your life,” bleeding out, second wind, etc.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #11. “Market #11: Gossamer Crafting Materials.”
  • Rock, Paper, Shotgun — Guild Wars 2′s Festive Nightmare Winter Fear Balloon. “We Earthpeople might face abject terror each Christmas when a supernatural fat man dressed in red tries to stuff himself down all our chimneys at once, but spare a thought for the denizens of Tyria, who must face being given things they don’t want or need by a nightmarish airship”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Boundless Dailies. “Most MMOs have some form of “dailies”. Dailies are activities that have a time-limited activity cap. The most common type is a daily quest, which is only available to complete once per day. Dailies are used as a time gate towards progress, or they are used to let casual players maximize rewards for their time. Guild Wars 2 uses a daily PvE achievement based around four tasks to maximize experience points and karma. The main difference from most other MMOs is that the four tasks can be accomplished nearly anywhere.”
  • Hard Reset — Guild Wars 2: Is It Still True To Its Manifesto? “When ArenaNet released their MMO manifesto video two years ago they boldly challenged the genre with infinite promises to players regarding all the revolutionary features included in the next gen MMO, Guild Wars 2. If there’s one thing I’ve seen as a forum dwelling MMO player it’s that the community holds on to what the developers promises with an iron grip. Players brand those words, binding them to their soul, ready to be brought out the moment the promise is broken. And with the recent introduction of a new tier of gear to the game, Ascended gear, there has been community outcry.”
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles Extra: The spotter’s guide to the Fractals of the Mists, part two. “Hello, volunteer, and welcome back to the Spotter’s Guide to the Fractals of the Mists! We’re here to teach you the difference between an Urban Battleground and an Uncategorized fractal, a Bloomhunger and a Mossman, and a chicken and a Charr.”
  • Nightmare Mode — How would a plant love someone? “How would a plant love someone? With this year’s release of Guild Wars 2, we were introduced to the sylvari, a species born of plants whose entire design is predicated on flora of some sort or another–from their leafy hair to their branchy toes. I was intrigued at how the world building for this species worked, since they don’t procreate sexually. Instead, their manner of love depends purely on the emotional connection.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #12. “Market #12: Chocolate Bars.”
  • Guild Wars 2 WvW — WvW Needs Some Help, and it Needs it Now. “Mass PvP is fun in and of itself there’s no doubt about it. I’ve spent countless hours engaging in what some of my good friends call “food fights” across many games. Warhammer Online springs to mind, specifically the Nordenwatch area. (You know, when it’s just lowbie mass PvP and the broken game mechanics don’t come into play yet.) However, while Guild Wars 2 has a much more polished product that Warhammer Online ever did, there’s still something missing. It’s missing a sense of urgency. That there’s something very real on the line here. Something that we can win, or push towards. Now, some of you will probably say that the game itself is the reason to play, the victory. I agreed with that for a time, but there has to be something more to keep players engaged.”
  • GW2Guru — ESL to pick up GW2 and Guru – SotG reminder! “ESL.eu‘s Admin Staff Member Peli recently posted on reddit that they are indeed thinking about picking up Guild Wars 2 to be a part of their e-sport leagues. This would mean a huge deal for Guild Wars 2 e-Sport scene and could possibly be the beginning of something great!”
  • MMORPG.com — The State of PvP. “Structured PvP (sPvP) in Guild Wars 2 can be a freeing experience for the veteran MMO player. Compared to ArenaNet’s r/evolutionary vision for emergent and events-based gameplay in PvE and World-vs-World (WvW), the sPvP scenarios in Guild Wars 2 follow a more conventional design, which opens up a comfortable but still dynamic diversion for player-vs-player enthusiasts.”

Videos and podcasts

Fanfic

Community Events

  • Gaming World Entertainment Network — Wintersday Competition. “Tis the season! The robins are chirping and the chestnuts will be roasting. Mariah Carey has been spotted in a festive outfit and no one is brave enough to tell her it’s a bit too soon for that… it’s officially holiday season! Some of you will fear the words I am about to say, others will jump with glee and the rest of you will probably just shrug and say “meh”. These words are family Christmas card. A tradition for some, involving much preparation, cheesy costumes and maybe some glitter. We do not want you to post your family cards don’t worry, instead we want you to make your own Wintersday card!”

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).

2 Responses

  1. This week in Guild Wars 2 « Quotulatiousness
    This week in Guild Wars 2 « Quotulatiousness November 30, 2012 at 16:24 |

    [...] regular Guild Wars 2 community round-up at GuildMag is now online. The big talking point for a lot of sites was all of the information we got from [...]

  2. This week in Guild Wars 2 | Guild Wars 2 Editorials … – GuildMag | Guild Wars 2 Update
    This week in Guild Wars 2 | Guild Wars 2 Editorials … – GuildMag | Guild Wars 2 Update December 4, 2012 at 16:40 |

    [...] discussion (and angst) over the revelations coming out of Chris Whiteside's marathon Reddit AMA.www.guildmag.com/this-week-in-guild-wars-2-51 Google Alerts – “guild wars 2″ This entry was posted in Alerts and tagged [...]

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