This week in Guild Wars 2

Written by  //  December 14, 2012  //  Community  //  1 Comment

I had an odd experience in WvW last Friday night: I got mugged by the culling monster. I joined one of my fellow guild leaders in the Northern Shiverpeaks borderland and we ventured just outside our own spawn point, as there was a small Dragonbrand zerg at the gates. A few minutes of combat and we killed or drove away enough DB troops to get up the road to the closest keep (which had fallen to a Northern Shiverpeaks attack just as I loaded in). A few of us stayed at the keep to set up a flame ram and work on the gate while the rest of our group headed east toward the nearest supply camp.

And then I was dead. I thought I’d been hit with a siege weapon or something because there was no sign of NSP forces anywhere outside the keep. I went back to our spawn point and retraced my steps to within long range of the gate … and I was insta-dead again. This time, after I was defeated, several NSP players faded into view around my body. I literally had walked right into a bunch of them without being able to see them at all.

It happened a third time before I decided that either my internet connection was too slow at that time or perhaps ArenaNet had made a change to the culling mechanism that makes it worse under certain circumstances (and I later found this post on the Forums which implies that it is related to a code change). If it’s the latter, I hope they back that change out: WvW would be impossible to play if you can’t see enemies until they’ve already killed you.

I’ve had this sort of thing happen in big battles, with scores of players on each side, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it happen with only a handful of players.

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.)”
  • GuildWars2.com — Get the #1 RPG of 2012 with FREE In-Game Items! “For a limited time, buy Guild Wars 2 and get a free upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition (a £15 value), which includes a host of in-game items along with the exclusive Wizard’s Hat.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Habib Loew posted on the topic Coming Soon To WvW: “Wintersday is coming and along with all the other goodies there will be a few updates to WvW. Some of these changes are the result of forum feedback while others are part of our longer term plans for WvW. Here’s a quick preview of what WvW will get for Wintersday”
  • GuildWars2.com — Wintersday: The Wondrous Workshop of Toymaker Tixx. “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.”
  • YouTube — Guild Wars 2 Wintersday: The Wondrous Workshop of Toymaker Tixx. “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. It all happens December 14 to January 3.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Gaile Gray posted on the topic Account Restorations – Update: “We’re pleased to tell you that we are launching our Account Restoration Tool (ART) today. With that tool, we will be able to restore qualifying accounts that were compromised on or after December 1, 2012.”
  • GuildWars2.com — Mike Lewis on the War Against the Bots. “Hello, fellow Guild Wars 2 citizens! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mike Lewis, and I’m the security coordinator for Guild Wars 2 here at ArenaNet. One of my responsibilities is to actively combat botting in the game, and I’m proud to say we’ve been making some serious headway on this front.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Jason King posted on the topic Introduction to the Live Response Team and the Bug Fixing Process: “If you’ve seen a “red post” from an ArenaNet staff member, you probably know that all of us have a title indicating which team we’re on; so without further ado, I’d like to take some time to introduce the Live Response Team and go into detail on what we do with bugs!”

Recent GuildMag posts

  • Postcards from Tyria – Astorea. “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…”

Fan articles and blog posts

  • For those of you on Google+, check out the new Guild Wars 2 community.
  • Attached to Keyboard — Conditions in Guild Wars 2. “I wasn’t going to write more in this series but after a request for more information by Felladin, how could I say no. So here we go – Conditions in Guild Wars 2.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — More Precursor Mayhem. “I’m sure most of you guys know by now but Arenanet sent out chests to all players who made it part way through the ancient karka event from the Lost Shores patch. This means that there are a lot of folks who had a chance at a legendary weapon precursor. A lot of those folks got lucky.”
  • GW2Guru — Free Upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Version with Purchase of Guild Wars 2. “If you haven’t purchased the game yet, this is a great time to do so! For a limited time, you can get a free upgrade to the Digital Deluxe version with the purchase of Guild Wars 2. Not only that, but you will also receive an exclusive Wizard’s Hat.”
  • Inventory Full — Traction. “As we push forward into the festive season time constraints tighten and opportunities to post recede. Well, for me they do, and for a very positive reason: I find I want to play more than I want to write about playing.”
  • Nerdy Bookahs — Advent Calendar – Third Week (09.12. – 16.12.). “The second week’s giveaway is almost over, so head over there if you haven’t participated yet! And now, welcome to week 3 with new bundles.”
  • GW2Fans.com — Guild Wars 2 World Records (High End PvE). “Today I present to you, Guild Wars 2 World Records (located at gwscr.com). Formerly known as Guild Wars Official Speed Clear Records, this is now the Guild Wars 2 World Records website, and community discussion forums. It is a site for guilds and individuals to share and claim ownership of accomplishments (records as we call them). In the past it has proven very competitive and has had a massive guild following from the high-end pve community.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Is this the Mad Money Show of GW2? “Have you ever seen Mad Money? I haven’t religiously watched it or anything, but on occasion I’ve laughed at the way Jim Cramer plays bull and bear sounds while yelling at me from the television. Jim tries to warn people of easy to avoid financial loss as well as small, easy winners on wall street. What ends up happening is a comical little side game where people with lots of money in the stock market are able to take advantage of the masses who follow Jim’s advice.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Live — Baldness Pandemic In Tyria. “Tyria officials announced that a baldness bug has been hitting people indiscriminately. It is not known if it is the prolonged use of hats and or helms, but reports have been coming in that it is not only limited to males. Females have also been losing their hair proving this isn’t some new kind of male patterned baldness and has caused people to start panicking about their looks.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — A History of Wintersday. “For anyone new to the Guild Wars universe, Wintersday will likely be an unknown holiday season that simply draws parallels to Christmas. While there is truth in this, the lore surrounding Wintersday has a little more depth.”
  • Gamersbook — Guild Wars 2 and Antec PC Case Giveaway. “In a co-operation with ArenaNet, NCSOFT and Antec, we are happy to announce a brand new giveaway.”
  • Psychochild’s Blog — How to design a game economy. “Okay, I made a big deal about the economy of Guild Wars 2 and how I did not view it as a fun system supporting to the game. Given that there was a lot of discussion about this, and that I’m an MMO designer, I figured I should post something detailing what should go into the design of an MMO economy. What are the goals of economic design? What are the important factors? What should be avoided?”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Wintersday Wuv. “The Winterday patch for Guild Wars 2 is coming this weekend, and Habib Loew, one of the WvW iconics on the Guild Wars 2 forums, stopped by for a quick peek at what to expect in the snow-covered, mist-shrouded battlegrounds. He hinted at larger developments for a huge game update in February, but these smaller changes are much needed.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — All I Want for Wintersday Is (Part 2). “On the back of Innuendo’s Wintersday list, I wanted to produce one in the same spirit. There’s a lot that the coming patch could bring and I have my very own wish list, that I hope Tixx can deliver. On that subject, we’re also keen to here what your wish list is!”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Question Box Thingy: What’s Your Progression Preference? “With the addition of ascended gear, Guild Wars 2 definitely has more options when it comes to grabbing gear at max level. This fact can be good, since options are generally welcome among the MMO community, but ascended gear has seen quite a bit of negative feedback as well. So negative, in fact, that Chris Whiteside addressed the issue more than once during a recent GW2 Reddit AMA chat.”
  • Inventory Full — Winter Is Icumen In. “Holiday events, dontcha just love ‘em? Midwinter brings the biggest sackful. Can’t think why that should be…”
  • Divinity’s Reach — The Wonderful Gifts of Wintersday. “There were several nice reveals today for what’s to come during Wintersday.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Breakout the WvW Changes. “ArenaNet programmer Habib Loew took the the official forums to update Tyrians on some of the work the team has been doing to improve World vs World. The list of changes was short, but it should have a profound impact on the gameplay. And seeing the systemic changes to WvW start to roll out with each patch has me absolutely glowing with excitement.”
  • PC Gamer — Christmas is no excuse to stop playing Guild Wars 2. “While many will abstain from Guild Wars 2 over the Christmas break in the name of… family, or whatever, they’ll be missing out on some holiday season festivities in the GW2 universe, starting December 14 and finishing January 3.”
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: Have a holly, jolly Wintersday. “Wintersday is steadily creeping up on Tyria — on both Tyrias, as it were: Guild Wars is getting its annual holiday decorations starting the 13th, and Guild Wars 2 will join in the festivities on the 14th. The holiday event lasts through January 2nd for Guild Wars and 3rd for Guild Wars 2, so maybe don’t fret so much on when you’re going to get in to enjoy the goings-on. That’s a nice change from the somewhat abbreviated schedule of the October and November content updates.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #16. “Market #16: Burning Embers.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — The Mechanic’s Workshop: Community Fracturing Fractals and How to Fix Them. “I think me and Lewis have done enough complaining about the problems with Fractals. So I don’t want to spend this week’s workshop talking about what is wrong with the way Fractals are currently setup. This week I want to talk about solutions. I’ve seen a couple floated out by members of the community, including some ideas we at Guild Wars 2 Hub have discussed together, so I figured we should discuss the current options out there, and ultimately what I feel is the best path forward for Fractals.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Will Black Lion Chests Feature During Wintersday? “Out of curiosity (and because I’ve got about 1,500 stashed when they were 3 copper or something) I checked Black Lion Chests on GW2spidy and noticed a sharp upturn. Here are my thoughts on this little speculative number.”
  • Of Course I’ll Play It — Hidden Garden – A Design Perspective. “So a few weeks ago I posted up a bit of a story on how I stumbled across The Hidden Garden jumping puzzle, and the adventures I had in exploring it and uncovering its secrets. But as I moved about the garden, I couldn’t help but notice all the little designer touches here and there that made it such an enjoyable experience. I’ve been a game developer for some 15 years, and though I’m not a content designer by trade, I’ve spent more than my share of time thinking about and building zones in games. For Atomic City Adventures, I developed four entire city zones, and then had to think about the best ways to repurpose them in such a way that made sense. Because Hidden Garden is more than a jumping puzzle – it’s almost a mini-zone in and of itself, it makes a great candidate to examine some of the subtle and not-so-subtle methods designers use to assist you through the level.”
  • Vidya Game — Bug woes in Guild Wars 2. “Nearly three months after Guild Wars 2 launch, the game is still facing one major problem: bugs. By now, players have become accustomed to NPC escorts stopping in their tracks, events mysteriously malfunctioning, and dozens of dungeon exploits, but the unsettling trend shows ArenaNet is biting off more than it can chew. It raises the question: Could a public testing server solve these problems?”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Interesting Gem Slump. “I noticed something interesting about GW2spidy‘s gem exchange graph this evening. After a pretty nice series of regular spikes (expected in the build up to an event where gems will be the currency for many fancy items and Christmas-y trinkets) there was a pretty sharp slump.”
  • Massively — Guild Wars 2‘s Wintersday content primer. “Wintersday begins tomorrow, bringing joy and presents for all good Tyrians! A sneak peek video posted a few days ago did a great deal to get fans excited about the upcoming holiday, but now it’s time to get a better idea of precisely what awaits us in this celebration of toys. Read on to learn all about Wintersday in Guild Wars 2!”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — No New Resource Nodes For Wintersday. “Short and quick blog post this one coming as it does after the main post earlier about the interesting gem slump.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Wintersday Information Hot Off The Press. “The “Three New Activities” section sounds amazing (harmonic music game, snowball fights jumping puzzle?! Yes!) but has little in the way of speculation or trading post information so let’s move on.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Wintersday Preview. “Starting December 14th as soon as the patch goes live, and running throughout the duration of the holiday event, players will be able to participate in three different events based in Lion’s Arch. For the holiday, the Mystic Forge has been transformed into a giant snow globe, and by speaking with a nearby NPC, players can teleport into the snow globe and compete in various games.”
  • Gamespot — Gamespot‘s Best Games of 2012. “Best of 2012 Winner: Guild Wars 2 ‘The world of Tyria is an endlessly intriguing place, stuffed with mystery and adventure, gifting you with gorgeous sights and personal stories that etch themselves into your memory.’ – Kevin VanOrd”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Twas the Night Before Wintersday… “Twas the Night before Wintersday,/and all through the Grove/strange gizmos were stirring,/An asura, Behold!”
  • Demajen — Demajen’s Top 10 Games Played in 2012. “Last year’s list of Top Ten games was pretty difficult to compile. I had an absolute ton of games to choose from, from indie games to big budget releases. This year, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some cracking games released this year, but many of them have been MMORPGs, and with that comes subscription fees and/or time investment. It has thus been a reasonably cheap year for gaming for me — though more on that in a bit!”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Wintersday Snowball Mayhem Guide. “Fans of games like Capture the Flag are going to enjoy Snowball Mayhem! It’s played by two teams and won by getting 500 points through either capturing Wintersday gifts or stopping the other team in that goal.”
  • Girl Gamers UK — Wintersday In Guild Wars 2. “Tyria gets into the holiday mood with new content kicking off today. The Wintersday event continues ArenaNet’s tradition of delivering regular content, compelling events and rewarding opportunities for players, all subscription-free. In this event, Tixx will be making his way to Lion’s Arch, stopping at every major city on the way to deliver Wintersday toys to all races. However, Tixx’s golem servant Toxx throws a wrench into the process by hatching some Wintersday plans of his own and the toys go haywire!”
  • Dulfy — GW2 Wintersday preview from press sites. “Summary of GW2 Wintersday preview from selected press sites with information on the kind of activities you can expect for the next three weeks.”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Wintersday Bell Choir Guide. “If you like Guitar Hero type games, you will love this game.”
  • Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 Bot Wars. “Mike Lewis, Security Coordinator for ArenaNet, has released detailed information on the continuing efforts to remove bots from Guild Wars 2 and the numbers are actually quite surprising. In November alone ArenaNet claims to have removed over 34,000 accounts that were allegedly running bots. In addition to these account bans Lewis also reports that ArenaNet had an average of 2,000 botting reports from players per hour and has managed to trim that number down to about 20 hourly player reports.”
  • Guild Wars Insider — Winter Wonderland Jumping Puzzle Walkthrough. “The Wintersday Jumping puzzle ought to remind you more than a little of a certain Thorny clocktower. Luckily for you, it seems ArenaNet heard many of our complaints, and they made some design changes that makes the Snow Globe Jumping Puzzle far less stressful, while still feeling challenging and fun.”
  • Healing the masses — Getting Some Wuv Wuv Love. “It is nice to see lately that Anet gave been taking the importance of communication more seriously lately. I know many were getting rather annoyed by the lack of it regarding SPvP and WvW. They may not have the gift of the gab quite yet as they tend to enjoy giving short term updates rather than long term action plans but it is definitely a start.”
  • Guild Wars Temple — Dragon Timer. “Welcome to the Guild Wars Temple Dragon Timers. We are continually updating it so that it will be as useful as possible. Just click your server to get started, if the timer gives an error while updating or is having issues, just contact us.”

Videos and podcasts

Fanfic

Community Events

  • Gaming World Entertainment Network — Fracathon. “Guild Wars 2 fans will be pleased to hear there is a 24-hour gaming marathon coming our way on December 15th! The guild Ethereal Dawn have be making plans to raise money for Child’s Play. Starting at 12:00pm central five members of the Ethereal Dawn will be venturing into Fractal of the Mists.”
  • GW2Guru — Wintersday Workshop Has Begun! “The Wintersday Workshop is back! And since Guild Wars 2 has launched, they’ll be taking submissions from both games this year!”
  • MysticSpiral.co.uk — MYSTathon “From 10am on 22nd December 2012, members of the Mystic Spiral [MYST] gaming community will be taking to DOTA 2 and Guild Wars 2 for 24 hours to raise money for Child’s Play. We’d love to have you with us through this challenge, which promises fun for a worthy cause.”

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).