
I had an odd trading post glitch the other night: I was doing some crafting on one of my alternate characters and ran out of hard wood logs, so I placed an order with Black Lion for 40. Several hours later, I took a different alt to the trading post in Lion’s Arch to collect the order. While I was there, I ordered another 50 just in case I needed them, collected the items and moved over to the nearest crafting station, but when I opened my inventory I didn’t see the items I’d just picked up, and they weren’t in the collections tab either. I went back to the trading post, but there was nothing waiting for me to pick up. As I said in the bug report, I doubt that my character just clumsily dropped 90 logs on her way down the stairs!
When I logged in last night, the missing logs had showed up in my collections, so I could get that bit of crafting done and move to the next tier of materials.
A lot of Darkhaven’s WvW players must be on holiday already, as we’re putting in a remarkably bad performance this week. I went to one of the borderlands on Wednesday night, only to discover that we’d been pushed completely off the map: there was now an NPC commander in our home keep, waiting for enough of our players to show up to trigger the special event, but we couldn’t even get enough players for that to happen. Hopefully, we’ll be back in fighting form soon.
Of course, not being able to form a zerg doesn’t inhibit my guild’s preferred WvW play style: we did our usual small unit tactic of taking out supply dolyaks, killing guards at isolated crossroads, snapping up the odd supply camp, and looking for undefended towers. Even when you’re massively outnumbered, there’s still work you can usefully do to help your world.
- Official Guild Wars 2 news
- Recent GuildMag posts
- Fan articles and blog posts
- Videos and podcasts
- Fanfic
- Community events
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 — Game Update Notes – December 14, 2012. “Seasons are changing, hearths are warming, and spirits are high. Wintersday is almost here! Tyrians are busily preparing for the longest night of the year, and Lion’s Arch wants to celebrate with an event to remember. The Captain’s Council has invited renowned entertainment engineer, Tixx the Toymaker, to bring his unique creations to the citizens of Tyria.”
- On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Regina Buenaobra posted on the topic Adjustments to the Cost of Infusions and High-End Materials: “When we first announced the ascended tier of items, it was our intention that these items bridge the time and effort gap that it took players to get Exotic gear vs. Legendary gear. And since the release of the Fractals of the Mist and the infusion system, we’ve been monitoring player feedback, the economy of the game and the investment that building up a set of agony resistance gear requires. With the Wintersday build we will be making some changes to help those trying to attain their agony resistance gear.”
- On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Habib Loew posted on the topic Original culling behavior has been restored: “Our trial of a new, interim culling methodology ran from 12/7 – 12/14 and has now ended. The primary change that we were testing was giving allies and enemies distinct culling pools such that allies couldn’t impact enemy culling and enemies couldn’t impact ally culling. We have now reinstated the prior system which uses a single culling pool for all characters.”
- GuildWars2.com — Game Update – December 16, 2012.
- GuildWars2.com — Game Update – December 17, 2012.
- SoundCloud.com — Guild Wars 2 Wintersday 2012. “For all of you who love #GW2 Music, Wintersday Soundtrack is now available on SoundCloud!”
- Edge Online — The Edge Awards 2012: studio of the year.
- Gamespot — PC Game of the Year: The Winner.
- Gamespot — Role-Playing Game of the Year.
- NBCNews.com — Best art direction in games for 2012. “We take a look at the nominees for best art direction in video games for 2012 and announce the winner. NBCNews.com‘s Todd Kenreck reports.”
- GuildWars2.com — Game update – December 18, 2012.
- Massively — Massively‘s Best of 2012 Awards. “Today, Massively‘s staff honors the best of the best for the year 2012. We asked each writer and streamer to vote in each category with an anything-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table.”
- Twitter — Peter_Fries: “Thanks to @IGN for choosing #GuildWars2 as Best PC Game, Best PC MMO Game, and Best Graphics in a PC Game for 2012! http://ca.ign.com/wikis/best-of-2012/PC“
- ZAM Game of the Year Awards. “In the process of deciding what games we lost sleep over for all the right reasons this year, we reached out to the community and the staff at ZAM, Wowhead, LolKing, Guildhead, Torhead, BL2DB and all the other sites that make up the marvelous ZAM Network.”
Recent GuildMag posts
- The Bare Bones – The Beauty of Wells. “Last article I discussed the basics of the Necromancer profession. In that article I shared my pet build and the basics and benefits of that style of play. This article, I’m going to change it up and present you to the beauty and power of Wells.”
Fan articles and blog posts
- ErrantQuest — Armorsmith’s Guide. “Armorsmith will run you ~7.5p if you lack all materials. However you can reduce this substantially (to about 3.5gp) by buying some of the cheap insignia currently flooding the market. I would strongly recommend reading reading this post before buying Fine Crafting Materials.”
- Killabytes Online — Pros & Cons : Fractals of the Mists Edition + overall Impression. “Now that the Fractal of the Mists have been out for awhile and the Wintersday festivities are upon us I felt it was time to put this out, as by now we’ve has sufficient time to see how the new dungeon and progressions system has and will continue to play out. To begin with, the basic concept of the dungeon (excluding the new progressions) is a very neat idea.”
- Nerdy Bookahs — Advent Calendar – Fourth Week (16.12. – 23.12.). “The third week’s giveaway is almost over, so head over there if you haven’t participated yet! And now, welcome to our 4th week giveaway with new bundles.”
- GW2Guru — Guild Wars 2 Database Updated with New Items! “With yesterday’s patch, the database has been updated to include all of the new items and recipes!”
- Reddit — Choir Bell Songs. “I’ve become addicted to these Choir Bells and hopefully I can get my hands on an unbreakable one before I go broke lol. Here’s a couple of toons I’ve managed to get working. (Parenthesis = high octave); [Bracket = low octave]; rest are middle octave.”
- Hunter’s Insight — Wintersday. “Wintersday was the biggest and most popular festival in Guild Wars so Guild Wars 2 had a lot to live up to with Wintersday 2. I’m glad to say that the festivals so far have blown the original game out of the water.”
- Guild Wars 2 Skills — Build Editor. “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Guild Wars 2 Skills But Were Afraid to Ask”
- Healing the masses — WvW Christmas Poem. “hey I saw this on the forums and thought I would share, gave me a smile.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Snowball Mayhem Wintersday guide. “A comprehensive guide to the Snowball Mayhem PvP activity introduced as part of the GW2 Wintersday event.”
- Facebook — 3D sculpted cakes. “Here is the finished Guild Wars Tower cake. This was super complicated and I only had screen shots from the video game to go by. Pretty happy with the outcome though :)”
- Dulfy — GW2 Bell Choir Wintersday guide. “A comprehensive guide to the Bell Choir musical activity introduced as part of the GW2 Wintersday event.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Wintersday minis, outfits and weapons skins. “A list of all the minis, outfits, and weapon skins that are part of the GW2 Wintersday event.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Winter Wonderland Wintersday jumping puzzle guide. “A comprehensive written and video guide to the Winter Wonderland jumping puzzle introduced as part of the GW2 Wintersday event.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Wintersday Recipes. “A list of the new Wintersday recipes introduced by the GW2 Wintersday event. These recipes are permanent in-game additions and here to stay after the Wintersday event. This list is a work in progress, feel free to contribute any missing recipes. GW2db tooltips will be provided when they become available.”
- Guild Wars 2 Riches — Wintersday Gift Mechanics. “Quick post to show you guys the rough process for gifts and gift exchanging during Wintersday. Completing themed events (like the PvP snowball mini-game) rewards personalised gifts which you can open for a chance at goodies”
- Inventory Full — Wintersday First Impressions. “Always start discussing something before you have any idea what you’re talking about. It’s the internet way!”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Snowball Mayhem Guide. “As we mentioned in our Wintersday Preview, Snowball Mayhem is one of three seasonal events that can be accessed in Lions Arch. In this guide we provide an overview of just how to get started in this Capture the Flag PvP game mode.”
- Guild Wars Trading Post — Flipping Giant Wintersday Gifts. “I have an example for you today of me buying Giant Wintersday Gifts for profit. You can absolutely flip them if you buy now and sell them later in the season (or their contents), but I’d much rather try to make gold now. Here is my first experiment with them so far, buying early on a Saturday morning.”
- Errant Quest — Summary of New Level 80 Wintersday Equipment.
- Dulfy — GW2 Wintersday–Tixx’s Infinirarium–Sylvari Surprise guide. “A guide to GW2’s Wintersday Tixx’s Infinirarium, The Grove version. This instance was first opened on Dec 15 and gave out the achievement Sylvari Surprise and the Ventari Frame for those who completed it. It is designed for a 5 person dungeon but can be done with less (takes around 10-15m to complete)”
- Dulfy — GW2 Magic Snow–Cold-Weather Friend Wintersday achievement guide. “GW2 Wintersday achievement Cold Weather Friend achievement guide with a list of locations of the Magic Snow to build the Magic Snowman”
- Healing the masses — Wintersday Wrap Up. “The Winter wonderland is here for all and there are some great additions this time that I think most people will enjoy… including myself. This time though it is good to see that everyone will get a chance to experience the new content and have a chance at the rewards, it feels a lot more inclusive that each of the stops at the different cities is 24 hours long and then we have a full 2 weeks with the end events. I have been playing this holiday event far more than the last because of this as I feel I am being included.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Wintersday Achievements guide. “GW2 Wintersday Achievements guide for all the achievements that are part of the GW2 Wintersday event running from Dec 14 to Jan 3.”
- Inventory Full — Tixx! Toxx! What’s In The Box? “The arrival of Tixx Toymaker’s vast golemic airship turned out to be a massive anti-climax. No, that’s over-stating it. For an anti-climax something needs to to happen. This was a non-event.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Disaster Derailed–Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday guide. “A guide to GW2’s Disaster Derailed, Divinity’s Reach version of Tixx’s Infinirarium. This instance was first opened on Dec 16 and gave out the achievement Disaster Derailed and the Princess Doll Frame for those who completed it. It is designed for a 5 person dungeon but can be done with less (15-20 minutes)”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Bell Choir Wintersday Guide. “The Bell Choir of Wintersday is a little confusing at first. To save you from your confusion, we’ll be telling you all you need to know.”
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Beware the Mysterious Presents! “Out in the wilds of Tyria during Wintersday are Mysterious Presents. They show up on the map as little striped candy symbols, and like Shadow of the Mad King’s candy corn nodes, they can be looted by everyone. There’s also a twist, however. To get to the real present, one must first kill the mobs that pop out from the large box.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Winter Wonderland Wintersday Jumping Puzzle Guide. “Wintersday brings another jumping puzzle to Guild Wars 2 and while it might not be as difficult as the Mad Kings Clocktower, it is still a tricky challenge. Read on for our complete guide.”
- Guild Wars 2 Riches — Farming Wintersday Gifts. “Wintersday is excellent. I’m having a blast and I hope you are too. Like our own Christmas, the festivities in Tyria revolve around the excellent gifts, which, although free, tend to be stuffed with unwanted socks, jumpers and hats. More socks, jumpers and hats, in fact, than the entire population of Tyria could ever want or need.”
- Divinity’s Reach — Wintersday: A Step Back or Forward? “I had a hard time gauging my exitement pre-Wintersday. Yes, Christmas (and all of it’s Wintery counterparts in MMOs) is my favorite Holiday. I thought Halloween in Guild Wars 2 was the most well done holiday in any video game I have ever played, so my hopes were pretty high. That being said, Halloween had some low points, most notably RNG cash shop items and quite a few people were ticked off by ArenaNet’s jumping puzzle design.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Charitable Charr–Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday guide. “A guide to GW2’s Charitable Charr, Black Citadel version of Tixx’s Infinirarium. This instance was first opened on Dec 17 and gave out the achievement Charitable Charr and the Toy Soldier Frame for those who completed it. It is designed for a 5 person dungeon but can be done with less.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Disaster Derailed: Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday Guide. “On his second day traveling around Tyria, Tixx’s airship has stopped above Divinities Reach to celebrate Wintersday. In this guide we cover all you need to know about the event.”
- Kill Ten Rats — Wintersday Flurries. “In the downtime surrounding the stress of the passing of a loved one (who lived an awesome, long life), I did get to play a bit of Guild Wars 2 Wintersday event. Unfortunately in picking up the pieces and tearing up drafts of some of my more frustrating thoughts, all I have left are brief windswept flurries.”
- The Egg Baron — Bank Space. “Sometimes it is hard to come by places to put your stuff! Today I would like to compare and contrast some different ways of obtaining more space to put your stuff. I will look at buying more bank and bag slots from the Black Lion Trading Post, starting your own guild to obtain a guild bank, and starting mules. I will show you which is currently the cheapest method for getting more bag space, so that you can hang on to all your stuff!”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Charitable Charr: Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday Guide. “On his third day traveling around Tyria, Tixx’s airship has stopped above the Black Citadel to celebrate Wintersday. In this guide we cover all you need to know about the event.”
- Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 5 Ways to Make Gold: Wintersday Gold Guide. “#1. Make Gold During Wintersday with Sigils. You can flip the Minor, Major, and Superior Sigil of Generosity for serious profit. Just win with a bid and then undercut slightly to ensure that you sell (obviously still at a profit). You can use my Guide to Flipping if you’re new to this method.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Apprentice Toymaker Achievement Guide. “Nothing brings me more glee than meta achievements. They are always always so Prestigious. And with Wintersday coming but once a year, getting the 12 required achievements to complete this Wintersday’s Achievement will be even sweeter than normal. Below is a guide to help you complete just that feat before the holiday ends and you lose the chance till next year.”
- Inventory Full — Tixx On Tour. “For the second show at Divinity’s Reach two nights ago promoter Tixx pulled out a totally new set. Toxx emceed main stage action from fresh act The Princess Dolls. Real screamers, these girls! Plenty of costume changes kept things moving and a mid-set face-off between the Dolls and Tixx regulars The Ventari saw the crowd taking sides. No love lost there, or is it all just play-acting?”
- Dulfy — GW2 Help in Hoelbrak–Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday guide. “A guide to GW2’s Help in Hoelbrak, Hoelbrak’s version of Tixx’s Infinirarium. This instance was first opened on Dec 18 and gave out the achievement Help in Hoelbrak and the Plush Griffon frame those who completed it. It is designed for a 5 person dungeon but can be done with less (15-20 minutes)”
- The Egg Baron — Wintersday: First Impressions. “I won’t be writing any guides for the Wintersday event. A lot of other sites already have guides for a lot of the holiday content already up. My favourite site for up-to-date guides for Guild Wars 2 is Dulfy’s MMO Blog and Guides. He usually is among the first to have a quality guide up when new content is dropped. I also find he is the quickest to update his existing pages when new things are learned. With that said for guides, just head over to Dulfy’s Wintersday page or his event page. Below I have my first impressions of the various activities that have been made available to us for Wintersday.”
- Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 end-of-the-year awards. “The end of the year seems to be a good time for awards — all the cool kids are doing it, and Massively is nothing if not cool. Guild Wars 2 has been around long enough for me to have made some favorites. I’ve talked about features and things I loathe and love before, but now it’s time to call out specific NPCs and instances, rather than general features. Before we get any further with this: These awards are purely my own opinion. Disagree with me? Great; write your own end-of-the-year awards. The more, the merrier.”
- Ten Ton Hammer — The Ten Ton Hammer Best of 2012 Awards. “Looking back at the past twelve months in online gaming has become an annual holiday tradition for the team at Ten Ton Hammer. While many families gather to decorate trees, consume liberal amounts of eggnog, or squint sideways at one another, our family enjoys nothing more than busting out our time machines to take a virtual trip down memory lane.”
- GW2Fans — GW2 Wintersday Achievement-Cold Weather Friend Achievement Method. “There are totally four tiers of Guild Wars 2 Wintersday achievement-Cold Weather Friend achievement. You can get 20 points when you finished per tier.”
- Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Successful at Making Gold. “Stop trying to force success upon yourself. Success, in this case, is making lots of gold, and it’s something you have to earn.”
- Reddit — The all inclusive Guild Wars 2 poll. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good poll floating around here. If I get enough feedback, I’ll post the results in a week. Thanks for your time! Hope you enjoy”
- The Orr Orator — WANTED: Experienced hunters to lower the Princess Doll population. “Citizens in the Wayfarer Foothills district of the Shiverpeak Mountains in Northern Tyria have lodged numerous complaints with the local government regarding the increased number of Princess Dolls. The roaming gangs have been sighted wandering in packs of five or six, threatening the local populace. The Sons of Svanir have gone so far as to issue the following statement; “WE WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO RECOLLECT OUR RIGHTFUL CLAIM AS THE AREAS NUMBER ONE PUBLIC ENEMY. JORMAG DEMANDS THE DEATH OF THE DOLLS BUT… WE…. are… busy… YES! BUSY… with… DRAGON STUFF! … not scared…. JUST BUSY. ALL HAIL JORMAG!””
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — A Wintersday Tale for WvWers. “On the official forums yesterday, sc0rn’s Commander, Honnor, left a clever variation on a classic holiday tune for WvW players to enjoy. Yes, you read me right. With Wintersday here and the holidays right around the corner, what better way to celebrate the season than with a little nighttime WvW prep? Figure out what song what I’m referencing yet? I know– I’m being pretty cryptic.”
- Massively — Where Guild Wars 2 goes wrong. “I’m not going to lie to you, people: Guild Wars 2 is a darn good game. Hard-hitting truths, I know. The game won our 2012 Game of the Year award for good reason. There’s a lot to praise within that package, from the art direction to the game mechanics to the flexibility. Many parts of it push the design paradigm in interesting ways and could lead to a much better understanding of what can be done with online games. And then there are places where the paradigm pushes back.”
- Lopez IRL — A condition necromancer’s guide to PvE. “In Guild Wars 2, I decided to focus on both PvE and PvP content on my condition necromancer. I used this build to get to lv. 30 fractals within a week of their release. At this point, I feel like I’ve built up enough experience to write a guide, so here it is! This guide will mostly focus on dungeons, fractals, and small-scale event farming, mostly because all the other PvE content is relatively simple enough to not require a guide.”
- The Egg Baron — Wintersday Patch Notes. “I don’t know if you have had a chance to read the patch notes for the Wintersday release yet. If not, or if you can not be bothered, here is a summary of some of the interesting changes I noticed in the notes. There may be things I miss, what I have highlighted below are those things that affect my game play. First up, are a bunch of Fractals of the Mist changes.”
- Guild Wars 2 Riches — Evolution of Guild Wars 2 Events. “I got thinking today about the duration of Wintersday and what kind of effect that will have on the market. I couldn’t speculate without looking back at the previous events and in doing so realised that there’s been quite a leap forward in a short time.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Honorary Krewe Member–Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday guide. “A guide to GW2’s Honorary Krewe Member, Rata Sum’s version of Tixx’s Infinirarium. This instance was first opened on Dec 19 and gave out the achievement Honorary Krewe Member and the Toy Golem frame to those who completed it. It is designed for a 5 person dungeon but can be done with less (15-20 minutes)”
- Errant Quest — Strike at Karka. “Public perception is that Karka are hard to kill. So hard that people in my guild have stated, “I’d rather have my gums scraped than fight karka in Southsun”. The truth, however, is that karka are fun, easy and profitable to fight. You can make more than 3gp+ an hour from Potent Blood, Powerful Blood and Karka Shells. All it takes is a coordinated group with the right set of skills.”
- Taugrim’s MMO Blog — Character Movement Differentials in Guild Wars 2 WvW. “In Guild Wars 2 World PVP, aka WvW, I’ve experienced a dynamic that I haven’t seen since 2005 when I played KnightOnline – significant differentials in character run speed and “burst” distance traversal.”
- Far Shiverpeaks — When a community comes together. “It was long overdue, but we finally had it; The meeting that would decide the future of the battles in World vs World in the Far Shiverpeaks. Through weeks and weeks of fights we could not possibly win, more and more people leaving the server and being told that we’re a dead server and that there is no chance of ever recovering, we have stayed strong. The meeting was kicked off as a guild just wanting to introduce itself to the community, out of that we made a much larger meeting. Where we discussed our future on this server.”
- Kill Ten Rats — Stages of RNG. “I can’t believe ArenaNet made an untradeable set of miniatures in the Wintersday Mystery Boxes. It must be a mistake. There will be ways to get those account-bound miniatures another way. They wouldn’t have decided to restrict this collectible to straight up personal randomness.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Honorary Krewe Member: Tixx’s Infinirarium Wintersday Guide. “This is Tixx’s Last stop before reaching Lion’s Arch. Head to Rata Sum today (or Lion’s Arch if you are late to the party) to complete this mini dungeon and collect your Golem Toy Frame.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — A Guide to Wintersday Mini and Tonic Crafting. “In this guide we cover just what you need to do in order to make the Wintersday Mini’s as well as Tonics.”
- Dulfy — GW2 Toypocalypse Wintersday guide. “Comprehensive GW2 Toypocalypse Wintersday guide with images. Toypocalypse is the final event in the Guild Wars 2 Wintersday series that was first activated on Dec 20 10 am PST and will run until Jan 3. Players will be able to enter Toypocalypse through Lion’s Arch by talking to the Seraph soldier near the Grand Plaza.”
- The Egg Baron — Spending your Tixx Rewards. “Today is the final day of Tixx’s Wintersday journey to each of the racial cities. After today, if you have completed each of the events in each of the cities, you should have 500 Mystical Cogs, 1250 Drops of Magic Glue or Wads of Enchanted Stuffing (or some combination adding to 1250), and five different “frames” for each of the toys featured in the five different events (Plush Griffon, Princess Doll, Toy Golem, Toy Soldier, and Ventari). If not, do not fret. Starting tomorrow in Lion’s Arch you will be able to repeat all the events from all the cities, as well as, participate in the new event.”
- Guild Wars 2 Hub — Toypocalypse Guide. “After the long build up as we all waited patiently for Tixx to arrive in Lion’s Arch, the wait is over. Starting today you have 2 weeks until the end of the event in order hone our skills, and save those Dolyaks. Below is a breakdown of how the game works, and what you can do to help your team.”
- Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — GW2 Crafting Gold. “I’m not going to name any specifics. That’s right, I’m not going to give you any examples whatsoever of crafting methods that work. I will, however, describe to you how I am making 10+ gold per day from the disciplines I currently use.”
- The Orr Orator — WAR ON WINERSDAY. “Citizens of Divinity’s took to the streets today, the epicenter being the Queen’s palace gates, in protest of the Wintersday celebration. Many carried picket signs with various messages like, “Put the Dwayna back in Wintersday!” and, “Tixx only wants your Buxx!” Unfortunately, the x’s on the latter sign weren’t angled correctly, so it sent the wrong message.”
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Toypocalypse and Grouping. “Wintersday’s Toypocalypse began yesterday, and with it, came a new way for players to instantly join in on the fun. The event activity comes with an automatic grouping feature, similar to the one used during the Bell Choir and Snowball Mayhem PvP holiday activities. This is good news for players who are looking to run the event with random players, but ArenaNet left out one very important ability– the ability to join as a preformed party.”
- Cogs and Ink — Yakslapper: are the WvW titles unreasonable? “There was a thread on /r/GuildWars2 earlier today in which the poster lamented the fact that getting the Yakslapper achievement does not, in fact, reward you with the title “Yakslapper”, but rather the much less interesting “Ultimate Interceptor”. One of the comments there mentioned that the requirement was 1,000,000 kills.”
- Cogs and Ink — The Lion’s Arch Times #1. “Tixx claims Toypocalypse 2012 a Hoax”
Videos and podcasts
- YouTube — TrueCovenantSWTOR: Tarnished Coast is Ready for Wintersday!!! “While waiting for the Wintersday events to start on Tarnished Coast, we threw ourselves a little party! Thank you Arena Net!!!”
- YouTube — Goongala Plays Guild Wars 2: Dungeons & Dolphins. “The new fractal dungeons were release at the beginning of November, and I joined a few friends to take some of them on. Things went a little sour very quickly… but at least I was a dolphin!”
- YouTube — KaeyiDream: Guild Wars 2: Wintersday Jumping Puzzle (No UI + Ultra GFX) “This is my Sylvari Necromancer completing the Wintersday Jumping Puzzle in Guild Wars 2 with no UI and my graphics are set to ultra!”
- YouTube — Phasestrikes: Wintersday Jumping Puzzle Done with other players and UI:) “This definately wasn’t as hard as the clock tower. It was a lot of fun I was more frustrated with falling at the end of it then anything. At any rate enjoy and you can do it too just took me a hour. And I’m a jumping puzzle noob.”
- YouTube — Phasestrikes: Wintersday First Impressions Events “Well after one night of falling at the end of a jumping puzzle. I think I did enough to put something up on this event so far. I really liked the flaw and ease of the jumping puzzle. It wasn’t too hard it was actually cool to witness. The overall feel of Lion’s Arch is very festive. But I do have a complaint on that feel. If you go to the other edges of the city it’s like ok it’s snowing now we are back in the jungle in the sun.”
- YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Guild Wars 2 Jumping Puzzles – Vexas Lab. “Mike and I descend into the bond-villian-esque lab of Vexa. Seriously, why are all the asura labs the best achievements?”
- Guild Wars Insider — All Roads Lead to Orr #09 – Wintersday.
- Massively — Unwrapping the mystery of GW2‘s Wintersday boxes. “You’ve heard plenty about it, from the history behind the holiday to the schedule of festivities. And now it is upon us! Yes folks, Wintersday in Guild Wars 2 is finally here with its assortment of seasonal activities and holiday-themed goodies. And among those goodies are special mystery gift boxes available in the gem store. What exactly comes in a mystery box? That’s what Massively‘s Richie Procopio, aka Bog Otter, aimed to find out in his latest video.”
- devilsmmo — Guild Wars 2 Diary #14: Extra Experience Is Godsend. “So, what did you decide? After saving a village from an attack of Risen, we learn that the soldier behind this sudden surge in Risen population was spending a lot of time with a certain pirate. There’s one pretty major problem though: the pirate was killed before she could share her story. The Risen got to her, and a damn sight earlier than we even knew she existed. They’re not only organized, but it’s becoming harder and harder to work out how we’re going to stop these attacks.”
- YouTube — Phasestrikes: Wintersday Tixx’s first dungeon Stop in the Grove. “This is the first dungeon from the grove ship appearance. It wasn’t hard at all a bit shockingly easy but I enjoined it :). It seem more like you were on vacation rather than in a dungeon.”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Up we go! “Up we go! Climbing the cursed tower! :P”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Now Apatia… “Don’t tell me Apatia is gone too :o”
- YouTube — GodLikeDevil: Ascalonian Catacombs (AC) Path 3 – first time with effecient and experienced group. “Wound up finally doing the other paths of AC with a Twitter contact and her party. Holy shit, we flew by the content fast. These were super-efficient and super-experienced bad-asses, such that we had breaks with nothing to do in between the emergence of graveling burrows during the extraction event. Good stuff all around, hope to run with them again soon.”
- YouTube — Matt Visual: Guild Wars 2: Wintersday | Santa got nothing on Tixx.
- MogRadio.com — The Siege #20: Looking For Group. “Hello again Guild Warriors and welcome back for another exciting episode of The Siege. This week we tackle a variety of topics including your emails. First off we discuss whether or not Guild Wars 2 lacks community cohesiveness and debate the causes of it as well as discussing the need for a group finder in the game. Also this week we look at an interesting interview with GW2 top brass discussing their feeling about the game since launch and things they would have wanted in the game before launch. We also look at vanity packs and discuss whether or not we are interested in them or not and what their benefit will be to the game. Last but certainly not least your emails asking who the most needed class is in WvW, whether or not conditions stack, and a letter of thanks from the Efts.”
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Wintersday Event Puzzle Guide. “Check out a video guide by TheTrevLife as he gives you the inside strategies on completing this new jumping puzzle.”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Hello There! “Enough of engineering stuff, it’s time for thievery! No wait, that’s too negative… it’s time for sneaky adventures! Yes, that’s it :D I needed something new and the Thief class might as well be it, hope you enjoyed my choice!”
- Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2: Winter Wonderland Jumping Puzzle Guide. “Wintersday is in full swing in Guild Wars 2 and players are busy fighting off malfunctioning toys, throwing snowballs, and playing the choir bells. One of the more popular additions to the holiday event is the Winter Wonderland jumping puzzle. The new platforming exercise draws comparisons to the beloved Mad King’s Clocktower, but while they both are timed jumping puzzles, the similarities stop there.”
- YouTube — Floyd Hunter: Knock, Knock, Its Floyd! Streaming: Wintersday!!! Day 1.
- YouTube — Matt Visual: Guild Wars 2: Wintersday Jumping Puzzle. “Waiting for something harder than the Mad King Clocktower :)”
- YouTube — Dontain: Guild Wars 2 | Endless Toy Tonics.
- Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Guildcenter – 12/17/12 – Special Guests: Habib Loew & Matt Witter – ANet WvW Devs. “This week we have two special guests from ArenaNet that join us for our World vs. World segment; game developers Habib Loew – WvW Team Coordinator and Matt Witter – Systems Designer. We discuss all the issues of the day as well as the potential of future content. Stay tuned for scary boxes, evil dolls and a few hints, if you listen carefully enough, of what might lay ahead for the February Update.”
- YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Signet Aura Sharing – Utility Belt Build. “I filmed this right after the utility belt video last week. I’ve since played with it a fair bit and just have to add that, its _really_ only for solo play, if you think its worth the cash. The allies die very quickly in dungeons, fractals, and larger events, so its not worth popping them – but then in those situations you’ll still be getting use out of the aura sharing, so it has its uses. Besides that, have fun! Theres a lot of cool little synergies I’ve noticed in it as time has gone on, and its certainly a different playing experience to the standard fair, so I’m happy.”
- Wartower.de — TowerTalk LoreSpecial: Wintersday. “A lot has changed in the last 250 years in Tyria. Even the wintersday has changed and al’Ellisande talks to ArenaNet’s Angel McCoy and Anthoy Orden in this lorespecial about the changes and how the different races in Tyria celebrate wintersday. Elli wants to know if the Charr grow winter fur and if there will be good old snow ball fights. Angel and Anthony tell that there will be an asuran toy maker, visiting the cities of Tyria. He’s able to give the toys a personality, which does not always work well. Enjoy the podcast and a happy christmas to everyone! Please note that the podcast will continue after a German introduction in English.”
- Gamebreaker.tv — Microtransactions: Buy What You See Or RNG? “Fans of Guild Wars 2 are merrily celebrating the Wintersday content and ArenaNet is offering a smattering of new items for purchase in the gem store. There are festive weapon skins, holiday costumes, and winter-themed minis to acquire. Players can also purchase Wintersday mystery boxes, which have random goodies inside including a rare chance at some exclusive account bound mini pets.”
- Guild Wars 2 Riches — GW2 Gold Farming – Dungeons CoF, HotW and AC. “The Farmer’s Almanac is a series where you can learn Guild Wars 2 gold farming locations throughout Tyria. I don’t disagree that the Cursed Shore is the best farming location; but with diminishing returns, you’ll have to visit other areas and thus we bring other locations to your attention.”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Winter Wonderland Jumpuzzle! “The Winter Wonderland new jumping puzzle :D Jumpuzzle for me ;D”
- YouTube — QuentaSilmarillion: Guild Wars 2 – Respawn Maybe. “Trashed, making up lyrics onthe fly, rwrote them down kind of, very drunk. This video is the result of peer pressures and booze.” [Raphia: NSFW language. But funny.]
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Tixx at Black Citadel! “Here’s how it went at Black Citadel :D”
- YouTube — commentarilies: GW2: The Beauty of Tyria.
- YouTube — billybones458: Guild Wars 2 – Tips and Tricks. “Note: The volume seems to be a bit low (first video with speech) — Please adjust accordingly. I made this quick video in response to grouping with people in game who did not know these features existed. Most people probably do, so sorry if you are already aware of these. If not, I hope it helped.”
- Gamebreaker.tv — GuildCast 54: WintersDay Analysis and Patch Note Discussion. “The Infiniraririrrirum — ium — landed in cities across Tyria this week, bringing festivities and fun as well as a terrifying presence in the sky that makes Godzilla look like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Seriously, how unnerving is that airship? Onto the content itself, just what has WintersDay wrought on the major cities? Lion’s Arch looks phenomenal but the other racial capitals are comparatively untouched. Is this a disappointment? Or, considering the incredible transformation to come to Lion’s Arch, is it completely understandable? We discuss the pros and cons.”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Snowball Mayhem! “Some PvP Wintersday action :D Snowball Mayhem! Muahaha”
- YouTube — GodLikeDevil: Honor of the Waves Path 2 (Plunderer) with skipping. “Just a run of the Plunderer path of the explorable mode of Honor of the Waves. If you skip some of the encounters, you cut out about 20 minutes from the run.”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Tixx at Hoelbrak! “And this is how it went at Hoelbrak :D”
- YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Tixx at Rata Sum! “The little asuras had their own Tixx visit :P”
Fanfic
- Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 4: Deep in the Murk. “A tumultuous thundering reverberated through my skull. I tried to jerk upright, but a paralyzing pain clenched my body. I laid very still, not even attempting to open my heavy eyes, desperately hoping the banging in my head would subside.”
- Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 1: Decent into Darkness. “My name is Lurx. My clan lives in the Asuran hills. We are not attracted to the technology of the cities. We do not believe in the exploitation of the Eternal Alchemy. We chose to remain in hills, not because we were less intelligent, as the intellectual elitist of my race may say. No, we simply shunned their disregard for nature. They pollute and pervert everything around them. They disgust us; they have no respect for our living Tyria. We were the few who saw the destruction created in the wake of their “progress” as a plague on the land and not the sacrament they profess.”
- Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 1: Part 1 – The Golem, the Thief and the Interrogator. “‘The ambulatory motion matrix is all out of alignment. She’ll list as badly as a rowing boat crewed by norn.’ Flikk came crawling out of the golem’s innards with an oil-smeared frown, to wave a spanner in my direction. ‘Well don’t just stand there, Amber. Do something.’”
Community Events
- 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.”
- GW2Guru — Jade Reapers Christmas Party! “Like every year we are celebrating Wintersday in our own way! So make sure to join us on the 22nd of December at 8pm GMT in Divinity’s Reach Garden on the Aurora Glade server. This is an open invitation to anyone and everyone who is part of the Guild Wars 2 community at the Aurora Glade server so keep that evening free in your agenda and celebrate with us!”
- Nerdy Bookahs — Advent calendar: Christmas Giveaway. “Don’t worry, the 4th week giveaway is still up and running until December 23. But after that, there’s Christmas – of course – and we wanted to have a giveaway for that one as well. In the spirit of how we celebrate Christmas in Germany, this giveaway’s drawing will take place on the evening of December 24! That’s right. We get the presents on Heiligabend (“holy evening”) and do not have to wait for the night to be over. :D Traditionally, we also don’t have a Santa Claus that brings us the presents but the “Christkind” (“Christ Child”). But that has nothing to do with Guild Wars, I just wanted to add a bit of information here. ;)”
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).


