This week in Guild Wars 2

Written by  //  January 25, 2013  //  Community  //  1 Comment

As I mentioned last week, Darkhaven finally seems to have woken up again in WvW, but looking at the current scores, we’ll win our bracket this week, but not by enough to move back up again. Speaking of WvW scores … someone must have put something in Kaineng’s coffee: at last report they owned everything in sight (at +695 points, which left nothing at all for Ehmry Bay or Devona’s Rest).

Playing on my Charr engineer, I got some copper gathering tools from drops, so I went to a starter area I hadn’t already explored to use them up (I hate throwing things away if they have some use). I ran around Queensdale, helping out lower-level players and mining/gathering every node I saw. I was nearly finished mapping the area, needing two more points of interest and a skill point. One of the missing PoIs was in the middle of a centaur camp: a run-in-and-run-away-really-fast kind of operation. I was just in position to make my run, when I noticed a chest I hadn’t seen before in this area. When I opened it, a Skritt popped out and started running around. Without thinking, I fired my rifle at her and she dropped a glowing loot bag. I kept firing at her, and picking up the loot … forgetting that I was right in the middle of a big centaur camp. Long story short: I got most of the drops and the treasure and in spite of having aggro’ed a dozen centaurs, somehow managed to get out of there alive. A fun and unexpected little addition to an area I thought I’d already exhausted for novelty.

The news that ArenaNet will be trying to attract players to come back to lower-level areas is very welcome. Earlier this week, I took my ranger to Frostgorge Sound to finish mapping the area and get the skill points, hearts, vistas, and points of interest checked off. It was very quiet: I think I saw about a dozen other players in total over a 2-3 hour session. It also nicely illustrated another issue that ArenaNet is talking about addressing: the rather unimpressive loot drops you often get from fighting veterans and champions in PvE. I usually try to take out veterans when I see them in my travels, but the rewards from doing so are usually not worth the effort. As far as Champions go, unless there are at least two other players in the area willing to spend the time, avoiding them is the only intelligent thing to do … and spending 10 minutes taking one down to get a blue reward — and often something your character can’t equip — is just another deterrent.

In the time I spent in Frostgorge, I completed all of the necessary items for my daily, except for events. Over the 2-3 hours, I’d only taken part in two events: not for lack of trying, but bad timing is part of my suite of gaming skills. And with so few people around, the events just didn’t seem to be happening very frequently. I ended up waypointing back to Orr and finished 3 events in just over 15 minutes to complete my daily.

Official Guild Wars 2 news

  • Gamasutra — Video: Crafting the 2.5 million words of Guild Wars 2. “Courtesy of the GDC Vault is another free session video from GDC Online 2012. In this lecture, Guild Wars 2 lead writer Bobby Stein and narrative designer Angel Leigh McCoy share the challenges of going from co-op RPG to MMORPG: building on the lore, writing the text, and managing the voiceovers. The duo also highlights the importance of the designer/writer relationship. They explained how they did not stifle designers’ creativity for those who wanted to help with the narrative. However, polishing up their writing to maintain a consistent voice and level of quality was essential.”
  • Dulfy.net — GW2 Colin Johanson MMORPG Livestream transcript – Jan 18. “A transcript and summary of the MMORPG.com livestream with GW2 developer Colin Johanson.”
  • GW2Guru — ArenaNet SoundCloud Page. “Recently, ArenaNet pointed out that they have been uploading various music and sound clips to their SoundCloud page. You can check out their uploads here. If anything, you should listen to the voiceover outtakes. Poor Logan, INDEED. Also, I think Zojja has a serious drug problem.”
  • ZAM — Guild Wars 2: Colin Johanson Interview. “No other MMO has made an impact on the industry as much as Guild Wars 2 (GW2) has this past year. Aside from the plethora of prizes it has won from journalists and the public alike, its launch has sent ripples through the industry that can be seen in various upcoming titles. After launching ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 manifesto for the first half of 2013, Game Director Colin Johanson set a precious hour aside to talk to me about the response to the outline, the ideas behind the plotted course and what else might be over the horizon.”
  • GuildWars2.com — Flame and Frost: Prelude. “The sky falls and the ground shakes in the lands of the north. Charr and norn refugees crawl from the wreckage of their homes in the Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, struggling to find shelter in the south. The call goes out for volunteers to assist the victims in this time of need, when earth and sky seem to have become the enemy… Flame and Frost: Prelude is the prologue to a multi-stage narrative that will bring big changes to Guild Wars 2 in the months to come.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Regina Buenaobra posted on the topic Incoming Mounts??: “Hello, I’m here to crush your dreams. There will be no mounts coming with the Flame and Frost story arc. Also, to address further speculation we’ve seen about the concept art for Flame and Frost (and what it may portend): there will be no Cantha and no dragons coming with the Flame and Frost story arc, either.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Mark Katzbach posted on the topic Festive Lionguard Leaving Tyria: “With the holiday season at an end, the last remaining Wintersday merchant is closing shop. Make sure to finish your exchanges before January 28th PST, when the Festive Lionguard will be packing his wares and leaving Tyria.”
  • ZAM — Guild Wars 2: Colin Johanson Interview Part Two. “In the second and final part of my interview with ArenaNet’s Game Director Colin Johanson we began by talking about World vs. World and how players took the game in unforeseen directions.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Habib Loew posted on the topic January WvW culling & loading changes: “In the January update we’ll be making a couple of preliminary changes to WvW.
    1. The first of our engine changes will be coming on line to help improve character load times by using fallback models.
    2. We’ll be switching over to the culling methodology that we trialed in December.”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Habib Loew posted on the topic January WvW culling & loading changes: “Hi all, I think a little more explanation is in order. First, let’s call the culling system that we’re switching to “affinity culling” just to make it easier to talk about. Under affinity culling the system handles enemies and allies independently. This means that the maximum number of allies that you can see under affinity culling is 1/2 the maximum number of characters (combined enemy & ally) that you could see under the original culling. Ditto for enemies. In exchange for that cost he benefit that we get is that running with (or through, or past) a large group of allies (e.g. a guild) won’t prevent you from seeing the enemies who are closest to you.”

Fan articles and blog posts

  • Under the Pale Tree — Legendarily Long Term Goals. “There are times I look at what I’m doing in Guild Wars 2, and tell myself “Verene, you’re crazy”. This is one of those times. I’m Legendary hunting again.”
  • Inventory Full — March of the Golem Army. “Yak’s Bend has been getting hell from Dragonbrand for a while now. They have a very heavy “Night Crew” that comes out with the stars and stomps all over us. Playing GMT hours against them on what’s reckoned to be primarily a U.S. West Coast server means that if Mrs Bhagpuss and I are on during the day we spend the morning in doomed last stands over Keeps that we inevitably lose and then the afternoon on a tit-for-tat round of retakes. It makes for great xp and karma but it can get a tad demoralizing.”
  • The Egg Baron — This Week in Guild Wars 2. “This week was a big week with a lot of new coming out of Arena Net on their site, blog, and forums. I had coverage of these events here on my blog this week. As did a lot of others in the community. Every week on Friday, GuildMag rounds up all the community articles into one big post on their site. Here on my site I like to pick out my favourite articles of the week to share with you and add in a couple of my own links.” [Raphia: I like the co-operative nature of this process: I do the rough-hewing by gathering everything I can, and Phil selects the ones he likes the best and polishes them. It's like teamwork without needing to be on a team.]
  • Healing the masses — Wuving What’s Coming in GW2. “Guesting is coming, and then there was dancing in the streets, let all rejoice and bask in this wonderful moment. But it has not been without loss, without sacrifice so let’s all have a moment for the fallen servers that once we’re great but were mercilessly picked apart on their descent. And I just want to say a great big FIIIINAAAAAALY. After not acknowledging that server transfers was an actual issue they finally came through. The main reason for guesting and paid transfers being a focus of post development is indeed WvW even if only to finally remove the bandaid that was the 7 day limits that has been annoying those with friends on other servers immensely.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 30 Markets in 30 Days: #17. “Market #17: Reyna’s Set of Gear”
  • Black Lions Profit — Gold Guide Update – Salvaging for Profit. “Today I completed the “Salvaging for Profit in Guild Wars 2″ guide, which contains some of the brilliant strategies I use to make gold on the Trading Post.”
  • The Egg Baron — Converting Skillpoints to Gold. “Today, I would like to share with you a spreadsheet that I have been working on for a while. It takes everything that I learned writing the articles on promoting common, fine, and rare materials, as well as piles of dust. This spreadsheet automatically pulls data from GW2Spidy.com and shows you the costs, revenues, profits, and risks associated with promoting crafting materials.”
  • Black Lions Profit — 10 markets in 10 days: #1. “Over the next 10 days I will be sharing some of the items I flip on a daily basis on the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post, all of these items are part of my personal flipping portfolio which works to bring in hundreds of gold every month, for hardly any effort at all.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Exquisite Snowflake. “Exquisite Snowflakes have been selling rather well for me. Not tons of profit, but 5 silver earned for 20 silver invested isn’t terrible.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Bots And Their Influence On Item Supply. “We’ve been speculating in the forums about the changes in the value of several item types. The most obviously influenced are tier 6 materials”
  • Inventory Full — Remind Me Again, What’s GW2 For? “Ding 80! Again. For the fifth time, in fact. Yay me! Elementalist this time round. Last time it was Warrior and before that, in reverse order of dingage, Necromancer, Engineer and Ranger. I have never had this many max-level characters in an MMO that hasn’t even released its first expansion, let alone one that isn’t yet six months old. When they talked about a flat leveling curve they weren’t kidding.”
  • Dulfy.net — GW2 Scepter skin gallery. “GW2 Scepters gallery with a list of all the unique scepter skins available along with high res screenshots and their methods of acquisitions.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — New Bot Ban Wave Shows Potential Profits. “Have you been investing in tier 5 and 6 materials the past two weeks? Well, you probably should have been, because new bot ban waves were getting implemented over at Arenanet headquarters.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Is Gold Wars 2 Worth Paying For? “Gold Wars 2 has officially been released for a week now, and approximately 100 members of this website have purchased access to it already. But I’m sure there are plenty of readers here holding out to see if this product is truly worth investing in. Today I’ll bring up a few common questions and answer whether or not this tool is going to exceed your expectations.”
  • Black Lions Profit — Guild Wars 2 bot ban brings gold making opportunities! “I have watched the Tier 6 material market for a while now, with bots slowly driving prices down through their malpractice it was only a matter of time before ArenaNet took action and began a new, focused ban wave.”
  • Black Lions Profit — 10 markets in 10 days: #2. “Superior runes are brilliant for flipping, every player needs them and every player wants them now. A lot of players in Guild Wars 2 are lazy. They don’t want to wait several hours for 6 sigils to sell when they could buy them from the lowest seller and be running a dungeon in minutes.”
  • Inventory Full — Tread Carefully. “Everyone who cares will have read Colin Johanson’s Road Map for the first half of 2013 by now. Like most ArenaNet press releases it’s long on generalities and short on detail, so I’ll wait to panic when there’s something definite to panic about. Which there might be.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — ArenaNet’s Greatest Strength, and how it’s Become their Greatest Weakness. “Over the past week we’ve seen ArenaNet make a large push to engage the community and lay out their plans for 2013. After a wintersday update that included (virtually) no permanent content, it’s nice to see what they plan to add to the game long term. Here’s the issue though, despite a few confirmed changes coming in the January update, it seems like most of the good stuff isn’t hitting till February at the earliest, maybe even further. ArenaNet wooed it’s fanbase into a chant of “when it’s ready” before the launch of the game, but convincing them to wait months for basic features once the game is out has proved a slightly harder trick to pull.”
  • MiniGameReviews.com — The World of Tyria is Your Oyster (Guild Wars 2). “It’s been over five months since the launch of Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet’s MMORPG that was hyped as the pivotal shift in MMO gaming. If you’ve played it, you’ve likely already formed a strong opinion on whether or not they succeeded. If you haven’t played it, let me pull the curtain back for you a little bit…”
  • Reddit — I finished a GW2 Android App I started during the BWEs. “Back during the beta weekends I came across this post about the awesome status displays Guild Wars 2 is capable of displaying on gaming keyboards. I don’t have a LCD screen on my keyboard, but my phone is always on my desk, so I figured why not try to get that same output on my phone instead. After a few months of using this myself I finally polished up the app enough for others to use. I’m giving it away free so feel free to give it a shot. I’m calling it GW2hud.”
  • Psychochild’s Blog — When fun becomes a grind. “One recurring complaint of MMO players is the “grind”. It’s interesting taking a look at the history of MMOs, because it becomes obvious that it’s mostly player perception that determines what is a grind. Every mechanic that people deride as a grind started out as something fun. In fact, sometimes it is a particularly new or novel feature that eventually becomes the dreaded grind. Let’s take a look at how something fun devolves into a grind.”
  • The Orr Orator — THE BEST AID FOR A DYING ALLY IS…
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Guild Wars 2 Chef/Cooking Guide 0-400. “Cooking as it’s commonly known (or Chef as its officially known) is one of the quickest and easiest crafts to level. It’s also incredibly cheap (contrary to many guides) and can be levelled to 400 in around 30 minutes when you have the ingredients prepared.”
  • The Egg Baron — Wealth Growth in Guild Wars 2. “What is exponential growth? It is the growth rate of a lot of things around you. Already mentioned, is the US economy, other things include populations of humans, cultured microbes, compound interest, computing power (see Moore’s Law) and internet traffic. There are lots of other examples, these are just some of the things you might encounter in your day-to-day lives. Let us look at the math a little more closely by examining the example of compounded interest. I will try to keep the math as simple as possible.”
  • Black Lions Profit — 10 markets in 10 days: #3. “I honestly have no idea why the Ogre Bag is so popular. It is more expensive than the basic 10 slot wool and leather bags yet players still continue to buy and sell them every day!”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Big Winner is Unidentified Dyes. “Over the weekend I flipped Unidentified Dyes by buying on Friday (13-14 Silver) and selling on Sunday (18.50 Silver). It was incredible how they just kept going up in price, even after I announced on the blog to watch out for these as well as tier 5/6 materials. This was due to the Bot Ban Wave as well as the fact that this past weekend was a holiday for many Americans.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Flame and Frost: Prelude Announcement. “Not a single week to spare, ArenaNet this morning announced the details for the January patch to Guild Wars 2. As was previously hinted, this update will not be a major update, but is laying the ground work for some of the future content plans they have coming.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Upcoming Possible Fix for Failed Dodge Bug. “If you’ve ever played any of the melee professions and/or weapon styles and perform a lot of dodge rolls while fighting, there’s a good chance that you’ve experienced a bug that’s been in Guild Wars 2 for a quite a while now. The bug happens during certain chain auto-attacks of melee weapons and will sometimes cause a dodge to fail. It seems to be most easily reproduced using slower weapons such as the Guardian and Warrior Hammer and Greatsword, although Thieves, Rangers, and even Mesmers can also be affected by the bug.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Guild Artificer Guide 0-400. “Artificing is one of the quickest and easiest crafts to level. Similarly to becoming a Chef, it’s also incredibly cheap (contrary to many guides) and can be levelled to 400 in around 30 minutes when you have the ingredients prepared.”
  • Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 January Patch: Flame And Frost. “We have an official preview of the Guild Wars 2 January patch, which is entitled Flame and Frost: Prelude, and ArenaNet’s Colin Johanson has been busy performing interviews and livestreams to give fans the skinny on the latest developments. There are bits of information oozing out of all corners of the internet, but we’ve done our best to summarize the important pieces below.”
  • The Orr Orator — WHO IS THE REAL BAD GUY?
  • The Orr Orator — HORN ENHANCEMENT: HOT OR NOT?
  • Guild Wars 2 Live — Flame & Frost. “Besides expanding on the plot of Guild Wars 2, the update also adds several features to the game. From January 28th to the 4th of February, the regular eight-team/three-round paid tournaments will be replaced by two-team/single-round paid tournaments in the Temple of the Silent Storm map. The Daily achievements will be update to feature a greater variety, and it looks like Arenanet also heard my prayers when I suggested and achievement tracker in the UI, so they are adding that as well!”
  • On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Genophix posted on the topic Photography and Guild Wars 2: “As well as a massive Guild Wars 2 fan I’m also a keen photographer, so I’m always taking screen shots in games and Guild Wars has been no exception. However, there’s something a little different in this game, the places, the weather, the water, the vistas and landscapes – they are all just begging to be snapped as they look so good! So about a month or so before Christmas I set up an in game photography competition within my guild. Very simple, it’s 20s per picture, one picture per person and the winner takes the pot.” [Raphia: H/T to Rubi for the link.]
  • Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: Glitching in Guild Wars 2. “Last week was crazily newsy in the world of Guild Wars 2. One might even call it newsilicious. Between a look at the next handful of months, an announcement about guesting and paid world transfers, and a developer livestream about rewards, WvW, and other stuff, last week was just ridiculously full of information.”
  • Reddit — So you finally hit 80? Before you post, read here! “We see a lot of “I hit 80. Now what?” posts. They’re legitimate questions, but the frequent posters on this site sure do get sick of answering the same question over and over. So here is what you can do post 80″
  • MiniGameReviews.com — The World of Tyria is Your Oyster (Guild Wars 2) Part 2. “In the last article we talked about Tyria itself, and how the game creates an immersive environment. This time we’re going to focus in on the story inside the setting.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Flame and Frost Preview. “Each month ArenaNet has a nice web page detailing in easy-to-chew form what is to be expected from that month’s update. For the end of January, Guild Wars 2 is getting Flame and Frost: Prelude. The earth and sky are the enemy in this one, which have led to norn and charr refugees streaming in from Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau. With that in mind, the concept art wallpaper for this update looked like norn refugees. I am not sure where people got Cantha, although having a horse in Guild Wars 2 concept art is a tad interesting. No mounts anyway, says ArenaNet as they chalk up the errant horse to “art”.”
  • Reddit — The Mother of All Jumping Puzzles is coming!!! “It seems that Josh Foreman the creator of the Mad King Clock Tower from Halloween patch is working on a new jumping puzzle that will feature different levels of difficulty from “baby to I Want To Be the Guy Insanity” as he says, even calling it the Mother of All Jumping Puzzles.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Riches — Flame and Frost Prelude. “We don’t get much time between big events finishing and new ones being hyped in Tyria. Not that I think that’s something worth complaining about! Today sees the first teaser, the prelude, for Flame and Frost – the beginning of a series of events that’ll change the world we game in.”
  • Black Lions Profit — Flame & Frost: Prelude. “With the end of Wintersday it was only a matter of time before ArenaNet announced their next project for Tyria. Flame & Frost, the prologue to a multi-stage narrative that will bring big changes to GW2 in the months to come.”
  • The Egg Baron — January Patch ~ Flame and Frost Prelude. “I am going to hold off on the discussion I started yesterday on wealth growth, and instead I am going to discuss the news posted on the Guild Wars 2 main site. If you haven’t seen the post already, head over and check it out. It details Arena Nets plans for the January patch and story. Today I will summarize the changes we know are coming in the January patch.”
  • Black Lions Profit — 10 markets in 10 days: #4. “Oranges have sat at an all time low over the past three weeks, trading at a paltry 21 copper compared to the 55 copper it was sold for previously. When people realise that there is a lot of chef recipes requiring oranges & karma ingredients, I foresee the orange returning to its former glory.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Underestimated Volume of Sales. “When you look at the above screen shot of Vital Bronze Plated Inscription, what do you see? Do you see 19 silver in profit? I sure do! That was just one market that I played last night because it was trading for almost three time the highest buy order. Anytime that is happening, even if it’s a few copper, I am totally playing for keeps.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Speed Leveling with Crafting – Guides and Shopping Lists. “Recently while leveling up a new character, I was looking for a way to get the job done faster. Sure the game is fast enough, but if you’ve seen the content you want to hit max level as fast as possible. There are many methods to speed leveling, from running the Centaur Loop in western Kessex Hills at lower levels, to grinding NPCs in the WvW Borderlands. But nothing is as fast as crafting your way to success.”
  • Lopez IRL — Tyrian Times: Approaching Endgame in Guild Wars 2. “It’s common to see players complain about endgame in Guild Wars 2. Too common, in fact. It’s true Guild Wars 2 does not have the type of gear grind seen in other MMORPGs, but the game actually has a lot of endgame content.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — Market Patterns. “Even without the use of super helpful tools like GW2 Spidy, I am beginning to see plenty of patterns in the market. There is quite a distinction in trade and volume for the weekend as MMO weekend warriors have heavy impact on the market. There is plenty of money to be made by flipping items, and it really does require just a couple of minutes a day.”
  • Dragon Season — A song of Flame and Frost. “How ya doing folks? I wish a Happy 2013 to all of our lovely readers. I bet this is going to be a fantastic year for every Guild Wars 2 fan out there, judging by what Colin “the smile” Johanson had in store for us last week.”
  • MiniGameReviews.com — The World of Tyria is Your Oyster (Guild Wars 2) Part 3. “So we’ve talked about story and setting, now to discuss the action of the game, because there wouldn’t be a game without gameplay.”
  • The Orr Orator — LABOR NEWS COULD HINDER BACKPACK SALES.
  • The Orr Orator — PRICES SKYROCKET AFTER MAGICAL SUPPLY FAERIES DISAPPEAR.
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Guild Wars 2 Jeweler Leveling Guide 0-400. “Jewel crafting isn’t a particularly cheap crafting profession (though this guide costs as little as 3g in total) the joy of Jewel Crafting however is the knowledge that it can be a very lucrative craft to have, but will also serve all your characters well at level 80.”
  • Black Lions Profit — 10 markets in 10 days: #5. “The Superior Sigil of Blood is an expensive item to flip, however there is a good amount of profit in them.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — 6 Month Investment. “I believe that holiday tonics will follow the pattern of what happened for the Endless Halloween Tonic. Endless Toy Maker’s Tonic is around 30 gold buy out currently, but the one from Halloween is up to 230 gold buy out! If I’m right, then the Endless Toy Maker’s Tonic will go up within a few months as well.”
  • Twitter — Desbreko145. “So how many hundreds of exotics am I expected to throw down the Mystic Toilet before it clogs and spits a precursor back up?”
  • MiniGameReviews.com — The World of Tyria is Your Oyster (Guild Wars 2) Part 4. “In the last article we talked about combat and the skills and traits you make use of with your character. This time we’re going to talk about play balance.”
  • Guild Wars Temple — Dragon Timer. [Raphia: I was reminded by Wyrm's Horde, (an old ally from GW1) that I hadn't linked to the Guild Wars Temple's Dragon Timer page. This link goes to the Darkhaven page, but you can find the timers for your server here.]
  • The Orr Orator — ONLOOKERS TRY TO SAVE MALCHOR FROM HIMSELF.
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — Guild Wars 2 Huntsman Leveling Guide 0-400. “Becoming a Huntsman is more expensive than the guides I’ve produced previously but it is notably quicker because of it. It’s also possible to recoup some of the initial outlay of money from the weapons you craft, to then sell back to the vendor or to list/salvage on the Trading Post.”
  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — The Calm Before the Flame and the Frost. “I logged in today for my daily dose of doing my dailies in Guild Wars 2 and it struck me just how much I want the new achievement system to be in place. I don’t think anyone would say the currently daily achievement system is their favorite part of the game, but the recent reveal of the new system has really highlighted just how lacking the current implementation is.”
  • Black Lions Profit — 10 markets in 10 days: #6. “I am sure a lot of traders already know that crafting components are big business in the Flipping world. Many players are lazy and would rather buy pre-crafted components from the Trading Post and not spend the extra time required to craft them themselves.”
  • MiniGameReviews.com — The World of Tyria is Your Oyster (Guild Wars 2) Part 5. “The final part of our 5 part PvE Journey through Tyria. Last time we talked about scaling and multiplayer versus solo play. This time we’re going into detail on the last customization category as far as character development goes, the crafting professions.”
  • Of Course I’ll Play It — Keepin’ it Fresh – GW2 Dual Sword Mesmer Build. “There have been a ton of exciting news announcements and things going on – especially with respect to Guild Wars 2 – I’ve just been too tired to lazy to get off my duff and write about them. And too, I was feeling a bit of gamer malaise. I took some time off from Guild Wars 2, just because I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do next with Syrene – my level 80 mesmer. But after dabbling in a few other games, I came back, and came to the realization I’d been playing this scepter & sword phantasm build for like – forever. Maybe it was time to change things up a bit.”

Videos and podcasts

Fanfic

  • The Mystfell Journals — Entry 4: Tracks in the Mud. “I started early. When dawn crept over the hills, a sacred wolf nuzzled my face, whining to let me know it was time. I splashed my face in the river and bode the shaman and wolves farewell. In the morning haze, birds were beginning their daily chorus, all chiming in creating an enchanting song. But as beautiful as it was, my mind had to be on tracking the minotaur Spirit.”
  • Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 4: Blasted Skritt. “The skritt lead us deeper into their dark tunnels. The rocky path twisted and turned so erratically that I quickly lost track of my metal map. The deeper we descended the quicker my heart drummed, and I couldn’t help but grasp Stalk’s fur with my sweaty hands.”
  • FanFiction.net — Machinations of Terror. “Rachit pulled his bulky coat tighter, and the fur lined hood down lower to the tops of his large golden eyes, as another terrible shiver wracked through his small frame. Huddling inside his slightly overlarge clothing as best he could, Rachit desperately tried to hold on to every iota of heat he still had. Like most Asura, having been born and raised in a tropical jungle and having descended from a people who until recently lived their whole lives underground, the biting cold of the Shiverpeak mountains in winter was not an environment that Rachit felt he was well suited for.”

Community Events

  • Guild Wars 2 Hub — 10 Gold Giveaway. “We’re kicking off another 10 Gold Giveaway today! In this weeks giveaway, all we want to know is what, if anything, you would change about Guild Wars 2. It can be absolutely anything, whether its specific dungeon encounters, certain skill sets, or just the fact the Polymock arena isn’t working. Those who present the best justifications for their requests for change, will be handsomely rewarded. As always, please post your suggestions in the comments below with the closing date for entries the 31st January. Good luck!”
  • GWOnline.net — December Update. “The deadline for Decembers events have been extended to Midnight on 31st January (UTC) (excludes Monthly Achievement Race).”
  • The Sanctum of Rall — The Great Tyrian Adventure. “The Gaiscioch Family and RaidCall are pleased to announce their next public community adventure coming February 2013 to the Sanctum of Rall server in Guild Wars 2. From the team that brought you the “Battle For Badlands” in Warhammer Online and the “Telara Saga” in RIFT. This new 26-week adventure is titled “The Great Tyrian Adventure” is broken into five chapters covering the stories of the five races of Guild Wars 2.”
  • GW2 Guru — Community Playdate: Metrica Province. “Level an alt, tackle the jumping puzzle, shoot for map completion, or just hang back and play some Golem Chess with your friends and fellow forumites. Our introductory guesting party aims to fill zones to the brim with players looking to have a good time. If you can’t make the start, don’t worry about it! Just stop in whenever you can and soak in the action. Remember, you can only guest to two servers within a 24 hour period, so if you aren’t on Jade Quarry, make sure you save a slot for the event.”
  • Kill Ten Rats — [GW2] Signed Collector’s Edition Contest! “A great thing is in my presence. A beautiful thing that will, not for long, stand beside my desk. It is a sealed Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition signed by ArenaNet devs, and I have the sworn duty of giving it to a lucky soul according to my mad whims.”
  • YouTube — Talons Umbra: From Progeny to Preceptor: A Guild Wars 2 Event. “The event will take place in Metrica Provence this Saturday 1/26 at 5pm CST. Bring your asura and look for Chacha, Little Hats, or someone with an ACO tag!
    Follow Chacha and Little Hats as they protect Metrica Province. There will be stops, where everyone who does what Chacha commands is entered to win a raffle to win Mini Golems, Mystic Coins, Ecto and more! If Chacha or Little Hats get downed, everyone has to take a drink! (Milk is preferred if you’re under 21). Everyone in attendance is entered to win a raffle for 15 Gold! At the end of the event, Chacha will have a fashion contest in Lion’s Arch, where you can win Unidentified Dyes! Check us out at www.acolytescommunity.com The event will start in Metrica Province, right outside the Asura Gate on the Jade Quarry server.”
  • Under the Pale Tree — Welcome and a Giveaway! “Yes, that is a Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition. Yes, it is signed by the team. This thing is covered in signatures. It is amazing. And it can be yours! How? Simple. We are going to be holding an art contest. I have always loved the art contests held by ArenaNet, and I was sad that there wasn’t a Wintersday Guild Wars 2 contest this year. I also was a winner of one of the previous GW art contests. So in that spirit, that’s how I shall rehome this CE!”

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).