I re-learned an old lesson about playing when I’m too tired. I was working with a party of guild members to get to the start of the Arah dungeon. We took rather a long time to do it, so one of our officers had to call it a night before we started the dungeon. He logged off, and we started looking for another player to fill the open spot in our party. However, instead of kicking Grey from our party, I accidentally kicked him from the guild (why is that available from the party UI?) … and I wondered why his blank image hadn’t dropped from the party. Then, and only then did I realize the mistake I’d made.

I immediately re-invited him back to the guild and made sure my fellow guild leaders knew what an idiot I was what had happened so someone could explain to Grey why he’d been kicked out of the guild when he got back online. After all that, we went on with a non-guild member to kick Zhaitan’s scaly butt…

Since then, every time I log in, Grey and the other officers spend some time joking about my “Golden Boot”.

Thanks again to ArenaNet Community Managers for retweeting last week’s round-up. Still didn’t take our site down! Nyah! Nyah! [Dodge incoming laser of death...]

• Official Guild Wars 2 news
• Recent GuildMag posts
• Fan articles and blog posts
• Videos and podcasts
• Fanfic
• Community events

Official Guild Wars 2 news

• GuildWars2.com — Dynamic Leveling Adjustment. “Hello, I’m Isaiah Cartwright, the lead game designer for Guild Wars 2. I’d like to talk today about some changes we made to our dynamic leveling system, which allows players to enjoy the content on any map at any level. We had a few issues with this system that we made adjustments to. When high-level characters played in lower level zones, they were a bit too powerful, so the content was not as challenging as it could be. As a result of this, we also scaled down the rewards a bit too much.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Jason King posted on the topic Getting stuck in the map/seeing map art issues?: “Thank you to everyone who has submitted art bugs in the past! In order to help keep these issues organized, each month we will be creating a new thread for these so that it does not grow to an unmanageable size. Please do not resubmit bugs if you have already posted about them in a previous art thread as we will have already seen them and added them to our bug database. Thank you!” [Raphia: Hat-tip to Tilion for the link.]
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Mélanie Corolleur posted on the topic Sales on the Gem store between 4th and 10th of February: “Hello All, We will be having a sale in the Gem Store from Monday February 4th through Sunday February 10th PST. The following items will be on sale…”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Jonathan Sharp posted on the topic Temple of the Silent Storm test extended: “Hey guys! Just letting you know that our testing of Temple of the Silent Storm (and 1 team vs. 1 team) has been a great success! We’re pleased to announce that we will be extending this test another week, as it has proven to be very popular among players. Watch for more information about this in an official blog post later this week!”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Jason King posted on the topic Ranger laurel box giving non-ranger gear: “In order to prevent players from encountering this bug while we work on a fix, we’ve disabled the Ranger chest from being opened for the time being. You will still be able to purchase the chest, but you will not be able to open it (and get weapons that you can’t use). As soon as we have a fix for this bug, we will make the chest accessible again. Thank you for your patience and understanding!”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Colin Johanson posted on the topic Upcoming WvW Updates: “I wanted to quickly give an update on where we stand with upcoming releases for WvW to help give a sense of where we’re at, and set expectations for the coming months. We’re in the midst of finalizing our February release, which I know had been discussed as a potentially large month for WvW additions. Because of how broad the WvW game type is, and how large testing for features for this area of the game can be we’re going to hold off on any major WvW updates until March to allow a bit more time to test and polish.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Josh Foreman posted on the topic Jumping Puzzles as Norn and Charr: “Here’s how it worked. I started putting little jumping challenges into my maps several years ago. About a year and a half ago Colin and a couple other designers decided that these were fun enough to turn into some kind of bonus content. About a year ago all the other map artists were told to put a bonus jumping challenge or two in all their maps. We were in our polish phase and these were never intended to be anything more than small diversions for people who like platforming. Not a lot of time was dedicated to this because it was seen almost as Easter Eggs. Just fun little hidden places to discover. As such, JPs were never advertised as primary content, never included in world complete, never required for any story step, and never containing loot that could not be obtained elsewhere.”
• GuildWars2.com — Upcoming Changes to PvP Tournaments. “Hello, everybody! I’m Tyler Bearce, one of the game designers on Guild Wars 2. Thank you for participating in Temple of the Silent Storm Week, where PvP paid tournaments were temporarily changed from 8-team, 3-round events, to 2-team, single round matches. So far, the response to this change has been overwhelmingly positive!”
• GuildWars2.com — Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm. “The situation worsens for the citizens of Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau. Volunteers have eased the burden, but more refugees hobble down from the Shiverpeaks. The storm there gains momentum, but the forces of good are beginning to rally. They’re sending their heroes to defend the land and its peoples. Someone must hold back the gathering storm. In Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm, the second installment in this four-part series, the stakes are raised, and battles rage, in the foothills of the Shiverpeaks.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Habib Loew posted on the topic Update: No WvW Rating Reset: “We’ve been keeping a very close watch on this week’s matchups and, despite our concerns regarding the recent population shifts, it seems that many of the games are quite competitive. At the same time we’ve been evaluating some possible changes to the math we use to calculate ratings. After examining a number of new methodologies for weighting the outcomes of matches we have found that our existing formulas already do pretty much what we want them to do. Certainly none of the candidates that we tried yielded better results.”
• YouTube — arenanetofficial: Guild Wars 2 Audio Team Makes a Fireball. “With the help of a custom-built fireball, ArenaNet sound designer Drew Cady records audio for fire sound effects in Guild Wars 2.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Mark Katzbach posted on the topic Updates to the Forum +1 System: “If you read or post on our official forums, you may have noticed the +1 button next to each post. Recently, we have updated this system with more features and visibility for you, the players. You can find the full forum update notes here. This post is to familiarize you all with the new features in our +1 system and how they affect you.”

Recent GuildMag posts

• You Shall Not Pass – Fighting With One Hand. “The first weapon you receive as a guardian is a simple mace, a cracked piece of metal on a stick that you wield to strike back at the dark forces that threaten your home. Even when you are face-to-face with Zhaitan in mortal combat, a guardian will always want a simple mace, scepter or sword ready for battle. One-handed weapons are your bread and butter, allowing you to mix damage, support, and control abilities with those of the off-handed weapons to match any situation you run into with a single item slot.”

Fan articles and blog posts

• Under the Pale Tree — Earning your laurels. “So this week, we got a pretty big update in Guild Wars 2. The biggest part of the update was guesting being added in, but there were a lot of other changes – dungeons being changed a bit (no more graveyard rushing!), fractals were updated to prevent disconnects ending a run and so you can do levels higher than you are, and daily achievements were reworked.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Zedex posted on the topic My first impressions of Guild Wars 2: “Hello guys! First of all, my name is Fred and I just came from the game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. I wanted to give you a few impressions of the game. I’m not sure why, but I believe some of you might be interested. If you guys tried Sw:tor, please let me know what you think about your switch.”
• Reddit — I’m starting a “75% Legendary Support Group” for all those who just need a precursor. “Welcome. Grab a cup of coffee and take a seat. My name is Cain Thornblood and I am a 75%er. (Hi Cain) Well, I guess I proud of what I’ve done so far. I mean, collecting those ectos and lodestones was no easy task. And the clovers! Man, those got me down some days but I made it though and got my 77 (small applause). Most days I still have a pretty good time. I mean I can do CoF like the back of my hand now! (slight laughter). And the new dailies are fun, they keep me busy for a while. But other days… Other days I make the mistake of checking the TP and seeing how much Dusk has gone up.” [Raphia: Hat tip to Hunter for the link.]
• GuildWars GuideSpot — Welcome to Guild Wars 2 Guide. “Welcome to one of the best webpages that can help you find everything you need to about this great MMORPG called Guild Wars 2. No matter if you are an advanced player, or just a starter, this Guild Wars 2 Intro page can lead you to various pages that are full of information.”
• Twitter — LopezIRL. “It’s kind of funny how I never saw “Too many resurrectors” until this patch.” [Raphia: We also have a bit of a perverse incentive to delay helping NPCs and even other players before they're downed.]
• Under the Pale Tree — The Economics of Legendaries. “Lately a lot of things have got me thinking about economics. The first of which is that in real world USA, it’s tax season, and I can’t leave my house or watch 20 minutes of TV without being reminded that I have some paperwork to do. But this recent Guild Wars 2 patch brought it around to my gaming life in a new way.”
• Massively — One Shots: 100% Guild Wars 2. “Yes, we know that Guild Wars 2 is a gorgeous and popular game. Why do we know this? Because week after week, One Shots has been swamped with GW2 submissions, far outstripping almost every other game submission put together. That’s not a bad thing, as I agree that it’s a lovely title that has an immense amount of eye candy. It just makes it difficult when I’m limiting One Shots to one-picture-per-game-per-column.”
• The Egg Baron — Laurels and Daily Achievements. “Today I would like to quickly go over the new Laurel system and what it offers to the players. I can not talk about the Laurel system without getting into the new daily achievements so I will also discuss those. I will also provide my thoughts on these new systems and how I think they will impact the game.”
• Black Lions Profit — Question: Any tips on a good market area for a new trader? “Today I received an email from one of our readers asking for a tip on what markets they could invest in as a new trader.”
• The Orr Orator — GRIEVING THE LOSS OF INCOME
• The Orr Orator — DOLYAKS MEAN BUSINESS
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — What’s the Secret to Making Gold? “So what is the secret to making gold in Guild Wars 2? It’s all about your attitude. No, I’m not trying to dodge the question: What’s the Secret to Making Gold? I’m actually giving you an honest answer that applies to the rest of your life as well. If you’ve ever dedicated yourself to a hobby or job, you’ll know that having a positive, aggressive attitude does wonders for making you better at whatever it is you’re doing.”
• The Egg Baron — This week in Guild Wars 2. “Every week on Friday, GuildMag rounds up all the community articles into one big post on their site. Here on my blog I like to pick out my favourite articles of the week to share with you and add in a couple of my own links. This week had a lot of information about the latest patch released on January 28th but there were also a steady stream of articles on other topics.”
• Malefic Incantations — Flame and Frost Impressions. “This week marks the release of Guild Wars 2′s first major update of the year, Flame and Frost: Prelude, which promises to lay the groundwork for bigger updates throughout the first half of the year. Between both GW1 and GW2 ArenaNet has quite the reputation to live up to when it comes to major patches–arguably, one they have betrayed once already. As a patch that’s supposed to set the stage for what’s to come, the long-term implications of Flame and Frost are pretty important. Does it follow through on its promises? Read on for my take on the new content and features.”
• Of Course I’ll Play It — Victory at Last. “So it’s been only, what, six months now since the game has released, and just last night I finally finished my personal story with one of my characters. I gathered four brave companions.. okay two brave companions and two complete strangers, but still, five of us ventured into the lost city of Arah, and took the fight to Zhaitan himself. The ensuing experience was both extraordinarily gratifying while at the same time somewhat disappointing.”
• The Centaur’s Satchel — It’s ALIIIIIVEEEE! “I’m still here. I’ve just been busy…playing. Heh. I had to planned to write a ton but school tends to suck the life out of me (and all my writing motivation). Also, I’m completely addicted to Guild Wars 2. The game is phenomenal. It does have bugs and there are things I don’t agree with or things that could be improved, but overall, I feel like this game is absolutely fantastic. Bugs and all. It’s the best MMO I have ever played.”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Are you over looking the obvious? “Whenever I’m solving a bug in computer code, I tend to hit walls where I say something like “This has to work, why isn’t this working?” The same verbiage is said by people who are failing to make gold on the trading post. “This has to sell, why isn’t it selling?”"
• The Orr Orator — THE GROVE BECOMES CAPITAL OF DEBAUCHERY
• Inventory Full — A Sunday Morning Stroll Through Orr. “Since Monday’s update I’ve been meaning to take a trip down to Orr. I hear it got a makeover. Adjusted population density, improved loot, reduced crowd-control abilities and new animations for the Risen, the works. Probably trimmed Zhaitan’s claws while they were about it, keep the old boy looking fresh.”
• Why I Game — GW2: The City in the Sea – Verse 1. “I am liking the laurels and the new varied dailies. It has given me a reason to log in every day, and also guilt-free logging off after an hour or two once the daily is done. I am liking the Living Story (so far). It gives me a reason to go back to my race hometown to check in with the herald and makes things more immersive thereby. (I know Lion’s Arch has ‘em too, but nah…) It moves at a less hectic pace than one day events, so I don’t feel like I’m going to miss anything if I forget to log in for a day or two.” [Raphia: Hat-tip to Bhagpuss of Inventory Full for the link.]
• Why I Game — GW2: The City in the Sea – Verse 2. “This one’s for Syl, cos she loves this stuff. Sorry it took this long to do another. I was waiting to make sure I didn’t spoil Orr for slower levelers. Really! Honest! *hem*
  Verse 3 and 4 tomorrow. Y’all must be pictured out by now.”
• Why I Game — GW2: The City in the Sea – Verse 3.
• Why I Game — GW2: The City in the Sea – Verse 4 (and Final). “Because Orr is Orr-some. And Poe is da Poe-t. P.S. If you’re reading this in a reader which doesn’t show the Featured Image of each post, do check them out if you liked what you saw. Those were my last four chances to put in what looked great to me but didn’t quite fit the poem.”
• Nerdy Bookahs — Diessa Plateau in Ascalon. “Diessa Plateau is a typical charr region. There are lots of trees and the region is full of bright autumn colours. Then there’s the ruins that are typical for the regions of Ascalon. They remind the travellers that at some point, humans were living here. And in between, there’s newly built charr houses, barracks, and towers. They have a very distinct architecture with lots of shiny metal. Oddly enough, I do not think they look like out of place at all. Even with the pretty nature, they buildings fit into the scenery. Some of their buildings have a foundation of stone that comes out of the ground seamlessly.”
• Healing the masses — Rise of the Quaggan. “Has any else noticed a large part percentage of players sporting these ridiculous yet adorable backpacks.”
• Distilled Willpower — The Lazy Legendary Guide – Part 2 – Gift of Exploration. “Your Gift of Exploration is, in my experience, the part of the legendary process which is most enjoyable. It involves exploring the world, doing all the heart quests, catching all the skill points, viewing all the vistas and uncovering all the waypoints and points of interest across the entire map. It is the one part of the legendary process which you will probably have completed about 50% by the time you’re even considering starting going for a the much longer term legendary goal. It is also one of the only strictly plus-wealth parts of the legendary process (meaning you can’t pay anyone in-game to do it for you, you can only make money doing it yourself).”
• Kill Ten Rats — Beautiful Things. “I’ve always been enamored by the Orr zones in Guild Wars 2. It portrays the whole “epic civilization that was lost” feeling so well. At nearly any point I can turn around and see the ruins of a humongous structure. Trying to imagine it as it once was feels impossible. It feels like I cannot fully appreciate that-which-once-was.”
• The Egg Baron — Skill Points to Gold Spreadsheet Update. “I recently released a spreadsheet that calculates the expected return you could expect to receive when promoting crafting materials from one tier to another. I am happy to announce that I am ready to share the newest version of this spreadsheet with my readers. This spreadsheet is the culmination of the work I did writing blog posts about promoting common crafting materials, fine crafting materials, rare crafting materials, and piles of dust through the mystic forge. The new sheet has a number of new features, such as, a simplified view, Tier 1 – 5 Rare Crafting Materials, faster updates, and an update log.”
• The Orr Orator — PUBLIC NOTICE FOR RATA SUM VISITORS
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Don’t Forget Your Leveling Experiences. “There are lessons to be learned the first time you play any video game. I’m talking about whenever you’re thrown to the wolves and have no idea how to overcome an obstacle. We’ll turn to Google, forums, blogs like this one, etc because the game’s creator did not provide enough instruction both inside and outside of the game.”
• The Egg Baron — Mystic Binding Agent. “News of people purchasing the Mystic Binding Agents has started to come in on the forums. The word is that they work as I predicted: one Mystic Binding Agent to replaces one Elonian Wine in the Rare Materials promotion formula. Today I would like to discuss the consequences for using these item and discuss whether they are worth buying.”
• Twitter — shadowfoxza. “Sailor Moon and her fellow team-mates spotted in Lion’s Arch. http://t.co/ZS3zxPa8 For Love and Justice!!” [Raphia: This was the first of many links I saw to these images.]
• Massively — NCsoft earnings report shows healthy growth. “NCsoft just released its fourth quarter 2012 earnings report, and things are looking pretty good across the board for the multi-MMO company. NCsoft’s earnings are up both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year due to the releases of Blade & Soul and Guild Wars 2, not to mention “record-breaking annual revenues” from Lineage.”
• Kill Ten Rats — The Daily Review. “I have been doing the daily achievement pretty much every day since their laureate inception. Actually I’ve been doing it on two accounts (though not every day on both) since I picked up one for $30 on Amazon awhile back. Eventually that will be my girls account, but laurels are a good source of gold. Throughout the week there are 5 achievements pulled. Today it is one set of five, tomorrow it is another. I am going to review the individual achievements through the lens of my playtime.”
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Gold Wars 2. “It isn’t often that I’ll promote something that costs our readers money. In this instance however, I’m willing to make an exception.”
• Black Lions Profit — Black Lion Trading Company Sale now on! (Gems). “If you are following Guild Wars 2 on Facebook then you will have notice that they mentioned their latest Gem store Sale!”
• The Orr Orator — DO THE COLORFUL CRIME, DO THE COLORFUL TIME
• The Orr Orator — AND THE WINNER IS…
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Learning to Quit Certain Markets. “I’ve noticed something recently in the markets I’m not playing anymore. I used to be a pretty regular ecto salvager. But over time the process of winning bids on items worth salvaging has become tedious and too time consuming.”
• Reddit — My 4 year old son playing Guild Wars 2 (WvWvW). “This is the second episode featuring my 4 year old son Ryan. A few people doubted that it was a four year old playing so this is to satisfy them :) If anyone has any suggestions of content they would like to see him attempt then let me know.” [Raphia: That was around the age my son discovered online gaming. Of course, he didn't want to play anything age-appropriate either: his favourite game was DOOM (he called it "the gun game"). Hat-tip to Phil, the Egg Baron.]
• Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: Flame and Frost. “Well, my goodness! We’ve got a week of the Flame and Frost prelude patch behind us, and what a week it’s been! The patch notes for this sucker were impressive; for a relatively minor patch, the Flame and Frost prelude brought in a lot of tweaks and updates. I’m kind of glad for that, as quality of life additions were top on my list for hopes for Guild Wars 2 in 2013. I’m very pleased with ArenaNet for shoring up the content that’s already out rather than leaving it be in the rush to get out new content.”
• Dragon Season — Looking forward. “Even before January’s patch reached our clients I admit I had cast doubt on the way ArenaNet is going to utilize the period of time between this update and the next one. There are lots of players these days in game that have already reached their long term goals such as the acquisition of a Legendary weapon, while others just struggle everyday by repeatedly running dungeons over and over again in order to do so. A content-free update may sound like a step back of what’s been promised so far, but does that necessarily mean that there’s no fun included?”
• Dragon Blogger — Enhanced Daily Achievement System with Guild Wars 2 Update. “I have been a huge Guild Wars 2 fan and this is primarily the game that takes up most of my time on nights and weekends when I get a few hours to play. Guild Wars 2 recently released and update that revamped the Daily Achievements system to make it more dynamic, random and also added a separate new currency called the Laurel with new currency vendors scattered throughout the cities of Tyria to collect and cash in.”
• Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 WvW Patch Delayed To March. “By now, you’ve probably heard that the February game update for Guild Wars 2 will be focused on world vs. world improvements. As it turns out, the WvW patch is being delayed until March. Colin Johanson announced the push back in a forum post where he explained, “Because of how broad the WvW game type is, and how large testing for features for this area of the game can be we’re going to hold off on any major WvW updates until March to allow a bit more time to test and polish.””
• GW2BuildCraft — PvE Gear Calculator. “The main aim of this site is to provide an easy way to test out different equipments and see how it affect the attributes of your characters. A secondary aim is to facilitate build discussions by allowing players to weight the damage vs. survivability tradeoff of different builds.” [Raphia: Hat-tip to Guild Wars 2 Hub for the link.]
• Gamebreaker.tv — The Gathering Storm Coming To Guild Wars 2 On February 26. “The next update for Guild Wars 2 is slated for February 26 and ArenaNet has given us a juicy preview of things to come. The four-part Flame & Frost story arc will continue in this patch and we’re urged to prepare for what’s being called the Gathering Storm”
• Reddit — Any one else love when the wild life attacks other wild life? “Example: I am minding my business harvesting a tree next to a jungle worm when an annoying spider comes up to attack me (the little bugger) and when it attacks me it hits the worm next to me and the worm is just like AW HELL NO and they start having a battle with each other until the worm inevitably kills the spider! Tldr; Any one love that the wildlife responds to other wild life attacking it?”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — I Spend 20,000 Silver Per Day On… “Recently I had an email from someone who wanted to know if they were on the right “path” with the Guild Wars 2 trading post. He asked me to point him on the right path if his current ideas weren’t the right way to play the marketplace.”
• The Orr Orator — NEWS BITES
• The Orr Orator — HELP THIN THE RABBIT POPULATION
• The Orr Orator — HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MINION
• Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 Expansion Coming In Second Half Of 2013? “Time for your monthly update on all things NCSoft from our good friends at Korean investment firm, KDB Daewoo Securities — and they’ve got a doozy of a proclamation this time. Last month’s report hinted at a Q3/Q4 2013 surge in profits, which we speculated as being related to a Guild Wars 2 expansion in the latter half of the year, an impression KDB representatives may have received after visiting NCSoft’s Korean offices.”
• Healing the masses — Waiting for more Wuv Wuv. “Well it looks like we will not be seeing this grand massive Wuv Wuv update that will reinvigorate everyone and let joyous carnage ensue will not be released this month and is instead being pushed back to March. There is a part of me that understands how development goes, delays, bugs and such are standard and that you just shrug your shoulder keep playing or leave.”
• Why I Game — GW2: Living the Living Story. “I remember the first day I logged in to the Living Story. It was all rushrushrush. Read mail. Check Achievements bar, aha, 75 event-related things to do! Teleport to hometown, chat up the heralds, get pointed to the two zones in question. Quick teleport to Diessa Plateau, run about, see a star on the map, find a Memento Collector. Find a sign post. Fix it. Screenshot it for later decoding. (Still haven’t gotten round to it. Prolly says something like Safety or Refuge, maybe.)”
• Black Lions Profit — Question: Crafting for Profit in Guild Wars 2. “Today I received an email from one of the Black Lions Profit community members, Jacob. Enquiring about our “Crafting for profit” technique, one of the techniques to be featured in our Guild Wars 2 Gold Guide.”
• Lopez IRL — The Economics of Video Games. “John Smith is a game developer at ArenaNet, but his role in the Guild Wars 2 team has not taken the form of a typical designer. Smith does not handle combat, bosses, dungeons or map design. His focus is economics. Smith is part of a growing trend in the games industry that favors analytics and expert opinions over anecdotes and instinct. Companies like ArenaNet, Valve and Zynga have long touted their numbers-driven approach to game design. By collecting massive amounts of data from players, these companies have been able to respond to issues and concerns more quickly and with better targets.”

Videos and podcasts

• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Utility Belt: The Frost Gun. “Want to be a bad ass rifle wielding Tyrian regardless of your profession? Save a space on the old utility belt for this little pretty!”
• YouTube — magicalmike2: Warrior PvE Balanced Shout Build. “Oh man, the last time I did a warrior build video was early November! This was actually recorded before the Karka event, but I never had a good time to upload it. I still use the build occasionally but not so much nowadays. So, this is based on greatsword or axe/any, usually with a rifle in the second set just in case you want to range. I consider this build as a sort of middle-ground between tanky and full dps, offering a decent amount of damage with your might stacks and a good amount of support and healing with the shouts. If you want to practice a melee character and you’re not used to it, this is pretty forgiving even with no healing power. Also, the shouts were nerfed to only affect 5 people a long time ago, but they’re still good.”
• YouTube — Dontain: Guild Wars 2 | The Volunteer – Living Story Pt.1. “I’m seriously stoked about Living Story. I want to be blown away and I think it’s a possibility.”
• YouTube — MattVisual: Guild Wars 2 Dose: Flame & Frost Prelude + Thoughts.
• Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 Living Story Detailed. “ArenaNet’s narrative designer, Angel McCoy, wrote a blog post yesterday giving us details about the living story that was introduced into Guild Wars 2 in the January update. The living story is a series of dynamic events that introduce a storyline that will continue to play out over the course of several months.”
• Guild Wars Reporter Episode 46 – Patching the Patchwork Patch. “Chris and Celeste are trying to be enthusiastic but the truth is we’d rather be in game and exploring the new Flame and Frost: Prelude patch.”
• YouTube — JamesPBUK: Guild Wars 2 – Moments Suspended In Time. “A short video consisting of animated still frames. Each scene is a screenshot which has than been edited and animated, they showcase different areas of the game and using particle systems I added to the atmosphere. There are lots of little extras in the video involving animation in the background, I hope you like it.” [Raphia: Hat-tip to Ravious of Kill Ten Rats for the link.]
• YouTube — Phasestrikes: Guild Wars 2: Chronicles of Fate 29 “Source Of Orr Finale”. “It all comes down to this. Finally getting rid of the corruption in Orr. It’s been a very long road and who knows where it will end. But at least the final nails in the coffin are being placed right now.”
• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Let’s Play GW2 – EP29, Stag. “Today I sat down and recorded about two and a half hours of the LP. Will be sending it out in chunks over the next few days! But first, we meet up with our deer friend Gavin. (Deer friend! geddit?)”
• Gamebreaker.tv — Mandatory Password Change Coming To Guild Wars 2. “Back in September ArenaNet founder Mike O’Brien wrote a lengthy blog post regarding account security in Guild Wars 2. He explained how hackers steal accounts, explained best practices for keeping your information secure, and described the various authentication plans that they were employing. He also revealed that they had blacklisted over 20 million passwords that were being used against their login servers and potentially stolen from other databases. This reduced their hacked account rate from 1.5% to 0.1%. Mr. O’Brien also urged players to change their passwords to something unique to their Guild Wars 2 account and in the future they may force a mandatory password change for those that haven’t.”
• RavenKast 14: Server Transfers and Doing My Daily. “This is Ravenkast, episode fourteen, recorded on Friday, February 1st, 2013. On the show today we have… Aberrant, Slurms, & Zeli. What’chu been doing this week?”
• Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Guildcenter. “Join us as we discuss the imminent changes to WvW as well as we discuss the current state of the game and what we’d do to fix it!”
• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Utility Belt: 25 Bleed/Vuln Stacks for Free. “This time we’re looking at the depleted power crystal. Great item, I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. The first 5 mins explains what the item is, and the rest of the video demonstrates how to get it. Enjoy! Also it should be noted that I am using a sigil of doom, which is where you’re seeing the poison come from (and I burn on crit). Those conditions, though, aren’t responsible for very much of the damage you’re seeing here at all. (One crystal deals over 10,000 damage).”
• YouTube — Rylis: [TWIT] Ranger CoF Run! “We decided that we needed to do an all-Ranger run of the Citadel of Flames. Other than failing at getting across the boulder room (normally we don’t suck at it, I swear), it went as well as our normal runs, and was about the same speed. Go [TWIT]!”
• YouTube — Phasestrikes: Guild Wars 2: Chronicles of Fate 30 “Enter Claw of Jormag”. “Fate’s back after a little break to take on Jormag the Claw. We make him bow down and take a ice bath after beating up his toes.”
• YouTube — psychuil: The Bifrost. “So after roughly 1000 hours in Guild Wars 2 I was finally able to reach my personal goal – to craft the legendary staff The Bifrost. With an estimated market value of $750, it was well worth the effort. I’m not a part of a select elite of no-lifers :D”
• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Let’s Play GW2 – EP30, Kahedins. “In this part we defend ourselves as Gavin runs off, tell Caithe what happened, and get some advice from the firstborn remaining in the grove.”
• Guild Wars Reporter Episode 47 – How Chris Got His Groove Back. “Chris and Celeste talk about their hatred for not just Europe but the cost of legendary precursors as well.”
• The Siege #26 : Lending a Helping Hand. “Join us this week as we discuss the newest updates in the world of Tyria including more details on the Living Story concept being introduced to the game and mandatory password changes. Also this week we give you the quickest way to complete the first part of Flame and Frost with the same character.”
• Under the Pale Tree — Ranger, party of five! “In Guild Wars 2, there are some pretty common opinions on which professions are stronger than others. Some are simply better at certain roles, or are more versatile. This leads to an amount of build/profession discrimination – if you are trying to get in a group for a dungeon and are not the requisite profession, forget it!”
• YouTube — RebornReality: Guild Wars 2 – Conquering Fractals of the Mists (Part 1). “This is part 1 of a video featuring tips to make your life easier as you progress through FotM. I’m running a glass cannon spec, using my Balanced Build shown in the video listed below.”
• YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Twilight Arbor (Story) Part 2/3 [PC Gameplay].
• GW2 Guru — February’s State of the Game Available. “For those of you that missed today’s stream, here it is in video format. If anyone’s able to help out with transcripts, please provide them in this thread and I’ll link them in the OP.”
• YouTube — bholasoup: Let’s Play: Guild Wars 2~.
• YouTube — ShoddyCast: ►GW2 Community Farm – Pilot. “Starting next week, at the end of every show, I will announce whom I will be farming with for the following show. I will select those that choose a farm I have not covered before first”
• YouTube — Tacitarrow: Guild Wars 2 Legendary Weapons (Double Incinerator, Bolt, The Dreamer) Dagger, Sword, Shortbow. “Showing off Legendary Weapons Incinerator, Bolt and The Dreamer with all effects and animations on Human Thief. If you got 2 Weapons with Footsteps, only the Mainhandone will show them. Why does The Dreamer shoot Unicorns with Rainbowtail? It comes from the Game “Robot Unicorn Attack” -Why is Bolt exotic color? Because it was my first legendary and I didnt know that transmuting will destroy it”
• Chronicles of Tyria — CoTPodcast #34 – Heroes of the past. “On this episode of CoTPodcast, your hosts discuss heroes of the past!”
• YouTube — Phasestrikes: GW2: Flame and Frost Part 2 “Gathering Storm”. “Here is a slight review on the upcoming Feb 26 update “Gathering Storm”. As usual this is my thoughts and insights on it. Maybe you agree with me maybe you don’t. But it’s always nice to get a positive outlook on things minus the drama. Out of the four things listed here two things stand out. Number one is the unfortunate omission of WVW I can only hope they have an excellent reason for it. I’m always about understanding and patience. Number two is guild quests being introduced. This is something I recently said should be added. I know I had zero to do with it coming about. It’s nice something I feel everyone would like actually came about. This is a very short review but on a quite nice topic enjoy your day all.”

Fanfic

• GW2Fans.com — Windbourne Chronicle. “Windbourne Chronicle follows the sparks of a new man: Gus, as his comfortable past is left behind when he ventures from the walls of Divinity’s Reach to discover himself – in more ways than he’d expected.”
• Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 6: Part 2 – Rowdy Norn. “Angel had been quiet, much too quiet, for the remainder of the night. She sat by the door and stared through a small frosty pane in the wall. I lay awake myself, wondering when she may get some rest. It was strange to admit, but I was worried for her. She seemed troubled.”
• Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 2 – part 1: The Heart of the Destroyer. “It’s been months. It has been months since I could open this diary and write a few words. So many things has happened… So many events changed our group. It isn’t just Vainard and I anymore. It isn’t just humans, anymore. I have so many things to tell, I want to write so many things …”
• Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 1: Part 3 – Infiltrating the Inquest. “I knew I was nearing the Inquest complex by the smell. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not the Inquest themselves I could smell (although I’d like to imply they’re all stinky, unwashed low-lives, which probably isn’t far from the truth), but rather the metallic tang in the air that told me the power plant … “

Community Events

• Under the Pale Tree — Welcome and a Giveaway! “Any type of artwork is welcome – whether it’s a traditional drawing, digital painting, or crafted item. It must be Guild Wars 2 related. Entries should be emailed to verene@thepaletree.net. You have until 11pm CST on February 9th to send in your entry. And because of the fact that it will be an NA game key, and I have to ship this sucker, I will have to limit entries to the US and Canada only (sorry!).”
• GW2 Guru — Biggest Guild Wars 2 Fan Contest! “We want you to show us how much you love of the game by created something Guild Wars 2 related. It can be a poem, a diorama, a painting, a comic, a video, a cake, a quilt, an… anything! Simply reply to this thread with your entry.”
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Guild Wars 2 Trading Cards – Caption Competition! “It wouldn’t be surprising to know that we here at Guild Wars 2 Hub love Guild Wars 2. Like any fan, we pine for collectors items to get our real-life hands on. As good as a Collectors Edition copy of the game or Charr plush is, we felt something a little more unique was in order. With that in mind, we set about designing and printing 8 unique trading cards. These aren’t to battle with (we all know the mesmer would win anyway) but are instead designed to be appreciated, safe in the knowledge that only 3 packs were ever made. With one pack destined for the ArenaNet offices, two are left to giveaway to our readers.”
• Nerdy Bookahs — Find Bookahnerk and win 1 of 5 (EU) in-game t-shirt codes. “If you thought that with our last giveaway, we ran out of codes, you’re wrong! We just thought it’s more fun to keep them and surprise our readers with giveaways during the year. ;)”
• Reddit — Guild Wars 2 Research. “Hello /r/GuildWars2, My name is Nicole Crenshaw and I am a graduate student researcher at the University of California, Irvine in the Informatics department. Informatics, loosely, is studying aspects of living, working, and building in digital worlds. I’m currently looking for interview participants regarding a study I’m doing on gaming and Guild Wars 2. For the current study, I am looking for Guild Wars 2 players with a MAX LEVEL CHARACTER.”
• Google+ Guild Wars 2 Community — Guild Wars 2: Low-level exploration. Sun, 10 February, 9:00 PM. “Join us on our random adventures as we explore the world of Guild Wars 2. Roll a new class, new race or dig out that old alt and enjoy taking a slow paced journey with friends.”

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).