Guild Missions: lunchbag letdown. Most of my guild was eager for the new Guild Missions to become available … until it became clear we were going to have to wait weeks before actually being able to unlock and access any of the missions. We’re not a big guild — after pruning inactive players earlier this month, we were down to less than 70 members, and not all of them were representing us consistently. We’d unlocked all the things we needed influence for and had a small stash of influence left over for WvW items.

It was implied (but not clearly stated) that the lowest tier of guild missions would be available as soon as the patch dropped. We knew we didn’t have the membership numbers to support some of the bigger guild missions, but we’d hoped we could at least start doing the first one. Some of the very big guilds on Darkhaven probably have done this already: they’d have had a big surplus of influence points even if they were burning a lot of points in WvW. Smaller guilds will now have a tougher time attracting and retaining members because they won’t be able to offer the guild missions as a feature of joining … this is a major boost to the guilds that are already hundreds of members in size.

It’s do-able for us … on a good night we can earn around a thousand influence, but it might well be disaster for very small guilds. We’ll see how quickly we can earn the necessary influence and whether the effort will be worth it for us.

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

Official Guild Wars 2 news

• GW2 Guru — Q&A with Colin Johanson, Part II. “Here we have Part II of our Q&A with Colin Johanson.”
• GW2 Guru — Q&A with Colin Johanson, Part II. “Today we bring you Part III of our Q&A session with Colin Johanson!”
• GW2 Guru — Q&A with Colin Johanson, Part IV. “Hey everybody! If you’re wondering how many more parts this Q&A is going to be, well, this is the last one!”
• GWOnline.net — London 2013 Community Meet and Greet Q&A with special Guest Colin Johanson. ““Hey, wanna go to London?” I was asked, it’s not my most favourite of places so I was hesitant. “Wanna go to London to have lunch with ANet?” Okay, you’ve got my attention. A luxurious train ride down to the capital city and before I know it I’m in a bar restaurant with a few other Guild Wars 2 fans awaiting the rest of our group, the ArenaNet guys and the guest of honour, Colin Johanson. We chatter amongst ourselves for some time and eventually Colin arrives with a giant beaming smiley, naturally. By pure dumb luck I get the best seat in the house with Colin sat to my left. I may have squealed a little inside (and outside).”
• Reddit — JeuxOnline.info made an interview with Mike Ferguson about WvW. “There are a couple of reasons why I have tried to avoid publically revealing our map population limit. The thing I have really wanted to avoid is creating a situation where the discussion around WvW becomes focused on what the limit is set at. Population limits are an unfortunate fact of life with the current WvW design, so I really would like to keep people focused more on the gameplay elements that happen with the limits that are in place, instead of being focused on what the number is and arguing how it should be changed or removed.”
• Connected Digital World — EXCLUSIVE Guild Wars 2 interview with Colin Johanson. “Guild Wars 2 has been out for around 6 months now and its popularity has exploded. We recently sat down with Colin Johanson who is the Game Director on GW2 and talked about the past and the future of Guild Wars 2. Guild Wars 2 defines the future of online roleplaying games with action-oriented combat, customized personal storylines, epic dynamic events, world-class PvP, and no subscription fees!”
• Wartower.de — Colin Johanson at the ComLunch uncut – Part 1.
• Wartower.de — Colin Johanson at the ComLunch uncut – Part 2.
• GuildWars2.com — Big Changes to PvP: Paid Tournaments Replaced by Free Tournaments. “In the upcoming patch on February 26, Paid Tournaments are going to be replaced by Free Tournaments. One of the reasons we initially introduced Paid Tournaments was to create a place for hyper-competitive, highly skilled players to find matches with other players of comparable skill, leaving the Free Tournament system available for more casual competitive play. However, now that we have a ratings and matchmaking system in-place that matches players of similar skill levels, we’ve decided that the ticket cost barrier-to-entry of Paid Tournaments is no longer necessary.”
• GuildWars2.com — Game Update Notes – February 26, 2013.
• Digital Spy — Guild Wars 2 interview: ArenaNet on the future of Tyria. “Guild Wars 2 has proven nothing short of a revelation in the massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game sector, attracting scores of newcomers to the genre with its accessible take on the subject matter. Six months down the line, the title has sold more than 3 million copies – making it the first game of its kind to reach the milestone in this space of time – but developer ArenaNet is refusing to rest of its laurels. Digital Spy caught up with lead developer Colin Johanson to find out what the world of Tyria has in stores for players in 2013 and beyond.”
• Anook.com — Community Interview with Guild Wars 2‘s Lead Designer: Isaiah Cartwright. “Recently I had the chance to sit down with Isaiah Cartwright the Lead Designer of Guild Wars 2 and ask him some of the questions the Anook community recently submitted.”
• GuildWars2.com — paysafecard Now Accepted in Gem Store. “We’re happy to announce that the Gem Store is now accepting paysafecard from players in select European countries as a payment method. European players can use paysafe codes to purchase gems in the Gem Store simply by clicking the Buy Gems button in the Gem Store, selecting paysafecard, and following the instructions.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Gaile Gray posted on the topic Policy: 3rd-Party Programs; Multi-Boxing; Macros: “ArenaNet cannot approve or review or “vet” any third-party programs. Our general policy is that anything that gives advantage is forbidden; anything that imbalances the game in favor of one player over another is strictly disallowed. With that said, we are aware that some utilities help players without impacting others, that is, they do not give anyone an advantage over someone else.”
• MMORPG.com — Guild Wars 2 Interviews: What March’s WvW Patch Will Bring. “March will be a huge month for fans of World vs World PvP mayhem in Guild Wars 2. The ArenaNet team is hot off their February update which included all new daily achievements, guild missions, a new sPVP map, and upgrades to the trading post… but they’re not slowing down. We caught up with Habib Loew (WvW Coordinator and Principle Programmer) to talk about the forthcoming changes to the WvW system. See what’s in store for WvW in our exclusive interview.”
• GuildWars2.com — Living Story: Evolution. “It’s me again, Angel McCoy, from the Living Story team, and I’m writing this to share a bit more insight into what’s happening and what’s planned for our Living Story content. We’ve been working hard at it. These first couple months of teaser content have allowed us to ramp up to make the long-term Living Story an even fuller and more satisfying experience for you all. As designers have come off other projects and joined us, we’ve increased the amount of content we’ll be delivering, starting at the end of March. We’re also listening to your feedback and tweaking our content here and there in response. We’ve been reading what you’ve been saying on the Guild Wars 2 forums and across the Internet.”

Recent GuildMag posts

• Glimpses of Tyria. “My name is Lavani Yeodo. I am a young sylvari trying to find my place and role in this world. I am going to show you all the wondrous and strange things that I will certainly come across on my travels through Tyria.”
• Dynamically Spoken Episode 10: Eye of the Storm. “This week we take a look at further developments with guild missions, as well as the Q&A lunch with Colin Johanson. We had a few microphone issues this week, but it’ll all be fixed for next time!”

Fan articles and blog posts

• Guild Wars 2 Junkies — GuildCenter Exclusive – TSYM Creates Uproar, VotF Threatens to Depart Sea of Sorrows. “Reset night in T1 is starting out with some interesting news; in short the Sea of Sorrows (SoS) drama continues to unfold.”
• Contains Moderate Peril — Guild Missions Explained? “I got wind that there was some new “stuff” coming to Guild Wars 2, so in a fit of optimism I re-installed the game. Exactly what this “stuff was” I wasn’t quite sure but as I’m benefiting greatly by revisiting several MMOs, I thought why not just roll with it and all will become apparent. Which brings me to yesterdays post on the official GW2 website by Leah Riveria. First off, bless me, a developer that talks to the community and uses their real name. What a Novelty. Makes a change from Mystic Pixie Trowel or whatever passes as a game or forum handle theses days. Secondly, the communique itself was about new PVE game content called Guild Missions and it ran for half a dozen paragraphs”
• Hunter’s Insight — Guild Missions and Stuff. “I’ve spent most of the past couple months relentlessly running dungeons. January’s update allowing people to run FotM together inspired a bit of a binge on that dungeon and at this point I’ve got a few ascended items, backpiece, two rings, and amulet. None are infused as of yet, but it struck me that I wasn’t sure I wanted to bother getting them infused.”
• Healing the masses — GW2 and an Evolution of PvP. “Say what you will about Guild Wars 2′s lack of Structured PvP features or even the state of balance right now but they certainly managed create a compelling, fun and more complex mmo pvp system. I have played many many different iterations on the mmo arena format it this is the best feeling one, it is widely unpopular but for different reasons then you would usually see.”
• Fighting Crime With Sailor Moon [Moon] [Raphia: The Tumblr blog for the GW2 Sailor Scouts. Hat-tip to @TriggerSad for the link.]
• Reddit — Devs: “Ranger / Ele nerf incoming” (PvP balance). “Here’s my rough transcript: JSharp: We don’t want to over destroy certain builds like the Ranger or the Ele, we want to bring them down a little bit but we don’t want to whack-a-mole them either.” [Raphia: I can't improve on this comment from Cswiseass: Oh good. I was feeling quite OP as a ranger.]
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Cursed Shore Karma Farming Guide. “In this Cursed Shore Karma farming guide, we highlight the optimal route you should take when circling Cursed Shore and if you follow the principals we laid down in our Fastest Way to Farm Karma guide, this method should see you earn a significant amount of Karma in a very short period of time.”
• Inventory Full — There’s Bags Of Room In Here! “Two small news items caught my attention this week. Guild Wars 2 is having a sale on bag and bank slots until 26th February, the very day EQ2 patches in bag sorting. When I decided to start a blog a couple of years or so back, I already had the name and a clear idea what I intended to blog about. I was going to write about one of my very favorite aspects of MMOs, one of the main activities that drew me into the genre in the first place and kept me hooked all these years: inventory management.”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — How to Tip the Mystic Forge in Your Favor. “Recently on the blog I showcased a reader’s strategy to making their first 100 gold utilizing the Mystic Forge. Obviously, when thousands of people reading this blog tried the same strategy, there were mixed results. Some made 10 gold, some lost 10 gold, but most people acknowledged that this method opened up new possibilities for making gold in Guild Wars 2.”
• The Egg Baron — A Preview of Guild Missions. “On Thursday, on GuildWars2.com an article by Leah Rivera appeared detailing Guild Missions. Additional details can be found in an interview conducted by Dragon Season during a meet and greet held by Arena Net. Even more from this meet and greet can be found on Twitter with the hash tag #foodwars. Putting this all together we start to get a really good picture of what the Guild Missions will be. It all sounds really interesting. Today I would like to discuss the features we have learned about the Guild Missions so far and give you my thoughts on what is to come.”
• Black Lions Profit — Follow us on Twitter for daily flipping tips! “Hey, have you heard about Twitter? It’s an online social networking service that enables its users to send and read text based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets”. Crazy, right? If you are a member, then you should definitely follow us at lions_Profit, where we will tweet, chirp and cuckoo about anything and everything relating to the best flipping tips, economy news and random speculation in Guild Wars 2!”
• The Guild Wars Chef — Extra recipes: Citrus poultry with almonds and roasted parsnips. “So, last week this blog was featured on two websites, which is great! I got a lot of lovely comments and I want to thank you all for reading. Also, welcome, new followers! I hope I don’t disappoint. Please also leave feedback on recipes you’ve tried, so that I can improve them (they worked for me, of course, but that could be a fluke! A sample size of 1 isn’t the most reliable).”
• The Egg Baron — This Week in Guild Wars 2. “Every Friday, Raphia at GuildMag goes through all the community articles for the week and rounds them up into one giant article. Every week I like to go through this list and pick out my favourites to share with you guys. The articles I pick out tend to compliment the content that I have here on my blog. I also try to sneak in some Red Posts and news from Arena Net that I may have missed earlier in the week.”
• MidnightWolfie’s gaming blog — Make easy gold in Guild Wars 2! “Hello my readers! I have received a fan mail couple of days ago from a very good gold maker in Guild Wars 2. He thought of sharing few of his ways of how to make gold in GW2 easy and I decided to listen to him and add it all to my blog! So here it is, a guest post by Markco!”
• Healing the masses — Enter the Elementalist. “Wuv Wuv has been a bit boring of late, very boring in fact as it seems Jade Quarry has become the new Super Server and is completing dominating… well everywhere. Last time I was in we were 695 points a tick, so it seems the mighty Sea of Sorrows has fallen, gone with the same pattern as Henge of Denravi and Eredon Terrace although due to the way the scoring formulae works it will be at least a couple weeks until they fall back to T2.”
• Inventory Full — Same Same But Different. “J3w3l at Healing The Masses has a piece up about starting a second character in GW2. It’s fascinating to read a view of this aspect of the game (indeed the genre) from someone who takes such a diametrically opposed view of it as I do. To me MMOs are entirely about alts and leveling them up; once a character hits the level cap they are pretty much done and it’s time to start a new one. That’s if I can wait that long.”
• Hunter’s Insight — Temple Runs. “One thing I think a low population server like Northern Shiverpeaks does right is temple runs. It’s one of the best things going on with my server. We can’t win a WvW match, we don’t have people in every zone, I’m not sure how much of a community feel there is, but damn it we don’t capture Lyssa, Dwayna, Melandru, the gates of Arah, Balthazar, and Grenth on a near nightly basis.”
• The Shameless Geek — Guild Wars 2 – My Warrior. “This week I’m going to write a little about my Guild Wars 2 characters. I bought the game on November 19th last year and it’s become my most-played title since then. As a massive altoholic, I’ve focused on levelling and gearing each class. So far I’ve levelled five of the eight professions to eighty, with each in full Exotics. I’ll be taking a look at my roster so far, discussing how I levelled them and how I’m playing them at eighty. I’ll start with the character I got to eighty first, my Norn Warrior.”
• Under the Pale Tree — Math of the Moldy Bags. “As I mentioned not long ago in a blog post, I am working on a legendary weapon. In fact, several of us in my guild are currently working on them in tandem – AJ is making her Dreamer and just needs her precursor, I need about 135 Badges of Honor and the precursor for my Kudzu, Optimus and Greibach are both working on Kraitkin and have their precursors and several gifts, Elixabeth’s closing in on her Flameseeker Prophecies…and those are just the people with blogs I can link to. We’ve also got a Bolt, Rodgort, Predator, and Frostfang in the works, that I can recall off the top of my head.”
• Massively — Guild Wars 2 frees up tournaments for all. “It’s time to stop paying money for the right to prove that you’re better than your enemies. Starting with tomorrow’s update, Guild Wars 2 is abolishing Paid Tournaments altogether, replacing them with Free Tournaments. Free Tournaments will be available in 1-round and 3-round formats for players, with the winning team in a 1-round tournament receiving a reward chest. Any unused Tournament Tickets can be redeemed for special reward boxes from a Ticket Merchant NPC.”
• Massively — Flameseeker Chronicles: The Gathering Storm preview. “I know that nothing (nothing in the whole world, in the history of ever) sucks like waiting for the patch on patch day. There’s the promise of wonderful things in the future, but they’re just so tantalizingly out of reach. So what better way to pass the time waiting for Guild Wars 2‘s February patch than by talking about it? I got a bit of a sneak preview at the incoming content over the weekend, so let’s take a look at the nitty-gritty of what awaits us in the The Gathering Storm.”
• The Egg Baron — Pre-patch Living Story Change. “It seems that every Monday there are some changes in the Living Story even if there is full on patch the next day. Not much has changed since my last update but I did want to update everyone no matter how small the change. This week we see changes just to the refugee coordinator in Hoelbrak. The coordinator in the Black Citadel has not had any changes. Also as far as I can tell Wayfarer and Diessa also remain unchanged.”
• Healing the masses — Wuv Wuv news. “The people over at Dragon Season have been very busy of late transcribing all the details from a luncheon they attended with many of the Anet developers, here’s the first Page anyway. They discussed a lot of different issues and concerns regarding the game and it seems for once they weren’t as guarded with the words so there is a few juicy little morsels and bits that has also induced a bit of forum rage. Now as usually I don’t really care much for their talk on PvE, I’ll leave that stuff to the professionals, I’m just going to give a run down on the bits us murders might want to hear.”
• ZAM — Preview: Spirit Watch. “For the PvP inclined, the arrival of the new Spirit Watch map is much anticipated. I was one of valiant vanguard of nutcases thrown into the mix to see just what the new map is all about. Is Spirit Watch a worthy addition to SPvP?”
• Inventory Full — Talking A Good Game. “I spent much of this morning reading the transcripts of a massive interview with Colin Johanson and another, much shorter, interview with Mike Ferguson. The Johansen interview is a few days old and has been much discussed elsewhere. The Egg Baron focused on the information on the new Guild events and Healing The Masses has a detailed analysis of the WvW material.”
• ZAM — Run Together: GW2‘s Guild Missions. “When Colin Johanson stated that the updates hitting Guild Wars 2 would represent enough content to be equivalent to an expansion, one might have raised an eyebrow and muttered something about hyperbole. However, January saw some interesting additions and today the latest update, entitled Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm will entice fans to rush back into Tyria once more. I think players will understand that there was nothing overblown in Johanson’s statement, particularly when the full scale of Guild Missions is understood. After playing the content myself, I am in no doubt of the importance of the new content for a large section of the Guild Wars 2 community.”
• The Shameless Geek — Guild Wars 2 – My Necromancer. “This week I’m writing a piece each day about my Guild Wars 2 characters. My altoholic nature dictates that I get each profession to eighty and I’m nearing my fifth! Yesterday I discussed my experience with my main, a Norn Warrior. Today I’ll be talking about my Sylvari Necromancer, from levelling to eighty, and into PvE dungeons.”
• MMORPG.com — Guild Wars 2 Previews: On Guild Missions and Spirit Watch PvP. “Yesterday I had the great opportunity to play through some of the new content that is being released today in Flame & Frost: The Gathering Storm (February’s content update). The fine people over at ArenaNet gave a great tour showing off what they’ve been working on, and offered some info on how they make this content. Players of all types will have something to be excited about for this, and future builds of Guild Wars 2.”
• GMA News Online — Sailormoon gets a hotter, updated look in Guild Wars 2. “Fans of the magical-girl franchise “Sailor Moon” have invaded the online fantasy gaming world of Guild Wars 2 (GW2) — with a team of customized unofficial characters. “We’re Fighting Crime With Sailor Moon [Moon]… a group of friends playing Guild Wars 2. Join us as we triumph over evil!” said the fans in their Facebook page.”
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Complete Guide to Guild Missions. “Guild Missions are designed to provide content that compliments existing PvE gameplay. In many ways Guild Missions provide a clear framework for guilds to undertake fun activities as a group, as opposed to requiring Officers or Guild Leaders to think of spontaneous activities for their guild to participate in. Guild Missions vary between five different mission types, each of which offers a steep challenge for the guild to overcome, with worthwhile rewards. While the point of entry to unlock Guild Missions might be steep (we’ll cover this a little later on) this content is design to stretch even the largest guilds while most can readily be completed by the smallest number of players.”
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Hands On: Spirit Watch. “Spirit Watch is the latest addition to the Guild Wars 2 structured PvP roster. If it’s one thing that is evident from the moment you start, is its verticality which is much greater than that of Temple of the Silent Storm. Second only to this is the fact that Spirit Watch is absolutely stunning to look at.”
• devil’s MMO — Guild Wars 2: The Gathering Storm Preview. “Although we covered the basics of the Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm update in Guild Wars 2 diary episode 21, it’s also worth taking a deeper look at planned features and upcoming changes. The patch comes today – and with it will come a bevy of new features, as well as more than a few changes. A new PvP map, a new way of working achievements and more – February’s monthly update is going to add a more than a few hours to your playtime. It might even fix some of the issues that appeared after January’s update and, if we’re lucky, nothing else unexpected will happen.”
• Twitter — @Huntersinsight. “Doing the math on the costs of Guild Missions, unlocks, new ascended accessories. Absolute horseshit.”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Flame and Frost Preview Option and Bag Gold Tips. “Quickly before I get into today’s actual post, here is some interesting news on bag math: I just read a post, recommended by one of your comments on this blog, that did an outstanding job of showcasing the profitability of flipping bags.”
• The Egg Baron — Gathering Storm Patch Notes Up. “The patch notes for the Gathering Storm are up on the forums. Head over and check them out. The patch is now live. Currently, downloading. I was getting good speeds but now I am getting connection problems.”
• The Shameless Geek — Guild Wars 2 – My Engineer. “I started my Engineer because the class seemed to be far less defined than other classes – while some might see this is a bad thing, it meant that they broke the mould of MMO character stereotypes and had the potential to come at encounters from different angles. I chose Charr because I hadn’t played their personal story through yet and I wanted to see how it played out. Here’s a screenshot of my Charr Engineer at eighty. I use the Krytan armor skin with Sage and Camel dye.”
• Black Lions Profit — Lions Share: The Gathering Storm. “The next addition to the popular Flame & Frost living story continues today as ArenaNet releases their latest Guild Wars 2 patch. With new daily achievements, Trading Post Preview options and some epic Guild Missions, millions of players are now hammering the game-servers as they download all the new content!”
• Dulfy.net — GW2 Flame and Frost The Gathering Storm patch guide. “A guide to all the GW2 Flame and Frost Gathering Storm February patch content released on Feb 26. Updated as more information becomes available.”
• Dulfy.net — GW2 Gathering Storm patch total makeover kit new hair and eye colors. “A gallery of the new hair and eye colors in the total makeover kit introduced with the GW2 Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm patch. “
• Dulfy.net — GW2: The Gathering Storm Living Story event and achievement guide. “GW2 The Gathering Storm event and achievement guide. The Gathering Storm is an event and achievement introduced as the second installment of GW2 Living Story series.”
• Dulfy.net — GW2 Lost and Found Living Story event and achievement guide. “GW2 Lost and Found event and achievement guide. Lost and Found is an event and achievement introduced as the second installment of GW2 Living Story series. “
• Dulfy.net — GW2 ascended accessory and other new ascended items. “A list of the new ascended items for the GW2 Flame and Frost Gathering Storm patch.”
• Dulfy.net — GW2 Guild Missions guide. “There are 5 categories of Guild Missions: Guild Bounty, Guild Treks, Guild Rushes, Guild Challenge, and Guild Puzzle. These Guild Missions can only be activated by first unlocking them in the Guild Upgrades window.”
• Guild Wars 2 Junkies — New Style Kit Hair Colors: Preview Before You Buy! “In today’s Flame and Frost: The Gathering Storm update we got a whole slew of new goodies to enjoy, but among the major features added, we also saw some minor updates to the Black Lion Trading Company. Nine new hair colors and six new eye colors have been added to both the Total Makeover Kit and the Self-Style Hair Kit. These new colors are exclusive to the kits, which means that if you’ll want to try them out, you’ll need to shell out a few Gems. Keep reading to see a preview of the nine different hair colors as they look in-game. They’re actually pretty snazzy.”
• MMOSite.com — Why Guild Wars 2‘s Legendaries Aren’t Legendary. “When it comes to MMORPG’s, they always have an end-goal. This often changes as the game goes on and expands, but there’s always something you’re striving to get or achieve. In Guild Wars 2 (GW2)’s case, this is the Legendary weapons. One thing GW2 has done well is keeping things equal between those that are casual and those that are hardcore, in that Legendary weapons aren’t any better than Exotic weapons that can be found elsewhere. Regardless, there’s a problem with the Legendaries as well: they just simply aren’t legendary.”
• On the official Guild Wars 2 forums, Matipzieu KyA posted on the topic New guild missions: opinions & concerns: “This is a long, analytical post. My goal in making it is to shed some light on structural problems and more importantly the perceptions of stakeholders that have been overlooked. My intent is to take both ANET and the players of this gaming community seriously not because I like hearing myself talk, but because I believe there’s something here that’s worth fighting for, and that we’re facing a problem that can’t be fixed without some in-depth analysis and thought.” [Raphia: Further discussion in the Reddit thread, too.]
• The Guild Wars Chef — Week 9: Rosemary and other breads. “Bread is just great. Good bread is a joy to eat. We, the Dutch, eat a lot of bread and brown bread is officially the thing we miss most when we’re away from home (apparently, people hold questionnaires about this sort of thing). There is a world of difference between good bread and bland bread. That is why I’m departing relatively far from the GW2 recipe for bread.”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — How much should I buy on the Trading Post? “When I place a buy order, I assume that the money will not come back to me for several days. That is a very key point for anyone getting into the Trading Post for serious amounts of gold. If you want a quick one hour flip, you won’t be making very much for your time. But if you sit on large buy and sell orders, waiting out daily ups and downs of the market, then you will earn far more for your time invested. I usually wait a whole day for a set of orders to get fully bought out, then wait another day after listing for everything to sell.”
• Kill Ten Rats — Slow-Release Storm. “The February patch for Guild Wars 2 dropped yesterday. March is going to be the month where all of the content of that patch slowly unfolds. I think it’s hard to fathom for some players that each patch ArenaNet is trying to extend the game’s life in the long term. The expectations seem to be set for a content dump. Instead ArenaNet seems to largely focus on foundational issues and long-life new features. There is of course immediate content to be had, but even there ArenaNet is working on a slow-release.”
• Distilled Willpower — The Guild Missions Situation. “So, for now, perhaps entertain the idea of engaging with a larger guild – if only for the sole purpose of getting into guild missions until a solution is implemented. This doesn’t HAVE to be something which splits the playerbase if you don’t want it to be.”
• Dulfy.net — GW2 Guild Bounty guide. “A guide to the GW2 Guild Bounty Guild Mission with maps for Guild Bounty NPCs. Special thanks to Klinkie and Ranth Gearshot of of Immortals Reawakened for the help in compiling the information. Keep in mind that this is a work in process and more NPCs will be added in the next few days.”
• manylaughs — Guild Wars 2: 5 reasons you’re bored – Reason 2. “Guild Wars 2 has some of the best PvP (player versus player) – or SPvP (structure PvP), to use ArenaNet’s terminology – in all of MMOs. The maps are fun. The classes are better balanced than any other MMO. And no one can out-grind you for armor: Everyone has access to the same armor, weapons and skill sets. So you only get face stomped by players and teams who are better than you, not those who can spend more time in the game. So why are you bored with it?”
• Knock! Knock! It’s Floyd — REASONS I LOVE ARENANET!!!
• The Shameless Geek — Guild Wars 2 – My Elementalist. “Elementalist appealed to me primarily because I had mained a Shaman on World of Warcraft on-and-off since early 2006. The Elementalist attunements bore a striking resemblance to the four-element mechanics of my old Shaman, and their ability to tread the line between supportive utility roles and offensive ones made me want to give one a try. Here’s a screenshot of the “finished product” – my Human Elementalist at eighty. For those into aesthetics, I use Citadel of Flame light armour with Evening and Ebony dye – the voodoo/tiki staff skin is an exotic Carrion Tribal Staff I got from the trading post. I’ll cover my stats and build later on in the article.”
• The Egg Baron — The *new* Ascalonian Catacombs. “Last night some guildies and I ran through story mode and all three explorable paths of Ascalonian Catacombs. Just hours before publishing this article I did another run of path 1 and path 2. My experience was great and I came out of the dungeon feeling that the encounters were much more interesting. If this is Arena Nets vision for all the dungeons then we are in for a treat. Today I would like to quickly go over these changes to Ascalonian Catacombs and provide you with the strategies we used to clear all three explorable paths.”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — How to Invest with Trading Post Fees.
• Healing the masses — A Frosty Reception and Forum Flaming. “Ok, so Anet, when everyone complained about missing out on the Karka and Halloween events we didn’t infer that the pace of updates should be able to be compared to glacial movements. When you had plans to continue on with growing a living world I was honestly exciting and seeing these new additions to the world had me imagining many things. Well one month on now and I had conpletely forgotten about it and here is the next update.”
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Guide to Earning Guild Influence. “With the implementation of Guild Missions and the high cost of influence to unlock the very first tiers (30,000) its never been more prevalent to maximise your guilds influence gain. In simple terms, influence is a currency that guilds spend to purchase enhancements for guild-wide upgrades and improvements. Everything that you and your guild participate in (while representing your guild) will earn influence.”
• Guild Wars 2 Trading Post — Playing with Fire on the Trading Post. “As many of you know, I like to publish interesting emails on the blog so that everyone can benefit form the discussion, and not just myself plus the person emailing me. This could include questions, new methods, or even speculation. Today’s email is all about manipulating the marketplace for evil capitalistic purposes.”
• Dragon Season — Guild Missions FAQ. “The storm that Tilion’s recent weather forecast warned us about has eventually arrived. For the time being it appears to be a very light one, without any large scale manifestations. Soon however – specifically, in less than 24 hours – this is going to change dramatically with events which will cause large groups of Tyria’s inhabitants to move in waves. A typhoon of high scale is expected to hit many areas, upsetting the local populace. It’s name is Guild Missions.”

Videos and podcasts

• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: An Experiment With Land Mines – Utility Belt. “An explosive new entry to the utility belt series. (You like that? I know you did.) But seriously, thanks to everyone who came and being careful with your positioning. If you’d like to join in on a future meetup, you can follow me on twitter, where I announce when they are happening”
• YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – The Ruined City of Arah (Story) Part 2/3.
• YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – The Ruined City of Arah (Story) Part 3/3.
• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Arcane Elementalist Build – 10,000dmg Fire Grabs. “This is my regular build for PvE content in the game. There are two versions, and expect to see on the channel a video on this exact build in practice for fractals. I don’t think I emphasised enough how defensive it is, but anyone who has run evasive arcana before will know!”
• Guild Wars 2 Live — Tyria Talk #50 – Guild Missions. “Tyria Talk is a vlog-style show dedicated to chatting about the MMO, Guild Wars 2. In episode 50, I discuss the guild missions feature that will arrive in the February 26 game update. “
• YouTube — ZephyrAM02: Guild Wars 2 Human Personal Story – Part 61 Let’s Play! – Commentary.
• YouTube — Dontain: Guild Wars 2 | Getting Critical – Guild Missions! – Ft. Matt Visual. “In this the pilot episode of Getting Critical, Matt Visual and myself delt into guild missions and share out thoughts and optimisms looking forward to this upcoming content. Also, we discuss how we feel about the loot system in Guild Wars 2 in general as well as some pet peeves we have with the game.”
• Guild Wars Reporter Episode 49 – Goaty McGoaterson. “Chris and Celeste have a special guest, talk guild missions, and define what is and is not bacon.”
• Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 Getting In-game Leaderboards. “Just like a loving parent ArenaNet can only take so much begging before they cave. Coming soon, alongside the February patch Guild Wars 2 will finally be getting global in-game leaderboards in the upcoming update. February’s Flame & Frost content patch which will hit later this week, adds more competitive Player versus Player (PvP) options to the game. Leaderboards however will not arrive with the February content patch, but will be rolled out in stages as part of their own update.”
• Burning Locks Podcast — Anticipation. “A Guild Wars 2 podcast by the players for the players”
• Relics of Orr Double Feature: Agony and Orr. “The Relics of Orr team delves into level 30 fractals. Shongaqu finds hmself with too little agony resistance and Coehl’s guardian can’t stop shouting at people. Can they survive and make it to the Jade Maw? Who is the mysterious Black of the notorious PIG? Will Shongaqu actually be able to run a talk show while his character’s skin is boiling off? Will shongaqu correctly identify the show as episode 65?”
• YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – Personal Story The END [PC Gameplay]. “This is how it ended for me :) beautifully!”
• Twitch.tv — Jeremy Stratton: Guild Wars 2: Shatterer fight.
• Gamebreaker.tv — Guild Wars 2 Nixing Paid PvP Tournaments. “Today is patch day for Guild Wars 2 and even though we don’t have the complete list of patch notes yet, ArenaNet has written a blog post announcing huge changes to PvP tournaments. Paid tournaments are being completely removed from the game and replace by one and three round free tournaments. Both of these free tournament types will use a separate matchmaking rating. Any unused tournament tickets players own can be exchanged for gold, silver, or copper tournament reward chests in the Heart of the Mists.”
• Tales of Tyria #63: The Guardian. “This week’s episode is easy, you don’t even need to watch your back, because they will watch it for you. Three Guardian experts join our panel this week to talk all about the great defender, that all-mighty buff-master we all love. Before we get to that, however, we have some new information on Guild Missions to talk about!”
• Guild Wars 2 Hub — Chauncey von Snuffles III Video. “Chauncey von Snuffles III is a mini-pet you can purchase in Guild Wars 2 for 75 Laurels. Considering Laurels haven’t been out long enough for anyone to acquire 75 Laurels, I got the opportunity to buy him during yesterdays press preview. Snuffles by his very name is deserving of his title as the runner-up in the Divinity’s Reach Fanciest Cat competition, so when given 75 Laurels to spend as we saw fit, there was only purchase I had in mind. Here he is, in all his glory!”
• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: On Distant Shores… – The Facets (GW2 Storytime). “First lore video in a while! Starting with an old Journal recovered from areas so far North we can’t go there yet, I talk about an old adventure from Gw1 that ended with a mystery that still hasn’t been answered in Gw2. Spirits, Cryptic Messages, Dragons and Gods. It’s got it all!”
• The Siege #28: A Question of Karma. “This week we discuss the meet and greet with Arenanet in Seattle. Also this week we discuss whether Karma is becoming the forgotten currency in-game and we are joined by a special friend to discuss the hunt for Legendary Weapons and why is it that nothing special happens when you make one.”
• Guild Wars 2 Junkies — Guildcenter – Post Drama Recap with Aneu [VOTF] & EVOE [LOTD]. “This week we have some fun discussing some post drama shenanigans with Aneu, GM of VotF and AGM Evoe of LOTD. Along with our discussion about the ascendance of Blackgate and the downfall of Sea of Sorrows we discuss the future of the game and touch a little on ArcheAge.”
• YouTube — Dontain: Guild Wars 2 | Warrior Changes (2-26-13). “Some actual changes came down the pipe for us Warriors in this patch. Try your best not to get too confused.”
• YouTube — thesparrowsjourney: Guild Wars 2 – My problem with Guild Wars/Warrior. “I didn’t actually plan it like this but my 300th #guildwars2 video is about personal opinions about it :< problems"
• YouTube — MattVisual: Guild Wars 2: Guild Missions Thoughts.
• YouTube — WoodenPotatoes: Rambling About The February Update. “Topics include: More lore, guild missions, commendations, and Cantha not returning for GW2. Enjoy!”
• YouTube — Incomingg Ray: Incomingray GW2 WvW long fights #4 Staff + Mace/Shield support Guardian healing. “…since this particular vid came into the spotlight from a flattering Reddit thread and suddenly gave this vid a ton of views in a day, I really just made this vid to show my subscribers a new style I was working on and am not particularly proud of it and have made big strides at it since.”
• Chronicles of Tyria — CoTPodcast #37 – Flame and Frost update discussion. “Lagwyn, Kaysee and Naveen discuss Flame and frost updates.”
• Gamebreaker.tv — The Guild Wars 2 February Patch Has Arrived! – GuildCast Ep 63 (Video). “The Guild Wars 2 February patch is here and as always, there were a few ups and downs. Players had some issues downloading the patch. And, while the issues didn’t last too long they did take up a period of European prime-time. But that’s okay because everyone got to make unsubscribing jokes on Twitter. One the troubles were over, however, players got to check out all the new things that came with the Guild Wars 2 February patch. First among these? Everyone’s favorite… Dailies! Richie, Elisabeth and Scott share their feelings on how the new dailies seem to help with the flow a bit.”

Fanfic

• Chronicles of Tyria — Chapter 4: Skritt Endangered! “The tunnel trembled as I staggered into the skritt cavern. Mobs of skritt were fleeing past me, their frantic screeching dulled by the deafening rumble. I reached down and grabbed a skritt by his scruff and pulled him up to face me. He flailed frantically, yipping and clicking. ‘What’s going on?’ I barked.”

Community Events

• Chronicles of Tyria — And the winner is… “A few weeks ago we announced a contest where participants had to create a video or mp3 file of their character in Guild Wars 2. The point of the contest was to present a characters and let the listeners and watchers know about them and their story. The videos or mp3 files were not judged by the quality of image, sound and/or music by rather by the originality that one could come up with when presenting their character, story wise.”

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).