I’ve been accumulating news snippets about the as-yet-to-be-formally-scheduled release of Guild Wars 2 for an email newsletter I send out to my friends and acquaintances in the Guild Wars community. And yet another slow week for GW2 news. The only official news was a posting late on Friday with some updates to the Engineer and Ranger pet mechanics.
Part 1: Discussion of previous news
- If you listen to podcasts, you might want to subscribe to the Guildcast weekly podcast
- Reminder: the official Guild Wars 2 wiki is still growing, so it’s worth checking it out now and again for new information.
- The Guild Counsel: Are you in a guild? “I’d like to do a little experiment for this week’s Guild Counsel, and I need your help. In years past, studies have been done that showed the importance of guilds in MMOs. (And by guilds, I mean any organized grouping of players, be it a clan, empire, corporation, etc.) Back in 2008, Dr. Nick Yee’s Daedalus Project showed that 89% of respondents had at least one character in a guild. But over the past few years, the MMO landscape has changed dramatically, and those changes could have an effect on the number of players who actually join guilds. Over the next few weeks, I’m planning on taking a closer look at this topic.”
Part 2: Guild Wars news
- Reminder: If you’d like to keep track of the Guild Wars Beyond material, keep this page bookmarked.
- Reminder: Guild Wars official support forum. Here is the FAQ page for the forums.
- Flameseeker Chronicles: Zola’s a little cranky, and so am I. “Halloween is here! OK, technically Halloween has been in Tyria for a week and a half, but Mad King Thorn is here today! By now, everyone’s hit Lion’s Arch and Kamadan to pick up festival masks, we’ve mobbed the King in the hopes of getting chosen for Rock Paper Scissors, and we’ve laughed at his delightfully horrible jokes. (And before you even ask, yes, the pumpkin-on-head joke still cracks me up.) I’ve thoroughly enjoyed almost all of Halloween 2011 in Guild Wars. Yep, I said almost. There’s a single aspect of this festival that stands out very strongly and unpleasantly to me. Follow along after the jump, and let’s talk it over.”
- Halloween at the Studio. “Here at ArenaNet, we love Halloween. Every year, ArenaNet staffers show their Halloween spirit by wearing costumes of varying complexity and ambition to the studio, and 2011 was no exception. Take a look at our Flickr stream for pics from our frightful first Halloween in our new studio!”
Part 3: Guild Wars 2 news
- Guild Wars 2 Development Update by Jon Peters. “It’s been a little while since we’ve provided you with an update about the current state of Guild Wars 2, so today I thought I’d share some of the things we’ve been working on these past few months. We are heads down, hard at work on the continued development of the game, and I’m happy to report that things are progressing very nicely on all fronts. From art and sound to filling out and polishing all of the content in the game, we’re making great strides toward completing Guild Wars 2. Read on for some details about what we’ve been up to!”
- More pets, more combos, more burning: ArenaNet brings big changes to Guild Wars 2. “If you’re anything like us here at the Massively offices, you’ve been feeling a bit starved for Guild Wars 2 news. ArenaNet’s been extremely quiet for weeks now, and just as fans were beginning to despair of hearing anything, the information gates swing wide. The ArenaNet blog has a shiny new update courtesy of designer Jon Peters this morning, and it’s a doozy. It brings all sorts of new details on pet improvements, the Engineer’s big upgrade, and the ever-fascinating cross-profession combos. Follow along after the break for all the news!”
- Greibach’s Normal Form: An Oasis in the Post-Convention Desert. “It’s been a pretty quiet time in the GW2 scene since the conventions started. Convention season lasts several months, from August to, well, now. During that time ANet is very busy commuting around the world holding various open demos of the game we all know and love. It has to be exhausting to be in such high-intensity situations for months; setting up, hosting, tearing down and traveling all take their toll. Last year the post-convention wasteland of information lasted for quite awhile (~6 months) if I recall correctly. We’ve had a few small articles, but they were mostly fluffy little tidbits that, while we all appreciate them, hardly sate our hunger for all things GW2. On a personal note this means that I have a lot less to talk and write about. Having been into the development the whole time, there just aren’t that many ideas to thrash around any more that haven’t already been talked to death on various forums by myself and many others. But fear not! Jon Peters has arrived to give us a nice little packet of information on the official blog.”
