Powered by the GW2 Blog Krewe, a bunch of diehard MMO fans (mostly human) who are eagerly awaiting the game's release date!
The Krewe discuss breaking news about professions, races, skills, videos, maps, game release dates, betas, books and character builds.
Reserve Your Character Names for Guild Wars 2
If, like myself and other Guild Wars 2 Blog Krewe members, you've grown attached to your character's names in GW1, you're going to be interested in making sure you reserve those names for use in GW2. The process is really simple, but you need to make sure you do it, lest you lose your treasured name forever.In Guild Wars 2, character names are unique across the entire game, across ALL servers, all worlds. A character's name must be from 3 to 19 characters long and contain only English letters. Spaces are permitted, but optional. As all character names from the original Guild Wars were two words or more, all one-word character names will be up for grabs at the start of the Guild Wars 2 Headstart Access period. (This is where you get to feel good about pre-purchasing the game. ) At present there are some 20 million two-word names in use by existing Guild Wars players. Some of those players and / or character names wont be around for GW2 so ArenaNet have devised a cunning plan that allows dedicated players to retain their existing character names, while freeing up several million names for players coming into the game on the regular launch day.
Read the details here... Reserve Your Guild Wars 2 Character's Name.
Stress Test for Pre-purchasers
No, it's not actual stress for those who've pre-purchased the game, but instead another chance to get a Guild Wars 2 fix, albeit a small one in the form of a seven hour stress test. The testing begins on Monday May 14 at 11AM PDT and concludes at 6PM PDT (-7 GMT). It's only open to Pre-Purchase customers who have registered their accounts. Read more on the GW2 Stress test.
Wascally Wabbit Crashes GW2 Beta Event
A great weekend was had by all of the Guild Wars 2 Blog Krewe and we'd like to send a big /cheer /highfive to Mike Z and Anthony Ordon for bring an assortment of rabid raccoons, giant Moas and one vicious, level 80, "LEGENDARY WHITE BUNNY" to the finale! It was a great way to end the weekend and we had a ton of laughs as we tried to best those bad boys (and we eventually DID beat that rabbit!)
We are proud to say we survived the "Great Critter Hunt of 2012" dynamic event. Generations will speak of our greatest battle!
Choose Your Home World Carefully
For those who are hoping to play with friends, particularly in World versus World combat, you'll need to choose your home world (server) very carefully.Starting in the first Beta Weekend Event (April 27-29), home server selection and world transfers will work just as they will when Guild Wars 2 launches.When you log in to the game for the first time, you'll need to choose your home world. If you choose a home world that's in a different region from where you bought your game, you'll be logged out for a brief period of time while your account is moved to your new region. Once you've selected a home world, all the characters you create will play on this world and will represent it in World-versus-World battles. If at some point you want to change your home world, you can initiate a world transfer, which moves all of your existing characters and any subsequent characters you create to your new home world.
This sounds ok until you discover that while you can change your home world, it will cost you 1,800 gems for each transfer and you can only do so once every seven days. Given that gems cost 1.25 cents each (400 for $5) it will cost $22.50 to change worlds. That's real money. More than one third of the cost of the digital download.
Eric Flannum explains...
"This fee exists because we want players to make transferring to a new home world a very serious thing and not something that players do on a whim. The fee should serve as a pretty large deterrent to people looking to jump on the winning side in World vs. World combat. Also, a player is not eligible to receive any of the World vs. World bonuses during the match that is ongoing when they transfer."
This doesn't mean you can't play with your friends on another world, as there'll be a free "guesting" feature which allows your characters to play on any world where you have friends. However, you wont be able to participate in WvW while guesting.
For the upcoming beta weekend event in April, home-world selection and world transfers will be available, but guesting wont be. Additionally, your world choice during Beta Events wont lock you in for launch as everything will be wiped before the headstart access begins. Most of the GW2 Blog Krewe will be on the Sea of Sorrows server.
Here is a list of worlds that will be available during the Beta Weekend Event:
US Worlds :
EU Worlds :
Anvil Rock
Borlis Pass
Yak's Bend
Henge of Denravi
Maguuma
Sorrow's Furnace
Kaineng
Jade Quarry
Fort Aspenwood
Ehmry Bay
Ferguson's Crossing
Darkhaven
Vasburg
Eredon Terrace
Crystal Desert
Tarnished Coast
Steamspur Mountains
Blazeridge Mountains
Isle of Janthir
Sea of Sorrows
Deldrimor
Scavenger's Causeway
Moladune
Eternal Grove
Kodonur
Gandara
Kodash
Blacktide
Istan
Vabbi
Kourna
Fissure of Woe
Underworld
Ring of Fire
Far Shiverpeaks
Petrified Forest
Jade Sea
Desolation
Magus Falls
Whiteside Ridge
Fort Ranik
Ruins of Surmia
Sharp's Corner
Aurora Glade
Riverside
Elona Reach
Augury Rock
Abaddon's Mouth
It's strongly recommend that you have a chat with friends and guildies NOW to decide on which server you're all going to play on. If you're like the Guild Wars 2 Blog Krewe, who have many friends and krewe members living on different continents, there are going to be some tough decisions to make.
What The Future Holds
I know it's still a little early to be talking about expansions, considering we're still in the beta testing stage, but Randall Price, ArenaNet's senior vice president had some interesting things to say regarding future content for the yet to be released game.
He explains ...
"We have development plans in our back pocket for literally years to come. Short-term goals include things like the pre-purchase program and the beta weekends. The medium-term goals will relate to things along the line of the patches that will come out post-release of the game, and the way that we're going to be dividing our team between different disciplines to be able to continue to punch out incredible content for people.
From our standpoint we've got years of great work, that players are going to be able to enjoy. We today know a number of the high-level features that we're going to do, and expansion content for years to come. We're launching a service - you don't launch a box and be done with it. We have years of awesome, fun work ahead of us."
It's great to see that the road ahead is already being thought out and planned. I, and some of the other Guild Wars 2 Blog Krewe have been playing GW1 for over six years and we're really hoping that GW2 gives us just as much, if not more, gameplay. From what Randall says, we're in for a lot of fun for a long time.
GW2 Beta Weekend Event Date Announced
Martin Kerstein confirmed that the next beta weekend event will start on Friday, April 27, at noon PDT (GMT-7) and end on Sunday, April 29, at 11:59 p.m. PDT (GMT-7). This BWE is open to those who have pre-purchased the game. Notification will be emailed to you once the client is ready for download. These beta weekend events aren't under any Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) so there'll be lots of information coming from them.For those who have more than one copy of the game, you can download the client once then copy it across to the other computers you're playing from, saving having to download multiple times.Players will be able to create Charr, Human or Norn characters and for the first time, Lion's Arch will be accessible. Players will be able to wander the streets, chat with traders and travelers from every corner of Tyria, travel through one of the numerous asura gates, or discover the famed diving platform at Diverse Ledges.
Martin Kerstein and game designer Mike Zadorojny give a short preview of what players can expect to experience in the first Beta Weekend Event.
We'll see you at the beta!
Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Mesmer Video
Game Informer have come up with one of the best beta videos the GW2 blog krewe have seen featuring Mesmer play. It features commentary by Jon Chapman, a system designer at ArenaNet, as he plays his male human Mesmer with Jonathan Sharp, another game dev, in both PvE and PvP action.
Watch Jon and his mesmer team up with Jonathan and his guardian in the GW2 beta video below.
Regional Data Centers for Players
As the release date for the Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase is just a few days away, clarification has been made on the regional data servers that players will be connecting to.
Each copy of the game is tied to a particular region. There are two data centers, one in North America and one in Europe. If, for example, you were wanting to play from North America you'll need to buy a North American copy of the game. If you wanted to play from Europe you'll need to purchase a European copy of the game. Those who don't fall into either of those two regions will default to the North American data center.
The important thing to note here though, is that this restriction affects only where you can play FROM, not which game worlds you can choose to play ON. People from North America will be able to play Guild Wars 2 with people from Europe at launch.
By purchasing the correct copy of the game, you're supporting the game in your country, as you'll be connecting to your local data center, using your local customer support team, and downloading the correct language support for your country.
One issue yet to be resolved is for those players who travel a lot. A solution is still being worked on for those players.
April Game Update
It's that time of the year again and Colin Johansen has joined forces with the Official Guild Wars 2 wiki to give us an update on the state of game development. (Thanks Colin!) There's a dragon overhaul, two future profession reveals and some cool loot to be had! Read the full interview here. Be sure to grab the free calendar while you're there :)Edited on April 2nd : The above was an April Fool's joke concocted by the evil minds at the GW2 Wiki and not the GW2 Blog Krewe. You knew that though, didn't you?
Guild Wars 2 Currency | Gold, Karma, Gems and Microtransactions
Gold is the common in-game currency in Guild Wars 2. Silver and copper are a lesser-valued subset of gold. As well as gold there are three other currencies that players will become familiar with; Glory, Karma and Gems.In PvP, players earn a currency called Glory, which can be used to obtain cosmetic upgrades.PvE players earn Karma in-game and they can exchange for unique rewards from Karma vendors. Karma cannot be traded between players.The third and potentially most controversial currency in Guild Wars 2 is Gems. Gems are bought for REAL money and can be used in the game's cash shop for microtransactions. At the Trading Post, which is like an auction house but better, players can trade items such as gems for gold and vice versa. You can trade gold to get gems which you can then use to obtain things in the cash-shop. The in-game gem price will fluctuate based on player supply and demand. The system allows for gradual changes in prices relative to the changes in demand for each currency.
Mike O'Brien explains ArenaNet's philosophy on gems and microtransactions...
"We have a new player-driven market that allows players to trade gold for gems and gems for gold. If you want something, whether it's an in-game item or a microtransaction, you can play to earn gold or you can use real money to buy gems. We think that's important, because it lets more players participate on a level playing field, whether they use their free time or their disposable income to do it.
If a player buys gold from another player, he gets the gold he wants, the selling player gets gems she can use for microtransactions, and ArenaNet generates revenue from the sale of gems that we can use to keep supporting and updating the game. Everyone wins."
The video below is from the April 2012 beta and shows the various Guild Wars 2 cash shop and trading post options.
The system is similar to EVE Online's PLEX system, as it takes gold trading out of the hands of real-money trading companies and puts it directly in the hands of players. These companies and their in-game ads spamming "Buy Guild Wars 2 Gold", account hacking and gold farming bot networks are the losers from this action by ArenaNet.Best of all, this doesn't give players who spend money an unfair advantage over players who spend time.The Guild Wars 2 Blog Krewe think that's a great thing!
Play NICE in GW2
While I'm really excited about Guild Wars 2 and its impending release, it's times like this that I find my self feeling my age.I'm what you'd call a "mature" gamer. I've played GW1 for more than six years with my two sons, who are now aged 25 and 18. We're eagerly looking forward to playing GW2, and we created the Guild Wars 2 blog to help us document and share our enjoyment."Back in my day" politeness was the norm. Civility, consideration, manners, decency... the norm. The internet changed all that. Read more... Play nice in GW2.
Previous Guild Wars 2 Blog entries are linked in the right hand column. Links include videos, maps, pictures, movies, books and talk about the GW2 launch date.
"We'd like to think that if Prince Rurik was alive, (the Ascalonian warrior prince from the Prophecies campaign), that he'd enjoy reading this blog as much as the GW2 Blog Krewe enjoy writing it."
) At present there are some 20 million two-word names in use by existing Guild Wars players. Some of those players and / or character names wont be around for GW2 so ArenaNet have devised a cunning plan that allows dedicated players to retain their existing character names, while freeing up several million names for players coming into the game on the regular launch day.
Read the details here... Reserve Your Guild Wars 2 Character's Name.
By purchasing the correct copy of the game, you're supporting the game in your country, as you'll be connecting to your local data center, using your local customer support team, and downloading the correct language support for your country.
One issue yet to be resolved is for those players who travel a lot. A solution is still being worked on for those players.
Gems are bought for REAL money and can be used in the game's cash shop for microtransactions. At the Trading Post, which is like an auction house but better, players can trade items such as gems for gold and vice versa. You can trade gold to get gems which you can then use to obtain things in the cash-shop. The in-game gem price will fluctuate based on player supply and demand. The system allows for gradual changes in prices relative to the changes in demand for each currency.
