Thursday 16 May, 2013 Guild Wars Development and Automation
It’s hard to believe that there’s been more than eight years of Guild Wars. So much has happened since our release in April of 2005: two additional campaigns, an expansion, two major live story arcs, new festivals, new content, countless new features, and quality-of-life improvements have been added to the game. The change has happened so naturally over time, it’s hard to believe how stark the difference is between when the game first launched and how it stands on the live servers now.
Over time, our focus has shifted to updates that not only help maintain Guild Wars but help the game maintain itself. With this focus in mind, we’ll no longer be releasing any new content for the live game except in support of automation. Our goal is to get the game to a place where it can continue to run and be available to all of our fans. We have a lot of love for Guild Wars - it’s the game that made us what we are today-and we want to continue sharing it with everyone!
I want to make sure that players correctly understand our intentions behind these changes and the overall push for automation. As I’ve said, we want the game to be in a place where it’s able to take care of itself. While we will not be producing new content, the Live Team will still be around to perform critical fixes for crashes or other serious issues. We want to support the players who made us successful by ensuring the game provides the best service possible without constant supervision and attention. Reducing the need for manual intervention makes it easier for us to keep Guild Wars running in the years to come.
Coming Changes
The first change is to our Automated Tournament System. Contrary to what the name might lead you to expect, it has not, in fact, been entirely automated. Guilds that won or placed in the Monthly Automated Tournaments would have to wait for one of the Live Team staff members to sync up with them in game, temporarily join their guild, assign the proper cape trim, and move on. The same held true for removing temporary trims that were only available for one month.
Recently, we amended distribution so that only the top guild participating in the MAT received the permanent gold trim, and other trims (including several new colors) could be purchased by saving up your winnings from placing in tournaments. There are two reasons that we made this change: the first was to adjust to the number of rewards being distributed relative to the number of players taking advantage of the ATs. Handing out many trims when there are fewer guilds in attendance ultimately devalues the trims themselves, and there isn’t as much drive to be number one. The second reason is that this lets us better automate the system; the number one guild will automatically get their trim, without having to wait.
While we’re on the subject of the Automated Tournaments, we’ll also be adding another feature to help it live up to its namesake: map rotation will now also be automated. As with cape trims, this means you’ll no longer have to wait for the new map selections to be decided upon and implemented. As soon as the list is needed, it will already be there. The selection of maps for the entire year’s rotation will be created using the same algorithm that we’ve run by hand up until this point. That rotation will then be used for the years to come. Because the process to get to this point was largely the same, there should be no noticeable difference from a player’s perspective except for improved timeliness of the rotation.
Next, we’ll be making some changes to our weekend events. Specifically, these won’t just be weekend events anymore, they’ll run for an entire week on a completely automated schedule. This will be an incredible boon to folks who are still working on finishing out titles for their Hall of Monuments, as they’ll no longer be constrained to packing as much play time as possible into just the weekend. Now everyone will have five extra days to take advantage of these bonuses.
You’ve already seen changes to support automation rolled out to our festival content, but to recap, major festivals now use tokens that players can redeem for one of the special items the event offers. Players are only allowed to choose one, but the choice allows newer players a chance to get items they otherwise never would have been able to and allows longtime players the opportunity to complete their collections. We’ll be making changes along these lines to our remaining celebrations, so that the entire year’s worth of festivals will run seamlessly.
In conjunction with this, we’ve also changed the distribution of birthday presents. Characters celebrating eight or more years in Tyria now get a token that they can then trade in for one of the gift boxes from any of the previous years. The distribution rates for the miniatures remain the same, but players can now target their favorite era every time a new year rolls around.
With these changes, Guild Wars will be more streamlined and self-supporting than ever, traits that will enable the game to be enjoyed for years to come.
Monday 15 April, 2013 Join Our Eighth Anniversary Celebration!
Eight years of Guild Wars and the party won’t stop! From noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on April 22nd till noon on April 29th, you can join the games in Shing Jea Boardwalk, Dragon Arena, and the Rollerbeetle Races. For those out in the field, Birthday Cupcakes and many other special items will drop throughout the event. In addition, characters turning eight years old will receive a birthday voucher, exchangeable for the gift of their choice. Strap on your party hats, unpack your fireworks, and get ready to celebrate! For more information, visit the anniversary page.
Thursday 31 January, 2013 Upcoming Guild versus Guild changes
With the annual battle between Grenth and Dwayna fading into the past, it seems not even Balthazar’s domain is untouched by spring cleaning. Prepare for a batch of updates to Guild Battles through February and March. These changes will offer more people a chance to participate and achieve while giving the best guilds new options for customization.
Most immediately, Balthazar is retiring the engravers and hiring tailors. February is the last chance to get your guild name on a trophy. Winners of future MATs will still show up in Tolkano’s reports, but the 2013 trophy will be moved to the display dais in March, and Tolkano will step to the center of the Great Temple of Balthazar. While battling for this chance at inscribed glory, more guilds will be able to work on their Champion title, as we’re easing the rating requirement from 1200 to 1050.
Also starting in February, we’re adding new ways for guilds to acquire cape trims through tournament participation. Instead of earning temporary bronze or silver trims through the MAT, guild leaders with enough Tournament Reward Points can speak with Tolkano to trade those points for the permanent trim of their choice from a variety of new and stylish colors. Permanent gold trim will still be awarded exclusively to the winner of each month’s tournament; it will overwrite any previously purchased trim color.
The Monthly Automated Tournaments are shifting to the third weekend of the month. This will naturally avoid most major holidays and allow players to determine the date of the MAT without waiting for Tolkano to announce it. Though we’re keeping the current Daily AT rotation for now, we’re working toward implementing a 21-hour rotation, ensuring a few things: times will vary more on adjacent days, a tournament will fall on each hour of the day once per week, and times will naturally be static from one week to the next.
Finally, we’ve seen the market has been hard on those seeking Celestial Sigils. If you’re not having luck with the local trader or The Hall of Heroes, you can now get the occasional drop from a Zaishen Strongbox. Alternately, Jessie Llam will trade them for Gold Zaishen Coins. You can always count on the Zaishen to fill a need, particularly if it gets more people in the battle.
Thursday 24 January, 2013 Canthan New Year is almost here!
Check out the Canthan New Year Festival and explore all of the fun activities we have planned. This year, the festival will be extended to a full week, beginning on Thursday, January 31 at noon Pacific (GMT -8) and ending on Thursday, February 7 at noon Pacific (GMT -8). The event will culminate on Wednesday, February 6 with the traditional festivities in Shing Jea Monastery.
The adjustments to Canthan New Year mark the beginning of a few time and schedule changes to Guild Wars in-game events. Specifically, all major events will be extended to run for a week or longer, and they will be put on a fixed schedule. In some cases this will shift when event finales happen, but highly anticipated events like Halloween and Wintersday already fall on the same date annually and therefore won’t change. Looking to the future, you will be able to enjoy events for longer and can plan to attend without wondering when the events will occur.
Saturday 08 December, 2012 Wintersday is Coming!
We’ve got loads of holiday quests, fun activities, and special rewards planned this year! The festivities run from December 13, 2011 through January 2, 2012. Find out more at our Guild Wars Wintersday event page!
Thursday 18 October, 2012 Halloween is Coming!
Halloween is coming to Guild Wars on October 19. This means 13 days of mischief and mayhem in Tyria, courtesy of Mad King Thorn and his Lunatic Court! The Halloween festival starts on Friday, October 19, at noon Pacific daylight time (-7 GMT) and runs until November 2nd at 1 a.m. Pacific daylight time (-7 GMT). This year you’ll again be able to dress up in the Halloween-themed costumes and enjoy the festive events! Monsters will drop their usual festive items and you’ll also be able to obtain one of the festival hats of past thanks to the popular Festival Hat NPCs in Lion’s Arch and Kamadan. And there are other treats! Once more, Mad King Thorn will appear on October 31st to entertain you… or be entertained! Head over to the Halloween 2012 page for all the details!
Monday 01 October, 2012 Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Pink Day in LA
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when players are invited to wear pink in-game to show their support and raise awareness about breast cancer and other types of cancers. During the whole month, the pink dye vendor Rosa Salvitas will be in Lion’s Arch selling a special blend of pink dye!
But that’s not all—the annual Pink Day in LA event will take place once again in Guild Wars! The Gaming World Entertainment Network (GW-EN) and Gamers Giving Back are hosting this year’s Pink Day in LA event on October 20 from 12:00 - 6:00 PM (CDT) in Lion’s Arch (International Districts 1, 2 and 3). Pink Day in LA is an in-game charity event created to support breast cancer research. This year’s goal is to raise $13,370 for the Canadian Cancer Society, but they’ll need your help!
On October 20 you can listen to the stream on GW-EN Radio and check out the Pink Day in LA in-game event in Guild Wars! There are TONS of incredible prizes that you can win by participating and donating to this worthy cause!
Find out more about Pink Day in LA on their official website.
Thursday 13 September, 2012 Elementalist Skills Updated
Today we’ve released another update to the Elementalist that improves the general versatility of the profession. Try out the updated Elementalist today! For more information, check out our Developer Update.
Friday 24 August, 2012 Password length change
We’re extending the maximum length of Guild Wars passwords from 15 to 100 characters. If your current password is 15 or fewer characters, you will see no change. However, if you’re currently typing a password that is longer than 15 characters, you will receive an “incorrect password” error message when entering it. The reason for this error is that, until now, Guild Wars has allowed players to enter more than 15 characters in the password field, but only verified the first 15 characters during log-in. Therefore, to access your account after today’s update, you will need to enter no more than the first 15 characters of your existing password. Once logged in, you can opt to change your password, creating one that is up to 100 characters.
Thursday 12 July, 2012 Guild vs. Guild Ladder Reset Coming July 12
In January 2011, we asked the community whether the guild-versus-guild competitive ladder should be reset, and the response was a unanimous “yes.” Our first GvG ladder reset took place on June 2, 2011—now it’s time to reset the ladder once again and kick off a new season of guild-versus-guild competition on Thursday, July 12th, at 12 p.m. PDT. We’ll also introduce a few minor changes at that time, the details of which can be found in the latest game update notes.
Friday 06 July, 2012 Wintersday in July Three Week Sale Begins Today
Visit the NCsoft store every week to take advantage of new sale items. Learn more about the Guild Wars Wintersday in July 2012 celebration here.
Thursday 28 June, 2012 Celebrate the Dragon Festival this Weekend
Summer in Cantha brings the Dragon Festival, that annual celebration of the rebirth of the Empire of the Dragon from the devastation of the Jade Wind. Travel to Cantha and join the festivities in the Shing Jea Monastery from June 28th to July 2nd. You’ll find games of chance, rollerbeetle races, holiday quests and treats, and a visit from the Emperor himself!
Explore the wonders of the Dragon Festival here!
