Filed under: Guild Wars

One Shots: A toast to your doom

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 7th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

Every year in Guild Wars, the Mad King Thorn invades, demanding that the residents there laugh -- or die. But for all that this may sound incredibly ominous, you can't help but appreciate just how utterly cool the ArenaNet team has made their game look. Today's spooky yet gorgeous screenshot comes to us from Thorband, who captured this image during the recent Guild Wars Halloween events. Add in those especially awesome wings, the grinning moon, and a ghoulish visage, and that's a hard Halloween image to beat!

Have you seen something really, really cool but unquestionably evil? We'd be thrilled if you'd share with the rest of us. Just email it to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. (Meanwhile, we'll be turning it into our desktop image for the day!)

Gallery: One Shots

Guild Wars announces art contest winners

by Rubi Bayer Nov 2nd 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Contests, Free-to-play

At the beginning of October, Guild Wars announced that their annual Halloween art contest was open for entries. After sorting through hundreds of submissions, they announced the winners on Friday. As always, fan creativity shone in the form of costumes, lawn decorations, drawings, carved pumpkins, and even a ceramic siege turtle that fires pumpkins instead of jade.

ArenaNet seemed very happy with this year's entries: "We were so impressed by both the Halloween spirit and the quality of artistic talent in our community that it was hard to choose only ten winners and ten honorable mentions."

Twenty winners were chosen from the submissions for some great prizes. The top three winners scored a signed copy of The Art of Guild Wars 2, the top ten received a signed Guild Wars art print, and all twenty winners won an exclusive Mad King's Guard minipet. Congratulations to all of the winners!

ArenaNet grants wish to heart transplant patient

by Rubi Bayer Nov 1st 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Culture, Events, real-world, Guild Wars 2

Emily is a high school junior diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, who is having a pretty good 2009 in spite of that. She received a heart transplant earlier this year, as well as a little pick-me-up from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Emily became a Guild Wars fan last year while waiting for her heart transplant and during her recovery afterward. She spent a lot of time in Tyria while living in the hospital.

Just last week Make-A-Wish arranged for Emily to travel to Seattle and visit the ArenaNet offices, making her the envy of a few million fans. She spent her morning touring the offices, meeting the staff, learning about what they do, and even meeting with the section heads to discuss her likes and dislikes about Guild Wars. After lunch, time to spend a few hours playing Guild Wars 2 with the ArenaNet team. That's right, Emily got an up close and personal look at the game, giving feedback and making suggestions from a fan's point of view. The best part came at the end: "They pulled us aside and asked if she could stay a couple of extra hours. They convened a group of their eight senior designers and Emily, and they asked Emily to help them design an "Event" for the game."

So when we finally get our hands on GW2, there will be a little something from Emily in there. Congratulations from Massively, Emily, and we wish you continued health.

One Shots: From the shadows

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 1st 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

While many are enjoying the tail end of the Mad King's Revelry event in Guild Wars, there are still wild, eerie battles to be had at other times as well. Today shows off one such encounter, sent in to us by Bob J. who writes in to explain the scenario: Slavers' Exile is a dungeon with multiple parts. The final part contains boss battle is with Duncan the Black, who is trying to absorb the powers of the Great Destroyer, which was killed at the end of the main Guild Wars: Eye of the North storyline. Duncan is a powerful Ritualist and one of the more annoying bosses in the Guild Wars universe. This screen is of one of my friends taking him down with Sliver Armor and Shadow Form.

One Shots relies heavily on great reader screenshot submissions, so if you're playing a game that doesn't get love as much as you might like, please do take a moment and send us some of your favorite screenshots. Just email them in to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them up here and give you the nod for sending them along!

Gallery: One Shots

Massively wishes you a happy Halloween

by Alex Ziebart Oct 31st 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Age of Conan, Aion, City of Heroes, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Fallen Earth, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage 2, Warhammer Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Exteel, Free Realms, Champions Online, Runes of Magic, Legends of Norrath

Halloween is probably second only to Christmas in terms of holiday popularity. Ask just about anybody what their favorite holiday is, and they'll probably list one of those two (if it fits the culture). Naturally, as MMO players, we have fun celebrating it in our virtual worlds just like we do in the real world. And boy, this year, do we ever celebrate. Just about every active MMO out there had (or has) something going on. The 2009 lineup included:

Most of these events last a few days into November, so if there's any one in particular you're dying to experience, you might still have a chance if you have a subscription laying around. If you're not able to visit any of these in person, we have screenshots from many of these events in the gallery below. Enjoy!

Gallery: Halloween 2009

Guild Wars PvP henchmen have arrived

by Rubi Bayer Oct 30th 2009 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Patches, PvP, Free-to-play

Back at the beginning of the month, ArenaNet announced the winners of the Guild Wars henchman skill bar contest, promising that the AI would be tweaked to make the winning bars work well. Since then we've been anxiously awaiting the new henchmen to see how well they work and more importantly, what they look like.

They arrived with last night's update, along with a bug fix for Devona, who really wanted to keep "Charge!" on her bar. While it will take some time to get a feel for them in battle, the Live Team clearly had a great time putting them together. The models look great -- a nice variety of looks and styles, and talking to them gives a brief dialogue that says a bit about their personality. In a fun little touch, many of their idle emotes fit their personalities as well. Talking to them will also reveal their skill bars, allowing you to make your selections without resorting to memory or the wiki.

Heroes have been removed for the time being, but don't worry just yet if you want them back. Community manager Regina Buenaobra says, "After yesterday's update our programmer is looking into enabling Heroes in the Guild Hall. He is optimistic that it's possible."

The new henchmen are available in Heroes' Ascent and in guild halls, and while it's a bit disappointing that we didn't actually get henchmen named Hi Captain Obvious or Noodle Legs, we are optimistic that they'll live up to expectations on the battlefield.

Team Arenas and Hero Battles not the only thing changed in latest Guild Wars update

by Rubi Bayer Oct 23rd 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Game mechanics, Patches

Devona without "Charge!"? No more Firestorm for Cynn? Abasi has...wait, what did Abasi have before? Who is that, anyway?

Regina said a few days ago that Hero Battles and Team Arenas would be removed from Guild Wars this week and that the Sealed Deck/Codex Arena would be added. It looks like the Live Team took care of that, made a few more PvP tweaks, then turned their attention to heroes and henchmen. Our sometimes-trusty sidekicks got quite the makeover. Nearly 70 henchmen skill bars throughout every campaign plus Eye of the North were rebalanced, and the AI for nearly every class of hero, henchman, and Hard Mode NPC was updated. (The AI on Necros and Dervishes got a pass - apparently they used their skills well enough to be left alone.) The full list of changes can be viewed here.

The Underworld got some attention too, fixing bugs, streamlining things, adjusting spawns and adding the ominous statement "Something stirs deep in the Underworld, slowly making its presence known." Hopefully we'll find out more about that something when the Halloween events get into full swing.

For now, we're going to find out if removing Healing Touch from Alesia's bar has taught her that she's not a frontliner.

Thrice the Halloween update hath patch'd

by Rubi Bayer Oct 20th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Age of Conan, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage 2, Culture, Events, in-game, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, Runes of Magic, Legends of Norrath

We are well into that time of year - Halloween is almost here and a quick look into nearly any MMO out there will show it. We've been talking about quite a few games out there and how they're celebrating, but they're certainly not the only ones putting jack-o-lanterns in their windows. Follow after the jump for a look at how some of our other favorite MMOs are celebrating.

Goodbye RR Day: Guild Wars to remove Hero Battles and Team Arenas this week

by Rubi Bayer Oct 19th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Events, in-game, Exploits, PvP, News items

No, we're not endorsing RR Day. But ArenaNet Community Manager Regina Buenaobra announced today that Hero Battles and Team Arenas will be removed from Guild Wars with this week's update, and it's safe to assume that a good many players will be mourning that loss. The news shouldn't come as any surprise, given that Live Team Lead Linsey Murdock warned us of this almost two months ago.

So how does this affect the PvP side? Well, after the update this week -- presumably Thursday or Friday -- the Commander title will still exist, but gaining points for it will no longer be possible. It will be replaced by a new title so those who haven't maxed their Commander title won't be left out in the cold. Random Arenas will no longer promote to Team Arenas, and the Hero Battles Ladder will freeze.

Linsey has said that Team Arena will be "renamed and repurposed" for the new Sealed Deck format, and that the Hero Battles maps will be reused, but the only change indicated for this week is the removal of TA/HB. It looks like Sealed Deck and all the other PvP projects are still having finishing touches put on them, so we'll keep watching for them.

The Daily Grind: Ghoulies and ghosties and fan created beasties

by Rubi Bayer Oct 13th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Guild Wars, Culture, Fan art, Events, in-game, The Daily Grind

One of the greatest thing about MMOs is the player involvement. Fans pick up a game's story and run with it, constantly coming up with fun new results. This hold true as holidays approach, as games start getting into the festive spirit of Christmas, New Year's Eve, Halloween and their own unique storyline-driven celebrations. Player creativity really shines during special events and everyone benefits from the fun.

Halloween is approaching, and party planning in every game is well under way on both the community relations side and the player side. Game sites are starting to talk of pumpkin carving contests and character costume sales, and fans are planning their parties as well. One of the longest running community events is the fifth annual King and Queen's Horrorween in Guild Wars, but it's not the only player-run party out there by any means.

The list of games and fan events is long, and offers a wealth of spooky fun for everyone, so we want to know: who's partying in your game of choice? Tell us what community events you're looking forward to attending this Halloween!

The top five Guild Wars features we take for granted

by Rubi Bayer Oct 12th 2009 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play

Guild Wars was my introduction into MMO gaming. My husband heard of it on a podcast and decided to check it out. I got curious, asked him if I could try it, and never looked back. My outgoing, chatty personality combined with my love of computer games made MMO gaming an irresistible new world to explore. With all the recent (long-awaited) news of Guild Wars 2, this seemed like a great time to take a look back at some of the features of Guild Wars that are rarely found in other games of its type.

Guild Wars PvP project updates

by Rubi Bayer Oct 9th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, Free-to-play

Back in August, Linsey Murdock, game designer for ArenaNet, gave news of a large Guild Wars PvP project the Live Team was working on. Community Manager Regina Buenaobra gave an update yesterday, working through a laundry list of items in the project and their status.

The PvP henchmen contest seems to be the primary focus of the Live Team at the moment. Winners were announced last week, and after the initial flurry of perusing the new skill bars and congratulating the winners, the Guild Wars community wondered "What now?". Will we see the new henchmen anytime soon, and more importantly, will we really have henchmen named Rolol Lololol and A Papaya In There? As it turns out, the Live Team is working on that very thing -- contacting winners, working out appropriate in-character names, and anticipating the fun of finding models. While the team is working hard on this, Regina didn't neglect mention of the many other items on the list.

The switch from Team Arenas and Hero Battles to the Sealed Deck format is taking longer than planned, as team members had to build the project nearly from the ground up. A few items, like GvG Tiebreaker and a new Hall of Heroes map, have been put on hold until the Test Krewe is in place. Several small items are taken care of and ready to go, while other things are on hold for now; one of them being the next skill balance.

More details can be seen in Regina's journal entry, and we hope for even more soon.

One Shots: Overlooking the quarry

by Krystalle Voecks Oct 4th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

When you see screenshots like this that almost seem to hover on the very verge of looking like paintings themselves, you can definitely see why the artists at ArenaNet have won several awards for their work on Guild Wars. With the art for Guild Wars 2 out, we can't wait to see more of that world. For now, though, we'll just enjoy today's great One Shots and long description, sent in to us by Sunspear. If you'd like to join the fun, send in your own image and note to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description. We'll do the rest. Now, on with the note!

Quarrymaster Bohanna: "Hail, Sunspear! I am Quarrymaster Bohanna. I am in charge of the quarry at the Cliffs of Dohjok, and I need the help of a strong player like you. You see, we deliver stone to support the sculptors creating our monuments. But we've been unable to meet our quotas recently and construction has stopped. Every time the miners try to excavate more stone, they get attacked by mandragor."

The Cliffs of Dohjok is a forested ridge situated in southern Istan, between the swampy lowlands to the southwest and the flat plains to the east. A beautiful waterfall lies to the west. Istanis are currently carrying out quarrying work in the cliffs to the east of the waterfall. The Quarry you see on the screenshot is deserted and overrun by corsairs and mandragor.

Gallery: One Shots

Guild Wars Halloween art contest is here

by Rubi Bayer Oct 2nd 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Contests, Fan art, Events, in-game

It's almost that time of year again for Guild Wars fans -- time for pumpkin crowns, squash serums, and Mad King Thorn. Halloween is approaching, and with it comes the fifth annual Guild Wars Halloween art contest.

Entrants are invited to show off their talent by creating a Guild Wars themed Halloween concept. There are no limits or restrictions on what participants can dream up and create -- the contest information suggests everything from creating a costume to decorating your house to baking a cake. As long as there is a Guild Wars theme, anything goes.

Twenty winners will be chosen from all entries. All twenty will receive a Mad King's Guard mini pet (this event marks the introduction of this brand new miniature). The top ten will receive a signed art print from PAX 2008 as well, and the top three will also be awarded the Guild Wars 2 art book, signed by members of the GW2 development team.

The deadline is 12:00 Noon PDT, October 23 -- good luck to all!

Guild Wars announces winners of the henchmen skill bar contest

by Rubi Bayer Oct 2nd 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Contests, Events, in-game, PvP

As part of the PvP love update that Linsey Murdock mentioned back in August, Guild Wars will be removing heroes from Guild vs. Guild and Heroes' Ascent, replacing them with brand new henchmen. Heroes in these formats were a bit of a problem, as they sometimes put players at a disadvantage if they didn't have access to heroes.

These aren't just any henchmen, though. This new group comes straight from the Guild Wars community, courtesy of the henchmen skill bar contest. Players were invited to submit henchmen skill bar suggestions via Dizhou, a temporary NPC placed in the Great Temple of Balthazar until the contest closed on September 10th. ArenaNet chose forty skill bars from these submissions. Each of the lucky winners will receive a henchman named after them (or by them, if they preferred) and an everlasting henchman tonic that temporarily transforms them into their namesake.

Check out the winners in both the Guild vs. Guild and Heroes' Ascent categories, and congratulations to all of you!