Guild Wars Reporter

We apologize for the very poor audio quality of both the video and audio version. Mike O'Brien kicks off the Anniversary Bash with a speech about the first year of Guild Wars 2 and what is coming with the September 17th patch. Mike Zadorojny, Melina Mitchell, and Crystal Reid guide us through the revamped Tequatl the Sunless fight before attendees get the chance to play it live. Audio version:

Join us as the Arenanet Team discusses the living world of Tyria. Panelists are Devon Carver (WvW Coordinator), Chris Whiteside (Studio Design Director), Colin Johanson (Game Director), Stephen Clarke-Wilson (Studio Technical Director), James Ackley (Audio Director), Daniel Dociu (Studio Art Director), Angel McCoy (Narrative Designer), Joanna Frazer (Producer), Paul Belz (Living World QA), and was moderated by Martin Kerstein (Community Manager). Audio version:

Celeste calls out to Allona again to fill the empty hole he's left while at PAX. We talk about living world, Scarlet Briar, and the new stuff coming with Super Adventure Box's return. Listen now: What We Did This Week   Allona: Scarlet’s invasions and playhouse Reading Sea of Sorrows   Celeste: Ele exploration Engineer to 20 using cheater scroll Scarlet’s invasions & playhouse   Report from Lion’s Arch   Dat Infographic https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/ “We knew we wanted to use live updates to make the world even more dynamic. And we knew that in order to really succeed at that, we’d have to be able to ship new content into the world at an unprecedented scale.” “We want to involve you in shaping these world changes. Recently you elected Ellen Kiel to the Captain’s Council, along with her promise to research a Fractal dungeon about the Thaumanova Reactor Explosion. That means you directly decided what content ArenaNet is building for Guild Wars 2 for release later this year. In the coming year you’ll see more and more how your choices and actions in Tyria will permanently change the world.” [speculation about what other changes may occur] Obligatory ad: “If you haven’t joined us yet, there’s never been a better time. Whether you’d rather wage war in epic battles with hundreds of players, test your skills against fellow players in our competitive PvP scene, or just explore a vast world that offers new surprises every time you log in, I invite you to check out Guild Wars 2 today.” Still using the 3.5 million I wonder if we’ll ever get an updated count or if they’ll stick to the fastest selling MMO (in the western industry) Wow, I really hate Risen Thralls, how about you? [Allona: I really had no idea they were so deadly] To contrast that, the number of times players have revived other players is encouraging   Follow-Up Interview with Mike O’Brien (Massively, MMORPG, & GW2Hub) http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/interviews/interview-arenanets-president-mike-obrien I wrote in my blog post that for me, when it comes together, is where dynamic events and living world events that are going on - where it really feels right - is when you're fighting for the world. That you don't think about the fact "was this always in the game" or "is this an event that got layered in recently?". You don't think about the mechanics of how it's all happening, you just think about the fact something is going on in the world. Massively: What's the single biggest lesson you've learned in the one year period, keeping up with Guild Wars 2? I'll start with the biggest single challenge, for challenge, is of course being able to deliver content at the pace we're wanting to deliver at. I think it's an amazing power we have right now to keep the game constantly changing. Its been a year to build our team and company to the point where we can do this. Its been a reworking of a lot of our company and production processes but we did it! Look at the update we just did. What I look forward to is thinking about that release and then thinking about a year of those releases every two weeks. That's the kind of power we have in our grasp right now and that's what gets me excited. MMORPG: If you're constantly growing the world with Living World updates, is that a replacements to expansions? Are you adding new zones at any point? First, we've been clear (hopefully) to our players that we're focusing on Living World right now. We're really not focusing on expansions right now. We think there's so much we can do with Living World right now - and we have - and you're asking can we add zones to the world: we did. We did add the Fractals of the Mists system through the Living World. Ascended gear - I know that was controversial - but it was a major new type of advancement that we didn't wait for an expansion for.

Chris and Celeste talk about Scarlet Briar and her diabolical plans to get everyone to spend money on the Black Lion Trading Company. Join us to see if we're surprised the Watchknights are evil now that Clockwork Chaos has erupted. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: Mesmer from 51 to 56 Closing Ceremony and Frostgorge Sound invasion, tried to get to other invasions in time but always seem to end up on an empty overflow or an overflow where everyone is complaining about the fact that they’re in overflow   Chris: Ground some Queen’s Jubilee Took part in some of the zone wide invasion event in Lornar’s Pass Report from Lion’s Arch The Queen’s Speech is now Clockwork Chaos https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/august-20-2013/ Full vandalism by Scarlet revealed If you’ve done the first instance, “Closing Ceremony” then you would’ve noticed that the Queen’s Speech never even really happened. The big announcement from Jennah was preempted by Scarlet Briar taking Lord Faren and setting up bombs in the Crown Pavilion   Say Goodbye to Data Mining Nuggets o’ Goodness http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1kqt0c/data_mining_upcoming_features_and_changes_from/ Essentially every patch from now will not include the ability for data miners to spoil major story elements of the next patch   Patch Notes https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-August-20-2013 https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/clockwork-chaos-guide/ Invasions in each zone of the world 45 minutes to defeat invasions 3 waves of enemy levels and 2 reinforcement armies Scarlet Get extra rewards if you manage to get all of these waves completed, if not you gain a lesser but still relatively nice reward Have to do 5 invasions ( which means at least 5 hours of play) to unlock the portal to open the pavilion again If you know someone that has completed it and you party with them you’ll be able to gain access to the pavilion again without having to complete the story instances shoulder scraps 250 = 1 skin Scarlet’s Funhouse Crown Pavilion and Queen’s Gauntlet will close on September 3… will return at some point. Achievements there are currently 4 categories of living world achievements… Clockwork, Jubilee, Gauntlet, & Vorpp it’s confusing and convoluted as to which one you’re working on when you open them and try to read them all example: portal closer in clockwork reads “Portal Invasions stopped,” in vorpp it reads “respond to five of scarlet’s portal invasions and be there when it ends” two very different things and yet the same name unless you hover/check the details of it watchwork knight tonic http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1ku4e5/infinite_watchknight_tonic/ usable while in combat but… only 5 minutes use and a 30 minute cooldown Twisted Watchwork Portal Device - one time use item that is crafted, will transport you to dangerous, rewarding, or both. related: https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/livingworld/speech/50-Trips-with-the-Twisted-Portal/ Culling - In Case you thought culling was still in-game… http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1kscnb/greetings_from_the_zerg/ Balance - Karma no longer uses boosts… has been reversed until Sept 3 so that people have time to use boosts, pots, etc. If you used any on the day of the patch you should have gotten them back in the mail https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Karma-Changes-Temporary-Rollback/ Zodiac weapon skins - http://dulfy.net/2013/08/20/gw2-zodiac-weapon-skin-gallery/ so pretty! Mini 3-Pack Set 2 - http://dulfy.net/2013/08/21/gw2-set-2-minis-gallery/ mini’s of tier 3 armor wearing characters produces things like… http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1ksik5/and_i_shall_call_her_minime/

Chris and Celeste grind their way through the Queen's Jubilee, taking the opportunity to talk about the community's reaction to the update, the announcement of The Queen's Speech, and more! Listen now: What We Did This Week  Celeste: Que...

Chris and Celeste want more loot. We talk about the Queen's Jubilee, the most recent patch, and an excellent lore interview with Angel McCoy. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: Queen’s Jubilee - pavillion, balloons, and gauntlet levelled Mesmer from 43-48 in 1 day w/o boosters or food   Chris: Queen’s Jubilee Mostly with my warrior Level my Guardian from 3-8, but decided that I needed the money that drops on the 80 more.   Report from Lion’s Arch   Ellen Kiel wins the Council Seat https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/announcing-the-winner-of-the-captains-council-election/ 52-48 margin (over 9 million!) unfortunately this victory brought out some ugly parts of the community http://www.tashadarke.co.uk/2013/08/cutthroat-politics-true-colours-revealed/   Patch Notes https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-August-6th-2013 Queen’s Gauntlet - https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/livingworld/jubilee/Queens-Gauntlet-feedback “I just don’t understand why Anet forces small tight kittened up rooms for something like this when they know camera is kittening terrible. And why suddenly change activities from instanced to the middle of the kittening lag infested area.“ “A rotation of Living World achievements has been added to the Daily Achievement category.” Unfortunately it hasn’t been working so well... some activities don’t count and some do Wallet Woes Fractal relics https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/livingworld/jubilee/Token-Wallet-Thank-you-a-net/page/2#post2521031 Champion loot containers are awesome (or at least in the pavilion they are...) https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/bugs/Champs-in-Orr Improved Effects Culling - um, where? Pavilion is absolutely FILLED (or rather not) with culling dungeons “Keep and castle assault events are now group events and will count towards monthly achievements.” YAY! The Royal Pass.... On one hand it’s a pure convenience item, on the other it’s a disturbing look at things that may come down the pipes later. It’s an area open to players who pay for a premium pass (300 gems) it contains, crafting, repair, TP, and other NPC’s in a centralized location Problem is, will we be seeing more VIP areas? Overall I really enjoy this patch, but there are some disturbing details that go along with it endless grinding for loot can be fun (especially with the zerg), but having to do it for achievements isn’t Almost all cheevos are “Kill 100 __ for __” and that’s just plain grind   Official Guide https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-queens-jubilee-guide/ Not everything is super straightforward as to where you should go to get started Head to the former site of the Great Collapse to get started with the Gauntlet or Pavilion Look for Herald locations in DR to find the Torchbearer Runs Rewards - Flame of Kryta Torch, Red Balloon (similar to Kites), Sovereign Weapon Skins, New Sigil recipes, mini watchwork knight Separate Achievement panels for the Jubilee and Gauntlet   Angel McCoy Interview http://esprits-dorr.fr/node/261 How should we consider the cast of a spell according to the lore (and not from gameplay perspective) : Is it an incantation? Does it necessarily require a weapon to cast it? How is energy managed compared to GW1? Does casting a spell consume magical energy, or is it possible to cast as much as you want without any tiredness or decrease in effectiveness? For gameplay considerations, each class can cast only a specific type of magic. However, in terms of roleplay, would it be possible for wizards to have a wider magical knowledge or potential, and therefore be able to cast spells from a variety of branches (such as an elementalist fireball coupled with a mesmer illusion) ? - Highly unlikely,

Chris and Celeste have Stein fever and the only solution is a massive dissection of an interview. We also discuss the upcoming Queen's Jubilee and some pretty great community content. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: finally got my gift of quartz by collecting crystals in sanctum sprint couple of dailies tried jumping puzzles, scavenger’s chasm is my least favorite thing about gw2.   Chris: Finished Snowden Drifts, and now working on Fireheart Rise for world completion. Ran CoF with a group that was farming it. Crazy how quickly they got through the wing (soe). They used Om nom cakes to increase their take from the runs. Trying to do my dailies, and trying to support Evon Gnashblade, but it’s tough (as I’m sure many of you know!) Finished Sea of Sorrows. Great story. Interesting execution in the writing:   Report from Lion’s Arch Breaking: Election news! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151647961164209&set=a.135044094208.103264.114036714208&type=1 52-48 for Kiel as of Friday   More Breaking News: Lack of a Scrim Feature [SYNC] won the NA qualifier for the 10k Tourney! http://www.twitch.tv/mistleague/b/440805277   GW2Hub Interview with Bobby Stein http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/interviews/exclusive-interview-arenanets-bobby-stein Do you think your team has succeeded in reaching the goals you’ve set - “You can't pour your blood, sweat, and tears into something for more than five years and not see a million things that you'd do differently, if given the chance.” So. True. Evolution of the team - “We then assumed storytelling responsibility for the Living World initiative, whereas before we were solely responsible for event and ambient (a.k.a. non-story) content.” It’s a big change to go from events to world changing endeavours. I’m sure it’s not been an easy road to hoe for them. On how his job has changed - “I give creative direction and story guidance, and get my hands dirty writing once in a while, but the bulk of what you see and hear is due to the collaborative efforts of multiple Living World teams.”  It’s interesting to see how their job titles and descriptions have evolved over the last few years. The push to create content & release quickly - “That includes leaving more content behind for everyone to experience for years to come.” Something that will be happening later on this year... “Late last year, we were initially tasked with drafting a scalable, high-level story that could play out over months or years if necessary. We had to put enough thought and detail into the character arcs while also leaving plenty of wiggle room to account for design flexibility, art ideas, and team input. And while this was happening, our tech team was overhauling the tools pipeline so that multiple groups could be building content simultaneously without getting in each other’s way.” So instead of the Living World Initiative we could’ve just gotten scalable high end content. Be.. thankful? Depends on who you ask. Simplistic one-shot short storylines - “While it may appear to some that we're tying up simple short stories every month, there is a larger narrative that we're building toward. We’re about to make some larger reveals that will put the previous events into context. “ Tease. “We didn’t build a living game world just so people could kill virtual monsters. It’s there so they can live out their heroic fantasies, go on thrilling adventures with their friends, experience unusual situations, and do things that they can only dream of in real life.” I thought that was supposed to be true for just about every form of game. Escape. Not sure how this is revolutionary... “I sometimes get the impression that you and your team might be playing catch-up as the content teams quickly run with their ideas for what's next, while you're trying to hold it together.

Chris and Celeste wonder which player-base ArenaNet is catering to with the two week releases cadence. We also fit in all the patch notes for Cutthroat Politics and our first impressions of it. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: Kites with Ben - got killed in the arena and got rezzed by a lovely PHZE person personal story instan--WHAT?! http://youtu.be/Zbfy8aleMSo?t=2m5s candidate trials dreamdark enclave/dark reverie jumping puzzle   Chris: Snowden Drift - Still working on it. WuvWuv with my engineer. HORRIBLE night. Went from owning our borderlands, plus some of the middle section to owning only one keep in our borderlands. Soooo frustrating. SUPER organized zerg on the other side with tons of siege weapons and a golem. Our side just never got enough of a group together to even put a dent in them!   Report from Lion’s Arch Cutthroat Politics Patch Notes https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/july-23-content-release-notes/ https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/cutthroat-politics-campaign-guide/ bazaar of the four winds continues support the candidate of your choosing and change the world of tyria - this means: tokens, badges, open world pve tasks, achievements solo or group candidate trials - hold out against aetherblade pirates to earn loot or a rare aetherized weapon (choose evon or kiel based on which starburst you enter) southsun survival - scavenge supplies, eat a lot, kill other players, last one standing wins, takes place on southsun map with karka, desert rose back item aspect arena - choose an aspect, collect the most crystals to win, zephyr rucksack back item audience with the master - observer the interaction between evon, ellen and the head of the zephyrites belcher’s bluff - permanent addition, “Make sure you don’t miss your chance to face Poyaqui, the Grandmaster of Om, before he moves to Lion’s Arch!” how is this significant? I think it’s not. fortune scraps and kite fortunes continue as per the BoTFW continuation, http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1j1t27/psa_desert_rose_and_zephyr_rucksack_available_for/ if you’re unable/unwilling to do the activities well you can always trade in fortune scraps for them instead BoTFW ends on August 6. spend tokens on the zephyr sanctum Support Token voting ends on August 5th at 11am PST flute - updated to allow players to manually stop a note that is currently playing, https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/bugs/Flute-broken-due-to-note-interruption-changes/first#post2472938 marriner’s horn - updated to prevent two notes from playing simultaneously some minor class updates black lion claim tickets/black lion ticket scraps for aetherblade weapon skins election support bundles - buff that doubles votes value for 30 min, five campaign banners, 125 gems or 5/500gems BL Chest Keys are now RARE and ticket scraps are more common. “This guarantees progress toward a reward rather than a simple retry.” new weapon skins are tradeable until used (if purchased using a BL claim ticket)   Q&A with Ree Soesbee https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/cutthroat-politics-qa-with-ree-soesbee/ a lot of basics about the captain’s council “As the city evolved, the custom became that you had to possess a ship capable of defending the city, and you had to be invested in Lion’s Arch. That ‘investment’ usually meant a massive monetary bribe to the Captain’s Council, which was used for the betterment of the city as a whole.” hence the repeat voting option, it’s a pirate election after all. obvious sea of sorrows plug.   GuildMag’s Latest Issue http://www.guildmag.com/magazine/issue9/interview.htm massive lore interview no secrets about the zephyrite-brotherhood relationship in the first question but a lead that it will be explained over the next few months,

Chris and Celeste dissect all the biggest news articles and videos about the release plans for this year's content. Thar be dragons, expansions, sPvP, WvW, and more in this jam-packed episode of GWReporter. Listen now: What We Did This Week Ce...

Chris and Celeste talk about their Bazaar of the Four Winds experiences, go into some heavy lore with a new short story, and dissect the interview episode that we released this week. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: aetherblade retreat - tweeve, digi, holly, and mourning labyrinthine cliffs - sky crystals, best dive, belcher’s, sanctum sprint kites over tyria, just need fractal one obsidian sanctum - 3 hours in frustration and pain Chris: Got Labyrinthine Cliffs all waypointed out. Tried the Sanctum Sprint. 10th place... out of???   Report from Lion’s Arch Bazaar of The Four Winds https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/july-09-2013/ https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/july-9-content-release-notes/ labyrinthine cliffs - zephyrites sky crystal hunt - FUN kite hunting - really wish they were like crafting nodes, I hate taking things from other players sanctum sprint - rollerbeetle racing ftw belcher’s bluff - encountered this with Order of Whispers story and I really enjoy it, despite being pretty terrible at it - the problem with it is that, yes, you’re introduced to it in labyrinthine, you have to go do it in the home instances before you can play with the NPC there “new conversation with braham in cragstead” - refugees are in cragstead rebuilding, Braham is confused about his mum achievement panel changes, you’ll only get 1 chest per day during the catchup period, new skin rewards - radiant, hellfire and zenith no more swimming under rata sum some minor class changes, none of which are earthshattering spoiler free guide with all the new activities/areas for BoTFW https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-guide-to-bazaar-of-the-four-winds/ music for this release https://soundcloud.com/arenanet/sets/guild-wars-2-bazaar-of-the “ our narrative designer Angel McCoy came up with lyrics for a song that would tell the story of these new people. She gave the lyrics to Maclaine Diemer, who wrote a simple yet memorable melody that would define the rest of the music surrounding the Bazaar release.” - Leif Chappelle “This zone is only available for four weeks and will not be accessible after until a later date.” - http://dulfy.net/2013/07/08/gw2-bazaar-of-the-four-winds-patch-overview/(this guide is more overview but still may have some spoilers, click through at your own risk)   Skyhammer PvP Map https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/introducing-the-new-skyhammer-pvp-map/ “When the only tool you possess is a high-intensity mega-cannon, everything looks like a target.”  -Asura saying conquest with 3 capture points when someone walks on a “clear” floor a timer is triggered for that floor to collapse   The Story So Far... http://www.guildmag.com/four-winds-living-story-primer missed out on why we’re going to the bazaar or what’s happened with the living story in the past couple of months? here’s a primer leading up to BotFW Ashford and his second died in Dragon Bash and Flame & Frost, respectively, so the council has an opening Kiel - former lionguard, hard worker to the point of masochism Gnashblade - powerful ceo of BLTC   Trek of the Zephyrites https://www.guildwars2.com/en/community-news/short-story-the-trek-of-the-zephyrites/ current manifestation of the dwarven Brotherhood sworn to protect Glint and keep her secrets, like the egg that they helped to save in EoTN We’re coming here to retrieve whatever remains of her magical corpus, so that her sacred bones won’t fall into the wrong hands. Dragons consume magic, but they do not destroy it. They hold it within themselves like a sponge holds water. I only hope we’re faster than the scavengers and power-mongers who would use her body to advance their own evil or selfish plots. Holding a portion of her in my hand,

In this special Interview with Mike Z, Lead Content Designer, Harry asks questions regarding personal story instances, raids, playable races, guesting and the economy. Transcription of the questions are below the cut. We hope you enjoy it! Listen no...

Chris podcasts normally while Celeste can't seem to keep the show straight or talk in a normal way. We talk about Arenanet's plans for expansion, new release cadences, living story, Bazaar of the Four Winds, and goats--I mean, achievements. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: that dungeon that jumping puzzle Chris: King Jalis’s Refuge Jumping Puzzle Aetherblade’s Retreat Still working on Zone Completion Did the math to buy the Holographic Dragon wings through the Auction house.... yeah....   Report from Lion’s Arch Colin’s plan for the rest of 2013 https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/living-world-in-guild-wars-2/ "we're going to be going with releases every two weeks for guild wars 2" one of the writers was saying he was working on dialogue for october, so I guess they've been working really hard to advance the living story “As you read these words, a release is seven days or less away or has just happened within the last seven days— those are now the only two states you’ll find the world of Tyria.” there's 4 living world teams now, for june there was only 2 so 1 team will be releasing twice for a month and then the next will come up to the plate so it's likely we won't get a truly cohesive story for the year "you're going to see a much stronger mix with permanent updates to the game, update to areas that already exist and make them stronger and more exciting, ... mix of the temporary content we've done before to create really compelling storylines that change the game and you're going to see holidays and festivals that we've done in the past that will continue to expand each year and grow but all of that will be a part of the living world experience and be part of that strategy every two weeks as we do this." “We’ll introduce new maps and regions permanently to the world, but with a storyline that drives their creation and discovery to make them feel natural and seamless rather than suddenly tacked on.” "now on top of that we're going to have a lot more going on than just living world releases. Every two weeks with the living world there are  a lot of features, new content, and new rewards that will be rolling out as well. We're going to go into a lot more detail, we'll be putting out a blogpost in late july that talks through where we're talking the game in the second half of 2013 in regards to features and things that we want to do with the direction of rewards... blah blah" essentially this mean, no expansion this year. but we're doing LOTS of other things “Creating a truly living world is one of the core pillars of Guild Wars 2, and this initiative is one of in the many ways we’re continuing to build towards the promise of what our game can be. We won’t stop here. “ I’m curious to find out what this means for the advancement of the personal story, for new dungeons that push destiny’s edge story forward and us as well.   Chris Whiteside Living Story Interview with GW2Hub http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/editorials/chris-whiteside-living-story-tyria we’re likely to see more updates revealing new zones like with southsun cove but without all the issues that we experienced in that initial update/living story/event “You know we've been focused on Guild Missions. While we can't go into detail. We do intend to bring up a LARGE number of people into events. Encounters where lots of people can play and have fun. The raiding is very exciting but we don't want to speak into too much detail for stuff that is too far off. We are working on gameplay that involves guilds and lots of players.” for another interview with chris http://www.mmorpg.com/gameon.cfm   Mike Z - No planned expansions http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-03-its-unlikely-guild-wars-2-will-ever-get-an-expansion-pack "If we do this right," he answered,

Chris and Celeste burn dragons, play animal crossing and talk about sky pirates. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: burn the dragon catch the murderer mesmer joined the vigil and maybe some... *cough* animal cro...

Chris and Celeste are all about bashing dragons, smashing dragons, and dragon destruction as we set off into the sunset to trash them even more. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: bash the dragon, smash the dragon inadver...

This week's show has Chris and Celeste talking about the Southsun Coast content, the wealth of news that has recently released and the future of the game. Listen now: What We Did This Week Celeste: crazed karka queen completed metric...