Guild Wars 2

For those that have a kind word or two for Colin Johanson, on today his last day with ArenaNet, this is the thread that I hope y’all will join in wishing him well.

My first hand experience of Mr Johanson: pretty darn nice guy. He took the time earlier this year to reach out to me when he’d heard about me being in cancer treatment for my 5th occurrence of cancer. He was also a great supporter of charitable events that took place in GW2 – events like Toga for MS and Pink Day in LA for cancer. I’m sure there are others he’s lent his support to as well.

It will be so nice for Mr Johanson and his family to have him working close to home. No matter how much you love your job, a long commute can take a toll. Wishing him all the best in his future endeavours…congratulations and farewell!

Goodbye Colin. May your smile always be your umbrella.

You swung the sword like a true champion.

Thanks for everything you have done for this game, it wouldn’t have been the same without you.

You will be missed. Wishing you and yours all the best.

You will be missed, Colin.

Everything else I keep trying to say keeps coming off as corny, so I’ll just leave it as:
Blessed Be.

Best wishes, may your future be filled with success and happiness!!!

DON’T LEAVE US!!!

Just kidding. Good luck in your future endeavors.

http://gw2.ninja/themes/gw2ninja/assets/images/colin.png

goodbye. i know who u are. but i literally do not know you. i play a video game. u ran said video game. i suppose that makes us like brothers. friends come and go but brothers are for life. except when someone vanishes. i suppose since you are leaving, its like u are vanishing. to infinity and beyond. may the force be w/ u. live long and prosper

Farewell Colin your smile will be missed. Now the teasing/trolling at announcements …

Take care, Colin! Never followed much about you but that youtube video I watched of Doc banning you thinking you were a poser was ABSOLUTELY priceless! I must have watched that 10 times in a row just to laugh while my husband asked, “Who’s… Colin?”

lmao.

I’ve always been hesitant to say it’s been the best RPG I’ve played, and to this day it stays true, nevertheless I am really grateful for the chance I’ve got to play this game. Any flaws beside, you guy’s have done a great job making a game with unique features, ones I can not get bored of, nor can be challenged easily, and I’m aware you, Colin Johanson had a great part in creating it. So thank you a lot! It’s always, especially sad to see someone go, who’ve been such an iconic face for the community. Best wishes and may you find happiness in your future endeavours!

Good luck.

Don’t worry guys he will be back on April 1 with a big “Fooled Ya!” Lol Jk.

Best of luck with everything, sad to see you go as this game needs as many Engi’s as we can get!

By Balthazar’s Beard… May Colin have the best next job besides working at A-net. Hopefully he will enjoy all the time he now can spend with his family and laugh with us when he plays GW2 not as a ANET member, but as one of us… one of us… one of us…..

The longer the farewell’s take, the harder it is to let go, so I’ll be short – may your smile, dedication, enthusiasm and all qualities of a great man inspire others, just as they inspired countless players. Fear not, we shall bash all threats to Tyria, swinging our swords in your name. Farewell, Colin Johansson, and see you in Tyria!

A goodbye from Colin

Thank You!

ArenaColin

I didn’t plan to write something like this but due to an overwhelming response from friends around the industry and folks from this great community it has become clear to me proper closure requires a real goodbye. Today is my last day at ArenaNet, so here goes nothing…

Eleven years ago ArenaNet took a chance on me. The company’s very first ever game: Guild Wars (Prophecies) needed a game designer to build the bulk of the quests with just a few months left till ship. The offer came on a Friday and required I fly to Seattle from Virginia and be there by Monday morning to start working. On a recommendation from my friend Lewis who was a coder at ArenaNet – I quit my job and jumped on that plane. I flew with what clothes I could bring in a few suitcases and a sleeping bag. I rented an apartment I didn’t have time to furnish and with my sleeping bag as a bed, I set to work banging out the quests. One of the first quests I got to work on involved a little girl named Gwen who needed you to recover her lost flute, I would never have guessed the legacy she would have.

I knew it was a special place when I was immediately made a part of the family. No one ever treated me like an outsider who came in for the final months, I was made to feel like a true part of the team who was helping make something great and it was clear to me I had found a home. Shortly after the launch of Guild Wars, the company banded together to work on the most fun project I’ve ever been a part of in my gaming career: a free update to the game called Sorrow’s Furnace. So much pure joy and love was poured into that little update and most importantly the amazing friends who I got to work with on it will last with me forever.

As a game designer on Guild Wars ArenaNet continued to support me and let me take chances on wild ideas like a Mad King who told jokes for Halloween (thanks for the jokes James!), an iron forgeman, rollerbeetle racing, a Grenth vs. Dwayna wintersday battle, dwarven boxing, Polymock, mimes galore, bog beasts, glint’s challenge, siege turtles, journey’s with Koss, a dungeon full of snowmen, an Elonan party, a lunar iron chef battle and so many more fun projects I can’t begin to remember them all. They took a chance on me again when they let me become the quest design lead for the Eye of the North (I love you team quest!). In my final project before moving to the Guild Wars 2 team, they took one last roll of the dice and give me a shot at being the lead designer of the bonus mission pack.

In Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet gave me the incredible opportunity to lead the team that designed and prototyped the dynamic event system – it all started with a prototype sector we called Shaemoor. Shortly after that they took a chance on me again and let me lead the team that designed and built all of the game content that launched with Guild Wars 2. That team and those years together is another of my all time favorite memories. To those of you out there from that team who read this – I am so proud of you and the amazing things you accomplished – I am truly honored to have been able to have been your lead.

Around launch in the ultimate step of taking a chance on someone, they asked me to step away from my role as a game designer and hand my design team off to a new leadership team to become the PR and media facing voice of the game as the game director for Guild Wars 2. A position where I’ve got to take the credit for everyone else’s hard work ever since.

I’ve spent over a decade at my home at ArenaNet; first the building sinking into the swamp, and now the shiny new building on the hill. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the time I’ve spent, or more humbled by the trust put in me. My departure to take on a new challenge elsewhere shouldn’t be a sad day, it’s a day to celebrate new opportunities. I’ve been blessed with the chance to do so much at ArenaNet – and now new people who probably have better heads on their shoulders than I do will get new opportunities. It’s an opportunity for developers to move into new roles they’ve never been in before, for new designers like I was once to get to take chances, and for ArenaNet to support them taking chances the same way it has supported me.

I have loved my time at ArenaNet. I loved my time working with the amazing teams and developers over the many years that really deserve far more credit than they ever receive for the work they do. I love this amazing Guild Wars community. I’ve met so many of you over the years at conventions, talked with you in game, discussed ideas through forums, and read the letters you’ve sent to our office – your passion is simply unmatched. To the ArenaNet team and to the entire community who without which there would be no game at all, it has been an absolute pleasure building games alongside you.

Thank you to everyone for the amazing memories, all of you and the Guild Wars franchise will hold a place in my heart forever.

This was shocking news. It was like Ettin’s punch on the head. One era in this game have been ended now. Farewell Colin, your smile will be missed.

Good luck and best wishes, may your future be filled with success and happiness.

Colin,

I played gw2 since head start and it is probably the game i spent the most time on in my life. And i started playing video games before you. So i guess a Thank You is in order.

I was fortunate enough not to be engaged with online games for a long time because i was too busy traveling the world and meeting new people and communities in real life. Unfortunately, i was grounded at home for the most part of gw2 being live due to medical reasons. During that time, I was very engaged with the online community of gw2, be it in game or through other media and I was quite surprised at how good this game community has been throughout the years.
Even though I think that the game and the community didnt take the best direction since HoT, I am very grateful for what you have directed in the last few years because it gave me alot of joy in a time i needed it.
I fully respect your decision to leave Anet for family and marriage matters and wish you all the best in the years to come.

Cheers,

Bloin

You’ve been a class act, sir. Your grace and charisma has been a huge factor in setting the tone for the GW2 community and no matter how sealed your lips have had to be on (perhaps too many) things, in my opinion you’ve been the reason for much of the enthusiasm for the game.

I look forward to finding out (and playing) whatever your next project is.

I was thinking of commenting he should live in interesting times at his new job. He certainly provided us with some…

Really though I wish him success there, along with happiness and good health for his family .

Blue skies Colin, and thank you for contributing to world that has dominated my gaming life for the last near-11 years.

/salute

Goodbye Colin, and goodluck on your next job, thanks for everything you did for the guildwars franchise.
You will be missed, but luckily we still have the vids

From guildmag.com

A Farewell to Colin Johanson

Farewell, and best of luck to you where ever you go!

And the hype train leaves its final station…..heading onwards….second star to the right and straight on ’til morning.

Choo choo!

Best of luck!

I know that I have passed along my goodbyes to Colin from everyone at GWEN – but know that we all wish you the best in your future endeavors. I look forward to hearing great things from your jobs to come!

Thanks for being an inspiration and a supportive backer of all the things that we have brought to you as part of the community.

Take care,
Rhonda

Lisa scowls at the computer screen…I never know what to write on cards, digital and the real life kind…so…here goes…Colin, I wish you a ton of good luck with your new job and with your family…unless you are the one who made HoT as hard as the kittens, then I wish, oh heck, I still wish you good luck Colin. Your wide happy smile will be missed.

Hugs, hugs, and more hugs.

Lisa.

Colin, can I have your stuff?

Thank you for all your contributions to this amazing! game, and all the best in your future endeavors.

I’ve always liked Colin. He seems like a genuine guy to me. And I don’t think anyone can doubt his passion for Guild Wars.

Colin, wherever you go and whatever you do, I hope you’re happy and fulfilled.

I will miss your infectious smile.

Godspeed, Colin, and thank you. Both GW and GW2 have brought me many many years of enjoyment.

Guild Wars was my first mmo and to this day it is the best mmo I have played and I have you to thank for it.

I wish you all the very best going forward.

I also hate to but a downer on this day but typical this is posted on Reddit and no official goodbye/thank you on the official forum.

You’re the best, man! Best of luck in all your future endeavors!

You will be missed Colin! Wish you all the best in your upcoming adventures!

I was disconnected from GW2 for quite a long time but I heard the news and I had to come to wish him well.

Colin was awesome and a big part of everything good about GW2, as a game designer I learned a lot reading from him during the development phases of the game, I hope you keep doing extraordinary stuff and live happy wherever you go!

Good bye Colin. I hope your hype train will lead you onwards!
Thanks for leading the team into making one of the best mmos out there.

I had a blast since the first beta.

Godspeed Colin

Best of luck Colin, your positive attitude and honest communication of this great game will be missed. You deserve all the credit and if you ever find your way back you will always receive a warm welcome.

Good luck, I wonder if there will be a CJ NPC. Would be.nice of ANet to have one at his favourite spot in the game.

He’s had one since launch. ^^
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kolijn_Johansson

Colin, the launch content of GW2 was the best ever for me as a player who began playing Gemstone 3 on GEnie ages ago. lol. My son, who is a few years younger than you, looks like a twin to you, except only 6 feet tall. So yes, you have a special place in my mind.

Reading your post quoted in this thread made me realize your passion in game development. I will look for any future project you may be involved in. GW2 was my dream mmorpg at launch. I haven’t played it lately due to what I see as a change in direction.

But I will follow you, and try any game you do in the future! Take care!

Thanks for the great design game. Good luck in future endeavors. Your input will be issed.

Farewell Colin! Good luck on your new journey! You will be missed!

I was always jealous of his smile
When i tried to do the same it , there were a lot of sceams and begging for mercy …

I am certain that his tremendous work he did on helping GW1+GW2 to be more popular , it will open to him more easily ‘’better doors’’

Fair skies to you on your voyages forward!
We have enjoyed the blood, sweat, and yes-some tears you have invested in our beautiful game world.
Thank you -thank you-thank you for sharing your creativity with us all!
( Bow to the mighty Guardsman Qao Lin)
Hugz
Don’t trip over the bukkit on your way out hun

Good bye sir, thank you for helping create one of the best games I have ever played. Guild wars 1 changed my way of gaming forever. Thank you also for being a part of the many years I enjoyed Guild wars 2, I hope you are able to create such a franchise again and again.

Hard to imagine a GW2 hype train without Colin. Glad he left on good terms, that seems so rare nowadays. Good luck to him in all his future endeavors, and here’s looking forward to what a new director has in store for us!