Guild Wars 2

Celtus.8456:

Good show. It was nice to hear their thoughts on the issues raised. Hopefully ArenaNet was listening and uses the feedback to fill the glass up.

I caught the latter half of yesterday’s show while it was still live and went back and rewatched it from the beginning afterwards. Overall, I really enjoyed the show, and it really took me back to my pre-ArenaNet days. It’s crazy to think it’s been over a year since the last SotG, and I’m happy to see that DPS has picked up the mantle. I think this style of show is a great way for players to express their thoughts in an easily digestible format, and it provides considerable insight on player perspective for our dev team.

These shows are also a great way to disseminate knowledge from high-tier players. Meta formation is usually a trickle-down effect, with the top-players developing new team compositions and strategy. Quick communication of meta shifts can change the gameplay experience across the skill spectrum. On this note, and very closely related to what my role is at ArenaNet – I think providing more incentive for players to take competition seriously will help teams venture out of their comfort zones – forcing them to try something new and unexpected to one-up their competition. We’re already seeing this in NA/EU as teams shy away from the traditional bunker linchpins and move towards skirmish/rotation-focused team comps.

Regarding events (my area of expertise), I think there were a lot of great points presented by the players. I work very closely with Mistpedia, DPS, ESL, etc – and we try to cater our events to what works best for both the administrators and organizers, as well as the players participating in the event. I think what makes ToL a great event for us to start with is the fact that it touches players from a wide range of skill levels – you don’t need to be able to beat APeX or Team Mist to feel rewarded for your time. That said, I’m always working to improve our existing tournament structures within the confines of what’s reasonable. I’ll be working to address some of the points raised by the players.

Going forward, one of my main priorities is going to be providing a more competitive outlet for our most dedicated and hardcore players. Exclusive and compelling rewards for our most skilled players is our first step towards that goal. Events like the All-Stars tournament is a great added bonus.

One final note – while I’m greatly appreciative of the love from my fellow friends and players give me (I knew most of you before I came to ArenaNet), I’d like to remind you that everything we work on is absolutely a team effort. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just Karl, Evan and I sitting in a corner working on PvP or balance. Every project at ArenaNet involves programmers, directors, designers, artists, producers, QA, and even backseat designers like me! Our team is comprised of incredibly talented individuals, all dedicated to improving PvP in every conceivable way. We’re just as eager to get there as you guys are.

ps, I forwarded the VOD out to the team in case anyone didn’t catch it yesterday.

-Grouch

tl;dr – Wall of text!

World Tournament Series Finals in North America
Boston, Massachusetts – Four teams from around the world clash for the $50,000 prize pool.

March 6 – 8 – more information coming soon!

ESL Go4GW2 Cash Cups
The Guild Wars 2 team, in partnership with ESL, is proud to announce the Go4GuildWars2 Cup,a new series of weekly PvP cups that are open to all participants. PvP teams will fight each other for a shot at a weekly prize pool of US$500 / €500 per region. If you’re one of the top placing teams in each of the cups at the end of the month, your hard work and dedication will be rewarded: you’ll be invited to the monthly grand final event with US$1,500 / €1,500 on the line!

The Go4GuildWars2 Weekly Cups take place every Sunday at 16:00 CET (7:00 AM PST) for Europe and 1 p.m. PST (22:00 CET) for North America.

More information: http://play.eslgaming.com/guildwars2/global/

ESL Weekly Cups
ESL currently runs two cups for European players on a weekly-basis: the 2v2 Cup on Tuesdays at 20:00 CEST (11am PDT), and the Weekly 5v5 Cup on Thursdays at 20:00 CEST (11am PDT). First place team members each walk away with 2,000 gems, and second place winners each receive 800 gems.

Livestream: www.twitch.tv/blu42
More information: esl.eu/eu/guildwars2

Mistpedia Weekly Cups
Mistpedia currently runs two cups for North American players on a weekly-basis: the 2v2 Cup on Tuesdays at 5PM PDT, and the Weekly 5v5 Cup on Thursdays at 5PM PDT. First place team members each walk away with 2,000 gems, and second place winners each receive 800 gems.

Livestream: www.twitch.tv/blu42
More information: http://battlefy.com/mistpedia

We’ll be posting the information very soon. Rest assured, there will be a Ready Up this Friday.

As a reminder, we’ll be going live at 12pm PDT (50 minutes from now). High-level: we’re announcing the all-stars rosters and previewing upcoming ranger/engineer balance changes.

nearlight.3064:

Josh Davis.6015:

To clarify a point in the original post:

Regarding the “Skill Bar” segment, we’re going to be covering future balance updates for both the ranger and engineer. We’re only covering two on each episode because we want to make sure we’re conveying the information in a more easily digestible manner, and we want to make sure we’re giving every profession its due in terms of coverage.

More professions will be covered in the coming weeks.

-Grouch

Okay I totally understand ranger being first, but why engineer so soon? Or is it just picked randomly? Just wondering, though, since I’m just glad that we get to hear about what you guys have in mind at all and that we’ll hear about each profession eventually

We thought about doing it alphabetically, but then we were like, “BOOM, WE’RE SPONTANEOUS!”

Kiriakulos.1690:

How long is ready up and how much time is dedicated to each segment?
Will player feedback from the ready up be taken into account for the proposed changes?

Regarding length: we’re aiming to keep Ready Up a lot shorter than we have previously – the two hour episodes are killer.

As for feedback, the our new way of splitting up the balance segments will make it easier for us to track feedback, as we’ll only be talking about two professions every two weeks, rather than 8 in one week.

To clarify a point in the original post:

Regarding the “Skill Bar” segment, we’re going to be covering future balance updates for both the ranger and engineer. We’re only covering two on each episode because we want to make sure we’re conveying the information in a more easily digestible manner, and we want to make sure we’re giving every profession its due in terms of coverage.

More professions will be covered in the coming weeks.

-Grouch

Great game. Keeping Hman alive in downstate long enough for him to vengeance was clutch!

ZilentNight.5089:

who won? who is going?

I’ll be announcing the rosters on Ready Up this Friday.

Josh Davis.6015:

Hey all,

I’ve seen some concerns in this thread regarding allocating developer resources for tournaments and events, and I just wanted to let you know there’s no reason to be alarmed! While I’m sure our programmers and designers would make for awesome Event Managers, they’ve got a game to work on! Projects like Tournament of Legends, our tournament at gamescom, and anything similar that we do in the future is largely owned by myself and our community/marketing teams.

I had a lot of fun working on the community team earlier this year as the PvP Community Coordinator, and I’m really excited to be back on the team in this new role (Events Manager). For anyone who has been around since the start, you know I’m very passionate about the competitive side of Guild Wars 2. I didn’t want to jump in and ring a bunch of bells announcing my new role when I moved into the position – I’d rather just make things happen.

Hope that all makes sense.

Grouch

Great initiative! As Olrun mentioned, the All-Star vote closes tonight at 11:59PM PDT, so make sure to get your ballot in before then.

:)

The release notes haven’t been updated yet, but the health of the Tropical Parrot was reduced by 50% in today’s release to bring it in line with other summons such as the rock dog.

We’ll keep an eye on it for now and reevaluate its strength in the future if need be.

To address the main concerns of the thread, the decision to not include Blu as a shoutcaster is not an oversight. The All-Stars event is taking place on European soil, and as such, we want to highlight some of the European casters who do a tremendous job of supporting the game.

I also want to make sure we’re not throwing our casters to the wolves. Casting from your bedroom/living room is a lot different than casting in-front of a live audience, and I can speak on this from experience. I’ll be working with our EU casters for the event to make sure that they have the proper support needed to make the event a success. The transition from the bedroom to the stage is quite jarring.

We realize Blu is a huge part of our community, and to pay homage to him we decided to include him in the All-Stars roster so that you, the community, can decide on whether or not you’d want him to represent North America.

North American Candidates:

• Acandis – Guardian/Elementalist – Team Outplayed by Children – I am a friendly guy who enjoys Guild Wars 2 PvP as much as the next guy. Being one of the top players on the NA region, I recognize that helping other players become better is as much our responsibility as it is theirs. I enjoy giving back to the community that has given so much to me, and I stream often so that I may help others get better. All in all, I’m a highly competitive player looking to have fun, make big plays, and to let the viewers and the fans enjoy the game along with us.
• AK – Engineer – Team FML – I’m different. I always come up with my own builds and strategies with the sole purpose of having a huge impact on the game, whether its one-shot builds or buffing up my team, the result is always the same – something different, interesting, and fun that leaves people wondering “what the heck just happened?”
• Blu – Warrior – Authorized Shoutcaster – My commitment to Guild Wars 2 is strong, and I have been playing the game for almost two years straight now. At the launch of the game I played with a competitive EU team by the name of Team Tsunami, and as time went on we became fiercely competitive, going up against some of the top teams in EU at the time on a regular basis. Recently, I have been sitting back as a caster and tournament organizer. While some would assume this would have dulled my skills, being a caster and watching all of these players on almost a daily basis has made me extremely knowledgeable of a lot of the players’ strategies and play-styles in both NA and EU. Armed with this knowledge, flexibility, and commitment to the game, I can guarantee you that if selected I will not only train hard to get myself ready for the event, but also make sure the North American team brings back the victory it deserves!
• Chubbz – Elementalist – Team APeX Prime – My name is Kevin, and I’ve been playing computer games since I was 4 years old! I currently play staff elementalist for Team ApeX Prime, the winners of the first North American Tournament of Legends. I’ve mainly played with staff since beta, even when other players did not feel like it was the optimal weapon. With the help of my team, I’ve shown the North American competitive scene that a staff elementalist is not to be taken lightly, and helped bring them back into the meta. Vote for me if you want to see some amazing staff gameplay at gamescom!
• Five Gauge – Engineer – Team Good Fights – I’m Five Gauge, most recently known as the engineer for team Good Fights! As an engineer main since launch, I’ve always favored my rifle even when it wasn’t the most viable option – but I stick to my guns as the under-dog, both literally and figuratively! I would be honored to help represent the engineer profession as well as North America in the Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars Tournament. My goal is to create the most interesting matches possible!
• Hiba – Engineer – Team Covered in Baby Oil – As an engineer who has been playing Guild Wars 2 PvP since release, I have always strived to be as competitive as possible and to be the best at what I do. As one of the most experienced and exceptional players out there, I know what needs to be done to win and I’m looking to grab my first major tournament victory at gamescom this year. I joke around a lot but I’m also capable of being serious and focused when it’s time for important games. I always try my best to keep my and my team’s attitude positive even in tough times.
• Kaypud – Warrior – Team Covered in Baby Oil / It Ain’t EZ being KPz – My name is Kaypud and I have been active in the PvP community of Guild Wars 2 since launch, always competing at the highest levels in various teams. One of my main strengths is that I’m able to play multiple professions, always adapting to the meta and the needs of my team. I believe that this flexibility makes me a great candidate for the North American All-Stars team and gives us the diversity needed to bring home the win.
• Kensuda – Guardian – Team Good Fights – As a support bunker, my style of play is very team-oriented. I try to be in every team fight and make sure I am using my abilities to help my team, not just saving them for myself. I purposely make build choices that put me at a bit more risk in order to provide my team with the best support possible, and as a result, I’ve been told that my peeling and cleansing abilities are some of the best in the game! In terms of other contributions, I believe that experienced players should feel responsible to return some of their acquired knowledge back to the community, in order to give newer players some direction and help them shortcut some of the sticking points that you came across on your way to learning. To do this, I’ve created several guides and videos, and I also stream from time to time on Twitch! I’m also always glad to help new players with any questions they may have.
• Marvin – Thief/Multi-class – Team No Good Intentions – Hello everyone! I feel that I would be a good addition to the All-Star team because I have played Guild Wars 2 since launch, and have familiarized myself with each part of the game. I understand how Structured Player vs Player works and the intricacies of the conquest mode. I have played all 8 professions, and understand each of their strengths and weaknesses. I may not be the best player, but I am confident that a combination of my game knowledge and skill will help bring back the title for North America. Also, if you vote for me and I am chosen, I will break dance for the community.
• Morfeus – Guardian – Team APeX Prime – Hey! I’m Seun, and in my opinion, I am the best guardian in North America and have been for a while. I feel that I am the only player in NA proficient at bunkering, roaming, and dps. Being well-rounded in all aspects of your class is extremely important to me. Additionally, my communication skills, team play, strategic expertise, and the fact that I’m fun to play with are the reasons my team stayed together since day one and has consistently been one of the best teams in North America. We want to beat Europe this time, right? Well, if that’s the case, let’s make sure we pick the best players. I don’t want to brag, I feel I am certainly qualified for that spot.
• Nessie – Elementalist/Guardian – Team #Believe – I consider myself a mature gamer who still knows how to have fun. I feel like I would represent NA well due to this fact and because of my abilities in game. I’m a friendly guy who always tries to help others with any questions they may have when it comes to PvP. As a 24 year old graduate student working towards a doctorate, I feel like I can show that this game isn’t just for “young kids” as many might say, but that us “older” guys can still put up a fight and develop a passion for the PvP in Guild Wars 2. If I am chosen to represent NA, I will do my best to bring home the win.
• Phantaram – Elementalist – Team Mist / Team Paradigm – Hey everyone. My name is Seth, aka Phantaram, and I’m 24 years old. I’ve been playing elementalist since the first Guild Wars 2 beta weekend. I’m a huge fan of the scepter/dagger weapon combination and my current favorite build is fresh air. I am a former member of Team Paradigm, which was in my mind one of the most influential forces in the Guild Wars 2 PvP community. Most recently I play for The Civilized Gentlemen/Team Mist. I’ve been competitive my whole life and there probably isn’t very many competitive video games I haven’t sunk my teeth into. I hope you vote for me because I feel I can represent the Guild Wars 2 community and North America well!
• Quilja – Guardian – Team Covered in Baby Oil – Hi, my name is Kevin, but most people know me as Quilja. I enjoy having lots of fun while joking around, but when it’s time to be serious I focus hard to come up with the best strategy to run against our opponents to secure the win. I play mainly support/bunker guardian for my team and believe that I am one of the best guardians in the game. This is because I know how to counter-comp in order to support my team to the best of my abilities, while at the same time knowing where I need to be on the map in order to help hold the nodes and push us closer to victory. I will truly give it my all at Gamescom if I get the chance to go, and will try my best to bring home the winning title for NA. Vote Quilja!
• Supcutie – Thief/Mesmer – Team: It Ain’t EZ being KPz – Hey guys! Supcutie here. I guess if I were to give a quick and dirty first impression on why you should vote for me, it would be that most people consider me one of the top two mesmers in the world, if not first. I have held rank one in team queue and solo queue, and placed well/won many official GW2 tournaments. I always maintain a positive attitude and have a vested interested in seeing the Guild Wars 2 community grow. Bill Nye once said, “Everyone you ever meet knows something you don’t”, and this is a huge part of my philosophy on self-improvement, and has largely driven my Guild Wars 2 competitive experience. I always try my absolute best as a person with everything I have learned in the game, at university, and in life, and will exemplify these skills as a representative of North America!
• Zombify – Necromancer – Team Sync – Hello, everyone! I’m Chris, otherwise known as Zombify. I am prepared to give you a ton of reasons to pick me – aside from my insanely good looks, rock-hard pecs and all-around warm personality…but I guess I should probably keep it game-related. All jokes aside, I’m an extremely competitive player who takes this game very seriously. I have three solid game-focused reasons why you should vote for me to compete on your behalf. First of all, I’ve been playing Necromancer since closed beta and nobody knows the class better than I do. Secondly, I have LAN experience, having played on behalf of North America at the Guild Wars 2 Pax Invitational last year. There is a big difference between competing in online tournaments and competing in-person at LAN events. I know how to deal with the crowds and the pressure. Lastly, as someone very active in the community and the competitive scene, I have represented North America before, and I’m ready to do it again. Nothing will stop me from bringing home a win. Vote for me if you want to show the world the kind of havoc a top-tier Necromancer can cause.
• Zoose – Elementalist – Team Covered in Baby Oil – Hello! My name is Bao, and in-game I go by Zoose! I am a recent college graduate that’s been playing GW2 since release. I have always been an avid PvPer and have played for many of the top teams since the beginning of the game. I am most well-known for playing and theory crafting the elementalist class. I want to be able to test my skills on a true International stage, and I can confidently say I will give my best showing to represent North America. Please vote for me so I can bring glory to NA!

Click here to cast your vote.

As a note, a ton of candidates are livestreaming between now and the end of the vote, so head over to http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Guild%20Wars%202 and get familiar with the players.

-Grouch

Hello everyone,

The vote for the Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars Tournament is now open! You can find more information on the tournament and the players involved here.

I wanted to give you guys a centralized location to discuss the candidates, as there will definitely be people interested in voting who don’t know these individuals intimately. This is your opportunity to weigh in on the candidates and help each other pick the most competitive teams, giving each region the best shot at winning the event.

European Candidates Profiles

• Azani – Mesmer – Team Made in Meta – Let’s start with the simple facts: my real name is Dominik, but most people in Guild Wars 2 know me under my alias Azani. I am a top mesmer in EU, and as such, I always try to be nice and courteous to all players asking for help. After a long day of work, I like to spend my spare time playing GW2 or playing sports (especially soccer). I simply enjoy competing against others, and most importantly – winning. You could call my position in a team the “leader”, but only with a good bunch of people is success even possible. A good example of this was my team “Made in Meta” which took first place in Curse’s Masters of the Mists tournament under my leadership.
• Blackjack – Elementalist – Team Cheese Mode – So my name is Tim aka Zapdos, I am 24 years old German student studying my bachelor’s degree in Bioscience & Health. As I am a versatile player I am able to play Ele/Warrior/Necro on the highest skill level. Currently my staff Elementalist build has shaped the EU meta and I am one of the only players who has mastered how to defend back-point perfectly while still being in team fights. I am the founder of Team Cheese Mode, a team which dominated the EU leaderboards for 8 months and today I still hold the #1 position on the EU leaderboards. If I receive your vote I can promise a solid backpoint which will greatly help the Europian team and ensure the win for Europe.
• Denshee – Elementalist/Multi-class – Team Mist (TCG) – Hello! My name is Florian. I am from Sweden, I am 22 years old, and I have been playing video games competitively since I was six. My main profession is elementalist, but I also play engineer, warrior, and necromancer. I have played for a few top teams in Guild Wars 2, most recently being Team Mist (The Civilized Gentlemen), where I was able to help secure first place for our team in the Tournament of Legends. If you vote for me to represent Europe in the All-Stars Tournament, I will try my hardest to give you the best show possible while utilizing multiple professions. I am always happy to help new players, so feel free to message me if you see me in Heart of the Mists!
• Faker – Warrior – Team Read it Backwards [BooN] – With vast experience in sPvP since the release of Guild Wars 2, I am the guy who is able to keep the team calm and concentrated, even in hectic situations. Excellent communication skills, awareness, the ability to make the best use of a profession’s’ possibilities and limits, being able to evaluate situations, and having good mechanics are all key for every good match and I will use all of these skills to support the All-Star team in every possible way.
• Helseth – Mesmer – Team Mist (TCG) – My name is Sandro and I go by the name ‘’Lord Helseth’’ in game. During my time competing in Guild Wars 2, I’ve always been chosen as captain for all of the teams I’ve competed in. This gave me the final say in strategy and playstyle, and also put responsibility on me to keep the team’s morale at its peak. Every team I’ve lead has consistently been regarded by the community as the strongest team in the region. In the community, I’m very well-known for my flashy and unorthodox top-tier mesmer gameplay. The mesmer class has an incredible presence in team fights through its consistent ranged damage, dangerous bursts, and strong utility through their fields and boon-stripping. A mesmer of my caliber can guarantee to provide the All-Star team consistency in the teams rotations, which will be crucial this event. With the usage of my portal and roaming abilities, I’ll make sure that all fights swing in our favor and all of the players make it to the right place at the right time. I have always strived to be the best and being able to properly showcase my abilities on a stage like gamescom would be a dream come true.
• Karsaib – Elementalist – Team Fifty Five Hp Monks – As a part of Fifty Five HP Monks, a team that stuck together for roughly a year and still exists as of today, my team mates and I devoted our time to playing this game at the highest level and getting stronger as a group. I thus possess a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics and meta-game, as well as managing a group efficiently. I am also willing to take time interacting and teaching other players, known or unknown, new or experienced, without distinction. All in all, being an avid gamer, it is a privilege to be selected for the All-Star vote, and I hope you’ll send me to gamescom!
• Bullet Punch – Guardian – Team I Love Lunch – I may not be the most interesting guy, but I am known as the guy who makes DPS guardian viable in PvP, and one of the few people high-ranked players on the leaderboards who mains something that is not very commonplace. If you select me as a Guild Wars 2 All-Star, I guarantee I’ll keep you entertained with my unique high-burst playstyle!
• Maylo – Guardian – Team Fifty Five Hp Monks – My name is Maroš, and I am a 22 year old student from Slovakia. I am not going to say that I’m the best player – I’ve never thought that about myself. But I do think I have enough tournament experience from playing with my team “Fifty Five Hp Monks” to be worthy of your vote, and if I’m selected I will do my best to represent Europe by providing a quality performance and entertaining matches. When I have time, I always try to lend a helping hand to any player with questions I am able to answer. Outside of Guild Wars 2, my hobbies include playing guitar, hiking, or just hanging out with my friends.
• Niah – Ranger – Formerly Team Paradigm and Team Fifty Five Hp Monks – Hi, I’m Níah! I’ve been playing Guild Wars 2 PvP since late Fall 2012, and thus had the chance to meet and play with many great people, learning about different tactics, playstyles, and about the players themselves! While all the players I played with over the time are noteworthy in some way, you are probably going to be most interested the fact that I was part of Team Paradigm/Curse and more recently 55hp Monks. Why you should send me to gamescom you ask? Well, I believe that I’m a good choice since I will be able to get along with everybody, even if we have our differences. I’m always giving my best to keep the atmosphere in the team positive and make the best out of every situation.
• PHD in Stomponomics – Warrior – Anti-Social Dragon Finishers – Hey bruvs, nice meeting you! I am a 22 year “young” bloke from Denmark who specializes in playing a hybrid condition-warrior spec. I’m an average-Joe with nothing better to do than laugh-out-loud on Team Speak, play guitar really loud, eat, relax, and have a great time doing what I love – playing Guild Wars 2! Personally, I am easy to laughter, and I am always up for a joke. My current hobby is playing with the newly formed team [asdf], a couple of good looking men in their early twenties. [asdf] and I are creative and dare to play different specs that are not considered “meta”. However, we still play builds that we think have a shot against good teams. This characterizes my way of playing – I try to push my character and my class to do what it shouldn’t do, and if it fails, I try again until I figure out how to make it work.
• Qeve – Elementalist – Team I Love Lunch – Hi, I’m Qeve, and I currently play for Team I love Lunch. You should vote for me because I’ve never stopped playing elementalist since I started playing Guild Wars 2, and I would never change that – even if it wasn’t viable. Even though I exclusively play elementalist at a high-level I have a strong understanding of all professions and I promise I will give my best if I get the opportunity to play in the All-Stars tournament.
• ROM – Warrior – Team Mist (TCG) – Hello, my name is Henrik, I am 22 years of age, and I live in Sweden. I have been a member of many top PvP guilds, such as Cheese Mode, Made in Meta, and Chieftain Ninjas. Most recently, I helped take first place in the European Tournament of Legends with my current team, Team Mist (formerly The Civilized Gentlemen). I’ve created many builds which are now considered meta, and I always provide those builds and any tips about those builds to anyone who asks. I am a very strong theory crafter and even more importantly, I can apply theory to reality. If you send me to represent Europe at gamescom, you won’t be disappointed!
• Sizer – Thief – Team Mist (TCG) – Hi everyone, I am a 22 year old Bulgarian and currently live in Austria/England. There are several reasons which make me the best candidate to participate and represent Europe at the All-Stars Tournament. Firstly, I am known to be one of the best thief’s in this game, which play a vital role for a team’s victory. Thief is an essential class in every team composition as it allows one to break the enemies defenses by endlessly decapping or otherwise establishing outnumbered situations in your team’s favor. My gaming experience allows for having vision over the entire map and knowing where to most efficiently rotate myself. I particularly pay attention to where every single enemy is on the map and know where they plan to assault before they even know themselves. I constantly communicate important information across to my team which allows them to reposition and act accordingly. I would greatly appreciate to be chosen for this event as it has always been a dream of mine to competitively compete at a game in front of a huge crowd. In return for supporting me at this event I will make sure Europe takes home the gold medal.
• Super – Engineer – Team Car Crash – Hello! I’m Super, and you might remember me from last year’s Guild Wars 2 Pax Invitational where my team “Car Crash” took the tournament 3-0 for Europe. I would love to have another opportunity to meet the devs and play in the another Guild Wars 2 LAN tournament, and more importantly, bring back a second win for Europe!
• Tage – Guardian – Team Mist (TCG) – Hi, I’m Tage, and I play bunker guardian for Team Mist (The Civilized Gentlemen). In my opinion, I’m the best PvP guardian in the game compared to other bunker or support role players. If you vote for me, you will see some beastly guardian plays, and I will try my very best to prove that Europe has the best Guild Wars 2 PvP players!
• Xerrex – Multi-class – Team Enhanced Gaming – Hello folks, Xerrex here. For those that don’t know me, let me introduce myself. I have been doing PvP exclusively since the beta, and have been streaming on Twitch for the past half year. My playstyle is very aggressive, aka YOLO, and I prefer high-risk/high-reward builds. I’m a very versatile player as I can play all eight professions, but I focus on elementalist, mesmer, engineer, and necromancer the most. The All-Stars tournament should feature unique gameplay, and in that regard I am your best bet! You just need to vote for me.

Interesting to see that the votes are relatively close. Good luck on your first shoutcast!

Just wanted to bring some visibility to Blu sending out the first wave of invitations. Check your inboxes.

Congrats SC.

I’ll be looking at this thread for questions for another hour, so feel free to post any additional questions you might have before then.

Thanks!

Hey all,

On Episode 16 of Ready Up, I’ll be joined by TCG captain Helseth (the one and only) for a tutorial on proper PvP team strategy (and other such things). This will be a great opportunity for newer PvP teams and players to learn from a Guild Wars 2 PvP veteran, and more importantly – learn how to secure that Llama Mini in ToL2!

Reply below with any questions you might have for Helseth (his hair is off-limits).

Date/time: Friday, June 27 at 12:00PM PDT (19:00 GMT)
Location: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Hey all,

I’ve seen some concerns in this thread regarding allocating developer resources for tournaments and events, and I just wanted to let you know there’s no reason to be alarmed! While I’m sure our programmers and designers would make for awesome Event Managers, they’ve got a game to work on! Projects like Tournament of Legends, our tournament at gamescom, and anything similar that we do in the future is largely owned by myself and our community/marketing teams.

I had a lot of fun working on the community team earlier this year as the PvP Community Coordinator, and I’m really excited to be back on the team in this new role (Events Manager). For anyone who has been around since the start, you know I’m very passionate about the competitive side of Guild Wars 2. I didn’t want to jump in and ring a bunch of bells announcing my new role when I moved into the position – I’d rather just make things happen.

Hope that all makes sense.

Grouch

I’m hype.

Is there a link for the livestream anywhere?

I think some of the sentiments expressed on the livestream are being misinterpreted – that’s probably on us. So, let’s clear things up! With each profession, we discussed where players felt they were strong, where they were weak, where they SHOULD be strong, and where they SHOULD be weak. We also presented what we feel the strengths/weaknesses of each profession was, and sort of our long-term high-level goals for balancing.

So, here’s a few notes on warrior:

Warrior:
Of the heavy classes, the Warrior is able to balance sustainability and damage. They bring high sustained damage and opponent control.

• Strengths:
  • Sturdy body
  • Able to apply physical or condition damage
  • Sustained melee AoE DPS
  • Melee crowd control

• Weaknesses:
  • Little ability to deal with enemy boons
  • Reliant on adrenaline to use many abilities
  • Can become overwhelmed by conditions if their defenses expire

The point about warrior low/high mobility was actually community feedback that we were relaying, in that you would like to see the warrior have less access to mobility skills – not more. We don’t think warrior should have more mobility.

Our list of long-term balance goals is something we created independently of forum feedback, and honestly, we’re pretty happy with how closely your thoughts and our ideas coincided. Sorry for any confusion.

-Josh

Great responses, all. Really impressed with the turnout. Posts like the ones from Holland, SuinegTsol, and pierwola (to name a few) are exactly the type of high-level role discussion we are looking for.

As a note, I want to be very clear that we’re looking for comments from all game modes, PvE, PvP, and WvW included. Don’t be shy.

I’ll be going through the thread quite a bit today, distilling your thoughts into something a bit more digestible that we can talk about on stream.

Thanks!

Hey everybody,

This Friday on “Ready Up” I’ll be joined by Game Designer Karl McLain and Game Design Lead Jonathan “Chaplan” Sharp for a discussion on balance design philosophy. “What’s that, and why should I care?” you ask? Great question!

We won’t be going over future changes we’re making, but rather discussing the ideas and philosophy that drive balance changes. We’ll also be discussing our vision of what purpose/role each profession serves in relation to another.

To get started, we’d like to ask a few open-ended questions to all of you. In your opinion, what should the strengths and weaknesses of each profession be? What’s your profession’s kryptonite? And remember, no single profession should be the best at everything!

We’ll be reading through your thoughts over the next few days, and we’ll try to address as much as we can on Friday. Feel free to post your thoughts below, but try to keep your replies relatively short (I’d aim for under 300 words).

As a note, the previously announced “State of the Game” episode has been postponed, but rest assured – it will happen!

Thanks all! Let’s keep this constructive.

This appears to be live now.

http://www.twitch.tv/blu42

Seifer Thalaen.7869:

Lord Hammer Hand.4815:

killed a dev using ret guardian LOL way back when dps guards are big jokes in spvp

Oneshotted grouch with d/p thief last year in hj lol

Screenshot or it didn’t happen.

Recently? Two awesome moments in a single match last night – not sure why I was so tickled.

First one: fighting an engineer and warrior 1v2 on Mine. I get the engineer down, but the warrior keeps training me instead of rezzing his ally. I end up going down and start spamming my downstate #1 on the other downed engineer. The warrior starts to stability stomp me and I saw my life flash before my eyes. There was nothing I could do. Right as the stomp was about to complete, the enemy engineer uses his downstate #3, knocking me out of the stomp. I WAS HYPE! With the extra few seconds the engineer bought me I was able to dps him down, giving myself the rally. I beat the warrior shortly after and capped the point.

In the same game, I was killing chieftan and a warrior attempted to steal. I ended up downing the warrior while fighting both of them. Chieftan aggro’d the downed warrior, so I used the boss to body-block the warrior’s Throw Hammer skill. Was very kind of him. After I stomped the warrior, I apologized to Chieftan for what I was about to do, and promptly collected my 25 free points shortly after.

I am now a blacksmith.

Hey folks,

Tomorrow on “Ready Up” I’ll be joined by WvW Principle QA Jessica “Wuv Doctor” Boettiger to talk about the WvW Spring Tournament, including a FAQ on the end-of-tournament rewards. See you there.

When & Where:
Friday, May 30th, at 12pm PDT
Guild Wars 2 official Twitch channel: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Your team captain misspelled your account name (areoxe.8140) on the form, Aeroxe. We’ll get it corrected and send it out with the rest of the stragglers.

Good morning mesmers,

Regarding Distortion:

I’ll look into this as soon as our designers start trickling into the office (it’s only 7am here).

Thanks for grabbing my attention,

Josh

Great show, Jeb. Looking forward to seeing other teams interviewed.

Klocknov.8219:

The thing is, players aren’t going to play the game how you envision it to be played, and that is where the miscommunication lies between the player base and the devs. You all have this perfect idea of how the game is suppose to be played but in reality players are going to look for the most over-powered spec to do what they need to get done.

Sorry for the confusion.

I wasn’t trying to describe a theoretical or “design intended” way to counter the build – I was simply stating what’s worked for me personally in top 50 team queue.

As a thief, going for a decap on far whenever it’s available isn’t always the best option – you need to make sure your mid and home fights are in a decent place to attempt it. If you leave graveyard on Foefire and your team gets decapped because they were down in numbers…that’s going to hurt your team a lot more than getting a decap on the enemy team’s home node is going to hurt them. The absolute best time to get a decap on far is when you stomp a player out in the mid-fight – this should give your team the numbers advantage at mid, and you have a good 30 seconds before the player on respawn can get to their home node. If they send another player from mid to defend against your decap, they will almost certainly lose the mid-fight.

To learn to rotate properly your best bet is to understand the entire team/conquest strategy in general. I’d recommend checking out Django’s guide for a quick primer.

You’ll make mistakes – everyone does. The key is to not let those occasions – or the players you’re teamed up with – get under your skin.

Edit: As the posters above mentioned, don’t get too tied up looking at personal score.

Here’s my 2c:

I’d assume the main time you’d face off against a turret decap engineer is if they push into your home point and you’re stuck defending against it. Your best bet in this situation is to engage the engineer as far away from the node as possible and to deal damage to them as you chase them to the point. Their strength comes from having their turrets down in a confined area, and they’re not going to waste them by dropping them in roads somewhere. Just make sure you don’t get CC’d in roads and then decapped for free.

If you’re solo pushing far and trying to get a node from a decap engineer who is playing backpoint…well, you’re both doing it wrong.

Hey guys,

This week I’ll be be joined by members of Apex Prime, winners of the NA Tournament of Legends. We’ll be replaying a few games from the finals and discussing the following topics:

• ApeX’s comp and how to counter it
• Tips for players/teams new to PvP
• Hman’s love for tacos

When & Where:
Friday, May 16th, at 12pm PDT
Guild Wars 2 official Twitch channel: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Personally, I prefer the speculation…

The items the vendors sell differ based on your character level. At level 1, you get level 1 armor for copper. At level 80, you get level 80 white gear for a few silver.

My guess is the character you’re playing on EU is much lower level than your NA account.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. We are very much interested in making the tournament better for the next round, and we’ll take a lot of this stuff into consideration for our planning. We have a running list of places to improve on.

My bad! Let’s use this as the official thread.

Grats to the fathers Hman, Morfeus, Nnight, Chubbz, and Tarcis – aka ApeX Prime.

Well played to KPz for giving them a tough fight in the finals!

Thanks guys! You were absolutely vital to everything going smoothly, and everyone involved here at ArenaNet is extremely grateful for your work.

PS, the Pizza was from all of us.

The grand finals are coming up! KPz vs ApeX Prime! http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Since we’re not running the third place match, we’ll be giving away the rest of the precursors before and after the final games!

Day two starts in about 30 minutes!

Livestream: http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2

Think you know who’s going to win? Take our prediction poll! http://strawpoll.me/1635456

Here’s a list of the remaining teams and match-ups:

• Match one: Good Fights vs It ain’t EZ being KPz
• Match two: Team Lonely vs ApeX

• Good Fights
  • Chaith
  • Toker
  • Kensuda
  • Rar
  • Genyen

• It ain’t EZ being KPz
  • Reevz
  • Supcutie
  • Mado
  • Intense
  • Kaypud

• Team Lonely
  • Caed
  • Tany
  • Necitor
  • Quilja
  • Hiba

• ApeX Prime
  • Hman
  • Tarcis
  • Morfeus
  • Chubz
  • Nnight

infantrydiv.1620:

Looks like I overestimated Outplayed by children

The Apex/Kpex comp is really strong. The rest of today’s game and tomorrow’s games are going to be really interesting. I sense some possible upsets?

#llamaprophecies

Hello everyone!

The North American Tournament of Legends is now live!

• English Livestream: http://www.twitch.tv/GuildWars2
  • Casters: John “Blu” Mullen & Will “Sireph” Abreu
• Chinese Livestream: http://www.twitch.tv/gw2cbc
  • Casters: Crispeke & Ishanah
• Brackets: http://mp.challonge.com/ToLNA

Any early predictions?

Don’t forget to tune-in for your chance to win the new llama finisher or a precursor!

Here’s the Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6_r1zjTSQY&list=UUP_FgMqOxp_VsM0UfrL-DxA

See you all tomorrow!