Guild Wars 2

Really, really well thanks. Check out the thread on Reddit for feedback from other participants.

This is at 18:00 GMT today!

This is tomorrow!

This is Saturday!

Who are you and what is this!?

Hi!

I’m Duke and on Saturday the 29th at 6PM GMT, my guild and I are holding one of the biggest community PvE events the game has seen.

We’ve held quite a few in the past and they’ve attracted hundreds of people along to each one. However, we’ve not hosted any since the megaserver system was introduced, so we’ll see how things go!

Sounds cool, what’s going on?

Five armies are starting out from each of the racial capitals and headed over to Sparkfly Fen to take down Tequatl, er… Smaug.

That means each zerg will travel across the land, conquering challenges such as meta events and jumping puzzles semi-randomly as they go.

Each of the armies has a commander and a deputy. I’ll also be flitting between each of the armies on the night to ensure everything is going smoothly.

How do I join?

That’s the simple part: Pick a character and head down to their capital – whether it be Rata Sum for the asura, Divinity’s Reach for the humans etc.

Once there, you need to whisper Duke Witherheart and I will get you a taxi into the correct map. You’ll group up into parties with your fellow participants and head out on a quest like no other.

Any restrictions?

Yes – but only a few!

First, feel free to come on any character you like – of any level. It doesn’t matter if you’re level 8 or 80, because we run through Tyria without using waypoints, you won’t need to have done any world completion beforehand. Moreover, you will likely be carried along by the zerg anyway.

However, we do ask that you switch to a level 80 for the fight with ‘Smaug’ if possible – once we reach Sparkfly Fen!

Second, please note that this is in the EU only. Sorry US friends.

TeamSpeak?

Yes, we will be using TeamSpeak and will give out the server details on the night.

OK so we’re setting off at 18:00 GMT, but what about Tequatl’s spawn?

Be aware that our guild can spawn Tequatl at a whim as required – so we don’t need to be in Sparkfly at a specific time.

Anything else?

Feel free to bring your friends but don’t worry if you come alone; we’ll have people to guide you on the night. You can also ask questions (or just post to say that you’re coming!) in this thread.

Please check the attachments for some cool summaries of this post too.

I’m down for this event!

Can I take number 30 for the raffle please? Character name is Duke Witherheart.

Pictures from the night are up!

Thank you to everyone who turned up. We managed to crack Tier 5 on our third attempt which was grrrraaaaaannnddddddd!

This is tonight!

Hello!

My name’s Duke and I like hosting PvE events.

I also actually really like the new zone, Dry Top, and the merchant-unlocking tier mechanic that comes with completing events around the map.

Five months ago I opened an event called The World Vs. Orr to the community and we had a blast. Hundreds of people turned out for it and we had some great feedback.

Since then I’ve been underground, biding my time while planning even bigger PvE events. So to build momentum, let’s do something simple: Drop Top Tier 5 merchant. Just imagine it, stomping around in the dunes for two hours while we sling banter at each other and fight against Silky Sand’s RNG.

Hence…

DRY TOP DOMINATION!

To be honest, it’s not particularly hard to get the Tier 5 merchant if you have several groups actively shifting around and completing events.

So I’m thinking we divide the map into three sections, see the attached.

We can then have a commander covering each part of the map. kitten many events pop in each area, there shouldn’t be too much pressure to follow the timings exactly. We’ll see how a semi-casual approach goes and then adjust as necessary – it may turn out that we do need to structure it a little better around the clock.

What we need:

- You! Folks ready to have fun this Saturday!

What you need to do:

- Empty your inventory.
- Get acquainted with Dry Top, including unlocking the waypoints.
- Make sure you have TeamSpeak installed.
- Come along at 8PM British (that’s 7PM GMT) on Saturday 13th September 2014.
- Have fun! We’ll organise things through chat and TeamSpeak (we’ll confirm details on the night).

I’m thinking we’ll get a good two hours of excitement out of it. I remember the Pavilion very fondly and Dry Top is basically the same – except on a bigger, easier scale.

OTHER QUESTIONS…

HELP – MEGASERVERS! HOW DO I JOIN YOU?

Simple: Whisper me! On the night just /w Duke Witherheart for an invite, I’ll get you in my group, you right-click my portrait to join in Dry Top and hey presto – you’re ready to go!

TIME?

7PM GMT (which is 8PM British Summer Time) this Saturday – the 13th.

EU ONLY?

Unfortunately.

However, it means that anyone from the EU can join – so long as you have Dry Top access.

Hope to see you there and please see the second attachment if you want to publicise the event yourself!

I’ve kept an eye on this topic and I’d just like to wish you congratulations for hosting such a successful contest. Really great turnout.

Just adding my voice to say that I still have not received a chest. Completed the meta. Played on Gunnar’s all tournament.

Yep, just adding my voice to say I’ve done the meta but no chest.

Haha. I’m very glad you enjoyed it Rox. I was leading the EU side and personally had a few crashes myself – despite my PC usually being able to handle pretty big zergs.

There’s currently a Reddit thread with screenshots and videos of the evening, alongside my blog being constantly updated with a ‘best of’ selection.

Hope to see you all at the next one!

Yeah exactly Rox. It should be an… interesting experience

This is today folks!

This is tomorrow!

Thanks for your support so far guys.

There’s now a Reddit thread and a big poster thing.

Polyamorous Firefly.4071:

Is this really a big deal? Like really? Devona’s Rest does this every Sunday like clockwork.

Teq -> Temples -> Karka Queen.

Clockwork. Really. You could just Guest to Devona’s Rest and do it here. Don’t mind the overflow.

I sorta agree in the sense that there’s a lot of servers that do a temple run frequently, yes. In fact – that’s one of the reasons why I’m not holding it on my usual haunt of Gunnar’s Hold; they generally clear Orr on a Saturday night.

BUT! You have to consider the other perspectives.

Have you ever heard of Orr being run on two separate servers, on two different continents exactly at the same time? I haven’t and if this goes well, it opens the way for similar (perhaps more challenging events) in the future.

Coordinating across TeamSpeak also gives us a lot of opportunity to share the random shizz that happens on the way, along with opening up the potential to do fun things like races for temples.

Plus, we’re clearing Orr on servers at times that Orr isn’t usually cleared. In fact, I’m not sure if more than one of Underworld’s temples have been opened at a time within the past few months.

Finally, if you look back on my past events you will see that how the ‘challenge’ of something does not really factor into considering whether or not to host one. Heck, two of the previous ones have focused on – and concluded – with us throwing ourselves at world bosses that are killed every few hours without issue on any respectable server. Folks don’t attend these because they’re difficult, they attend because…

- the TeamSpeak discussion is generally quite high energy and witty;
- throwing ourselves off the bridge at Citadel of Flame, only for a champion fire elemental we’ve never seen before spawn where we land is surreal;
- seeing 30 people in a zerg of 70 discover a waypoint for the first time looks fantastic;
- throwing that same zerg into the Plains of Ashford arena has hilarious results;
- taking on the Claw of Jormag with nothing but sticks we bought from a random vendor and seeing who can stay behind him the longest is awesome…

And so on!

All of this is to say you do have a point, but it’s not the point of these events. If you want your ordinary temple run, then you can guest to any of the big PvE servers on either side of the Atlantic on any weekend evening. There’s seriously nothing wrong with that.

However, if you are after something a little more unique – and many people are precisely because they can do a normal run on any given weekend – then I would really recommend coming along, having an open mind and seeing what happens.

I have updated the OP with the ‘proper’ banner, although the original is still available to view for those who are curious here. ;D

Hello!

My name’s Duke Witherheart. I’m a commander and during 2013 I held five very successful PvE campaigns over on my fantastic home server of Gunnar’s Hold (EU).

The first was the splendid Strike on Southsun, the second was the marvelous March to Mount Maelstrom, the third was the fantastic Fight for Frostgorge, the fourth was the sublime Slaying the Shatterer and the fifth was the riotous Rampage from Rata Sum. All events have been hugely successful and I’m very pleased to announce the next, which will be bigger and better than ever:

The World Vs. Orr!

This is a very special PvE expedition that will be taking place simultaneously on the EU server of Underworld and the US server of Anvil Rock. This is a joint operation with my guys handling the EU side and the fantastic Relics of Orr leading the US contingent.

The goal of the evening is to clear as many temples in Orr as possible, completing any random events we come across on the way. We’ll start with the Temple of Balthazar and hopefully end up at the Temple of Grenth.

Perhaps we’ll even cap off the night by killing a Karka Queen or giant wurm head…

EVERYONE IS WELCOME – SO LONG AS YOU CAN GET ON TO UNDERWORLD (EU) OR ANVIL ROCK (US)!

Where and when do we meet up?

Fort Trinity, 8PM GMT on Saturday the 5th! Copy and paste this link to see what it is in your local time:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=The+World+Vs.+Orr%21&iso=20140405T20

There will be assistants within the Fort to assign groups and tell you what’s going on.

Never been to Fort Trinity before? You can get there by running directly south from Lion’s Arch!

Do I need anything?

A positive attitude with the willingness to take on some of the hardest, zergiest events in the game!

Obviously you will need to get to Fort Trinity so bring a decently levelled character. You don’t need to have explored Orr before though; we generally run from each location without using waypoints.

As the event will be taking place at the same time on both sides of the Atlantic, we will likely be sharing a TeamSpeak server so the US guys can experience what it’s like to be a part of one of these events. I really, really recommend that you grab TeamSpeak beforehand; Fight for Frostgorge, Slaying the Shatterer and Rampage from Rata Sum all made great use of TeamSpeak, with over 50 people coming on to join the fun. I want to extend that with this event!

We will give out the details for the TeamSpeak server on the night at Fort Trinity.

Where are we going?

To Orr!

We are running through the continent from Fort Trinity to Cursed Shore. Folks who have attended one of my events before will likely be familiar with the sort of emergent madness to expect and this should be doubly fun.

What are we doing?

We should be capturing all of the available temples and concluding with this meta event, but we’ll likely throw in some surprises on the way (or even afterwards).

Do I need to do anything?

Not really – just turn up!

This is the sixth of these events that I’m hosting but don’t let that put you off; we get new faces every time and I assure you that we explain things very clearly to newcomers. All I ask is that you attend and have fun!

I’m very excited to team up with Relics of Orr and this is guaranteed to be my biggest venture yet. Together, I’m confident that we will pull it off successfully for both the EU and the US.

Feel free to bring your friends but don’t worry if you come alone; we’ll have people to guide you on the night. You can also ask questions (or just post to say that you’re coming!) in this thread.

Remember that you can play with us even if you are not a native of Underworld or Anvil Rock. Click here for more information.

Hope to see you there and please see the attachment if you want to publicise the event yourself!

I know I haven’t posted anything about this in a while but the blog is still going strong – now approaching 200 followers on Tumblr and it’s updated daily!

Those of you with Tumblr accounts will likely be interested in this giveaway! Heck, even if you don’t already have an account, it would probably be a good excuse to get one. ;D

Thank you all for coming to Rampage…

I have now posted this on my blog – which includes some very nice screenshots and is also complemented by this other post.

There’s also er… this.

Thank you all for coming tonight – it was such a big turnout and I honestly didn’t expect so many people.

Here’s the feedback thread on Reddit if you wish to view other screenshots or share yours with the wider community. Of course I also pull comments and screenshots from this forum when making the blog post anyway.

This is tonight!

This is tomorrow!

This is Saturday! Click here for the usual masssssive poster!

Also see here for da Reddit thread yo.

Hello!

My name’s Duke Witherheart. I’m a commander and for the past four months I have led some very successful PvE campaigns over on my fantastic home server of Gunnar’s Hold (EU).

The first was the splendid Strike on Southsun, the second was the marvelous March to Mount Maelstrom, the third was the fantastic Fight for Frostgorge and the fourth was the sublime Slaying the Shatterer. All events have been hugely successful and I hope to repeat the success in December with…

Rampage from Rata Sum!

This will be a huge crusade from the asuran capital. Instead of just focusing on one or two world bosses, we are going to clear as many as possible within reason. We’ll also be hitting up some of the most underused (but fun!) meta events in the game.

Hopefully we should be able to end our evening but completing this meta event in the Harathi Hinterlands.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME – SO LONG AS YOU CAN GET ON TO GUNNAR’S HOLD (EU)!

Where and when do we meet up?

Rata Sum, 5PM GMT on Saturday the 14th! That’s 6PM for you folks living in France, Germany etc. on CET.

Just come to my commander tag there and then!

Never been to Rata Sum before? You can get there using the asura portal located in Lion’s Arch!

Do I need anything?

A positive attitude with the willingness to take on the world!

No, you don’t need to bring a high level character because the zerg generally compensates for lowbies – so long as you stay with the pack. I really, really recommend that you grab TeamSpeak beforehand though; Fight for Frostgorge and Slaying the Shatterer made great use of TeamSpeak, with over 50 people coming on to join the fun. I want to extend that with this event!

We will give out the details for the TeamSpeak server on the night.

Where are we going?

To the Harathi Hinterlands!

Yup – we are running from Rata Sum to Harathi. Once again, I have enclosed an attachment which is likely to be indicative of the route we’ll be taking. There’s some overlap with the zones we went through during Slaying the Shatterer, but that’s OK; we will have more time to experience some of the events we didn’t do during November.

What are we doing?

The evening should conclude with the murder of Ulgoth the Modniir, but there’s some other things I would like to try too:

- Puzzling jumping high in the sky above Metrica Province.
- Putting out a fire (elemental).
- Throwing ranged AoE against those level 80s in Brisban Wildlands guarding Fort Vandal.
- Helping Skrittsburgh Center.
- Nipping over to Caledon Forest and getting rid of its Wurm.
- Subduing the Shadow Behemoth.
- Assaulting Ascalon Settlement.

Please note that this list is not totally inclusive and we’ll probably end up doing lots of additional things. On the other hand, we might not be able to do some things due to the events not spawning in the near future. The most important thing is that we’re flexible and keep the momentum going!

This will likely be a good opportunity for you to get basic world completion in Metria Province, Brisban Wildlands, Caledon Forest, Kessex Hills, Queensdale, Gendarran Fields and Harathi Hinterlands if you need it!

Do I need to do anything?

Not really – just turn up!

This is the fifth of these events that I’m hosting but don’t let that put you off; we get new faces every time and I assure you that we explain things very clearly to newcomers. All I ask is that you attend and have fun!

Please feel free to message me in-game on Duke Witherheart if you have any questions. Feel free to bring your friends but don’t worry if you come alone; we’ll have people to guide you on the night. You can also ask questions (or just post to say that you’re coming!) in this thread.

See the snazzy second attachment if you want to publicise the event yourself!

Remember that you can play with us even if you are not a native of Gunnar’s – so long as you’re in the EU. Click here for more information.

Hope to see you there!

Well guys this was a great success. Thanks to everyone who came – although I admit that I think most of the attendees were from Tumblr, Reddit and my server’s community.

These events could not be successful without folks attending. There’s a thread on Reddit which has lots of screenshots in and some really awesome feedback from the people there in it. You can obviously post feedback in this thread too; I’ll keep an eye on it!

Thanks again to everyone who showed up and I hope to see you all at my next event (to be announced!) in December.

This is about 90 minutes! Hope to see you all then!

This event is now on Reddit for promotion.

We have also added this competition on the evening!

This is Saturday!

Although it’s had lots of support from elsewhere in the community, there’s little folk here. Where are yer all!?

And now a sequel!

Hello there!

My name’s Duke Witherheart. I’m a commander and for the past three months I have led some very successful PvE campaigns over on my fantastic home server of Gunnar’s Hold (EU). The first was the splendid Strike on Southsun, the second was the marvelous March to Mount Maelstrom and the third was the fantastic Fight for Frostgorge. All events have been hugely successful and I hope to repeat the success in November with…

Slaying the Shatterer!

There’s no prizes for guessing the world boss target in this event. However, as with my previous events, it’s not just a case of loading into Blazeridge Steppes and killing the Shatterer when it spawns. What would be the fun in that? Oh no, we’re going to mix things up a bit!

EVERYONE IS WELCOME – SO LONG AS YOU CAN GET ON TO GUNNAR’S HOLD (EU)!

Where and when do we meet up?

The Grove, 5PM GMT on Saturday the 23rd! Just come to my commander tag there and then!

Never been there before? You can get there using the asura portal located in Lion’s Arch!

Do I need anything?

A positive attitude with the willingness to take on the world!

No, you don’t need to bring a high level character because the zerg generally compensates for lowbies – so long as you stay with the pack. I really, really recommend that you grab TeamSpeak beforehand though; at Fight for Frostgorge we made great use of TeamSpeak and I want to extend that with this event!

Where are we going?

To Blazeridge Steppes.

Yup – we are running from the Grove to Blazeridge Steppes. Once again, I have enclosed an attachment which is likely to be indicative of the route we’ll be taking. Note: It’s definitely not what you might expect!

People enjoyed the novel format of the March to Mount Maelstrom and Fight for Frostgorge, so this event is going to follow in the same suit.

What are we doing?

Killing the Shatterer, amongst other things!

If the previous events are anything to go by, those ‘other things’ will consist of finding those great, underused events, conquering jumping puzzles and slaughtering champions. All while having a laugh together.

This will likely be a good opportunity for you to get basic world completion in Caledon Forest, Kessex Hills, Queensdale, Fields of Ruin and Blazeridge Steppes if you need it!

Do I need to do anything?

Not really – just turn up!

This is the fourth of these events that I’m hosting but don’t let that put you off; we get new faces every time and I assure you that we explain things very clearly to newcomers. All I ask is that you attend, exercise some patience and have fun!

Please feel free to message me in-game on Duke Witherheart if you have any questions. Feel free to bring your friends but don’t worry if you come alone; we’ll have people to guide you on the night. You can also ask questions (or just post to say that you’re coming!) in this thread.

See the snazzy second attachment if you want to publicise the event yourself!

Please note!

Followers of my blog will know that I posted another retrospective ‘Lessons from the Fight for Frostgorge’ shortly after my last event. The points outlined in that post are going to apply here. I’m really excited for this one folks – it’s going to be a long ‘un but that’s why we’re starting a little earlier!

Remember that you can play with us even if you are not a native of Gunnar’s – so long as you’re in the EU. Click here for more information.

Hope to see you there!

Here’s a post with collected screenshots of the event!

Thank you to everyone who turned out for this! There were so many people and it really was something special.

You can view/post screenshots and feedback in this thread, or on Reddit.

Thanks all and see you next time!

This is today!

See here for what time it kicks off in your own time!

Have fun with this Malafide. If it’s still going on in the evening I’ll try to nip over after Fight for Frostgorge!

Anyway, this is tomorrow!

You can check out a ‘FAQ’ of the event here and I’ve also submitted it to Reddit!

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

I’ve posted my pictures from the event on AG here! It was a great night!

Indeed, but that’s OK. It’s always good to have variety in the PvE life, right?

This is less than a week away!

The details of the next event are up!

Hello there!

My name’s Duke Witherheart. I’m a commander and for the past two months I have led a couple of very successful PvE campaigns over on my fantastic home server of Gunnar’s Hold (EU). The first was the splendid Strike on Southsun and the second was the marvelous March to Mount Maelstrom. Both events were hugely successful, with us actually hitting the hard overflow cap in our zones. Despite this, we managed to coordinate our rampage across the overflow server successfully and defeated the Megadestroyer.

Now I’m writing today to announce my next event: Fight for Frostgorge.

There’s no prizes for guessing the world boss target in this event. But surely the March to Mount Maelstrom proved that it’s not the destination that matters – it’s the journey.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME – SO LONG AS YOU CAN GET ONTO GUNNAR’S HOLD (EU).

Where and when do we meet up?

Black Citadel, 5PM (that’s GMT – so 6PM if you’re British) on Saturday the 26th! Just come to my commander tag there and then!

Never been there before? You can get there using the asura portal located in Lion’s Arch!

Do I need anything?

A positive attitude with the willingness to take on the world!

At the March… we ended up using the Gunnar’s Hold Mumble. Our server community is now on TeamSpeak and I’ll see if I can get access for the attendees for this event for the evening (no matter what EU server you’re guesting from).

As usual, we’ll be ending up in high level PvE zones, so bring a decent character.

Where are we going?

To Frostgorge Sound.

Yup – we are running from the Black Citadel to Frostgorge Sound. Once again, I have enclosed an attachment which is likely to be indicative of the route we’ll be taking. People enjoyed the novel format of the March to Mount Maelstrom, so this event is going to follow in the same suit.

What are we doing?

Killing the Claw of Jormag, amongst other things!

If the previous event is anything to go by, those ‘other things’ will consist of finding those great, underused events, conquering jumping puzzles and slaughtering champions. All while having a laugh together.

This will likely be a good opportunity for you to get basic world completion in the Plains of Ashford, Iron Marches, Fireheart Rise and Frostgorge Sound if you need it!

Do I need to do anything?

Not really – just turn up!

But it’d be nice if you could post in this thread to let me know if you’re coming. We had easily over 100 people turn up for March to Mount Maelstrom and caused an overflow server. Although we had a commander in the overflow, I do plan for things to be a little more organised this time with greater infrastructure – but we need to know to expect big numbers and one of the ways we’ll do that is by checking the posts here!

Please feel free to message me in-game on Duke Witherheart if you have any questions. Feel free to bring your friends but don’t worry if you come alone; we’ll have people to guide you on the night.

See the snazzy second attachment if you want to publicise the event yourself!

Please note!

Followers of my blog will know that I posted a retrospective ‘Lessons from the March to Mount Maelstrom’ shortly after my last event. The points outlined in that post are going to apply here – but I’m keeping the event on Gunnar’s Hold (it has a lowish population). Please ensure you are aware of what your local time is compared to GMT (it’s not the same as the current British time) but I still encourage folks to arrive early.

Remember that you can play with us even if you are not a native of Gunnar’s – so long as you’re in the EU. Click here for more information.

Hope to see you there!

Big love to this event.

Indeed. What can I really say? We had a tremendous turnout for the evening, actually breaking through the hard overflow cap. We ended up having two commanders in the main server and then a third squad in the overflow.

The amount of organisation and promotion that went into the event paid off, as we were able to coordinate champion-killing, jumping puzzles, settlement-liberating and krait-slaughtering between all of the groups – despite having over 100 people there!

The Karka Queen meta bugged out and Tequatl didn’t get taken down, but we certainly stuck it to the Megadestroyer!

I’ve made three posts on my blog tonight with details of what went down. The first describes a summary of the event, the second includes some of the best screenshots I’ve seen so far of it from around the community and the third details the improvements to be expected in future events.

I’m very proud of the people who turned up Saturday and made the evening such a success. Stay tuned for forthcoming events!

This is 90 minutes away!

This is tomorrow!

Many thanks folks! I hope to see you all there!

Have a nice, big poster!

This is a week away!

Ye of little faith.