Flameseeker Chronicles: Let's review!

The ArenaNet team has been quiet lately in the news department and deservedly so. Between GDC, PAX East, the Guild Wars 2 Thief, and Embark Beach and heroes in Guild Wars 1, I imagine the developers are ready to catch up on frivolous things like eating, sleeping, sitting, and breathing.

We've got Winds of Change and Guild Wars' sixth birthday to look forward to, but in the meantime, I want to take the opportunity to play catch-up. When there's a pause in new information, I always enjoy backing up a bit and spending some quality time with newer players.

I know that there's been another influx of new players recently, particularly after so many saw GW2 at PAX. Follow along after the jump for a roundup of Guild Wars basic guides as well as an update and information on Massively's official Guild Wars guild.

Beginner's guide

New people are joining Guild Wars every week, and while that's wonderful, it can be very overwhelming and confusing for those new players. There's a strong disconnect created when everywhere you look people are talking about high-level play while you are simply trying to figure out the mechanics of progressing from one town to another. With that in mind, I want to offer a brief round-up of guides from previous Flameseeker Chronicles that address the basics of Guild Wars. Hopefully, gathering them up in one handy list will save you some time and confusion!

Back to basics: If you're considering Guild Wars but are on the fence, take a look here. This is a rundown of what Guild Wars is and is not, and it covers gear, gameplay, leveling, and so on.

Guild Wars 101: The most basic of basics. This explains how to progress in the game, discusses what and whom to look for, and offers a few general tips for success. If you're fresh from character creation and not sure where to start, look here.

Community Guide: OK, you're into the game, you've figured out the basics, and you're ready to get more involved. What next? Bookmark the community guide. This is a list of the most helpful and fun sites, guides, and forums to help you through Guild Wars.

Hall of Monuments beginner's guide: Have you picked up Guild Wars as a way to get a jump on Guild Wars 2 via the Hall of Monuments? If you're starting at the very beginning and thinking that it looks like a huge task, check out this guide to get on your way. If you get HoM-fever down the road and decide to aim for the full 50 points, check out the full Road to 50 series -- but for now stick with the beginner's guide to get underway.

Massively Overpowered

It's been a while since I gave a rundown of MVOP's activities and status, so this brief news lull seems like the perfect time. The guild is still progressing through the game at a decent clip -- Prophecies and Factions are completed, and last week we arrived at Kodunur Crossroads in Nightfall. Once we finish Nightfall, we'll head to Eye of the North.

Recently, the guild began mixing things up a bit by doing a mission in our planned progression then backtracking for a vanquish in a campaign we've already completed. My hope is that once Winds of Change arrives, we can add that content to our regular mission nights.

We play throughout the week but meet every Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. EDT for the main storyline in Japanese district 1 of the relevant town or outpost. Why Japanese? We're joined by not only guild members but alliance members and players who have their own guilds but still wish to participate. Using local chat in a quiet district allows us all to communicate and form groups without disrupting a busier local channel. Want to join us for some playtime? Keep an eye on our forums every week to see what we're doing and where to meet us -- we'd love to have you along!

Each week's events are played out live on our livestream channel, so if you can't get in game, you're welcome to hang out there during Thursday night events. There is usually some lively discussion happening in the chat channel, and while I can't stop nuking long enough to type, I do keep an eye on chat and participate verbally via the livestream -- so feel free to stop by with questions, comments, and conversation! If the time doesn't work for you but you still wish to watch later, you can do that any time from the "latest videos" list on our livestream channel.

Finally, if you're looking for a guild and wondering whether MVOP is a good fit, let me give you a bit of background. MVOP is part of the GWO (Guild Wars Online) alliance, a nine-guild alliance whose forums are hosted on -- surprise! -- Guild Wars Online. MVOP has between 95-100 members on a regular basis, with players being removed after one month's inactivity to make room for those waiting to join. (Those players are always welcome to rejoin when they start playing again, of course.) At this moment, the guild has three spots available. Want to join? Check out this thread in our forums.

The guild -- and the alliance, for that matter -- welcomes players of every skill level. We have players who have been in the game since the beta days and players who have owned the game for less than a month. However, the guild and the alliance are very heavily PvE-focused. There are a few groups of players working on beginning GvG groups, but as a rule, PvP players won't find much to do in the alliance. If you're after a PvP focus, or if you want to shop around for a guild in general, the GWO forums have a pretty active recruitment forum.

All right -- now that we're all caught up, let's see what this week brings. I'll see you all next Monday!

Rubi is a longtime Guild Wars player and the writer of Flameseeker Chronicles here at Massively. The column keeps a close eye on all the events in Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, and anything bridging the two. It's also the home of a weekly summary of the travels of [MVOP], Massively's Guild Wars guild. Email Rubi at rubi@massively.com.