Flameseeker Chronicles: Holidays, Hearts of the North, and happy endings

It's been a busy week! We haven't gotten any new Guild Wars 2 news, but things are hopping at ArenaNet and in Guild Wars. We've gotten new content, new items in the NCsoft store, and a new ArenaNet blog entry.

The new ArenaNet blog post centered around this year's (unbelievably cute) holiday card. I want to thank reader and MVOP member MediaMaster9000, who received a card, scanned it, and sent it to me for a close-up look. He commented that it was one of the best Christmas presents he could have received, a statement that highlights yet again the effort that ArenaNet puts into personal communication with its fans.

If you've not read this blog entry yet, you need to. Concept artist Jamie Jang bypassed digital creation for the card's front image entirely, choosing instead to create and hang real stockings then photograph them. The story behind it is a fun must-read!

Holiday cards aren't the only things making Guild Wars fans happy -- we got a dose of new content last week, so follow along after the jump to see what's happening in Tyria! (Be warned, there are spoilers galore.)

Gwen and Keiran

When we last left our heroes, Gwen had told Keiran that she would marry him. She also told him that his hair was stupid, but that wasn't really the important part. We'd discovered where Keiran had been all this time, helped the lovebirds reunite, and were all set for our happy ending. We even got new formal wear for the occasion!

That happy ending came last week in the form of two new quests picked up in our Hall of Monuments. Gwen and Keiran are both hanging out there now, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying the way ArenaNet is taking advantage of the instanced nature of Guild Wars to allow us to participate in this story. Our first quest began with Gwen exhibiting just a touch of Bridezilla, completely frustrated with the complications of wedding planning. Sneaky Norn Valgar Tempestcrafter had been lurking just out of sight during her tirade and announced that he'd be taking over as the wedding planner. (Every time I come into my HoM there are more people there. What is going on? Are there wild parties with the scrying pool as a hot tub while I'm gone?) Valgar strode out, leaving a very confused Gwen behind, and Keiran's got something for you to do.

Norn Catering sends us on a cross-country scavenger hunt -- a mechanic that ArenaNet's always been fond of. This time we're tracking down fierce beasts to kill and cook for the wedding feast. Sometimes I get a little tired of this sort of quest -- go to Tyria for this, go to Cantha for that, go to Elona for the other. Bring it all back and you can have a reward. This one kept me interested with some surprises, though! I was in a bit of a hurry that particular day, so I loaded up with henchmen and heroes and took off, tearing through everything since it was normal mode. I arrived at the boss location and confidently dashed into combat with the pack of dinosaurs.

Whoops.

The Alpha Tyrannus who is destined to grace the wedding buffet is level 34 in normal mode. And he has a LOT of friends. I gathered my wits at the res shrine and headed back in for another try. This time -- and I highly recommend you do the same -- I stood back and watched for a moment. The dino mob consists of several smaller mobs with small, intersecting patrols. I switched to a longbow, prayed they weren't linked, flagged my heroes back, and fired. Thankfully, they can be picked off in small groups of three or four, making the quest a lot easier.

With a much warier attitude, I headed to Cantha for some Spicy Moa Wings. The quest marker wasn't too far out, so I kept an eye out for extra mobs and fought my way through until I was in sight of the Elusive Black Moa. Wow, this is easy! I started taking out the enemies surrounding him when he fluttered his wings and disappeared. Oh. Elusive. I get it now.

We repeated this process several times until I finally found him surrounded by some Wardens. I ran in and engaged, and what looked like 50 more Wardens spawned -- I fled. As with the dinosaurs, careful pulling and taking advantage of the terrain are key here.

Finally it was on to Elona for Ripened Mirage Ibogas. I was a little more battered and a lot wiser by now, so I was treading very carefully. However, this turned out to be the easiest one. No nasty surprises, just a lot of Roaring Ethers with Resurrection Signet.

Once I returned to my HoM with the goodies, they were taken away by some Norn (whom you will probably recognize and get a little laugh from), and it was off to the wedding -- the second quest that Keiran had to offer.

I'm not going to spoil the wedding. If you're loving the storyline, then you've been working toward this happy ending for a long time, and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Yes, I wiped my eyes more than once. There's no fighting, so unequip your weapon, put on your best formal wear, and enjoy.

Our new hero

Falling under the heading of "so obvious I didn't even guess" comes Keiran Thackeray as our hero. Really, I had dismissed him as a candidate after a while because it just seemed too easy, almost like a cop-out. His arrival on my hero list reconciled me to it nicely, though, and it went from predictable to fitting. Keiran has the final piece of dialogue in the wedding ceremony: "From this day forth, we travel together!" That's the point at which he becomes available as a hero, and it couldn't fit more nicely.

There's a little twist in this tale that's a bit obvious in retrospect: Keiran's journey with Miku taught him leadership. He came out of his travels stronger, and our newest hero is a Paragon, not a Ranger. He's not quite finished his transition, though -- Keiran comes equipped with a bow rather than a spear, but even that's not all bad. It's max and inscribable, so take it for yourself, mod it up, find Keiran a spear, and off you go!

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way Hearts of the North wrapped up. Gwen found her softer side, Keiran found his strength, and I found some extremely enjoyable new content.

I'll see you all next week!

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.