canthan-new-year
Latest
Prepare to celebrate the Canthan New Year in Guild Wars
It's time to celebrate the new year! What, why are you rolling your eyes and saying that happened weeks ago? This is the Canthan New Year we're talking about in Guild Wars, a chance for Canthan citizens and less-fortunate Tyrian adventurers to take part in games and festivities while hoping to please the celestial animals for a fortunate new year. And this time around, there are more than a few surprises waiting in the wings even for veteran players. This year's festival starts at 3:00 p.m. EST on January 31st and runs through February 7th, the start of a new policy for the game that will keep all events running for at least a week on fixed dates every year. Players will be able to aid in the preparation of the celestial animal feast, have their fortunes read, and play games on the Shing Jea Boardwalk. There will also be racing events in the Rollerbeetle Racing Arena and combat events in the Dragon Arena if you prefer. And there are special minipets to unlock as well as the promise of a mystery reward if the Celestial Animals are pleased with their meal. So even if you thought you were done with celebrating another year, you might want to pop back into Guild Wars and get back to the celebration.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The pros and cons of long-running events
I'm writing this while I wait for the next round of the Canthan New Year finale to begin -- I need my fourth lion mask; it's important! Guild Wars festivals are always fascinating to me, and not just for the bump to my sugar, booze, and party points. They are a great opportunity for people-watching, so to speak. Canthan New Year has been a recurring festival for a long time in Guild Wars, and today I want to take a look at the ups and downs of having the same event over and over. First, though, let's take a peek at what MVOP has been up to for the past week. We are still blasting through Factions, but we took a small break last Thursday night to enjoy the festival, run a few quests and frankly embarrass me during a few rounds of Dragon Nest. Once the guild learned that I have never participated in that particular festival event, it was insisted that I remedy that right away. As it turns out, a speed buff of some sort is highly desired in Dragon Nest, and if you don't have one, you will likely spend a lot of time trundling around trying to tag baby dragons while competing players zip past you shouting about sugary blue drinks. Note to self: Save up some chocolate bunnies next year. Once we'd enjoyed some festival events, it was back to our regular path in Factions: Unwaking Waters. We completed that quest and set plans to continue next Thursday night as always, so if you'd like to join us, visit our forums and drop us a line! For now, follow along after the jump to read about the pros and cons of a long-running festival like Canthan New Year.
The Flameseeker Chronicles: A guide to the Canthan New Year festival
Token farming, Rollerbeetle racing, and AFK-ing the rings. Hot on the heels of Wintersday Redux comes Canthan New Year 2010. Guild Wars players joke about the AFK-fest, and while it's a great opportunity to work on those lucky and unlucky titles, there is much more going on. ArenaNet puts together a great festival every year, with old favorite quests and NPCs returning to dole out Lunar tokens and Fortunes as well as a heap of other treats. There is a lot going on, and it can be a bit overwhelming if this is your first Canthan New Year, so let's take a peek at the festivities.
Come celebrate the Year of the Ox in Guild Wars
It's that time of year again for the Canthan New Year's celebrations in ArenaNet's Guild Wars. This year's festivities begin at Noon Pacific on Friday, January 30, 2009 and run until Noon Pacific on Monday, February 2, 2009.The in-game event will include special gifts to boost your sugar or booze titles, festival quests, fireworks displays, fortune telling, boardwalk games, Rollerbeetle Racing and much more! Plus, as a special gift, there will be a miniature Celestial Ox to replace the miniature Celestial Rat you may have received last year. The finale will include a visit from the great Celestial Ox himself every three hours. See ya there!
Guild War's Canthan New Year's celebration
Many MMOs celebrated Chinese New Year this year, and Guild Wars was no exception with its Canthan New Year's event, covered here. Reader Shawn W. took a few great photos of the festival area, available in greater resolution here, here, and here. This shows how just a little extra ornamentation can do wonders to spruce up a piece of well-trod ground. In fact, is there any reason why developers couldn't do something like this on a regular basis? Maybe create texture maps for environmental damage? Display the detritus of a particularly apocalyptic party thrown the night before? If game makers really want to sell the idea of their worlds as living environments, some way to show actual change needs to be developed. [Thanks, Shawn!]
Guild Wars' version of Chinese New Year starts Friday
The beautiful continent of Cantha celebrates the Guild Wars New Year in style. The 2008 celebration begins tomorrow at noon PST, ending at the same time on Monday the 11th. The main food-packed celebration happens in the Shing Jea Monastery, with smaller celebrations taking place at Kamadan and Lion's Arch. Freebie goodies given out at the festival includes plenty of fireworks, bean cakes, champagne, and (if your fortune augurs well) perhaps even a new mini-pet.Festival events include ensuring that fireworks supplies are kept up, access to the Shing Jea Boardwalk for games of fortune, the annual Rollerbeetle Racing Arena, and a cooking competition. A brand new patch dropped yesterday to support the holiday, along with new the 'Party Animal' Title track and numerous class skill balances. If you're interested in participating, make sure to stop into the party on Sunday; the Celestial Rat will be showing up every three hours to hand out some great holiday bennies.
