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Flameseeker Chronicles: A look back at 2010
Welcome to the last Flameseeker Chronicles of 2010, in which I wax sentimental over this year and salivate over what the next one promises. It's been a huge year for both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 -- probably one of the biggest since Guild Wars 1 launched. There was civil war in Tyria, with consequences more far-reaching than any of us as players could imagine at the outset. Profession reveals came fast and furious for a while, and when the dust settled, we had extensive information on half of the Guild Wars 2 professions. Gamescom and PAX brought us actual Guild Wars 2 gameplay, the War in Kryta seemed to go on and on, and there were even some shakeups behind the scenes, with ArenaNet swinging a banhammer of massive proportions and dismantling the Xunlai tournament house. Follow along and let's take a look at what 2010 brought to Tyria.
Flameseeker Chronicles: It's all Kun Shao's fault
The Xunlai Tournament House in Guild Wars was a great idea in theory. Once favor was no longer tied to PvP, it served as an excellent incentive to keep PvE only players involved in the other half of the game. All players -- whether actively participating in the tournament or not -- could make predictions on the outcomes of the monthly 1 vs. 1 and Guild vs. Guild matches. Points were distributed based on the accuracy of the predictions, then traded to Tolkano for prizes, usually Zaishen Keys. Players responded very well to the concept, with many purchasing second, third, and even fourth accounts to snap up more Tournament Reward Points each month. The Zaishen title helped fuel the enthusiasm, and ZKeys soon rivaled Globs of Ectoplasm in value, even briefly becoming another alternate currency in game. All good things must come to an end, though.
Guild Wars Xunlai Tournament House permanently retired
Seven months ago, the Guild Wars Xunlai Tournament House was pulled offline so ArenaNet could investigate the increasingly frequent glitches in point distribution. Yesterday they finally made the decision: "After much analysis and discussion, we've decided to permanently retire the Xunlai Tournament House." Regina Buenaobra's wiki journal page went on to explain that ArenaNet had done an "exhaustive investigation" into the problems and in the end concluded that the XTH would need to be rebuilt from scratch. To do that, resources would have to be pulled away from Guild Wars 2, and in the end it became a question of where the focus needed to be. It was a tough call for the Guild Wars team to make, and undoubtedly will be a disappointing decision for many fans. But with only so much time, money, and manpower to go around, they made the call to keep the focus where it currently was. You can check out Regina's full journal post here. R.I.P., free Zaishen Keys.
