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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: A little help
This was an exciting week for Massively's Guild Wars guild. We've bid farewell to Old Ascalon and worked our way through the northern Shiverpeaks. Thursday night we saw the death of Rurik, who managed to get himself killed before he ever raised the promised pint of dwarven ale in our honor. We lit beacons, dragged broken gear levers all over the place, laughed at a minion who insisted on being front and center for every cutscene, and eventually arrived in Kryta -- a sight for sore eyes after the scorched landscape of Old Ascalon. We also joined the Kurzick faction and became the tenth guild in the Guild Wars Online [GWO] alliance. The alliance has already given [MVOP] a warm welcome, but if you're a guild member who is so inclined, stop by the forums and say hello. This is a good time to mention that the Massively guild has its very own Picasa gallery -- thanks to reader Tanek -- and you can find some gorgeous screenshots added by our members. If you're a member of [MVOP] and would like to add your own screenshots, all you need is a Gmail address. Send that address to Tanek at bncom1[at]gmail[dot]com and he'll set you up with access. This week we will be doing the Gates of Kryta mission to get to Lion's Arch. After some of us go on a frantic skill-buying spree, we'll pick up the primary quest from Armen the Guide and move on to D'Alessio Seaboard. From there, it's on to Divinity Coast where we will bathe in a fountain and drag a giant floating eye around behind us. If you're interested in joining up with [MVOP], keep an eye out for my IGN Rubi Djinn for a guild invitation. Feel free to send your IGN to me at Rubi at Massively dot com as well, and I'll watch for you in game. So what else is happening in Tyria? We've got a brand-new War in Kryta event, and small-but-valuable public service announcement, so follow along after the jump.
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.
Guild Wars reveals large content changes
For those of you who spend their time in Guild Wars-landia, you might want to stop for a moment and take a look at game designer Linsey Murdock's most recent journal entry. In it she details some major changes coming to the PvP formats of Guild Wars, specifically the closing of the Hero Battles format and the conversion of Team Arena into a new Sealed Deck format.Sealed Deck is a game type that has been used at past Penny Arcade Expo showings of Guild Wars, and it has become popular enough to warrant being added into the game. The main drive behind changing up Team Arena and Hero Battles are due to the waning number of players that participate in those formats, as well as some very brutal flaws in the Hero Battles format.Beyond the addition of Sealed Deck, Linsey also details some other changes to PvP, such as the addition of henchmen that have builds designated by the community, temporary downtime for the Xunlai Tournament House, and many other tasty tidbits. If you're looking for the full info, check out her post over on the Guild Wars wiki.
Guild Wars' Xunlai House Tournament temporarily shut down
Guild Wars and ArenaNet community manager Regina Buenaobra has announced that due to issues with the Xunlai House Tournament point distribution on June 18th, the decision has been made to temporarily halt Xunlai until the error has been completely resolved. Apparently, some players were getting the incorrect amount of points, while others weren't getting any points.According to ArenaNet, they have the correct point amounts for May and will be making sure everyone gets the proper amount, whether or not they reported a problem with their points. Currently, there's no date on which Xunlai will be restored, but Regina makes it very clear that they're working hard on getting the issues ironed out.It's not a fun situation for anyone, but we'd just like to say good on ArenaNet for jumping on the issue like a frenzied lion on a juicy antelope. Hopefully the dates for May point reissues and Xunlai's reopening aren't too far in the distance.
