No official blog posts or news this week, but several official interviews (Angel Leigh McCoy, Jon Peters and James Ackley), blog posts, podcast and videos, articles and hands-on Guild Wars 2 beta coverage.

The big news here at GWOnline were otherwise that we announced the winner of our first ever GWOnline Blog Extravaganza, and during the week we published the winning and two runner up blogs on the front page. We were also happy to finally add SageLikeOne‘s logo to our friends widget, and get our friends forum off the ground!

Official

• ArenaNet’s MMO Manifesto – UK PEGI rated. ArenaNet are getting their house in order for the marketing leading up to Guild Wars 2 release. They just published this UK PEGI rated version of the MMO Manifesto from last year. They also posted a German version a couple of weeks ago.

Interviews

• The Borderhouse: Imagine all the people, part 2. The second part of the interview with ArenaNet writer Angel Leigh McCoy. (part 1 from last week)
• ZAM: An interview with Jon Peters. Jon talks about possibility of competition in PvE (no current plans), instanced PvP queues (there are none), e-sport potential (definitively a primary goal for the developers) and more.
• Post Magazine: Audio for Games. In this PDF download magazine, audio director James Ackley talks about the lengths the team has gone through to make the Guild Wars 2 landscape,
• GWOnline: Guild Spotlight – Veritas Invictus [TRUE]. CMEPTb had a chat with another GWO alliance guild, this time TRUE.
• GWOnline: Guild Spotlight – Galactic President Superstar Mc [awsm]. He also talked to competitive PvP guild [awsm], winner of two GvG championships as, one in February 2011, and the latest January of this year 2012.

Videos and Podcasts

• Guildcast: Episode 13 – Trinity Killer. Mike S, Elizabeth and Mike B discuss the (absence of) holy trinity in Guild Wars 2, and answer viewer questions.
• Tales of Tyria: Episode 21 – Build Wars. The team talks traits and Bridger rants about players who never learn.
• SagelikeOne hit 1000 subscribers this week (congratulations!) and celebrated by announcing a contest with prizes! He also uploaded two Q&As, #11, #12.
• WoodenTomatoes: Lore – Mr. Sparkles. WoodenTomatoes posted another lore post, this time he reads a story from one of the official Asura blog posts. He also took a  look at what may trouble GW2 PvP in Guild Wars 2: No PvP?
• Yogscast: Norn leveling Part 2, Part 3, (Part 1 from last week).
• TotalBiscuit: Underwater overview. TB takes a close look at underwater content, inluding an open-world dungeon/puzzle experience. Also, in the Mailbox March 9th he uses WvW footage used as background while he talks about other things. (Forum discussion)
• PCGamer: Q&A discusses WvW, events, and more. Hollander Cooper of GamesRadar sits down to pick the brains of Josh and Gavin about everything from World vs World to why the event systems were a bit disappointing.
• Gamebreaker: Self-healing in Guild Wars 2. Mike S and Jason Winter wonders how healing will work in Guild Wars 2. The video is co-posted with a run-down article of the currently known support skills, divided by profession. Guild Wars 2 traits response is back and forth. Mike S and Jason Winter talks traits. Also, ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 writer talks Sylvari creation and ArenaNet stumps for Non-Trinity Guild Wars 2 Play.
• Snebzor has posted several videos this last week: Down and defeated discussion, Ranger discussion, Holiday/dynamic events discussion (featuring MattVisual) and Crafting discussion (featuring KaeyiDream)
• Tyria Talk: Episode 18 – SWTOR vs GW2. Richie takes a closer look at the leveling experience (as far as we can tell) in the two games.
• The Toastercast: Episode 2 – News bites, long words & Guild wanks Dylan, JD and Jared and Todd take a closer look at the Guild Wars 2 hype, among other things.
• Boons & Conditions: Podcast #1 – Mono Intro. In this premiere episode Faelor along with co-hosts Arithion, Luperza, and shyntyrr talk WvW, traits, tools and round up the press beta.
• Rylis: Fan Trailer – On the edge. Youtuber Rylis just posted this nice fan trailer using official Guild Wars 2 footage to “On the Edge” by Killer Tracks.

Articles and blog posts

First-hand beta experience write-ups:

• Kill Ten Rats: The richest PvE experience, Part 2. Ravious finishes up his press beta writeup. (part 1 from last week)
• MMORPG: Exploring the Ascalon Catacombs Dungeon. David North talks about his experiences in the Guild Wars 2 dungeons.
• MMORPG: The Warrior Preview. The Thief Preview. The Necromancer Preview. David North and Garret Fuller share their experience about the rest of GW2 professions from the beta weekend.
• Gamerzines: Our experience from the latest GW2 beta weekend

Other:

• Flameseeker Chronicles: How do trinites work. Elisabeth talks trinities.
• The Vigilant: Guild Chronicles – chapter 1 – Washed Ashore. Rhysanne starts up a brand new fan fiction.
• The Vigilant: Origins of the founders – Times change. VerMagnus also published a nice fan fiction piece.
• The Feral Engineer: Flaws. Feral talks about expecting perfection in games.
• GuildMag: Heroes are made, not born. Ipswitch posted this nice run-down on how to build a character in Guild Wars 2.
• GuildMag: Jormag – Frigid shadow of the North. Thalandor Doomspeaker gives another excellent lore piece, this one about the nemesis of the Norn – Jormag.
• Demajen: Videogame storytelling: Humanity, triumph and tragedy. Demajen talks about Humans in games. (warning about spoilers on FFXIII-2)
• Distilled Willpower: IG or OOG? Your extended experience. DW ponders how extended we can expect the extended experience to be.
• Guild Wars 2 Junkies: The loss of the Trinity: Confusion, denial, anger or acceptance. Different ways to react to a trinity-less MMO gameplay.
• Under the Pale Tree: Fellowship of the fans. Verene tries to explain the special beast that is the GW2 fanbase. something to say about the armor repair mechanic. She also made this rather excellent blog post about The game of Badass ladies, using numbers to show how progressive Guild Wars 2 is compared to other games.
• Flamethrowing: What the multi guild system can do. Flamethrower ponders the implications of being able to be in many guilds.
• Guild Wars 2 Guru: The sky is falling! Traits are here! Lewis B gives his point of view on the recent trait bruhaha.
• Yoshi’s Guild Wars 2 hub. Yoshi continues to be a busy busy bee:  The crafting profession confession. WvWvW, WvWvWvWvWv…vW, WvW, Dub V Dub. Of Cats And Men… And Gods. Nightfall – Alone in the Dark.  Factions – No, Not Horde/Alliance. Prophecies – Never Saw That Coming…
• Gamebandits: Guild Wars 2 cinematics showcases character creation differences. About the personal story and how it impacts the cinematic experience.
• The Best Game Site Ever: Killing World of Warcraft. The site has a gutsy name, and John Stockemer put a gutsy name on the article. Well worth the read in any case.
• Kill Ten Rats: Level Flow by Numbers. Ravious takes a closer look on the map zones as we gleaned them so far.
• Tales from the Void: Guild Wars 2: There are many reasons to like it, but these three are mine. Omedon shares his top three reasons for loving Guild Wars 2.
• Team Legacy: WvW Scoring, consider it napkin math. okuRaku takes a closer look at what scoring in WvW may actually entail.
• Team Legacy: Victory by Planning: How to start with a bang. On the same subject Edwinshap went through some possible WvW strategies:
• Talk Tyria: What will Guild Wars 2 do to me? Sykriar ponders how the release of Guild Wars 2 will fare facing his expectations of the game.
• Talk Tyria: You said there was no holy trinity! Damagedself wonders how trinity-less Guild Wars 2 really is.
• Talk Tyria: Cracks in the patio: Where ANet might trip. Distilled wonders how buggy Guild Wars 2 will be, and if the complexity will prove too much.
• Plyturon’s Forgotten Forge: Sketchbook: Fear and horror in MMOs. Plytorun takes a new look at Guild Wars 2, from the perspective of its level of fear and horror as a function of lighting, feelings of defenselessness and the camera. He also published a post about the Elementalist and a reply post to Talk Tyria, RE: What will Guild Wars 2 do to me?  A great first week, and we look forward to see what more may come.
• Attached To Keyboard: Assortment Box of Beta-ness. Tasha recaps her thoughts on the info from the last couple of weeks.
• GWI: Sea of Sorrows Release Date Update GWI got word that release of the third Guild Wars novel Sea of Sorrows has been pushed back.
• octopusx@MMOSite published a whole bunch of profession overviews this last week: Thief, Elementalist, Necromancer, Guardian, Warrior.
• MMO Melting Pot: Will Guild Wars 2 make it ok to fail again? Hugh Hancock wonders if no holy trinity will make failing more acceptable.
• The Inquisitr: ArenaNet details their game design manifesto. Daniel McCall writes about Guild Wars 2 in main stream media. Yay!

• Rev Gaming: Guild Wars 2 build tool Another build tool.
• LolCharr. A brand new site collecting all your Guild Wars 2 themed lols.

   

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