Seems like every other week there is a drama explosion bigger than the last. This week the turn had come to the Guild Wars 2 microtransaction system, with the announcement that we will be able to buy “gems” that we then can trade for in-game gold from players. The week was thus filled to the rafters with reactions to these news. An official blog post was also published about personal story and Ree Soesbee was interviewed by VG24/7, in addition to the usual blog posts, videos, podcasts and articles. Oh, and we made friends with The Tyrian Order!

Official

Interviews – ArenaNet

• VG24/7: Sitting comfortably? Guild Wars 2′s lore boss on story. Ree Soesbee talks Guild Wars 2 lore!

Videos and Podcasts

• Boons & Conditions: Episode 2 – E-Sports. Faelor, Arithion, Luperza and Zomoa discuss the first batch of beta invites, the ArenaNet blog regarding community, and then go into roundtable mode on e-Sports.
• Gamebreaker: Guild Wars 2 to have gold trading market. Mike B and Scott Hawkes talks microtransactions. In Guild Wars 2 Features Wide Range Of Personal Stories, Mike B and Jason Winter looks at the Personal Story system.
• Guildcast: Episode 15 – Boom Flower. Mike S, Richie and Scott talk about the approach that underpins the implementation of the Gems currency system and whether we should be concerned, the lore as well as the design of the massive Sylvari themed dungeon previews in the latest PCGamer, and answers viewer questions.
• KaeyiDream: Kaeyi summarises the Twilight Arbor Dungeon revealed in the latests PCGamer print issue and talks about the Micro Transactions news.
• SagelikeOne: Sage posted about the Microtransactions, ca$h-shop and personal story and did two new Q&As: #15 (digital distribution, CD-only and easy levelling) and #16 (trait points, LoA and area servvers)
• Tales of Tyria: Episode 23 – Where the rubber meets the road. The team talks about whether the CE is worth the money, various links of the week, as well as the recent Arenanet Blog post which announced Official Forums.
• Totalbiscuit: GW2 Beta: Explorable Dungeon. TB comments on an Explorable Dungeon play-through his team did during the last Press Beta weekend. (Forum discussion)
• Tubeelephant: Microtransactions. The Elephant also looks at the microtransaction system.
• Tyria Talk: Episode 20 – Microtransactions. Richie talks about Guild Wars 2 in-game store.
• WoodenTomatoes: WP released a whole bunch of daily videos, like one a day! Spirit collectors tanking, Charr Underworld expansion, Mounted gem forums, Old Norn views,  Microtransactions, gems, buy-to-win and Difficult dragon classes
• MattVisual: Guild Wars 2 – Playable Races | Asura [Personal Story choices] MattVisual was back with this piece about the Asura.

Articles and blog posts

• Bio Break: Guild Wars 2′s gem of an idea. Bio Break rather like the announced microtransaction system. has a tough time choosing a race/profession combo. He also wonders, Could this year be the year of the MMO?
• Corpse Run: The Guild Wars 2 cash shop: Much ado about nothing. brannagan does not see why people are so upset. Also posted this funny meme illustration of the Guild Wars 2 community over time.
• Decoding Dragons: Overwhelming choice. DD talks character creation possibilities.
• Demajen: Assuming dierct control Demajen makes a run-down on the GW2 control layout. He also talks about writing, and how Guild Wars 2 suffers from “inflation paradigm” in Deus Ex Machina, microtransactions in Guild influence and microtransactions and Somebody grab the mop…, interacting with ones readers in A sour taste and finally how GW2 cater to the altoholic mind in [GW2] An altoholic’s perspective.
• Distilled Will: Character diversity, 10% them, 90% you. Distilled’s entry for GuildMag’s Blog Carnival. Also, Another 2c, gem trading about the microtransaction system.
• Dragon Season: 10 things to expect in Guild Wars 2, a Guild Wars perspective. Daniel at Dragon Season made this excellent run-down on what Guild Wars 2 should “inherit” from Guild Wars.
• Eternal Alchemy: Economic Ramifications of Gems. Kaboobie looks at what gems might mean for the Guild Wars 2 in-game economy.
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Setting up for success. Elisabeth Cardy talks about official forums and the scalable dynamic even system of Guild Wars 2.
• Flamethrowing: Let’s talk about builds man. Cuth talks about Engineer builds, and presents his new builds section.
• Greibach’s Normal Form: The big beta barrage, Part 1 – traits. Greibach talks traits. He also made this week’s obligatory microtransactions blog post, The economy of gems.
• GuildMag: Blog Carnival 3: Character Diversity GuildMag’s blog carnival continues. Deadline today (Sunday March 25). Meanwhile, Facewell looks at the pros and cons of the Pre-purchase in Guild Wars 2 Pre-Purchase — Good News, Bad News?, Gmr Leon talks Sylvari lore in Blooming Minds in Dark Times and CorruptDropbear looks at Guild Wars 2 vs. The Traditional MMO.
• Guild Wars Insider: Beliasta’s GW2 effects breakdown. Beliasta gives this excellent summary of all the effects in Guild Wars 2. Monomythian posted a Visual guide to currencies in Guild Wars 2 and Seven did an editorial on Microtransactions and the Guild Wars 2 economy.
• GWOnline: Spreading the love – Conditions in Guild Wars 2. CMEPTb made this excellent run-down on conditions in GW2, divided by profession. We also had our very first guest blog, where SageLikeOne tells us about Making a YouTube channel!
• Hunter’s Insight: Buy Gems with gold or money in Guild Wars 2  Hunter’s look at the microtransaction system and in The cash shop gets leaked.
• Keen and Graev: GW2 cash shop could be deal breaker. K&G hopes the cash shop will end up differently from the leaked images at release.
• Kill Ten Rats: Microtransactions – Philosophy and market. Ravious ponders the MT system as well. He also made an entry for GuildMag’s Blog Carnival with Diversity solipsism.
• Kormir’s High Road: “Stand and Deliver”: ArenaNet’s Goal for the Community. KHR looks at what it will take for ArenaNet to succeed in running official forums.
• Mana Obscura: Guild Wars 2 – Spellcasters Quick Guide. gazimoff talks spellcasting in Guild Wars 2 from an MMORPG veteran’s perspective.
• MMORPG: The Collector’s Edition. David North thinks the GW2 CE has everything he expect and more.
• MMOSite: At MMOSite RiskbnreakerRiot ponders which to buy, Guild Wars 2 or Diablo 3? and Chaos22 is Getting ready for Guild Wars 2.
• Nerdy Bookahs: Educate the gaming masses! About forum moderation, CE, and more. Also GW2 and its lack of PvP servers.
• Shewstr: Separation Anxiety: Sylvari vs. Reality. Shewstr made this post in response to Verene’s post on the same theme from last week, from a Christian’s perspective.
• TalkTyria: Diversity in Sexuality. damagedself talks about how Guild Wars 2 is widening the scope of MMO stereotypes.
• Tea and Tyria: eSports & Guild Wars 2. Philetic ponders the possibility for electric sporting.
• The Feral Engineer: Micro evils? Feral is not a huge fan of the microtransaction system.
• The Tyrian Order: Understanding the gem system. Neves answers a bunch of commonly asked questions buzzing around on the subject of gems.
• The Vigilant: Virtual Diversity. snuph takes a look at the diversity offered in Guild Wars 2. He also posted A casual gamer’s perspective on microtransactions and A new game to play where he uses some well-hones detective skills to figure out who is and who isn’t beta testing this weekend. Meanwhile, Josh ponders shields in Two shields or not Two shields, that is the question. (The Vigilant moved, so make sure to update your bookmarks!)
• Under the Pale Tree: Who am I? and Who am I? (Another tale) Verene and draconiac enter GuildMag blog carnival with a story each, one about a Sylvari Mesmer, the other a Norn Ranger. Verene also wrote about Gems, karma and gold (oh my) and gave NDA leakers a stern talking to in Shame.
• Wartower: State of the game 44 – Conflicted? 4thVariety over at Wartower did this analysis on how ArenaNet’s statement about microtransactions line up.
• Yoshi’s Guild Wars 2 hub: Yoshi has been busy as usual. First a lore piece about Humans in Guild Wars: Human life – not at all like Second Life. Then he takes A look at PvP dynamics and writes about the Asura in Short people got no reason. He tells us why Levels are important and takes a visit to The Sylvari learning center. Finally he goes through How to contribute in WvW and gives some Norn lore background in I am legend. Phew!
• ZAM: Counting Coins – The dangers of virtual currency. Gazimoff goes thorugh virtual currency in a wide array of MMOs, including Guild Wars 2.

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