Rubi Bayer thinking about her next Guild Wars column?

Guild Wars columnist, guild leader, podcaster and now tv show host. Rubi Bayer is a busy woman with many talents. Yesterday being the grand premiere of the new Guildcast tv show, GWOnline took the opportunity to ask Rubi some questions about the show, Guild Wars and her feelings about Guild Wars 2.

Follow after the jump for the full interview!

GWOnline: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us Rubi! First of all, for those who might not know who you are, can you tell us about your history in Guild Wars?

Rubi Bayer: I started playing Guild Wars in March of 2007. Funnily enough, I was introduced to the game by my husband, who’d stumbled across the Guildcast podcast and thought it sounded interesting. We joined the Guildcast guild. Technically, my first appearance on Guildcast was providing the voice of Shawn’s necro in a video episode waaaay back when. I started showing up here and there as a guest on the Massively podcast in the spring of 2009, joining when there was a heavy Guild Wars focus. In September of 2009 I was hired at Massively as a contributing editor and the main GW/GW2 writer. I’m currently their Community Manager, author of the Flameseeker Chronicles column, and the co-host of the Massively Speaking podcast, I’m also the leader of Massively’s official GW Guild, Massively Overpowered [MVOP].

Oh yeah, and I also co-host Guildcast! 

GWOnline: So tell us, how did it feel to air your own show on Gamebreaker? Were you nervous or just pumped?

Rubi Bayer: I can safely say that I was both. I was a big bundle of nerves the day the show was scheduled to air. I’ve done TWIMMO on Gamebreaker quite a few times and always have a little case of stage fright, but this time the stakes were much higher and I was incredibly nervous. As usual though, once the camera came on it was all good. I just relaxed and had fun. We’ve been talking about this and planning for almost six months, so it’s amazing to finally have it up and running. I love it.

GWOnline: What can you tell us about the focus of the show?

Rubi Bayer: All Guild Wars 2, yay! There might be a bit of GW1 talk here and there, but only as it pertains to GW2 – maybe for a lore background discussion or how game/class mechanics are different, but it’s generally all about GW2.

GWOnline:  What differences have you noticed by being part of a greater gameshow network compared to your previous podcasting?

Rubi Bayer: More feedback! There’s suddenly a giant audience and you’re hearing what they think in real time. In a live setting, you’re constantly seeing the feedback flash by off to the side as you’re talking. With a combination of Guild Wars 2’s giant hype and Gamebreaker’s large viewing audience, there’s also a ton of it. This is both good and bad because while for the most part you’ve got this amazing audience who is engaged, excited, and participating in a great discussion, you’ve also got the negative feedback in real time. Thankfully that stuff ceased to get under my skin a long time ago!

GWOnline: Being a Guild Wars 1 veteran, how are your feelings about Guild Wars 2? Have they changed since the initial announcement?

Rubi Bayer: The answer to this sort of depends on what day you ask me.  My excitement and anticipation have definitely grown. Picture the difference between a mini-marshmallow and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Yeah, like that. When the announcement was first made it was kind of like “Oh awesome, that’ll be cool to play, I’m looking forward to it.” Now, so many years later, it’s like it’s almost here, but just barely out of my reach and I have no clue when I’ll be able to get my hands on it. So it can be a bit maddening.  Some days I’m incredibly excited. Some days my brain treats it as a game that I will never play in my home, only at convention demos, and I just want to go lie down when I think about it.

GWOnline: What is your favorite Guild Wars 1 profession? Why?

Rubi Bayer: The elementalist, hands down.  When I started GW I experimented with all the professions. I had a warrior main for quite a while, but retired her when I realized that melee really wasn’t my cup of tea. I found myself returning to the ele fairly often, and over the years I’ve fallen in love with the profession. I have two main eles, one in TRUE and Rubi Djinn, my “public/work” account.  I have enormous affection for both of these ladies – they’ve got clearly developed personalities to me and I adore them. Rubi Djinn will be in Guild Wars 2 as a human ele, even though I haven’t really figured out how that will work as far as her character’s story. Maybe something with a TARDIS.

GWOnline: What is your favorite Guild Wars 2 profession? Why?

Rubi Bayer:It’s a toss-up. The elementalist and the engineer are neck-and-neck, with the thief running a very close second. I love the elementalist for obvious reasons — my love of that class has naturally carried over to GW2 and I was thrilled to find that it’s better than ever.  The engineer came flying out of nowhere and surprised me, to be very honest.  I was lukewarm when the reveal happened.  It looked pretty cool and I was anxious to get my hands on it, but I had some reservations. Then I played it.  Wow.  Oh wow.  It’s this amazing combination of fun and sheer badassery (it’s a word!) that put a huge grin on my face.  The tools and abilities work together and separately in ways that kept surprising me over and over in the best of ways.  I’m dying to get my hands on that class again.

GWOnline: You are the leader of the massively guild MVOP, an officer in TRUE, write a column, do podcasts and now also a tv show. Do you ever become tired of everything Guild Wars?

Rubi Bayer: Funny you ask, because I’m just coming off of a massive case of burnout. It happens now and again – how could it not? You need moderation in all things, but since it’s often not possible in my case, I get burned out in a big way and have to step back.  When that happens I take a break from all things GW (with the obvious exception of my job) and spend a few weeks doing other things, and I bounce right back.

GWOnline:  As a last question, what would be your advice to someone new to the Guild Wars universe wanting to learn more. What do they do first?

Rubi Bayer: Read my Guild Wars 101 columns, of course!!

The premiere Guildcast tv show was aired live yesterday evening. The full video should be posted on gamebreaker.tv today.

EDIT: The episode is now available. Enjoy!