After a few weeks low on the info, this week offered so much new Guild Wars intel that it was almost overwhelming to keep track of it all. Luckily we here at GWOnline have done the work for you, rounding up all the new info about the Guild Wars 2 mesmer, the Reddit AMA session, the Guildcast tv show premiere, closed beta start, Guild Wars Wintersday, and more. So brace yourselves and follow after the jump for the full list of this weeks Guild Warsy happenings.

Official:

• The mesmer was officially revealed at the Guild Wars 2 web page. Complete with skill videos, mechanics, screen shots and wallpapers.
• ArenaNet made their own link roundup for the mesmer reveal, so it is a good place to start for everyone playing catch-up.
• ArenaNet’s heads up about the two major Q&A events, the Reddit AMA and the Guru IRC, both of which went down on Wednesday.
• Updates to ArenaNet’s Flickr stream during the Q&A.
• ArenaNet also released details on the 2011 Guild Wars Wintersday celebrations, including a new PvP format and new costumes available in the in-game shop. (Forum discussion)

Interviews:
First of all there were the two large Q&A sessions.

• Reddit AMA starting out with Jon Peters who was later joined by Jonathan Sharp, Eric Flannum, and Isaiah “Izzy” Cartwright. For those who want a more easy-to-follow format, user Yalu over at guildwars2journal have made a nice synthesis of all the questions and ArenaNet answers. One piece of info from this session that the community really latched on to was the reveal that closed beta would start on Friday the 16th. Alas there are no applications taken from the public for this. (Forum discussion)
• Curse and Guild Wars 2 Guru hosted an IRC session with Jonathan Sharp, Izzy Cartwright and Eric Flannum. (Forum discussion)

Then there were a bunch of interviews about the mesmer reveal.

• Game Informer: Lifting The Veil On Guild Wars 2′s Mysterious Mesmer. Phil Kollar talks to ArenaNet game designer Jon Peters and system designer Jonathan Sharp about what the mesmer really is, and what makes it different from the other professions.
• Now Gamer: ArenaNet Interview. Dave Cook talks to lead designer Eric Flannum about the challenges of integrating the Mesmer into the game, skill mechanics, and the role of player feedback in further development. (Forum discussion)
• GamePlanet: ArenaNet’s Jon Peters on Guild Wars 2. GamePlanet talks to Jon Peters about the role of the Mesmer in co-operative battles, the Mesmer as a melee character and acquisition of shattering skills.

Finally there were several interviews published this week that had nothing whatsoever to do with the mesmer.

• Guild Wars 2 Brasil Interview with Guild Wars 2 Lead Game Designer Eric Flannum. Qoff talked to Eric Flannum about crafting, WvW, personal stories, role playing and more. One particularly interesting (and perhaps disappointing) piece of information is that there will be no observation mode for PvP at release. (Forum discussion)
• Ashenfold Cartel Interview with Jeff Grubb and Eric Flannum. Shadow Sin went in-depth about Guild Wars 2 lore with Jeff Grubb and Eric Flannum. Racial populations and culture, the origin of the Xunlai Exchange, where the ability to do magic comes from and more. Alas perhaps the most interesting part was again something disappointing, especially to the roleplaying community: There will be no custom chat channels or emotes available in Guild Wars 2.
• Guild Wars 2 PvP: Team ArenaNet Interview | Part 5 – Jonathan Sharp. Guild Wars 2 PvP posted their fifth and final part of their rater excellent series of interviews with the ArenaNet PvP team, this one with Jonathan Sharp. (Forum discussion)
• GWOnline: Community feature – Rubi Bayer. We here at GWOnline got the chance to chat with Rubi Bayer in conjunction with the premiere of the Guildcast tv show.

Other:
A lot of people had something to say about the mesmer reveal.

• NowGamer: Guild Wars 2 preview
• Kill Ten Rats: [GW2] Mesmer Metagame
• GuildMag: The Mesmer: Not (Quite) As Predicted
• Dragonseason: Professions – Mesmer
• The Vigilant: Mesmer Reveal Recap
• Under the Pale Tree: Shattered Illusions 
• Hunter’s Insight: Mesmer Skill Video Breakdown
• Hunter’s Insight: Mesmers of Guild Wars 2
• Tap Repeatedly: Guild Wars 2 – The Mesmer (nice to see LewisB writing again!)
• Conjure Phantasm: You Wanna See Crazy?
• The Mesmer.me site were no doubt relieved that the final profession was the mesmer.
• Paradigm Shift discussed the mesmer on YouTube
• GWOnline: Your Mesmer has Evolved (Forum Discussion)
• GWOnline: Head to Head – Mesmer vs Thief
• In addition the mesmer reveal also made the headlines on several mainstream gaming sites: GameInformer, G4TV, Rock Paper Shotgun, MMO Report to name some.
• And to round up the mesmer reveal, Guild Wars Insider had the story behind the mesmer video leak. (Forum discussion)

But of course people were not only talking about the mesmer, even though it almost eclipsed everything else.

• The Guildcast tv show premiered on Thursday at gamebreaker.tv
• The news of closed beta start garnered significant news coverage: Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamer and IGN to name a few.
• SagelikeOne: Guild Wars 2 Beta Scams. SagelikeOne made an excellent warning video about beta scams. Be careful, and never ever give away your account details!
• MMORPG: Loot Equality. David North speculated about loot in Guild Wars 2, and how ArenaNet might ensure that loot distribution feels fair in Guild Wars 2.
• Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars’ elite areas — The Underworld. Massively’s Rubi Bayer gives tips about the Underworld in Guild Wars 1.
• Red Bull: The Biggest Games of 2012. Johnny Minkley lists Guild wars 2 as one of the big 2012 games.
• Tales of Tyria: Episode 10 – The Guild Wars Legacy. The gang over at Tales of Tyria came out with a fresh new episode. This one about, yes, the mesmer as well as the Guild Wars legacy and what it might mean for Guild Wars 2.
• Guild Wars Insider: Sea of Sorrows delayed – August release. GWI got a tip that the final part of the Guild Wars book trilogy will be delayed. (Forum discussion)
• Worldverseworld: World PvP – A Reference Point. New blog Worldverseworld started out strong with a look back to the realm PvP in Dark Age of Camelot. Interesting for everyone wondering where the Guild Wars 2 3-sided WvW ideas came from.
• Flame Throwing: Content Gating – What is it and why is it good (or bad)? Part 1. The Engineer blog Flame Throwing started a three-part series about content gating in MMOs. Part one is about the concept of content gating as such.

Finally, the Ten Ton Hammer poll for most anticipated games of 2012 is now in the finals stage, for most anticipated game overall. (Forum discussion)

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