Over time, our focus has shifted to updates that not only help maintain Guild Wars but help the game maintain itself. With this focus in mind, we'll no longer be releasing any new content for the live game except in support of automation. Our goal is to get the game to a place where it can continue to run and be available to all of our fans. We have a lot of love for Guild Wars—it's the game that made us what we are today—and we want to continue sharing it with everyone!

I want to make sure that players correctly understand our intentions behind these changes and the overall push for automation. As I've said, we want the game to be in a place where it's able to take care of itself. While we will not be producing new content, the Live Team will still be around to perform critical fixes for crashes or other serious issues. We want to support the players who made us successful by ensuring the game provides the best service possible without constant supervision and attention. Reducing the need for manual intervention makes it easier for us to keep Guild Wars running in the years to come.

Coming Changes

The first change is to our Automated Tournament System. Contrary to what the name might lead you to expect, it has not, in fact, been entirely automated. Guilds that won or placed in the Monthly Automated Tournaments would have to wait for one of the Live Team staff members to sync up with them in game, temporarily join their guild, assign the proper cape trim, and move on. The same held true for removing temporary trims that were only available for one month.

Recently, we amended distribution so that only the top guild participating in the MAT received the permanent gold trim, and other trims (including several new colors) could be purchased by saving up your winnings from placing in tournaments. There are two reasons that we made this change: the first was to adjust to the number of rewards being distributed relative to the number of players taking advantage of the ATs. Handing out many trims when there are fewer guilds in attendance ultimately devalues the trims themselves, and there isn't as much drive to be number one. The second reason is that this lets us better automate the system; the number one guild will automatically get their trim, without having to wait.

While we're on the subject of the Automated Tournaments, we'll also be adding another feature to help it live up to its namesake: map rotation will now also be automated. As with cape trims, this means you'll no longer have to wait for the new map selections to be decided upon and implemented. As soon as the list is needed, it will already be there. The selection of maps for the entire year's rotation will be created using the same algorithm that we've run by hand up until this point. That rotation will then be used for the years to come. Because the process to get to this point was largely the same, there should be no noticeable difference from a player's perspective except for improved timeliness of the rotation.

Next, we'll be making some changes to our weekend events. Specifically, these won't just be weekend events anymore, they'll run for an entire week on a completely automated schedule. This will be an incredible boon to folks who are still working on finishing out titles for their Hall of Monuments, as they'll no longer be constrained to packing as much play time as possible into just the weekend. Now everyone will have five extra days to take advantage of these bonuses.

You've already seen changes to support automation rolled out to our festival content, but to recap, major festivals now use tokens that players can redeem for one of the special items the event offers. Players are only allowed to choose one, but the choice allows newer players a chance to get items they otherwise never would have been able to and allows longtime players the opportunity to complete their collections. We'll be making changes along these lines to our remaining celebrations, so that the entire year's worth of festivals will run seamlessly.

In conjunction with this, we've also changed the distribution of birthday presents. Characters celebrating eight or more years in Tyria now get a token that they can then trade in for one of the gift boxes from any of the previous years. The distribution rates for the miniatures remain the same, but players can now target their favorite era every time a new year rolls around.

With these changes, Guild Wars will be more streamlined and self-supporting than ever, traits that will enable the game to be enjoyed for years to come.

Most immediately, Balthazar is retiring the engravers and hiring tailors. February is the last chance to get your guild name on a trophy. Winners of future MATs will still show up in Tolkano's reports, but the 2013 trophy will be moved to the display dais in March, and Tolkano will step to the center of the Great Temple of Balthazar. While battling for this chance at inscribed glory, more guilds will be able to work on their Champion title, as we’re easing the rating requirement from 1200 to 1050.

Also starting in February, we’re adding new ways for guilds to acquire cape trims through tournament participation. Instead of earning temporary bronze or silver trims through the MAT, guild leaders with enough Tournament Reward Points can speak with Tolkano to trade those points for the permanent trim of their choice from a variety of new and stylish colors. Permanent gold trim will still be awarded exclusively to the winner of each month’s tournament; it will overwrite any previously purchased trim color.

The Monthly Automated Tournaments are shifting to the third weekend of the month. This will naturally avoid most major holidays and allow players to determine the date of the MAT without waiting for Tolkano to announce it. Though we’re keeping the current Daily AT rotation for now, we’re working toward implementing a 21-hour rotation, ensuring a few things: times will vary more on adjacent days, a tournament will fall on each hour of the day once per week, and times will naturally be static from one week to the next.

Finally, we’ve seen the market has been hard on those seeking Celestial Sigils. If you’re not having luck with the local trader or The Hall of Heroes, you can now get the occasional drop from a Zaishen Strongbox. Alternately, Jessie Llam will trade them for Gold Zaishen Coins. You can always count on the Zaishen to fill a need, particularly if it gets more people in the battle.

Most immediately, Balthazar is retiring the engravers and hiring tailors. February is the last chance to get your guild name on a trophy. Winners of future MATs will still show up in Tolkano's reports, but the 2013 trophy will be moved to the display dais in March, and Tolkano will step to the center of the Great Temple of Balthazar. While battling for this chance at inscribed glory, more guilds will be able to work on their Champion title, as we’re easing the rating requirement from 1200 to 1050.

Also starting in February, we’re adding new ways for guilds to acquire cape trims through tournament participation. Instead of earning temporary bronze or silver trims through the MAT, guild leaders with enough Tournament Reward Points can speak with Tolkano to trade those points for the permanent trim of their choice from a variety of new and stylish colors. Permanent gold trim will still be awarded exclusively to the winner of each month’s tournament; it will overwrite any previously purchased trim color.

The Monthly Automated Tournaments are shifting to the third weekend of the month. This will naturally avoid most major holidays and allow players to determine the date of the MAT without waiting for Tolkano to announce it. Though we’re keeping the current Daily AT rotation for now, we’re working toward implementing a 21-hour rotation, ensuring a few things: times will vary more on adjacent days, a tournament will fall on each hour of the day once per week, and times will naturally be static from one week to the next.

Finally, we’ve seen the market has been hard on those seeking Celestial Sigils. If you’re not having luck with the local trader or The Hall of Heroes, you can now get the occasional drop from a Zaishen Strongbox. Alternately, Jessie Llam will trade them for Gold Zaishen Coins. You can always count on the Zaishen to fill a need, particularly if it gets more people in the battle.

The adjustments to Canthan New Year mark the beginning of a few time and schedule changes to Guild Wars in-game events. Specifically, all major events will be extended to run for a week or longer, and they will be put on a fixed schedule. In some cases this will shift when event finales happen, but highly anticipated events like Halloween and Wintersday already fall on the same date annually and therefore won’t change. Looking to the future, you will be able to enjoy events for longer and can plan to attend without wondering when the events will occur.