Happy 4th Anniversary, Guild Wars

Wow, it’s been four years since the launch of Guild Wars. A lot can change in that amount of time. Did you buy a new car? Did you get married? Did you move to a new home? Did you get a new job? Even if life is not that different for you outside the game, the anniversary party brings plenty of changes to the world of Guild Wars.

For starters, I was surprised by the Extreme Makeover option. For $9.99 you can change your character’s body features — including gender. A less radical option is the Makeover Pack. That let’s you change body size, hair color, hair style, facial hair and skin color. Basically, it’s just like the Extreme Makeover pack but without gender changes. If you’re not interested in changing your character’s gender, the regular Makeover Pack is a more economical choice. For $9.99 you can get five regular makeover credits, opposed to just the one Extreme Makeover.

guild-wars-makeover

I’m surprised that “profession” was not included with the extreme makeover.

With a new look, you might need a new name. For $14.95 you can rename your character. The new changes seem to be a bit of a money grab, but that’s important to keep the game alive and healthy.

There are more changes with the anniversary update. The official website has more details.

…and here’s the official in-game announcement…

Happy 4th Anniversary, Guild Wars!

To celebrate the fourth anniversary of Guild Wars, we will be holding a special weekend event from Thursday, April 23rd through Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Wednesday, April 29th. For more information on the festivities, check out the official website http://www.guildwars.com/.

15 thoughts on “Happy 4th Anniversary, Guild Wars”

  1. I can remember there where many different people who wanted to be able to change the hair color.

  2. You notice that with Nicholas the Traveller, one of the things that comes out of his gifts is a “Mini Gwen Doll” so I wonder if your site will get more recognition?

  3. They’re also giving away a free Xunlai Storage slot, look on the 4th Anniversary page to find it

  5. Nope, and I haven’t logged into the game in almost a month. Once the anniversary party was over, so was my excitement for the game. Photics.com dropped out of the fansite program. I can’t wait years for something exciting to happen. Life is too precious to waste sitting around. Instead, I’m going to focus on new projects.

    Next month, probably on 6/1/2009, I’m going to launch a new folding@home contest for the Photics Team. I’m also working on the sequel to my book. Releasing it for the Android Market has been encouraging for me. I’m also thinking about expanding my online game — Photics: Conquest. I like how that sounds… my online game. If Guild Wars 2 is 1-3 years away, I could make my own online game in less time. It may not be as good, but it would be mine. The most fun about running a Guild Wars Fansite was the community. Well, there’s a nice community in my game. If I can get going on my project, it could be awesome.

    This might not be good news for Guild Wars fans, but I’m still planning to keep watching for ArenaNet news.

  6. I dont know if you noticed Photics, but the traffic picked up and a lot of people are trying their hand at winning that Doll. Personally I think you made the time limit to long, no one wants to wait a year to win a prize. But I actually added your site onto the Wiki page for the Miniature Gwen Doll. All it takes is a little word-of-mouth, or advertising if you will. The only reason your site isn’t visited, is because no one knows it exists. I’d say there are more people playing Guild Wars this year, than there was last year.

    I’m sad to hear that your leaving the Guild Wars Fansite program… I wish you luck in your further endeavors, and I hope you find what you’re heart is looking for. I guess I’ll go join some other site now.

  7. I was asking because you said you wouldn’t finish it as you had to group with charr

  8. Moo — Guild Wars just isn’t the same to me. There’s nothing in the game that’s going to top what I did in 2006. Plus, without Gaile Gray as Community Relations Manager, it doesn’t feel like the same program. I think that ArenaNet should just make their own forum… or NCSoft should make their own forum for all of their games.

    Judedeath — That’s right, I don’t group with Charr.

    As for the popularity of the Plush Gwen contest, I’m not concerned about it. I look at reports from my web logs. Making my own games is just better for the popularity of this website. The contest leaves the door open for the return of Guild Wars content. I still have one awesome project left unfinished. Maybe one day I’ll return to it.

  9. Maybe when Guild Wars 2 goes into beta? The book Idea sounds good, I can’t buy it though.

  11. I guess thats where our interests diverge, your looking to get the most out of it by doing great heroic things in a video game, and I want to get the most out of it by being with my friends and conquering it all one step at a time. I can understand that, you owned a city, thats pretty big, and nothing can bring back that feeling. Maybe it is better for you to wait until Guild Wars 2, then you can look for something big and heroic to do there. But that isn’t the conversation I was having.

    Yes I’m upset at you dropping out of the fansite program, your forums where my favorite. But whats done is done. I’m just saying that you should reduce the time on that Gwen contest, maybe generate a little advertisement on it. It was Gaile Gray’s last act as community relations manager for goodness sake! Give it some gusto man!

    I don’t agree with you, I like the other fan-sites such as Guru and The Guild Friends. I just don’t have the repertoire that I do here.

    Anyhow, on to current subjects… Thats pretty awesome of you to put Revisions out there for free. I love it so far! But I am confused about the point system… If I fail the first time in a spot, and it says lose 10 points and try again. When I try again do I get to keep the +10 for making the right decision?

  12. If you’re disappointed, imagine it from my perspective. I created a system where people could create their own content. I created a contest with a rare and cute prize. It was promoted, but there was little interest. Once the cupcakes stopped dropping in Guild Wars, I looked towards the future. I didn’t like what I saw. I have better — and more important — things to do with the next two years of my life. Grinding for titles is a waste of time. The potential of this website is too great to just sit idle.

    If Guild Wars 2 is awesome, maybe I will rejoin the fansite program.

    As for Photics: Revisions… if you lose 10 points, but then select the correct answer and get 25 points, it’s 15 points. They both count.

  13. Thanks Photics I didn’t know it was free online, but I was going by old info.

  14. Two months later…
    I’m back in the Fansite Program again.

    I think that I just needed a vacation. 🙂

    ArenaNet never took my site off the list…
    http://www.guildwars.com/community/fansites/

    It was like they didn’t want to let me go… and then I realized that I missed Guild Wars. I have a great idea for a new project too!

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