December 21st/22nd Updates

Farin

Farin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Delta Formation [DF]

W/

Update - Wednesday, December 21

Season's Greetings

(Please sing along to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas.)

On the twelfth moon of Wintersday ArenaNet gave to me...
Blessings from Dwayna
Festive decorations
One mighty snowman
Weapons made of candy
Gifts that might kill you
Snow-covered henchmen
New winter monsters
Some really long quests

Lots of drinking Dwarves
Gingerbread shields
Curses from Grenth
And a new way to watch PvP!

That's right, Observer Mode!

Now you can watch as top-ranked guilds battle it out in the Tombs and in rated guild matches. The upcoming Guild Wars Regional Playoffs and World Championship will also be available for viewing as they happen. The details are as follows:

Whenever a top 100 ranked guild plays in the Tombs or in a rated guild challenge, the game is automatically available for everyone to see. Other "special event" games will also be available for viewing.

Everything that observers see is delayed 15 minutes from the original game, to prevent cheating. Games become available for observation approximately 15 minutes after they start, and remain available until approximately 15 minutes after they finish.

While you are watching a game, you can chat with your fellow observers. There is no limit to the number of people who can simultaneously observe a game, but for purposes of chatting, observers are randomly assigned into groups of about 100 people.

In Observer Mode, the Map Area window displays the positions of all characters on the map. You can click on any character to jump there. Alternately, you can use Auto Camera mode to let the game pick the most interesting targets for you.

A new heads-up display automatically shows you the Health of teams that you are currently watching. If you prefer to use the Party window to view party status details and to select players to watch, you can easily switch the Party window back and forth between teams, or you may choose to view multiple Party windows and watch different teams in each window.

Mortiis Keltenheim

Mortiis Keltenheim

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Sep 2005

Miami, FL

Anybody Killaz

W/N

Finally.... freakin observer mode. Time to grab the popcorn.

Racthoh

Racthoh

Did I hear 7 heroes?

Join Date: May 2005

Scars Meadows [SMS], Guild Leader (Not Recruiting)

Big presents in droks.

bunnys are ebil

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2005

W/Mo

really long quests=really good quest rewards?

Doctor Rhino

Doctor Rhino

Banned

Join Date: Sep 2005

MFC

W/Mo

Aww, and I was just going to go to bed. Looks like I'm stayin up.

NowTumi

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

what can I say , cool.

I am rebuilding faith in guildwar for A-net's recently fast response to players and constantly updating.

widds2v

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2005

Japan

House Palomides

W/Mo

Anyone find any collectors with "xmas items"?

Savio

Savio

Teenager with attitude

Join Date: Jul 2005

Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]

FINALLY! Now people can stop asking about when it comes out in Q&A.

*waits for deluge of "Where's the Christmas stuff" threads*

damocles

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2005

The Netherlands

Guidless :(

W/

Best Update till now :P

got lah

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2005

[LOOL]

W/

Heh Go ANet! At times like this i forget all that i ranted when they released the AoE nerf =p

AuricRal

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2005

Observer mode... finally

Xion

Academy Page

Join Date: Aug 2005

Goda Vos

R/Me

ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH , im going away to a place without internet connection for christmas

Farin

Farin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Delta Formation [DF]

W/

I'm dying to watch a match. I really am. Anyone read what the ghost in tombs says yet? It's interesting.

herzog_zwei

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Dec 2005

<3 the update! gj once again Anet

Andy_M

Andy_M

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

Worthing, UK

(Don't fear) The Beaver

Hehe, nice.

Yanman.be

Yanman.be

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

Belgium

[ROSE]

A/

Observer mode PWNS buildstealing ftw

Racthoh

Racthoh

Did I hear 7 heroes?

Join Date: May 2005

Scars Meadows [SMS], Guild Leader (Not Recruiting)

I'm pretty sure I could use observer mode all day and not get bored. Very nice work Anet.

Diablo???

Diablo???

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2005

Seattle

SPQR

N/R

Observer mode ROCKS!

Hockster

Hockster

Banned

Join Date: Jul 2005

Any details on the new quests? Or where they are?

tafy69

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2005

N/Me

classy, cant wait for seeing some games

your guildmates can watch you play too, niice

This update was made for pve and pvp groups, gg

Merry Madrigal

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2005

Xen of Onslaught

Mo/Me

What a GREAT Xmas present for us all!

Thanks ANet!

Elrond Afil

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Me

hmmm.......but now i think about it


observer mode is bad.....ppl will steal ppl's builds

XtrmEend

XtrmEend

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Netherlands

Searching

Mo/N

Why cant i go into observer mod, when I press observe it loads the underworld for a second staying at 0%, then swiches to loading the map I was standing in when pressing observe.

Symeon

Symeon

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Unlucky guys! It's morning here in Europe. Meanwhile, over in America, you're in bed...*laugh*

Merry Madrigal

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2005

Xen of Onslaught

Mo/Me

I am having the same problem.

It goes briefly to Tombs, then boots me back to my zone.

I am not seeing anything.

snapp

snapp

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2005

W/

some really nice additions, I just watched two matches it's a lot of fun.

Merry Madrigal

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2005

Xen of Onslaught

Mo/Me

OK NOW I got on.

Absolutely amazing. Coolest thing ever.

GW has just become a new game.

I watched a team with 4 henchies own a real team.

AuricRal

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2005

if you're being sent back to tombs, then the match is already over :/

Hockster

Hockster

Banned

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by King Symeon
Unlucky guys! It's morning here in Europe. Meanwhile, over in America, you're in bed...*laugh*
Who's in bed? 'm at work, even worse.

.defekt

.defekt

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

Ex Talionis [Law], Schindlers Fist [ouch]

Ahaha. It's 7:45pm here, looks like there will be a fun night to come ^^

XtrmEend

XtrmEend

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2005

Netherlands

Searching

Mo/N

Luckely im from europe, also it works now, this is great !

Merry Madrigal

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2005

Xen of Onslaught

Mo/Me

It's a bit buggy though.

I have received the "operation could not be completed" message a few times, and the game crashes.

That never happens usually.


Truly a revolutionary advance though. It's like a whole new game now.

Ellix Cantero

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by AuricRal
if you're being sent back to tombs, then the match is already over :/
The matches will generally already be over by the time you start watching them. This problem is actually due to the listing showing up before it's ready to be watched. I had it happen a few times trying to watch the same match (4th one that popped up overall I think). I waited a bit and was able to watch it fine.

OM really is quite nice. Very impressed anet--it almost totally erased the negativity of an entire day spent monking for PUGs trying to get a single IDS (which I intend to actually use, not sell), and seeing dozens drop, but not a single one for me :|

Sol_Vie

Sol_Vie

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

Boston, MA

Blood Of Orr [BoO]

If you enter Observer mode and get kicked back to the town you were in the fight just ended. Wait a second and there'll be another.

ANet... awesome. Amazing. Observer mode will help so much in improving my guild's ability to do... well anything PvP related. It looks great and the controls are awesome.

The fact that I have yet to see a complaint is huge.

Awesome awesome awesome job.

Amadei

Amadei

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2005

Blinkie Ponie Armie

R/Me

Okay, I am LOVING the observer mode <3. So awesome. Great job, ANet!

Batou of Nine

Batou of Nine

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

California, USA

Angel Sharks [AS] (RiP [KaiZ] T__T")

Mo/E

Currently as of the timeof this post. There is still no actual in game Christmas items, no holiday quests found, but many storytellers of Winterday lore.

Sounds as if Dwayna is the RP Santa Claus. Dwayna Clause making an appearance Christmas Eve !?? i want my Candy Cane weapons! lol... Merry Christmas all. make sure to post lots of screenies of the big day, as i wont be there! THANX!!!

chow.

Racthoh

Racthoh

Did I hear 7 heroes?

Join Date: May 2005

Scars Meadows [SMS], Guild Leader (Not Recruiting)

Just got a second update... any speculations?

reape havok

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Dec 2005

Aeons of Death

E/Mo

Yay, il be able to watch people dieing insteaed of me :P

Queenie

Queenie

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

...I swear I didn't put them there!

angshuman

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jun 2005

I think they fixed the bug where matches that were already over were appearing in your Observation Menu and you got kicked back to town if you selected those.

Edit: ever since the second update, I haven't seen even a single ongoing match in the Observer Mode list. Could be normal, though, since only high-ranked Guild matches are shown.