Welcome to This is My Story, a brand new column on Guild Wars 2 Junkies where I’ll be diving deep into the corner pockets of Tyria and showcasing interesting tidbits I happen to find along the way. For the most part, this column will focus on the PvE adventures of a casual gamer with a raiding past who’s a bit of an altaholic and very much an exploration nut. Colorful nuggets to hunt for in the wild and dangerous battles to charge haphazardly into are among my delicious recipes for… happiness? Disaster? A bit of both, sure– but think of the potential! Join me as I bring a little randomness to the GW2 scene.

As we make our way toward the much-anticipated GW2 headstart, I’ll be talking a bit about what there is to look forward to once we’re unleashed in Tyria. If you’re thinking something along the lines of, “Duh– everything!” right now, you’re probably correct, but hey, let’s narrow it down a bit, eh? First up this week, let’s talk about how awesome the different races of Guild Wars 2 are, and what a difficult decision it can be to choose between them.

Tales of Tyria is out with episode 41 as they discuss how much fun they had during BWE3.

Episode 41:

• 03:25 – Feedback: Whistleblowing
• 6:05 – News: The 48 Hour Marathon, Names Reserved for 24 hrs After Character Deletion
• 10:30 – Beta Weekend #3

• 10:30 – UI/Economy/Other: Vistas, Gem Store, Hunger Royale, Keg Brawl
• 54:50 – World vs. World: WvW Pop Cap Issues, Sentries, Commander Book
• 1:45:13 – PvE: Asura, Sylvari
• 2:11:04 – Structured PvP: Legacy of the FoeFire

Keep reading to watch the episode after the break.

For those of us who are diving headfirst into Guild Wars 2 from other MMOs that don’t feature microtransaction/cash shops, the idea of such a shop in GW2 may still taste a little bitter on our tongues. We’ve all heard the horror stories of games drifting to unwanted pay-to-win territories, and we’re all hoping that ArenaNet avoids going anywhere near that path. Will the company succeed? I sure hope so. They’re doing some excellent things with their cash shop. Still, my eyes remain sharp to the changes being made to it. As a result, I’ve been tracking the shop’s differences between beta weekends.

Every beta weekend event has seen some pretty large changes to the in-game gem/cash shop. Since BWE2, it now sports a new name: Black Lion Trading Company. For those interested in tracking the changes made along with me, here are the changes made between BWE2 and BWE3.

With BWE3 coming this weekend, Arenanet will be wiping all characters and will also be adding both the Sylvari and Asura race. Since launch is only a month and a half away, what will you being doing this weekend? Will you be checking out the new races or will you be trying out multiple classes to figure out what you’ll be playing at launch?

Beta is a great time to get prepared for how you’ll be playing once the game goes live. Since there is no public ongoing test server, there are tons of changes from Weekend Event to Weekend Event. Rumor has it that a few of the classes, namely the Engineer, have gone through some major changes. Are you an engineer itching to get your hands on a flamethrower again?

Regardless of your chosen class or race, there is a lot of content to be tested. Arenanet is opening up new pvp maps, adding new things to W3 and allowing players to choose between two brand new races. There is certainly a lot to be tested and most likely, you won’t have time to check all of it out. If you’re a min/maxing Junkie then you might want to focus on one single area and get the most out of your time.

Here are two things that would most likely be important to discover, keep reading to see if you agree.

World vs. World
New objectives have been added to the Mists of W3 called Sentries. A good place to start is to find all of their locations and see how many points or experience they give. These may be good places to hit as a low level player to receive some quick rewards.

Asura and Sylvari are Now Available
The final two races are now available to play, and if you plan on playing one at launch, now is your opportunity to explore and learn the maps. If your objective is to level as fast as possible, you might want to learn the flow of the map so that you can get the most out of your time at launch, gain levels and skill points faster, and crush your opponents in W3 swiftly.

There is one caveat that is worthy of testing. The bulk of anyone’s experience comes from events and events are more rewarding when there are more players available. The more people around, the faster events are completed which gives you more experience. Typically in other MMO launches, you want to stay ahead of the tide of players so you don’t run into competition. In GW2, this is not an issue, and staying at the crest of the wave might be more beneficial (assuming you don’t have a large guild to level with).

So this weekend you can test which is faster, leveling with the masses or shooting out ahead. The Sylvari and Asura maps will most likely be more crowded and give you the opportunity to test this.

Assuming that you’ve spend a lot of time throughout all the Weekend Events playing GW2 and you won’t be playing just for the pure joy of the game, what will you be doing this weekend?

If you’re getting ready for this weekend’s BWE then you’ll want to read this latest dev blog and find out what is new.

Introducing the first minigame activity playable in a beta weekend—the wildly popular, incredibly macho norn pastime known as Keg Brawl!

Activities like Keg Brawl are fun minigames that are available in many Tyrian cities. In the great norn settlement of Hoelbrak, players can speak to the Brewer NPC in the northwest corner to begin the game.

In Keg Brawl, two teams attempt to score points by toting a full keg of ale across an icy lake and turning it in to the Ale Collector that belongs to their team. Participants are free to tackle, pummel, kick, and otherwise rough up competing players in order to seize control of the keg.
Keg Brawl—you’ll never look at a keg of ale the same way again!

There is much more, including Vistas! Make sure you read the whole blog.

Today we received news that we’ll be able to finally play as the asura and sylvari races in the next beta weekend event, which runs from July 20th to July 22nd. Along with the news, we also got a sneak peek at some screenshots and details about the lush landscapes these two races call home.

For asura players, this means beginning your tale in Metrica Province, a vivid, exotic jungle area full of high-tech laboratories, quirky golems, and competing krewes of mad scientists. Nearby, the massive monoliths of the asuran capital Rata Sum hum with technomagical power. These diminutive geniuses may seem cute at first glance, but never underestimate an asura…

Sylvari players begin their story in the Grove, a luminous living city nestled in the shade of the Pale Tree, the “mother” of every member of this young race of plant humanoids. The sylvari are an enigmatic race of chivalrous explorers who are driven by an insatiable curiosity and guided by a collective Dream.

The two starting areas sound amazing. Make sure and check out the full developer blog and the accompanying screenshots!

Oh, and if you’re curious about some in-game asura footage, check out this Gamespot video.