No, don't walk away! Really! It's not that bad! 

The latest developer diary from ArenaNet covers the thought process behind the microtransactions in Guild Wars 2. And it sounds pretty good so far - gold is player currency, karma is a currency players can earn but cannot trade, and gems are what are bought with real money. Gold and gems can be swapped around, and both can be used to purchase items. Karma is left alone and can only be redeemed for special rewards. 

It's not what I usually expect - such as League's firm divide between Riot Points and Influence Points - but it does bypass the problematic eBaying of a "Staff of the Apocalypse," and it gives players access to items they might not purchase through legitimate means. I do somewhat worry when in-game currency and out-of-game currency mesh, but ArenaNet is looking to keep this under firm control. 

Who wants to talk about Guild Wars 2? Leif does, Leif does!

Guild Wars has always been a great time, but since the original game came out, the bar has been raised on personal stories, and ArenaNet has made sure that GW2 will do so further. He talks extensively about how each character has to make critical decisions at certain levels, which branches out from there, and generates discussion between players at what choices they made at those times.

He also goes into description about how they build up a story, leading into the Asura storyline they were brainstorming when they came up with a golem slugfest, and how it all operates around it. There's a lot of interesting stuff there, especially for those who want to see what goes on behind the creative process. Even if you aren't too invested in Guild Wars 2, it's a fun read for anyone who wants to imagine the developers were sitting and talking about a WWF Golemmania quest.

Check your email inbox, everyone - more Guild Wars 2 invites are out.

According to their Facebook page, updated Saturday, ArenaNet has confirmed that invites are, indeed, going out. As always with beta invites, discussing anything in the beta is a breach of the non-disclosure agreement you sign when you come on board. But who cares about the fine print! You get to play Guild Wars 2! 

ArenaNet's Martin Kerstein wants to talk about building community in Guild Wars 2. Specifically, Kerstein notes that one big change they will have this time around is to have official forums (obviously) but not to have a traditional fansite program. He stresses that way back in 2006, traditional fansites and forums were typically the main social hubs for any MMORPG, but these days social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ (just kidding) have become integral community faucets.

With all of that said, while Kerstein doesn't go into detail about ArenaNet's community plans, he does stress the fact that ArenaNet wants to include all aspects of their community, and they want to encourage respectful, helpful, and friendly play. As to whether this will translate to new community outreach programs or simply reflects a single underlying philosophy remains to be seen, but if there's one thing I know, competitive PvP and a "respectful community" are going to be a pretty hard sell going forward.

Big news for Guild Wars 2 fans as ArenaNet has just announced their upcoming pre-order details, which will include a Standard Edition, a Digital Deluxe Edition, and a Collector's Edition. Anyone who preorders will instantly gain access to all Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Events, in addition to getting a three day headstart access and a Hero's Band, a unique item (sounds to be a ring) that provides +2 to all stats. For the individual preorder packages, the contents and prices are as follows:

• Standard Edition ($59.99) - Beta Access, 3-Day Headstart, and a Hero's Band (+2 to all stats).

• Digital Deluxe Edition ($79.99) - All of the above, a Summon Mistfire Wolf Elite Skill (an elite skill that allows you to summon a temporary Mistfire Wolf combat pet), a Rytlock Brimstone Miniature pet, a Golem Banker, a Chalice of Glory (gain extra Glory on use), and a Tome of Influence (give your guild a one-time boost of influence).

• Collector's Edition ($149.99) - All of the above, a 10-inch Rytlock figurine, a 112-page Making of Guild Wars 2 book, a Best of Guild Wars 2 Soundtrack, an art portfolio and five art prints, and a custom art frame. (Shown above).

Remember that these preorders will be available on April 10th, 2012, so keep that date marked down. In lesser news, ArenaNet has also released their system requirements (although this is subject to change):

• Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better.
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better.
• NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI Radeon X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better).
• 25 GB available HDD space.
• Broadband Internet Connection.
• Keyboard and mouse.

It's no secret that I've been a huge proponent of competitive PvP in MMORPGs from the very beginning, and even though many attempts have been made to generate a robust tournament-friendly MMO (Fury, World of Warcraft 3v3 arena, the original Guild Wars), the results have been less than stellar. That being said, Guild Wars 2 probably has the highest chance of any MMORPG to break into the mainstream competitive light and I, for one, could not be more excited. Throughout my experiences in the press beta two weeks ago, I spent much of it testing out all sorts of PvP builds. Near the end of the testing window, I also got the opportunity to grill ArenaNet Game Designer Jon Peters about the various design choices made to help GW2 succeed as a competitive MMORPG.

Of course, I didn't record any of it.

Regardless, I did manage to catch up with Jon once again to get his thoughts in a more formal manner, so without further ado, check out our interview with Game Designer Jon Peters on Guild Wars 2's combat, PvP, and eSports aspirations! 

Information overload! ArenaNet Game Designer Jon Peters has taken to the Guild Wars 2 blog to talk about some of the new changes they've made to attributes and traits in Guild Wars 2. Since the press closed beta test, new attributes have been added to the game in the form of Prowess (increases damage multiplier on crits), Malice (improves damage done by conditions), Expertise (increases duration of conditions), Concentration (improves duration of boons applied by character), and Compassion (improves all outgoing heals from your character). Unique profession-specific attributes have also been added that uniquely affect the profession at hand (ie: Engineers get "Ingenuity," which reduces the cooldown on tool-belt skills. 

The above changes were added in to give players more of a build choice when creating their character in Guild Wars 2. Jon Peters also goes into detail regarding GW2's trait system, with the big change being that all major traits should have 12 traits to choose from, as opposed to the usual 7 (occasionally we'd get 12 to choose from) that we had during the press closed beta.

All in all, this has me really excited to fine-tune my tanking dual-dagger wielding Elementalist even more, so let's hope ArenaNet gives me that option for major traits when the next beta rolls around.

It seems that gamers indeed want something new! NCsoft and ArenaNet held sign-ups for the next Guild Wars 2 closed beta test last week and in just over 48 hours they reached one million! This impressive feat stacks favorably to other MMO's that had significantly longer times for beta sign-ups and, with more than 4,000 signups a minute during peak periods, it's a true testament to the fact that players want something new and innovative.

Scheduled for late March, the next beta test will provide players with the opportunity to quest, explore, and participate in the epic World v. World battles while getting to experience all of Guild Wars 2's deep RPG elements.

Interested in Guild Wars 2's World vs. World PvP combat? It seems like ArenaNet's Mike Ferguson really wants you to know about this unique PvP system in GW2, so he's taken to the blogs to shed some more light on the whole affair. Additionally, Mike is also hosting an extended "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session on Reddit, where he plans to field questions for most of the day on all things WvW in Guild Wars 2.

You can also check out a fullly updated list of Mike's questions and answers on a summarized document a few Reddit readers are maintaining!

During the Press Beta Weekend, Guild Wars 2 revealed itself as a complex game made up of several simple systems all working together. From the wholesale change to the way skills and abilities are gained and used, to the overlaid Trait system and augmentations brought through Crafting, there's a whole lot going on under the surface.

One of the most radical MMO innovations brought by Guild Wars 2 is in the area of character skills and abilities. Instead of opening up a sea of action bars that cover most of the screen, ArenaNet has focused on limiting players to ten active skills during combat. The great news is that there's a whole range of choice and complexity lurking under the hood just waiting to be tapped.