GW2 Community Creators Spotlight - Guild Wars Reporter's Celeste and Allona

Q: What do you do in the Guild Wars community and where can everyone find you?

We’re Celeste and Allona of Guild Wars Reporter, a podcast that has been chugging along since 2011. We try to  let people know there are changes constantly occurring in the various game modes. We filter through all the news to share what’s really important but also provide the links for folks that may want a deeper dive. Our website is  guildwarsreporter.com, we’re also on Itunes, Stitcher, Youtube (mmoreporternetwork) and Twitter (gwreporter).

Q: Did you hear of/play GW1 and what was your experiences/ you're impressions? What is your earliest memory if so?

Celeste: I played GW1 for quite a while and have a few thousand hours clocked in. A lot of that time was spent with guildies and friends. My earliest memory is of pre-searing and doing my first run North of the Wall in an attempt to get a highly coveted Charr Bag.

Allona: I did play GW1. Picked up  the box out of curiosity when it launched and finally took the plunge when Nightfall dropped. I was smitten; I had found my gaming home and have never looked back!

Q: Did  you/are you playing other MMO's? What attracted you to  them?

Celeste: I started playing Rift and LOTRO during a brief stint between GW1 and 2. Mostly I wanted to try something different and a few of my GW friends convinced me to come over and try it out. I spent a fair chunk of time in those games and most of the time I was out hunting “shinies” in Rift which is very similar to the scavenger hunt or explorer achievements in GW2.

Allona: Previous MMOs are Ultima Online, Everquest, City of Heroes, WoW, and Rift. Mostly they were games that friends were playing, not games I came to on my own.

Q: When did you start playing GW2 and what got you involved in the game itself?

Celeste: I started off in the beta. Since I was already doing Guild Wars Reporter the shift and interest in the Guild Wars 2 community already had a home in my heart.

Allona: I started playing in beta. I had been following the progress of the game since its announcement in 2009 (including listening to many podcasts… like Guild Wars Reporter)!

Q: What have you enjoyed about GW2 and what has kept you playing?
Celeste: The friends I’ve made have kept the game increasingly interesting. A lot of what makes Guild Wars 2 unique in the MMOsphere is its (typically) enthusiastic community. Plus it doesn’t hurt to have a game studio that really wants to push out their best content over anything else.

Allona: Community. story, mechanics, music, visual aesthetics -- both the environment and characters.

Q: What has been your favourite memory of GW2?

Allona: This is a tough one to pi  down to a single answer. Meeting people out in the world who have since become  great friends … so much this. I LOVED the first Karka event. I think the trip into Omadd’s machine and the Sylvari reveal are definite highlights; but there has certainly been smaller, less epic memories that have been forged over the past few years. Some aren’t even of me playing … the two most recent World Tournament Series had some seriously fun and intense moments!

Q: How do you feel about the upcoming expansion HoT?

Celeste: I wasn’t as excited until I played as a Tempest, now I’m counting down the days until I can play with one and KEEP the rewards.

Allona: VERY EXCITED! There has been a lot revealed that has me chomping at the bit to have it drop later this year!

Q: What class do you main/ What is your least liked class and why?.

Celeste: I would say Ranger but I’m making quite the effort to switch to my Mesmer. I deeply dislike my Warrior. I’ve never found a groove with the melee aspects and have remade my character at least 3 times.

Allona: Mesmer, Mesmer, Mesmer. All Mesmer, all the time. I think my least liked profession would be Ele … maybe Thief?

Q: What is your preferred game mode/Have you been drawn to any other modes?

Celeste: PvE. I do play PvP and WvW when I have a hankering for it though and don’t shy away from the challenges there.

Allona: Definitely PvE. I don’t mind WvW, but mostly during the WvW Seasons. PvP has been a bit of a shocker to me. I enjoy the couple matches a day I typically play way more than I thought I would (I don’t even mind losing!).

Q: What has drawn you to your game mode of choice?

Celeste: I prefer to play casually and typically end up playing solo. PvE is where I started and it’s where I’m at ease with my playstyle. The fact that there’s very little pressure if you fail is also extremely alluring when you’ve got a limited window for playing.

Allona: PvE is where the story is, it also tends to be a bit less intense (outside of large world events). It’s a fun escape that I can do alone to relax or with friends for laughs and shared experiences.

Q: Has it changed since you started playing? If so, how?

Celeste: There’s been so many great updates to Guild Wars 2 over the years that it’s hard to pin down the most influential. Megaservers, free repair anvils, the Living World, Super Adventure Box, and so many other things have changed the way that players view and interact with Tyria.

Allona: The Living World has allowed for the continuation of the story of Tyria. Mega Servers blended the population so you come into contact with others players far more frequently. All good things I think!

Q: Why did you choose to make content from this game mode?

Allona: I am not a technical player; I don’t remember stat names, or understand the meta. I can talk about my impressions and experiences though … so PvE is the best arena for that (also I was terrified of PvP for the first long while.)

Q: How important is this game mode to the overall game? Do you think GW2 could be as successful without it?

Celeste: I’ll take a step back from this and say that when a friend tried to get me into GW1 he introduced it as a PvP-only game. I was interested and did some research to find out that it also had PvE. PvE has been at the heart of Tyria and I doubt that the game would be as popular if the game mode wasn’t offered to players.

Allona: I’m going to build off what Celeste mentioned. Tyria itself, its stories, locales, history, people … lore. Without the PvE, both PvP and WvW would be a shell. A beautiful, fun to play shell, but a shell.

Q: Do you have a favourite memory of this game mode?

Celeste: The first time I played through The Shatterer encounter I was completely enthralled. This was well before the side-rock staging point that you’ll see on all the megaservers today. It was an awe inspiring and epic experience.

Allona: See previous ‘favourite’ question. :)

Q: What is your opinion on the lore of the game?

Celeste: I love it so much. I wish more of the lore was present in the game itself but I’ve spent hours scouring the wiki and reading resources to understand more about the world of Tyria. I think allowing Ela Makkay to explain the first season of the living world in Lion’s Arch takes that a step further but I’m certainly hoping for a lot more in upcoming expansions.

Allona: Rinse, repeat what Celeste said.

Q: Is there a place, theme or person you would want new content to include?

Celeste: I really would love to learn more about what’s happening in Cantha. Particularly with the Luxons and Kurzicks, we know that they had been brought in under the imperial rule but I really would love to see if the lands are truly healed as they are rumored to be. Or if the Luxons are back to their seafaring ways and the Kurzicks are still dressing like Queen Amidala.

Allona: I want to visit Elona again… see how it’s changed. Nightfall was my favourite GW1 story, place, everything. If Varesh Ossa could be included in the story? Even better.

Q: What do you speculate as the next possible race?

Celeste: It would be pretty amazing to be able to play as a Mursaat, I don’t think that it will ever happen though (especially with the lore-breaking implications).

Allona: TENGU! I need to be a budgie-person so bad, you don’t even know!

Q: What crafting discipline did you level up first and why?

Celeste: Jeweler? It was the  cheapest one to get started on.

Allona: Jeweler. I think the materials for it were the most accessible. Plus shinies!

Q: What is your favourite PvE content [Jumping Puzzles, Guild Missions, World Bosses, dungeons ect] and why?

Celeste: I really enjoy the World  Boss trains, I know it can get tedious but the evolving conversations that can happen while people are just waiting around are interesting.

Allona: Random wandering? Can that  be a thing? I do love jumping puzzles, even though early one they were not  something I did well … at all. At. All.

Q: Do you play Dungeons, if so, what one is your favourite and what do you think to the  Dungeon clearing meta?

Celeste: I enjoy Honour of the Waves  especially if I’m with a group that isn’t rushing towards the goal line. I understand that people don’t seem to play them for the story and are more concerned with attaining wealth. I don’t have a problem with others playing this way but I don’t particularly enjoy it.

Allona: I love fungeons! My favourite is Crucible of Eternity … I think? I like all of them really.

Q: Do you do Guild Missions, if so, which one is your favourite and why?

Allona: I am in a couple guilds who do missions every week. The guild rush is definitely my favourite. They are all fun though if you’re with a group who know what they’re doing (note: I don’t know what I’m doing half the time.)

Q: What do you think of the current Meta, do you think this will change?

Celeste: Again, if other people want to gear up with Berserkers and rule the DPS world, that’s fine. I’ve got Berserker on my Ranger as well. But I also have focused on the play-style that I enjoy and it certainly doesn’t fit uniformly into the meta. I think that as builds change and specializations are added, the meta may shift slightly but for people that have invested in meta-centric ascended gear they will try to make the new changes fit within their existing gear, at least for a little while.

Allona: I don’t get the meta. I feel like there are nuances that can make fun, and powerful gameplay

that get ignored or even over-looked because of it.

Q: What is your favourite WvW map and why?

Celeste: I enjoy roaming the borderlands. Either in a small havoc group or as a solo roamer. I’m constantly amazed at how much I can get away with before feeling any opposition.

Q: What build do you use and could you tell me why you enjoy it so  much?

Celeste: I used to roam a lot on my Ranger but have recently transitioned to using my Mesmer. It’s a sword/torch mantra build that I haven’t quite gotten good enough at to solo with but I’m hopefully that I’ll get there. I really enjoy being able to be a light armor class, hop in and hop away and still manage to anger and/or kill my enemies.

Q: What do you  enjoy so much about the profession you play as most and why?

Celeste: I know a lot of people associate Rangers with Pew Pew and knockbacks but I’m really happy when I’m able to hold my own up against an opponent that I know can do a lot more DPS and surprise them with how well I can time my various Pew Pews and knockbacks.

Allona: I love confusion and the “quit hitting yourself” aspects of the Mesmer. The shatter bursts are nice too.

Q: What build do you run for that class?

Celeste: It’s like Bear bow, but it’s not completely bear bow.

Allona: Right now and am mixing in interrupts with blind and confusion with signets that remove condis and give distortion!

Q: What is your favourite/least favourite PvP map and why?

Celeste: I really dislike Legacy of the Foefire. The mid area is large and there’s no way to sneak around it unless you can stealth.

Allona: I adore Temple of the Silent Storm! I enjoy the layout and the map mechanics of the communes. Least fave is Legacy if the Foefire. I’m not sure why exactly, I just don’t enjoy playing on it.

Q: How do you feel about the new PvP mode to be introduced in HoT?

Allona: I have liked the Stronghold matches I’ve played. It will be a good addition to the roster!

Q: How did you get started with the community, what inspired you to get involved?

Celeste: I had been writing for LOTRO Reporter back when it was a blog and Chris had approached me about starting a Guild Wars centric show based on the announcement of GW2. The Guild Wars community was extremely small when I got started or at least I never seemed to know where to find anyone at the time.

Allona: I answered a tweet from Celeste when she needed a guest co-host! It was totally outside of my wheelhouse to do it, but I’m really glad I did!

Q: Why do you think GW2 has such a great community around it?

Celeste: There is competition and the pvp aspects of the game certainly encourage rivalry but it seems as though a lot of the negativity that is normally associated with pvp modes really doesn’t exist in Guild Wars 2. There’s always one player who throws in a “GG (of GF)” at the end of a particularly hard matchup that makes you feel like even if you’re against each other you can still enjoy the game together. That shared experience is at the core of the community. It’s just even more amplified in the PvE side of the game.

Allona: Honestly, I think it’s because of being able to play as much or as little as you’re able and still feel like you’re contributing.

Q: Could Arenanet do more to curate and develop its community?

Celeste: I think that the content creators and community spotlight posts are doing a lot to emphasize the variety of content that’s out there. There’s a lot that they don’t promote because of their emphasis on numbers. A lot of content creators are disappointed when they aren’t featured or are turned down when requesting promotion for an event because they don’t have enough twitch or Youtube subscribers. It’s unfortunate that they’ve chosen to have this focus and removing this sort of barrier would do a world of good to give the promotion a lot more diversity.

Allona: Everyone could always do more, right? I, like Celeste, enjoy the community spotlights and REALLY hope they continue! I feel like there used to be more promotion of blogs and podcasts and it would be great if that made a return.

Q: What changes (if at all) have you seen in the community since you started playing GW2?

Celeste: There’s been a lot of turnover in people because the game has such a low entry level you’ll hear about people leaving, entering for the first time, or coming back after a year or more. Nobody sticks around if they hate the game so the community is constantly being refreshed by new and returning positive players.

Allona: It’s hard for me to gauge, because of my shift to being a co-host on GW2. I guess I’m surprised and happy and -- for the most part -- the community has stayed so positive with the growth of the game.

Q: Why did you choose your particular format  [Youtube/Twitch/blogs ect] ?

Celeste: When Chris and I got started the format for the whole MMO Reporter Network was a mix of blogs and audio podcasts. It was natural to follow this format and for a while Guild Wars Reporter was a written blog, mostly consisting of guides on how to maximize your Hall of Monuments and how to get started in the first game. Blogs don’t get a lot of attention and there were certainly a lot more sites that were able to do the same thing I was with more brevity and clarity. I don’t know when we switched over completely to audio podcasts and now we’ve moved on to posting things on Youtube while we’ve always been livestreaming the episodes on twitch (or at least as long as I can remember…)

Allona: I fell into this by largely a happy accident. I always preferred audio podcasts, so it’s not surprising I co-host one now.

Q: What content do you create? Anything of note coming up soon?

Celeste: We live record (twitch) an audio podcast every week and also cross-release on our youtube channel. We’re hoping to get a lot of new gameplay and review style videos out after the beta weekend events for Heart of Thorns.

Allona: We live record (twitch) an audio podcast every week and also cross-release on our youtube channel. (teehee, I’m a jerk ... )

Q: How much does the audience and community influence your production/creations?

Celeste: We do a question and answer section alternating with our World versus World 101 segment each week. We try to answer questions for people who may not have been around since the beginning or for those who may be interested in enjoying a game mode other than PvE.

Allona: Outside of the podcast, we engage with the community a lot on our individual Twitter accounts, and we encourage listeners to say ‘hi’ or whatever in-game as well! There are also YouTube and website comments that we answer!

Q: Do you have any advice for people wanting to follow in your footsteps?

Celeste: The amount of care that goes into editing can be daunting. People tend to think all you have to do is add in some audio bumpers and you’re ready to release. For some formats, like video, that’s fine but for audio only versions people expect a more polished presentation.

Allona: Answer calls for co-hosts on Twitter. Seriously though, if you love what you’re talking about and love who you’re talking to, the rest seems to fall into place.

Q: Do you play anything else which you make content for? If so what type of content? Anything of note coming up soon?

Celeste: I stream on my personal Twitch (@CeleOOKIE) sometimes. Sometimes it’s other games. Sometimes there’s lots of cursing.

Allona: I don’t create the content, but I am often in Bog Otter’s Guild Missions videos … does that count?

Q: What type of games do you play for your own enjoyment?

Celeste: While I do love my Guild Wars 2 time, I find myself playing a lot of other games casually. Currently I’m enthralled with Shadow of Mordor but I’m also a big fan of Diablo and the Borderlands franchise. I also have a pretty regular engagement with folks in real life to play various board games.

Allona: Other than GW2, I play card games on my phone. I love card games. Oh, and more recently a couple hidden object games … nice diversions!

Q: Who else would you recommend in the GW2 community?

Celeste: Relic of Orr, Hunter’s Insight, The Pale Tree, Guild Gab, Bog Otter, Wooden Potatoes, Irish Dog,  Omnipotent Toaster (Academy Gaming), and there are still so many others that are awesome and deserve even more recognition.

Allona: Relics of Orr, Guild Mag, Hunter’s Insight blog, The Pale Tree blog, MMO Inks, Bog Otter, Wooden Potatoes, Irish Dog (he has really good ‘beginners’ videos), gah! I’m forgetting a bunch I know it!

Q: Who is your favourite Youtuber/streamer [non GW2]?

Celeste: PBS Idea Channel on Youtube makes me unreasonably happy. Nerdy Nummies too.

Allona: Good Mythical Morning

Q: If you could ask another creator or a GW2 developer/community moderator a question, who would it be and what would you ask them?

Celeste: What do you need from your community to feel like all the effort is worthwhile?

Allona: Who wants go out and have coffee, ‘fruit juice’, laugh, chat … whatever? (A dream meet-up, basically!)