GW2 Community Creators Spotlight - GuildMag's Valiant

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

A: I’m the current administrator for GuildMag, which is a Guild Wars 2 fansite that’s been running for over 5 years. We’re known for our free digital magazines, which cover all aspects of Guild Wars-related content including lore, fiction, art, editorials and the odd developer interview and giveaway.
In addition to the magazine, GuildMag also produces regular in-depth blog posts covering the latest news and analysis, as well as a podcast. All of this can be found at www.guildmag.com, or by following our Twitter account @GuildMag! You can find me through my own Twitter account: @ValiantGW.

  

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

A: I played the original Guild Wars trilogy of campaigns, and EoTN expansion, almost exclusively when they came out. For most of my early teenage years, the Guild Wars franchise was the only PC game I played, and I enjoyed every minute of it (I was more of a console gamer at that time).

Most of my fondest memories of that time were coming home from school and disappearing into another world for a few hours, playing with friends who also had the game. I especially enjoyed the Halloween and Wintersday events each year as a great change of pace; I remember one year in particular, a friend and I had a race to 1000k (the maximum platinum pieces you can store in your vault) during Wintersday, and though both of us finished about 100k short, it was still great fun.

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

A: I’ve tried most of the major MMOs that have come out over the years, with the only exception being World of Warcraft. Each time I’ve begun a new MMO, I’ve always found myself coming back to Tyria mostly because it’s what I’ve grown up with and know so well. The only exception to that so far is Final Fantasy XIV. I’ve been playing that for over a year now, despite it being a subscription-based MMO. For me, it’s unashamedly all about the holy trinity, and that’s something that I enjoy being part of as a break from Guild Wars 2. I play as a healer, and appreciate having a defined role within a party that directly contributes to success or failure. Not to mention that Final Fantasy XIV has some fantastic raids and group content with a high degree of difficulty, which is something I would love to see Guild Wars 2 incorporate somehow.

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

A: For me, my journey with Guild Wars 2 began properly when I joined GuildMag back in 2010. Being part of the fansite, I kept up to date on each new blog post from ArenaNet during its years of development until I finally got my hands on the game during the first Beta Weekend Event. I played through all of these events, and then officially began my time in Guild Wars 2 during the headstart event.

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

A: I’ve been ready for an expansion for a long time now, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what it brings. We’ve been hearing a lot about the new elite specializations at the moment, and I’m excited to see how they’re going to shake up the current professions, especially in group PvE content like dungeons and (hopefully) raid-style challenges. The elite specializations are definitely leaning towards helping define roles for players within a party, and this is one of the reasons why I also love playing Final Fantasy XIV so much - hopefully ArenaNet get it right for Heart of Thorns.

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

A: Guardian! My charr guardian was the first character I created in the game, and it’s still my main. As for my least liked profession, I’d have to say engineer. It’s never really a profession that I’ve been attracted to; turrets and rifles aren’t the reason I play Guild Wars 2 and turret-based classes in any game I’ve always tended to stay away from.

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

A: I’m mostly a PvE player, spending most of my time in instanced content or the Silverwastes. Much of my time in-game is spent farming for legendary weapons - or other gear in general - these days, and that’s what I consider myself good at. In terms of PvP and WvW, I venture into them occasionally but not for long enough to become really dedicated to either one. I like to think that if I did, I’d naturally be the best in the world at them - that’s not too far-fetched, right?

For MMOs like Guild Wars 2, I play for the story and PvE aspects rather than any sort of PvP. I enjoy gearing up characters and tackling difficult content, the latter of which I feel is somewhat missing at the moment. I remember when everyone first started playing, we thought that the Ascalon Catacombs was the most difficult thing ever. Being under-geared and inexperienced probably had a lot to do with that, but then the dungeon nerfs came, and with them I think we lost a little sparkle. These days, dungeon farming is all about stacking and berserker speedclears, which after years of doing, I’ve become bored of. I’d love to have real difficulty put back into PvE content that challenges the assumption that I know how to play my profession well. This is something I’ve covered in more detail in a blog post on GuildMag when I played in the first Heart of Thorns closed beta stress test.

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

A: Ever since it was released, my favourite dungeon path has been TA: Aetherpath, purely for its difficulty. This is a dungeon where stacking, for a large part, isn’t optimal - or even possible - and on that basis alone, it’s a breath of fresh air. It’s really unfortunate that nobody particularly runs this path, because it’s well-designed and interesting to tackle; the problem is that the rewards aren’t worth the investment, and never will be unless they’re overhauled.

If ArenaNet plan to include more dungeons, or any instanced content, in Heart of Thorns, this is a problem they're going to have to tackle head-on. For people like me, the rewards for running a piece of content always need to be worth the time it takes to do it, otherwise what’s the point? Unique skins, titles and other items make the most sense for me; if TA: Aetherpath had its own token system for awesome-looking skins, I’m sure many more people would take the time to learn and run it.

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

A: The lore of the Guild Wars universe has always been fantastically rich and interesting. Through my time at GuildMag, I’ve learnt so much more lore than I ever would have otherwise, and it’s made my time in-game all the better for it. We’ve got some amazing people on the team who just seem to know everything there is to know about it - hi Draxynnic! - and it’s been great reading the lore articles we’ve produced over the years.

In Guild Wars 2, I’ve felt at times that there could be more opportunities for nostalgia and Guild Wars-related lore, and that to come across it you really had to go searching. With things like the new revenant profession, it’s great to see more lore being worked into the game in a way that’s accessible to a lot of people, regardless of whether you’ve played any of the games before this one. To this end, we’re actually working on a project to try and make lore more easily accessible as a fansite. Right now, for anyone that’s interested in lore, you have to do a lot of digging yourself in some rather obscure locations. We’re hoping to make it easier for everyone to engage with the rich lore of Tyria, and hopefully I’ll be able to reveal what we’ve been working on within the next couple of months.

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

A: Anyone who knows me is aware that Rytlock is my absolute favourite NPC in Guild Wars 2. He’s a badass charr who’s about to become the first revenant - what more could you want?! I’m looking forward to seeing his role in Heart of Thorns and beyond.

In terms of a place, Elona has always been my favourite. I’d love to see it re-imagined in Guild Wars 2 at some point down the line, with its arid deserts and golden bazaars (not that I’d expect them to still be standing thanks to Palawa Joko’s undead reign). The Realm of Torment was an awesomely nightmarish place to visit, and I’d like to be able to revisit it too - or even the Underworld or Fissue of Woe. Any of those dark, god-infested realms would be great to fight through.  

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

A: Most of my involvement in the community has been because of GuildMag. I joined as an editor in October 2010 after seeing the first couple of issues of the magazine. It looked like a really interesting project to be part of and spend my time helping with as a break from being in-game, but also still connected to it.

I spent my first year editing articles and doing some occasional writing, taking part in whatever I could to help the site. In 2012, I became joint administrator along with Ollannach, overseeing our website content and eventually the technical side of running the site. Finally at the end of the summer of 2014, Ollannach stepped down and I became the sole administrator of the website.

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

A: Before the game’s release, there were a huge array of active fansites covering all sorts of areas, and it was great to collaborate with those we could. These days, a lot of the fansite activity has unfortunately died down. There are still the veteran sites like GuildMag, Guild Wars 2 Guru, DragonSeason and more that are going strong, but it’s much more of a struggle to engage people with content these days. Years ago everyone was aboard the hype train before release, and there was always content to cover - nowadays, we’ve had to shift to covering not only Guild Wars 2 news and developments, but also new areas of content that nobody else is doing. It’s sad to say that GuildMag’s witnessed the decline of a lot of great fansites; I think it’s important for everyone to remember that we all do this out of our own pockets, and if you enjoy the content a particular fansite produces, then let them know! Share it around your friends and engage with it however you can -  including volunteering yourself if you’re interested!

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

A: ArenaNet has always been great to GuildMag, offering us numerous interviews, content previews and even the odd bundle of prizes to give away, and I’d love to see this continue in the future. There’s been a bit of controversy as of late in regards to how ArenaNet approaches popular streamers and YouTubers compared to the traditional fansites that have been there from the beginning, and I definitely agree that it would be fantastic to see more fansites given the same opportunities such as streaming to the official channel (some of us have some great streamer personalities within our teams).

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

A: A lot! We try and balance each magazine issue with a variety of articles so that there’s something for everyone. We’re also constantly looking at how well our web articles are received, and what sort of content our readers engage with the most.

On a personal level, it’s great when the community reacts well to something you’ve produced, and that’s always been my aim. I tend to measure ideas against whether or not they add value to the community, so that if it’s something that’s been written about to death already with no new insights, I’ll work on something else instead.

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

A: I play a lot of single player RPGs, my favourite so far being the Dragon Age series. I also really enjoy hack-and-slash games such as the Devil May Cry series, Darksiders, Bayonetta and a fairly little-known game called Nier, which to date is my favourite game ever.

Aside from Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy XIV, I play League of Legends a fair amount too. I’m quite a competitive person, and this is my go-to game if I’m after some PvP action, which is probably a big reason why I’ve never really got into Guild Wars 2’s PvP.

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

A: If you’re on Twitter, I’d highly suggest following @DragonSeasonCom for the latest news and live discussion on Guild Wars 2. Tilion’s constantly tweeting through their account, and it’s well worth a follow.

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?

A: I’d love to ask Dulfy how she’s so quick at producing everything she does. It’s amazing how fast Dulfy can get content out, and it’s just impossible to compete with!