** We always talk about the Live Team working on GW, but, who is in? Could you introduce yourselves, as a person and towards your job, then your way of playing? What do you like in Guild Wars?
 

 Let me introduce the team for you:
 

 Linsey Murdock, Lead Game Designer for Guild Wars – She enjoys and excels at both the PvP and PvE aspects of the game.  She likes playing Elementalists, because she likes to blow things up.
 

 Robert Gee, the latest member of our team, is a Game Designer as well. He is hell of a Mesmer – Robert also prefers them because they are the best dressed class in the game.
 

 Then there’s Joe Kimmes, our Ninja Programmer. *laughs* His favorite class is Assassin, which is very fitting in my eyes.
 

 On the QA side we have:
 

 Andrew Patrick Lead QA for Guild Wars and passionate PvP player - mainly Monk and Warrior.
 

 Michelle Juett, who likes playing Necromancers (she likes Zombies, too). In her spare time she is also a comic artist.
 

 Joey Knight, our avid PvP advocate, usually plays "Knights," ehm, Warriors.
 

 Last but not least, the boss, Mike Zadorojny – Live Team Producer and ArenaNet QA Manager. We call him Mike Z, but I think he prefers “Mr. Zadorojny.”
 

 All these people are very heavily involved in the running of the Testkrewe, among other important tasks. 
 

 The Live Team works very close with the Community Department, and we regularly work with other teams in the studio on projects like our recent addition of Dhuum, or our newly introduced costumes.
 

** What are your thoughts on GW towards other games?
 

 That’s a trick question, right? *laughs* Obviously we are biased and think that Guild Wars is an awesome game that has a lot of unique features which sets it apart from other games. There are a lot of really good games out there, but we think that Guild Wars is right up at the top, and we are very proud of our game.

** GW2 will not go live for a while, a gap that some players think is huge if we compare it with the time they spent on GW. A lot of them assume they have seen the whole world and maybe will leave the game soon. Is the Live Team’s goal only manage the game, for the upcoming months (years), or will you bring some new stuffs for GW to satisfy old players ?
 

 In addition to our regular events and updates, we’ve added new content to the game, such as the Zaishen quests and the Dhuum encounter.  Our intention is to keep doing that in the future, so that our veteran players have something new to dig their teeth in.
 
** In the last few months, on the events side, we had some news : new Halloween quests, Talk like a Pirate week-end, etc… Do you have other good plans for future updates?
 

 Yes, we have a lot of ideas on our minds, probably more than we will be able to implement. We love the game and always try to come up with new things we hope players will enjoy. Who knows, maybe players will bear witness to some of the cataclysmic events that transform Tyria prior to Guild Wars 2?
 

** For GW2, there was a nice engine update, and pictures we saw were really beautiful. Will this update be available on GW, like the new cinematics made on Prophecies and Factions, thank to the new NightFall’s feature?

The Guild Wars 2 engine is significantly different from the Guild Wars engine.  While it would be great to further improve the graphics of the original Guild Wars using that new technology, it is technically not possible. But then again, Guild Wars is still one of the most beautiful MMOs out there. *smiles*
 
PvE side:

** It was said there will never be new addons on GW, but can we still hope for new areas like Fissure of Woe? It still exists Gods with their statue (in the Temple of Ages for example) who have not their own area.
 

 Well, we recently added Dhuum to the Underworld.  Granted, it is not a complete new map, but by introducing a new end-boss, we added a fun challenge to an existing scenario. We are currently looking into improving other existing areas as well. That doesn't mean that we have ruled out creating a whole new area (like a god realm), but currently we are focusing on improving and enhancing the existing content.

** A request was made on our forum, and loved by many persons, to create a new title on quests progression (not missions). Can we expect new titles, and what kind of? End game or foe kills for example?
 

 Yes, we have seen people asking about new title tracks on the forums. We have some ideas of our own, but we are not sure if we will implement them. 
 
** May it be possible, because a lot of persons love Eden, to increase the playtime in this place, by creating new contents (quests, missions) depending the level (that could allow players to get both Survivor and Legendary Defender of Ascalon)?
 

 People love Pre-Searing Ascalon; there’s a whole community out there dedicated to it. However, it is the tutorial area of the game, and the game is designed around players leaving the tutorial at a certain level. Adding more content to Pre-Searing Ascalon would unsettle the balance and design of the game, so we can’t do it.


PvP side:

** How do you see the evolution of the current GvG, with a new victory system if the Lord is not killed past a certain time? A VoD return? Or a completely new system?
 

 We agree that the current tiebreaker is not optimal. We’re currently working on ideas to improve that part of GvG, and hopefully we’ll soon use our Testkrewe to test some of the ideas we are working on.

** Will you continue Automated Tournaments, in spite of the increasing of gold capes becoming more and more common?
 

 Yes, Automated Tournaments are still a pretty popular feature, so we will continue running them. It’s never too late for new guilds to enter the fray and try to claim a gold cape. *smiles*

** Can we expect standard Sealed Deck Tournaments?
 

 We like the idea, but it would require some significant changes to the code, and we don't know if we will be able to actually implement it.

** Some persons, who tried all PvP mode, really loved Heroes Battles only. After a Sealed Deck running in period, and excluding the last abuses, will HB be back?
 

 Before we removed Hero Battles, we did extensive research and analysis on the format, which led to our decision to remove it from the game. We’re going to stand by this decision and will not bring Hero Battles back.

Existential questions :

** What do you think about e-sport? What kind of game could be included in it?
 

 E-sports are great, and it is a great platform to show that your game has a really compelling PvP element. Currently the e-sports circus is dominated by RTS, FPS, and sport games, but I’m sure that we will see more MMOs taking center stage in the future.

** Do you think GW could be an e-sport game, or could you imagine an evolution that may reach it? Otherwise, don’t you ever think that GW might be an e-sport game?
 

 I think Guild Wars, with its unique and very competitive GvG format, would work well on the e-sports circuit. Just look at the footage from the World Championship and the Factions World Championship and the level of excitement and the crowds we attracted with the game. 
 

 One problem in permanently establishing Guild Wars as a dominant e-sports game was the team size – if you look at other e-sports games like Counterstrike, the team size is normally smaller than the 8 people you need to create a GvG team. In a competitive environment, you usually have players with a – how shall I put this? – a certain mindset that may clash with the mindset of other players on the same team, so maintaining a competitive guild of 8 players was always a challenge!
 

 But, as we’ve mentioned before, we’ll have competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2, and I’m convinced that it will be very suitable for e-sports.

** Do you think a faster evolution of the metagame, with a faster skills modification based on players’ feedbacks could improve their attention on the game?
 

 First, I’d like to point out that what seems to be broken for one player works perfectly fine for another.  Player feedback is not consistent most of the time. As you might imagine, the actual work of re-balancing a skill takes quite some time, as it includes extensive testing and an evaluation of how the skill balance may influence the game in other areas. So unless something is obviously broken, it’s not always possible to react as fast as some players would like.

** At the beginning of GW, to get an elite skill or runes in PvP, we had to unlock it in PvE. Lately, there was a skill separation (PvE and PvP), for better updates. But, that split caused a separation in the community. What do you think about that split which is more and more apparent? Did you expect it? Do you agree with GW being a PvP game, and players regret this is old time?
 

 In the beginning, we thought that players would progress naturally from PvE to PvP, using the same skill pool. We soon realized that we are actually dealing with two very different play styles, and that a player who enjoys PvE may not necessarily enjoy PvP, and vice versa. I think splitting the skill pools was the correct decision. It may be slightly more difficult for the casual player to deal with, but it has really helped us balance skills for PvP without upsetting the PvE players (keep in mind, monsters use the same skills).

** When the idea of Guild Wars came to your mind, which place should had PvE mode? Was that a PvP tutorial to train new players? Which place do you want it now?
 

 As mentioned in the last question, in the beginning we thought players would transition to PvP naturally after playing through the PvE part of the game. That turned out to not be the case. Today, PvE and PvP are both essential parts of Guild Wars, and they both share an equal place in our attention.