Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet’s MMO is calming within; troubled without.

- Phil Savage

It was while writing the PC Gamer Top 100 that I remembered: “Oh yeah, Guild Wars 2!” I’ve been off-again, on-again with ArenaNet’s MMO for years, and haven’t returned since the release of last year’s expansion, Path of Fire. Since then, three episodes of the new chapter of its ongoing ‘Living World’ story have been released, adding new zones, new storylines, and a new mount: The Roller Beetle.

The day before I return, though, ArenaNet announced it had fired two of its developers, with president Mike O’Brien citing, in a statement on the game’s forums, “attacks on the community” as the reason. The reality is less clear cut.

Narrative designer Jessica Price responded negatively to a Guild Wars 2 partnered streamer who tweeted at her with suggestions for how to improve the game. Price later told Kotaku, “I was so tired of having random people explain my job to me in company spaces where I had to just smile and nod that it was like, ‘No. Not here. Not in my space.’” Writer Peter Fries, who tweeted in his colleague’s defense, was also fired.