Guild Wars - Sweet treats for the Guild Wars team!

Guild Wars 1 has recently had its 19th birthday and as part of that celebration, it was announced that the game director, Stephen Clarke-Willson, now gets to spend 80% of his time on Guild Wars (as opposed to 10%).

That has led to some long-standing issues in the game being fixed (like the Black Dye/Celestial Sigils being out of stock for years) - however, the game is still in maintenance mode, so don't expect new content.

As a cause of this, some people were bringing up my previous GoFundMe, where we sent 400 cupcakes to ArenaNet to celebrate the release of some new updates. This is certainly a cause for celebration, as someone working almost full-time to the gem that is Guild Wars is something most of us have dreamt of for years.

So what is this GoFundMe for?

This time around the idea isn't to send cupcakes like we did last time - the world has changed a lot since 2018 and ArenaNet has changed as well. I have reached out to Stephen who informed me that a lot of staff work from home these days and aren't in the office as much as they used to - since cupcakes only last a few days, I have investigated into something else which does last a while longer - and who doesn't love Belgian chocolate?

Something else which plays a role is that the bakery I previously used has gone out of business.

So, this time around, I'm aiming to send a few kilograms of Belgian pralines (the good stuff) to the ArenaNet offices.

So, Belgian chocolates then?

Yes! I have looked into various options and my current idea would be to send a few kilograms worth of chocolates made by Leonidas (they have a presence in the USA and can ship them to the ArenaNet offices).

Now, you might not know this brand quite well as they aren't as well known internationally as compared to other brands like Godiva or Neuhaus, but when Belgians give each other chocolates, Leonidas is the number one choice (trust me, I'm Belgian). I have looked into other brands as well, but these are the perfect balance between price/quality.

These chocolates can last for a few weeks without any worries and are very delicious. The idea is to send several boxes with varying flavours, depending on how much we can raise.

A 1kg box of chocolates is about $ 100, but depending on how much we raise some other specialities can be arranged.

So what is the cost breakdown?

Chocolates are expensive, especially quality ones. Like with the previous GoFundMe, none of the funds stay with me and all of the raised funds will go directly to getting more sweets.

Ideally, we want to get enough chocolates for at least 40 to 50 people and ideally, I would want to make sure that we can get a (smaller) box for Stephen, Joe and Bill who have all done great work on Guild Wars over the years (including for example the storage updates and the new elite skills). There's a lot of other people that also help keep the game turning, so I don't want to miss them either.

So, the cost breakdown is about $100 for a box of 1kg, the shipping itself is included. The more we raise, the more chocolates we can give.

I have also calculated in some extra money for the payment fees for this fund raising, but other than that, everything goes to chocolates.

As with the previous fundraiser I organized, I will be posting regular updates here.

Got any questions?

I have written down as much as I could think about at this point - if you have a question, feel free to contact me (there is a contact button below) and I'll be glad to answer.