Team ArenaNet is fired up to support Extra Life for the fourth year in a row!

With the power and generosity of our amazing community, Team ArenaNet has raised over 5,000 in donations for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. Every year, you’ve gone above and beyond to help us reach our donation-matching thresholds and set new fundraising records for our team. Together we can beat last year’s total of over 5,000!

During the annual Extra Life marathon, teams and individuals from many gaming communities play for 24 hours to raise funds in support of Children’s Miracle Network, a network of 170 nonprofit children’s hospitals throughout the United States and Canada. Donations pay healthcare costs for critically ill and injured children not covered by health insurance or Medicaid, help hospitals purchase pediatric medical equipment, and fund disease research.

This year, support is more important than ever. Due to the pandemic’s widespread impact, families are losing health insurance and facing tremendous insecurity—some while caring for children in urgent need of medical treatment. Children’s hospitals are also investing in personal protective equipment, COVID-19 testing supplies, telehealth services, and more.

Children’s Miracle Network has created the COVID-19 Impact Fund to help take care of their young patients during the pandemic. Your Extra Life 2020 donations will support this fund and help hospitals provide the lifesaving care kids need.

We’re all working toward the same goal for Extra Life: helping kids! Everyone is invited to be part of Team ArenaNet. To join, visit the official Extra Life website and choose “Team ArenaNet” as your team when you sign up.

If you’d like to create your own team, we invite you to join the ArenaNet Super Team. When you sign up on the official Extra Life website, choose “Create a Sub Team.” Your team will still have its own page, members, and fundraising goals, but you’ll be recognized on the ArenaNet Super Team’s leaderboards and the funds you raise will contribute to the overall Super Team total.

You don’t have to livestream Guild Wars 2 to team up with us. You can stream a game of your choice, or raise funds by telling your friends, family, and colleagues how they can donate to support Extra Life.

The ArenaNet team members are participating from home this year, but we’re all ready to kick off our 24-hour streaming marathon for the kids. Our Extra Life Game Day event begins at noon Pacific Time (UTC-8) on Friday, November 6, and ends at noon on Saturday, November 7.

You can watch the stream on our official Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook channels.. Stay tuned for more information on the fun we have planned—and visit our Team ArenaNet page to sign up or donate!

Let’s get spooky! Our annual Halloween festival, Shadow of the Mad King, is now live. Check out the release highlights and update notes for all the details.

First, check your in-game mail for a letter from Magister Tassi containing an Invitation to the Mad Realm. Use this item to travel back and forth between Tyria and Mad King’s Labyrinth.

Lion’s Arch is Tyria’s Halloween celebration headquarters. Asura gate portals to Lion’s Arch are available in major cities and can be used by any player who has the Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™ expansion or is at least level 35.

Players without access to Lion’s Arch can travel to the Mad Realm from the Village of Shaemoor in Queensdale, the Village of Smokestead in the Plains of Ashford, Snowlord’s Gate in the Wayfarer Foothills, the Village of Astorea in Caledon Forest, and Soren Draa in Metrica Province. These locations are outside each starting city’s main gate. Run to the candy corn icon on your map and speak to a Lunatic Boatmaster guarding a haunted door, and they’ll whisk you away to your choice of eerie activities.

Haunted doors will also appear in Kessex Hills and Gendarran Fields throughout the event. Interact with the doors to trick-or-treat!

During Halloween, King Oswald Thorn’s capricious spirit can manifest in Tyria—and Tyria’s citizens can cross into Thorn’s Mad Realm.

The city of Lion’s Arch is transformed with scary decorations and a gloomy autumn glow! Every two hours, Mad King Thorn will gather his “subjects” (anyone within shouting distance) to play a game. Perform the emotes he commands you to—but only if he calls out, “Your Mad King says.” If you do well, you’ll receive keys to unlock the Mad King’s Chest.

The Grand Piazza also features seasonal vendors and doors to Shadow of the Mad King activities.

Mad King’s Labyrinth
Battle hordes of Halloween creatures, race your mounts, and trick-or-treat at haunted doors through the twists and turns of a macabre maze. It’s a great way to gain experience for your characters and Trick-or-Treat Bags full of goodies, especially if you team up with other players to explore. Stay on your toes, though—powerful enemies like the Grand High Viscount of Candy Corn, legendary Skeletal Lich, and Labyrinthine Horror will make nougat of the unwary.

Mad King’s Clock Tower
Hop to the top of a vicious timed jumping puzzle before the deadly miasma below makes its way to you.

Ascent to Madness
Face Mad King Thorn himself! This dungeon encounter is intended for players of all skill levels and can be entered from Lion’s Arch.

Mad King’s Raceway
Take your mounts out for a spin in time trials and races against other players. Springer, jackal, and roller beetle rentals are available if you need a steed.

Minigames
Speak to a Lunatic Boatmaster to participate in Reaper’s Rumble or Lunatic Inquisition.

Shadow of the Mad King activities award Trick-or-Treat Bags containing a vast selection of Halloween goods. The primary currency is candy corn, which can be traded to special vendors for minis, armor skins, recipes, and more.

Many unique rewards are obtained by completing achievements. You’ll find information on the Shadow of the Mad King achievements and their rewards in your Hero panel under the Daily and Festivals categories.

Have fun and remember to trick-or-treat safely!

Tyria’s spookiest festival returns from October 13 to November 3! Once a year, anyone can pass through haunted doors into the Mad Realm, and its dreadful inhabitants pay us a visit. It’s all in good fun, though…except for the Labyrinthine Horror. That one gives us nightmares.*

Play terrifying games of Lunatic Inquisition, brave the Mad King’s Clock Tower jumping puzzle, speed around the Mad King’s Raceway, and challenge Mad King Thorn himself in the Ascent to Madness. Those of you who revel in slaughter are welcome to slake your bloodthirst in the Mad King’s Labyrinth.

If you just want to take in the atmosphere, visit Lion’s Arch! The city will be shrouded in perpetual night and haunted by the capricious Mad King.

Collect Pieces of Candy Corn and complete festival achievements to earn creepy rewards, including the new Lunatic Court Cape and Demon-Haunted weapons.

*Who gave that thing a chainsaw? Is it better or worse if nobody gave it the chainsaw—if it came out of the Mists fully realized as this specific concept? If someone asked you to describe your greatest fear, would you imagine a giant, predatory skeleton with a rusty chainsaw? That’s an incongruous pairing. And yet, once you’ve seen it—once the red light surrounds you and the horror hauls itself out of the earth to the grinding of rusty metal teeth—it’s a bad thought, isn’t it? It’s very bad.

Autumn is finally here, and there’s nothing better to ward off early chills than going absolutely berserk on the battlefield. From October 6 to October 12, take part in a week of Player vs. Player tournament events and get your blood pumping!

Each day will feature eight additional daily tournaments of a different format, offset from regular Conquest tournaments.

• Tuesday, October 6: 2v2 Team Deathmatch
• Wednesday, October 7: 3v3 Team Deathmatch
• Thursday, October 8: Stronghold
• Friday, October 9: 4v4 Team Deathmatch
• Saturday, October 10: 2v2 Team Deathmatch
• Sunday, October 11: 3v3 Team Deathmatch
• Monday, October 12: Stronghold

The Greater Call of the Mists effect will be active during the event, so it’s a great opportunity to earn extra rewards for playing!

We’ve partnered up with players to showcase their creative Guild Wars 2-inspired content on the official Guild Wars 2 Twitch channel. Read on for this week’s scheduled programming, and don’t forget to check out the Guild Wars 2 category on Twitch for more great streams!

The Guild Wars 2 Art Show (by DiesVitae)(English)
Noon Pacific Time (UTC-7)
Watch ArenaNet Creative Partner DiesVitae create art on this week’s show.

If you need help converting times into your own time zone, you can use this tool. Thanks for watching!

Bringing back something tangible from the chaos of the Mists is always fun—unless it’s a Champion Branded Riftstalker—and next week you’ll earn even more rewards.

From September 29 to October 6, completing Fractals of the Mists will award Sense of Community Trophies. Trade your trophies in to Fractal Researchers outside asura gates leading to the Mists to contribute to the community goal. Participants will receive more Bonus Boxes of Goods for progressing the goal to higher tiers.

It’s a great time for veteran players and new fractal explorers alike to play together as a community and get extra rewards. We are pretty sure these changes to the Mists won’t destabilize anything important, so enjoy yourself!

• Date and Time: From 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on September 29 to 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time on October 6 (UTC-7)
• Gameplay Variant: Earn Sense of Community Trophies for completing fractals and trade them to Fractal Researchers to progress the community goal.