First Ever International Guild Wars 2 Tournament at Gamescom

by Jordan “Soma” Tayer

If you’re a fan of large-scale PvP battles in a fantasy setting and yearn for some spell-slinging, sword-swinging, arrow-loosing action, you’re in luck. ArenaNet and Twitch are partnering up this year at Gamescom to bring you the first ever International All-Stars Tournament for Guild Wars 2. Players from North America, Europe and China will duke it out August 14–17 in Cologne, Germany, right at the Twitch booth. If you can’t make it to Gamescom this year, you can tune in to twitch.tv/guildwars2 or the official Twitch channel, twitch.tv/twitch, to see the tournament live in all its fantastical glory.

But wait … there’s more! Another first for ArenaNet is the inclusion of a player voting system. Fans can choose from two pools of 16 qualified competitors from each region, with voting taking place at the tournament site from now until July 17. Chinese competitors will be chosen by the Chinese game publisher, KongZhong, via their weekly tournament series. North American and European candidates have secured their spots on the ballot by competing in ArenaNet-sponsored events such as the Tournament of Legends, the ArenaNet PAX Prime Invitational Tournament, or other community-run events such as the Mistpedia and ESL Weekly Cups. These players know Guild Wars 2 like the back of their mouse-hands.

Be sure to get your votes in right away, as voting will end at 11:59 p.m. PST on July 17. You can vote up to five times per region to help decide who will be hopping on their mounts and riding over to Gamescom to compete. ArenaNet will reveal the final list of competitors after fan voting closes and results have been tallied. For updates on the Guild Wars 2 International All-Stars Tournament and general information about the game, please visit www.guildwars2.com.