Guild Wars: Now That's an Update

The big news is undoubtedly the AT announcement - which we'll get to in a little bit - but not only did the skill update go into effect today, there's a host of other updates to mull over. And there are lots of nice new features:

There's the preparations for the upcoming tournaments which sound promising.

Pet controls which should now make a player's pet at least as responsive as Heroes.

Extra account storage which just makes me happy.

The usual twists and tweaks to missions and quests. Apparently it'll be easier to get Razah now so I might up and do that one of these days. And now the inexplicable Xunlai Agents who somehow managed the trek into the Desolation will now be gone - always weird how hard it was for any living thing to survive in that place yet there were the good old Xunlai guys to watch your stuff.

And, of course, the massive list of skill changes. Again, some interesting stuff that mostly hits the mark although it's yet another huge skill rebalancing at the end of the season when I'd been hoping for smaller, faster changes. Maybe with the upcoming tournaments that'll change.

But, for me, the biggest new additions are some of the smallest ones.

First, now anyone you group with or trade with will show up in your Friends List for a while. At least until you log out. That should make it a lot easier to keep track of people who you have a fun time with. And easier to make those elusive connections between people that create a community.

Another is the simple fact that you can now copy and paste your templates to and from the chat box. That should make forming up a party or a PUG even easier.

And the final one is an addition of counters to the effects menu. No more guessing how long you have until that hex runs out. Or trying to keep the expirations of multiple enchantments straight in your head.

Just a lot of awesome stuff. The game's nearing two years old at this point so it looks like the developers decided to give the players a big part of their gifts list.