Once again Guild Wars players have another chance to take part in the Wintersday festivities, as the Snowball Arena opens once again for Wintersday in July.

The Snowball Arena opens up again, and players can collect Candy Cane Shards to trade in for Wintersday Gifts. You can also work on your Title Tracks by collected special Wintersday items

Looking for a midsummer cure for the too-much-sun blues? Jump into our Wintersday in July celebration! The party starts at noon Pacific on Friday, July 15 and lasts until 11:59 PM Pacific on Sunday, July 17.

Read more at the Wintersday in July page.

The next exciting instalment of Guild Wars Beyond has been launched. Winds of Change is a multi-stage storyline set in Cantha, featuring new quests, new Canthan costumes, and history-making battles.

Good people of Cantha, the time has come for you to take up arms. For too long now, our glorious lands have been tarnished, as they wither in the shadows of fear and helplessness. When Shiro the Betrayer returned, he brought with him the Affliction, and the plagued still walk these lands, spreading unabated. Great heroes rose up, and they sent the Betrayer back. But I ask you this: where are those heroes now? Where are they while the innocent seek what little shelter they can find, hoping to survive to see another day? Where is our great Empire, and what has it done to protect the people? When a voice cries out for help, do they even hear it from behind the palace walls?

Custom costumes are available in the Guild Wars InGame store – you can choose from either the Aegis of Unity Costume or the Dragonguard Costume – or get the Winds of Change Costume Pack and get both.

Eager adventurers wanting to get stuck in straight away need to head to Kaineng Center, and talk to Initiate Zei Ri.

Read more on Winds of Change by looking through the ArenaNet FAQ.

Jeff Grub, one of the Lore and Continuity Designers for Guild Wars 2, has posted up a long and detailed article about Dungeons in Guild Wars 2. Dungeons were first introduced in Guild Wars: Eye of the North, and provided a dangerous, repeatable, instanced challenge for players.

Dungeons in Guild Wars 2 build on this and – like Eye of the North - they’re not for beginners, being aimed at characters who have reached at least level 35.

Much like Eye of the North, dungeons in Guild Wars 2 are split into two modes – story mode (where the dungeon forms part of the story arc missions) and explorable mode (which is unlocked once the story mode dungeon has been completed). Story mode also will be affected by which race your character is playing, and which factions you have worked with.

The dungeon story mode tells the tale of the iconic characters—former members of the legendary band of adventurers known as Destiny’s Edge—Zojja, Logan, Rytlock, Caithe, and Eir. At the start of the game, each player gets to know the iconic of their race. If you are asuran, you will cross paths with Zojja; if you are human, you will earn the respect of Logan Thackeray. By about level 30, you are a trusted confidant of the iconic characters, and you realize that they have their own problems, centering on the tragic breakup of Destiny’s Edge.

You can read Jeff’s full article at Into The Dungeons: Guild Wars 2.

It’s that time of year when the gates of Shing Jea Monastery are once again thrown open to celebrate the Dragon Festival in Guild Wars. This year the festival runs from Thursday, June 30th to Sunday, July 3rd – and features a visit from the Emperor himself!

The Shing Jea boardwalk is once again open, as are the Rollerbeetle racing games and the Dragon Arena. Special missions, including acting out key events from Canthan history, will be available from Imperial Guard Hanso in Shing Jea Monastery.

As always, the Dragon Festival is a great chance to boost your Hall of Monuments achievements by working on your Luck, Unlucky, Gamer, Drunkard, Sweet Tooth and Party Animal Title Tracks.

You can find the full festival schedule and more details on the Guild Wars Dragon Festival page.

One of the most interesting challenges facing players in Guild Wars 2 is exploring underwater. There’s going to be a huge amount of underwater content, so it will be interesting to find out more.

Over at the ArenaNet blog, Jonathan Sharp (a game designer at ArenaNet) has posted up some details on how underwater exploration and combat will work. One of the most interesting things is that all players automatically have a breathing apparatus – when you dive into the water, this will automatically be deployed, allowing you to breathe. Like all gear, players will be able to upgrade and customise their breathing apparatus.

Combat and health will also have some new mechanisms for players to get used to:

When you’re underwater, you don’t need to worry about breathing until your health goes to zero. When this happens you go into a drowning state, which functions like the downed state you experience when above water except with some small ability to move. When you are drowning, you have three ways to recover:

* You kill an opponent, which will cause you to rally.

* An ally can revive you, just as they can above water.

* You reach the surface of the water, where you will stop drowning and regain health. When your health bar fills all the way you’ll be revived.

Intriguingly, there will also be special underwater-only weapons and skills. Different underwater skills makes sense – land based traps or area of effect spells (especially fire ones!) don’t really make much sense underwater. As for the weapons:

We really wanted fighting underwater to be a new experience for the player, so we created a bunch of new weapons that you use ONLY underwater. This opens up a whole new spectrum of skills and tactics that you can use underwater and really distinguishes the feel and pacing of underwater combat from land combat.

You can read Jonathan’s full post on underwater exploration and combat in Guild Wars 2 at Underwater Combat.

A new Guild Wars 2 profession has been unveiled by ArenaNet – the Engineer – which promises to open up a new world of interesting gameplay.

Masters of mechanical mayhem, engineers tinker with explosives, gadgets, elixirs, and all manner of deployable devices. They can take control of an area by placing turrets, support their allies with alchemic weaponry, or lay waste to foes with a wide array of mines, bombs, and grenades.

If you think of the way a Dervish works – summoning spirits, using a mix of Ranger and Healer skills – then you’ve got the idea of how an Engineer will work. Using turrets and deployables like grenades and bombs – instead of spirits and traps – an Engineer seems like a natural extension of some of the abilities we see unveiled when the Asura appeared in Eye of the North.

You can get a good idea of how the Engineer will work in practice with this brief concept video:

Read more about the Engineer’s abilities on the Guild Wars 2 site here.

One of the enduring fixtures of Guild Wars: Prophecies has been Lion’s Arch. It’s been a natural focal point for new missions, new content, and travelling to new Chapters and expansions. The good news is, Lion’s Arch still exists in the future of Guild Wars 2.

The Arenanet blog has been sharing some details on what’s happened to Lion’s Arch over the years leading up to Guild Wars 2, and what we can continue to expect from such an important focal point.

After Lion’s Arch was destroyed by the Elder Dragon Zhaitan, it became a safe harbour for pirates and smugglers. Fighting against the undead hordes of the Orr, the disparate inhabitants of Lion’s Arch banded together. Building up the settlement, Lion’s Arch once more became a cosmopolitan city, the centre of all that’s happening.

The Elite Lionguard have fortified Claw Island to guard the city, while the Captain’s Council – a group of wealthy merchants and influential ship captains – rule Lion’s Arch.

Lion’s Arch sums the underlying themes of Guild Wars 2 – disparate, sometimes opposed, races and groups, coming together to fight off the greater enemy that threatens all: the Elder Dragons. In that sense, the story of Lion’s Arch is the real story of Guild Wars 2.

With all the Guild Wars sixth anniversary celebrations, an update to the Guild Wars 2 details about the Charr has slipped under the radar. The Guild Wars 2 lore pages have been updated with some more details about everyone’s favourite big cats.

The feline charr of Tyria are a victorious race challenged by their own success. They have survived defeat, oppression, and civil war. They have returned, reconquered, and rebuilt their original homes. Their mighty fortress, the Black Citadel, dominates the surrounding ruins of the human city of Rin, and their non-magical technology is the mightiest in the land. Yet despite their success, they are challenged by divisions among their people, the power of the Elder Dragons, and the ghosts of their own victories.

The Charr lore page has an updated history of the Charr, what they’ve been up to since the original Guild Wars, and the difficulties they have overcome to become one of the strongest faction in Guild Wars 2.

Pyre Fierceshot was fantastically good fun to have along as a Hero in Guild Wars, and I know I’m not the only one eagerly awaiting being able to play the Charr in Guild Wars 2.

Embark Beach is the latest content update to reach Guild Wars. Set in a secluded bay on the Battle Isles, Embark Beach brings a number of new features and improvements, as well as providing a new central point to journey to any area of the three Guild Wars campaigns.

An interesting new feature is the availability of Mercenary Hero slots – allowing you to use level 20 characters from your account as a Hero.

Need some companions for your travels? Fight alongside other characters on your account with our new Mercenary Heroes, available in the In-Game Store and NCsoft Store.

When you purchase a Mercenary Hero slot you can “hire” any level 20 character on your account to travel with you as a Hero. When you purchase a Mercenary Hero slot, you can create a custom Hero that keeps your character’s name, profession, appearance, and whatever armor or costume they’re equipped with. Once you’ve purchased a Mercenary Hero slot, you just speak to one of the new Mercenary Registrar NPCs in all major towns. Create your own unique, customized party with Mercenary Heroes today!

The list of new features that the Embark Beach content update brings is pretty impressive:

• Seven Hero Parties: Now you can take along seven Heroes in your party instead of three. You can even outfit your entire party with Mercenary Heroes!
• Daily Zaishen Vanquishes: Take on a new Zaishen Vanquish quest every day! Each day will feature a new area offering a quest – you can earn extra incentives and rewards for vanquishing that map. Just look for the signpost in Embark Beach.
• Pre-Searing Daily Quests: We’ve added new daily quests for those who enjoy adventuring in historic Pre-Searing Ascalon. These quests, which scale in difficulty and reward based on your level, contribute towards the Legendary Defender of Ascalon title!
• Minion UI: With the new improvements to the minion UI, controlling your minions just got a whole lot easier.
• Title Changes: We’ve made changes to both the Survivor and Drunkard title tracks.
• Login As: We’ve introduced a way to set your character’s status when you login, allowing you to login as “online,” “away,” “do not disturb,” etc.

The Seven Hero Party feature is one that I’ve been asking for for a long while, and finally brings complete party customisation. All the effort you’ve put into outfitting and customising your Heroes can now be really taken advantage of.

The Pre-Searing Daily Quests are also hugely good fun. It’s a chance to head back to where it all started – Pre-Searing Ascalon – and re-visit the people and locations that got us all hooked on Guild Wars in the first place.

It doesn’t seem like it, but it’s been six whole years since Guild Wars: Prophecies hit the MMO scene. Along with the normal Shing Jea Monastery games and events that accompany any Guild Wars anniversary, there are some special new updates for players with this new milestone.

This year marks the sixth anniversary of Guild Wars! We couldn’t have made it this far without you, so we’re hosting a big party — and you’re the guests of honor! Come celebrate with us from April 28th to May 6. It’s going to be a week of games, sugary treats, and anniversary surprises!

New birthday gifts are available – Everlasting Tonics – which sound like great fun:

With every birthday celebration comes presents for the good people of Tyria, and this year is no exception. Players whose characters turn six years old will receive one of our newest collection of Everlasting Tonics. This series consists of over 30 possible tonics, featuring a wide variety of friends, foes, and maybe a few surprises.

There is an accompanying developer’s update which has full details of the Flux updates, Mutual Friend Finder, exclusive Hard Mode Quests, profession changing for the Hero Razah, high resolution textures – and some good news for Pre-Searing characters who want to join in the fun.

You can read the full Guild Wars developers update here.