Guild Wars: State of the Game: March 5, 2007

The latest State of the Game newsletter is out, focusing on the ongoing Celestial Tournament (along with a nifty disclaimer that SotG articles are the opinion of the author only and not necessarily that of AN. Rather odd...):

And they're off! The largest tournament in Guild Wars history began recently with over 280 guilds participating. They are currently competing in fierce rounds of Swiss style tournament action. When the dust settles, 16 guilds will emerge at the top. Those top 16 will then play in a single elimination tournament to determine the Celestial winner. The victorious team receives shiny new video cards and bragging rights as the current best in international competition. The rest of the top 16 guilds receive runner-up prizes and transmogrify potions, as well as permanent posterity in the archives on GuildWars.com. While the exact nature of the potions is still unknown, tournament fans have their own chance to get their hands on these concoctions by predicting tournament outcomes at the Xunlai Tournament House.

Wrapping it all up, the author (as opposed to AN, heh) says:

These automated tournaments might even take the place of regular ladder competition. We can already see competing guilds using the regular ladder as a playground for experimentation for build selection, player training, and experience. If automated tournaments prove as popular as the Celestial Tournament, then competitive GvG will certainly become much more exciting!