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5 years.
5 long years of enduring Kamadan and its trading system, or lack there of. 5 years where the space bar kept my E/Mo on auto follow and allowed me to take a sip of Diet Dr. Pepper between battles. Maybe perhaps allow me a stretch and yawn or two. Exciting stuff in the click-to-move tyrian lands. 5 years of thinking “Nothing’s going to beat this game. There is no game that will even compare to it. Not even close.“
Nothing except maybe a sequel.
5 years ago, a press release announced the exciting news. Guild Wars 2 was announced to go in beta sometime in the second half of 2008. That was 4 years ago. But you know what? I’m happy they have waited this long. Having played through the betas, I can’t even begin to imagine how much work has been done in all those years. What would we have ended up with if a beta was to be playable in 2008? Probably nothing as extremely in-depth as we have been able to experience today.
But back to the point of this blog post.
Hello, I’m Naveen, founder of Chronicles of Tyria. Not long ago, GuildMag announced a Blog carnival with “Five years of waiting for GW2” as it’s topic. I thought to myself, “This is the perfect opportunity to start the blog I wanted to start!” And so, here I am, with this very first post, dedicated to the Blog Carnival.
Five years is a very long time. When did you first hear about Guild Wars 2 and what has happened in the meantime? Did you buy Guild Wars or return in order to get to 50 points in theHall of Monuments? Have you met new people, made new friends and future fellow guild members – inside and outside of the game? Maybe Guild Wars 2 was the reason you even started blogging. Tell us about your memories and experiences that you have made from when you first heard about the game until today.
5 years of waiting. What have I been doing in those five years? Well… So much, that I’m wondering where time went. But let’s start by putting things in dates.
June 2007.
It’s summer of 2007. At this point, I’m co-living with my mother, working as an assistant accountant and spending most of my time in GuildWars because, believe it or not, I had fallen in love with a fellow player. We had been playing together for a while then and so, my time off from work and social activities were spent online with him and most of the members in the guild I was in. To me, that was completely normal. To most of my family, it was very anti-social. My mother, though, was very understanding and as long as we still talked during dinner time, went out shopping as the best friends we were and overall didn’t break my quality time with her, all was well. Spending time online was just a part of who I was (And still am, now!) and she respected this. So, the rest of my time I would spend with Aaron, the boy I had fallen in love and spent my time with, questing and going on missions in Tyria. At this point, we knew that Guild Wars 2 was in the works. I preciously kept my PCgamer magazine that talked all about it (Or well, most of what we knew back then!) and I had sent one to Aaron as well. You see, I live in Canada and he, lived in the United States.
Sending things back and forth, buying Eye of the north, items such as costumes, character slots and many more… The Pc Gamer issue we had in common both gave us the exclusive Destroyer Mini pet. I was so very excited to have this magazine and I still have it, to this day. It talked about Eye of the North, had a lot of concept art and a few pages about Guild Wars 2 concepts. I read it countless times.
But then, nothing much was being told about Guild Wars 2. We beat Eye of the North in a ridiculously quick manner and were left hanging until a few packs came out, as tiny expansions. Little did we know that those were so very crucial for the lore story as we know it today, in Guild Wars 2.
So, time passed by, people asked “When” and Arenanet would reply with “When we’re ready.” So, I kept playing Guild Wars 1, spent time with Aaron.
December 2007.
We had been dating for a while, Aaron and I. We even had our characters, Meili Shihong and Ankh Kido, married in-game. A whole ceremony and everything, ending with fun and games with guildies and attendees. In December of 2007, Aaron and I met for the first time, IRL.
He got in a plane, came down for my birthday, stayed for the holidays, left after.
Well, that was the plan, but it’s not exactly how it went.
When Aaron visited, my mother wasn’t in her best of forms. She had been battling something the doctors called a pneumonia/asthma problem. But while Aaron was at our place, my mother decided to visit the doctors, for the 5th time after a few months of constant going and misdiagnosis. At the right hospital, they gave her the proper diagnosis. She had lung cancer.
Needless to say that the happy times of holidays planned were then going downhill. But despite this, Aaron decided to stay a little longer and help us out in his own way. My mother had become really weak from the drugs and, of course, the cancer. So he would help her out, carry her in his arms from the living room to her bedroom so she could rest, things like that. It’s then I knew I had found the one. Not many people would do that for the boyfriends/girlfriends. I know a lot of guys who would have grabbed their bags and went their way to avoid this. But he stayed. Just a little longer. When he left, he promised to come back for my mother’s birthday. His plane ticket was all set for the week before her birthday. It was in the end of March 2008.
She passed away on the 3rd of March, 2008.
March 2008.
Alone at home, on my own without my mother, my best friend, now gone, I spent my time in Guild Wars, spent time with Aaron. The game helped me dodge deep depression. Aaron helped me stand up and keep going. His plane ticket already reserved, he flew back to me and never went back. We worked on getting sponsorship so that he could become a permanent resident in Canada and we got him working visas so we could both work and afford a roof over our heads. Slowly, my life was taking a new shape. We kept playing Guild Wars, but we slowly drifted from it because we had other plans in our life. We would work, we would go out, we even played different MMOs. But somehow, we would always go back to Guild Wars. Nothing could compare to it.
October 2008.
Aaron and I started a new Chapter in our life. We got married. For real, this time. Not as characters, but as people. As two individuals who had found each other within a fantasy world. We were friends, best-friends, lovers and more. It was natural for us to get married and start a new life, claim it our own. And so, we did. It was on a beautiful autumn day, not warm enough to be melting, not cold enough to be bundled in our clothes. Just a beautiful, sunny autumn day. Not having my mother with me was the hardest part of that day. Realizing that from this day on, she would not attend any other important moments in my life. But I tried to stay strong the entire time and enjoy the day to its fullest, non the less.
In October of 2008, I also gained a new toy that would stick with me 24/7. This is when I got my very first insulin pump. You see, I am type 1 diabetic and I depend on insulin to survive. Having 5 or more shots a day, not counting the blood sugar tests, was becoming hard to manage. Doable, but still hard. So my father paid for half of my pump as a wedding gift and I paid the rest. Those things are pretty expensive and I still have the same one to this day (Although my endocrinologist tells me I should switch by the end of the year… oof!) So, a new chapter in my diabetic life as well. Having to cope with infusion sets, having a pump attached to your clothes for the rest of your life, dealing with scars… But having as close as a normal life you could get. I would not have it any other way now! Well, you know, except for the whole not having diabetes thing. That would be even better.
May 2010
We had started to play Guild Wars again. Somehow, during the almost 2 years gap from our wedding to May 2010, we had played once or twice but our work and daily schedule basically kept us with different interests. But we started to play again and it was fun! Rediscovering why this game was so epic and wondering why we had stopped to begin with. But we discovered something else, as well.
We were expecting.
A new chapter in our life! After almost two years of marriage, we were now going to extend our family with a little half and half of us. My father was extremely happy, becoming a grandfather for the first time was a curious thing, be he was very proud. And once again, I cried that day when the test was positive, because I realized that this was going to be another event where my mother was to be missing. And what an event it was!
September 2010
We got the news that we were expecting a little boy. So we named him Aaden and nicknamed him “Spawn of guild Wars“. You know, because of the whole “If Guild Wars wouldn’t exist, I would not have my baby today” type of thing!
June 2010
Got fired for being pregnant. I know I know “OMG SUE THEM“. I did not. But Karma took care of that for the company that fired me is now bankrupt today. So, I lost my job, while being pregnant, so needless to say that looking for another one was a big problem. So much so that I never got a job.
January 2011
Little Aaden was born. Forever changing my life. I stopped playing Guild Wars altogether because Aaron was working away from home, weeks at a time, and I was alone to take care of him. When you have a newborn, you can’t even give 5 minutes of your time to an activity other than napping, feeding your baby, cleaning the house, doing the dishes… You know, parenthood. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I thought I did, but unless you have kids, you never know. Despite what people tell you.
Still, I was happy, my life was complete, we had (And still have!) a beautiful family!
April 2012
Aaden is a little older, able to spend time playing on his own, so I began going online again. And by going online, I don’t mean browsing Facebook and Twitter, I mean reading articles, playing web browser games and so on. But nothing more than this. I had stopped playing Guild Wars because by then, we had acquired an iMac and I could not play since it wasn’t compatible. But the more we looked at Guild Wars 2 videos, the manifesto, the professions and races… The more I was tempted to install Windows on a different partition. And so, we used Bootcamp and that’s what we did. Aaron’s laptop was also really old and couldn’t even play the simplest of browser games, so he got himself a nice laptop. And so we ordered Guild Wars 2 collector’s Edition. I can’t wait to be able to pick it up!
The first beta comes and goes, I’m deeply in love with the game and I have the urge to create a blog about my character’s story. But I want to be able to share it with other people who love the lore aspect of it as much as I, so I create Chronicles of Tyria; Tyria seen through the heroes’ eyes. A blog about my character’s adventures, read from her perspective. I work hours on the website to get it launched, get used to WordPress, debut my experience with hosting providers… Really, it was the first time I would work with programs and FTP stuff, ever. And to this day I’m still confused about a lot of its aspects, but now I have a handful of friends who can help me with this!
May 2012
ArenaNet features Chronicles of Tyria on their Facebook page.
I go from 26 views per day to 12,500+. I’m freaking out, I need more content to the website, I need to get working. That day, I think Aaden watched TV and played by himself the whole time. Luckily, the computer was in the living room, I could watch over him at the same time, but my focus was to make sure the website wasn’t going to crash because of the spike of traffic. Luckily, it didn’t. So, I work on the website, get a new writer who would later leave with his content unexpectedly. But that’s another story. The forums are up and running, more visitors are attracted to the website. I work on deciphering more Krytan signs and learn how to read New Krytan. Yes, that much of a geek I’ve become. But I make new friends, have new projects and basically am working on Chronicles of Tyria 7 days a week.
Also, in the same month, My application on TalkTyria is accepted as an exploration columnist! Extremely busy at this point, but nothing can stop me now!
June 2012 to today
Along with Lagwyn and Diint, I establish a podcast. We talk about the lore and communities of Guild Wars 2. We are fully dedicated and participate to all of the community’s events we can attend. We play the Betas, the stress tests, then go back the Guild Wars 1 and work on our titles and achievements for the Hall of Monuments. The Chronicles of Tyria guild is created, lead by Lagwyn in GW1 and by myself in Guild Wars 2.
After a few day of procrastinating because once my work is done with CoT, it’s almost always 2AM… I decide to start this blog, Outrun a Centaur. In Guild Wars 2, you’ll often hear this phrase. “I can outrun a centaur”. Which is quite an achievement in itself, seeing how fast they run.
Looking back to my life for the past 5 years, between waiting for the game and now, I can easily say that I’ve unlocked many achievements. Overcame many challenges. The death of my mother, my new diabetic lifestyle, my marriage to someone I met through Guild Wars, the loss of work because of pregnancy, the financial problems we overcame, the birth of our son, raising a child, creating a community, exceeding my own expectations and now, about to embark in a new adventure as Tyria re-opens its doors to all heroes.
It’s another step into the future, another path in our lives.
Guild Wars 2 is more than just a game. To me, it’s the continuation of my life’s success.
Thank you, Arena net.
What about you? What have -you- been doing for the past 5 years of waiting for Guild wars 2?
14 comments
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Paeroka
August 7, 2012 at 7:38 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I loved reading your entry.
Very personal and emotional, of course. But heartwarming. 
Naveen
August 8, 2012 at 12:29 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thanks so much! I’m glad it touched you
Carvious
August 13, 2012 at 10:14 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Good read! Very moving
Oh and I just wanted to say that my wife and I call our son Aiden
(what a coincidence!)
Naveen
August 14, 2012 at 1:07 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thanks!
Haha, yeah I guess Aiden is a very popular name! Spelt differently but same thing. Your son has an awesome name. xD
kiwi
August 13, 2012 at 9:07 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Wow, this is truly an emotion filled article. I must admit, i have not heard of your blog before, but i will most certanly give it a read
Naveen
August 14, 2012 at 1:08 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
You have no heard of it most likely because it is new! Heehee!! But thank you for the comments
Tish
August 13, 2012 at 10:42 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Amazing story. I am glad things are working out for you and your family.
Naveen
August 14, 2012 at 1:08 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thank you so much!
David H.
August 14, 2012 at 12:18 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I’m glad to say that I read the whole story, and it was well worth my time! I’m happy for all THREE of you!
Naveen
August 14, 2012 at 1:09 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Haha, thank you so much David
Miss Miez
August 14, 2012 at 3:22 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
One of my most loved quote is: What you deserve is what you get.
I wish you and your family a happy and long and healthy life. I hope some day in the future you will sit with your 5 kids in your gaming-room in your mansion and play Guild Wars 2 (or maybe even 3 ^^) together. I hope you earn the gold medal for all challenges in your life.
Naveen
August 14, 2012 at 5:32 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Aww, thank you so much! <3
Ulli
August 14, 2012 at 6:20 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thank you so much for sharing your story! You and your little family seem to be such cute luttle geeks
Wishing you all the best!
Naveen
August 14, 2012 at 6:32 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Thank you so much!