Arenanet has long expressed a desire to see Guild Wars 2 as an actual e-sport, with PvP tournaments between world-class teams for swarms of adoring fans. The game had a long way to go before it was anywhere near ready for such, but great strides have been made to bring the game’s structured PvP arenas closer and closer to being where they needed to be.
Now the work is showing its first real sign of paying off. Curse is sponsoring the Masters of the Mists, a tiered bracket PvP tournament hosted by GuildWars2Guru.com. The tournament will be using eight-team brackets, with separate brackets for different regions. The prize pool is $500, with the winning team also taking home a sizable amount of in-game gold. Players can even donate their own gold to increase the in-game prize pool if they are so inclined.
North American teams interested in taking part in the tournament can register with this form until the 24th. The tournament rules are here for prospective teams. Curse is also listening for players who are interested in helping out with the event, and considering it being the first of its kind, there will certainly be unexpected issues arising. The tournament is going to be livestreamed at www.twitch.tv/guildwars2guru on May 19 for the EU version of the tournament and on June 2 for the NA version. Match times are listed in the announcement.
This is a big deal, people. The introduction of custom arenas was necessary before an event like this was possible, but now the sky is the limit. Player-run tournaments are an exciting thing to begin with, but for Guild Wars 2 they just might be a godsend. The game’s arena PvP has been losing regular players with the slow build-up towards e-sports capability. A few events like this just might actually be what the playerbase for the game needs to revitalize interest and jump-start a real competitive scene for the game.
