• Decorated Shing Jea Monastery and Kaineng Center in preparation for the Dragon Festival.
• Beginning at Noon Pacific (-7 GMT) on Thursday, July 2, 2009, the Shing Jea Boardwalk, Dragon Arena, and Rollerbeetle Racing will be opened for the duration of the weekend.
• Captain Rujiyo will be gathering adventurers in Shing Jea Monastery for special festival missions at various times throughout the day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
• For the final events on Sunday, July 5, Emperor Kisu will visit Shing Jea Monastery every two hours, with the first event starting at 2:00 AM Pacific (-7 GMT) and the last event starting at 11:59 PM Pacific (-7 GMT).
• Imperial Supply Master Kagno will appear in Shing Jea Monastery as the event comes to a close at 11:59 AM Pacific (-7 GMT) on Monday, July 6. He will remain there for one week to exchange 250 Victory Tokens for the new mask in case anyone misses the exchange with Emperor Kisu.
• For the full mission and event schedule, please see the Dragon Festival 2009 event page.

• Fixed a bug that caused Signet of Creation to affect non-Binding Ritual spells.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Signet of Creation from applying to certain Binding Rituals.
• Fixed a bug that prevented the Junundu skill Choking Breath from interrupting some enemies.
• Updated Soothing, Vampirism, and Preservation to use the correct casting animations.

This weekend, put on your best imperial finery and join us for the annual Dragon Festival! After today's live update, Shing Jea Monastery will spring to life as the citizens of Cantha eagerly prepare for the commemorative festivities. Among the events planned are the re-opening of the Dragon Arena, the return of the Shing Jea Boardwalk, and a brand new festival mask! Head over to our festival page for all the details.

Starting today, the Xunlai Tournament House will be down for extended maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. For more information, please see this post.

In slightly belated May tournament news, last month's runner-up History Repeats Itself [Cry] defeated Stealing Society [StS] to become this month's GvG champion. For 1v1, Not Expensive South claimed victory over Ernie Ftwwwwwwwwww to become May's 1v1 champion. For the complete list of rankings, check out the full GvG and 1v1 results.

After today's live update, we will be adding May's prediction points to the Xunlai Agent. If you made May predictions in the Xunlai Tournament House, check your neighborhood Xunlai Agent after the build to claim your Tournament Reward Points.

We're excited to announce that our remodel of the Xunlai Tournament House is complete! We went through the site and gave it a complete overhaul, which will make voting quicker, easier, and more secure than ever before.

Check out our guide to the new features here, and then head over to the Xunlai Tournament House and make your predictions for the May Tournament winners!

In April GvG tournament news, Straight Outta Kamadan [KMD] defeated History Repeats Itself [Cry] to claim this month's championship. In the 1v1 tournament, I N San Ity proved victorious over Viet Mangeur De Nem to become April's 1v1 champion. For the complete list of rankings, check out the full GvG and 1v1 results.

After today's live update, we will be adding April's prediction points to the Xunlai Agent. If you made April predictions in the Xunlai Tournament House, check your neighborhood Xunlai Agent after the build to claim your Tournament Reward Points.

Finally, this update will also replace April's Unseen Tonic in the Zaishen Chest with May's Phantasmal Tonic. To see the full tonic rotation, check out the Zaishen Rewards Calendar.

The month of May is chock-full of player-run events, videos, and contests! Check out Community News for details!

Continuing with our anniversary celebrations, we've got more insider interviews for your reading pleasure!

• Game Designer Colin Johanson talks with Gamervision about the lasting appeal of Guild Wars, his favorite design experience from the game, and the big anniversary blowout.


• Game Designer Eric Flannum gives Rock, Paper Shotgun readers a glimpse into his thoughts about Guild Wars and shares some of the high points he's experienced as a designer and a player.


• System Designer Ben Miller sits down with RPG Fan to talk about what makes Guild Wars stand out among MMOs, as well as the past, present, and future of the game.


• Community Manager Regina Buenaobra's chat with Talking About Games covers the origins and progression of both Guild Wars and its community.


• Community Manager Martin Kerstein shares his thoughts about the evolution of Guild Wars over the past four years in this Gameplay Monthly interview.

Today marks our fourth anniversary, and as part of the celebration we're exploring the past, present, and future of Guild Wars with a series of insider interviews!

• ArenaNet studio head Mike O'Brien shares his thoughts on the origins of Guild Wars and its exciting future in the latest MMOZine and in this interview on IGN.


• Guild Wars Lead Designer James Phinney chats with the folks at ZAM about the fourth anniversary, the lasting appeal of Guild Wars, and how the game has evolved over the past four years.


• Over at GameZone, Community Manager Regina Buenaobra reflects on the anniversary and the role of the Guild Wars community in the game's continued success.


• System Designer Curtis Johnson gives OMG RPG his thoughts about the past four years and the big anniversary celebration.

Don't miss any of this special coverage as Guild Wars observes its greatest anniversary celebration yet!

We're thrilled to announce that Guild Wars has sold over SIX MILLION copies! The timing for this milestone couldn't be better—coinciding with our fourth anniversary and its huge update, we're even more excited for the future. Thanks to everyone for playing our game and continuing to support us!

It's here! The huge Fourth Anniversary Update you've been hearing about is now live. What's more, we've kept certain features a secret, so this update has even more in it than you might expect. Check out all the new gameplay improvements on these pages:

• Update Page:See the new features on this enhanced page
• Birthday Celebration: Fourth-year miniatures and more
• FREE pane of Xunlai Storage: See how to get yours

This update reflects our warm and heartfelt thanks for your dedication over the past four years. We couldn't have done it without you. Enjoy the celebration!