Game updates:2025
- Friday 19th of December (talk)
- Thursday 18th of December (talk)
- Wednesday 17th of December (talk)
- Monday 15th of December (talk)
- Friday 12th of December (talk)
- Tuesday 9th of December (talk)
- Monday 8th of December (talk)
- Thursday 4th of December (talk)
- Wednesday 3rd of December (talk)
- Tuesday 17th of June (talk)
- Wednesday 11th of June (talk)
- Wednesday 7th of May (talk)
- Thursday 1st of May (talk)
- Tuesday 29th of April (talk)
- Thursday 24th of April (talk)
- Tuesday 15th of April (talk)
- Thursday 10th of April (talk)
- Wednesday 9th of April (talk)
- Wednesday 2nd of April (talk)
- Friday 7th of February (talk)
- Tuesday 4th of February (talk)
- Thursday 23rd of January (talk)
- Wednesday 22nd of January (talk)
Update -- December 19, 2025
Hotfix #1
- Fixed an issue where a player could move the camera in some character select scenes that would leave the camera in an awkward position when switching back to the Prophecies pregame scene.
- Fixed a bug where players would sometimes get flagged with Dishonor when entering Ascalon Academy.
- Fixed a Reforged mode bug where some henchmen would become stuck in later Prophecies areas.
- Adjusted item spawn rarities in Reforged mode.
- Health and armor adjustments are no longer applied to pets, minions, and NPC's in pre-Searing.
- Adjusted the spawn position coming out of Ashford Abbey to prevent some players in four-player parties from getting instantly teleported back.
- Fixed an issue where some henchmen would not appear in your party when returning to an outpost in Reforged mode.
- Account preferences updated more often on the server.
Hotfix #2
- Fixed a client crash when logging out from certain maps with high graphics settings enabled, such as Doomlore Shrine.
Update -- December 18, 2025
Features
Our partners at 2weeks.games have been hard at work understanding our tool chains. We present to you their first experiments!
Reforged Mode (Alpha)
- Activate Reforged Mode (Alpha) during character creation.
- Your character will have a badge visible in-game
. - Piken Square will be accessible as an outpost for Reforged Mode players in pre-Searing Ascalon - but you'll have to fight your way there.
- Players gain 5% more experience and gold in the Prophecies campaign.
- Enemies have lower health and armor in pre-Searing Ascalon.
- Henchmen have been retuned and are more powerful with additional skills.
- The Northlands in pre-Searing Ascalon has additional spawns.
- Your character will have a badge visible in-game
- For multiplayer parties, all players have to be in Reforged Mode to experience Reforged Mode content and balance changes. Mixed parties will see the standard content.
- This is an alpha feature we are sharing early to gather feedback. It is only presented in English.
Dhuum’s Covenant (Beta)
- Activate Dhuum's Covenant during character creation.
- Dhuum’s Covenant is a challenging mode, available throughout the game, where you strive to avoid dying. Ever.
- Characters created with Dhuum’s Covenant get a badge visible in-game
. - Upon your character's death, you lose the badge permanently (but can keep playing the character).
- Any titles you earn while under Dhuum’s Covenant will have the badge in the Hero panel.
- If you lose Dhuum’s Covenant, any future ranks earned for that title will not display the badge.
- This is a beta feature and may undergo changes. It is currently only presented in English. We’d love your feedback!
Four Player Parties in Pre-Searing Ascalon
One More Thing
Classic pregame backgrounds
- You can now choose which background scene is displayed during login and character selection!
- Choose your background in Options->General->Pregame Scene.
- Choose between Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North.
- The Prophecies scene was not designed to support 360 degree views, therefore it has a fixed camera placement. There is some risk that the zoom level may cut off some of your view of your character in ultra-wide screen resolutions.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a delay where Steam DLC was not always available immediately after purchase.
- Fixed a bug where the mouse would move unexpectedly when you touched the screen on some devices like Steam Deck and Windows-enabled touchscreens.
Update, December 17, 2025
- Fixed a server crash in the Bonus Mission Pack "Rise of the White Mantle" story.
- Fixed an issue where players whose account had only PVP content were not properly upgraded.
Update, December 15, 2025
- Fixed an issue where some players failed to have the correct number of character slots available.
- Server side change only.
Update, December 12, 2025
How often have you seen a press release from a company where they say they are thrilled to announce something?
Well I am genuinely thrilled to announce that we are now officially verified on Steam Deck.
To those of you noting the coincidental timing between our announcement supporting Steam Deck and then Valve announcing Steam Machine and a new Steam Controller - guess what? It really was a coincidence. And I am thrilled about these new platforms coming next year and happy in our expectation to be compatible with those as well.
Check it out! Guild Wars Reforged on Steam Deck.
Guild Wars Wiki notes
This announcement was made by Dr. Stephen Clarke-Willson.
Update, December 9, 2025
- Fixed an issue that prevented CD Keys from being redeemed in the client for some users.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the Igneous Summoning Stone from being granted for Eye of the North purchases.
Update, December 8, 2025
- Fixed a bug where the Bonus Mission Pack and Eye of the North DLC showed as owned in "Manage Account" but were not recognized in-game, preventing access to purchased content for Steam players.
- Fixed a bug preventing task tracker position customization when gamepad hints were disabled.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when exiting the game while using the virtual cursor.
- Fixed a rare crash at the end of music tracks when OpenAL environmental effects were enabled.
- Addressed an issue where every trader in-game decided to stop trading (fixed in the evening of December 7 without a build).
Update, December 4, 2025
- Reduced client hiccups in Towns and Outposts with many players and high-resolution character textures selected.
- Fixed rendering issue with SSAO and some map locations (The Catacombs, City of Torc'qua, etc).
- Fixed skill icons getting clipped in damage monitor with HD Skills enabled.
- Fixed a crash bug in observer mode when playing with a controller or on Steam Deck.
Update, December 3, 2025
Guild Wars Reforged is our largest update in years, released on December 3rd following the 20th anniversary celebration. This update focuses on enhanced support for modern hardware, Steam integration, and controller compatibility.
Release and Pricing
Guild Wars Reforged is available for purchase on Steam or directly from ArenaNet at https://store.guildwars.com. The newly revised edition includes all three original Guild Wars campaigns (Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall) for $19.99. We've retired the ability to purchase campaigns separately. Players who previously owned only one or two campaigns or the PvP Pack were automatically upgraded to all three chapters at no additional cost.
The Eye of the North expansion and Bonus Mission Pack are now branded as DLC and available separately, requiring the base game purchase. Additional enhancements including hero packs, skill packs, and costumes have permanently reduced prices.
All Guild Wars Reforged enhancements are available as a free update for existing players.
Features
Display and Resolution
We've addressed compatibility issues with 4K displays, including fixes for arithmetic errors that previously caused crashes on ultra-high resolution monitors. The interface now offers six UI size options: Small, Normal, Large, Larger, Extra Large, and Really Large, enabling comfortable play on large-screen TVs and high-resolution displays.
The client is now DPI-aware, automatically defaulting to appropriate UI sizes based on monitor DPI settings. On Steam Deck, the interface defaults to Larger.
Steam Integration
Guild Wars Reforged features full Steam integration with "Steam Deck Verified" status pending approval from Valve. Key Steam features include:
- Purchasing the game puts it in your Steam library, ready to play – no CD keys required.
- First time players will download the four gigabyte base gameplay data file using the Steam CDN which is fast! Incremental updates still use the old patching system but with far fewer files.
- Option to create accounts tied to your Steam ID or link existing email-based accounts.
- Integration with Guild Wars 2 Steam accounts for Hall of Monuments support when using Steam login.
- Improved store assets and review functionality.
Important Note: Only a Steam-linked account will have access to new purchases made via Steam (Guild Wars Reforged, the Eye of the North expansion Steam DLC, or the Bonus Mission Pack DLC). If you have previously purchased any Guild Wars content on Steam, you will still be able to access that content on your existing account and apply any unused keys to your account.
Controller Support
We've introduced native support for Steam Deck and XInput controllers (such as Xbox Wireless Controllers). This is very cool: Guild Wars knows you are playing on Steam Deck or with an XInput controller and UI input indicators now dynamically swap between gamepad and keyboard/mouse settings based on the most recent input type. This includes on-screen tooltips.
Campaign tutorials now show input hints based on your currently active input mode, so you will see gamepad hints if you're actively playing with a gamepad, or mouse and keyboard hints otherwise.
Gameplay Controls
- Left Stick: Movement and auto-run (click)
- Right Stick: Camera control
- Bumpers: Enemy targeting (hold for closest enemy)
- D-pad: Ally targeting and cursor mode toggle
- Face Buttons: Auto attack, cancel, interact, and party management
- Start/Back: Menu and world map access
Advanced Controls
With triggers held, players can access:
- Left Trigger + Face Buttons: Skills 1-4
- Right Trigger + Face Buttons: Skills 5-8
- Trigger + D-pad: Panel toggles and item selection
Virtual Cursor Mode
A virtual cursor system enables mouse-like interactions with the gamepad. The cursor can be controlled with the left stick and activated by pressing D-pad right or automatically when opening menus. Players can "click" with the A button and navigate using D-pad presses or joystick flicks to snap to nearby interaction targets.
The interface dynamically swaps between gamepad and keyboard/mouse input indicators based on the most recent input type, including on-screen tooltips and campaign tutorial hints.
A new Gamepad Input Guide appears when using a controller, displaying available input shortcuts below the Task Tracker when holding triggers. This guide can be disabled in Interface options.
Task Tracker
A new Task Tracker displays active objectives for current missions or selected quests. The tracker can be repositioned or disabled in Interface options.
Graphics Enhancements
We've added new rendering enhancements:
- FXAA: A new postprocessing-based antialiasing option that may provide better performance and antialiasing than MSAA, particularly at high resolutions.
- HD Bloom: A reimplementation of the classic Guild Wars bloom effect that scales better with HD resolutions. You can toggle HD Bloom in Graphics settings. HD Bloom is on by default.
- SSAO: A screen-space ambient occlusion implementation that adds subtle self-shadowing to objects and characters. You can toggle SSAO in Graphics settings. SSAO is on by default.
- HD Skill Icons: We've updated the skill icons with HD versions, most of which have been reencoded from the original source. The rest have been upscaled and manually repainted. We have focused on preserving the look and feel of the icons while adding sharpness and clarity. You can toggle between the original icons and the upgraded icons using the new "HD Skill Icons" setting in the Graphics options. HD skill icons are on by default.
Audio Improvements
For years, you've seen a button on the audio options tab that says "Use EAX". We've replaced it with an option that actually works by adding support for OpenAL Soft as an audio driver fully integrated without the need for the excellent player-created add-on. This includes integrating EFX support, which emulates the original hardware-based EAX enhanced audio Guild Wars previously supported (EAX was deprecated in Windows Vista). With OpenAL enabled, the game has enhanced reverb, occlusion, and reflection effects. The option is called "Enable Environmental Effects" on the Options -> Sound page and is on by default.
Login and Account Management
We've made the login process smoother. On Steam, you now have the option of creating an account tied to your Steam ID or logging in to an existing email-based account. If you do choose to have your login handled by Steam, then you will also be linked to the corresponding Guild Wars 2 account for Hall of Monuments support (assuming you have both games on the same account).
You can now choose "Remember password" to save your password for the next time you launch the game. On Windows, this is implemented via the Credential Manager, and you can manage your saved credentials via Credential Manager as well as in-game.
If you find you are automatically getting a different login screen than you desire (for instance, Steam login instead of ArenaNet account login), you can press Cancel (or, on keyboard, the escape key) to return to the login type selection screen.
If you are running an out-of-date version of the client and need to patch, the client will now display an error at login with a "Restart" button.
If you are a video streamer, you might want to hide your account name when logging in and streaming. There is an option for that now in the Options -> General page.
Bug Fixes
Recent Microsoft Co-Pilot laptops had rendering errors (extra black triangles and missing body parts for some professions). These have been fixed by falling back to software 'skinning'.
Known Issues
There is currently no way to rebind controller buttons in-game. You can still remap controls on Steam via the controller management options Steam provides, but in-game glyphs may not match your customized control settings. We are planning to add in-game control customization and would appreciate feedback on what features you would like to see!
When resuming from standby mode on Steam Deck, the client may not recognize that it has lost its connection to the Guild Wars servers, and your character can become stuck and unable to perform any movement or actions. This is a compatibility issue with Proton that we are tracking with Valve. You can manually log out or relaunch the game to recover.
Hero management controls are usable via the virtual cursor on controller but are less efficient than the various mouse and keyboard shortcuts available on traditional PCs. We are planning on adding controller-based shortcuts to make controlling heroes easier and would appreciate any feedback on potential controller-based solutions!
Guild Wars in the Steam store is likely to be down for about an hour while it gets updated.
Status of Steam Deck verification: We are on our second submission to Valve. The feedback from the first submission was that there were places where the text was too small; we missed some text that said "click"; the "B" button did not cancel cutscenes; and Guild Wars does not recover properly from stand-by mode. This last issue is related to Proton compatibility, and we have submitted a bug report. In the meantime, we do our best to notice that Guild Wars mostly like lost its connection to the servers.
Hot Fixes
- Hot fix #1 (approx 10:00 a.m. Pacific time)
- Fixed a bug that would cause a client crash if you minimized the client while downloading files.
- Hot fix #2 (approx 2:30 p.m. Pacific time)
- Fixed an issue where only MSAA 2x was selectable for fullscreen mode.
- Fixed a motion blur rendering issue when SSAO is turned on.
- Fixed a bug for the task tracker reappearing when loading into new areas even when disabled.
- Fixed two rare crashes related to the download splash screen and changes to the gamepad connection state.
- Hot fix #3 (approx 4:00 p.m. Pacific time)
- Server maintenance build.
Guild Wars Wiki notes
- A new "Enable dialog pinning" option has been added that attaches a pin button to several dialogs. Pinned dialog boxes do not close when pressing escape, even if "Do not close windows when I press escape" is disabled.
- Pins have also been added to some dialogs that do not close when pressing escape, such as the hero skill panels and pet panels.
Update, June 17, 2025
- Fixed a bug where the Mini Gray Giant could not be dedicated in the Hall of Monuments.
Update, June 11, 2025
- Added new command line parameter "-nopatchui".
- Your client will patch invisibly in the background, until it has enough content to show the login screen, at which time the login window will appear on-screen.
- If combined with "-image", your client will fully patch, and then proceed to the login screen.
- This is similar to the option available in Guild Wars 2.
- Fixed a bug that would prevent the game from running on certain Microsoft Surface Tablet computers.
- Occasional graphic glitches are visible, usually as large black extended triangles, when using the new graphics chip in these tablets, the Qualcomm® Adreno™ GPU.
Update, May 7, 2025
- Fixed a bug where some miniatures would appear twice in the Hall of Monuments display area.
- Fixed references to DirectX 8 to refer to DirectX 9 in error messages.
- Updated some URLs in diagnostic messages to point to current help pages.
Update, May 1, 2025
- Server maintenance build
Update, April 29, 2025
- Client framerate changes:
- Previously in Feedback:Game_updates/20250415, we announced the maximum frame rate was reduced to 180 fps, however this limit was insufficient to stop the "rubberbanding" issue.
- The specific issue is that a client running at a high speed simulates the game much faster than the game server. Game servers run at 20-40 fps. Small errors in interpolation would cause divergent results on clients running at a high frame rate.
- The new frame rate cap is 90 fps.
- Previously the -fps command line argument was also limited by the internal cap; now a player, assumed to be sophisticated enough to add the -fps command line, can set it to whatever they want.
- A small internal change was made to the interpolation code to use double precision math on some calculations on both the client and server.
While 90 fps is less than some players would like to see on their modern monitors, we've seen with the anniversary event that many players returning are experiencing "rubberbanding", which is due to the client speed, and not the network code. Sadly we can't depend on players doing a web search for solutions, so by default, the refresh rate is lower.
Update, April 24, 2025
- Server maintenance build.
Update, April 15, 2025 - 20th Anniversary
Hello friends! Today we released the special 20th Anniversary Update to Guild Wars.
Twenty years ago we set out to make something really special with Guild Wars. Today we're celebrating that journey with this special update.
We've made it easier than ever to play Guild Wars. The new Guild Wars: The 20th Anniversary Masterpiece Collection includes all three campaigns (Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall), Eye of the North, some special bonus items, and now, the Bonus Mission Pack.
And it is available a little bit later today and until April 29th at 80% off - our best deal ever.
And you can load up on costumes and other quality-of-life add-ons at 60% off!
Visit The Guild Wars Store.
New Anniversary Content
For the full list of limited weapons now permanently available as rare drops, check out last week's update Feedback:Game_updates/20250409.
Here is an overview:
- Various weapons previously limited to pre-order bonuses or special promotions, and a few weapons previously exclusive to the PvP Reward system, have been added to loot tables across Tyria, Cantha, Elona and Eye of the North.
- In some cases, weapons are only dropped by enemies in their associated campaign.
- These weapons are low drop rate and only appear at Rare quality.
Additionally, there is a new series of permanent quests which allow you to revisit the stories and endgame areas of Guild Wars in Hard Mode. They are permanently available from Merrise, Sworn to Seas in Embark Beach.
- These quests reward a series of Miniatures previously only available in limited numbers as prizes from conventions or contests. To preserve the value of the original pre-release items, these cannot be traded between players.
- In the case of the Miniature Gray Giant, the new quest rewards the Broken Toy needed to start the quest "The Toy's Story". The Miniature Gray Giant received from this quest is not tradeable.
During the Anniversary festival each year, a series of Unique weapons featuring some of the returning weapons and new mods have been added to the Ancient Anniversary Weaponsmith.
One More Thing ...
We're excited to announce we have permanently added a new series of suffix mods, "of the (Profession)". These are available as rare drops on main-hand weaponry. These mods have the following special features:
- They increase the associated profession's Primary Attribute stat up to a small limit, even if the equipping character normally would not have access to it.
- The weapon will be upgraded with a special streak effect when used in combat, based on the profession's associated color. In the case of spears, bows, rods and staffs, which often don't support a streak on the weapon itself, this streak is applied to their projectiles.
- For Rods, as with other suffixes, these mods will only appear in Nightfall or Eye of the North areas.
Item Updates and Bug Fixes
Item updates:
- Increased the duration of many consumable items that give a combat bonus to 30 minutes. This eases the number of consumables needed to maintain their effects during extended missions. Items affected:
Bug fixes:
- Fixed an issue that caused the Anniversary elite skills Shadow Theft and Heroic Refrain to not increase attributes that had zero points invested.
- Fixed an issue that caused the "Deals 20% additional damage during Festival events" weapon mod to add more damage than intended.
- Frame rate is now capped at maximum 180 FPS to prevent the graphics system from stealing CPU from the networking system. (Modern graphics cards can easily render the game over 400 FPS!).
- Fixed a bug that would cause an arithmetic exception on some larger displays.
Update -- April 10, 2025
GW1 Steam Deck Control Layouts (beta 1)
by Sam Clarke-Willson
Hello friends! We've been working on an official Guild Wars Steam Deck control layout. Today we're pleased to present a beta version in order to get some community feedback.
There are two layouts:
- ABXY: a simpler layout
- Soulslike: a trickier layout for hardcore console players
The GW1 controls were created using a Steam Deck layout that converts button presses and control movements on Steam Deck into the game's corresponding keyboard and mouse controls.
The current (beta versions) of these are in the Steam Deck Community Layouts page. Search Sam CW and you should find them. After some feedback, we intend to promote them to the official GW1 recommended controls. As with all Steam Deck controls, you can modify them to your taste and save them either locally on your Steam Deck or in the Community area.
Keyboard / Mouse Mapping
This table lists the key bindings that both the ABXY and Soulslike Steam Deck controls require. Both layouts use the same keybindings which makes it easy to try both.
| Action | Guild Wars 1 Input | Steam Deck Input | Needs Gw1 additional mapping? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attack/Interact | Space | "Inventory" | No. |
| Skill 1 | 1 | A | No. |
| Skill 2 | 2 | X | No. |
| Skill 3 | 3 | Y | No. |
| Skill 4 | 4 | B | No. |
| Skill 5 | 5 | D-Pad Down | No. |
| Skill 6 | 6 | D-Pad Left | No. |
| Skill 7 | 7 | D-Pad Up | No. |
| Skill 8 | 8 | D-Pad Right | No. |
| Player Movement | WASDQE | Left Stick | No. |
| Camera Control | Right Click (Held) plus Mouse movement. | Right Stick "Contact" plus movement | No. |
| Left Mouse Click | Left Mouse Click | Left Trigger | No. |
| Right Mouse Click | Right Mouse Click | Right Trigger | No. |
| Target Next Foe | ] | Right Bumper | No. |
| Target Previous Foe | [ | Left Bumper | No. |
| Targeting: Party Member - Next | Page Down Key | R4 (top right grip button) | Yes. |
| Targeting: Party Member - Previous | Page Up Key | L4 (top left grip button) | Yes. |
| Shift | Shift. | Right Stick Click | No. |
| Action: Clear Party Commands | Home key | Left Stick Click | Yes. |
| Cancel/Close Window | Escape | "Start" | No. |
| Hold Action Layer Hero 1 Command | N/A | L5 (bottom left grip button) | No. |
| Hold Action Layer Hero 2 Command | N/A | R5 (bottom right grip button) | No. |
| Left Trackpad radial menu: | |||
| Options menu | F11 | Radial Menu Center | No. |
| Inventory | I | Radial Menu 1 | No. |
| Quest Log | L | Radial Menu 2 | No. |
| Skills and Attributes | K | Radial Menu 3 | No. |
| Map | M | Radial Menu 4 | No. |
| Mission Map | U | Radial Menu 5 | No. |
| Friends | N | Radial Menu 6 | No. |
| Guild Panel | G | Radial Menu 7 | No. |
| Party | P | Radial Menu 8 | No. |
| Help | F10 | Radial Menu 9 | No. |
| Hold Action Layer Hero 1 Command: | |||
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 1 | Numpad 1 | L5 + A | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 2 | Numpad 2 | L5 + X | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 3 | Numpad 3 | L5 + Y | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 4 | Numpad 4 | L5 + B | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 5 | Numpad 5 | L5 + D-Pad Down | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 6 | Numpad 6 | L5 + D-Pad Left | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 7 | Numpad 7 | L5 + D-Pad Up | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 8 | Numpad 8 | L5 + D-Pad Right | Yes. |
| Action: Command Hero 1 | Numpad / | L5 + Right Trigger | Yes. |
| Hold Action Layer Hero 2 Command: | |||
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 1 | Numpad 9 | R5 + A | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 2 | Numpad 0 | R5 + X | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 3 | Numpad + | R5 + Y | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 4 | Numpad - | R5 + B | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 5 | Down Arrow Key | R5 + D-Pad Down | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 6 | Left Arrow Key | R5 + D-Pad Left | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 7 | Up Arrow Key | R5 + D-Pad Up | Yes. |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 8 | Right Arrow Key | R5 + D-Pad Right | Yes. |
| Action: Command Hero 2 | Numpad . | R5 + Right Trigger | Yes. |
Most of the additional key bindings (i.e., new bindings that are not on by default) exist to support Hero commands. The other two additions are Target Next Party Member and Target Previous Party Member. These are helpful for support characters; alternatively you can mouse click on a party member HP bar.
To add or remap controls in Guild Wars 1, open the Options menu (on Steam Deck using the right track pad as a mouse or from the radial menu on the left track pad) and navigating to Controls. There you'll see a large list of potential key bindings.
Scan down the list for the command to add/remap, select it in the list, click the bar under and then type a new key for this action. Press the appropriate button on Steam Deck and click Assign to lock in the new mapping. Don't forget to press Assign!
Alphabetical Key Bindings
Here are the key bindings you'll want to change in alphabetical order (which matches the order in the dialog box):
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Action: Clear Party Commands | Home key |
| Action: Command Hero 1 | Numpad / |
| Action: Command Hero 2 | Numpad . |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 1 | Numpad 1 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 2 | Numpad 2 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 3 | Numpad 3 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 4 | Numpad 4 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 5 | Numpad 5 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 6 | Numpad 6 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 7 | Numpad 7 |
| Action: Order Hero 1 to Skill 8 | Numpad 8 |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 1 | Numpad 9 |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 2 | Numpad 0 |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 3 | Numpad + |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 4 | Numpad - |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 5 | Down Arrow Key |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 6 | Left Arrow Key |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 7 | Up Arrow Key |
| Action: Order Hero 2 to Skill 8 | Right Arrow Key |
| Targeting: Party Member - Next | Page Down Key |
| Targeting: Party Member - Previous | Page Up Key |
How to use ABXY binding
The four face buttons and the four D-pad directions are a perfect match for the eight skills in Gw1. A (the bottom face button) is the standard first action input across gaming, so that's skill 1 and the rest of the face buttons are skills 2-4 moving clockwise. The D-Pad matches that pattern, with the down direction being skill 5 and 6-8 moving clockwise in the same way.
The default action key (space) is pretty important but there isn't really a good 'ninth' button on the Steam Deck that is intuitive to use. Most of the possible candidates, like the triggers, have pairs of inputs that make sense if they stay together. Ultimately the basic attack/interact is on the Inventory (
) button near the left thumb stick and D-pad.
The bumpers control enemy targeting: right bumper targets next and left bumper targets previous. The right track pad is mouse control and pressing it is left mouse click. The trackpad is a bit 'iffy' for double clicks and similarly for hold click&drag actions, so the triggers are available as backup mouse buttons. Left trigger is left mouse button and Right Trigger is right mouse button. This matches the layout on a mouse as a mnemonic.
Left stick is character movement. Just note that the stick is eight-way directional movement rather than an analog stick. Right stick is camera control to keep with the industry wide standards on two stick character/camera movement.
To make the stick work as a mouse for Guild Wars, the Right Stick contact input option is used. This makes it so that when you touch the top of the right stick, the control layout will start holding down the right mouse button for you; since the Right Stick is already mouse curser movement it will act as you expect a console camera control stick to work!
Important: This stick-as-mouse is very convenient, but there is one very important caveat. This only works when the Steam Deck detects your thumb, which it only seems to do when you have it on the center top of the stick. You might find that sometimes you control your joystick by pushing it from the side of the stick instead of keeping your thumb on top. In that case, the contact action doesn't trigger the Right Mouse Button input. There is a bit of a learning curve here. If you are moving the Right Stick and it is not doing what you expect, check your thumb placement.
The left trackpad is a radial menu with the panels and windows that are under the option menu in the bottom left of Guild Wars' screen. This radial menu gives quick access to things like Inventory, Skills/Attributes and Guilds.
The grip buttons on the back of the Steam Deck control target next/previous party members and have the only hold action set layers in the layout. (A hold layout means you use the button like a shift key.) The grip buttons alter the inputs for Hero control by switching normal skill inputs to Hero 1 or 2 and the matching skills on their bar. Holding the bumpers also changes Right Trigger to activating the Hero movement command flags for their respective Hero. Canceling movement orders is left stick click regardless of if you have any Hero command layers active.
The Escape key is on the hamburger icon (
) button near ABXY.
We're considering flipping the and , as the so-called hamburger menu is closer to your main attack skills. Let us know what you think in the Discussion page.
Finally, when using a mouse, you need to Shift Left Click Hero Skills to order Heroes not use the skill unless told. The only unused button was Right Stick Click. This is a bit awkward but it makes other actions easier to access in battle.
How to use Soulslike binding
The basic premise of this mapping is to put your skill buttons on the triggers and bumpers instead of the face buttons and D-pad. There are only four triggers and bumpers instead of the 8 face buttons and D-pad, so a hold action set layer was made to fit the all of the skills there.
- Right Trigger is skill 1
- Left Trigger for skill 2
- Right Bumper for skill 3
- Left Bumper for skill 4
Hold L4 to switch to:
- Right Trigger for skill 5
- Left Trigger for skill 6
- Right Bumper for skill 7
- Left Bumper for skill 8
This saves a few buttons compared to the Gw1 ABXY layout, but the layout needs two buttons for each Hero Command Layer.
The change to relying more on Hold Action Set Layers meant reshuffling a lot of buttons from the ABXY layout. All four targeting inputs (enemy and party) are on the ABXY buttons. B is target next enemy and X is previous enemy. This forms a right>forward, left>back mnemonic that seems intuitive. A is next party member and Y is previous party member; target next party member moves your selection down the list (in the Party Formation UI) and target previous party member moves up. This way the buttons correspond to the direction they move through the UI which is a nice mnemonic. For similar reasons, the extra mouse button inputs are on the D-pad and match the side of the mouse. Left D-pad is Left Mouse Click and right D-Pad is Right Mouse Click.
For the Soulslike layout, the Hero Command layers are split in two and given a button each since there is only room for 4 skill buttons in this layout. R5 enables Hero 1 skills 1-4 and L5 enables Hero 1 Skills 5-8. The Hero 2 commands are on the up and down D-Pad inputs. Down enables Hero 2 skills 1-4 and Up enables skills 5-8. The first four skills are on down which matches how the ABXY layout starts at A (down on the D-pad). Another side effect of the button reshuffle is that R4 is the button to clear Hero movement orders; it becomes the 'hero order button' when either of the matching hero command layers is held down. This allows Shift on the more convenient left stick click. Right stick click is another source of Right Mouse Click as a convenience.
The Trackpads and the Sticks are unchanged from the ABXY layout (altered stick clicks notwithstanding). It is the same for the select and start buttons, which are still Space bar for attack/Interact and Escape key respectively.
Thanks
Thanks to Bobby Stein for his support and feedback.
Reference
ABXY
Soulslike
Update -- April 9, 2025
Hello friends!
As we announced last week, there will be a special update to Guild Wars on April 15th featuring permanently updated availability for a number of limited weapons and miniatures.
Various weapons from pre-order bonuses, special promotions and a few weapons previously exclusive to the PvP Reward system have been added to loot tables across Tyria, Cantha, Elona, and Eye of the North. These weapons only appear as Rare quality drops (with a few exceptions as noted) and are randomized rather than featuring the fixed stats and free creation of their bonus-item incarnations. Rods, Staffs, Shields, and Focuses can also drop with a variety of stat requirements.
Weapons
The newly available weapons are listed below.
- Available everywhere:
- Only available in Tyria:
- Bone Idol (pre-order item)
- Only available in Cantha:
- Japan 1st Anniversary Shield (Exceptionally rare)
- Only available in Elona:
- Only available in Eye of the North regions:
- Glacial Blades (a dagger form of the Glacial Blade)
- Lesser Etched Sword (Available at Magical rarity)
- Etched Sword (Available at Uncommon rarity)
- Arced Blade (Available at Uncommon rarity)
- Lesser Granite Edge (Available at Magical rarity)
- Granite Edge (Available at Uncommon rarity)
- Lesser Stoneblade (Available at Magical rarity)
- Stoneblade (Available at Uncommon rarity)
Miniatures
Additionally, a series of miniatures previously limited to special promotions and contest prizes will be available from new hard mode quests available at Embark Beach. Unlike their original versions, these cannot be traded between players. These quests will send you to replay the story missions and endgame areas of Guild Wars to prove your skills once more, so prepare for a tour of your triumphs to earn these miniatures.
Get ready to celebrate 20 years of Guild Wars! And you'll want to keep an eye out for some other rare drops.
Update -- April 2, 2025
Hello friends!
The 20th Anniversary of Guild Wars is approaching on April 28th, 2025! This year, our annual Anniversary Celebration festival will start a week earlier than usual - beginning on April 15th and running through May 6th.
On April 15th, we're also releasing a special anniversary update that includes:
- Permanently adding previously limited weapons to world drop tables.
- New permanent quests that reward untradeable copies of certain limited-release miniatures when you revisit classic content.
- And you'll want to keep your eyes open for some other new loot appearing as you hunt for weapons.
This is your chance to complete your collections, revisit your greatest triumphs, and hunt for exciting new loot!
We'll share more details next week. Get ready to celebrate 20 years of Guild Wars!
Update -- February 7, 2025
- Fixed a bug that was causing some maps to use excessive CPU causing 'lag'.
- The bug fix did not require a new build.
- The bug would manifest more often during Festivals and/or when more than one build of Guild Wars was active.
- This bug was fixed just before the recent Lunar New Year festival but not publicly announced as it wasn't clear how impactful the change would be.
- The build on February 4th was to test how the fix performed with multiple builds during a festival.
- The results so far are promising so as an experiment the maximum capacity of all Outposts has been increased.
Update -- February 4, 2025
- Server maintenance build.
Update -- January 23, 2025
- Added new command line parameter "-log" (or "/log")
- Off by default
- Writes "Gw.log" to the Guild Wars install directory
- Clobbers existing "Gw.log" file (i.e., does not append to an existing file)
- Steam integration logging is highly preliminary
- "Normal" errors, which have existed for years and can be ignored:
- Error: Client pathing data out of sync with server. You may observe your character 'warping' during movement.
- Various texture errors
- Server maintenance build
Update -- January 22, 2025
- Download and initialize steam_api.dll. This is a preliminary step to better integration with Steam.
NOTE: Guild Wars on Steam is a legacy version. As far as I can determine, Guild Wars was first launched on Steam on April 22, 2009. We only sell game keys through the Steam Store and do not utilize any other Steam features. Consequently, significant effort is required to reconcile Steam purchases with our internal sales system. Due to the lack of previous integration between Guild Wars and Steam, certain development tasks will be more efficiently performed on the live servers. That is why this update is being implemented today, even though it does not include any user-facing features.
