Get ready for...

Gamescom will be the biggest convention for Guild Wars 2 yet! Prepare yourselves bros, because this con has it all.

• Yet again we'll be able to play with all seven of the currently released professions.

• Fans of the Charr will be delighted to know that they can, for the first time, enjoy the Charr starting experience!

• A brand new mid-level experience, complete with a new boss, will also be available for play. Also, you can choose to play Sylvari and Asura in this content! That's right, not only will you be able to play with the final two unplayable races, but it will be in mid-level content! So enjoy that cute little Asura engineer in his badass trenchcoat.

• While you're making these characters you'll be able to enjoy the full character appearance customization screen for the very first time! You'll be able to make your brand new Charr look like a lion, a tiger, or a bear! Oh my. (Had to say it!)

• PvP!! Gamescom attendees will be able to face off against one another in brutal player on player combat.

I cannot wait for the info that will surely flood the net during this convention. This is far more than I could've hoped for! I mean, what do we even have left? The 8th profession, guilds, and World vs. World vs. World pvp? Maybe all that and a release date at PAX? Here's hoping.

Gamescom will be from August 17th to the 21st.

Comic Con videos!

I hope you're not sick of all the Comic-Con posts yet.. because there are some fantastic gameplay videos popping up around the internet!

Here we see 27 minutes of glorious Charr thief footage:

Here's 36 minutes of Charr warrior:

And the GW2 panel:

If these videos don't push your hype-sensors into overdrive, then I don't know what will! From the scenery, to the events, to the skill system, Guild Wars 2 is shaping up to be an amazing game.

Potions?! Don't Worry!

I've seen that a lot of people are concerned about energy potions being in Guild Wars 2. These potions will be very cheap and abundant, and are akin to a reload in an FPS.

Offensive skills use very little energy, while defensive and utility type skills will use more, including dodging out of the way. As you can see from convention demonstration videos, the recharge of potions is in no way alarming. It has JUST the right amount of time on cooldown so that people don't spam their rolls, dodges, and utility skills to be able to be invincible until they run out of potions.

Around the 7:00 mark you can see the Ranger use a potion.

Don't fret about potions in competitive PvP! You won't be spending your entire gold supply on them, as you get a set number of battleground only potions when you start the match. These will reset when you die, and the map has a few scattered around it so you can restock without having to bite the big one. I don't know if this goes for WvWvW pvp, but I certainly hope it does!

You can find an in-depth interview about potions over at Kill Ten Rats!

Comic Con Speculation

Arenanet may have skipped E3, but be ready for them to take Comic Con by storm! I don't honestly see them releasing anything huge like a release date or even pre-order details, however maybe they'll decide to tell us a bit more about their much anticipated beta.

It is confirmed that they are having a demo with the engineer available for play, though! If you visit their site and look at their schedule here, you'll see this confirmation:

San Diego Comic- Con (July 21-24) How could we miss the granddaddy of all pop-cultural conventions? We’ll send an elite team of artists and devs down to the San Diego Convention Center to meet fans and do signings. Drop by the NCsoft booth to play Guild Wars 2 and try your hand at the engineer!

Other than the engineer, I hope for a playable Asura demo as well! We're long overdo for Asura or Sylvari week, and since we have little word on the Sylvari redesign, I would think Asura is next.

Another possibility is the 8th and final profession reveal, but I would expect that at PAX on Arenanet's home turf in Seattle, Washington. Their schedule says to expect "big surprises" at PAX, so that could very well be the 8th profession, which most consider to be similar to the Mesmer of the original Guild Wars.

Arenanet's Studio.. A Perfect Workplace?

Seeing photos and videos of where Guild Wars 2 is made only furthers my dream of one day working for Arenanet. They have everything from a pick'n'mix to a Rock Band set up. MMO Report's Casey Schreiner recently visited Arenanet and there's an entire dedicated MMO Report to prove it!

Others have had the chance to visit as well for the Guild Wars 2 Fan Day. The most dedicated fans from all around the internet visited Arenanet and got to play Guild Wars 2 and even help a bit in the recording studio!

A video of their exciting and jealousy-inducing visit can be found right here:

Head over to Arenanet's flickr for more photos of their amazing studio!