NCSoft is celebrating the six-year anniversary of Guild Wars! Players are invited to come celebrate the occasion with an all-weekend party in Shing Jea Monastery. Now through May 6, players can celebrate the weekend away with games, contests, races and more!

There will also be six weeks of special anniversary sales and exciting contests through Facebook and the Guild Wars website. Beginning today, April 28 and running through June 9, Guild Wars fans can find weekly sales on such items as costume packs, character slots, mission packs and more, all reduced up to 50% in the NCsoft Store. Sales are updated every Thursday at noon PST each week during the six week sale celebration.

Happy Anniversary Guild Wars from your friends at ZAM!

ArenaNet unveiled the latest Guild Wars 2 profession today, April 1, and it fits in seamlessly with the game's fantasy setting. The Commando's motto is, "If it bleeds, I can kill it." Considering these one-man armies have fireams, grenades and vehicles at their disposal, it's a safe bet they can destroy their enemies in the blink of an eye.

Head over to the official Commando page to watch skill videos, browse through screenshots and download a couple wallpapers. You can also play a preview of the Commando in the original Guild Wars now!

In response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, NCsoft is donating approximately $6.3 million to the relief effort. According to Senior Executive Sung Joon Park, this amount corresponds to one month of sales.

“We’ll maintain the service with the minimal electricity and personnel," Park added. "Maintaining daily life is also important; therefore, we plan to uphold the service."

If you're interested in making a charitable donation to aid Japan, check out the list of organizations that NCsoft provided after the jump.

ArenaNet recently unveiled the thief and showed off the Norn starting area in Guild Wars 2, but that doesn't mean that the team has forgotten about the original Guild Wars. The latest update adds a ton of content to the game, including the opportunity to explore the new Embark Beach outpost. Here are some of the highlights:

• Seven Hero Parties — Now you can take along seven Heroes in a party instead of three. Players can even outfit their entire party with Mercenary Heroes.
•  Daily Zaishen Vanquishes — Take on a new Zaishen Vanquish quest every day.
• Pre-Searing Daily Quests — New daily quests for those who enjoy adventuring in historic Pre-Searing Ascalon. 
• Minion Panel — With a brand new minion panel, controlling minions just got a whole lot easier.
• Title Changes — Updates to both the Survivor and Drunkard title tracks.
• Online Status — Players can now update their character’s status when they login, allowing players to login as “Online,” “Away,” “Do Not Disturb,” etc.

For more details, check out the dev blog entry by Live Team Lead John Stumme.

In the latest Guild Wars developer update the team outlines some major changes made to the Dervish class. These changes have gone live with the latest update. The devs said:

"We've taken a close look at this profession and determined that it has a lot of unique and interesting mechanics, ranging from avatar skills to enchantments that have end effects. However, these fun and original mechanics are hampered by cast times and long disables, making it hard to utilize this profession to its full potential. To address these problems and make the Dervish a truly great class, we've made major changes to nearly every skill he uses. This may seem overwhelming and confusing at first, but we feel that these changes will make the Dervish a much more enjoyable character to play, while emphasizing the types of skill interactions that defined him to begin with."

For a full list of the changes check out the official post of the Guild Wars site.

The Year of the Rabbit draws near, and the annual Guild Wars Canthan New Year is right around the corner. Starting today, February 3, players can explore the Shing Jea Boardwalk, embark on a variety of festival-themed quests, and visit the wandering Fortune Teller for a glimpse of your destiny.

On Sunday, February 6, the Celestial Rabbit will appear in Shing Jea Monastery every three hours to sample Canthan cuisine. The Rabbit's feast culminates in dancing, fireworks, a shower of gifts, and special prizes for festival-goers, but only if the Rabbit is satisfied with the offerings! Ensure the Rabbit's blessing of good fortune by helping prepare dishes for the feast.

There are many events going on and several special rewards, so head on over to the Guild Wars site for more information and get ready to celebrate in-game!

Wintersday has arrived in Guild Wars! Players can enjoy holiday decorations, special Wintersday treats, PvP snowball fights and all sorts of quests and missions as gods and goddesses fight for control of Wintersday. Two new festive costumes are currently available in the Guild Wars in-game store and the NCsoft store for $9.99.

Wintersday will run through Jan. 3 at noon PST. The grand finale will take place on New Year's Day, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1 and repeating every three hours until 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 2. Don't be surprised if a snowball fight breaks out before the end of the festival! Happy holidays!

Wintersday is fast approaching in Guild Wars. The days are shorter, the nights are colder, and the artwork is a little more festive! Once again, Guild Wars fans are being asked to participate in the Wintersday Art Contest. Sumbit your holiday-themed masterpiece by Dec. 31 for a chance to win some awesome prizes.

Full details on how to subit your art can be found on the Guild Wars official site along with pictures from last year's winners.

The latest installment of Guild Wars Beyond, Hearts of the North, will bring with it the union of two epic heroes. Guild Wars Beyond is an ongoing campaign to help bridge the gap between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. In Hearts of the North, players will have the opportunity to complete a series of missions and quests to reunite Gwen and Keiran Thackeray. Players will even get the chance to play as Kieran himself!

Once wedding bells start ringing, players will prep for the wedding, participate in the ceremony, and even dress for the occasion in one of five new wedding costumes.

So line up your shots and prepare to play Cupid as you help this infamous couple finally tie the knot.

Happy Halloween! The team over at ArenaNet celebrated in style by going to work in some pretty epic costumes. Once you get your hands on Guild Wars 2, you can look back and remember that the game was developed by Beavis, Philip J. Fry, and a pirate.

You can see close-up shots of all the costumes in ArenaNet's Flickr gallery. What are you dressing up as this year?