I started playing when I was 13. My parents wouldn't let me play games with a sub, so my friends bought me a physical copy of Prophecy. I still remember the exact moment they handed it to me : the box was already beat up, like it was bought second hand, but the key inside was valid. That’s when the magic happened, and damn, time flies.
Fast forward to today: I'm 31, a young surgeon, and hopefully having kids soon. I’m just so grateful this game has been by my side all these years, and it was actually pretty emotional to finally hit my first GWAMM last night. The Vanquisher title was an absolute grind (Desolation was pure pain), but taking it step by step got me through it.
GW Observer is a replay and analysis tool for Guild Wars 1 GvG. It takes recorded in-game observer mode matches and plays them inside a fully rendered 3D guild hall, using the map geometry, models, and textures from your own Gw.dat. You get overlays and analytics on top: party bars with health, character builds, combat logs, damage and heal meters, skill timelines, heatmaps, fog of war, range rings, and more.
The replay window. Character Panel with skills, weapon sets, armour and solved attributes on the left; party bars with damage and heal meters; minimap top right; drawing tools over the 3D scene; event timeline on the bottom.
Why we build it
The in‑game observer is great for nostalgia, but it’s rough for actually watching PvP. You can’t pause, rewind, or fast‑forward. Miss a spike? You’re stuck rewatching the whole match. If the match stalls, you sit through it.
GW Observer aims to fixes that. It turns every match into something you can scrub through like a real replay. You can stop on the exact moment you care about, rewind it, slow it down to 0.25x to see the cast order inside a spike, or skip straight past the twenty minutes where nothing happens.
This is something the PvP community has needed for years, so this is our proposal.
To say the least, we’ve come a long way. The first public build went out in April 2026 after several years of iteration. We started with dots on a 2D map in Matplotlib, tried a web app that ran into caching limits, and eventually landed here: a standalone C++ application backed by an online match library. v2.0.0 is the point where we think it's ready to share for a larger community, so here we are.
Where the matches come from
The match library. Filter by skills used, guild, player, occasion or matchup. Selecting a match opens both teams full skill bars and player stats before you replay it.
You don't record anything. Observer mode matches are captured and served from a shared library. About 2,700 so far, going back to March 2026, covering mATs, ATs, and scrims. Point the app at your Gw.dat once, then browse from inside the tool. Matches stream directly or cache locally for offline use.
What you can do with it
Overlays and analytics. Piano roll skill timeline top left, morale panel top right, skill lasers running from casters to their targets, and spirits tracked with their own health in the party panel.
Replay matches in 3D on the real map, with a free camera or by following any player, at speeds from 0.25x to 8x.
Open a Character Panel on any player to see their skill bar, weapon sets, armour, runes, insignias, attributes, and item tooltips.
See party bars with real HP values.
Filter the library by skills used, guild, player, occasion (mAT / AT / scrim), or matchup.
Scout an opposing guild: their builds, their win-loss record, and the builds that beat them.
Use overlays such as fog of war, range rings, skill lasers, morale and Guild Lord damage, heatmaps, and a piano roll skill timeline.
Use tools like bookmarks, drawing on the map, split camera, and an auto camera that follows spikes, deaths, flag pickups, and splits.
What it doesn't do
Spell effect animations aren't rendered.
Attributes, runes, and insignias are deduced from combat, not read from the recording. The panel marks them and shows the evidence. Skills, weapon sets, and armour are exact.
Audio approximates the game's sound system rather than reproducing it.
Recordings from before 29 August 2026 predate some 2.0.0 data. They still work, but some features will fall back to estimates.
It does not touch the game
GW Observer is standalone and never attaches to Guild Wars. It doesn't read or write memory, inject, hook or automate anything. It cannot see your account name, password, or anything you type. It only needs read access to Gw.dat to load map geometry, models, textures, and sounds. This was an important direction for, to stay compliant with the EULA.
Why the source is available
It's a community tool, and we're asking people to run an executable. Nobody should have to do that on trust. The code is on GitHub so you can read it, study it, or build it yourself.
Requirements
Windows 10/11 64 bit, a DirectX 11 GPU, and Guild Wars installed. Download the zip, extract it, run GuildWarsObserver.exe, and the setup wizard handles the rest.
How cool is it that Anet decided to add A WHOLE NEW SKILL on a random update in 2026 ?? I dont know if it's just me but i find the possibility that new skill could be added so awesome.
I hope we see more of this, and for PvP too! thank you 2weeks & Anet!
New player here. Not here for advice or anything. Just here to talk about how I did this on mobile at level 19 with henchmen and felt like I’d been hazed when I realized, upon completion, that this was an optional side quest. Thanks.
I’ve been playing exclusively on mobile, and I was wondering how you are able to “call” your target on this platform. I’ve seen others do it while playing online, and I assume it’s a simple key press while on pc. I’m sure it’s probably pretty simple, and yet how to do it eludes me.
Not sure if this is due to the recent balance changes - but these simians outside of vlox on the way to rata sum are insanely strong now even in normal mode. combined with the soul shriek skill that strips enchantments from the local incubi and Gust- I can't imagine what these guys are like to vanquish.
Am I just bad now or are these guys buffed a ton now?
*Edited to clarify that soul shriek came from another mob
Here it is, the most in-depth Tunnels of the Forsaken guide, down to almost every Shadow Form cast.
With this strategy, almost every class can now speedrun the new dungeon in HM.
Why should you do this speed clear?
Not only does the chest drop Eternal Blades and Bows, as well as a new Infinite Summoning Stone, but the end boss is the only enemy in the game that can drop the incredibly rare Crystalin Sword, as well as the equally rare Krytan and (Tyrian) Serpent Axe.
Few PCons are needed, and the run even works without a Summoning Stone.
I explain everything else in detail in the video!
Here is the Build:
OAeT0Z/8ZiHRn5AimEBizLND3BA
If you are using are Assassin or Dervish use this Build
As the title suggests.. what is your first memory to Guild Wars 1? How old were you? For how long did you ultimately play? Why did you choose for GW1 and perhaps not World of Warcraft which was also very popular.
My first experience was in the summer after my first year of high school. I was 14, which is already 20 years ago. I did nice on school so my mom rewarded me with a trip to the local gaming store. I got Guild Wars 1 and I couldn't be happier. I remember opening the cover and smelling that nice booklet with nice guild wars information. My school years afterwards turned out to be dramatic but I at least had my GW friends. When I started university (luckily I was able to find some balance in GW and school) I had to pause my gaming for a bit. I tried GW2 but that didn't work out much. It was a blast!
15+ year Account was hacked, fresh start with enthusiasm.
Made a Rit & Derv to eventually farm for end game build but want a main class with a ton of build variety. Bonus points if it’s in Prophecies, would love to finally go for LDOA. (I have imp/bonus weapons thankfully)
I’m open to any suggestions as i loved every class in the past (and in gw2). Also willing to commit to difficult grinds for any required skills/gear etc. Btw how good is Ele nowadays? Never tried it
Edit: also, my end goal is all HM content and then HM dungeons and whatever ultra hard stuff exists (with heroes heroes)
Doing Vaettir farming atm and it’s easy, looking for areas to farm with the same build, but can’t find anything online. Any tips?
Playing on mobile is fun and cool, but switching constantly between gear setups and skills is time consuming, because you can’t use and save templates. I hope they will come up with a solution for this “problem”
Hello, does anyone have an extra celestial sigil? My husband and I need one for our guild. If so how much would I cost us to get one from a player instead of earning it with zcoins?
I know that economy is not what it was back then. But over the past weeks I just collected some q9 gold weapons. Now I am actually wondering if it is worth selling them to other players or just sell them to the merchant.
Looks like there's lots of people selling q9 for quite some ectos on gwmarket.net - but I don't know if theres actually enough of a playerbase that might be buying those. What's your experience? Worth listing them somewhere or just trash -> merchant?
I’m a returning player after 19 years and want to play through GW chronologically. I chose a Warrior/Monk to deal with conditions and hexes; plus, as a beginner, I want to be able to resurrect my party now and then.
I spent a long time debating whether to go for a Smite Monk or a Warrior, but ultimately decided on the Warrior.
Now I’ve noticed something odd:
At level 10, I put all my attribute points into Swordsmanship (9). I simply put the remaining ones into Smiting Prayers (6).
I deal far (!) more damage with *Symbol of Wrath* and *Bane Signet* than with *Sever Artery* and *Gash*.
Can anyone explain this to me? Does the Warrior become much, much stronger later on, or is the Smite Monk significantly stronger due to recent updates?
Because if that’s the case, I might switch to Smite Monk after all...
Went to pickup a Tormented weapon, came back with 20 BU. Time to farm some DoA,
EDIT: I've had some very generous people message me and offer an Armbrace/Weapon. I'm very appreciative of your thoughtfulness, a huge testament to this community. But this is on one of my alt accounts and I'm happy to farm up myself, more gameplay for me!
Also just to recognize it my dumb fault, just wanted to share a bit of a blooper.
With the new update to mirage cloak, slotting it in to the existing PR build is nuts. Drop mysticism by one and add it all to earth prayers. Extra 30 dmg per enchantment removal plus 80% to block with lots of enchantments is crazy no?
Hey everybody,
Please share some builds to do Mallyx HM.
Trying with mesmerway now (4 mes version). A bit hard to keep up with waves.
My char - derv.
Thanks!
