Here we are again, a new issue also means a new look at someone that attributes to the Guild Wars Community. This time I ended up talking with Rubi from Massively, whom is arguably one of the more known Guild Wars fans around and has contributed quite a few interesting articles, like her regular series 'Flameseeker Chronicles.' Next to her work over at Massively, she is also the co-host on Guildcast, a Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2 podcast. Let's get started!

Dutch Sunshine: Hey Rubi, how are you today?

Rubi: Pretty well. I'm technically "off work" as of right now, so I'm ready to relax for a bit!

Dutch: Oh, so I'm actually interfering with your free time then! Hope you don't mind if I continue though... tell us a bit about yourself if you want!

Rubi: Haha! Nope, you're all good. Well, I'm a wife, mom, gamer, writer and community manager. Usually sort of all at the same time. Guild Wars is what introduced me to gaming, but I've branched out quite a bit since then—although I've kept my strong penchant for fantasy titles. I've been at Massively for going on two years now.

Dutch: That's a handfull of tasks you got there, how do you combine them all together?

Rubi: I'm fortunate in that my job allows me to work remotely, which means my "office" isn't so much an office as it is "small corner of my bedroom." There's a lot of juggling multiple tasks at once and running back and forth to handle things as they come up.

Dutch: Oh okay, that seems like a nice job you got there. Could you perhaps tell us some more about your job at Massively?

Rubi: Well, let's see. My tasks have changed a lot over the past year or so, but currently it's pretty varied. I of course write Flameseeker Chronicles, the weekly Guild Wars / Guild Wars 2 column, and handle most of the related news. Aside from that my Community Manager duties include arranging and setting up all of our contests and giveaways, maintaining our forums, interacting with the community, and making the best use of our social media outlets.

I also write One Shots—a daily reader-submitted screenshot feature, Betawatch—a weekly roundup of games in beta, Global Chat—a weekly roundup of exceptional reader comments, and MV Guide—a weekly Livestreaming in which I help out with the program and schedule.

Dutch: Woah, that's a load of work, and from what I know, you also co-host a Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2 related podcast, right?

Rubi: Yep! Shawn has been the host of Guildcast since about 5 years ago, and when the show came off of hiatus a little over a year ago, he brought me on as co-host.

Guildcast obviously had a Guild Wars focus in its first iteration, but when the Guild Wars 2 news started really ramping up in the spring of 2010, Shawn was ready to bring it out of storage and he needed a co-host. We've always had a pretty good rapport—I am also his co-host for the weekly Massively Speaking podcast, so our gaming talk flows very well.

We've gone to a somewhat lighter schedule right now for several reasons—Shawn's getting married this Sunday and he's been up to his ears in wedding plans. May is always a busy month for me because of so many family obligations. Then we will both be attending E3 next week. As soon as Shawn returns from E3, he'll be off on his honeymoon, then I'm on vacation, then convention season really kicks into high gear. Something had to give, so we scaled back to a semi-weekly schedule for now. But we love doing it so much, I think we're both really looking forward to jumping back in full steam when we can.

Dutch: Seeing all your appointments, that's indeed one busy schedule. Speaking about Guild Wars, what is your most favorite thing about Guild Wars and what's your most favorite announced feature of Guild Wars 2?

Rubi: My favorite thing about Guild Wars. That's an easy one—my guild! I've been in the same guild for almost three years, and we truly are like a big family. It's incredibly sappy, but we've been there for one another through some hard times, encouraged one another through the good stuff, and done about everything in Guild Wars that you can think of together. In fact, my guild mates were some of my biggest cheerleaders when I applied for the job at Massively. They cheered me on, held my hand (virtually speaking) through the excruciating wait to hear if I was hired or not, and jumped up and down screaming with me when I *was* hired. I love them.

As far as the announced features of Guild Wars 2—wow, that's harder! It all looks so great! Let me think.

I'm going to have to say the open world. As my previous answer probably indicated, I'm a really social player, and I love the thought of exploring this beautiful new world with the people around me. I want to see *everything*!

Dutch: That's probably going to take you a long time, but hey, it's a nice goal! So you'd like to explore the world right? But is that also the first thing you'll do when you start up your own copy of Guild Wars 2, when it releases?

Rubi: Yeah, that's one of the first things I want to do. Once I get out of character creation, anyway! I plan to start with a human character and explore Divinity's Reach. I wanted to see more of it at PAX Prime last year, but I just didn't have enough time in the demo. Then and there I knew I wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the city at the first opportunity.

Dutch: Ok so, if you had to support new bloggers that want to start up a fansite, what would you advise them to do?

Rubi: I talked about this a while back in a Flameseeker Chronicles column. Take it slow. Focus on quality and the learning process, and make sure you're keeping a focus on providing a service to the community for love of the game, not on making a name for yourself. Recognize that you're part of a whole, rather than the one and only. I watched a fansite/blog fade out and die a while back because... the owner didn't do any of that, and it annoyed people.

Dutch: That seems like good advice. For yourself, what has been the best experience as a blogger yourself?

Rubi: My best experience? Does getting to do it as my career count? LOL. Seriously, the best experience for me is knowing that my hard work earned me a reputation as someone knowledgeable within the community. I'm so proud of that, because I worked a lot of hours for it over the past few years, and I hope to keep deserving it.

Dutch: Okay so, this is it already, thanks for being on this interview and I'll keep looking forward to your articles, as will others!

Rubi: Thank you! Thanks for having me!

The unofficial Guild Wars magazine.