Guild Wars 2 takes place in Tyria, which feels like a living, breathing world thanks to the hard work of the team at ArenaNet! Players love it for the engaging events that encourage players to work together, consitently adventurring to new parts of Tyria, and the ongoing story that has been coming out slowly, over the course of years.
To further bring this world to life, Guild Wars 2 includes a number of festivals that take place over the course of the year. Some part of the world is changed to include special events, currencies, and NPCs! Many of them correlate to real-world events, so that players can bring their enthusiasm into the game world.
6 Lunar New Year
- When: January or February (corresponds with the Chinese New Year)
- Where: Crown Pavillion, Divinity's Reach
The Lunar New Year is the first event of the year! It takes place during January/February and is inspired by Chinese New Year celebrations and traditions. In the lore, it marks the start of the Canthan New Year. The associated Celestial Animal is said to watch over Tyria for the upcoming year.
The in-game celebrations involve playing special games, setting off fireworks, and earning and opening Lucky Envelopes. The real attraction, though, is the Dragon Ball arena, where you play something akin to dodgeball with other players.
5 Super Adventure Festival
- When: Early April - Early May
- Where: Creator's Commons, Rata Sum
The Super Adventure Festival is a goofy occasion when players can enter a special, pixilated dungeon that involves platform challenges and retro-style enemies and NPCs. It was originally created as a joke for April Fools' Day in 2013, but has stuck around ever since!
The Super Adventure Box is a dungeon like the others in Guild Wars, besides the fact that it only happens once a year. You can run it solo or in groups. There are various zones, a hardcore mode, and a special race! Like the other dungeons, there are also lots of achievements.
4 Dragon Bash
- When: Early June - Early July
- Where: Hoelbrak
The Dragon Bash is a festival that celebrates the world's victories against Elder Dragons! It occurs in Hoelbrak, the norn home city, every year. It the lore, it took place for the first time after Zhaitan was defeated. That one actually took place in Lion's Arch, but it moved to Hoelbrak in 2019.
The activities celebrated during the event are all very boisterous (as to be expected, considering it's held by the norn). You can do things all over Hoelbrak, and many of the events involve holograms of the Elder Dragons you know and love! There are races to bet on, piñatas to beat, combat challenges to win, and more.
3 Festival Of The Four Winds
- When: July - August
- Where: The Crown Pavilion, Divinity's Reach & Labyrinthine Cliffs
The Festival of the Four Winds is hosted by the Zephyrites, a primarily human organization of nomads who travel around Tyria in airships. It's actually a combination of two events that occured in 2013: the Bazaar of the Four Winds and the Queen's Jubilee.
The events in the Labyrinthine Cliffs will be familiar if you've spent much time in the Dry Top map. Treasure hunts, races, fun with crystals, all that good stuff. Meanwhile, in Divinity's Reach, Queen Jennah hosts some special events to test your combat abilities.
2 Halloween
- When: Mid-October - Early November
- Where: Grand Piazza, Lion's Arch
The festival of Halloween is inspired by the holiday of the same name on Earth! Guild Wars has an otherworldly place called the Mists, and one part of the Mists is the Underworld: a place, ruled by Grenth and Raven, where everyone goes right after death, where they are then sent to their permanent place within the Mists. The Underworld is divided into realms, one of which is ruled by the Mad King Thorn.
During Halloween, the real world and the Underworld are very close; magical portals can send dangerous creatures to Tyria, and players can enter the Mad King's realm to access a bunch of special activities.
1 Wintersday
- When: Mid-December - Early January
- Where: The Crown Pavilion, Divinity's Reach
Like Lunar New Year, Wintersday is also a celebration of a changing year! Only, while the Lunar New Year celebrates using the Canthan calendar, the Wintersday is the Tyrian New Year based on the Mouvelian calendar. It's inspired by Christmas traditons from Earth, so there are lots of pine trees, wrapped boxes, snow, jingle bells, and a Santa character: the Toymaker!
There are tons of activities to participate in for Wintersday, like a special instance where you have to barricade yourself against rampaging toys, a jumping puzzle, and snowball fights (among others). Plus, if you're into it, players host a "Secret Toymaker" event - basically, like Secret Santa, you get a random gift from another player, and you send a random gift!