Events Eligibility

• All Guild Wars players and guilds who meet the eligibility requirements set forth herein are eligible to compete in this online tournament series. All Guild Wars guilds are eligible to compete in the 2008 Tournament Series championships except those that include employees or contractors of NCsoft or ArenaNet, their respective subsidiaries or affiliates, their advertising or promotion agencies, those who are domiciled with any such person, or those who have been disqualified for other reasons (see below). This is a skill-based tournament based on each guild's or individual's ability to defeat other guilds or individuals.
   
• • Individuals and guilds will be disqualified if they are banned from the game for any reason, including—without limitation—a violation of the Guild Wars User Agreement. If individual guild members are disqualified, the guild may also be disqualified.
   
• ArenaNet reserves the right to reschedule and/or restart games and matches as needed. Such decisions will be announced and executed only by official ArenaNet personnel.
   
• ArenaNet reserves the right to suspend or revoke a player's account without prior notice for any reason deemed necessary.
   

Notes

• All Guild Wars Universal Tournament Rules are in effect for this event unless specifically overruled by information in these 2008 Tournament Series Rules.

To be eligible to participate in a month-end championship, the following requirements must be met:

• As of the first of each month, the player must be age 16 or older. A player under the age of 18 will be required to provide notarized written consent of a parent or legal guardian to receive prizes as described below. In addition, the player must have Internet access as well as access to a personal computer.
   
• Players receiving real world prizes must execute the following: A Publicity Release, a Liability Release, and a Declaration of Eligibility. For a player under the age of 18, a parent or guardian must execute the Declaration and Releases in addition to the player.
   
• Player must be a Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions^TM, or Guild Wars Nightfall^TM account holder in good standing and in compliance with the Guild Wars User Agreement.
   
• Player must comply at all times with the Guild Wars 2008 Tournament Series Rules and the Universal Guild Wars Tournament Rules.Test Tournaments
• ArenaNet reserves the right to run live "test" tournaments as needed to test functionality of the Automated Tournament System.
   
• These test tournaments may be scheduled at any time.
   
• Participants in these test tournaments must understand that these tournaments might not run using the standard rules, could end at any time, and do not guarantee receipt of QP or TRP.
   
• These test tournaments will be scheduled at various times in addition to the existing AT daily schedule and will not have an entrance fee.
   

DAILY AUTOMATED TOURNAMENTS

Guild Participation

• For a team to be eligible, at least four (4) of the eight (8) members of a guild's team in a daily GvG automated tournament must have been a member of that guild for fourteen (14) days prior to the start of the tournament. The other four (4) players on the team can be guild members, guests, Heroes, or henchmen.
   
• Teams may have different guild members or players compete in subsequent rounds but the same rule listed above applies. Only the eight (8) guild members who competed in the first round will collect any earned Tournament Reward Points.
   
• A guild must have at least four (4) human players available to play during a match (in which case they may also use four (4) computer-controlled henchmen or Heroes). If a guild is unable to field at least four (4) human players, then that guild forfeits the battle.
   
• Any guild officer can register a guild for an automated tournament using the Guild Battle button and selecting the Register for Tournament option from the list of possible guild battle types. Five (5) tournament tokens will be deducted from the inventory of the officer who is registering for the tournament.
   
• Each tournament token costs 1,000 Balthazar faction points. You may purchase these tournament tokens from the Tournament NPC who appears in every guild hall as well as in the Great Temple of Balthazar and the Hero Battles arena.
   
• The map rotation for GvG games will be in this order: Isle of Weeping Stone, Warrior's Isle, Druid's Isle, Frozen Isle, Imperial Isle, and Burning Isle.
   

1v1 Participation

• Individuals interested in participating in a daily 1v1 automated tournament must have registered their accounts with a Tournament NPC (found in guild halls, the Hero Battles arena, and the Great Temple of Balthazar).
   
• To register your account, simply select one of your character names. This name identifies your account in the ladder and in tournaments. You may change this name once every 30 days.
   
• To register for an automated tournament, use the Hero Battle button (only available in the Hero Battles arena) and select the Register for Tournament option from the list of possible Hero Battle types. One (1) tournament token will be deducted from your inventory.
   
• Each tournament token costs 1,000 Balthazar faction points. You may purchase these tournament tokens from the Tournament NPC who appears in every guild hall as well as in the Great Temple of Balthazar and the Hero Battles arena.
   
• The map rotation for 1v1 games will be in this order: The Crossing, Bombardment, The Beachhead, and Desert Sands.
   

MONTHLY AUTOMATED TOURNAMENTS

Guild Participation

• At least six (6) of the eight (8) members of a guild's team in a monthly GvG automated tournament must have been a member of that guild for at least fourteen (14) full days prior to the announced start time of that tournament in order for the guild to compete. The other two (2) members of the team must be members of that guild but do not have to meet the fourteen (14) day requirement.
   
• Guilds may have different players compete in subsequent rounds but the same rule listed above applies. Only the eight (8) guild members who competed in the first round will collect any earned Tournament Reward Points.
   
• A guild must have at least six (6) human players available to play during a match (in which case the guild may also use two (2) computer-controlled henchmen or Heroes). If a guild is unable to field at least six (6) human players, then that guild forfeits the battle.
   
• Any guild officer can register a guild for an automated tournament using the Guild Battle button and selecting the Register for Tournament option from the list of possible guild battle types. Five (5) tournament tokens will be deducted from the inventory of the officer who is registering the guild in the tournament.
   
• Each tournament token costs 1,000 Balthazar faction points. You may purchase these tournament tokens from the Tournament NPC who appears in every guild hall as well as in the Great Temple of Balthazar and the Hero Battles arena.
   

1v1 Participation

• The same rules and restrictions apply as in the daily 1v1 Tournaments.
   

Season Structure

• Each month of the 2008 Tournament Series is a "season". The seasons consist of a number of daily Swiss competition-based tournaments in which guilds (for GvG) or individuals (for 1v1) can participate. The number of registered participants determines the number of rounds for each tournament.
   
• The K rating for Daily Automated Tournaments is 25. See Appendix B — Elo Ratings.
   
• Automated GvG tournaments have a maximum of 32 participating guilds per event, with a maximum of five (5) rounds of Swiss competition.
   
• Automated 1v1 tournaments have a maximum of 128 participants per event, with a maximum of seven (7) rounds of Swiss competition.
   
• When more than 32 guilds or 128 individuals register for a specific automated tournament, additional copies of that tournament are created. Each copy has a minimum number of participants: eight (8) for 1v1 and five (5) for GvG. The copies have no more than the previously stated maximums. Thus it is possible, with a large number of participants, for several copies of a tournament to run simultaneously.
   
• Each tournament and its copies offer the same prize opportunities.
   
• The rounds of Swiss competition for each tournament take place consecutively one after another until a tournament ends. A list showing the tournament standings and the pairings for the upcoming round is available in-game for participants and fans to see.
   
• All rounds are single battle matches.
   
• Each round ends with one participant as the winner. In the event that a GvG match lasts to the time limit without a clear winner, the team whose Guild Lord has the higher current Health will be declared the winner of the match.
   
• For all automated tournaments (GvG and 1v1), all participants are randomly seeded for the first round.
   
• Each subsequent Swiss round pairs participants randomly against opponents with matching win/loss records.
   
• Participants who forfeit a match for any reason are dropped from the remainder of the automated tournament. They still collect all prizes or rewards they have already earned.
   
• At the end of the rounds of Swiss competition for each tournament, all participants may earn Tournament Reward Points (TRPs) and/or qualifier points (QPs) based upon their final rank in the tournament. In the event of any ties, these tie-breakers are used in the following order to determine final standings: match points earned, opponent's match-win percentage, and tournament ladder rank (captured at the start of the tournament). See Appendix A — Match Scoring and Tie Breakers.
   
• At the end of each season, all guilds and individuals who have earned sufficient QPs are invited to participate in the appropriate end-of-season championship.