Earning Guardian of Cantha — Fifteen Years Later


It turns out my return to Tyria didn’t stop at nostalgia. What started as a simple “let’s see if this still runs on the Steam Deck” somehow turned into a full plunge back into Guild Wars—titles, missions, buildcrafting, and all.

If you missed the first part of this journey, you can read my original post here:

Returning to Tyria – A Moment I Didn’t Expect to Hit This Hard
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That’s where I covered the first spark that pulled me back in before everything below really started to snowball.

Switching Mains After Fifteen Years

Somewhere along the way I realised my Necromancer—my old faithful—wasn’t the one carrying me this time. Instead, it was my Ritualist, originally named Spirits of Evil, still running the exact same Signet of Spirits build I’d left him with more than a decade ago. And somehow, it still worked.

From there I set one clear goal: Guardian of Cantha. I already had Protector from years ago, but Hard Mode was unfinished business.

Diving Into Builds: Discordway, Mesmerway, and… Wovenway?

Discovering the PvX wiki still existed felt like finding a time capsule. Between that and help from chatgpt, I rebuilt my hero team from the ground up. Discordway led me to Mesmerway, and eventually I stitched the two together with my own Ritualist style—what I jokingly call Wovenway.

The final setup:

  • 1 Discord Minion Master
  • 2 N/Rt healers
  • 3 Energy Surge Mesmers
  • 1 Restoration Ritualist (hero)
  • Me, running offensive spirits

Zen Daijun was the first wall. Eternal Grove was the second. But with enough testing—and a lot of stubbornness—the team broke through both.

Guardian of Cantha Achieved

Raisu Palace fell, and with it came the achievement I’d been chasing since the mid-2000s.

A New Name, A New Look

To mark the achievement, I gave my Ritualist a new identity: The Soulwoven. The name clicked immediately—something that sounded like an NPC title, or a boss you’d find lurking in the Underworld.

I recoloured his armor in a blue-green mix to match spirit animations, and honestly? It suits him far better than anything he’s worn before.

What Comes Next?

Right now, I’m upgrading hero armor. Gwen, Livia, and Xandra are already wearing Brotherhood sets; the rest of the roster is still on the to-do list. When that’s done, The Soulwoven has his eyes on two places:

  • The Fissure of Woe
  • The Underworld

I’ve been doing test runs, but nothing concrete yet. Which direction he goes first… well, that’s something future me will decide.

Returning to Tyria – A Moment I Didn’t Expect to Hit This Hard


I found out a few days ago that Guild Wars Reforged is coming out soon.
Updated UI. Steam Deck support pending. All campaigns bundled.
And the line that hooked me: existing players keep all their progress.

That was all it took.

I needed to know if my original account still existed.
If my characters were still there.
If anything I did almost twenty years ago survived.

So I turned the Steam Deck into a tiny PC again.
Installed Lutris.
Pulled down the old Guild Wars client.
Ran the full -image download.
Waited.
Then held my breath at the login screen.

And it worked.

Every character I made loaded instantly.
Nightmare Venom.
Spirits of Evil.
I Evil Arrow I.
All exactly where I left them.

Then I opened my friend list.

Every name hit me harder than I expected.
These were people I grouped with, explored with, wiped with, laughed with.
People I haven’t seen online in almost two decades.
Most of them probably don’t play anymore.
A few might not even remember Guild Wars at all.

But seeing that list again reminded me what this game meant to me.

So if anyone from that list ever finds this blog — even by pure accident — thank you for being part of my journey back then. You left more of a mark than you probably realise.

And if you do recognise me, please don’t mention my real name. Online names are more than enough here.
If you remember me and want to say hello, feel free to drop me an email at survivorincognito@gmail.com.

Guild Wars Reforged releases soon.
And for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’ve come home.

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