Last week, ArenaNet threw a small stress test party for those who could make it. It's the devs' way of saying, "Yeah, we're ready. Let's DO this thing!" In our latest Guild Wars 2 column, we share our thoughts about the stress test and the exciting notion that our obsession is just around the corner! Read on!

A stress test is pretty simple. Players try to log into the game, and stress the servers to help a developer figure out how to make everyone’s connection better. ArenaNet has used a few before, and we have seen some improvements to the game with each passing event. Even if you don’t notice a performance improvement, you should have noticed an improvement in connectivity. I remember the first BEW, and it was a lot of fun, but the game would disconnect every once in a while. It was the first public beta, so this actually wasn’t too surprising. Then a stress test came and it removed a lot of “stress” from the next BEW. The process continued for a few months and each beta ran smoother than the last.

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Getting Ready!

Petting my receipt to the Collectors Edition while I wait isn’t creepy at all.