Getting Ready for Guild Wars 2: Required Reading

Now that we've entered the final countdown to Guild Wars 2's release, it's time to start thinking through your plans for launch (and headstart.) And I've found a few great resources to help you get started…

Planning Your Cash Shop Spend

• Psynister's Gem Store Conversions Spreadsheet. Hot off the twitter presses this morning, @psynister has created a Google docs spreadsheet showing the gem store stock and prices in gems (and translated into cash) for the various perks and cosmetic options we can purchase when the game goes live.
• Guild Wars 2 Mini Pets list. A great place to start making your wish list of mini pets.

Picking Your Profession

• Guild Wars 2 Hub's Profession Guides. Nice overview of each profession's playstyle, list of weapons you can use, and tips for each class.  
• GW2DB Skills list. Now, if you want to start getting into the nitty gritty of the skills available to your profession with each weapon, you'll want to spend some time poking around Zam's database. Here's the elementalist skills list as an example.

Crafting

• The official wiki is your best source for accurate and comprehensive crafting information. You can get an overview of crafting and then dive in to detailed crafting materials information.
• IGN's GW2 Wiki has a nice crafting section, including recommendations for which professions are best suited to which crafting skills.

And after today's stress test, I'll be back soon with my getting started guide…