Guild Wars Factions Championship

The Guild Wars Factions Championship (GWFC) is a series of tournament events sponsored by ArenaNet. Guilds from all territories participate by playing GvG-Battles followed by special seasonal play-off events and the World Championship Finals.

Format
There will be three qualifying seasons:


 * March 7, 2006 – April 3, 2006
 * April 18, 2006 – May 15, 2006
 * May 30, 2006 – June 26, 2006

Each season begins with a reset of the guild ladder. At the end of each qualifying season, the top 16 highest ranking guilds worldwide will be invited to the Seasonal Play-Offs. These teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament. Guilds will earn GWFC Points based upon their final position in each seasonal play-off. Additionally, the 1st and 2nd highest ranking guilds in each territory will receive bonus points.

After the last qualifying season, the top five guilds with the highest GWFC Point total (with a maximum of two guilds from any specific territory) will have earned an invitation to compete in the Guild Wars Factions World Championship Finals. In the case of a tie, single elimination tie breaker matches will determine the five guilds that will earn an invitation.

The 6th and final invitation to the World Championship Finals will be awarded to the winner of the GWFC Open tournament event. To this end, on July 7, 2006, the guild ladder will reset again. For the following 72 hours all guilds may compete in randomly paired single-game matches to increase their rank. On July 10, 2006, the top ranking eligible guild which has not yet qualified to the World Championship Finals will earn the remaining 6th invitation.

The World Championship Finals will take place from August 24 to August 27 during the GC Games Convention 2006 in Leipzig, Germany.

GWFC Points
Each Seasonal Play-Off will offer GWFC Points to the top 16 guilds of the guild ladder. The amount of points gained follows the chart below:

The two highest ranked guilds on the guild ladder from each territory will earn the additional number of GWFC points shown below:

Prizes
There will be a total of 100.000 USD prize money for the participants of the Guild Wars Factions World Championship.


 * First place: 50,000 USD
 * Second place: 25,000 USD
 * Third and Fourth place: 10,000 USD
 * Fifth and Sixth place: 2,500 USD

In addition to the GWFC Points, there are in-game rewards given to the guilds competing in the seasonal play-offs as well. Guilds who finish 2nd to 16th will win a special silver trim upgrade for their members guild cape which will last until the end of the following season. The winner of the seasonal play-off will win a permanent golden trim upgrade which will make them recognizable as champions as long as the guild exists.

Other additional prizes may be offered.

Seasonal Final
As a special prize, the winner of the first seasonal play-offs will be invited to be a part of the Guild Wars presence at the 2006 E3 Conference. There the guild will be paid to play Guild Wars live onstage in the NCsoft booth.

Seasonal Final
As special prize for this season, ArenaNet offers the members of the winning guild the opportunity to help redesign, update and personalize the premade PvP builds.

GWFC Point final standing
GWFC Point final standing after the third seasonal play-offs.

(*) = ranking order due to tie-breaker match

Tie-Breaker
Despite the fact that Sacrament Of The Waooru [SotW] won the tie-breaker match, the guild declined their invitation to the World Championship Finals in favor of Treacherous Empire [Te]. See the news fom July 14th, 2006, for the full story.

GWFC Open
The top ten participants of the GWFC Open event from July 7th to July 10th, 2006.

World Championship Finals
The top five teams were seeded by their final GWFC Point ranking. The sixth seed in the finals was reserved for the winner of the Open Event. GWFC Points were irrelevent in determining this slot.

The placement of the 3rd and 4th was decided in a tie-breaker match.

Quarter-Finals
The two highest-seeded guilds received a bye during this round.

Finale
