New API developer

#1 - Aug. 27, 2013, 1:24 p.m.

Hi everyone,_

I’d like to inform you that Cliff has now left ArenaNet to follow a career opportunity that he couldn’t pass. Cliff has been too busy last week to post on the forum, but he wanted to express his gratitude to the API community and tell you that he had lots of fun interacting with all of you. _(update: see his message at the bottom of this post)

But this is not the end of the Guild Wars 2 API, because ArenaNet will continue to expand the API and support its community of developers. In fact, another programmer who’s been working with Cliff long before the transition will be shortly here to take over Cliff’s role on the API Development subforum. So be ensured that it may not be a big change, we in fact have more developers helping with the API behind the scene.

Thanks everyone for your participation to this community.

EDIT: in fact Cliff wanted to share the following with the API community:

_Hi everyone,

As Stephane said, I’m leaving ArenaNet, but I’ve had an incredible time here. I’ve wanted to work on public API since I started here, and I’m really happy that we’ve been able to start releasing them. I’ve been thrilled with the positive response to the APIs, and the community you’ve formed around creating apps. I’ll be eagerly watching to see how both the API and API apps develop in the future. Thanks for your support and enthusiasm while we’ve worked together._

#2 - Aug. 27, 2013, 1:46 p.m.

Hi All,

I’m the new primary developer on Guild Wars 2 APIs. I’m ramping up, but I’ve actually been working behind the scenes with Cliff for a while now. I’ll do my best to minimize any hiccups.

I’ll be active on the forums, answering your questions, and reading feedback and suggestions. So please keep participating and let us know what you think.

My short term goal is to support the existing un-authenticated APIs while working on our new OAuth2-based authenticated APIs.

Thank you for your participation and I look forward to working with you all!

#9 - Aug. 28, 2013, 12:43 p.m.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Hi and welcome Stefan! My question to you: how do you think APIs help improving gameplay? I’m really confused why Anet supports people creating maps which show ongoing events etc. when ingame there is intentionally no way to show these events. I can’t see how this improves the GW2 experience. Can you help me here?

Hi Marcus,

Thanks for the welcome! To answer your question:

In my understanding, comes down to a question of resources and priorities. Sometimes there is information in one part of the system that is expensive to expose in-game in a quality manner. Or perhaps the information is not deemed necessary for typical play, so its priority is reduced. However, it may be relatively simple to expose via an API. This is where 3rd party apps can come in to fill the void. We provide the APIs, and 3rd party apps provide the advanced experience.