This season of competitive Guild-versus-Guild play culminates with a Swiss tournament that offers guilds a chance to win copies of Guild Wars Nightfall and other in-game prizes.

Events Eligibility

• All Guild Wars® guilds are eligible to compete in the "Autumn Ladder Season" except those that include employees or contractors of NCsoft, ArenaNet, or each of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates or their advertising or promotion agencies, or those who are domiciled with any such person, or those who have been disqualified for other reasons (see below).
• Guilds will be disqualified if they play a rated ladder game with any team member (guild member or guest) who is an employee or contractor of NCsoft, ArenaNet, or each of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates or their advertising or promotion agencies, or is domiciled with any such person.
• Guilds will be disqualified if they engage in ladder abuse, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, or if they are banned from the game for any reason, including without limitation a violation of the Guild Wars User Agreement. If individual players are disqualified, the guild may also be disqualified.
• The top 16 eligible registered guilds worldwide, according to their final ladder ranking at the end of the season, will be invited to participate in season-ending playoffs to determine the final event results.

 Notes

• All Guild Wars Universal Tournament Rules are in effect for this event unless specifically overruled by information in Autumn Ladder Season Rules.
• Guilds may switch players or switch or modify characters on their single, tournament-qualified game account between matches or after a restart, as long as they are ready to start on time. During the season-ending tournament, each player may only use characters from the one game account eligible to compete for the guild.
• Guilds participating in the "Autumn Ladder Season" must provide a Tournament Roster of ten players to ArenaNet via email (and ArenaNet must have received such email) by October 18, 2006 08:00 (a.m.) GMT. The roster must include the following information: player's full name, mailing address, birth date, telephone number, email address, and a single account (user) name (not character name). This information is subject to ArenaNet's Privacy Policy.

 To be eligible for any tournament roster, the following requirements must be met:

• Player must be a Guild Wars or Guild Wars Factions account holder in good standing and in compliance with the Guild Wars User Agreement.
• Any player found to have changed guilds during that season will be disqualified and will cause his or her guild to be disqualified from participating in the playoffs. These guild members must have been continuous members in that guild during the four weeks of that season (17:00 GMT September 14 through 17:00 GMT October 16).
• If a qualified guild does not provide a valid Tournament Roster or is otherwise unable to participate in the season ending tournament, ArenaNet may, at its discretion, invite another guild to participate in it.

 Guild Registration

• Any guild that wishes to potentially participate in the "Autumn Ladder Season" playoffs MUST register their guild tournament roster with ArenaNet by 17:00 GMT October 18, 2006.
• Registration consists of submitting (and ArenaNet receiving) a tournament roster of ten members of that guild to tournament@arena.net. These ten guild members must have been continuous members in that guild during the four weeks of that season (17:00 GMT September 14 through 17:00 GMT October 16).
•  At least six players on the tournament roster must be residents of the region for which the guild is competing. Players who live in North, Central and South America are considered residents of the American Region. Players who live in a European country or Russia are considered residents of the European Region. Players who live in Korea are considered residents of the Korean Region. Players who live in Japan are considered residents of the Japanese Region. Players who live in Taiwan, Macau, or Hong Kong are considered residents of the Taiwanese Region. Players who live in areas of the world not currently serviced by a Guild Wars region, and not expressly mentioned above, may choose to qualify as residents of either the American or European Region. 
• Each member on this season roster must send in the following information:

• Name
• Mailing Address
• Email address
• Phone number
• Date of Birth
• Character names on their account

• Only players (and accounts) on a guild's tournament roster may participate in the season ending playoffs.
  

 Event Structure

• The "Autumn Ladder Season" will start with a reset of the Guild Wars Tournament Ladder; all guilds will then start with a rating of 1000.
• During the four weeks leading up to the season ending playoffs, guilds will be able to compete against randomly paired (but weighted based upon ratings) guilds in single-game match play.
• During the season ending playoffs, the top 16 eligible rated guilds will compete in a four-round Swiss tournament (1st round pairings based upon tournament ladder rating). Matches will consist of one battle on a set map.

 Event Schedule

• The "Autumn Ladder Season" begins at 17:00 GMT on September 14, 2006 and ends at 17:00 GMT on October 16.
• The season-ending playoffs will take place on October 21, 2006 starting at 18:00 GMT and run for approximately 5-6 hours.

 Season-Ending Playoff Structure

• For the "Autumn Ladder Season" playoffs, each guild will be paired according to their final ranking of the season tournament ladder for the 1st round of Swiss play.
• The four rounds of Swiss play (each guild plays all four rounds) in the tournament will determine the top four guilds that will compete in single elimination to determine the final results.
• Guilds must compete in all four rounds of the Swiss competition in order to earn their event prizes. Any guild that quits or drops from the Swiss rounds of competition forfeits all prizes that would be awarded.
• Each guild can compete with any eight of the ten players listed on their tournament roster each round. Guilds may use any eight players of the ten from this tournament roster for each round.
• The pairings for the first round will be posted on the Guild Wars web site and emailed to the players on the tournament roster at least 24 hours before the start of the playoffs. The challenging guild will be randomly determined before each match.
• Each subsequent round's pairings will be emailed to the members of each tournament roster as soon as the previous round is completed.
• Each round of Swiss play will start at the top of the hour (1st round begins at 18:00 GMT, 2nd round at 19:00 GMT, 3rd round at 20:00 GMT, and 4th round at 21:00 GMT).
• Each round consists of one battle between the paired opponents on the announced map for that round. The maps used in this Swiss tournament will be:

• Round 1: Hunter's Isle
• Round 2: Isle of the Dead
• Round 3: Nomad's Isle
• Round 4: Isle of Meditation

• At the end of the four rounds of Swiss play, the top four guilds (based upon win loss results and strength of opponent tie-breakers) will invited to play in the single elimination semi-finals taking place the next day (Sunday October 22 at 16:00 GMT).
•  The single elimination semi-finals and finals will be best two out of three battle matches with the higher ranked team being challenged the first (and making the map selection) and third (if needed) battles. The lower ranked guild is challenged (and makes the map selection) during the second battle.
• The finals will start no longer than 30 minutes after the semi-final round is completed.

 "Autumn Ladder Season" Prizes

ArenaNet will provide prizes for the winning guilds as follows:

*skill/item unlock codes allow the user to unlock 6 skills, 1 elite skill, and 1 weapon or item on any Guild Wars account for any campaign 

**Silver Cape trim lasts until the end of the next announced season