Guild Wars 2 Goes Free For a Week

[IanDavis]

Guild Wars 2 Goes Free For a Week

The MMO gets a week-long free trial next week, along with a discounted price and new content.

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ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 recently turned a big, fat one year old. Our Justin Clouse liked it back when it came out, but MMO's exist in a constant state of flux. If you're curious about how well it's holding up these days, you'll get to see for yourself in the upcoming trial week. If you like it, you can also purchase it at a discounted price and stay in the subscription-free world of Tyria after the event's finished.

The trial will run next week, from September 27th to October 3rd. If you like what you see, you'll also be able to purchase the Digital Heroic Edition at a special $39.99 price. Make sure you stop and check out the [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127211-Guild-Wars-2s-Super-Adventure-Box-Returns-With-More]Super Adventure Box[/a] while you're at it!

During the trial period, the new [a href=https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/october-01-2013/]Twilight Assault[/a] update will go live as well. It will open up a new path in the Twilight Arbor for level 80 characters. The quest will lead players into a hidden fortress, past guards and traps, right into the high-level monsters at the end. It also comes with new achievements, rare items, and a Slickpack backpack skin that tells everyone of your exploits. After the free trial ends, a new season of the massive-scale World vs World begins, which will last until November 21st. Looks like there's a lot going on in Tyria!

Players should be able to set up a trial account [a href=https://register.guildwars2.com/trial/newsletter]here[/a] when it begins Friday afternoon.

Permalink

 

[Elate]

Yeah that's nice and all, but the vast majority of the player base doesn't care about these crappy little "living world" updates, they want big, GW1 style expansions, new continents. Bring me Cantha damnit.

 

[Saulkar]

Yeah that's nice and all, but the vast majority of the player base doesn't care about these crappy little "living world" updates, they want big, GW1 style expansions, new continents. Bring me Cantha damnit.

This will sound strange but I find the Tengu the most fascinating race in the game. I tried the game free back in August with the Asura but I really am one for playing the creature furthest from the mundane. Until an expansion comes out that makes the Tengu or something even stranger a playable race then I am going to stick to exploiting these free bouts of gameplay.

 

[Aeshi]

Definitely going to check this out, I've heard some good things about GW2

EDIT: There's a Mac version of GW2? When did that happen?

 

[Yuuki]

For those wondering whether the game still has any players left, there are a TON of people playing and many servers are overflowing/full. There are small content updates every 2 weeks, overall the game is absolutely worth the one-time $60 price.

There's at least around ~150-200 hours worth of content which DOESN'T count the repetitive/grindy stuff...just pure world exploration and a bit of dungeons, world vs world an arena PvP.

Till date I'd say the game has the best visuals out of any MMO. Gameplay/combat/etc is up to opinion, and here's an opportunity to try it out for free

 

[AldUK]

I really recommend to anyone who is in anyway remotely curious about this game - do it. Make an account, download the game and give it a whirl. I've played almost every MMO around for over 10 years, Guild Wars 2 ticks all the boxes. It's not completely perfect, but it's not far off and best of all, one purchase and it's yours forever. You really can't argue with that.

Also, as Yuuki says above, game is still packed to the rafters a year on, every server lists as high population at peak hours, with many on full and it is reflected in the game, each city has lots of people around, you run into random people all the time while out completing PvE content (I won't say quests, because they aren't) and now finding a dungeon group is easier than ever since they just added an in-game LFG tool.

 

[Psychobabble]

Harrumph. And I remember when people were shouting from the rooftops that THIS was going to be the MMO that changed all MMOs.

 

[wulfy42]

I keep hearing the servers are full....but is that a good thing? Do you have to wait to get on...or are areas lagged because of the servers being so full?

I'm currently playing FFXIV Reborn...and have mostly played it out in less then a month (only working on crafting pretty much at this point), so a game that sounds like it'll last a year for many people sounds nice.

I almost actually bought GW 2 yesterday in fact....saw it on sale on a site for 34.99....but decided to hold off at least till my first month of FFXIV is up (even though i'm just crafting at this point).

Glad I did...as I'd rather just get it for $5 more while it's on sale next week...and I'll even get to try it for free first and see if I like it.

I've heard so many mixed things about the game on other MMO boards....and since i'm not a big PvP player (prefer PVE)...I just kept passing on it. This is going to be a great opportunity

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah that's nice and all, but the vast majority of the player base doesn't care about these crappy little "living world" updates, they want big, GW1 style expansions, new continents. Bring me Cantha damnit.

Couldn't agree more seeing how Faction was the first GW game I've bought so Cantha hold a place in my interet in the franchise and also the fact that trying to do the two week temporary content (achivement wise) is too much when I got other stuff to do in the game.

Anyway- This news will please my mate (who played the weekend trial) greatly as he did complain that he wanted it to be a week long free trail.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Also as a shameless plug there is a group dedicated to Guild Wars overall and a group specifically for GW2 if you need someone to play with/help.

 

[AldUK]

Also if you want to check out more of the actual game being played and not just flashy windows with little gameplay, go to Twitch. There's a small but dedicated group of GW2 fans and streamers and it's a fantastic way to make tons of new contacts in-game.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I'd say GW2 is doing rather well. It started with monthly free updates, now it's every two weeks instead. I buy gems monthly since I want more updates and living world content. I don't really care for any expansion yet, especially not if it'll affect the rate of updates negatively.

 

[Hagi]

Will probably give this a try, could be interesting.

Doubt I'll stick around though, I actually like the trinity and I'll admit to a small amount of lingering resentment for doing away with what I consider to be the greatest healing class ever, the GW1 Monk.

But still at least the game's trying something different in contrast to many others in the genre.

 

[2xDouble]

Yeah that's nice and all, but the vast majority of the player base doesn't care about these crappy little "living world" updates, they want big, GW1 style expansions, new continents. Bring me Cantha damnit.

You know they can't and you know why. They had to remove the Canthan District in Divinity's Reach thanks to many complaints that Cantha's art styles and cultures incorporated aspects from all over Asia instead of only one particular group, and that offended people. (Those very same people who just recently got dedicated access to the game, by the way.)

That may not seem so bad to us "westerners" until you consider how much different groups of people hate each other. Would you, as an Englishman, want to be culturally lumped in together with the French? or the Germans? or the Welsh? or vice versa? Would Americans want to be associated with those "damn yankees" or the "dirty rednecks" or the "mountainfolk/yoopers" or the "hippies"? even if it was only a minor but glaring influence in one area? (not even mentioning influences from the various cliques from Canada and Mexico... actually that sounds kind of cool, now that I think about it). Multiculturalism, for all its amazing and wonderful benefits, is horribly offensive to some people. Because people suck.

"he question will lead players into a hidden fortress, past guards and traps, right into the high-level monsters at the end. It also comes with new achievements, rare items, and a Slickpack backpack skin that tells everyone of your exploits."

Is this supposed to excite anyone?

Anyone who knows what Twilight Armor is should be very excited for a new path with new challenges. Twilight Arbor is the "puzzle dungeon", less focused on direct combat and more about skillfully outsmarting the defenses (more so than the other dungeons, which have different mixes of puzzles and pugilism). More of that on its own is exciting for us Indianna Jones wannabe spelunkers, and the promise of new and unique skins (the primary goal of Guild Wars) is usually enough to get the achievement hunters going.

 

[Worgen]

I keep hearing the servers are full....but is that a good thing? Do you have to wait to get on...or are areas lagged because of the servers being so full?

I'm currently playing FFXIV Reborn...and have mostly played it out in less then a month (only working on crafting pretty much at this point), so a game that sounds like it'll last a year for many people sounds nice.

I almost actually bought GW 2 yesterday in fact....saw it on sale on a site for 34.99....but decided to hold off at least till my first month of FFXIV is up (even though i'm just crafting at this point).

Glad I did...as I'd rather just get it for $5 more while it's on sale next week...and I'll even get to try it for free first and see if I like it.

I've heard so many mixed things about the game on other MMO boards....and since i'm not a big PvP player (prefer PVE)...I just kept passing on it. This is going to be a great opportunity

GW2 implements an interesting system in case of a full area, there is no wait queue for logging in or going to a full area. If an area is full you just get put into an overflow server, so you can keep playing as normal and if your in a group, you can join into their overflow or main server, there are a few open world events that this can be annoying for, like the teq dragon update since the overflow servers tend to not be organized enough to take it down, but that's it. I mostly PVE on it and I've been having a great time.

 

[antipunt]

I JUST bought this game like a week ago.

Literally JUST BOUGHT IT

D:

NOOOOO D:

 

[Elate]

Yeah that's nice and all, but the vast majority of the player base doesn't care about these crappy little "living world" updates, they want big, GW1 style expansions, new continents. Bring me Cantha damnit.

You know they can't and you know why. They had to remove the Canthan District in Divinity's Reach thanks to many complaints that Cantha's art styles and cultures incorporated aspects from all over Asia instead of only one particular group, and that offended people. (Those very same people who just recently got dedicated access to the game, by the way.)

That may not seem so bad to us "westerners" until you consider how much different groups of people hate each other. Would you, as an Englishman, want to be culturally lumped in together with the French? or the Germans? or the Welsh? or vice versa? Would Americans want to be associated with those "damn yankees" or the "dirty rednecks" or the "mountainfolk/yoopers" or the "hippies"? even if it was only a minor but glaring influence in one area? (not even mentioning influences from the various cliques from Canada and Mexico... actually that sounds kind of cool, now that I think about it). Multiculturalism, for all its amazing and wonderful benefits, is horribly offensive to some people. Because people suck.

Don't assume shit, I in fact never knew there were any complaints about the Cantha stuff, I figured it was just a case of that district not fitting in very well, so they cut it and it never made it back. As for the whole cultural lumping stuff, yeah nice try there, but I was lumped in as a westerner in GW2. You know, Krytans, they're pretty much "Western cultural" and architecture in a bag, and I don't really care because, holey shit, it's a video game.

I think we'll see Cantha again, just a matter of time.

 

[TimeLord75]

I followed the link in the article, only to be greeted with a page saying, "Sorry, the Free Trial period has ended!" The article said today, 9/27, was supposed to be the start date. WTF?

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

I followed the link in the article, only to be greeted with a page saying, "Sorry, the Free Trial period has ended!" The article said today, 9/27, was supposed to be the start date. WTF?

Remove the /newsletter part of the link. So just https://register.guildwars2.com/trial