Guild Wars 2 Launch Schedule and Client Downloads

The countdown timer on the Guild Wars 2 Website is ticking off the minute to the launch of the MMORPG sequel, showing the game's early access period will begin in under 48 hours. This post has details on how players of the original Guild Wars can claim their "Hall of Monuments" rewards in the new game. To avoid confusion of how the head start and launch will work, ArenaNet provides the following schedule:

The information below will give you specific details about times and dates based on whether you pre-purchased, pre-ordered, or are picking up a copy of the game on release day. For those players who have not pre-purchased or pre-ordered the game, Guild Wars 2 will officially launch at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 28th.

  • Pre-Purchase with 3-Day Headstart: Everyone who pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 will enjoy three full days of Headstart Access. The three-day Headstart Access will officially begin at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 25th. However, please note that in order to ensure we’re fully prepared for that fateful hour we may bring servers online up to 3 hours prior. If you’re a player committed to getting in first to grab that character name of your dreams you’ll want to be keeping an eye on things during that time period.
  • Pre-Order with 1-Day Headstart: Those who pre-ordered Guild Wars 2 will be able to participate in one day of Headstart Access. The one-day Headstart Access will begin at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 27th. NOTE - Pre-Order code registration is now enabled.

Download the Client today: If you’ve registered your pre-purchase or pre-order and created your Guild Wars 2 account you can go to account management today and download the client. Be sure to update the client periodically to minimize your download at launch. We look forward to seeing you in-game very soon!

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11.
 
Re: Guild Wars 2 Launch Schedule and Client Downloads
Aug 23, 2012, 11:43
11.
Re: Guild Wars 2 Launch Schedule and Client Downloads Aug 23, 2012, 11:43
Aug 23, 2012, 11:43
 
But it lacks an endgame outside of pvp (3 faction/server bigass battlegrounds).

In the betas sure but there are dungeons and stuff to run plus supposedly some world events in the retail game. I agree though the gear stuff isn't as compelling but for better or worse that was a design intention. More of a focus on individual player contribution as opposed to items themselves. It's not the traditional "raid for 2-4 hours" endgame that many people might expect however and that turned out to be a big problem for The Old Republic. It worked for the first GW so maybe they will be fine, who knows.

I try to be careful with comparisons to WoW personally, they are very different games in their approach to many traditional MMO systems. I think players who want a very guided experience should probably stick with WoW. Guild Wars 2 is a more open ended game where you are expected to participate/create some activities for yourself out of the overall world. That will seem very refreshing to some people and drive others crazy.

Also, their design isn't based on the 'holy trinity' (tank, healer, dps) of massives, so more focus is on each player to avoid damage, and heal themselves, which could turn out to be a lot of fun, but I imagine will result in a lot of bitching (mostly from people 'set in their ways').

Yeah I think this is a bigger obstacle than they realize. Many people are very conditioned to that traditional EQ style MMO, particularly more casual users. The game can be pretty unforgiving at times too which is refreshing to many MMO veterans but might put off Joe Blow Walmart or whatever.

This comment was edited on Aug 23, 2012, 11:51.
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