Guild Wars 2 Launches August 28th -- No Joke!

Written by: (@Shaddoe) | June 28, 2012 7:40 am

224 Comments

OK, for those who were taking bets, it’s time to pay up. ArenaNet just announced that its highly anticipated MMORPG Guild Wars 2 will launch on August 28th in both North America and Europe.

President of ArenaNet Mike O’Brien says in the latest press release, “We’re offering gamers an experience that delivers on the promise of online gaming with a truly social experience in an immense, shared world.” He continues by saying, “After five years of creation, development, and polish, announcing the launch date of Guild Wars 2 is a huge milestone for us, but the thing we’re most looking forward to is seeing gamers from all over the globe explore this world and begin creating their own stories.”

Guild Wars 2 fans will get one more chance before launch to beta test the game on the final beta weekend: July 20th through 22nd. And early access begins on August 25th for those who have pre-purchased.

Guild Wars 2 Launches August 28th -- No Joke!

  • http://twitter.com/IvyVod Vodix

    Wooooooooooo 25th :D DD

  • Moxin_Rift

    YAY!

  • Dixhallpike

    YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Finally

  • http://www.facebook.com/fernando.ribeiro.9085 Fernando Ribeiro

    YES!!! Finally!

  • Jaxa A

    I am so happy and excited!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nate-Glass/505341877 Nate Glass

    Yeah right, gotta be another troll. :P

  • falknerblitz

    So SAD! Terrible date for me :(
    Well have fun everyone
     

  • http://www.facebook.com/jason.jenkins.73 Jason Jenkins

    mists of pandaria release date august 27th

    oh come on you know its gona happen :P

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      No, it will be WoW 5.0 August 14 or 21, with MoP September 18 or 25.  Figure August 14 to the September 18, will be World PVP events around the Hordes failed attempt to capture or destroy Theramore and the events that change Jaina Proudmore from a beacon of peace to a bloodthirsty monster (jk) out to destroy Garrosh (not jk).  Of course this is all a guess.

    • http://www.facebook.com/fernando.ribeiro.9085 Fernando Ribeiro

      let them do it.. bigger fail for Blizz anyway!

  • http://twitter.com/FishBaitism Fish Bait

    So much for their “It`ll be released a month after we announce iit.”  ;)
    Hell yeah, the internot is going to be useful once more :D

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

    I want a video-podcast of this news.
    I wanna see Mike Bs happy face when he announces it :D
    (Elisabeth must be going crazy right now XD)

  • http://twitter.com/ookamiwing Phillip Rushing

    Emergency 10min GuildCast is need. LIGHT THE BEACON!!!

  • ThnagglePuth

    I go along with Willi …. also, if there’s any footage from the ArenaNet offices, that would be great as well!

    Slightly off topic, but last Guildcast was talking about a new show … any information on that?

    • 7BitBrian

      New show is Buildcast, a PvP centric show, getting into really deep detail about builds and matches and everything. Gary said it could air as early as next week if they get everything straight on it. Tun into the @gamebreakertv twitter for any updates.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1260066056 Steven Diaz

    It better not be April!!!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

      this time its the real deal :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/oneniisama Bear Powell

    Now we get to see if Elixabeth and Zhaitan are one and the same. Also, if is it possible for Scott not to play a Guardian…. Dum Dum Duuuummmm!!!

    • ThnagglePuth

       I sure hope not.  Elixabeth is WAAAY cuter than Zhaitan could ever be.  Someone, unfortunately, is going to have to break the news to Scott that the Guardian was only a placeholder profession … the real profession is ‘Flamecatcher’ (come to think of it, wasn’t that what he was doing a lot of anyway?).

  • Odeezee

    haha, thank you ArenaNet for a great birthday present in the form of this announcement.

    folks…sh!ts about to get real!

    • Jay

       Happy Birthday :)

      • Odeezee

        ty much.

  • Alicia Nielsen

    This is super exciting! And with only one more BWE to go that probably means at least one of the new races will be playable and something will still be left back for launch! 

    • Odeezee

      i hope they are both held back for launch. too many spoilers already. i hope people do not want to tire themselves out on the content before the game is even released.

      • Old Ben

        If they don’t run a large-scale test on those races’ starting areas, not only will they be buggier, but there will be a lot more people picking them at launch (because they’ll be more curious about those), which will kind of unbalance the character distribution.

        The game goes up to level 80 and they haven’t shown anything above level 35 (and only one instance), so I’m sure there will be plenty of surprises, probably even in areas below that level (ex., other instances).

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robbert-de-Wilde/1806039882 Robbert de Wilde

    And the internet explodes. Good call on releasing it after Summer vacation though. ;) My kid will start daycare the 15th so perfect :D

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      I think you are so right, there will be a dedicated group of players who will run content before the kids get out of school for the day.

  • Rodrigo Gomez

    did you know you can download the client now , from account managment 

    • http://twitter.com/thekkadvance The KK Advance

       Its been downloadable since last BWE through the account mngmt page on the gw2 forums :)

  • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

    So, is the article correct?  Will the pre-orders also have early access?  Can the folks that pre-ordered from Gamestop and Amazon start play on August 25 or will they have to wait until the 28th.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

      28th of August is now the official date :)
      Preorders have 1 day early acces. Prepurchase has 3

    • http://www.facebook.com/michael.lauria.35 Michael Lauria

      From what was said previously Pre-purchase will have a three day head-start. People who pre-order the game will have a one day head-start. If that has changed to help out Amazon clients, im not sure. The article actually says pre-purchased.

      • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

        Thats why I asked, wasnt sure what the head start was for pre-order.  Will be intersting to see if you can convert your pre-order to pre-purchase on Aug 24 and still get the early start.  

    • http://twitter.com/cyanpill cyanpill

       from #guildwars2 on twitter:

      To clarify: 8-28-12 is the ‪#GW2‬ launch date. Headstart access for pre-purchasers will begin on 8-25-12. ‪#GW2iscoming‬ ~RB2

  • Karizee
  • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

    Can’t wait for launch, this games going to be epic! Anyone else notice that today is 6.28.12 same date as those three jerseys? coincidence? hmmmmm

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

      It really is a coincidence.
      They confirmed it on Twitter :)

  • http://twitter.com/Naqaj Naqaj

    Did someone break the bad news to Scott yet? No Guardians at realease … 

    • http://twitter.com/cyanpill cyanpill

      Replaced with the sandwichmancer

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

    Yes Finally! Rejoice everyone! We are almost there! I cannot wait for this game! Cause then I will really have no life!

  • Old Ben

    Well, late August was my original prediction, but just one BWE to test the other two starting areas seems a bit short. I suspect they’ll be working overtime to fix a lot of bugs during the 3-day headstart.

    • LordNik0n

       They may not show off either starting area in the last BWE. I personally like the idea of holding them back because it gives people something to look forward to.

      • Old Ben

        This is a beta test. Its purpose is to detect and fix bugs, so that they won’t affect everyone at release. If you don’t want to play an asura (or any other race) during the BWE, no one forces you to.

        Bugs in the starting zones (especially in “new” starting zones, that would be picked by the majority of players) would affect a lot of people and have a very negative impact on new players’ first impressions.

        They haven’t showed any area above level 35, and only included one instance (Ascalon Catacombs) in the betas, so there will be no lack of “new” content after release.

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

           Isn’t there a closed beta that’s still ongoing?  I thought ArenaNet started one of those before any of these BWEs started.  IIRC there was no way to sign up for closed beta as it was going to be solely handpicked by ANet (don’t ask me how that was supposed to work).

          Maybe they’re only allowed to play the Asura and Silvari?  And if they’ve been playing for the last 3+ months, I’m sure they’ve tested high level areas.  Again, I’m just speculating here… I have no actual facts to back this up.

          • Old Ben

            There was a press beta test before BWE1 (plus a “stress test”, IIRC), and other people could register for a chance to get a key. Anyway, it’s not an ongoing thing.

            There is constant internal testing, of course, but it’s done by a few dozen QA testers (with occasional help from the rest of the developers), not by hundreds of thousands of players, which means some bugs simply won’t show up. The human, charr and norn areas were also tested internally (and in the closed beta), and a lot of bugs were only found in the first BWE (and some were only found in BWE2).

            There will almost certainly be bugs in any areas of the game that don’t undergo large-scale testing, but bugs in higher-level zones aren’t as serious, because they will affect less people at a time. The really critical areas are the cities and the starting zones, since everyone must go through those right after launch.

      • Jay

         I agree

  • http://twitter.com/Blacksandgaming Blacksand

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  • fallos24

    all i can say is woot woot!!!!

  • Sharuko

    I am surprised they caved and didn’t stick with “when it is ready” mantra.  The game will be released without features many players expect in a modern day MMO including no enemy cast bars, no target of target, no dungeon finder, no way to customize UI etc.  The decisions seems to be to avoid MoP as they can’t compete with it directly.

    Now Blizzard has the upper hand and can screw with GW2 and its release.  If you look at a similar game to GW2, Warhammer Online.  Blizzard released the major content patch before WotLK (3.0) 3-4 weeks before WHO online release.  They then released WotLK 3 weeks after Warhammer Online launch.

    If Blizzard sticks with that template.  They will release 5.0 early August and release MoP mid-September screwing GW2 over big time.

    • http://www.facebook.com/Hattoff Matt Hatton

      Way to troll a Guild Wars 2 article?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1103680651 Dave Jeannotte

       So a couple (as in 2) UI features and a system that isn’t needed in GW2 because there are no roles to run dungeons (no holy trinity… group with literally anyone).  And if you watched Legendary last night, they talked about how the “hype” for MoP isn’t even close to what it’s been for previous expansions.

      I honestly don’t think there’s a thing Blizzard can do to ArenaNet to sabotage their game release.  The game has NO sub… you can’t beat that?  EVEN if they give away MoP for free with annual pass subscribers.  It just doesn’t compare.

    • Kicknpups

      I find it funny for someone who knows nothing about this game you seem to be knowledgeable about it.First and foremost I want to thank you Sharuko for being a laughing joke on these forums and even during GuildCast…Now time to debunk more of the crap you spew!
      1)There is cast bars on release and had added cast bars in PvE animations in last BWE(Since I’m sure you haven’t played any G2 and if you did you most likely didn’t get past level 10)
      2)There is a target of target and target assist it’s called pressing N!
      3)There is no need for dungeon finder since there is open world /map chat not to mention all zones are flowed so you wouldn’t be a level 30 in a level 10 zone looking for a dungeon unless your assisting or bolstering a friend!
      4)UI Customization will be released later as stated from Anet! They are all about listening to the community and there player base..
      5)How’s Tera going…It must be strong with it meager 300k pop!

      Also comparing WAR to G2 is like comparing a Aston Martin to a Honda..Anet is known for it’s amazing games G1 sold over 6mill copies world wide where as War barely broke a Mill…So assuming that WoW will screw over G2 is a complete and lost assumption.

      Now to school you some more! Lets look at what’s some facts! WoW has dropped in 1.9mill subs and counting. G2 has already hit over 2mill world wide pre-purchase(Not Order PURCHASE)I won’t even go to say that G2 will destroy Wow because as a avid WoW player for years I don’t see that ever happening.Will G2 be a “better”alternative Yes it will and It is!

      So PLEASE do all of us a favor and go back to Tera or SWOTR or whatever game you “feel” will traash G2! and save us the time to not read your ridiculous replies full of falacies and lies to try and mislead people into thinking you know what your talking about!

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Bergevin-Jr/1393526370 Jim Bergevin Jr

         Not that I entirely disagree with you, but many players do put up a big stink about Customizable UI and LFG tools being in a game right from the start. The SWTOR forums have been full of trolls from the beginning until these features where finally added, and are still going about a X-server LFG. Anet may say they are putting them in at some point, and others may think they are not necessary to begin with, but don’t underestimate the power of hate when people come into a game expecting them to be there on day 1 (and aren’t entirely wrong for doing so, either).

        • Kicknpups

          I agree that “certain” games do need a LFG system.I played SWOTR since 3 day advance and up too two months ago. I reached two rank 70′s and never understood why there was no LFG system and customized UI for the game.

          Yet for G2 I understand completely why there is no LFG system..I.E There is no holy trinity so you don’t need 5 people of 5 exact specs.You do need 5 people thought so I could understand the use for it!Also we aren’t 100% sure they won’t implement it there is still another BWE-3 and I can speak from being all the BWE’s and Stress test  a lot changes from one event to the next!

        • Old Ben

          Done badly, LFG can completely destroy a game’s community and make players treat each other like disposable NPCs (case in point: WoW).

          If they do implement a multi-server “dungeon finder”, they need to include some sort of “reputation” system where players get to rate other players (like on eBay), and where those ratings actually have some sort of consequence (ex., 100 “positive” ratings from different players and you get 10 gems, 100 “negative” ratings from different players and you lose access to the dungeon finder for 48 hours, and have to form a group with your actual friends, assuming you have any).

          I’m not at all convinced an automated “dungeon finder” is required, though. 

          UI customization is indeed a must-have, especially if they have any “eSports” plans. They really need to let people reorder the weapon skills for each weapon combination, so they can swap seamlessly between configurations. They also need to improve the camera (longer dolly, wider FoV, and turn off that smoothing that actually makes some people feel seasick) and tweak a few other things (some icons are very hard to see, etc.). I’d say the weapon skill reordering is by far the most important thing. 

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            You are still doing it wrong, if all you do is solo WoW LFG, there are great benefits to using the LFG with guidies.

            I do like your idea of player reputation in LFG, unfortunately you will end up with guidies that simply assign the up votes to guildies, so they can aquire the free gems.  Lol, imaging a player being such a asshat that the LFG system puts them in “timeout” so they can think about what they have done.  

            I think eSports is such a pipe dream for GW2. So much would need to change.

          • Old Ben

            > You are still doing it wrong, if all you do is solo WoW LFG

            I’m not “doing it” at all. I gave up on WoW half way through Cataclysm (went back to check Dragon Soul when Blizzard sent me a couple of free weeks, and I finished DS and got bored with the game again before the first week was even over). 

            But I know how the dungeon finder changed WoW’s player base, and how it made players’ “local” reputation far less important. Essentially, it was designed to cater to jerks who couldn’t actually convince anyone to play with them, so they need an automated system to deliver some “artificial friends” from other realms.

            Before, there was some incentive for those players to behave in a civilized way (or leave). Now they’re the majority of WoW’s player base, and have no incentive to care about their image or how they treat other people, because they know they can always rely on the dungeon finder and raid finder to deliver some new “carriers”.

          • Jay

             I concur.

    • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

      So you still think gw2 wont be released until 2013… or afre you finally over that one? 

      Just like release date you will be proven wrong on all your trolling content … thanks for playing.

      • H S

         I’m still waiting for the day he actually gets something right. Even a broken clock gets things right twice a day, but he hasn’t even kept up with that.

        What’s really going to freak him out, is when all he hears is crickets on his Tera server after August 28th. 

        • Kicknpups

          I would call it long before the 28th the game has one of the worse critic ratings and “all the players” who were up in arms about the amazing combat system have to realize it’s all crap.You can have the best UI and graphics and soundtrack but if everything else fails the game is still crap! Just look @ AOC amazing graphics and sound track but so many buggs and game balance.

      • Sharuko

        I said I was “surprised” because I was sure they would stick with the “when it’s ready” mantra, but they didn’t.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/5F67A4WUUVMLLVP4MNYEAQOVIU Rob

          When it’s ready for who, You or actual fans of what they have seen so far? If it was solely for you they can still get Asian school girl outfits and Preteen Grunts like another game you carry water for so keep your fingers crossed Sharuko ;)

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

           Read my comment above Sharuko this game is ready that is why its releasing! Use your effing brain!

        • http://twitter.com/Mantose Leo P

          You have been saying all along that it wouldnt come out this year.

          And I am unsure why you are surprised they changed the when its ready mantra, it has been said more than once they would announce the release date around a month or so ahead of time.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/KI7Q7KTG4XGQQ2NOM7N4IMFAIM Rae

       How many people Here think Sharuko works for enmasse?
      -I, for one, do.
      It’s the only explanation to his posting behavior,
      imho.

      • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

        He is just a blubbering idiot, everything that comes out of his mouth is utter filth.

        • Sharuko

          I hope you are around during November so we know the truth, which is pretty obvious already.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

             Just how we had a nice laugh when you thought Tera would be the greatest thing since sliced bread? And look how well it did Sharuko, It failed horribly. Never again will an Eastern MMO infiltrate the Western Markets. They are just not fun or interesting at all.

          • http://twitter.com/MisterWhistles Alejandro Moncrieff

            Lol. Why so mad bro? Your life is sad, eh? I’m sorry about that. Your hate will never change the fate of GW2. You’re fucking boring, just wasting our time. Go back to your cave.

          • Sharuko

            Thanks for the kind words.

          • Kicknpups

            No hate Sharuko you really do make the majority of us laugh and if you do”believe” some of the delusions you spew then more power to you man enjoy that crazy Tera filled world! I on the other hand will live in the G2 world where I enjoy a great game and not be delusional! But hey even some of the greatest people of time have been crazy..Like Hitler or.. Mussolini…or Saddam Hussen and well it kinda worked out for all of them!Right?

          • Sharuko

            We shall see who gets the last laugh in November.  I know I will.

          • Kicknpups

            WoWa! Slow down Osama Sharuko! before we have to send in a group of elite Asura to take you down!

          • Sharuko

            The same “Asura” they rushed and didn’t beta test?

          • Kicknpups

            Do me a favor while you are looking into that crystal ball of yours! Read me the winning lotto numbers for the U.S.!

          • Spammerbam

             You probably will. GW2 might fail, but it won’t fail as hard as Tera.

            *Sharuko laughing while playing a fail game himself*

            *Everyone else still laughing right back*

          • Spammerbam

             Catch up! Cause everyone is already laughing at you and Tera..

    • Odeezee

      LMAO, dude you try way too hard to troll, but like i always say you amuse me.

      first, ANet are releasing the game when it’s ready. just because you have deluded yourself into thinking it is not ready does not make it so.

      second, “enemy cast bars” have have been in the game since we first saw it in 2010, they are called telegraphed animations and this along with adjustable particle density will lead to all the information that a player needs to play. after-all it’s ANet’s goal for players to pay the game and not their UI.

      third, target of target is yet another feature that is not needed in GW2 as you will be able to actually see who is being attacked and as skills are targetable aoes or have projectile path arcs and swing arcs the player may be hitting multiple people all at once. oh and you seem to forget that GW2 also allows players to free cast (think TERA’s cross-hair system only harder is there is no cross-hair what-so-ever) and you will see another reason why this feature is not needed at all.

      fourth, there is no need for a dungeon finder ala WoW, Rift or TERA as GW2 does not use a trinity based combat system so basically all you need to run a dungeon are warm bodies. i personally would prefer a LFG system ala GW1 where you can post what you want to run and players can whisper/apply to join; simple, hassle-free, promotes accountability and promotes community.

      fifth, there is limited UI customization atm and i for one acknowledge that. i personally would just want more options ala GW1 UI customization in the future, but for now the UI is more than adequate, clean and f-ing sleek. the ability, in the future, to change the keybind assignments of weapon skills would be all that i need and i could call it a wrap on UI custo for myself as i love the sleek minimalist look already as it is.

      sixth and most importantly, the biggest thing you forgot when mentioning all that stuff about Gw2 versus WoW, is that WoW has to compete with GUILD WARS 2! as Mike O’Brien himself said…, “this is the year of the Mutha F*cking Dragon!!!!!” paraphrasing of course, haha.

      • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

        Lol, GW2 doesn’t seem ready.   PVE, sPVP and WvW all seem to need significant work.  The game is fun to play, but it still needs lots of work. 

        WoW biggest competition and troubles seem to come from Blizzard.  From the massive misses in Cata, the mixed message from MoP and horrible PR from D3.   It is funny that WoW is getting more and more mentions in the GW2 chat and articles. From chatting with my WoW guild, very few players know that GW2 is coming out and most don’t care.  The mistakes and errors Blizzard is making, is simply driving players away from MMOs in general.  

        lol, I think the number of players that see the F*cking Dragon in GW2 will be very, very small.   But, probably bigger than the player that encountered the Dragon in the last BWE and stress test, which as Zero.

        • http://twitter.com/cyanpill cyanpill

          What do you mean when you say people have not seen a dragon? people have already fought and killed low level dragons in GW2 betas, and will fight higher levels, once higher levels are available.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

             Most people that are commenting negatively are people who did not actually actively participate in the Beta Weekends and have no clue what they are talking about.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            Nope, you are wrong.  I’ve logged significant hours for each of the BWE.   While I loved WvW, Im just okay with the GW2 PVE content.  Really enjoyed the WvW Jumping Puzzle this last stress test.   I was really glad to see players still helping out fellow players with a rez when needed.

            It was my understanding the final boss during the last stress test ending event was a dragon fight.  How may folks in this comment stream fought the final dragon during the stress test?  Anet even extended the stress test by an hour.

            Typcial GW2 snob.  Ignore the fact that Anet released a totally f’ed up end event, not once, but twice.   How does this inspire confidence in their level harder level 80 content, will not be equally buggy.  The reaction I saw from many players was to Alt-F4 and wander away. Even the Anet employee who was there for the event, gave up and logged off.      

        • Odeezee

          first, the state of the game is just pure conjecture on your part and one which you cannot even prove. the devs have said they will not release ’til it’s ready and have been very upfront and honest in their description and implementation of systems in the game up to this point. they also have had a beta that far exceeded any beta in the last 5 years (and in many cases full retail releases) in terms of polish, optimization and sheer amounts of content.

          second, all the people you have talked to are not all the people who play WoW or people who would not play GW2, so again nothing but pure conjecture.

          third, really? this is not WoW where a fraction of the population sees the last boss of the current tier of content and Zhaitan is going to be part of a Story Mode dungeon or Personal Story, i forget, so…yeah it’s accessible to the vast majority of GW2 players.

        • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

          WoW fans who have been playing for years.. dont care about gw2..

          YOU DONT SAY. 

          WoW was a waste of my time, hopefully this wont be.

    • TacoBaal

       Wait, what happened to TERA screwing GW2 over big time? Prophet of the century…

      • Sharuko

        I always said Tera would be niche because it doesn’t support clickers, the lazy player and is rated M.  But I did say Tera is the superior game and I am 100% sure of it.  The ONLY reason GW2 is popular is because of the payment model, that is the strenght of the game.  That should tell you something.

        • TacoBaal

          That consumers aren’t willing to pay a few extra bucks for a glorified click and grind game with pedo content and flashy graphics?

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

           No,it just tells me you don’t know what you are talking about. I am 100% sure of it.

        • http://www.facebook.com/daniel.beverly Daniel Beverly

          It is spelled Strength. If you hate GW2 so much, Go back to WoW! We’ll all live on without you.

        • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Lazarowitz/100000420795554 Steve Lazarowitz

          I’ve paid for games all along and have no problem paying for games. I’d never, however, pay for Terra. Thus ends your theory. The fact is, with the exception of dynamic combat, I can’t find a single reason to play Terra. You probably like it because you can solo BAMs. It makes you feel good. You won’t be able to do that with Champion Creatures in GW 2, though, and it makes you sad. 

          There are always people who like to brag about easy games, and say they’re difficult. Terra’s combat isn’t hard. It’s easy or you wouldn’t be able to solo bosses like that. Nice try.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/5F67A4WUUVMLLVP4MNYEAQOVIU Rob

            Well played sir. Someone correct me if I am wrong but every ‘Bam” fight I have seen is….Hit big monster, wait for it’s 3 second wind up to hit you back, walk thru big monster on second 2, hit big monster again. OH did I mention do this for like 5minutes?

          • Sharuko

            Honestly, I don’t think you can handle Tera.  Stick with 5 keybinds in GW2, probably easier on the fingers.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Lazarowitz/100000420795554 Steve Lazarowitz

            I can’t handle Terra you’re right. I can’t play any MMO with no story, plot, context or intelligence behind it’s design.

          • Sharuko

            So why are you playing GW2?

          • Spammerbam

             Because GW2 does have story, plot, context and intelligence behind it’s design. Every personal story branches off and ties in at the end with the main. So, you can go through and experience different storylines with different professions and choices that you make.

            Oh, sorry to butt in, that was rude of me. Didn’t mean to make Tera look so hideous than it already is.

          • Sharuko

            GW2 story is criticized as bad by the most rabid GW2 fans.  I love how they took the cheap easy route and put people in plain backgrounds during the “cutscenes”.  F2P games like Nexon do a better job at it.

            Whoops I forgot, Nexon is part owner of NCSoft. lol

          • Spammerbam

            That’s cool.

            I love how Tera uses old  played out style cut scenes that you see back in 2004 and a bunch of F2P games, with no art-styles whatsoever. Just like in GW1.. geez, that’s way back. Classics, really digging it. F2P games like Nexon do a better job at it, too.

            Whoops you forgot, Nexon is part owner of NCSoft.

            Haha, no worries.
            Even a Publisher like NCSoft, having nothing to do with the making of GW2, is also doing a better job. How sad is that.

            You also forgot how Tera is now failing in all continents of the world, because even the in-game world itself is just so DEAD.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

            Cut-scenes…? You mean the regular dialogue? Of which there are hundreds of different story combinations for, as opposed to the plain quest text in tera? Pfffft, Hahahah. 

            The writing is pretty hammy though. i’ll give you that.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

            Dragons nest has harder combat than tera, and that game is free.

          • Spammerbam

             Yeah, it’s pretty hard to include Right Mouse Button and Shift; Tera is too complicated.

            And you have to aim, too? That’s hard.
            But not to worry, as long as you have your crosshair on the enemy right when you trigger your attack, your projectiles will always hit, even if you clearly see the enemy dodge out of the way of your projectile.
            Now that’s something to handle..

            Unlike GW2 where if you target enemy A while enemy B gets in the way, your projectiles will hit enemy B instead; It will hit wherever it lands.

            Hmm.. I don’t think I can handle Tera either.

            /end sarcasm.

          • Sharuko

            So GW2 has aimbot built in and somehow that accounts for a better system or “skill”.  Sometimes I wonder what world you guys are living in.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

            Dota 2  has “aimbot bulit in” But obviously nobody needs skill to play mobas. 

          • Sharuko

            You compared GW2 the MMO that takes the least skill to SC2?  What you say is meaningless anymore.

            It doesn’t advertise itself as “action” combat because it isn’t. It is a tab target game with built in aim bot that thinks its “action”.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

            I wasn’t comparing the two you jabbering moron, God you arwe such a delusional little tool, I was saying how You dont need to aim to have skill based PVP or PVE. You are such a joke. The least skill? More than that joke tera has. 

          • Sharuko

            Sometimes the truth hurts and your diatribe shows it.  I didn’t read most of what you said really because based on your post history you don’t know what you are talking about.  But I can totally see why people like GW2 as is the most casual MMO to date with the least amount of keybinds in any MMO to date.  It is not a bad thing, some people like easy games.

            It has a built in aimbot with no depth in terms of combat or gameplay.  The most dept it has is a “dodge”.  It acts like its not a tab target game but it is easier than a tab target game because of this built in aimbot mechanic.

            It is ok, eventually you can graduate to a game that has action combat mechanics.  A game that has actual “aim” and not “aimbot”.

          • Spammerbam

             So now you’re talking about combat. Let’s see.

            The skills and abilities for one character GW1 itself is much more complicated and deeper than all the characters in Tera. With only a limited number of slots (8), the skills and build you use matters; coming up with different strategies in every zone is key.

            Unlike Tera where you have all the skills available to you. Even all the skills are straight forward. Oh cool, now you have an aiming and dodging system.. hard stuff, huh. Even GW1′s skills-system has much more depth.

            What does Tera have? Just a tank-and-spank that’s disguised as action-combat. Take out the free targeting and all you have is a F2P with no depth at all. Even Diablo 2, that’s currently not doing so great (I know because I have the game myself), has a better skills-system; people can come up with strategies and run different builds and styles.
            Tera? No – you play like you did since level 10.

            Choose 1 character in Tera and you play the same style till max level and beyond.

            Choose 1 character in GW2 and you end up competing against people with different play styles.

             As for key binds, traditional MMOs need many key binds because people need to use HP pots, MP pots, all the skills that they need to use, and many others. I just don’t see why GW2 would need that many key binds. Please educated and explain why (though I doubt you would).

          • Spammerbam

             Yeah, okay. So, even with aimbot built in, can you be sure your attacks will always hit? No. That’s the difference.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

             One without Tera Thank god, You can keep your Asian Grind, I’ll have a game far more fun and full of content that you wouldn’t know what to do with.

          • Wilco Duijnhouwer

             That world is called reality. You should step out of your delusion and try it sometimes :)

        • Spammerbam

          ‘”The game will be released without features many players expect in a
          modern day MMO including no enemy cast bars, no target of target, no
          dungeon finder, no way to customize UI etc.”‘

          - Are these features that difficult to add post release? Maybe those features are expected from someone like you, but they’re not gamebreakers. Either way, these things doesn’t matter anymore because you no longer have the game.

          “Now Blizzard has the upper hand and can screw with GW2 and its release.”

          - LOL, yeah sure. Of course, Blizzard has a larger player base, but other than that, it’s already slowly killing itself.

             Also, I don’t see how Tera is the superior game; it’s 100% traditional with a
          slapped on action combat system, that’s cool… 2012 and it’s still a
          WoW clone? Yeah, okay. Its new action combat system is also a fail.

          And to realize that it only has half the contents post-release, compared
          to GW2 beta has tells you something; Just GW2 beta itself beats Tera in
          every aspect.

          • Sharuko

            Did you really mention “content” the biggest weakness of GW2.  The biggest weakness of GW2 other than combat is the lack of content.  There will be nothing to do in GW2 after a month.  There  will be no incentive to play the game not even for fun.

            People will get to max level in 3 days and cry on the forums for content.  And then the “explore” “whole game is end game” excuses won’t work.

          • Spammerbam

            “‘No offense you even mentioning the word content shows you have no knowledge of the game.”‘
             
            - Funny how I can have no knowledge of the game, after following all the news, pre-ordering first hour it was available, and have been playing through all the BWE’s and stress tests. The amount of work the Devs put into this game is overwhelming. Other than combat and events, there’s plenty of other things to do.

            What’s there to do in Tera? Nothing but quests to level up. Walk around the map and all you see is a dead world; just a plain field with different monsters lingering around like they’re best friends with each other. Heck, they don’t even have night/day cycles.

            Any Jump puzzles or Mini games in Tera? Nope.

            “‘People will get to max level in 3 days and cry on the forums for content.”‘

            - Yup. That’s exactly what’s happening to Tera. At least GW2 already have plans for future expansions.

            You’ve stated yourself that you spent the majority of your time playing “World vs Gate”, so no offense you even mentioning about this shows you have no knowledge of the game PvE contents..

          • Sharuko

            Exactly, Tera has 10 times the PvE content GW2 has and people complain about lack of content within a month.  Now imagine how bad that will be in GW2.  As I said everything I said will be true within 2 months.

            Enjoy the hype for now, because honestly that is pretty much how long the “fun” will last.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

            10 times, the content, by which you mean fetch quests to level 80, and generic, slow boss battles? Exhilaration.  

            How the do you magically know how much content is in gw2 anyway? The betas only go up to 30. Your delusion is a strange thing, reminds me Of FF14 players after their game tanked. (Just like how your game is.)

          • Sharuko

            No I mean actual PvE content especially 5 mans, let us be honest.  GW2 is a PvP game with little to no PvE content.

            The dungeons are a massive failure because of the lack of healers. They put NPCs in every dungeon to make up for the lack of tanks and still fall short.

          • Spammerbam

            People already have discuss this in the past; just because you no longer have the holy trinity doesn’t make the dungeons impossible.

            I don’t see how it’s a failure either. The only failure is you not being able to function without a structured Holy Trinity system.
            Just like GW1, the build that you choose to run with matters. People came up with insane builds that worked really well against Elite dungeons.

            Of course, this is GW2 now and is a totally different story; people will have to come up with new strategies other than the trinity. They might try to have that sort of system in their builds, but it’s in a way that enable players to be more flexible with switching roles in the dynamic combat.

            Let us be honest, one city in GW2 alone can make all the cities in Tera look pathetic. That’s how much work has been put into PvE; just the personal storyline in GW2 itself can outweigh Tera’s static storyline that is the same for everyone.

          • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

            Fall short in what respect? What is wrong with he dungeon? Were does it fall short? Becuse its not pathetic Tank and spank disguised as “true action”..?  You don’t seem to get it so I will spell it out for you, since you seem a bit slow. THE. BETA. HAS. LESS. THAN. A. THIRD. OF. THE. CONTENT. IN. THE. FULL. GAME. 

          • Spammerbam

             10 times the PvE content, huh?

            LOL, that’s hilarious.

            I spent all the hours I can with GW2 beta and still didn’t cover everything. Not to mention you were only able to explore up to level 35-40 areas. While in Tera, I saw nothing new after exploring most of it. You tell me.

            Tera storyline? Nothing but straight forward and same for everyone and every character.

            Doesn’t seem like you’re enjoying those contents either since you’re always here ranting.

            Other than that, I don’t need to enjoy any hypes cause I’ll be enjoying the game; didn’t even know there was even hype in the first place..
            But I’ll agree with you for once: of course the hype will die down, like it does for every game. People don’t bother celebrating about it because they’re busy playing the game.

            Well, enjoy your already failing game.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/SMGRLFM4UASOO7QO26HTHBLIOI Shawn

      Gee I don’t know maybe cause it is actually ready is why they are releasing the game? Have you ever thought of that Sharuko? No, the only thing you will do is outright hate and hate on this game. The thing is Sharuko, the people speak louder than you do, you are the very very silent minority here. This game is locked cocked and ready to rock, and the only thing that will happen is that you will be left in the dust and GW2 will prevail and not only meet, but exceed the expectations of MMO players around the world.

      Have fun in the dying game of Tera, I’ll be basking in the sunlight of success that is Guild Wars 2.

      Also, MoP? Really, No thanks you can have your kiddie Pokemon while the rest of us Grown ups play an actual breathtaking world of greatness.

    • Damir Miric

      Sharuko we love you <3. Not because you are right just because you are a part of GW2 community.

    • http://twitter.com/MisterWhistles Alejandro Moncrieff

      Yeah, sure. Cool story bro, tell us more. 
      Yeah, MoP screwing GW2 over big time. Don’t be ridiculous. 
      You’re a boring troll, Sharuko, also a boring hater. Go back to your korean grindfest with flashy graphics, boobs, and polished asses, TERA. Oh, also, TERA is a big failure and will be F2P in no time. You’ll see.  

    • 7BitBrian

       Bookah Please. /smugface

    • Spammerbam

      Cool story, bro. You won’t be playing the game anymore, so why bother?

    • snikendelarveføtter

      Your delussions are getting more and more frantic. People that believe in marsmen makes more sense than you. The worst part about it is that you are gonna play this game WAY more than your precious Tera and you will still continue bitching and whining about it. 

      • Spammerbam

         Great news: Sharuko got his refunds. One less noob to worry about.

        • snikendelarveføtter

          That is good news indeed. He will still be the alpha troll on every single gw2 article though:). 
          At one point he could actually piss me off. Now he is just an amusement park of insane statements and i kind of feel sorry for the poor guy.

  • MilamberNova

    Predicted late august, but i was just guessing. I’m gonna feel so good about myself though.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

      well done. Here´s a cookie ;)

  • http://twitter.com/vader0010 frank salter

    If they don’t bring the other two races out for testing. When launch comes I bet those lands will be packed. I think I’ll just stick with Norn for now

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Willi-Enderle/1668850948 Willi Enderle

      thats quite a good argument

      • Kicknpups

        I agree I know @ launch I will be playing and Asura I can’t decide what class to go with but I also don’t want to take away from the nostalgia I may enjoy after launch of that class!Either way we now have a release date!

        • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

          Going with Asura Guardian, should be fun

          • Old Ben

            You can’t. I’ve heard that someone pre-purchased every guardian slot on the servers.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            Next you are going to tell me, Anet is changing the physics in the game, so my Asura Guardian with Greatsword will be tipping over every once in a while.

    • Old Ben

      Not only will they be packed, but those areas will be more likely to have bugs (because they haven’t undergone a large-scale test yet). I don’t think Arena Net is suicidal, so they’ll test those in the last BWE, but that’s still a bit short, and I suspect the “head start” period (3 days before launch) will effectively be like a final beta test, with a lot of last-minute fixes.

      Although my original prediction was a late August release, I was expecting them to have two more BWEs before launch, so early or mid September was starting to look more likely. I wonder if they picked this date (August 28th) because they know something about something…

      • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

        I suspect the two BWE unseen starting areas will be fine.  The pent up demand for the last two races may be a problem and lead to scaling problems with bosses.

        Where I think problems will start happening is post level 30 content.  I suspect level 30 to 80 PVE content has a real chance to be buggy and problmatic. Loaded with hearts and events that cannot be completed.  A significant portion of the player base will not be ready for post 30 content.  But, this may not a  problem.  Leveling in GW2 PVE may be very causal and a significant number of the player base may never see the higher level content.

        • Old Ben

          > I suspect the two BWE unseen starting areas will be fine.  

          There were (serious) bugs in the human, charr and norn areas even in BWE2, so I think you’re being far too optimistic.

          I’m sure there will be bugs in higher-level zones, too, but those won’t have such a concentration of players (because players level at different rates), so each bug won’t affect as many people as in the starting zones or cities.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            I don’t know if they are bugs or just fundamental game design issues.

            But, I don’t think there is anything in the 2-30 leveling areas that will prevent the player base from leveling.  Not so sure about the post level 30 content.  From what I saw at the final event, when the PVE content gets tough, the player base will start slinging insults and Alt-F4.

          • Old Ben

            > I don’t know if they are bugs or just fundamental game design issues.

            Skill challenges becoming stuck, heart NPCs not respawning, removing the wrong item from your inventory, etc., are very clearly bugs.

            > From what I saw at the final event, when the PVE content gets tough

            There was nothing “tough” about the final event. The bosses were immune to all damage, the event revolved around taking the teleportation markers, but a couple of them were bugged, so it was impossible to finish it.

            > the player base will start slinging insults and Alt-F4.

            Arena Net isn’t responsible for (and can’t do anything to fix) bugs in people’s brains. More beta testing wouldn’t achieve anything there. Anyway, on my server everything was fine, except for some waypoints becoming stuck, which made the event impossible to finish.

          • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

            The final event was not tough, just bugged out.

            I do wonder how the player base will react to harder content.

            When the GW2 content gets hard will the GW2 player base Alt-F4?

          • Old Ben

            There are already some incredibly hard things in GW2 (explorable mode dungeon, champion world bosses, jumping puzzles). People who don’t want to do those can simply go do something else. GW2 is not (and is not meant to be) a linear game.

  • Kicknpups

    Great news and fell right into many who have played BWE1-2 predictions! Just a reminder  if you did “pre-purchase” you can do 3 day head start so the 25! I’m not sure on pre-order I would guess if you got into beta with the pre-order you would also but I’m sure in given time Anet will confirm! 

  • Kaolai Saeteurn

    C MON NOT DURING PAX PRIME ! >.>

  • http://twitter.com/Coldsnap187 James Vermilling

    FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Feyd-Darkholme/100000194391744 Feyd Darkholme

    Weep tears of sublime joy, for that is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel…

  • QSatu

    Finally comments loaded for me.
    Was that Zhaitan at the end? looked really cool.

    • dawolv

       Yes I think so.
      They said that airships gonna play a big part in ther personal story for one of the orders. I called that a long time ago, since Zaithan is supposedly so big he could eclipse the sun, it wouldn’t make much sense to go 1v1 against him as a tiny charr (by comparison) or even an even tinier asura.
      This is the only way I can see defeating him (by force) making sense from a lore standpoint. I hope though they didn’t make 3 different endings for each of the orders. Then they’d have to do multiple endings for each expansion and it will all get confusing..

    • Razor4884

      I could be wrong, but I can’t see how that dragon could be Zhaitan — it is WAY too small. And I don’t think it could be tequatl the sunless because I think it should have died by then….Also, wouldn’t it be interesting if the three orders each had their own way of defeating Zhaitan all at the same moment in some sort of super event? That way, everyone’s paths kind of ‘converge’ in a sense.

  • http://twitter.com/Gyloir Jeremiah G

    Are they going to ever fix that “ice skating” running animation problem? Where hte feet don’t move in-sync with the speed of the player? That’s one old-school problem that many games no longer have these days, it’ sjust really really annoying to look at.

    • Old Ben

      There are three problems causing that:

      1. I think the step size is based on your character’s height, but the speed is constant. This means characters taller than “average height” (for that race) seem to “skid”, while shorter characters seem to “skate”. Can be tricky to fix, depending on how they coded it.

      2. Characters’ feet don’t cast shadows properly. This means the shadow doesn’t actually touch the character’s feet, which makes it look as if the character is floating. Probably hard to fix in a “physically correct” way, but there are two easy ways to improve it (fake occlusion – which the game already uses indoors – and plane offsetting).

      3. Transitions between different cycles (ex., standing and strafing, or running forward and strafing) are done simply by mixing the two animations, which can cause both feet to slide relative to the ground, when at least one foot should always be fixed.

      #1 and #2 are mainly coding issues (not related to the animation itself). #3 requires changes to both things (code and animation).

      I was a bit disappointed to see they didn’t address any of those things between the previous BWEs; I hope at least one of the three problems will be solved in BWE3.

      The jumping animations also need improvement, and that is something the animators should be able to fix in a couple of hours. Maybe they were busy animating creatures for high-level zones, but I really hope it gets fixed before launch. TSW has some horrible jumping animations, too, but at least the shadows touched the characters’ feet properly.

      • Jay

        Well they did release a statement explaining why they chose it over something with more impact. They tried it, and it made the movement look slower, or something to that degree. Maybe they should look at the things you listed though, since those things can be fixed through a patch.

      • QSatu

        The truth is fixing it completely would actually requre them to simplyfy transitions between animations. So it’s a mater of simpler animations and no skating or some skating and more complex animations. (they could make it smooth and keep complex transitions but characters would loose responsiveness)

  • christopher murray

    sweet I have that week booked off for holidays already.  I was planning on just getting drunk the whole week because I am turning 30, but now I will get drunk and play guildwars2.

    • Randall_Wolfcry

       You’re right! I need to go request time off at work quick!

  • http://www.facebook.com/eaholum Erik Holum

    Ahhh, What a great thing to wake up to… Gives me a couple months to save for a new computer, Just… for.. this.. game…!

  • Randall_Wolfcry

    LOL I’ve been waiting for this game SO long that I am having trouble believing it’s coming out! Even from an official source like the ANet blog! I almost don’t berieb it!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=840165600 Lee Abadie

       berieb!

  • 7BitBrian

    So my 3 day head start puts me playing on Saturday the 25th! I cannot wait!

  • http://www.facebook.com/elias.rowan Elias Rowan

    Finally

  • Cyclops07

    Awesome I just hope game is release ready and not rushed

    • http://twitter.com/Tippocalypse Tippocalypse

      I think when it comes down to it, the technology and engine are ready. The servers have been stressed pretty darn well, so if all they have left is to implement some content in the other races (which has likely been internally tested for a while now) I have no doubt in my mind that they’ll be ready. 

      The betas thusfar have been really polished, and felt better than most clients I’ve played in beta (incl SWTOR and TSW). 

      Really looking forward to this one :D

  • 7BitBrian

    And #GW2iscoming is trending worldwide on Twitter with no signs of stopping. :D

    • QSatu

       Where do you check it?

  • CCLemon77

    Great.   I know that there were a number of things they’ve been working on since BWE1 that were identified and that they’re working on.  I really hope they’ll be able to get these in by launch.

  • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

    Scott needs to publish his steaming schedule and get his technical setup right.  Scott can amass a following for the further adventures of his Guardian.   August 25, the Guardian adventure begins.

    MikeB needs to gather his WvW army and srike fear into the hearts of the other worlds.  See if he can dominate a map in less than an hour.

  • http://www.facebook.com/fernando.ribeiro.9085 Fernando Ribeiro

    Playing The Secret World tomorrow, along side RIFT (wich rocks with the new patch!), then GW2.. what a wonderfull summer!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kenny-Parsons-Collins/100001285750124 Kenny Parsons-Collins

    anyone think this could mess with the MoP release date??

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan

      Seems unlikely, MoP is obviously for people who want more WoW.
      According to all most of the comments here and elsewhere and the journalists GW2 is for people who do not want more WoW.

      So this is two mostly non-intersecting demographics. On the other hand I would have been happier if ANet pushed the release date back a month or two so I have time for Path of Exile. :p

    • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

      Probably a really good date for Blizzard.  They can now release WoW 5.0 late August and MoP sometimes in September.

  • http://www.facebook.com/kaj.udanga Kaj Udanga

    This works out so well for me! My birthday is on August 14th so there should be plenty of time to get all my friends to at least partially chip in towards a CE! woooooo so excited!

  • bostjan rabar

    YESSSSSSS :D
     

  • http://twitter.com/Noghue Noghue

    Finally! and REALLY Arenanet.  Of every week you could pick, you pick move in week for college….

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawna-Daniels/1135007726 Shawna Daniels

      Because everyone playing GW2 will be going to college that week right? God forbid there’s another demographic in the world

    • H S

       Did it ever occur to you they actually picked that week knowing the bulk of college kids would be busy that week?

      They don’t want or need jammed packed servers the first week. They need the servers to gradually grow over time perhaps. Besides, the bulk of college kiddies are what we call, burnouts. So maybe Anet actually thought more about mom and dad getting in a few days of play before the playground emptied.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1553926379 Phillip Park

    I love you ANET!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/V3HR6CMXI5WF5PXOHJV4Z5XPJA Yoh

    Well, that’s good news to wake up too.

  • http://twitter.com/Sanovah Nick

    So trololol at this release date. Really wanna know who thought it was a good idea to release a new game the week 90% of colleges will resume classes and 2 days before 99% of PAX goers will start traveling to PAX for the weekend.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Shawna-Daniels/1135007726 Shawna Daniels

      I hope you realize that the majority isn’t “college kids”, and that 99.99% of people playing GW2 could care less about going to PAX.

      • H S

         shhhh…maybe they will boycott the game and we will have some nice gameplay among the rest of us adults.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/5F67A4WUUVMLLVP4MNYEAQOVIU Rob

      Your right, NO one will play it now. HA! Stoopid Arena Net, huh? 

    • http://twitter.com/triggerhippy Grace

      This actually sounds like a great idea to me! =) Nothing worse than an overcrowded release or head start.

  • Razor4884

    For the longest time, Arena-net releasing a date for GW2 felt just as likely as Valve learning to count to three. But I guess now they’re both happening… ;)

  • http://twitter.com/AgeNightroad Adrian Lloyd

    *ahem* 


    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

  • JJGlyph

    Looks like they are going to be advertising the crap out of it at PAX.

  • DoctorOverlord

    GBTV broke this story for me, thank you guys!       I can’t believe I forgot to post here as I was running around other sites.  

    This site is rapidly turning into my go-to place for the latest in breaking gaming news.   Keep up the great work!

    And WOOHOO!   Release date and another BWE!   Plus a really awesome trailer.    

    It has been a good day.  

  • Alexiel Thorne

    The wait is almost over. If nothing else, having an actual date is a huge relief. Two months is nothing, it was more schroedinger’s cat that bothered me.

    Any news on WHEN early access starts? 25th, I’m hoping, means as soon as the date becomes the 25th August. I’m not in the U.S. so need to know when I can start logging in.

    • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

      ya if you pre purchased the game, you can start on the 25, but if you pre ordered it you can start on the 27th.

  • H S

    So that means they have one BWE to fix the thief? Sorry but that class is the laughing stock of Spvp and WvW. 

    • http://twitter.com/RussellGusto Russell Hunt

      I have no issues with the thief and am constantly high on the rankings…have you tried different builds with thief?  Heck I rarely ever even get caught.

      • H S

         that is the problem, every build should be viable, yet only a few are even an option. Getting away is never the issue, it’s getting the high burst damage, and if you dont get a few crits, you never have the initiative to get out alive.

    • pandora005

      You really expect to get a “fix” on the Thief for WvW where its “structural disadvantages” (being a primarily melee focused class) will be overcome? Dream on … and think about stuff first before posting … OR change your expectations to something more reasonable.

      • H S

        LOL, think about what? How little you know of a game. This discussion was being had by the Anet team post BWE, they need to think? . Team Paradigm, one of the best PvP squads around, also classified the thief as the weakest class, almost useless in fact. So maybe you should “think” before you post.

        No one is claiming they are completely outclassed, but everyone with even an ounce of gaming experience agree that the class has fewer option than all other classes. That’s why reddit found leaks of them tweaking the thief for next BWE. Because they need it.

    • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

      I haven’t found anything wrong with the thief. and I got mine to level 29 with no issues, in spvp, WvW or pve. Maybe you just need a different approach to it my friend.

      • H S

        I reached level 47, and had no issue the first 30 levels either. The past BWE they became a joke in high level Spvp. Or did you not notice all the nerfs we got hit with between the BWE’s?

    • RolyVento

      The thief class was OP in sPvP, try googling out builds. I used a bleed build and felt it too OP against other classes. Specially their down state had me going stealth and teleporting away from death.

      • H S

         sorry but their downstate is the only good thing about them, and its because they are so easy to get down is why you have trouble with it so often.

        And I know about thief builds, i tried every version of them, and they at best a one  shot glass cannon. But then have no initiative to escape if it fails.

        • http://www.facebook.com/andrew.white.5283166 Andrew White

          LOL sorry but I think you are just not good with a thief, my brother got a good ass build up and he just dominate with his thief on sPVP. Except if he goes against a good warrior he’ll get rape lol, but sometime he manage it.

    • NightLord_001

      and one beta to fix the mesmer too? sure, they have a huge staff and work on things after release, but I’m a little wary too

  • http://twitter.com/triggerhippy Grace

    Now they need to work on optimizing the frame rates.The graphics were still very unoptimized last beta event. Still worried about just how much more they can improve them with this little amount of time. And I’m not that upset that my NVidia GTX 580 runs the game just okay instead of excellent, I’m thinking in terms of the bigger picture: People with older pcs won’t be able to play this game at all if they don’t optimize well.  I personally had a friend cancel her pre purchase plans cause her pc couldn’t run it well during Beta and some guild mates in GW1 can’t run it either.

    • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

       the  game ran smooth as anything for me during this last stress test. I had everything on max except shadows, and I’m on a GTX 550. I guess they are still working out the kinks with some of the systems, but it seems like there pretty close to fixing it for most people from what I was reading on my server at least. But ya, I hope they tighten it up as much as they can before launch.

    • RolyVento

      Keep in mind that the beta client is CPU locked, meaning is not using your video card at all.

      • Old Ben

        > is not using your video card at all.

        If your game client didn’t have an image, I think there might be something wrong with it.

        BWE1 was single-thread locked (one thread maxing out one CPU core, another thread using maybe 25% of a second core), which put its GPU utilization around the 20% mark (on a DX11-level card).

        BEW2 had much better load balancing between CPU cores (with pretty high utilization of three cores on my 6-core system), and GPU usage went up to 70% or so.

        I doubt they will be able to distribute the load much better across CPU cores (games aren’t easy to parallelize), but they probably will be able to do general optimizations and get everything running faster, even if some parts of the code still have the CPU waiting for the GPU or vice-versa (meaning neither of them will hit 95%+ utilization).

        • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

          Old Ben, did they fix this:

          fix the main CPU thread getting stalled on occlusion queries to the GPU; we need to fix driver compatibility issues; we’ll continue offloading work to other threads.

          • Old Ben

            As you might imagine, improving performance in any complex piece of code doesn’t boil down to _one_ fix. Nor is it, beyond a certain point, a matter of “fixing” things, it’s just a matter of gradually improving a lot of details.

      • http://twitter.com/triggerhippy Grace

         I am keeping that in mind. That’s what they claim they are going to change.

  • Revanhavoc

    Finally…I guess. *hides mild skepticism*

    • Jado Cast

      Is that Revan’s opinion or Havoc?  :-)

  • 1970Hendrix1970

    Guild Wars 2 launching well in advance of WoW’s next expansion….so smart of them to steal all the people from panda land before it launches….seriously unless blizzard makes WoW free to play you can stick a fork in it…..

    • pc11

      Wow has between 6 and 7 million players in Asia where GW2 wont even exist for now. Stop talking shit when you dont have a clue and are not informed.

  • vbrevolution

    About time! On another note, I’m kind of wondering if there’s even a point in playing in the next BWE, seeing as our characters are going to be wiped anyways. (You know as well as anyone that I’m probably going to wind up playing, however what’s the incentive?)

    • RolyVento

      Trying different classes is my motivation.

      • Mathew Edwards

        Please stop calling them classes. It’s professions in guild wars and guild wars 2.

  • ArcherAvatar

    *Snoopy happy dance*

  • http://twitter.com/BigMac37s Brandon m

    Looks cool.  But probably the most hyped MMO in history.  I’m turned off to hype after SWTOR.  Gonna wait on this one.

    • http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

      There is a major difference though heh. SWTOR was mostly hyped off of trailers that promised stuff that didn’t actually happen or work the way it was supposed to. GW2 on the other hand is mainly hyped off of actual gameplay. something to keep in mind heh. Hope you decide to pick it up, plus theres no sub.

      • http://www.facebook.com/fimbulvetrr Dovah Kiin

        Im really starting to resent the hype for this game. Sure its good. But This kind of hype is never good.

        • http://profile.yahoo.com/ADEN6X6TYCORSSGEHKWMBIHDHY Eclipse

          There’s a difference to this hype though, as corey pointed out. The hype for GW2 is much more organic: it started through the manifest video and what they said they were bringing to the genre, through trailers of actual in-game footage and not cgi, through player word of mouth – and the beta weekends have only made it stronger.

          Hype for SWTOR was totally artificial and manufactured by unrealistic trailers and dev blogs that promised the world but didn’t deliver on even half of that.

          E.G. Yes there is massive amounts of hype, but it’s good hype, built for and by the right reasons.

          • Nathan Hulse

            It might be helpful to make a distinction between hype and evidence. Your notional “good hype” is really evidence; many people have played it and liked it. Hype really just consitutes the marketing material, but I suppose its more than fair to include fanboyism too… And theres certainly a lot of fanboyism surrounding GW2!

            Personally, I think its the first game to push the MMO envelope for years. Its going to be very enjoyable, but its not a cure for cancer ;) Nonsense about “redefining” MMORPGs is just that; the genre is necessarily inflexible, when all is said and done.

      • http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

        SWTOR generally lived up to its hype, until you hit level 50 and then it turned into the terrible mess.

        If you watched the early episodes on Guildcast on GamebreakerTV, the hype on GW2 was so bad you would think the hosts were applying for jobs with Arenanet. ;) That it was this amazing persistent world with all these dynamic events where your actions matter.

        I’ve found the current set of GamebreakerTV hosts to be much more balanced about the game and produce a very enjoyable show.

        I’ve done two BWE and a stress test and I’m tired of seeing the exact same dynamic event repeating over and over again.  I also found the personal story was intolerably juvenile.

        While I love the WvW and sPVP, I feel like I’m forced to grind out the PVE so I can unlock the talent points and grind to level 30 for WvW, so I have have my final action bar button unlocked and get the talent points I need.

  • Jado Cast

    #3 bothers me the most because it looks really strange, and noticed that immediately the first time playing.  After playing GW in which your character movement while channeled in a skill made you skid or skate all the time so I’m use to that.  TSW has horrible animations in general.

  • Jado Cast

    Quote:  “GW2 is not (and is not meant to be) a linear game.”

    Thank God!

  • Jado Cast

    When I reply to comments, it just post the comment at the top instead of reply.  The site has done this to me before but for some reason it is doing it to every reply I make.  FYI GBTV.

    • Old Ben

      Disqus’ website was having some connection problems, I think. At one point the comments weren’t loading at all.

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