Guild Wars 2 Release Date, Final Beta Date Announced

After what feels like forever, ArenaNet has finally graced us with a release date for their hotly anticipated MMO sequel, Guild Wars 2.

ArenaNet announced that Guild Wars 2 will arrive in both North America and Europe on August 28. In addition to that, the developer also confirmed that the final beta test weekend event will take place on July 20, and will last until July 22.

“We’re offering gamers an experience that delivers on the promise of online gaming with a truly social experience in an immense, shared world ,” said ArenaNet president and co-founder Mike O’Brien.

“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.”

For the uninitiated, Guild Wars 2 is an MMO that features some common tropes of the genre, including crafting and PVP combat, but it puts its own spin quite a few of them. For example, there is no “quest” system in Guild Wars 2 in the traditional sense–“quests” are dynamically generated events that have an impact in the world.

Guild Wars 2‘s combat isn’t your standard fare, either. Whereas most MMOs have you tabbing to target an enemy, Guild Wars 2 takes the action game approach by requiring you to actually aim your attacks. If you’ve tried out TERA, you’re already more or less familiar with how that works.

You can check out a trailer announcing Guild Wars 2‘s release date below.

Do you plan on trying out Guild Wars 2