Guild Wars 2 confirmed for 2012, public beta coming [Updated]

ArenaNet founder and president Mike O'Brien rocked the Guild Wars 2 community very early this morning with a blog post celebrating 2012 as the year of the dragon and the official launch year for Guild Wars 2.

Guild Wars 2 recently finished up a very small closed beta test, and now ArenaNet is planning to start opening the testing doors wider very quickly: "In February we'll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we'll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate."

This all leads up to the event fans have been eagerly awaiting on the edge of their seats: a 2012 launch for Guild Wars 2, according to O'Brien. He wrapped up the blog post with words guaranteed to put a big smile on the face of every fan: "So welcome to the Year of the Dragon – the year of Guild Wars 2."

[Update: Martin Kerstein has further clarified ANet's plans on the GW2 Guru forums, reminding players that "public beta events" does not mean "unlimited open beta." He does say that at least some of these events will be in the form of weekend testing events.]

Reader Comments (107)

@Doctalen They stated at some point that anyone who could run the original guild wars could run guild wars 2... as in, they were guaranteeing a graphics setting that would accommodate old machines.

@Luftwaffles

What they said specifically was that if you can run GW1 on max settings, you can run GW2 on minimum.

Heh, makes me feel kinda bad for Turbine. I was looking forward to trying out the DDO expansion and seeing what big news they had in store for LOTRO, but it seems that GW2's beating them to the punch.

Oh well. This game's been. 5 years in the waiting for me and I've got a lifetime LOTRO account, Middle Earth can wait :)

I'm trying to get a new gaming PC by 2013 but I doubt it'll happen. I can't even play the Age of Conan game on anything higher than low without getting a shitty FPS from what I recall. I'm REALLY looking forward to this though but it's a shame I can't play it. I mean I may be able to on low but I want to have it look decent.

@Doctalen Guild wars 2 isn't going for graphics like AoC is. The developers have in the past stated that they sometimes use hard to find graphics cards for their testing purpose. Arenanet is going for style graphics and so they games look better than a game going for total realism.

Oh frabjous day...

I can still see darkmoon coming in yelling vaporware ...

Jokes aside ... THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR since I first heard about the game about 2 years ago. It is soo hard to believe it's actually happening :D

@Kalec
Nah, in before Grail comes in being negative nancy and telling us how we are all fools for getting hyped. Or picking at some detail.

I am also imagining the drama between massively's staff if NCsoft only gives 1 press beta key for the entire staff. Bet Rubi pulls seniority and claims it :)

I am looking forward to this game. Hopefully like every game before it it won't turn into a wow player troll fest that Massively is becoming famous for. Enough "wow clone" or "not innovative" posts for other games already. To be honest everything I read about GW2 has been PR type posts and not actual game play related.

@(Unverified) Apparently you haven't read much. Tons of gameplay articles, not to mention videos on youtube and play-by-plays of everyone who's gotten their hot little hands on the game, including non-press at conventions.

@(Unverified)

you might want to look around then because the innovations (and there's a lot of them) for GW2 are very well documented.

Don't think I will preorder the CE been burned to many times in the past with them and this game carries more risk then many other MMOs, AAA budget while trying to deviate from what most think is the norm for MMOs (wow style themeparks). The game will either be a big success or most likly a modarate hit.

Whatever happens its great that a public beta is not to far off and we can finnaly get an idea as to what to expect from the game. Heres hoping it lives up to the hype unlike certain other games.

So, so excited.

Time for Anet to show they can deliver.

"In February we'll invite select press to participate in beta testing,"

I imagine Rubi may have let out a whoop of joy for this bit. Looks like us peasants have to wait a little longer though Should be worth it though.

Don't suppose you have any jobs going at the Massively towers? Short term say for the month of February :)

@Balraw Oh yeah, Rubi should get invited! :D
And she shall speak about the immense adventures she fas on GW2 while we drool for a couple of months that will seem to be larger than the past 4 years.

Go Rubi! Feb is near, hope you can talk a little about it :O

@Balraw

Good for Rubi! And good for us, assuming she can tell us all about it.

@Pyzlnar
Dev 1: Hey lets get a bunch of media types in here to test it and tell every one how awesome it is!
Dev 2: Hey, ya, but first we gotta make em sign a bunch of NDAs
Dev 1: Wait, what?
Dev 2: yea, we dont want them spilling all our precious secrets!

@Daeths Which is why I said "Hope you can talk a little about it." :P
But idk, why make a press specific beta without them being able to say anything?

Either way, we won't get GW2 in our hands anytime soon. :(

I just did a touchdown dance at my desk.

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Guild Wars 2 confirmed for 2012, public beta coming [Updated]

Reader Comments (107)

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 5:13PM Luftwaffles said

Posted: Jan 24th 2012 3:55PM Eamil said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 7:42AM Ehra said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 7:57AM Doctalen said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 9:04AM silver001 said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:13AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:16AM Kalec said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:31AM h4ngedm4n said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:17AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 4:03PM alycat said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 11:36PM Protoavis said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:39AM avaloner said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:41AM jealouspirate said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:45AM Joaquin Crowe said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:52AM Balraw said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 9:04AM Pyzlnar said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 9:16AM jealouspirate said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 12:06PM Daeths said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 12:49PM Pyzlnar said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2012 8:59AM hassaun2006 said

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