Frequently Asked Questions
From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
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[edit] General Questions
No. This has been confirmed several times. You will only need to buy the box to play.
Yes, micro-transactions will exist. These will be similar to those offered by Guild Wars.[1]
ArenaNet have said they are not trying to make another World of Warcraft clone. Their core ideals of accessibility, playing how you want to play and the ability to play with your friends have been prominently mentioned in the press for the game.
Post it to your favorite fan forum. There is also a suggestion area on Guild Wars Wiki. But check whether someone else has posted a similar idea first!
If your answer isn't on this page or on the Guild Wars 2 page then it is likely there is no answer for your question yet. In particular there is little confirmed information on game mechanics. Ask your question on the talk page and it may get added to the FAQ, whether we know the answer or not.
Check out the official website, official twitter account and official facebook page for new information as it is announced. Check out the wiki's news page for a list of articles on Guild Wars 2. For speculative, unconfirmed information or discussions on information, or lack of it, check out a fansite forum.
We don't know. [edit] Release and testing
No official date has been announced for the release of Guild Wars 2, only that it will be released "when it is ready". However, according to NCsoft conference call from Q3 2009, the beta is expected to start in 2010 and the final game is expected to be released in 2011.[2]
Alpha test is by invitation only.
You bet. Just like the Original Guild Wars games there are going to be public beta tests. ArenaNet has stated this will start closer to the release of the game than for Guild Wars 1.
You can't sign up for the beta test at the moment - any site which claims you can is trying to scam you. The only place which will allow you to sign up for a Guild Wars 2 beta test is the official Guild Wars 2 website. Don't give your account information to anyone! One of the ways the beta will be announced will be using the newsletter, so sign up on the Official Guild Wars 2 website if you aren't checking the news sites frequently and don't want to miss out. Take care to watch out for scam emails.
ArenaNet thinks that the market for MMORPG has changed significantly since they developed Guild Wars. Players view betas of MMOs as demos of the final product and so expect a level of polish which betas early in development cannot provide. As a result the planned beta has been delayed to provide the right first impression of the game to these players. It doesn't necessarily mean that planned release dates have changed.
Yes! The first hands on demos will be playable at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany during August 19-22, 2010. There will also be playable demos as the Penny Arcade Expo. in Seattle, Washington during September 03-05, 2010.[3]
At release only English, German[4] and other yet unspecified European languages will be supported. Support for Asian languages will be added later.
It has been stated that expansions and/or mini-expansions are far more likely than standalone campaigns. [edit] Original Guild Wars
The development team at ArenaNet realized at the time they started work on the fourth Guild Wars campaign that there was so much stuff they wanted to do but couldn't make fit into the existing game. So they decided that making Guild Wars 2 was the best way for them to do what they wanted to the game.
Yes. ArenaNet have stated that the Guild Wars servers will stay open after GW2 is released. There will continue to be special events and patches for players who stay playing Guild Wars.[5]
Between now and release of Guild Wars 2, no. Whether there are any more after release of Guild Wars 2 hasn't been entirely ruled out but it seems pretty unlikely.
No, but you will be able to reserve character names.[6] Guild Wars: Eye of the North allows you to transfer some achievements to GW2 through the Hall of Monuments.
By account. A player may link a Guild Wars 2 account to a Guild Wars account using an in-game item in Guild Wars 2. All characters on the account will then be able to access the rewards from the Hall of Monuments.[7]
No information yet about the actual rewards from the Hall of Monuments. We know all rewards will be completely unique to the hall, and only obtainable by players who earned achievements in Guild Wars.[8] [edit] Technical stuff
GW2 will have higher requirements than GW but no requirements have been set. They plan to keep the requirements low so that owners of mainstream PCs will be able to play the game when it is released.
We don't know. As with all online games, a high-speed connection will be required for an optimal experience.
No, but DirectX 10 will be supported.[9]
They are developing for Windows PCs. So it seems pretty unlikely these platforms will be officially supported.
There is a small team exploring the possibility of consoles, but there are no definite plans for a console version at this time.[10]
We don't know. [edit] Servers/Worlds
Yes, however you will be able to move characters between different shards/worlds quickly and easily. Some restrictions will be imposed on characters which have recently switched. An example of this restriction was to prevent interference in the outcome of a World versus World battle. Other details of server switching have not been announced yet.
Each world will host "many thousands" at a time. There is a limit per map in the world, the exact number hasn't been given but it is "high enough that we expect it to be rarely if ever reached".[11] [edit] Gameplay
Yes! The first trailer for the game clearly shows characters doing just this. It also been said that you can swim and climb trees.[12]
No, your character will not be able to fly.[13]
Yup. The game will still target for you.
Yes, map travel will be part of Guild Wars 2. In contrast to the original game it will require a small fee to use it.[14] Asura gates are also available as part of the map travel network .[15]
We don't know.
No, there will be no henchmen or heroes. The companion system mentioned in early interviews about Guild Wars 2 was scrapped.[16]
It has been stated that equipment will be a more significant part of PvE and World PvP gameplay. Armor will use a light, medium, heavy system[17]. Weapons are directly linked to the skills the character has available at the time and may be swapped to gain access to different skills. New weapon types have been added to the game; notably guns. Both armor and weapons are upgradable.
There are many different ways in which you can be rewarded for playing the game:
[edit] Character
No. One character can participate in any gameplay type that GW2 offers. [edit] Levels
The level cap is eighty.
A sidekick system will be used which will bring your armor and power up, or down, to that of people you are with.
No. Each level takes the same amount of time to achieve. This means that it has a different leveling curve to most MMOs where the amount of time required for each level increases at each level. [edit] Races
Human, asura, charr, norn and sylvari are confirmed for the initial release.
It has been stated that in the future, other races will be added.[18] There won't be any others at the initial release of the game.
Yes. But, aside from the obvious appearance differences, the exact form and effect of these is unknown. We do know that the norn will be able to shapeshift into animal forms and the asura will be able to use golems. Each race will also get a number of racial skills which capture the flavor of the race. These are slightly weaker than equivalent skills provided by a profession.[19] It has been stated that ArenaNet wants race choice to have a significant effect on gameplay but for races to be equally effective at playing all professions, for example, there are no racial traits which could have prevented this. [edit] Professions
The available professions are being introduced right now. Elementalist, necromancer, ranger and warrior are the only announced professions. The mesmer has also been mentioned in Ghosts of Ascalon. However, it is still unclear whether the mesmer can be considered confirmed for Guild Wars 2 or if they have been mentioned for familiarity. All professions from the original Guild Wars were under consideration, as was the possibility of adding new professions. There will be no dedicated healing profession in Guild Wars 2.
There will be 8 professions in the initial release of Guild Wars 2.
Secondary professions were originally included, however due to the unique mechanics of each profession and the increased role of race in character customization, they are no longer a feature of the game.
All professions will be available to all races. All races are equally able to play all professions.
No.
ArenaNet is designing the racial skills to add flavor, but to be underpowered relative to the professions' skills. They're trying to make it that having the right profession is what matters most. [edit] Skills
No. Skills will be available to purchase or obtainable as rewards or loot. Monsters are no longer tied to the profession system which makes the skill capture system difficult to keep.
There is now a 10 skill system. The first 5 skills are pre-determined based on your equipped weapon (or environmental weapons, such as a rock or siege weapon) and your profession. The last 5 skills are selected by the player, one slot is for healing, another for an elite skill.
It is likely there will be fewer skills than in Guild Wars. It's been said they're aiming for quality rather than quantity of skills for Guild Wars 2. [edit] PvE
Yes. Each race starts in a different area and has a slightly different storyline. However, friends playing different races can meet up after completing a short tutorial and traveling via asura gate to the racial capital city of their choice.
Yes, but players will not be able to solely craft. Players will only have to craft items if they want the item to use or sell, rather than to "level up."
Yes. A marketplace is being added which allows a player to register items to buy or sell. Registration of items must be performed in-game but monitoring and bidding can be done from a web browser without being in-game.
Yes. Each character receives a home instance in their racial capital that is personalized according to the character's biography choices. The home will continue to change as the character becomes more involved in their personal story.
The green exclamation point indicating a quest has been removed. It has been replaced by events which are dynamic 'quest chains' in the world which players in the area can find and participate in. Primary quests and missions from Guild Wars have been replaced by the personal storyline, which involves a customized, instance-told story for the player to play through.
Yes, the game will be soloable by your character alone. No henchmen or other players required - although if you don't want to play with others there will be some content you won't be able to play.
No. Because there are different racial starting areas the developers felt it was impractical to implement such areas. [edit] Persistence
So that you can have a more social time in-game and have the potential to see and meet people who are online as much as you are. Persistence also adds new game elements, such as an evolving world and consequences in the form of events.
Yes, some character specific quests related to the personal storyline are instanced. Dungeons, the organized team PvE, are also instanced.
Events are going to help stop the problems associated with persistent areas in MMOs. Events allow anyone who "significantly" helps in the fight to be individually rewarded and gain 100% of the experience for participating. Events scale based on the number of players participating so it never matters how many people are helping out with an event. There is no information as of yet on how this will work for general mobs not tied to a specific event, but it is expected to be similar. [edit] Setting
You will be unable to travel to these areas in the initial release of Guild Wars 2. They are expected to be seen in future releases.
Yes. The cycle will be faster than real time. Events and monster spawning will change based on the time of day. Centaurs might attack a camp at dawn, and ghosts haunting an ancient battlefield might only be visible at night. Currently, the cycle lasts 2 hours with 80 minutes of day and 40 minutes of night, but this is subject to change before release.[20]
There will be extensive underwater areas which are intended to be a fun place to explore - which means that breathing isn't going to be a problem. A consumable item will allow breathing underwater for a long period of time. There will be new friendly races introduced and there will be events in these areas. [edit] PvP
Two major PvP modes have been announced. "World versus World" will involve large, ongoing battles in the Mists between uneven groups of players of different levels. The other, referred to as "Structured PvP," has two major types; tournament play, similar to Guild Wars 1 guild battles, which pits two evenly matched teams against each other, and pick-up play where individual players or groups can pick games to join based on available space, map and other settings.[19] Some activities, such as bar brawling and snowball fights, are also PvP.
It has been stated that a character which is taken into Structured PvP will be given fixed level, and have access to the same set of skills, items, and professions as other players. World versus World will use the equipment, skill and level of the character entering.
Guild Wars PvP has always been consensual and this will not change.
It is being considered.[21] [edit] Guilds
We don't know.
Yes. Each character will optionally be able to join a different guild.[19] All characters from the same account in a guild will show as a single member. If one character belongs to a guild no further invitations are required to add more characters to the guild.[22]
There will be guild achievements added and guilds may hold keeps in World versus World. There will be a guild calendar and you can participate in guild chat from a web browser.[19]
No. Guilds will "accept heroes of all societies into their halls."
We don't know.
No numbers haven been given. [edit] References
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