Frequently Asked Questions
From Guild Wars 2 Wiki
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[edit] General Questions
No, you will only need to buy the box or a game key to play as much as you want.
Yes, micro-transactions will exist. Be assured goods and items bought for cash in GW2 do not offer any advantage over those available in the game through the investment of time.
No, they have specifically 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. The game also does not use the conventional "Holy Trinity" system of DPS, healer, and tank, but instead uses a damage, control, and support system. [1]
The only place ArenaNet can legally take player suggestions is the feedback area on the Guild Wars Wiki. Head over there and post your ideas 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 use the search to check the wiki for more information. It is also likely there could be no answer for your question yet. Ask your question on the talk page for this article and it may get added to the FAQ, whether we know the answer or not.
Start with the official website, official twitter account, and official facebook page for new information as it is announced. Check out the wiki's interviews 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. Finally, this wiki offers a list of fansites.
Yes, an official strategy guide will be published by BradyGames. Most vendors offering pre-order versions of the game are also allowing pre-orders for the guide. [edit] Release and testing
ArenaNet has announced that Guild Wars 2 will be released some time in 2012.
Alpha test is for friends and family only, and is already in progress. [2]
Closed beta testing started on December 16, 2011, and will not be open to the public. A press beta weekend event was held February 17th to 19th, 2012, with press open to post their impressions as of February 20, 2012. For just over 48 hours, on February 22nd to the 24th, 2012, there were signups for beta on the official site. Signup is now closed. Testing that includes more of the general public will start after this, with timing dependent on the feedback to-date. These events will be similar to the open weekends used for Guild Wars testing. The official Guild Wars 2 website will be the only place that will allow you to sign up to participate in these tests; the official newsletter on the main site will also be the first place to announce the next round of testing. Keeping checking the news frequently or sign up for the newsletter. As of April 10th, 2012, pre-purchasing Guild Wars 2 grants access to all beta weekend events. The first public beta weekend event ran from April 27th to 29th.[3] On May 14th between 11:00 AM through 6:00 PM PST, anyone who has pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 was allowed to participate in a Stress Test of the servers.
There will be demos at various game conventions. Currently, there is no other way to play, outside of the planned events described above.
At release only English, Spanish, German, French, and other yet-unspecified European languages will be supported.[4][5] ArenaNet has not stated whether voice work will be translated into every language. Support for Asian languages will be added later.
The system of stand-alone campaigns from Guild Wars will not be kept because of the split to the community and time spent creating redundant tutorial content. New gameplay will be added via an expansion mechanism instead.[6] [edit] Original Guild Wars
The development team at ArenaNet realized, at the time they started work on the fourth Guild Wars campaign, that there were so many things they wanted to do but couldn't fit into the existing game. They decided that making Guild Wars 2 was the best way for them to do what they wanted to the game.
Yes. ArenaNet has 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.[7]
ArenaNet has already released some small expansions that help bridge the gap in the story between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2; these do not require purchase to access. A third storyline has been plotted, but has not been scheduled for development. Full, purchasable expansions haven't been entirely ruled out, but they seem unlikely. If they are created, it will not happen until after the release of Guild Wars 2.
No, character transfers between the games are not possible. However, you can reserve your existing Guild Wars character names for use in Guild Wars 2.[8]
After launch day, all remaining names will lose their reservation and become available to all Guild Wars 2 players.[8]
Yes, if you link your accounts, your Guild Wars in-game achievements recorded in the Hall of Monuments will be translated into special titles, animal companions, miniatures, and a wide selection of weapons and armor pieces. For further reference, see the article on the Hall of Monuments Reward Calculator or refer to the Hall of Monuments article.
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.[9] [edit] Technical stuff
The minimum requirements are:[10]
ArenaNet reserves the right to update these requirements, depending on changes to the game. This might require that a small number of players upgrade or replace their system to continue playing.[10]
No, you must have a broadband connection, i.e. at least DSL speeds or better.
No, but you will need DirectX 9. In addition, DirectX 10 is supported. [11]
Not officially; ArenaNet has not given any indication that they will offer support for those platforms. A number of players have installed Guild Wars 2 on Wine and successfully participated in a Beta Weekend Event.
Not at this time. A small team is exploring the possibility, but there are no plans to implement the idea.[12]
Not at this time. ArenaNet has not announced any specifics for this.
Not officially. As with the original Guild Wars, neither ArenaNet nor NCSoft support the use of third party software with GW2; any problems that you have as a result of doing so must be resolved on your own. In addition, players must take care that they are always in compliance with the terms and conditions of the End User Licensing Agreement. The companies reserve the right to suspend or ban accounts that are found to be using software that gives an unfair advantage to players.
Yes. You can alter the soundtrack with customized playlists and audio files. You can also choose to replace some music in some situations (e.g. during combat), but not in others. [edit] Servers/Worlds
Yes, when you log in to the game for the first time, you will have the opportunity to choose your home world, which you will represent during World versus World.[13]
Yes. If you do so, you will be logged out briefly while the game moves your account to the new region.
Yes, you can change your home world. There will be a limit of one such transfer every seven days per account; each transfer will cost 1,800 gems. After a transfer, all existing and future characters on your account will play in the new world.
Yes. Guesting allows you to participate in PvE content on an alternative server. However, you can only participate in WvW via your home world.
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".[14] Each World versus World map is going to support up to 300 players.[15] [edit] Gameplay
Yes, your character will be able to jump as a movement mechanic. Jumping off cliffs and up platforms is also possible, though long jumps can damage your character and jumps from higher distances can be fatal.
No.[16]
Yes, you will be able to instantly travel to any discovered waypoint for a small fee.[17] Asura gates are also available as part of the map travel network.[18]
Other than map travel and asura gates, there will be no other methods of long distance travel such as mounts, ships, etc in Guild Wars 2 upon initial release.[19]
No, there will be no henchmen or heroes. The companion system mentioned in early interviews about Guild Wars 2 was scrapped.[20]
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[21]. 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 and stats can be transferred between items using a Transmutation Stone.
Armor affects your stats, and is known to boost your attributes. Whilst there is not a lot of information on armor comparison of the same level, it is heavily implied that armor sets of the same level and of the same armor class only differ aesthetically.
As per armor above, weapons also affect your stats. More information is unknown at this point.
There are many different ways in which you can be rewarded for playing the game:
[edit] Character
The number has not been finalized. However, as with Guild Wars, you will be able to buy more slots through the game store.[22]
No. One character can participate in any gameplay type that GW2 offers. All skills and equipment available for your profession and race will be automatically available in structured PvP, while you will play with your current gear in World vs World.
No. The separation of PvE and PvP characters was removed altogether in Guild Wars 2; any character can participate in both aspects of gameplay without the need to unlock content first. In addition, all PvP is accessible shortly after character creation. In Structured PvP, your character will be scaled up (or down) to match the requirements and stats and skills will be updated as well. Skills and stats temporarily obtained in this way will be lost upon leaving Structured PvP. During World vs World, enemy players killed will "drop" armor and weapons for all players who contributed to the kill. (These drops are generated on death, and are not drawn from the dead player's inventory.) All armor and weapons dropped will be appropriate for the level of the character receiving the drop, allowing a character to viably raise their level and gear through WvW alone.[23] [edit] Levels
The maximum character level is 80.
A sidekick system will be used to scale your character down, to match the people you are with. Your character's power will be scaled in either direction (scaling up only occurs in a party with higher level players), but you will still retain the same bonuses from armor as your original level, meaning that higher level players will still have some advantage.
No, if you have been actively fighting a monster, you will receive full rewards when that monster dies. If multiple players kill a monster together, they all get full rewards for slaying it. Also note that high leveled characters are scaled down in power in areas they have out-leveled, so anyone in your area will have relatively the same amount of power as you do.
No. The time needed to level up should never exceed 90 minutes.[24] Moreover, the leveling curve flattens, so each subsequent level will take about the same time to reach. [edit] Races
For the initial release, there will be 5 races available to play as: asura, charr, human, norn and sylvari.
It has been stated that in the future, other races will be added.[25] There won't be any other races playable at the initial release of the game.
Yes. There are appearance differences and unique customization options for each race. Skill wise each race has a number of utility skills and elite skills which give the race a unique flavor. For example, the norn will be able to shapeshift into animal forms and the asura will be able to use golems. These racial skills are weaker than equivalent skills provided by a profession.[26] 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
For more information please see the Profession page, or select an individual profession.
There will be 8 professions in the initial release of Guild Wars 2.
There will be no dedicated healing profession in Guild Wars 2. For this reason, each class has one skill slot reserved for a self-heal. Some skills which heal allies will be available, though these will be weaker than self-heal skills. Additionally, there are no skills which directly target allies; any skills which affect the user's allies will do so because the allies are in the area of the caster, in the area of a ground-targeted ability, or in the area of an enemy who is struck by a skill with a secondary effect. The intention is to give support classes an outlet for their protective nature while also requiring them to be fully aware of the battlefield, instead of just watching their allies' health bars. While it does have some minor healing abilities, such as the Resolve virtue, the guardian's defensive magic is more focused on protection with wards and blocking abilities, and like every other profession, none of its skills can directly target allies.
Secondary professions were originally included, but due to the unique mechanics of each profession and the increased role of race in character customization, they have been removed.
All professions will be available to all races. Racial skills are the only ability changes granted by a character's race, and while these will allow characters to do things their profession can't, they will be weaker than similar profession-specific skills.
No. [edit] Skills
No. Monsters are no longer tied to the profession system which makes a skill capture system impractical.
The first weapon skill and one healing skill are available from the start of the game. Weapon skills are unlocked by using that weapon in combat. Healing, utility and elite skills will be acquired by other means, such as purchase from skill trainers or rewards from a karma vendor.
There is now a 10 skill system. The first 5 skills are pre-determined based on your profession and your currently equipped weapon set (or environmental weapons, such as wielding a rock, using a siege weapon or carrying a bucket). The last 5 skills are selected by the player; the sixth slot is reserved for healing, the next three for utility skills and the last one for an elite skill. For more information, see the skill bar article.
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. Each character has access to 4-5 heals, 4-8 elites, about 28 utility skills (about 20 given by the profession and about 8 racial) and a number of weapon skills ranging from 20 to 60 for the currently revealed professions.[27]
Traits allow modification of particular skill effects, including reduced recharge times or additional conditions applied. There will be about 100 traits available per profession, and none will be dependent upon race. Attributes can further reinforce a player's strategic options, by increasing attack, defense, maximum health, or critical hit chance (through power, toughness, vitality, or precision, respectively). Lastly, the equipment you select, and what upgrades you apply to that equipment, will provide small bonuses to a character's abilities. [edit] PvE
Yes. Each race starts in a different area and has a different storyline. However, friends playing different races can meet up after completing a short tutorial and traveling via an asura gate to a racial capital city of their choice.
Yes. There are eight crafting disciplines which you can choose and you can swap between them without losing progress or recipes. Players will not be able to specialize solely in crafting. 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 or smartphone application without being in-game.
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. Whether certain objects within this home instance or even within your player's "house" can be freely moved and re-arranged is currently unknown.
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. NPCs currently related to your personal storyline have a green eight-pointed star icon hovering above them. This icon is also shown on your compass.
You will be able to complete the storyline solo to the initial max level of 80, but optional content unlinked to your storyline may require you to team up to complete it.
No. Because there are different racial starting areas, the developers felt it was impractical to implement such areas.
The personal story is the line of events that your character follows as the general story and tasks are progressed. It is much like the missions and primary quests in the original Guild Wars. It is currently unknown whether parts of the personal storyline are repeatable, but as the personal storyline affects your home instance it is unlikely. [edit] Persistence
A persistent world is one that continues to exist and change even after a user has exited it.
There are two primary advantages to persistence:
It's largely seamless, but there will be interruptions at times to allow your computer to load large environments and enable smoother transitions the majority of the time. You will see a loading screen when you transfer between two major zones (e.g. leaving a city) and a brief delay when transfering between waypoints within a zone. There are very few portals between explorable zones, which means that you are less likely to notice them compared to those in Guild Wars.
Yes, there are two types of instanced areas: those created to follow a character's personal storyline and Dungeons.
Loot and event rewards are determined entirely by individual participation: anyone contributing significantly to foe deaths or events will receive the same benefits whether in a group or solo. Every resource node in the game offers the same opportunity to every player, e.g. an Aspen Sapling will yield the same amount of Green Wood Logs to each character who harvests it. In addition, loot is assigned to each character, so it cannot be stolen by others. In general, the philosophy of Guild Wars 2 is that players should be excited to see each other, not afraid that the other player will steal loot or experience. [edit] Setting
You will be unable to travel to these areas in the initial release of Guild Wars 2, but they are expected to be added in future releases. To read up on lore, refer to the The Movement of the World article.
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.[28]
There will be extensive underwater areas to explore, and Aqua Breathers will allow characters to avoid suffocation for any amount of time. Additionally, an entirely separate combat system has been designed for underwater battles; characters are forced into underwater mode when submerged, swapping automatically to an aquatic weapon and modifying the effects of non-weapon skills to suit an underwater environment. [edit] PvP
Currently, the game includes two types:
In addition, certain activities are also considered PvP, e.g. bar brawling and snowball fights.
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.
Players can only attack and kill each other in PvP-designated areas.
Maybe. ANet is considering the idea.[29] [edit] Guilds
We don't know yet.[30] Your best bet is to create the guild during the Headstart Access period, when the name you want is more likely to be available.
Yes. Each character can choose to represent a different guild.[26] Only one character per account needs to be invited, since each will show up in the guild roster as a single member,[29] however, each character must individually press the "represent" button to enable their participation with that guild.
Yes. The game includes guild achievements and guilds can accrue influence which can be spent on upgrades, including guild storage. In World vs World, guilds will be able to conquer and maintain keeps. The game will include a guild calendar and enable guild chat from a web browser.[26]
No. If you want to do that, the guild leaders have to manually restrict membership based on character race.
ANet has not offered a definitive answer, but there were no options available to do this as of the April 2012 Beta Weekend Event.
ANet has not given a number. They have said the limit will be much higher than in Guild Wars and that they might remove the cap entirely.[22]
Yes. You can also create additional roles, e.g. to manage guild storage or guild upgrade choices.
We don't know.
Yes, however not at game launch; they will be offered sometime later.[31] [edit] References
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