"Guild Wars 2" News: Now Free-To-Play, Paid Expansion Coming in October
"Guild Wars 2," the massively multiplayer online role playing game developed by ArenaNet is now free-to-play. According to an announcement on the game's website, anyone interested in playing the game for the first time can now download the game for free and play starting August 29.
The announcement clarified that it is the core game that is available for free and that players have to sign up for free accounts in order to play. Free accounts, so as to distinguish them from other types of accounts, have fewer slots for characters and bags and also have restrictions when it comes to interacting with other players through chat. Players with free accounts are also restricted to proceeding to other zones in the game through a series of level caps. According to the announcement, these measures will hopefully discourage cheaters among the newbies, as well as protect veteran players.
Players with free accounts will however get the whole paid core game and much more if they end up purchasing the upcoming paid expansion called "Heart of Thorns." Those who want to remain playing for free however can still do so, but the developer expressed confidence that whoever starts playing the game will want to pay for additional content.
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"Heart of Thorns" is arriving on October 23, 2015 and it is expected to bring a lot of end-game content which includes Masteries, Fractals and Stronghold. The Mastery system that will be introduced by the expansion is described "as a new approach to endgame progression" and is especially targeted for veteran players who have reached level 80. According to the website, it also intends to "widen the gap between new and veteran players." The expansion is also expected to bring "challenging group content" through its raids.
This is the first expansion pack released for the game since it was released in 2012. Since its release, the game has sold over 5 million copies.
