Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2 is a successor to the award-winning GW series developed by ArenaNet. It is an epic fantasy MMORPG with a persistent world (unlike the first Guild Wars, which was mostly instanced). While it has a lot of improvements over its predecessor, GW2 retains the unique features of the original game: elaborate storyline, balanced, competitive and fast-paced PvP, and anti-grind design philosophy.

The highly anticipated Guild Wars 2 was released on August 28, 2012 worldwide. This page lists some of the most prominent game features, screenshots, concept art and trailers. Find out more about the game, and enjoy the eye-candy.

Guild Wars 2 is actually available in three editions: Standard, Digital Deluxe, and Collector's. While the Standard one only includes the game itself, Digital Deluxe and Collector's Edition come with a number of physical and digital goodies for GW2 fans. Click to find out more about the different Guild Wars 2 editions and what bonuses were offered with preorders.

ArenaNet developers say that if you like MMORPGs, you'll want to try GuildWars 2; and if you hate MMOs, then you will definitely want to check it out. That's because Guild Wars 2 has a number of impressive, innovative features that set it apart from the more conventional games in Massively Multiplayer Online market. Here are some of the things GW2 offers:

• Dynamic events: GW2 does away with the traditional quest system. You see some trouble while exploring (e.g. a village being attacked by bandits) and you can jump right into action. The bandits stay dead and your actions have a lasting effect on the world!
• Personal story in Guild Wars 2 can rival single player RPG experience. Your character's destiny will be shaped by your decisions during character creation (race, profession, background) and more importantly, throughout the whole game as you interact with NPCs and make friends or enemies.
• No monthly fee: just like with the original game, GW2 is free to play with no subscription necessary (you only have to buy the game itself).
• No grind: ArenaNet devs focus on making the leveling process fun for all players and ensuring there's no need for boring, repetitive EXP grinding. Unlike conventional MMORPGs with exponential leveling curves, Guild Wars 2curve flattens out (so it takes roughly the same amount of time to level up from 79 to 80 as it takes from 19 to 20).
• Competitive PvP: just like in the original, there will be organized & balanced PvP tournaments and a guild ladder showing the top ranking clans. For casual players there will be World vs World battles with armies from different servers fighting for domination.
• No cliché class roles: rather than using the classic "holy trinity" of tank / healer / dps, Guild Wars 2 introduces different class mechanics. The professions are divided into control / support / damage, but all of them can do more than one thing. There are no dedicated healers, either - every character gets a different healing skill.

The MMORPG market might have become stale, but GuildWars 2 will continue shaking it up for sure. For a spectacular introduction to the design philosophy of the game, watch the manifesto trailer.

ArenaNet has announced the preliminary Guild Wars 2 system requirements. These may change over time, but for now, here's what you need to be able to play the game without problems:

• Windows XP SP2 or newer
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better
• nVidia GeForce 7800, ATI Radeon X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (basic requirements for the graphics system are 256 MB video RAM and Shader Model 3.0)
• 25 GB HDD space
• Broadband Internet connection
• Keyboard and mouse

The requirements are pretty low, but you will probably need a much more powerful rig to run GW2 smoothly during the massive World versus World PvP battles.

Guild Wars 2 has some truly gorgeous concept art. You can find more eye-candy on the official site.

Cinematic teaser of what's waiting for you in this great game.

GW2 is one of the highest-rated MMOs on MetaCritic, with an impressive combined rating of 90 from gaming website reviewers, and 7.9 user scrore from regular MetaCritic members.

You can also see how hundreds of people have voted in the anonymous poll to the right.