Stronghold, the new MOBA-like PvP mode coming to Guild Wars 2 in the Heart of Thorns expansion, will be live for 24 hours next week, and every player in North America and Europe will be able to jump into a game.
The short beta will run from 9pm CEST on Tuesday, April 14th for 24 hours, with everyone with an account in North America and Europe getting access. ArenaNet will also be livestreaming matches between developers and guests on Twitch.
In an effort to get more people duking it out in the new mode, they’ve knocked down the price of Guild Wars 2 by 75 percent from now until 8:59am CEST on Monday. That means you’ll be able to pick it up for just under £9.
Matt spoke with Guild Wars 2 competitive QA lead Jessica Boettiger to get the skinny on the new mode last month.
““Stronghold really opens up opportunities for players,” explains Jessica Boettiger, Guild Wars 2’s competitive QA lead. “You bring in different builds that have a totally different play style that wouldn’t normally be in a traditional PvP experience.” It’s all down to Stronghold being a game of various objectives. A sprawling map of lanes, gates, and fortresses, there’s kind of a MOBA feel at work. Players themselves cannot break down the gates that separate them from the ultimate target of the enemy’s Guild Lord; this is a task for NPCs. A little like creep, they spawn at your base and march to the next set of gates. Spawning them requires supplies, which can be looted from the corpses of enemies or gathered from a pile in the centre of the map. You can probably already see the distinct roles forming; attackers to strike at the Lord, defenders to keep your gates standing, and runners who keep the supply flowing and the NPCs spawning.”