With each day, Guild Wars 2 is getting closer to release. It was before, but now that we’ve got a release date we can count down, rather than up. And as it’s getting closer, so too is the next Beta Weekend, which kicks off on the 20th. The really exciting thing, though, is that the Release Client and the Beta Client, at that point, will be exactly the same. So that last Beta Weekend is more of a treat to pre-purchasers, rather than the extensive stress testing and bug-finding of previous endeavours.
It also means a few things. A few exciting things.
The first is that it’s looking like Sylvari and Asura will be playable for the last Beta Weekend, which is something that we’ve not been able to touch before. That’s two new starting areas, and two new races with which to start in them. That’s pretty huge. That’s pretty exciting.
But even more exciting is the fact that if this isn’t just a beta weekend, and rather one last jaunt through the game before it’s thrust into the waiting arms of the masses, it’s more than likely that ArenaNet are going to do something special for it. End of Beta events are always pretty spectacular, like the Alien Invasion of City of Heroes, or the Burning Legion laying waste to Azeroth at the end of the WoW beta. And with as many innovations as there are flying out of Guild Wars 2, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine that they’ve got something extra special lined up.
If you’ve not already, you can prepurchase the game to get yourself access to the last beta weekend, on the 20th of July. Or you can just wait til the 28th of August, when the game proper is released.