Preorder & Beta Weekend Events
Alpha & Beta Tests
Release & Beyond
Accounts & Characters
Game Details
Technical & Support
Company & General

Preorder & Beta Weekend Events

When does the next Beta Weekend Event begin?

The next Beta Weekend Event will begin on Friday morning, April 15th. Watch www.guildwars.com for more information.
Where can I get additional details about the Guild Wars Beta Weekend Events or the Guild Wars Preorder?

Please see our Guild Wars Preorder & Events FAQ.

Alpha & Beta Tests

Will you be offering a traditional beta?

Monthly worldwide events replace a traditional beta test. We have conducted an alpha test for more than three years. From that test, we received and incorporated excellent feedback from our testers. We began offering our Beta Weekend Events immediately after the close of our World Preview Event of October 2004. Subsequent monthly Beta Weekend Events have taken place the first weekend of each month and will continue until release. Beta Weekend Events are open to everyone who has preordered Guild Wars.
What is the future of the Guild Wars Alpha Test?

Our core group of alpha testers has been invaluable to the development process during the three years of the alpha test. They have continued to work with us during non-Beta Weekends, and a selected number of our active testers will be invited to continue working with the team and providing feedback on the next chapter of Guild Wars when we begin development.
How can I find out more about testing Guild Wars? May I join the alpha test? Can I sign up for the beta test? Do you have a waiting list? If I email will I have a greater chance of getting into the test?

We are currently in closed beta testing, where all participants are involved by invitation only. We are not accepting applications for testing nor do we have a waiting list. Guild Wars is open to all who preorder or obtain a key code to participate during each Beta Weekend Event, which take place the first weekend of each month until release.

Release and Beyond

Has Guild Wars been released yet? Is there a demo available?

Guild Wars has not been released yet. There have been two demos: An E3 for Everyone Event which took place during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2004 and a World Preview Event which took place in October 2004. Guild Wars is now officially in beta stage and will be hosting monthly Beta Weekend Events, which will take place monthly until release.
When will Guild Wars be available?

Guild Wars will be available in North America and Europe on April 28, 2005. Dates for release in other parts of the world will be forthcoming.
Where can I purchase Guild Wars?

Guild Wars will be available at your favorite retail location. You will be able to acquire subsequent chapters for Guild Wars via retail stores or direct download.
How much will Guild Wars cost? How much will additional chapters cost?

Guild Wars will be priced at a comparable cost to other first-tier PC games. The subsequent chapters of Guild Wars will also be comparably priced in relation to other games.
Will there be a subscription fee for Guild Wars? Are there any other fees, such as for patches or updates?

There will not be a subscription fee of any kind, anywhere in the world and there are no hidden fees. You will not have to pay for the streaming updates that will take place on a regular basis, nor for additional content that we will provide between the chapters of Guild Wars.
Will the game be released on a different OS (Macintosh, Linux, etc.), or on other video game consoles?

Guild Wars is being developed on, and will initially be released for, the PC. We are aware that there is an interest in having the game available on other operating systems or other platforms, and we will continue to evaluate these possibilities as we get closer to release.
Will Guild Wars be translated into other languages?

Guild Wars will be translated into several languages. At release, the languages will include English, French, German, Italian, Korean, and Spanish. Additional languages will be added later.
Am I required to buy the expansion packs to continue to play Guild Wars?

No. Every purchase you make in the continuation of the Guild Wars saga will be your choice. If you purchase expansion packs you will gain access to new regions of the world, new skills and abilities, new items, new professions, and much more. If you choose to not purchase a chapter, you will still be able to play the chapters of Guild Wars that you own, and you will have common areas in which you will be able to play with and against your friends who have purchased the other chapter(s).
Will I remain competitive if I do not buy the expansion packs? Will I be able to compete with and against others if I have only some of the Guild Wars chapters?

Yes. Purchasing the newer chapters of Guild Wars will not make you strictly more powerful. You will have access to many more strategic options, due to the expanding nature of the skills, abilities, items and professions that you enjoy with each chapter. It would be similar to building a deck in Magic: The Gathering™: The more cards you own, the more different playing decks that you can choose from to use in the game. When you buy the chapters of Guild Wars, you will acquire a larger collection of skills and abilities from which to build your skill set, but you will not gain more power. So if you purchase a chapter and your friend does not, you will still be able to play competitively against and with one another.

Accounts & Characters

How do I choose a name for my character?

Character names must include at least a first and last name with a space between, though more than two names may be chosen. The first letter of each name is automatically capitalized and the standard alphabet is used. Special characters, symbols and numbers are not allowed.
Will my characters still exist when Guild Wars is released, or will they be wiped?

If you have played in a Beta Weekend Event, your characters will not be removed from the servers. This is because we tie your character names to your existing characters, or to placeholder characters. All characters will by necessity be reset to starting levels and will possess starting skills and items when we release Guild Wars. For any character that is replaced with a starting-level placeholder character, simply delete the placeholder character and create a new character of your choice, within 60 minutes, and you will continue to have the reserved name bound to your account.
Are characters persistent?

Yes, your character will continue from mission to mission, acquiring levels, items, skills and abilities. In addition, every character is stored on ArenaNet's servers, so no matter whether you play single player adventures, cooperative missions, or head-to-head battles, your character will be stored in a secure environment allowing you to log online to play from anywhere in the world.
Can I customize my character's appearance?

Guild Wars will allow for a wide array of character customization, including gender, skin tones, hair color and height. In addition, you will be able to dye shields, armor and weapons, creating a large variety of item appearances. We will continue to announce further details in future articles and interviews, and will provide information on this site as well.
How many character classes are there?

The first chapter of Guild Wars will feature six character professions: The Elementalist, Mesmer, Monk, Necromancer, Ranger, and Warrior. You can learn a little bit more about each of the Guild Wars professions here. When you create a character, you will select a primary profession, and you will be given an opportunity to acquire a secondary profession in the starting region of the game. This provides an amazing array of choices and gameplay experiences.
What playable races are there in Guild Wars?

In the first chapter you will be able to play characters from the human race. In subsequent chapters of Guild Wars, you may be able to play members of other races.
How many characters will I be able to have on my Guild Wars account?

The final number of characters per account has not been determined. At present, alpha and beta test accounts allow four characters and we estimate that the number of characters per account will be about four upon release.
Several people in my family (or guild) intend to play Guild Wars. Do we each need to purchase a copy?

Like every other online game, anyone who wants to have a Guild Wars Game Account needs to have his/her own copy of the game. There is never a monthly fee to play Guild Wars, so you will have tremendous savings over most online games. Spawning multiple copies from a single purchase is disallowed.

Game Details

What kind of game is Guild Wars?

Guild Wars is a global online roleplaying game. Players can engage in cooperative group combat, in single player adventures, or in large head-to-head guild battles. Guild Wars is a mission-based game set in a stunning 3D fantasy world that offers excellent support for guilds. Because the team that is developing Guild Wars has had experience creating successful online game series such as Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo, the members are familiar with the complex issues surrounding online games, and are creating a game that is both easy to learn and compelling to play long term, and yet does not require players to spend hundreds of hours slogging through the preparation just to get to the fun bits.
Is Guild Wars an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)?

Guild Wars has some similarities to existing MMORPGs, but it also has some key differences. Like existing MMOs, Guild Wars is played entirely online in a secure hosted environment. Thousands of players inhabit the same virtual world. Players can meet new friends in gathering places like towns and outposts where they form parties and go questing with them. Unlike many MMOs, when players form a party and embark upon a quest in Guild Wars, they get their own private copy of the area where the quest takes place. This design eliminates some of the frustrating gameplay elements commonly associated with MMOs, such as spawn camping, kill stealing, and lines to complete a quest.
Guild Wars takes place in a large virtual world made up of many different zones, and players can walk from one end of the world to the other. In Guild Wars much of the tedium of traveling through the world has been eliminated. Players can instantly return to any safe area (town or outpost) that they have previously visited just by clicking on it in the world overview map.

Rather than labeling Guild Wars an MMORPG, we prefer to call it a CORPG (Competitive Online Role-Playing Game). Guild Wars was designed from the ground up to create the best possible competitive role-playing experience. Success in Guild Wars is always the result of player skill, not time spent playing or the size of one's guild. As characters progress, they acquire a diverse set of skills and items, enabling them to use new strategies in combat. Players can do battle in open arenas or compete in guild-vs-guild warfare or the international tournament. Engaging in combat is always the player's choice, however; there is no player-killing in cooperative areas of the world.

Finally, unlike existing MMOs, all characters in Guild Wars inhabit the same virtual world -- they are not divided onto different servers or shards -- so players can always team up with or compete against any other player in the world.

Can my character be killed by other players?

While Guild Wars has player vs. player combat, you are in control. You can choose to join in competitive missions and receive acclaim for winning against other gamers, or you can reap the rewards of solo adventures or cooperative team missions with an entirely different set of challenges.
Will the game have guild support? Will there be ladders and tournaments?

Guild Wars, as evidenced by its name, will have broad support for game guilds, including integrated support for worldwide tournaments and ladders, the ability for a guild to own and operate a guildhall, private guild forums, and more. You can find the current Guild Wars Ladder on this link.
Do you have to be in a guild to play Guild Wars?

Membership in a guild is not required to play Guild Wars. Although there are many positive aspects to belonging to a guild, players will have access to a wide variety of solo adventuring possibilities as well as team cooperative and competitive missions that will ensure you of many of those gaming sessions that run into the wee hours, no matter your playing style. Missions will come in all sizes and difficulties and can be joined individually, as part of a one-time team or as a member of a full-fledged guild.
Is Guild Wars always played online?

Yes. Guild Wars is designed from the ground up to be an online game. This allows maximum security to prevent cheating by other players, so your gaming experience will not be diminished by others. Perhaps most importantly, our online network allows us to stream content to your computer, so you will always have the most current version of the game, and will play in a world that can change on a continuous basis.

Technical & Support

Is there a Support Function for Guild Wars?

If you need support, the best place to go is our Support Knowledge Base, found on this link. By inputting a few keys words, you will be given potential answers right on the spot, and these will most likely provide you all the information that you need. If you find that the Knowledge Base does not provide you the information that you require, simply use the "Ask a Question" tab within it and submit your question through the system. We will answer as promptly as we are able.
What are the system requirements for Guild Wars?

Minimum System Specs
Windows® XP/2000/ME/98
Intel Pentium® III 800 Mhz or equivalent
256 MB RAM
CD-ROM Drive
2 GB Available HDD Space
ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX Series Video Card with 32MB of VRAM
16-bit Sound Card
Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse
Recommended System Specs:

Windows® XP/2000/ME/98
Intel Pentium® III 1GHz or equivalent
512 MB RAM
CD-ROM Drive
2 GB Available HDD Space
ATI Radeon 9000 or GeForce 4 Ti Series Video Card with 64MB of VRAM
16-bit Sound Card
Internet connection
Keyboard and mouse
Special Note: These system specifications are for the released version of Guild Wars. Those participating in the World Preview Event or the Beta Weekend Event, as well as our alpha and beta testers, will find that they require more available hard drive space in the short term. This extra space will not be needed when Guild Wars goes gold.

I am using a NVidia GeForce FX video card and am having trouble seeing some terrain features.

There is a known issue with NVidia GeForce FX video cards (GPUs) and driver version 61.77 when the user has changed "Image Settings" to "High performance". Some of the problems include missing terrain. The solution is to change your video settings to "High quality". To do this, follow these instructions: On Windows XP:
Open Display Properties control panel
Click Settings tab
Click Advanced button
Click GeForce "Version" tab
Select Performance and Quality Settings in left window
In the Global Driver Settings window select Image Settings
Move the slider to the right to "High quality"
The video cards/GPUs that are affected by this problem are:

GeForce FX 5200
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
GeForce FX 5500
GeForce FX 5700
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
GeForce FX 5700LE
GeForce FX 5900
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900 XT
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
GeForce PCX 5300
GeForce PCX 5750
GeForce PCX 5900
Will I be able to play Guild Wars on a dial-up modem?

Yes you will. We are well aware that many users do not have broadband access, and we want the largest possible number of gamers to be able to join our game without being held back by technical issues like their Internet connection. We have designed Guild Wars to function excellently on a dial-up connection and our testers confirm they have no problems with their connection, even testing from other continents. During our E3 for Everyone Demo Event, our World Preview Event, and our Beta Weekend Events, many thousands of players successfully played using a dial-up modem.
Are your in-game screenshots altered in any way? Do you rework them in an art program before adding them to the site?

No, our Screenshots Section includes only totally unaltered in-game images. We use a distinctive glow technology that gives a fantastical appearance to the game. All the in-game screenshots that are in our Gallery are completely unaltered, and come straight from the game to you.

Company & General

Who is ArenaNet?

ArenaNet is a wholly owned subsidiary of NCsoft Corporation, and was founded in March 2000 by some of the key members of the creative teams behind Blizzard’s game series Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, as well as the Battle.net gaming network. You can find a lot of good information about the company at our website: www.arena.net.
Does ArenaNet plan to offer Official Guild Wars Forums?

At this time, we do not have plans for an official forum. We are pleased with the support of the many fansite forums that are currently in operation, and encourage fans who would like to participate in forum discussion to visit our Community Page for a list of fansites and forums.
Do you provide fansite resources? Where can I learn about the rules and guidelines for use of your materials?

ArenaNet strongly believes in fansites and wants to support them. Our Community Section is full of information and resources for fansite webmasters and other interested parties, including a program outline, a fansite kit, a program Q&A, and a Fansite News page that is updated regularly. All fansite staff members and others who use Guild Wars materials are bound by our Terms of Use document, which contains a good deal of useful information as far as copyrights, image usage and so forth.
Where can I learn more about Guild Wars?

There are a number of articles, previews, and interviews on the 'Net, and Guild Wars has been featured in several print magazines, as well. The game has also been honored with several awards. Visit the Press Page for a list of reading resources. For current updates and other items of interest, please visit our many Guild Wars fansites, listed here.