Skip to main content

No longer just free of subscription, Guild Wars 2 client now free to download

Guild Wars Killing
Image used with permission by copyright holder
When it comes to massively multiplayer online role playing games, World of Warcraft tends to be the first one people think of. But there’s another major player out there that’s been chugging along called Guild Wars 2, and unlike WoW, it never charged a monthly subscription to play. Instead, it opted to charge players for the game one time and then letting them go. That’s changing too, however, as the base game is now free, so users can jump in, download the client, and play without spending a dime.

With reports of the WoW player-base dropping to the 5.6 million range, now seems like a perfect time for ArenaNet, the developers of the game, to pick up  some of those lapsed WoW players and give them a new MMO to play with no financial commitment.

Recommended Videos

Of course, there are some restrictions on free accounts such as fewer character and bag slots, where players can go until they reach certain levels, and some communication restrictions designed to prevent free users from bothering/spamming paid players. There’s a risk of spammers making free accounts and mass-messaging, so this limitation should prevent that.

Players who already purchased the base game will not have these restrictions applied, and they’ll also get a Royal Guard outfit that will let everyone know that they’re a Guild Wars 2 veteran.

This news comes hot on the heels of the team announcing that a major expansion, called Heart of Thorns, would be available on Oct. 23. Users with the $50 expansion will have all restrictions removed from their accounts, and that’ll have the ability to get access to all of that new content, including the new raids. A full breakdown of the different Guild Wars 2 account types can be found here.

New players interested in checking out Guild Wars 2 can simply head to the game’s website, sign up for an account, and download the client for free. From there, players who get hooked can pick up the expansion and get access to the new content when it launches on Oct. 23.

Dave LeClair
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Dave LeClair has been writing about tech and gaming since 2007. He's covered events, hosted podcasts, created videos, and…
The best free FPS games you can play right now
10 essential tips for Arena Mode in Apex Legends

A few years ago, it was hard to find any decent free-to-play games that weren't MMORPGs, and good free first-person shooter (FPS) games were almost non-existent. The few that were around usually came from less-than-reputable sources and usually experienced a host of bugs and connectivity issues.

With battle royale games offering a boon to the free-to-play model, though, AAA studios have started releasing high-quality, free FPS games. Games like Warframe paved the way for Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0. 

Read more
Bringing VR’s best Star Wars game to PlayStation VR2 was a no-brainer, devs say
star wars tales from the galaxys edge psvr2 interview ilmxlab starwarstalesee screenshot c 3po and r2 d2

When ILMxLAB learned about the PlayStation VR2, Director Jose Perez III thought it was a "no-brainer" for the studio to bring the Oculus Quest game Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge to the new headset.
"We're always looking at how we can push the fidelity of the work that we're doing," Perez III tells Digital Trends in an interview. "PlayStation VR2 is ridiculously powerful; we got really excited about what we could bring to that. We started talking with our friends at Sony because we had a great relationship with them for Vader Immortal, and it was really a no-brainer. Then, you put the headset on, you start feeling the haptics, and you start seeing what you can do with the visual fidelity and lighting, and it's like, 'Oh, this is awesome!'"
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge - Enhanced Edition | Official Trailer | PS VR2
PlayStation VR2's launch and its first wave of games are nearly upon us, and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge Enhanced Edition is one of those titles. This is a make-or-break time for VR, which is still struggling to move into the mainstream but could become more popular if Sony's headset can offer a compelling and accessible virtual reality experience. Ahead of its release, Digital Trends spoke to Director Jose Perez III and Producer Harvey Whitney from ILMxLAB to learn about the process of crafting one of these critical "no-brainer" launch games and PlayStation VR2 will ultimately stand when it comes to the future of VR gaming.
The power of PlayStation VR2
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge was originally released for Meta Quest VR headsets in November 2020. It's set on the planet of Batuu, which people also explore at Dinsey parks, and follows a Droid Technician who gets caught in the middle of a grander fight against the First Order after crash-landing on the planet. At the time, it was meant with decent reviews and only got better as its story was completed and expanded with the Last Call DLC.
After getting the "Enhanced Edition" of the game for PlayStation VR2 greenlit, ILMxLAB actually had to go and make it. As the team was dealing with new hardware for the first time, producer Harvey Whitney thought it was good that the team's first project on PlayStation VR2 was an enhanced version of an existing game.
"Early on, knowing that we already had the content that was created for the original, that changes things quite a bit," Whitney tells Digital Trends. "We're not redeveloping the story and coming up with all of that. We just had that opportunity to work as a team and ask, 'What do we really push here, and where are the changes that we want to make, and what we can do to really take advantage of this hardware?'"

The VR space is full of different headsets with unique specs, with the much higher specs of the PS VR2 standing out. The PlayStation VR2 sports some impressive specs compared to its VR peers, displaying content in a 4000x2030 HDR format at a 90Hz or 120Hz frame rate. Plus, games have the PS5's power, spatial, and brand new Sense controllers to take advantage of, rather than the 2013 console and 2010 motion controls that limited the original PlayStation VR.
PlayStation VR2 supports Roomscale, Sitting, and Standing play styles, which added more complexity as Tales from the Galaxy's Edge supports all three. Thankfully, Perez III that bringing Tales from the Galaxy's Edge to PlayStation VR2 was relatively manageable because of how impressive the system's specs were.
"A lot of the development processes are similar [to other VR platforms]," Perez III says. "We're still working inside of Unreal, and we're doing a lot of those same processes. But we don't have to look at performance quite as much as we do on some of the other devices, so we're able to open up a lot of things or not be as concerned about certain things. That comes with better hardware."
Better hardware, better games
Looking at the biggest games of the PlayStation VR2 launch window lineup, the visuals of titles like Horizon Call of the Mountain and the VR modes of Resident Evil Village and Gran Turismo 7 are impressive. In our discussion, Whitney also made it quite clear that one of the real advantages of working on this remaster was not having to worry about strict limitations on the visuals or even the audio. "We got lucky in the sense that there's a lot more to PlayStation VR2 that we hadn't had previously," Whitney says. "We could really push the graphics and make it shine. But then there were also some other things that came into play. We totally redid the audio, it sounds amazing."

Read more
PlayStation VR2’s launch lineup features more than just Horizon Call of the Mountain
Horizon Call of the Mountain key art.

At CES 2023, Sony confirmed that there would be over 30 launch titles for PlayStation VR2. Today, we learned specifics on what exactly 37 of those PlayStation VR2 launch window games are on PlayStation Blog.
This announcement also contains 13 new titles that we didn't know were coming to PlayStation VR before. Particular new highlights include Before Your Eyes, an emotionally moving game where blinking is the main form of interaction, Tetris Effect: Connected, a multiplayer-enhanced version of one the original PlayStation VR's best games, and What the Bat?, a comedy game where the player's arms are bats. Of course, the crown jewel of PlayStation VR2's launch is still Horizon Call of the Mountain, a VR spin-off of one of PlayStation's most successful recent franchises.

 
Check out the full list of confirmed launch titles: 

Read more