Guild Wars 2 goes free to play

ArenaNet have announced that Guild Wars 2 is now available to play for free. The popular MMO has sold over 5 million copies worldwide since its release in August 2012. It initially released as buy to play without a subscription model. Now players can download a fully-functioning copy at guildwars2.com for no cost.

“In making Guild Wars 2 free, we’re not switching business models to a traditional free-to-play game, and we’re not aggressively monetising free players through microtransactions,” said Mike O’Brien, co-founder and president of ArenaNet.

Free players will have some restrictions on their account, in order to prevent existing players from abusing the system. These limitations include:

• Two character slots (compared to five) and fewer bag slots than the paid version of the game. You will get full slots if you buy a copy of the upcoming expansion, Heart of Thrones.
• Chat restrictions and economy restrictions. Free accounts can use local chat and whispers, but not map chat. Free accounts can buy and sell common goods on the trading post but cannot send gold or items.
• Players cannot skip ahead. They must play to level 10 before leaving the starter zones, to level 30 before using LFG, and to level 60 before using World vs. World. They can play PvP immediately but must get to rank 20 before using custom and unranked arenas.

A comparison between the versions is available on the official Guild Wars 2 website.

Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns is coming on October 23, 2015. It features more end-game content like Masteries, Fractals, and raids designed for groups. The standard version is available for $50 USD.

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