The 14th anniversary of Guild Wars 2® is here, and one of the ways we’re celebrating is by offering savings on past expansions and digital deluxe upgrades. Visit the web, Steam, or in-game stores between now and September 1 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) to take advantage of this deal!

• Expansion 5—Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds™ (Standard Edition only)
• Expansion 4—Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure™ (Standard & Deluxe Editions)
• Expansion 3—Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons® (Standard & Deluxe Editions)
• Expansions 1 and 2—Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns® and Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™
• Guild Wars 2—The Elder Dragon Saga Complete Collection (Complete, Deluxe & Standard Editions)
• Living World™ Seasons
• The Guild Wars 2 Starter Pack—A one-time account upgrade with a Raptor Mount Unlock, Basic Gliding Unlock, Bank Tab Expansion, Upgraded Bag Slot Expansion, and Total Makeover Kit.

Claim a Freebie in the Gem Store

Log in and head to the Gem Store now to collect one free Black Lion Chest Key and, if you missed it last year, Prince Rurik’s Vanguard Cape Skin. Additionally, get 30% off Black Lion Chest Keys and 10% off all Black Lion Vouchers until September 1 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

During the same discount period, you can store more loot with 20% off Bank Tab Expansions or enjoy exclusive areas with all the conveniences by snagging one of our permanent lounge passes, which are also 20% off.

Select mount skins have also been discounted by 20% until September 4, including the Synergetics Cyberscale Skyscale Skin, the Plush Raptor Skin, the Plush Skimmer Skin, and the Mischievous Ferret Warclaw Skin.

Finally, we have a new festive set of infinite gathering tools. The Piñata Harvesting Tool, the Piñata Logging Tool, and the Piñata Mining Tool are available for 2,700 gems. See them in action here:

We’ve had 14 years of adventures, stories, and friendships, and we’re forever grateful to our community of players that call Tyria home. Happy anniversary, Guild Wars 2!

—The Guild Wars 2 Team

The Festival of the Four Winds, one of Tyria’s beloved summer traditions, is upon us again. Hot-air balloons in each nation’s capital stand ready to whisk visitors away to the Labyrinthine Cliffs to visit the Zephyrites and the Crown Pavilion in Divinity’s Reach, which has flung open its doors for combat-ready visitors.

As you play, earn rewards like the new Cloud Pteruges leg-armor skin (complete with an unclouded alternate skin), Spellwork weapons, a Plush Kralky Backpack, and thematic homestead decoration recipes. Special objectives in the Wizard’s Vault will even award you with Astral Acclaim for participating in the Crown Pavilion and Zephyrite activities. Evon Gnashblade is getting into the spirit of things, too. While the festival is running, select Zephyrite-themed items from the Black Lion Trading Company will be available at a 20% discount.

Preview some of this year’s rewards in the video below, check out the full release notes, then head in-game to enjoy the festivities until September 1!

Throughout this year, the Competitive team has been running beta tests to improve how scoring works in World vs. World (WvW). The focus of the betas has been to shift score generation toward tangible player actions like sieging, capturing objectives, and killing players while moving away from passive mechanics like owning objectives over time that can happen whether players are involved or not.

After the first beta, we shared our findings in a retrospective posted on our forums. Today, we’re here to discuss our feedback and changes based on the second War Score beta we ran during the matchup in May. This beta included new placement-based match rewards, a series of scoring adjustments, and the addition of points awarded for upgrading objectives.

Balancing Active and Passive Play

While the first beta started with zero passively gained points aside from supply deliveries, we agreed with players that defending objectives was not adequately rewarding. In response, we adjusted to a good mix of score accrual from holding objectives that still encouraged interaction from enemy teams. Some points were added back to holding tier 3 objectives, but a larger number of points were added to objective tier-ups. This created contention that players could expect and play around instead of having all objectives constantly trickling points.

So how was the balance? After fixing some extreme outliers—dolyak’s deliveries, for instance—we landed on a much healthier spread in Beta 2 compared to Beta 1:

• Objective captures resulted in roughly 30% of all War Score generated.
• Player combat was about 25% of all War Score generated.
• Progress ticks accounted for 5% of the total, but combined with upgrades, holding objectives jumps to 15%.
• The single largest source of War Score generation was keep captures followed closely by player kills.

For reference, the score breakdown for normal gameplay outside of the betas is roughly 40% player combat and 35% passive objective ticks with objective assaults being only 9% of the total score generation.

Adjustments for Beta 3

Dolyak deliveries are still on the watchlist. Supply is the lifeblood of WvW, so we’re very hesitant to remove scoring from dolyaks entirely even if they do provide a challenge for balancing passive score generation. We will continue to adjust their point value. Additionally, while guard kills do add some flavor with a low barrier to interaction, their total score value outweighs their mechanical contribution to the game mode, so they will no longer reward War Score in Beta 3.

One mechanic in the beta that hasn’t had much attention is scaling score based on player counts. The intent was to encourage player congregation, but the system has been overly complex to balance and not easily understood. Plus, the majority of points being scored were coming from objectives that already had naturally incrementing point values.

Therefore, for Beta 3, we will be removing player count and objective type/tier scaling multipliers for simplicity, though the capability will still be there if we want to bring it back.

Beta 3 will include the return of placement-based match rewards, placement-based skirmish rewards, more balance changes, and boosted points for defensive player kills. For defensive actions, smaller areas around objectives will be used instead of the entire sector.

Another exciting new feature to look forward to is an in-game breakdown of War Score sources. We believe that if there are rewards attached to winning, players deserve more insight into what results in victory and the ability to compare against opponents. We’re looking forward to your feedback on these additions!

What’s Next for WvW?

At the end of the War Score betas, we’re going to have new tech that we can leverage, regardless of whether we permanently adopt the adjusted scoring paradigms or not. This would include keeping the new in-game match scoring breakdown and placement-based rewards locked in to continue incentivizing players to care about scoring.

Lastly, don’t forget we’re also developing a new WvW borderlands map alongside the community. For a refresher on that and our upcoming WvW initiatives, here’s a recap of what our Game Director, Josh Davis, spoke about in June:

Beta 3 will begin in the middle of a matchup, so we want to make you aware in advance.  We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback about our latest changes to War Score when you get to experience it in WvW during Beta 3 running from August 11 until September 4.

We’ll see you in the Mists!

Twitch Drops are available starting now, so tune in to your favorite Guild Wars 2® streamers (or discover a new one!) to earn rewards between now and August 2. Join us Wednesday, August 5 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) on our Twitch channel as our partner, EngleburtMeow, cosplays as a homestead and hosts a casual tour of some of the community’s most imaginative homesteads. Yes, you read that correctly. She will become one with the architecture, dressed in one of her signature cursed cosplays.

As a final part of the celebration, we have a discount on the Digital Deluxe upgrades for both expansions with a homestead map, Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds™ and Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity™. Discounts are available in-game and in the official store until August 6, 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

Check out our official Discord for more details and enjoy the week of homestead homages!

These are the unbelievable community homesteads homesteads that will be toured during our livestream. Images courtesy of ArenaNet partner: United Arts of Tyria

—The Guild Wars 2 Team

Join us next week for a celebration of our Guild Wars 2® homesteads! Ever since Homesteads were released with Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds™, we’ve been in awe of the community’s creative constructions. To celebrate that creativity and encourage new designs, we’re holding the Homestead Design Contest on our official Discord channel starting July 30!

Conjure your best designs in either homestead map and start snapping some screenshots. There’s no specific theme, so let your creativity run wild! Then, submit your screenshots for peer review and a chance to win gem prizes via community vote!

Submissions of 1–10 screenshots will be accepted from July 30 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) until August 6 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7). Community voting will last from the beginning of the entry period on July 30 until August 11 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7). At that point, voting will end and winners will be determined by the total number of emoji reactions received. Full rules and eligibility can be found here.

While the contest is running, there will be other reasons to celebrate Homesteads. We’ll have Twitch drops available for watching your favorite Guild Wars 2 streamers starting on July 30. And we’ll be hosting a homestead livestream on Wednesday, August 5 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) on our Twitch channel. Check out Discord next week for more details, but in the meantime, have fun staging your homestead for sharing with the community!

—The Guild Wars 2 Team

Whether you spend your time collecting legendary weapons, decking your many characters out in the most fabulous ensembles, or exploring every secret nook in the vast open world, one thing is certain: there’s no wrong way to play Guild Wars 2.

Today, we invite you to go on a journey exploring the various playstyles of Guild Wars 2 with a video from one of our incredible partner program members, Kroof. And over the next few weeks, stay tuned to our social channels and Discord as we invite you to share with us how you play your way.

Treat yourself or a friend to a new adventure this summer! Our summer sale features a 30% discount on select expansions, bundles, and more in the Guild Wars 2® store:

• Expansion 4—Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure™ (Standard & Deluxe Editions)
• Expansion 3—Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons® (Standard & Deluxe Editions)
• Expansions 1 and 2—Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns® and Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire™
• Guild Wars 2—The Elder Dragon Saga Complete Collection (Complete, Deluxe & Standard Editions)
• Guild Wars 2 Living World™ Season 2
• Guild Wars 2 Starter Pack—a one-time account upgrade with a Raptor Mount Unlock, Basic Gliding Unlock, Bank Tab Expansion, Upgraded Bag Slot Expansion, and Total Makeover Kit.

The sale will be available through the online store, in-game store, Steam, and third-party retailers from June 25 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) until July 9 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7). This sale is not available on the Epic Games Store.

Whether you’re just starting off on your Tyrian adventure or continuing your journey, you can unlock new horizons to explore—and save money doing it!

Starting today, you can play Guild Wars® Reforged on the go! Simply download and play for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play. For the first time, you can explore the same shared world of Tyria with players across PC and mobile devices.

Our UI and controls have been redesigned for mobile audiences and offer a deep, strategic MMO experience. Craft unique builds from ten professions and personalize your gameplay by combining armor sets, weapons, and thousands of skills that you’ll collect on your adventures.

Play with Everyone, Everywhere, for Free

If you already own Guild Wars Reforged, log in to your ArenaNet on mobile to progress your characters across PC and mobile devices with no cost, ads, or restrictions! Play on your phone when you’re traveling and then hop on to your PC when you get home.

Brand-new players can download the original Guild Wars: Prophecies™ campaign for free as an ad-supported experience during loading screens, but those ads can be removed with a one-time $6.99 purchase. Additionally, both Guild Wars Factions™ and Guild Wars Nightfall™ campaigns can be unlocked for $6.99 each. The Guild Wars Eye of the North™ expansion and Bonus Mission Pack will also be available on mobile for $9.99 and $5.99 respectively.

And, if you started playing on mobile first, don’t worry! Once you’ve purchased content with your Mobile ID, you can connect your account to an e-mail address that will allow you to log in and play on other platforms. Unfortunately, Mobile IDs cannot be linked to Steam accounts at this time.

Join our Official Guild Wars Community Discord server to discuss the game and find others to play with. There’s never been a better time to start your adventure, so grab your family and friends and hop into the classic MMO that kicked off the Guild Wars franchise. We’ll see you in Tyria!

Today, we invite you to hear directly from Studio Head Colin Johanson, Guild Wars 2® Game Director Josh Davis, and Guild Wars® Reforged Game Director Stephen Clarke-Willson about the future of the Guild Wars franchise:

Colin and Josh will also be hosting a livestream next week on Twitch to continue the conversation about the future of the Guild Wars franchise. Make sure you tune in to watch on Tuesday, June 9 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

As Josh mentioned in the video, after Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity™ wraps up in September, we’re turning our attention to improving the foundations of Guild Wars 2 and we want to make the most of it, with your help!

Starting with our first Hall of Monuments update coming later this year, we’re going to spend nearly a full year going back through each era of Guild Wars 2, making meaningful improvements to the player experience.

Head over to the new feedback forum and share your ideas on what you’d like us to address. We’re excited to shape the future of Guild Wars 2 alongside the community and ensure its continued success for many years to come.

In Guild Wars 3, you’ll explore Orr like you’ve never been able to before. You’ll join the Vaelwardens: a guild sworn to protect the land, the people who live beyond the walls of the towns and cities of Orr, and the nature spirits who call Orr home.

For the first time ever, you can experience the world of Tyria on both PC and PlayStation 5. We’ve built a combat system designed to feel incredible no matter how you play, whether you use a controller or a mouse and keyboard.

We have other exciting things to discuss in this blog today, but for more information on the announcement, head over to our shiny new Guild Wars 3 website. Please wishlist Guild Wars 3 on Steam and the PlayStation Store. And to keep up with the latest news—and for a chance to join the Guild Wars 3 beta in the fall of 2027—sign up for the Guild Wars 3 newsletter.

What’s Next for Guild Wars 2®?

With the Guild Wars 3 announcement, we know the community will undoubtedly be wondering what’s next for Guild Wars 2. And we’re going to tell you in detail…tomorrow! Today, we’re celebrating the first brand-new game announcement for ArenaNet in almost two decades, and that deserves its moment in the spotlight. But rest assured, we’re not done making Guild Wars 2—or Guild Wars® Reforged for that matter—and we’re committing to actively developing all three games at the same time.

Tomorrow, June 6, we’ll be releasing a studio update video, and you’ll hear directly from Studio Head Colin Johanson, Guild Wars 2 Game Director Josh Davis, and Guild Wars® Reforged Game Director Stephen Clarke-Willson as they discuss the future of the Guild Wars franchise. Look out for that video here on our blog and on our YouTube channel tomorrow at 09:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).

Then, next week, on Tuesday, June 9 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7), join us for a livestream where Colin and Josh will continue the conversation. It’s an incredible time to be a Guild Wars fan, and we can’t wait to show you what we have planned.

Bonus Event: Summer Game Fest

Earlier this week, we kicked off the Summer Game Fest bonus event in Guild Wars 2 to show our appreciation for the Guild Wars community and to celebrate our announcement of Guild Wars 3.

Hop into the game now and earn the Guild Warrior Shoulders Skin, the Guild Warrior Cape Skin, and three Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlocks by completing events. One of the achievements is earned by completing events in any of the maps in Orr, the setting for Guild Wars 3!

You have until June 16 to unlock these rewards, and as you explore, you’ll benefit from +50% experience gain, +50% magic find, +30% WvW reward track progress, and +30% PvP reward track progress.

Summer Game Fest Sale

We’re celebrating this moment with savings on the entire Guild Wars franchise! For just three days, take advantage of discounts so you and your friends can start exploring the world of Tyria.

In the Guild Wars 2 store:

• All Standard and Deluxe Expansion Editions, Including the Latest Expansion, Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity™—35% Off
• Guild Wars 2—The Elder Dragon Saga Complete Collection (Complete Edition)—50% Off
• Past Guild Wars 2 Digital Deluxe Upgrades—35% Off
• Guild Wars 2 Living World™ Seasons—70% Off

In the Guild Wars store:

• Guild Wars Reforged—40% Off
• Guild Wars : Eye of the North™—40% Off
• Guild Wars Bonus Mission Pack—40% Off
• Additional Guild Wars In-Game Items—40% Off

Steam:

• All Guild Wars 2 Expansions—20% Off
• New Limited-Time Guild Wars 2 Expansion and Living World Bundles with Additional Savings
• All Guild Wars Reforged Content—40% Off

On Epic Games Store:

• All Guild Wars 2 Expansions—35% Off

All discounts will run from June 5 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) until June 8 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time.

Summer Game Fest Gem Store Sale

We’re also celebrating this moment with discounts and deals in the Gem Store now through June 16. Log in to the game, use the “O” hotkey to open the Black Lion Trading Company, and check out the Upgrades tab. Character and account upgrades are 20% off, including Character Slot Expansions, Total Makeover Kits, Name Change Contracts, mail carriers, and more!

The Account Jump Start has been discounted by 20% and is the perfect way to boost your inventory space and give your characters more ways to customize their looks. This bundle can only be purchased once per account and includes:

• Bank Tab Expansion (x2)
• Bag Slot Expansion (x2)
• Black Lion Chest Key (x10)
• Transmutation Charge (x15)
• Account-Bound Unidentified Dye (x30)

Need even more inventory space? The Upgraded Bag Slot Expansion bundle has returned for 400 gems and includes a Bag Slot Expansion and a 28 Slot Black Lion Satchel. This bundle can be purchased twice per account and truly lets you hold all the things.

Twitch Drops

Watch your favorite Guild Wars 2 streams from today through June 10 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) to earn the Summer T-Shirt Skin featuring the Guild Wars 3 logo! Check our Twitch Drops website for more information on the other rewards and learn how you can be one of the first to represent our next game!

Thank You

Many of us at ArenaNet have been waiting for this moment for a long time, and we wouldn’t be in this position without you, the Guild Wars community. Your loyalty and passion are unmatched, and it fuels us every single day. Thank you.

We’ll be back tomorrow with the video from Colin, Josh, and Stephen. Until then, join us on our new official Guild Wars Community Discord Server to keep the conversation going.