Chief among these is the fact that Guild Wars 3, like its predecessors Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, will not have any subscription fees. Johanson has noted that one of the franchise’s defining ideas has been that “players should be able to buy the game and play it on their own terms.” This also means that the title won’t include any battle passes either.

While titles like this tend to supplement revenue through in-game microtransactions, Johanson has also promised that Guild Wars 3 will not feature any pay-to-win elements. Rather, any microtransaction items released for the MMO will be strictly cosmetic, along with other features like account services and time-saving convenience items. “But it’s never okay in a Guild Wars game for players who spend money to have an unfair advantage over players who spend time,” he wrote.

MMORPGs often tend to be quite time-consuming, and many need them to be treated by players like they are second jobs. Guild Wars 3 wants to avoid this by “respecting players’ time,” which has “always been a core part of Guild Wars, and that’s more important today than ever before.”

Rather than forcing players to spend time doing things they rather wouldn’t, ArenaNet instead wants players to “feel good about the time you invest”, regardless of how much time they actually get to spend with the game. More details on how game systems are being designed with this in mind are slated to be revealed in the future.

Finally, Johanson also discussed what it actually means for Guild Wars 3 to be “a modern evolution of the MMO”. Noting that the original Guild Wars was about a small team made up of the player and their assembled henchman, hero NPCs, and other players, and Guild Wars 2 was about “giant-scale” experiences in a large open-world setting, Guild Wars 3 is slated to be in the middle of this spectrum.

“While it fits the definition of an MMORPG significantly more than Guild Wars Reforged does, it doesn’t try to replicate the large-scale gameplay pillars that so uniquely define Guild Wars 2,” explained Johanson. “This ensures that all three of our games can coexist as different experiences on different timelines, telling different stories about the world of Tyria.

Guild Wars 3 was unveiled earlier this month with a trailer, and while we didn’t get to see much in the way of gameplay, the CG trailer did emphasize that the upcoming MMORPG will include one of Guild Wars 2’s most beloved features – the mount system. The title is being developed for PC and PS5, and doesn’t yet have a release window. ArenaNet has confirmed that it will start beta tests in Fall 2027.

Right off the bat, the trailer focused on one of Guild Wars 2’s most-beloved features – the mount system. It looks like Guild Wars 3 will also have a similar focus on mount collection, with plenty of unique creatures being available for players. Aside from the mount riding and a few clips of the player character being able to run up a mountain, no other gameplay details have been revealed.

Whether ArenaNet will stick to the Guild Wars tradition of eschewing a monthly subscription fee in favor of allowing players to simply buy the game just once also remains to be seen. Guild Wars 2 has certainly seen quite a bit of success with this pricing strategy, thanks in no small part to the hefty post-launch support seen by the MMORPG through the release of several expansions.

Guild Wars 3 is being developed for PC and PS5. While there is no release window yet, ArenaNet has announced that it will be kicking off beta tests for the MMORPG in Fall 2027. Players interested in checking out the beta can sign up on the game’s official website.

After reports surfaced last week about the same, Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet confirmed that it would make “staff reductions.” Today, it confirmed to GameDaily that “a number” of employees were laid off as “as part of NCSoft’s ongoing restructuring of its development and publishing business in the West.” The exact number of employees that have been released was not confirmed.

Lead game designer Jennifer Scheurle took to Twitter and noted that the lay-offs were “one of the most agonizing things I’ve ever experienced.” “Many of the most talented, driven and skilled people, friends and colleagues, didn’t get to keep their job.” Scheurle did compliment the company though, noting, “ArenaNet handled the awful situation as well as you can handle a situation where everybody loses. It’s credit to a compassionate and skilled HR department that we are given as much information and time as we were.”

Interestingly, while ArenaNet claimed the lay-offs would not affect any Guild Wars 2 services, the game’s next mount – Warclaw – has been delayed to March 5th. A moderator’s post on the official forum stated, “In light of current events at the studio, we are taking this time to focus on our friends and colleagues. We hope you understand and we apologize for this delay. Thank you for your continued support of Guild Wars 2.”

ArenaNet isn’t the only company that’s been laying off employees this month. Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard recently released hundreds of employees across various studios. A recent report indicated that GOG had laid off around a dozen employees in the wake of financial pressure as well. Hopefully, all the unfortunate developers and employees will find employment soon.

This is true despite feeling that ArenaNet handled the awful situation as well as you can handle a situation where everybody loses. It’s credit to a compassionate and skilled HR department that we are given as much information and time as we were.

— Jennifer Scheurle (@Gaohmee) February 25, 2019

Remember that at every step of the way, there are people involved in this that have to go through grueling processes. They have families and emotions and sadness and anger. Keeping room for all of it is a great way to support people now.

— Jennifer Scheurle (@Gaohmee) February 25, 2019

Guild Wars 2 developer ArenaNet will be making “staff reductions” in the wake of unannounced projects being canceled. A report by Kotaku based on an internal email from NCSoft (which is the parent company for ArenaNet) initially revealed that a “significant” number of employees would be released. After PC Gamer inquired about the same, ArenaNet issued an official statement.

“We can confirm that due to the cancellation of unannounced projects, ArenaNet will make staff reductions,” the statement reads. “This is part of a larger organizational restructuring within NCSOFT in the west, but the Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 game services will not be affected, nor is any upcoming game content canceled.” The number of employees that would be laid off was not revealed.

The “organizational restructuring” mentioned in the report probably refers to the merger between the publishing divisions for both companies. However, there was no mention about NCSoft’s live service revenue “declining as our franchises age” or mobile creating “further drains against our revenue projects”. On the bright side, it doesn’t seem like Guild Wars 2 is in any danger of shutting down.

Guild Wars 2 first released as a paid MMO sans subscription model in 2012. It went free to play in 2015 after numerous content updates, and also received two major expansions. Heart of Thorns arrived in 2015, followed by Path of Fire in 2017. Though the MMO’s popularity isn’t exactly through the roof, especially compared to stalwarts like World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, it continues to receive support. Time will tell if things change, especially following this restructuring.

WildStar, the highly stylized science fiction MMORPG released by Carbine Studios and ArenaNet a few years ago, never quite caught on. A couple months ago, it was announced that the game would be closing down later this year, and now, that has come to pass. As of 2PM PST/5PM EST today, WildStar is no more.

The official WildStar account on Twitter itself posed the tweet announcing the end of the service today, thanking all players who played and supported the game. Though it had a pretty dedicated following, it was clearly not enough to keep the game afloat, in spite of a very public relaunch that evidently did not go as planned.

In the end, it was probably cheaper to just cut the service. While this will undoubtedly disappoint a lot of the game’s fans, they have also had enough notice ahead of time to reconcile themselves with its impending death.

As of November 28 at 2pm PST, the North American and European WildStar game service has closed. Thank you to everyone who joined us on this grand adventure across Nexus! pic.twitter.com/g363m5WF9t

— WildStar (@WildStar) November 28, 2018

ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 is still going strong as a free to play MMORPG and will be receiving its second major expansion on September 22nd. Path of Fire will feature a new story where Balthazar, a higher being of fire and war, has returned to set Tyria ablaze.

There will be five new zones to explore, including the Crystal Desert from the first Guild Wars and Elona from Guild Wars: Nightfall. New mounts are also in store including a raptor and new specializations for each class. For example, the Thief gets Deadeye which allows for sharpshooting with a rifle while the Mesmer receives Mirage for close combat and dodging. A max-level boost will also be offered to bring one of your characters up to level 80.

Accounts in good standing can partake in a preview on August 11th to 13th which offers access to the Crystal Oasis, some story and the raptor mount. Pre-purchasing the expansion will cost $29.99. Check out the entire reveal of the standalone expansion, which comes two years after Heart of Thorns, below.

ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 has seen its first major expansion and raid with Hearts of Thorns but the developer’s free to play MMORPG is pushing forward. A new content update will be out on January 26th which will allow players to use their hang-gliders in the open world or through the city in Central Tyria.

Other changes promised include improvements to Fractals, markers and lieutenant promotions for the Enhanced Squad UI, a new Mist Champion, new decorations for world and raid bosses, some balance changes, adjustments to aspects like kill scoring in World vs. World combat and much more.

ArenaNet also has other plans in store with the Lunar New Year event on the day the update goes live, the Salvation Pass raid wing (currently undated), a new PvP league on February 23rd and in the coming few months, Living World Season 3.

What are your thoughts on the updates? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information.

To arms – Guild Wars 2’s first raid, as part of the Heart of Thorns expansion, went live last night.

Composed of three wings, Spirit Vale is the first wing of the raid. It sees you and nine other players investigating the disappearance of a Pact squad in northern Maguuma. Obviously, enemies and dark secrets await. ArenaNet has introduced some nifty new squad AI to help players organize their raid groups better (and which play a larger part in World vs. World PvP gameplay) in a new patch.

The raid itself will offer quite a bit by way of rewards, including ascended gear, miniatures, new weapon skins and components required for crafting Legendary armour. There aren’t any prerequisites as such for accessing the raid, though you’re advised to be in tip top form.

What are your thoughts on Spirit Vale and the debut of raids into Guild Wars 2? Let us know in the comments.

It’s amazing to consider that ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 released three years ago and managed to avoid one of the biggest staples of the modern MMORPG genre – raids – for this long. That’s set to change with the raid in Heart of Thorns, the game’s first major expansion, which debuts its first of three raid wings on November 17th.

Spirit Vale will see you and nine other players descend into a magical forest to discover the whereabouts of a missing Pact squad. As is usually the case, dark forces await. The raid will introduce a new enhanced squad UI which lets you take better control of your raid group and can also be applied for up to 50 players in World vs. World PvP. Raid participants can look forward to some great rewards including ascended gear, miniatures, unique weapon skins and even the materials needed for building legendary armour.

Guild Wars 2 is available to try for free but you’ll need to purchase Heart of Thorns. Will you be taking part in Guild Wars 2’s first raid? Let us know in the comments.

With the upcoming first expansion of Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns, the game will be getting a brand new Adventures mode, a new mode that developer ArenaNet hopes will acclimatize players to their full range of skills, while also exposing them to continuously new, potentially unpredictable kinds of content.

“Adventures are small, fast-paced, single-adventurer events that challenge you to master a wide variety of skills in a race against the clock. What’s more, adventures are custom-built with leaderboards that allow you to compete against your friends and guildmates for bragging rights,” the developer said.

Adventures will apparently be an evolution of the Heart Challenges, and will be tailored uniquely to each player, as well as their present location when they start one; the Adventures will also all be instanced, meaning that you shouldn’t run into another player trying to slay the same monsters or gather the same resources as you.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage on Guild Wars 2.