Guild Wars 2 Sales Reopen Today

Having suspended sales of Guild Wars 2 right at the end of last month because servers were creaking under the sheer weight of players, ArenaNet has reopened them this morning. So if you missed the boat on release weekend and have since lost all of your friends to Tyria, at least you can now join them.

ArenaNet originally suspended sales on August 30th, just two days after launch, because the server infrastructure was having problems keeping up with demand. Since then, the company had deployed new European and North American servers and prepared the Trading Post for a new influx of players.

ArenaNet's president Mike O'Brien had this to day: “Preserving the customer experience has always been our top priority. We’re supporting  Guild Wars 2 for the long run. We’ll always do what it takes to deliver the best online gaming experience for our customers, even when that means throttling sales.”

To celebrate, the developer released a bizarre and rather arresting new live-action trailer. Enjoy it below:

Source : ign[dot]com

Guild Wars 2 Suspends Digital Sales

ArenaNet is suspending digital sales of its recently released MMO Guild Wars 2 in a bid to protect server stability.

Due to the high number of players accessing the game at any one time, the company has decided to try and throttle how many new people are entering Tyria while it expands its infrastructure.

“

We’ve said before that we would be willing to temporarily disable first-party digital sales if we felt our high player concurrency may compromise player experiences. We have now reached that point.

ArenaNet Social Media Coordinator Rubi Bayer explained the situation on Facebook, writing "Ensuring the best possible play experience for our fans is our highest priority. We’ve said before that we would be willing to temporarily disable first-party digital sales if we felt our high player concurrency may compromise player experiences. We have now reached that point.

"Effective immediately we have disabled sales via buy.guildwars2.com. To be clear, box and digital sales are still available via our retail partners. We are tracking our concurrency closely while expanding our infrastructure. We’ll re-enable first-party digital sales as soon as we feel that we can do so safely."

In terms of problems for a new title to be facing, it's a pretty good one. Given that the game sold over 1 million copies before it launched on Tuesday, it's not totally unexpected either.

Guild Wars 2's launch has been pretty smooth so far, with a smattering of errors hitting those trying to get into the game during early access, though these have been resolved for the most part. It's encouraging to see ArenaNet keen to maintain smooth service for their current customers during the busy launch period, which tends to be pretty fraught for most MMOs.

So for the time being if you haven't got a copy of the game and want to step into Tyria, you may have to leave the house and buy a physical version from somewhere. Or wait a couple of days for digital sales to be re-enabled. Your call.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and has spent the last week exploring Caledon Forest with his Sylvari Ranger. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Play Guild Wars 2 Early, Get a Free Hat

ArenaNet has announced a limited edition hat for anyone who plays Guild Wars 2 early. From August 25th through September 12th, every player will receive a Celebration Hat, “a baseball cap with the iconic Guild Wars 2 dragon logo” that ArenaNet calls “a stylish addition to your town attire!”

The Celebration Hat will be available in the Black Lion Trading Company for zero gems. It can be found in the Style category by pressing O during the game and cannot be traded to other players. The Celebration Hat will be available to any character on your account.

Guild Wars 2 officially launches on August 28th but will be available starting tonight through ArenaNet’s headstart program, which allows anyone who pre-purchased and installed the game to play early. For more on the game’s skill combat, check out our interview with systems designer Jonathan Sharp.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Guild Wars 2: Fighting for Control

It’s just about one month until launch for ArenaNet’s fantasy MMO. It’s not often an MMO actually gets a sequel, and from what I’ve played in preview sessions and beta weekends, it seems like ArenaNet has made some great decisions about how to encourage players to cooperate while still framing quests with enough story to give tasks a sense of purpose.

I played as a Thief in the recent Guild Wars 2 weekend beta test that just ended on Sunday July 22. You’ll find video commentaries below talking about the recently revealed Legacy of the Foefire PvP map as well as a brief overview of the World versus World large-scale PvP battleground.

Guild Wars 2 is scheduled to launch on August 28. If you’re planning on playing, which profession will you pick first?

Source : ign[dot]com