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I truly can't believe they're doing it. ArenaNet is making Guild Wars 3. Unlike every other live-service game and MMO around right now, determined to shamble on as a "platform" into eternity, Guild Wars 2 is making room for a third game the way Guild Wars did before it. Even so, ArenaNet affirmed its dedication to supporting GW2 beyond the launch of GW3—they're doing it all. I've collected everything we know so far about Guild Wars 3 ahead of its first planned betas in 2027.
I started playing Guild Wars in 2006 and I was there at Guild Wars 2's launch, equal parts anxious about the game that would split my guild and enamored with my first days as a norn in Wayfarer Foothills. I've been lapsed from GW2 for several years, but the innovation ArenaNet brought to MMOs back in 2012 has me genuinely excited to see them push the genre again.
Is there a Guild Wars 3 release date?
The first beta for Guild Wars 3 will be in fall 2027, but there's no release window announced yet. For reference, the first closed beta tests for Guild Wars 2 began less than a year before it launched.
It's hard to say if we should expect the same timeline for Guild Wars 3, but in its breakdown on what to expect for the future of Guild Wars 2 (more on that below), ArenaNet mentioned a time frame of "the next 18 months," referring to improvements it would be making to GW2 before GW3. That would put us in December 2027, which is still pretty soon after the first beta tests are supposed to begin in autumn. Without being able to pin a timeline on it, it definitely seems like ArenaNet isn't planning to dawdle on Guild Wars 3.
Guild Wars 3 platforms
For the first time in the series, Guild Wars 3 will launch both on PC and on PlayStation 5. What that means so far is that ArenaNet is focusing on action-RPG combat and controls that work for both gamepad and keyboard & mouse. As someone who does actually enjoy playing with a gamepad at my PC, color me curious.
Will there be a subscription?
Nope, the Guild Wars series has always been a buy-to-play model and ArenaNet has confirmed that there won't be a subscription this time either. It also won't have any battlepasses "because we think players are sick of those too," studio head Colin Johanson told IGN.
Guild Wars 3 trailers
The reveal trailer for Guild Wars 3 really leans into the "joy of movement" that ArenaNet has been emphasizing. You can see a character riding their mount and wall-running (mountain running?) which is the bulk of what's shown aside from introducing the fabric and embroidery visual themes that are also used in that ribbon-y new logo. Lotta flag imagery happening here.
Guild Wars 3 gameplay
Guild Wars 3 story and setting
Guild Wars 3 takes place 1,200 years before the events of the original Guild Wars and is set in Orr, "a vast wilderness frontier imbued with the world’s magic." We'll all be playing as a Vaelwarden, a member of an adventurer's guild that wants to protect the nature entities called Vael spirits, each with our own larger spirit mount called a Seeker. Our own adventurer's guild is in conflict (perhaps a war, even) with others over how to protect or exploit the Vael spirits. That's right, we're going back to the guild wars.
How will it play differently from Guild Wars 2?
Guild Wars 3 will lean into playing as an "action-adventure MMORPG," ArenaNet says, with combat designed to play on both gamepad and keyboard & mouse. Anet has emphasized GW3's "one-of-a-kind movement system that transfers your momentum between modes of travel" which include gliding, riding, jumping, and wall-running.
It also said: "As players seamlessly transition between various movement modes, they can harness their speed and turn it into bigger damage and impact when fighting their foes." Guild Wars 2 already has so much interesting use of movement with its mounts, dodging, and flying, and it sounds like GW3 is going well above and beyond that by factoring mounts into combat.
Lastly, Guild Wars 3's website says its combat will involve "strategic skill use, positioning, and movement—where action RPG combat meets Guild Wars build-making." To me, that sounds like it's definitely diverting from the hotbar mashing style of combat I've grown so tired of in MMOs. I'm well interested in a system that prioritizes skill context over cooldown timers.
Guild Wars 3 playable races
ArenaNet hasn't confirmed the exact details on playable races (or classes) but, based on the initial concept art reveals, it sure looks like we'll be playing as thousand-year-in-the-past versions of:
- Humans: Every RPG's vanilla option, you can still play them in GW3.
- Asura: The small but brainy folks first playable in GW2.
- Kodan: The massive bear folks, never before playable in the series.
What's happening to Guild Wars 2?
After announcing GW3, ArenaNet posted an entire video talking about the future of Guild Wars Reforged and GW2—basically, that there is a future for both. Guild Wars 2 is planning a period of quality-of-life updates prior to the launch of GW3 and will be pausing expansion development during that time. After the launch of GW3, it will "return to shipping annual major content updates."
Here's what's coming in those game updates to Guild Wars 2:
- A Hall of Monuments system similar to the one in the original Guild Wars for logging your account achievements so they can be reflected on your Guild Wars 3 account
- Modernizing and polishing GW2 by bringing older content "up to more current design standards"
- A new World versus World map for the first time in years
- A new explorable zone set in Orr "bridging the Tyria you know and the Tyria you're about to discover in Guild Wars 3"
