Tagged: arenanet

ArenaNet surprised by massive number of gamers who've pre-purchased Guild Wars 2

The best problem a developer can possibly have is when too many people want to play their game. As it stands, ArenaNet is facing that problem: they opened the Guild Wars 2 beta to anyone who had pre-purchased the game, and now they can’t handle the massive number of players they have.

Company president Mike O’Brien phrased it quite positively, noting that the number of people who bought its game “far exceeded the expectations, and that it had to temporarily disable pre-purchases.”

Keeping that in mind, the studio will host a stress test today from 11am to 6pm PDT. It is open to anyone who has pre-purchased the game.

 

Guild Wars Music in PLAY

ArenaNet sends word that music from Guild Wars has been chosen to be performed as part of “PLAY! A Video Game Symphony”, a worldwide symphonic tour featuring music from a number of games, which kicks off on January 19, 2008.

The company notes that it is a great honor for them and the game’s composers. The music of Guild Wars is also featured on CD in special edition packages of the game.

Guild Wars: Eye of the North Prerelease Pack Tomorrow

Starting tomorrow, you can enjoy the prerelease bonus pack for Guild Wars: Eye of the North, the first expansion for the free-to-play MMORPG. The bonus pack includes exclusive in-game items and access to the Sneak Peek Weekend set for later this Summer.

The bonus will be available from retailers across North America and Europe as well as the NCSoft store and through the official Guild War online store.

Players who pre-order Guild Wars: Eye of the North will gain access to the Sneak Peek Weekend, August 24-26, 2007, where they will be able to log into the game for a first look at Eye of the North. Players will be able to explore the Far Shiverpeaks region of the world, home of the barbaric Norn. Everything players obtain during the Sneak Peek Weekend, including items, XP, Heroes, and loot, will be permanent and available when the expansion goes live.

The Guild Wars: Eye of the North prerelease bonus pack also comes with exclusive weapons, including the Glacial Blade, the Hourglass Staff, and the Darksteel Longbow. These new weapons are based on the winning designs from the Guild Wars Design-a-Weapon Contest held earlier this year. In addition, the prerelease bonus pack includes a Guild Wars Trilogy Trial DVD that provides access to all three of the Guild Wars campaigns for a special trial promotion lasting 10 hours or 14 days, whichever comes first*.

Eye of the North is set for release on August 31.

Preview Nightfall Next Weekend

Coming up next weekend is the Guild Wars Nightfall preview event that will debut ArenaNet‘s latest MMORPG endeavor to the world. Open to anyone and everyone, the event will commence on September 22, beginning at 7pm GMT; it will run through September 25 and will end at 7am GMT.

The Guild Wars Nightfall World Preview Event will feature previews of the new environments, new missions and new battle arenas. The event will allow players to create Nightfall-specific characters from the six core professions as well as the two new Nightfall™ professions, the Dervish and the Paragon, and to try out new Nightfall skills. The entire Istani province of the new realm Elona will be open for player exploration, and players will be able to view the first Nightfall in-game cinematics. In addition, two new arenas will make their debut, the Sunspear Arena and Churranu Island.

As an added bonus, key magazines in each European territory will include an access key for an exclusive, in-game Gray Giant miniature. The Gray Giant will be useable during the World Preview Event, and then may be reactivated with a Guild Wars Nightfall account upon release. To find out which magazine will carry the item, please visit http://eu.guildwars.com for details.

The studio hopes that this preview event will exceed their previous attempts and is therefore preparing to handle the “influx of participants” on its servers. Nightfall will be released on October 27, with eager fans being able to get their hands on the Prerelease Bonus Pack on September 15.

Guild Wars Nightfall Dated

ArenaNet and NCSoft send word that Guild Wars: Nightfall will be released worldwide on October 27. The companies also revealed details of the Collector’s Edition of the game: it will include a Making of Guild Wars Nightfall behind-the-scenes DVD, a collector’s art book, collectible skill pins, a character mini-standee, a poster-sized map of Elona, the soundtrack and more.

Prerelease Bonus Pack for Guild Wars: Nightfall

GWNF_Inlay_Pre-ReleaseArenaNet and NCSoft Europe together announced a prerelease bonus pack for Guild Wars: Nightfall, the upcoming expansion to the free-to-play MMORPG.

Scheduled to hit stores September 15, the bonus pack will feature a “Play Now” key for a 10-hour/14-day trial of Guild wars Prophecies and Guild Wars Factions; a Nightfall bonus key, providing one additional character slot, as well as two exclusive items for the new professions – a Fiery Sunspear of Shelter for the Paragon and an Icy Soulbreaker of Enchanting for the Dervish; mini strategy guide, concept art, wallpapers, music and more.

No price point was set for the pack.

Guild Wars: Factions Release Date

ArenaNet and NCSoft have announced the release date of Guild Wars: Factions. The add-on to the free-to-play MMORPG will be released worldwide on April 28.

Guild Wars Factions takes place on the Asian-inspired continent of Cantha, where new and existing Guild Wars players join an epic quest to defeat an ancient evil and save a war-torn empire. Roleplaying and competitive player-versus-player gamers alike will be able to join together in guild alliances to take control of territory and determine the fate of Cantha. New scored challenge missions and strategic competitive missions allow players to test their roleplaying prowess and earn the right for their alliance to take control of cities, towns and outposts. Large-scale alliance battles pit teams from opposing factions against each other in a struggle to conquer new territory and redraw the battle lines across the continent of Cantha. New elite missions allow the most skilled players exclusive access to areas designed to be the ultimate cooperative challenge.

Those who can’t wait till April 28, ArenaNet will be hosting a massive beta test event in which all existing Guild Wars members will be able to sample the world of Cantha.