Thursday, 22 March 2012

The Anticipated Guild Wars 2 Release Date

By James Greene


Ever since ArenaNet burst onto the scene in April 2005 with their game Guild Wars, many have been wondering how long it would take for a sequel to come out. After years of delays and months of speculation, a game was announced in 2007, but no release date was set. Fans are still wondering when the Guild Wars 2 release date is.

The much-anticipated sequel was announced to go into production in 2007. It was known that this would be a lengthy process but even the most patient of fans could not guess just how long the process would take. The development phase would take much longer than usual even after designers settled on what aspects to keep and which to make new in the sequel.

After those questions are answered there is the actual coding and graphics that need to be done. In today's competitive gaming marketplace, these things can not be overlooked. If the graphics are shoddy nobody will buy the game. Therefore, this phase takes a long time as well.

The next phase of the process is a testing phase. This is very important because no programming is without quirks and errors that can only be found by playing it. With a testing phase, these problems can be fixed therefore making a perfect final product that won't get bad reviews for having bugs in it.

In 2008, ArenaNet announced that they would soon undertake Alpha testing, the first phase. This angered some fans and stockholders, who were waiting in anticipation. Further delays only made things worse. It was not until much later, in August of 2010 that the world got a small look at Guild Wars 2 by way of a playable demo as some gamer expos.

Finally, a series of closed Alpha testing took place in 2011. Encouraged, ArenaNet then announced a Beta testing phase that would also be closed. No announcement of an actual release date was given at the time but the progress was at least encouraging. All anyone knew was that it would be out sometime in 2012.

Several more weeks passed with no word. Then, if February 2012 it was announced that invitations for a closed viewing and playing session would be given to a small group of gaming influencers and media professionals. It was later announced that those sessions would expand to include more people in March and April of the same year.

There was no word on how much those invited would be able to divulge about what they saw, but a few details are known. For example, the new version sticks with their one-time purchase of stories instead of paying monthly subscription fees, which was a highlight of the original for many gamers who do not like paying a flat fee which usually ends up costing more per month than one-time downloads. This news was well-received within the community.

Despite the closed sessions with media and gamers, there is still no official Guild Wars 2 release date. All ArenaNet has said is that it is near completion and it would come out sometime in 2012. Whether that is spring, fall or Christmas is anyone's guess. The successful testing seems to hint that the day may be sooner rather than later, but all fans can hope for is that there are no more delays.




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