For a limited time ArenaNet is offering a free baseball cap with the Guild Wars 2 logo on it. Simply go to the Black Lion Trading Company and look under Style but don’t wait, this offer only goes through September 12.

Recently they added the feature that will show that your account is linked and if it not linked, you will have the option to link your Guild Wars account to your Guild Wars 2 account. To do this you can just go to guildwars2.com and log-in to your account. From there you will see Link Accounts below Edit Profile.

We got our first look at the Guild Wars 2 economy taken from one of the beta weekend events. The charts give us a breakdown of where gold is earned, what crafting profession is being learned most as well as what the wealth distribution is. These numbers will be quite different than the launch of the game but worth looking at as we wait for launch.

ArenaNet has announced the regions of Guild Wars 2 which includes both good and bad news. The good news is that once you validate the game for your region you can move anywhere in the world and you are fine. The bad news is that the guesting feature has not been added yet and will be added after Guild Wars 2 launches, though there is no set release for that yet.

• Customers in North America must register the North American version of the game, customers in Europe must register the European version of the game, and customers in other areas may register either version.

• After you successfully register your Guild Wars 2 account, it becomes a global account.  You can roam to any part of the world and still access the game.

• At launch, players will be able to transfer between worlds freely. However, once server populations have largely settled and stabilized, world transfers will be restricted to once a week and cost a variable amount of gems based on the population of the world being transferred to.

• In time, we’ll also introduce free “guesting,” which will allow players to visit other worlds as guests as long as they have friends on those worlds. This feature will be free, but guest players will not be able to enter World vs. World, and the Power of the Mists bonuses from their home world will continue to apply to their characters.

Click to view the official news page.

The official time for the launch of Guild Wars 2 has been announced.

• Pre-Purchase with 3-Day Headstart: Everyone who pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 will enjoy three full days of Headstart Access. The three-day Headstart Access will officially begin at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 25^th. However, please note that in order to ensure that we’re fully prepared for that fateful hour we may bring servers online up to 3 hours prior. If you’re a player committed to getting in first to grab that character name of your dreams you’ll want to be keeping an eye on things during that time period.

• Pre-Order with 1-Day Headstart: Those who pre-ordered Guild Wars 2 will be able to participate in one day of Headstart Access. The one-day Headstart Access will begin at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 27^th. NOTE – Pre-Order code registration is now enabled.

• For those players who have not pre-purchased or pre-ordered the game, Guild Wars 2 will officially launch at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 28^th.

• Download the Client today: If you’ve registered your pre-purchase or pre-order and created your Guild Wars account you can go to account management today and download the client. Be sure to update the client periodically to minimize your download at launch.

We had a 1 hour stress test on Sunday so I didn’t mention it but since we have a 4 hour stress test this Wednesday I figured I should bring it to your attention.

We will be conducting a stress test tomorrow Wednesday, August 15 from 12:00 Noon PACIFIC Time to 4:00 PM PACIFIC Time.

Same rules apply as all the other stress tests this month, the game will kick you out and not apologize. The good news, you are helping prepare the game for launch, and that is a good thing.

I was quite surprised when I heard this as I just finished the last stress test earlier today. Something to note, these tests are rough as they had many disconnects during the Thursday test and I expect it to be the same with this one, but if you want to sate your Guild Wars 2 thirst before launch then join in.

We will be conducting a Stress Test on Friday, August 10 from 4:00 PM PACIFIC Time to 8:00 PM PACIFIC Time.

REMEMBER: We will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game!

Additional notes:
* Stress Tests are open to those who have PRE-PURCHASED the game.
* Characters will not be wiped for tomorrow’s Stress Test.
~RB

ArenaNet has just announced yet another stress test for Guild Wars 2. This may be your last opportunity to test Guild Wars 2 before launch in under three weeks. If you haven’t pre-purchased yet remember that you can participate in this stress test and you will also get to play the game with a 3 day head-start.

We will be conducting a stress test on Thursday, August 9 from 12:00 Noon PACIFIC Time to 4:00 PM PACIFIC Time.

The stress test is open to anyone who has pre-purchased Guild Wars 2.

We will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game! ~RB2

The Guild Wars 2 website got a complete redesign about a month before launch. The new site features a nice page design for all the professions by showing the useable weapons and special abilities. The site now matches in style to that of the forum we have been seeing for the beta events.

ArenaNet has just announced one more and possibly the final stress test for Guild Wars 2.

We will be conducting a stress test on Thursday, August 2 from 12:00 Noon PACIFIC Time to 4:00 PM PACIFIC Time.

Unlike previous stress tests, we will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game! ~RB2