Guild Wars 2 FAQ

Guild Wars 2 FAQ by Ryuzaki

General:

Will GW2 have a subscription fee?
No. After buying the game you will be able to play for as long as you like.

Will GW2 have micro-transactions?
Yes, micro-transactions will exist. Be assured goods and items bought for cash in GW2 do not offer any advantage over those available in the game through the investment of time.

Will the game world be persistent or instanced?
GW2 will have a fully persistent world. You will be in the world with other players, but there will be loading times between maps.

Will I have to choose a server?
Yes, GW2 will have several servers.

Will there be RP servers?
This hasn’t been decided yet.

Will I be able to switch to a different server?
Yes, you will be able to transfer to a different server quick and easy. There will be some restrictions, but we don’t know what those are yet. It is not known if there will be a cost associated with this.

Release & Testing

When will GW2 be released?
2012. We don’t know a specific date yet.

Please note that the release dates listed on websites such as gamestop and amazon are placeholders. Do not trust these dates, even when employees tell you they are sure that that’s the official release date. Once the release date has been announced it will be on GW2.com.

Has the closed beta started yet?
Yes. The first closed beta test started on the 16th of December 2011 and ended in January. In February select press will be invited to participate in beta testing, and in March and April ArenaNet will aggressively ramp up the size of their beta test events so that many people will have a chance to participate.

Can I sign up to participate in the beta?
No. There won’t be any webpage for getting into the closed beta and ArenaNet will not reveal how they select candidates.

Is there a demo?
ArenaNet have demos available at several gaming conventions.

What languages will GW2 be available in at release?
Only English, German and French have been confirmed so far. We know that support for Asian language will be added later on. The game will probably be available in other European languages as well, but these have yet to be confirmed.

Will GW2 be available on Steam?
We won’t know until they announce the release details. However, all GW1 games are available on steam (as well as most other games published by NCsoft), so it’s very likely.

Technical Questions:

Do we know the system requirements?
No, the official system requirements haven’t been released yet.

Will GW2 offer 3D support?
Yes, you will be able to play GW2 in 3D.

Will there be official Mac support?
At this time, it seems unlikely these platforms will be officially supported.

Is GW2 being developed for consoles too?
There is (or was) a small team exploring the possibility of consoles, but ArenaNet are focused on developing the game for the PC.

Will there be an internal voice chat?
We don’t know yet.

Gameplay & Mechanics:

Will we be able to jump and swim?
Yes, you will be able to jump and swim in GW2.

Will we be able to fly?
No, you will not be able to fly.

Will we be able to map travel like in GW1?
Yes. GW2 will have waypoints and asura gates.

Waypoints: While you play the game you will explore waypoint. When you open your map you will be able to see and travel to all the waypoints you have discovered in exchange for a very small fee.
Asura gates: These gates are located in each playable race’s main city. Players will be able to freely travel from one gate to another, even if they have not yet explored the destination area.

Will there be mounts?
There will be no mounts in the game at release. However, they may be added to the game later on.

Is there going to be a day and night cycle?
Yes. Day and night cycle is currently two hours. 1:20 of daylight and 40 of night. Possibly will change before release.

Will there be a weather cycle?
Yes.

Will there be an auction house?
Yes, GW2 will have a marketplace.

Can you give me more information about the marketplace?
The marketplace is global, meaning you can trade with players on different servers. It can be used to sell and buy items without the need to find a buyer or seller first. While items can only be put up for sale when in-game, it is possible to browse, bid, or cancel auctions and offers when out of-game and logged into a web browser. A sale can be completed whilst the seller is offline, with the coin going into an account bank.

The marketplace is capable of displaying the history and trends of item values.

Which currency will GW2 be using?
Bronze, silver and gold. 100 Bronze coins = 1 silver coin, 100 silver = 1 gold.

Is there a buy back function?
Yes, you can buy back items you’ve sold to a merchant.

Will we be able to preview armor in-game?
This is on ArenaNet’s wish list. If they don’t end up shipping the game with this feature, they will probably add it in a patch.

Will the amount of skills you can use in combat be limited?
Yes, you can only have 10 skills equipped at any given time. However, you can change the first 5 skills in combat by switching to another weapon set (some professions can’t switch weapons during combat, but they will be able to change the first five skills in a different way) and the other 5 can be changed whenever you’re out of combat.

How does the skillbar work?
The first 5 skills on your skill bar are your weapon skills. They depend on the weapon you’re wielding and can’t be changed. The weapon skills a certain weapon gives will be different for each profession.

The last 5 skills are the utility skills. You will be able to change them whenever you’re out of combat. One slot of the second half of your skill be is dedicated to a self heal, and one is dedicated to an elite skill.

Does each weapon give different weapon skills?
No, they are only different for each of the professions. If you’re a warrior each sword will give you the same 5 sword skills.

Are there racial skills?
Yes, each race will have racial skills.

Are there elite skills?
Yes, GW2 will have elite skills. They are more powerful than normal skills and often have a high cooldown. You can only equip one elite skill.

Are attributes making a return?
Yes, the 4 attributes are: power, precision, vitality and toughness.

What do these attributes do?
Power — increases attack
Precision — increases critical hit chance
Toughness — increases defense
Vitality — increases maximum health

Can I reset my attributes?
Yes, this can be done by talking to an NPC.

What happens when I die?
When your health reaches zero you character will enter the downed mode. In this state, a character is unable to move but has access to four downed skills for a chance to kill an enemy and rally. These downed skills are less powerful than other skills and include a skill to call out for assistance. While downed, a character’s health bar is replaced by a consciousness meter which indicates the time remaining in the downed state. If the player is not rallied or revived before this meter runs out, or if they continue to be attacked, they will enter a defeated state. While in defeated state you must either wait for an ally to revive you or resurrect at a waypoint in exchange for a very small fee.

Will we be able to change key bindings?
Yes, from what we’ve seen in the demo you can rebind pretty much everything.

Can you make binds with shift or control in them
In the demos it’s not possible, but we’ve been told that Ctrl and Alt will be usable as keybind modifiers.

How does sidekicking/scaling work?
In PvE, a character wanting to play higher level content can be sidekicked by a higher-level character to increase their level on a voluntary basis. The sidekicked character does not receive any new abilities, but are scaled up in power to be more equal to other players.

In PvE, any high level character in a low level zone or dungeon will automatically have their power reduced to match the area they are in. Scaling works in the scaled character’s favor to ensure they’re still more powerful than an unscaled character. No exact details have been released on how the scaling influences the rewards in drops, though it is assumed they will be worth your while.

In WvWvW PvP, a character enters with their current equipment and skills and their level is increased to level 80 automatically.

In Structured PvP, the character will be given a fixed maximum level automatically, and all skills and items will be available without the need to unlock them first.

How will sidekicking/scaling affect experience gain?
When you are scaled down, you will get a ‘good amount’ of experience, which means that you will probably not get optimal experience, but you will also not get terrible experience.

PvE:

How many levels will there be?
The level cap is 80.

How long will it take to reach level 80?
After the first 20 or so levels, the leveling curve will become flat. This means that it will basically take the same time to level up from level 40 to 41, as it will to level up from level 79 to 80. The average time it takes to level up is currently around 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Will there be dungeons?
Yes. There will be 8 dungeons at the release of GW2. The first dungeon becomes available at level 35. After that you will see a new dungeon available every 10 levels. There will be 3 level 80 dungeons.

What are the dungeons like?
Each dungeon has a story and explorable mode.

Story mode is played through on the first visit to the dungeon. The dungeon stories, told through cut scenes and exposition, are focused on revealing and developing the Destiny’s Edge situation.

The explorer-mode is designed and balanced to be a challenge for a small group. The player is presented with different play-through options, of which there are usually three to choose from. The party votes on the option they will take through the dungeon and the majority determines the dungeon version seen.

Does every dungeon have rewards?
Each dungeon has its own unique weapon and armor set modeled according to the theme of the dungeon. Completing a dungeon awards a token. A story mode token can be traded for a weapon from the dungeon set, while an explorable mode token can be traded for armor from the dungeon set.

Is there a maximum party size for dungeons?
The maximum team size for dungeons is 5.

Will we be able to craft in GW2?
Yes.

What crafting professions can we choose from?
In Guild Wars 2, there are eight crafting disciplines players can choose from.

• Weaponsmith – Weaponsmiths craft melee weapons, such as swords, axes and hammers.
• Huntsman – Huntsmen craft ranged weapons like bows and pistol, as well as torches and warhorns.
• Artificer– Artificers craft magical weapons such as staves and scepters
• Armorsmith – Armorsmiths craft heavy armor pieces.
• Leatherworker – Leatherworkers craft medium armor pieces.
• Tailor – Tailors craft light armor pieces.
• Jewelcrafter – Jewelcrafters craft jewelry, such as rings and necklaces.
• Cook – Cooks can prepare food which characters can eat for temporary combat buffs.

How many crafting professions can 1 character have?
A character can have two crafting disciplines active at a time, but can change their specializations at any time by visiting a master craftsman and paying a fee. All skill points and recipes learned in a discipline are saved when switching.

How do I acquire crafting materials?
There are several different ways you can obtain crafting materials:
Harvesting – Ore veins, plants, and trees can be found around the world and harvested for materials.
Looting – You have a chance of finding appropriate crafting materials like hides or trophies when you loot slain enemies.
Purchasing – Some specialist merchants sell ingredients.
Salvaging kit – Available from merchants, salvaging kits allow you to salvage crafting materials out of old or unwanted items.

Will there be an auto loot option?
Yes.

Will there be player housing?
Every player has a home instance in their race’s capital city. The home instance updates constantly as a character progresses through the story, including the addition of special NPCs and merchants who will be different for different characters depending on who was met and befriended during the character’s personal story. You can bring friends to your home instance.

PvP:

Will there be open world PvP?
No, there will be no open world PvP.

Will we be able to duel each other?
Not in the open world. However, 1v1 will be possible in Hot join PvP.

Races & Professions:

Will there be different races to choose from?
Yes, you can play as Human, Norn, Charr, Asura or Sylvari.

How many professions are there?
So far the elementalist, warrior, ranger, necromancer, guardian, engineer and thief have been announced. There will be 1 more profession.

What do you think the last profession is going to be?
Based on what we know of the last profession, many people believe it is going to be the mesmer.

Will there be dedicated healers in GW2?
No, Arenanet has removed dedicated healers. Everyone one will bring a self heal, and each profession will be able to do some healing and support.

Will we be able to choose a secondary profession like in GW1?
No, this system was removed in the earlier stages of GW2.

Are there profession restrictions on races?
No, every race can be every profession.

Armor & Weapons:

How does the armor system in GW2 work?
There are 3 types of armor in GW2, namely: light, medium and heavy armor.

Light armor can be worn by scholar professions, medium armor by adventurer professions and heavy armor by soldier professions.

What weapons will be available in GW2?
The following weapons will be available at release:
One-Handed: Axe, dagger, mace, pistol, scepter, and sword.
Two-Handed: Greatsword, hammer, longbow, rifle, shortbow, and staff.
Offhand only: Focus, shield, torch, and warhorn.
Underwater: spear, trident, harpoon gun

Please note that there is concept art for other weapons as well, but these will not be in the game (at least not at release).

Will armors have stats, or will it be like in GW1 where all armor have the same stats and only the look is different?
The armors in GW2 will all have different stats.

Will there be a durability mechanic in GW2?
Yes. Every time you get defeated (so after you have been downed and failed to rally) one piece of your armor gets damaged. Once all your armor pieces are damaged, they will break – and you will have to repair or replace it.

Will it be possible to upgrade your armor?
Yes. Each armor piece will be able to be upgraded with an upgrade component. These components grant additional bonuses to the armor.

How are armors and weapons acquired?
Armors & weapons can be acquired in several ways. You can:

• Purchase it from an armor- or weaponsmith.
• Craft it
• Get it as a loot drop from a monster
• Get it as a reward for completing a dungeon
• Get it as a reward from the Hall of Monuments

Is it possible to dye armor?
Yes, GW2 has a very extensive dye system.

Is it possible to dye weapons?
Currently, no.

Will each race have its own armors?
Every race has several sets of armor that are restricted to that race. There will also be “normal” armor that looks good on every race.

Character:

Will character creation allow for more customization than GW1’s character creation?
Yes. You will be able to adjust body types, allowing for stocky, skinny, and muscular characters. Each race has its own unique set of options, including charr horns, norn tattoos, and asura ears. There is a large variety of faces and hairstyles, and you can even customize facial features.

Can I have a one word name?
Yes.

Can I have a multiple word name?
Yes.

What are the naming restrictions?
19 characters with spaces counting as letters. In the English version of the game, only English letters are allowed.

Will we be able to reserve names?
You will be able to reserve names through the Hall of Monuments. Details are as of yet unknown.

Hall of Monuments:

When will they reveal the rewards for people that have more than 30 points?
After 30 points, you will only receive title rewards.

Will these rewards give players an advantage over players that don’t have the HoM rewards?
No. These weapons/armors just have unique skins.

Will these rewards become useless after a certain level?
The stats of the items, yes. However, you will be able to use the skins of these rewards on other weapons and armors.

Can I only claim these rewards once?
No, you can get these rewards on every character you create in GW2.

Also check out the official HoM FAQ.

Guilds:

Can I join different guilds on the same character?
Yes, you can.

Can I join different guilds on different characters?
Yes, you can.

Can I join the same guild on different characters?
Yes, you can.

Can I reserve my GW1 guild’s name?
Not that we know of.

Are guild halls returning?
Yes, but not at the game’s initial launch.

How many members can a guild have?
We don’t know yet.

Will we be able to create alliances like in GW1?
We don’t know yet.