Today at PAX, ArenaNet announced that the core Guild Wars 2 experience is now available for free in anticipation of the upcoming Heart of Thorns expansion. The title is due to release on October 23rd. Mike O’Brien, President and Co-Founder of ArenaNet, had this to say:
“Guild Wars 2 has the simplest of business models: buy the game and play it as long as you want with no monthly fees. We’ve been championing this as a great business model for MMOs since launching the first Guild Wars a decade ago. We continue to believe in buy-to-play. It’s good for gamers and good for developers… Expansions are the one place where the buy-to-play model gets a little tricky. When you’re coming in as a new player to a game that has a bunch of expansions, what exactly should you buy in order to play with your friends? The base game and also every single expansion? We’ve seen examples in the industry where that kind of thing has gotten out of control. It doesn’t seem right, and we want to do better.”
It was also announced that Guild Wars 2 will be getting 10-man raids in the upcoming expansion, among other updates. Check here for more details on this new content. If you’re looking to get into the franchise for the first time, here is the link for your free copy.
