Guild Wars Open Beta (updated: February 18-20)
For those of you that missed it the first time around, or for the rest of you who just couldn't get enough of it (like me), AreaNet will be having another public event for 3 days to let players from all over the world get a free sample of their upcoming MMORPG, Guild Wars. You can find my previous thread about it here.
First off, go here or here to download the client (90k). If you previously played the "E3 for Everyone" event, your old account will still work.
This will be an Open Beta, so don't expect it to be completely polished (although the previous Alpha Test was stunningly bug-free and lag-free). The Beta will have 2 new areas to explore, new PvP locations to do combat in, as well as the first presentation of the Guild mechanics.
And, in case you still have no idea what this is all about, here's a quick run-down:
Guild Wars is a something of a hybrid between traditional MMORPGs and Diablo 2, being developed by many key Ex-Blizzard members responsible for games like Warcraft, Diablo 2, and Starcraft.
Three things set it apart from all of the other MMORPGs currently on the market. The first being that the developers have gone to great lengths to eliminate much of the tedium and frustration inherent in today's MMORPGs. In Guild Wars, when you participate in a quest, you and your group are given your own individual "copy" of the quest. This prevents things like Spawn Camping and griefing, which are so prevelant in online games of this nature.
The second thing is that there's a greater emphasis on making Player vs. Player combat fun, and not just a platform for high level elitists to boost their egos by ganking low level players. PvP can be done in 1-on-1 duels, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag scenarios, among other things. I've never been seriously interested in PvP until I played Guild Wars.
The third thing, and this is the real kicker here folks, is that there will be NO monthly fees for the game. Once you purchase it, you're free to play it online until your eyes bleed. AreaNet intends to release an expansion pack every 6 months or so to cover the costs required to keep the game running. These expansion packs will be completely optional; You will not need to purchase them to continue enjoying the game you bought (which will doubtless have regular updates, just like every other MMORPG).
I'll leave you with a few screenshots and I hope to see you all come October. :)
http://img14.exs.cx/img14/9290/guildwars-01.th.jpg http://img14.exs.cx/img14/8423/guildwars-02.th.jpg http://img14.exs.cx/img14/4628/guildwars-03.th.jpg