[BLOG]: Guild Wars 2 closed beta will start in 2011

[Lonesamurai]

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Even when we’re talking about totally different games, we still find posters bringing up questions about Guild Wars 2 – usually regarding Beta and release dates – and we’re not even ArenaNet. That has to say something about how much fans are wanting to get their hands on the upcoming title. While a release date is still unknown, it does sound like some will get a chance to play in a closed beta before the end of the year.

Currently, Guild Wars 2 is in a closed alpha test. However, the beta phase may be coming up as early as November according to a French site-translated Korean report, which was mentioned on MMOCrunch (which makes this almost like information from “a friend of a friend a friend”). However, Colin Johanson, the lead content designer, told Eurogamer that the closed beta would begin “by the end of the year for sure.”

While that might be good news, it unfortunately doesn’t provide any answers to when the upcoming MMO will actually launch. Apparently, ArenaNet isn’t certain when that will be either. The release date will, apparently, be dependent on how actual testing goes. Given that the game is taking some major departures from traditional MMOs, it makes sense that they would want to be careful to see how players react to the game, and discover if they need to tweak the game before launch. Extensive tweaking, of course, would mean a later release date.

This suggests that, much like Blizzard, they’re taking a “when its done” stance on release. Still, a closed beta this year is a “for sure” thing. We’ll take that. In the meantime, you can check out the Eurogamer article which has some more statements from Colin Johanson.