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Guild Wars 2 has been in production for a few years now and any information about release dates and betas is hot. I got to talk to Game Designer Colin Johanson at Eurogamer Expo last weekend about this and various other topics. Follow after the break for the skinny on what’s on the plate for ArenaNet’s latest title before the end of the calendar year.
One thing you can definitely say about Colin Johanson is that the man likes to smile. And he doesn’t seem phased with being faced with a group of 10-15 fans asking questions about their favourite title. It doesn’t take long for questions about the release date and beta rumours to appear.
A French gaming site translated the Korean press release that announces NCSoft’s attendance at G-star, Korea’s largest gaming expo, and that Guild Wars 2 will be showcased there “following the start of the Beta West“. This has got the community buzzing about the imminent start of beta and Colin was asked about what’s happening in November.
“Um well I think we have Thanksgiving in the States, and we’re going to G-star in Korea. Other than that I don’t know. We’re looking forward to taking the game to Korea, its the first time we’ve done that.”
Honesty or dodging the question? I’ll leave that for you to decide. He was then asked about the beta:
"We're going to go into closed beta by the end of this year for sure.
We're in closed alpha right now. Based on how closed beta goes, that will determine when we go into open beta. Based on the outcome of the open beta, that's going to determine our release date. If we tear through the beta and everything's super positive then obviously it'll come out faster. And if we go into the beta process and we see things we want to change, then we have the luxury of having the time to be able to sit down and fix that stuff. We really don't know when release is going to be, because we want time to react to things and upgrade and everything."
With only 3 months left of this year, closed beta is definitely approaching soon. If you’re wanting to get your hands on the game early and be involved in the beta, we've heard rumours that you should sign up for the Guild Wars 2 Newsletter.
We’re also expecting to hear news of the 8th and final profession to be announced for Guild Wars 2 before the end of the calendar year. Fans of the Mesmer from Guild Wars should watch this space closely!
