See the origin of the titular Guild Wars in Guild Wars 3

An announcement coming from Summer Game Fest that no one saw coming was the arrival of Arena.net’s Guild Wars 3, a prequel MMO to the acclaimed Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. While information of what’s to come is scarce, let’s take a quick look at what we know for the future (well, past) of Tyria and what is to come.

From what we see in the above trailer, Guild Wars 3 appears to take on a more action-based approach to the MMO genre. Taking place a thousand years before Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, you play as a Vaelwarden — a guardian of the land of Orr — protecting the people and spirits of the region. This is pretty significant, placing the game in the timeline of the actual Guild Wars, and before the region fell. We see the player character climbing a mountain by hand, riding a mount called a Seeker (the neat creature in the thumbnail of the announcement trailer), and also fighting alongside three other adventurers in combat. Perhaps most importantly, the game is being designed for both PlayStation 5 and PC, so they’ve made certain that it plays well on a controller for those who prefer their action games with that feel; this is great for me, as when Guild Wars 2 launched, I played so much I gave myself wrist strain.

Colin Johnson, Guild Wars 3’s Game Director and the Arena.net Studio Head, had this to say.

“The MMORPG genre has millions of players worldwide eager for new, modern experiences, and the opportunity to harness that excitement is immense. Our approach with Guild Wars 3 is to push MMORPGs forward, to create an online game world that feels believable, rewarding, responsive, and innovative while at the same time respecting players’ time and providing a positive, supportive space to build community and enjoy new stories in our universe.”

I’m attempting not to read too much into this, but one of the things Guild Wars 2 is best known for is the flat progression system at the end game. For those unfamiliar, once you reach the end game and gear up, you are fully geared up moving forward; unlike World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy 14, there’s no ever-changing gearing system that requires regrinding. You can always return to the game and be prepared to drop in on end game content. Changes to end game gearing tend to come with expansions where new attributes might be released changing up stats or adding new classes, which may have you swap out gear pieces, but never needing to fully regear unless you want to. This makes dropping in and out of the game feel good, as you’re not trying to chase new armor just to play with your friends who haven’t stopped playing in 14 years.

Speaking of 14 years, Guild Wars 2 is turning 15 and the announcement of a new title is not an announcement that content is coming to an end. Arena.net will continue to support both Guild Wars 2 and Guild Wars Reforged (a remake of the original Guild Wars game), having listed some upcoming changes for both of those titles as well: Reforged will be getting graphical optimizations and updates to the game so mobile players can now play with PC gamers, and they’re beginning to work on new content, while Guild Wars 2 will still be getting new Quarterly content drops, and a Hall of Monuments system allowing players to carry their accomplishments over from Guild Wars 2 to Guild Wars 3. Additionally, Guild Wars 2 will be seeing some new open world content in Orr, which in the game’s timeline has been destroyed by a powerful magic spell during the war with the Charr.

There’s currently no release date for Guild Wars 3, but Open Beta should be in Fall of 2027.