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Guild Wars 2 Base Game is Now Free-To-Play

Guild Wars 2’s base package is now available for free after the studio announced a revised pricing structure. However, to monetize the game’s player base, there will be a significant number of restrictions imposed on free accounts. These include limiting the character slots from 5 to 2, disabling Map chat and even prohibiting access to the forums. MMOs require micro-payments or a subscription to remain successful, but I’m quite wary that the hefty restrictions could deter new players from joining up and upgrading to premium accounts. This huge table below illustrates the differences between the main three account types:

	Free Account	Core Guild Wars 2 Account	Heart of Thorns Account
Character Slots	2	5	5 or more*
Bag Slots	3	5	5
Revenant Profession	No	No	Yes
Heart of Thorns Maps & Content	No	No	Yes
Central Tyria (Core) Maps & Content	Starter maps only until character reaches level 10 Lion’s Arch unlocked for each character at level 35	Yes	Yes
Masteries	No	No	Yes
In-Game Mail	Can only send to mutual friends Can’t send gold or items	Yes (accounts created after August 28, 2015 require SMS or app authentication to send gold and items)	Yes (accounts created after August 28, 2015 require SMS or app authentication to send gold and items)
Guild Bank Access	No	Yes (accounts created after August 28, 2015 require SMS or app authentication to withdraw)	Yes (accounts created after August 28, 2015 require SMS or app authentication to withdraw)
Whisper chat	Except for mutual friends, can only whisper in the same map, one new person every 30 seconds	Yes	Yes
Map chat	No	Yes	Yes
Squad chat	Unlocked for each character at level 30	Yes	Yes
Looking For Group	Unlocked for each character at level 30	Yes	Yes
PvP Chat	Team Chat always available Chat in PvP Lobby unlocked when the account reaches PvP rank 20 Emotes, Map and Say chat unavailable during matches	Yes	Yes
WvW	Unlocked account-wide when one character reaches level 60	Yes	Yes
Daily Login Bonus	No	Yes	Yes
Gem Store	Items unusable by free accounts (such as glider skin) are unavailable	Yes	Yes
Currency Exchange	Gems to gold exchange available, gold to gems exchange unavailable.	Yes	Yes
Trading Post	Can buy and sell items from a selected list.	Yes	Yes
Forum Posting Access	No	Yes	Yes

According to the developer, this new strategy is designed to create a clear and transparent model showing how varying accounts differ and allowing players to see beforehand if the premium accounts are worth the extra. It seems the majority of MMOs end up going free-to-play barring World of Warcraft, and it will be interesting to see how the community reacts. Guild Wars 2 is an outstanding MMO and its latest free model reduces the barrier to entry.

Thank you MMOs.com for providing us with this information.