Aug 22, 2022
Guild Wars 2 on Steam
Everything you need to know
Despite being a decade since ArenaNet launched Guild Wars 2, it still boasts a thriving community and enjoyable gameplay.
For me, Guild Wars 2 has been the game I always find myself going back to for various reasons: the aesthetically pleasing regions, extremely friendly community, and the ease of just picking it back up. Even if it has been months since I last played, Guild Wars 2 has always been very easy to get back into, making it friendly for even the most casual of players!
Making the jump to the most used launcher on PC
Despite its success using their own custom launcher, ArenaNet has been planning on years to put Guild Wars 2 on Steam. For some, it may be nice to have more of their games together under one launcher. For others, it may be their very first time coming across Guild Wars 2! Regardless, this is a change that the community has been preparing for.
Across various forums, chats, and guilds, there has been much discussion about how to best welcome the wave of new players. Many veterans of the game are looking forward to being around to offer a helping hand as people take their first steps into the grandiose world of Tyria.
Notes for new players
Despite their being a near endless amount of help being offered from the community, here are some special notes to help you get started.
- Races — There are five races in Tyria: Charr, Humans, Norn, Asura, and Sylvari. You can make characters of various races, and each have a unique starting area, design, and backgrounds. All races, however, have full access to every profession and region in the game.
- Professions — This is what will define what skills your character will have access to. There are nine professions split between three armor classes. Heavy: Warrior, Guardian, Revenant. Medium: Ranger, Thief, Engineer. Light: Necromancer, Elementalist, Mesmer.
Each profession has many unique playstyles, and each are viable for all pieces of content. While you cannot change your profession, you are not locking yourself into DPS, Support, etc type roles. - Specializations — These further define, or in some cases, completely change how a certain profession can be played. You unlock elite specializations later in the game, but unlike your profession, these can be changed more freely.
- Character Background — During creation, you will make some choices regarding your characters background. While some of these will come into play during some quests, you will not lose out on any specific pieces of content. Pick what sounds fun to you!
- Account vs Soulbound Items — During your time in Guild Wars 2, you will come across items that may have a label of either Account bound or Soulbound. Account bound items cannot be traded or sold, but may be transferred between characters (there is a bank and shared item slots!). Soulbound items are bound to a specific character and cannot be traded or transfered.
I want to thank everyone for stopping on by and I hope these tips helped! Let me know if the Steam release will be your first experience on Guild Wars 2, or, for the veterans, if you will be making the switch to playing through Steam.
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