Guild Wars 2 officially gets raids and goes free-to-play

Following this week's earlier leak on the subject, ArenaNet has officially revealed that their MMORPG Guild Wars 2 will be going free-to-play. While the core game will be available to anyone that decides to download it, it will not be a limit-less experience.

Players that download the game and play for free will be limited in character amount, inventory space, and access to a number of game features:

• 2 Character slots (upgrade to 5 with purchase of the game).
• 3 Bag slots (upgrade to 5 with purchase).
• In-game mail to friends only, no gold / item attachments.
• Except for mutual friends, can only whisper (direct message) players within the same zone, and new players once every 30 seconds.
• Restricted Trading Post (player-to-player sales exchange).
• No Guild Bank Access.
• No Daily Login bonus.
• No Gold to Gem conversion.
• No Forum access.

 On October 23rd, Guild Wars 2 players will be treated to their first full featured expansion, Heart of Thorns. Along with the announcement of the free-to-play game access, ArenaNet also revealed that the expansion would be bringing 10-player raids and Legendary Armor.

The first raid will feature three wings, with the first wing housing three bosses that each require different strategies to be beat. More details on raids will be revealed in the coming days — until then head to the Guild Wars 2 site to download the game or learn more!