Guild Wars 2 pre-purchases have ‘exceeded expectations’

The response to Guild Wars 2 has been "overwhelming", according to ArenaNet president Mike O'Brien.

In a recent blog post, O'Brien talked about the game's first Beta Weekend, noting it was a "huge milestone" for ArenaNet and Guild Wars 2.

"I think it’s safe to say that the response was overwhelming in more ways than one. Firstly, the number of people who pre-purchased the game far exceeded our expectations, and we had to temporarily disable pre-purchases," O'Brien said. "In the end that wasn’t enough, and even with 48 worlds we didn’t have enough server capacity to meet the huge demand."

Through the beta event, ArenaNet was able to gather important player input and find problems.  As a result O'Brien confirmed they "listened to player feedback and we're making some important improvements to the game for the next Beta Weekend Event."

And unlike the last one, ArenaNet plans to be ready for the player demand.

"We're working on server capacity to make sure that we’re prepared for the even greater flood of players who will participate in the next Beta."

To that end, the company yesterday announced a surprise Stress Test that will be held on Monday, May 14 to test some of the changes that have been implemented.  The one day, 7-hour test event, which runs from 11 a.m to 6 p.m. PDT, is open to all players who have pre-purchased Guild Wars 2.

He added that they will not be wiping your previous characters for this test so you'll be able to pick up right where you left off.

"I want to thank each and every one of you for your support—every time you participate in our test events you help make the game better," O'Brien concluded. "We’ll see you in-game!"