Guild Wars 2®

Dynamic events, world bosses, and open-world discovery make Guild Wars 2® appealing for shared adventures, without requiring you to join a party to help other players. At the current tracked low, it costs $0.00 at Epic Game Store; the player rating of 88%% from 30,010 reviews offers another point of reference. The interface is available in English, French, German, and Spanish, and the game released on August 23, 2022, useful context for deciding when to start.

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88%Steam Reviews30K reviews90Metacritic/100

Released: Aug 23, 2022

MMORPG · Adventure · Free to Play · RPG · Character Customization

Steam·Platform:·United States Steam official priceFreeALL-TIME LOWBuy now

Epic Game Store·Platform:·Checked 2026-10-14~ $0.00ALL-TIME LOWBuy now

All-time low ~ $17.26across Steam & third-party storesat the recorded all-time low

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Price History

Past 36 months · Updated daily

Historical Low~ $0.002023-08Current Low Across Stores~ $0.00Epic Game StoreAt its historical low now

Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.

DLC

DLCGuild Wars 2® Starter PackLoading store offers

DLCGuild Wars 2® Heart of Thorns® and Path of Fire™ ExpansionsLoading store offers

DLCGuild Wars 2® End of Dragons® ExpansionLoading store offers

DLCGuild Wars 2® Secrets of the Obscure™ ExpansionLoading store offers

DLCGuild Wars 2® Janthir Wilds™ ExpansionLoading store offers

DLCGuild Wars 2® Visions of Eternity™ ExpansionLoading store offers

01About Guild Wars 2®

Explore Tyria at your own pace, help characters pursue their goals, and stumble into dynamic events, jumping puzzles, and world bosses. Reviving, gathering, and helping other players also earn experience; combat centers on fast action, weapons, skills, and customizable traits. Steam players rate the game 88%% positive across 30,010 reviews. The Steam PC version includes an open world, structured PvP, and multiplayer, with no subscription fee required. Existing Guild Wars 2 accounts cannot be accessed through Steam.

Credits

DIRECTOR

Mike O'Brien

video game programmer

NotableGuild Wars 2® · Guild Wars® Game of the Year Edition · Guild Wars® Reforged

Composer

Jeremy Soule

Developer

ArenaNet®

Publisher

ArenaNet® · NCSOFT

Steam player reviews

88%positiveVery Positive30,010 Steam reviews

Lowest recorded in 36 months

$0.002023-08-12 · SteamBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.

Language support

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
English	Yes	Yes	Yes
French	Yes	Yes	Yes
German	Yes	Yes	Yes

Show 1 more languages

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
Spanish	Yes	Yes	—

Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-19

02Before you buy

Ways to play

Explore the open world and join events or world bosses without needing to join another player's party. Structured PvP matches players at the same level.

Language support

The Steam PC version lists English, German, French, and Spanish interface support. Full audio is listed for English, German, and French; subtitles are listed for all four.

03Frequently asked questions

Does Guild Wars 2 require a subscription?

No subscription fee is required to play.

Can I use an existing account through Steam?

No. Existing Guild Wars 2 accounts cannot be accessed through Steam.

Are Living World episodes included?

No. Living World episodes are purchased separately through the Story Journal or Gem Store bundles.

Popular Steam reviews

Native-language selection · 10 reviews

Selected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.

RecommendedSteam player

05/20/2024

My friend said that if I post a review about the game and it gets 1500 likes and 500 rewards, he'll buy me a bag of chips and a RTX 4090. So I'll leave this here.Show moreShow less

21.2 hours at review1,462 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

10/06/2022

Recommend to NOT get the Steam Version and instead use a regular Anet Account. As a Steam Player you are locked out of redeeming gemcards (steam wants their share) and cant buy Living World outside the Complete Collection as you are charged double for buying Expensions beforehand, thus you are forced to buy Living World with gems through Steam which is around 10 bucks more expensive depending on your region. The game itself is amazing and i will change my Review once these issues are solved, but as of now its an disadvantage to have a Steam Account for this game. Hope it gets changed. - Review updated due to confirmation that only gemcards are not useable by Steam-Users - Review updated since with Guild Wars Reforged, you are now able to link both GW1 and GW2 to earn Hall of Monument Rewards (both have to be purchased on Steam)Show moreShow less

1,662.7 hours at review745 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

08/23/2022

There aren't many MMORPGs that thrive even after a decade. At this point many online games go into a "maintenance mode" or shut the servers completely. Guild Wars 2 has proven time and time again that its developers are dedicaded artists innovating and shacking up the grounds of the MMORPG genre. This game is like a fountain of ideas from which many other MMORPGs get inspired. Pros ZERO DOWNTIME. It actually has the highest uptime of any MMORPG out there. Even patches do not turn off the servers! There is near zero downtime for maintenance required. If a patch comes during your gameplay you will see a notification (eg. "A new build was released. Your game will restart in X hours") and you still have hours before your game is forcibly restarted to download the patch. They created something called Microservices. GW2 is a huge construct of 80+ types of microservices that can be restarted individually. They gave a big talk about it at GDC (Game Development Conference) that you can watch. (Or you can just scroll a bit through its presentation and see it for yourself.) Lovely animated mounts that have realistic weight, unique abilities to unlock and different traversal strengths per terrain. They are not just skins with the same movement speed as in oldschool MMORPGs. They are completely different from each other. This mount system is the best you will ever witness in any MMORPG. Period. No surprise Blizzard took some notes of them for their game. Unbelievable Freedom of Movement never before seen in an MMORPG. Jump down a cliff, pull out your Glider and use updrafts to gain height. Let go of your Glider and go on your Griffon - mid-air. Go into dive mode and do flaps to gain speed. Jump from your Griffon - mid-air - and go on your Dragon, grab a wall with said Dragon, push yourself off the wall to climb it. The game wants you to become a freaking trapist artist with the amount of different traversal methods. Races and time-trials with leaderboards exist, too. Or you can cruise around on your ship (Skiffs) to go fishing (or also race). The movement will get better and better the further you progress. You get your first mount at level 10. You can begin mastering the unique capabilities of your Mounts, Glider and Skiff at level 80. Fair Gold-to-Gems Feature You can farm gold in-game by doing stuff and trade them in for the premium currency at changing rates. If you want a nice skin for premium currency you can just trade in gold for it. You can even unlock living story episodes for gold if you don't want to spend money. Episodes are fairly cheap, too. Fast-Paced Action Combat with good balance in PvP thanks to weapon unique skills. Plus Underwater Combat in PvE. (Yes, you can fight Tuna.) You cannot achieve perfect balance but having less skill combinations means it is easier to balance. Build-crafting exists in the form of traits and utility skills. Best Server VS. Server VS. Server Experience (aka. Siege Mode) World VS. World (VS. World) - or WvW for short - is the best Server VS. Server of any MMORPG out there. Some players I met state that they specifically stayed in GW2 just because the WvW was better than in any other MMORPG. Rich web API (application interface) There are a lot of players that are also developers creating tools for the game. For example: Overlays such as BlishHUD integrate seamless making it look like its part of the actual game. Thanks to the official memory shared file third-party-apps have access to avatar and camera positionals allowing the projection of 3D objects into the game without breaking any Terms of Service! BlishHUD in particular is also my favorite since its a framework giving people the ability to create tools with the same UI design as the game. All of which become accessible through a library in BlishHUD itself! No Gear Treatmill. Old content stays relevant, alive and healthy! You can take a break and still be as strong as before! GW2 is about horizontal progression. This means you unlock stuff for your account. You level fishing, skiffing, your mounts, leadership, gliding. This "second" leveling system unlocks once you reach 80 in the regular level system. And since this system goes beyond level 400 there is always something todo! The regular level which caps at 80 is always scaled down appropriately so that old content stays relevant and fun. And for those that cannot live without grinding armor: There are legendary armor parts, trinkets and weapons which unlock the ability to change their stat combination to any other on the whim with the nice side-effect of people looking at you like you are king or queen. Races are not just humanoid anime characters with abs, cat ears or horns. The Sylvari are a plant-based species (dubbed: the salad folk) have actual tree sap veins that glow in the dark in a color of your choosing! Their hair and skin is made of leafs (or shrooms) and roots grow along the surface. The Charr are large, savage, feline creatures that run on all four paws! When you draw your weapon as a Charr they will begin to walk on two feet although their feline spine isn't made for it. It looks and feels like you are playing an advanced feline species! The Asura are the base dwellers of this game with very large ears. They say the bigger your ears the higher your intellect. Playing as one tiny Asura will make your character do cool flips when casting. An Asura will climb the top of a Staff and balance on it to pre-cast boons. Graphics that do not age. Detailed environments with lovely, fully-voiced NPC dialogues around every corner. Pulling you into an immersive experience if you open up to it and let go. The base game is already extremely beautiful, but just wait until you see the expansion continents where ArenaNet added new systems to make the game a feast for the eyes. The choice of graphics-style makes this game age very slowly which is an additional plus. Super friendly community Even amongst other gaming communities GW2 is known for having a friendly community. That's what has been sticking with people the most. And finally: You get all these hugely influencal innovations without a subscription fee! Yep.😎 Cons Living World Seasons 2-5 do not come with their respective expansion packs and have to be bought additionally (either with in-game gold or real money.) At least they listened and you are now able to buy them in a bundle. No Hot-Join button that auto-creates raid parties The Looking-For-Group is a social place where you can advertise your group with a single message. It's based on Do-It-Yourself. You'll be forced to communicate to form groups. Anti-climactic Personal Story (Lv. 1-80) The first true end boss when reaching level 80 has very oudated mechanics. Thankfully, the story just continues to improve after that. No easy transition from oldschool MMORPGs This game does not have exclamation mark filler quests. You also don't have a new max armor every expansion. This confuses oldschool players who spend decades in such a system. These cannot be undone in a few minutes. Be patient. Conclusion You are here. At the game that so many other developers are inspired by. The base game is free. There is no reason to not try it out. Even if you won't stay: Most people remember it as a wholesome experience thanks to the community.Show moreShow less

0.1 hours at review1,368 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

10/18/2022

Want to hear how I got into a legal fight with Anet? Then read my review. Only reason I play and returned to this game was because of my fiance who convinced me to return (With great reluctance) Story: I had an account and loved playing the game, had legendaries, spent 2k hours plus and had a great time. I checked my bank one day and saw that NCSOFT sent me a charge of 2000 DOLLARS. I tried submitting ticket and anet closed my tickets down and gave me no help in resolving issue when it went through. So I had to contact fraud with bank. My bank then went and investigated the issue and then told me anet was claiming it was a 'subscription fee'.... as you can see....its a free to play game, no sub. I gave my bank the evidence and my case worker called back and said my bank was giving me the money back and that they were taking anet to court because now...and this still makes me laugh out of shock, I was told by my case rep that it was for 'emotional abandonment of the game' that they gave me a fee. I got money back from my bank and eventually 6 months later was told that they handled the situation legally in a timely manner. When I received my money back that the company took, Anet then closed my account claiming that with any 'refund' they had a policy to close the account. I tried to get them to specify what they were exactly refunding me and they wouldn't answer. Now... my girlfriend (Who will be my fiance soon :D) convinced me to return. As this is where we met, she loves the game as she herself spent a lot of money on it, and more. I came back to the game and started making gold on a new account about 2 years later. I started crafting legendaries and then tried flipping weapon skins. I had 2k gold worth of skins in the BL trading post and then one day they were gone...everything. No money either. I contacted the company and they claimed I never had skins that I bought after selling the legendary sunrise. I provided evidence but they did not care. These were the big issues, however. There have been so many issues with the game and I have witnessed many friends leave the game over the years. I have a friend list of a large amount of players and almost every single one of them has been gone 1 year plus. They are tired of the crap, they are tired of the fake 'we care' company attitude. For those that are new to the game, they purged the employees that literally built the foundation of the game and did fan outreach. (RIP GaileGrey). You enjoy the game super adventure box and most of the jumping puzzles in the game? Yeah they fired that guy and hired someone else to replace him. You want to spend time on the forums and wonder why it got so strict and unplayer friendly? Yeah they got rid of some of the employees who helped moderate and developed the game all the way back to guild wars 1. You think the story in Living World Season 4 was good? Yeah they canned the writers, and got a new team. This game has so much good in it, and I will say this. It is enjoyable, especially Mad King event. This has been a second home for a long time, but it's a home of abuse and many in the community who pretend that things have not been damaging for a long time. If you want to play this game to escape other MMOs that abuse the fanbase... honestly, look somewhere else. Get an RPG and play that because this game... Is a game of lies, heartbreak and abuse. My heart is broken writing this review because I love this game, but it feels like being in a relationship with an abusive partner at this point because the company that manages it only cares about profits. Please...don't spend money on the game. Don't...I am begging you to listen to my post and spend it on a charity or some other game because you will enjoy this game maybe even for years. Though at some point you will get stabbed in the back or know someone you will. You will then question your expansion purchases and your gem buys as you see... you gave money to a monster.Show moreShow less

313.6 hours at review391 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

12/08/2025

OVERVIEW Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG that focuses on exploration, dynamic events, and player freedom rather than traditional quest grinding. Instead of rushing through levels to reach endgame, the game encourages players to explore the world, participate in events, and progress at their own pace. Overall Rating: 9/10 ⸻ WHAT GUILD WARS 2 DOES WELL EXPLORATION One of the strongest aspects of Guild Wars 2 is world exploration. Every map contains hidden locations, jumping puzzles, world bosses, events, and rewards that make exploring feel worthwhile. Rating: 10/10 ⸻ COMBAT Combat is fast-paced and rewards movement. Dodging attacks and positioning correctly are often more important than simply having better gear. Rating: 9/10 Pros Active combat system, Responsive abilities, Every profession feels unique, Cons Some professions have a steeper learning curve, Large-scale battles can become visually crowded, ⸻ LEVELING EXPERIENCE Leveling is smooth and flexible. Players can gain experience through exploration, events, story missions, crafting, and map completion. Rating: 9/10 Recommended Beginner Professions NECROMANCER, RANGER, GUARDIAN, These professions offer strong survivability and are easy to learn. ⸻ ENDGAME CONTENT Guild Wars 2 offers a wide range of activities once players reach level 80. Available Activities FRACTALS, STRIKE MISSIONS, RAIDS, WORLD BOSSES, META EVENTS, WORLD VS WORLD, STRUCTURED PvP, Rating: 9/10 ⸻ THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE PLAYING DO Complete dynamic events, Explore every map, Unlock waypoints, Follow your personal story, Save gold for level 80, DON’T Rush to endgame, Buy expensive leveling gear, Ignore dodge rolls, Hoard unnecessary items, ⸻ GEAR PROGRESSION LEVEL 1–80 Focus on: POWER PRECISION VITALITY Do not worry about perfect builds while leveling. LEVEL 80 Progress toward: EXOTIC GEAR → Entry-level endgame ASCENDED GEAR → Long-term progression ⸻ GOLD MANAGEMENT Guild Wars 2 is generous with rewards, but smart gold management makes progression easier. Recommended Salvage unwanted gear, Deposit materials regularly, Sell valuable items on the Trading Post, Save gold for endgame goals, Avoid Frequent gear purchases while leveling, Spending gold on unnecessary upgrades, ⸻ FINAL VERDICT STRENGTHS ✔ Excellent exploration ✔ Engaging combat ✔ No mandatory gear treadmill ✔ Strong open-world content ✔ Beginner-friendly progression ✔ Respectful of player time WEAKNESSES ✖ Some systems can feel overwhelming at first ✖ Endgame builds require research ✖ Large battles can become visually cluttered ⸻ FINAL SCORE GUILD WARS 2 — 9/10 A highly polished MMORPG that rewards exploration, encourages player freedom, and remains one of the best choices for both casual and dedicated MMO players. If you enjoy discovering new areas, participating in large-scale events, and progressing without excessive grinding, GUILD WARS 2 is easy to recommend.Show moreShow less

72.2 hours at review1,017 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

12/06/2022

I want to love this game. There is so much content available with so many interesting mechanics, but after some time playing I don't think this game is for me. I enjoyed the grind to 80, which took me about 3 days with the recently passed exp. buff. Once I hit 80 I purchased a full set of Exotic gear for about 20% of the GP I accumulated in leveling. I didn't initially have a problem with this, and I was stoked that I was able to so easily dive into some competent gearing to get ready for the 'real' game. I quickly realized that this exotic set I purchased for almost nothing was going to be better than 95% of anything available to me outside of ascended gear, I'm beginning to feel a little worried. I dived into resources like the wiki and Reddit to learn about the gearing process, look into what 'aspirational' drops look like (there are none outside of cosmetics) and just generally get an idea on what to work towards. In that time I picked up that this game has what is been called 'horizontal progression' as opposed to 'vertical', which my understanding is that actual game impacting mechanical upgrades to any given build cap out very early on, which allows a different approach to progression via social means & cosmetics. So as a new player I'm looking at all this new content that seems exciting to play, and I'm just wondering what the point of it all is. I've enjoyed the dungeons, raids, metas, etc that I tried so far but the only drops that are available to me are crafting materials for when I decide to take the plunge into maxing out my professions to craft gear, which is the only way for me to continue my progression as a player who has only been playing a week. I've grinded stuff like levi runs through EOD but the gold I get from it.. Is for what? to buy crafting materials? It doesn't feel exciting. I would be more receptive to the cosmetic grind if it wasn't completely overshadowed by everyone already having cash shop paid MTX. What's the point of hunting an incredibly rare MTX if everyone already looks like a disco ball, and so much of the cash shop MTX looks way better than what you can get in-game. This game is great, I know it is, but maybe my brain has been ruined by other titles. Most of my RPG experience is through Path of Exile, Runescape & New World. I'm a fan of that 'carrot on a stick' gameplay that makes you excited to get that next drop. Within three days of starting an MMO my gear is already in the top 10%, with upgrades gated behind constant mat farming which leads to self crafting. There's no dopamine hits, or anything aspirational that isn't cosmetics. I just don't think it's for me, which is a shame because this game seems wonderful.Show moreShow less

63 hours at review333 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

04/16/2025

I love this game and I want more people to play it, so for the love of all that's good and right. Get the game from Anet directly instead of buying it from Steam. You might think the regional pricing is great and all, but if you decide to invest in the Steam version of GW2, you are basically treated like a 3rd world citizen with no human rights. Steam don't tell you that if you did not get the most expensive all expansions bundle, you essentially locked yourself out of all the expansions and previous living world DLC on their Steam store which are now only purchaseable on the game cash shop. So now you have to pay full price with US pricing for all those missing expansions and dlc by buying Steam currency and convert them back to Cash shop currency for purchase. You are locked off from buying game currency anywhere else that isnt Steam so now the game you got with regional pricing is as expensive (if not more so) then what it is supposed to be in the first place. Edited: Nov 18 With the release or Guild Wars Reforged, the devs on forum added that the rerelease will let GW2 on Steam unlock titles and cosmetics from GW1 (which was imposible before.) I have decided, for now, to crossed out the complaint I have for it below and see these changes for myself in December. However, it is still a lot more accessible to get different tiers of expacs for a better price off Steam; so if you dont want to convert Steamwallet to Gems later on because you didnt buy the GW2 Dragon bundles, do not play the game on Steam. This would have been fine and all since I now live in the US and have changed my Steam region to US, but then I bought Guild Wars 1 to play and my GW2 Steam account refuses to let me link with my Guild Wars 1 Steam account, this means all titles and cosmetics I unlocked from GW1 wont be carried over to GW2 even if I finished any of the GW1 campaign. What is the point of getting both games on Steam if they cant even be linked to work together???? The more I play on my GW2 Steam account, the more hidden disadvantages I discover and it is driving me nuts. What's next? will my Gw2 account iust ceases to exist when GW3 comes out just because Anet and Steam cant sort their ♥♥♥♥ out? Save yourself the headache and just get the game elsewhere.Show moreShow less

1,269.4 hours at review239 people found this helpful

Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.