GameLight - Tree of Savior (Project R1)

Source: Youtube Channel steparu

From what I understand, this fantastic looking game is by the same creator (not company) of Ragnarok Online.  Ragnarok Online (RO) actually still exists today and was just recently added to the Steam platform.  Many other games similar to RO has released in the past decade and even a sequel was made, but none of them had quite the same satisfaction, excitement and wonder that RO did.  The creator of RO wants to bring back those feelings in a new original MMORPG called Tree of Savior Online which features 80 classes.  With those 80 classes, a player can advance 10 times.  I'm not entirely certain yet, but it looks like the game isn't a point-n-click from the gameplay videos and looks similar to how the Ys series plays as a top-down hack-n-slash.  The game is said to have an intricate skill tree and attribute level system which opens up many different possibilities of playing.  Perhaps it's similar to Path of Exile where the character starts with a class but can extend out to many different playstyles.  Needless to say, I am extremely excited to see more of the game and hope that we get a Western/International version available for us to play one day.

Source:
-Steparu - Tree of Savior Online Preview

VGCulture - Halloween Events 2013!

If you play an online game, there's a good chance that there's a Halloween event going on right now for it.  More games get involved with the holidays and will provide limited edition items, special game modes, special events and such.  Here are some of the games I found Halloween events for:
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

MMOs:
-Dragon Nest
-Elsword
-Guild Wars 2
-Mabinogi
-Vindictus

Non-MMOs:
-Don't Starve - The Screecher Horror Mod
-Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams Halloween Level
-Killing Floor - Hillbilly Horror Fright Yard
-Serious Sam 3 BFE
-Terraria

Don't forget that the Steam Halloween Sale ends tomorrow.  Also a free Half-Life 2 Mod was added to Steam platform today called "No More Room in Hell" which features 8-player co-op Horror FPS action.  Have a fun and safe Halloween!

GameLight - Blade & Soul (US Trailer)

Official Site: http://us.bladeandsoul.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel loadstart

I didn't think I'd see any announcement for Blade & Soul for the West this year, but here it is!  It's funny because I was talking to a friend saying that they need to bring Phantasy Star Online 2 and Blade & Soul over already just last night.  And then today, I was presented with this video indicating NCSoft's next step in bringing the stylish Action-MMORPG over to the states.  I heard about Blade & Soul years ago when it was in development.  It has the stylish Hack 'n Slash vibe that the Dynasty Warriors series does with a oriental fantasy environment.  The art style is one of the major factors that has caught the attention of many gamers.  The animations for combat are fluid, flashy, and so clean.  I've been avoiding looking up the game and keeping up with it too much because I knew it would take a while for it to ever reaching state side.  I don't like getting so hyped up and excited for a game and not being able to play it.  Even now, I'm still weary about looking forward to playing it as I might be waiting until sometime next year before I'm actually able to play it.  Still, this is more progress and news than what Sega has shown for Phantasy Star Online 2.  You can sign up for Blade & Soul newsletter to keep up to date on the progress for Beta testing and official launch on their official site on the top link.

NewNews - EverQuest Next

Official Site: https://www.everquestnext.com/
Source: Youtube Channel EverQuest Next Source: Youtube Channel EverQuest Next

All weekend long, I kept seeing articles and blog posts of "Everquest Next" being the game that'll change MMORPGs and break away from the old tired structure that the original Everquest built and World of Warcraft popularized.  Guild Wars 2 was the game that everyone said will change MMORPGs and break the structure and all.  It did change some things about MMORPGs and it was a lot of fun.  But when every MMORPGs starts saying that, it stops being marketable phrases to use.  Fortunately, there are gameplay and demonstrations shown which convinced me otherwise of what they've been saying.  Destructible environments, multi-altitude plains, clothing and hair that react to the weather around the characters, etc. shows that they are trying new things out.  I have to say that I'm impressed and am looking forward to seeing more of the game in the future.

GameLight - Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Beta

Official Site: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/
Source: Youtube Channel IGN

Square-Enix is going through the phases of Closed beta for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn to make the necessary preparations for the launch of the game.  I didn't even realize that I had a received a beta key and so I quickly downloaded and registered to participate in this weekend's beta testing.  It started 2AM PST today and will last until 2AM of June 23rd.  It's not a lot of time, but it's something at least.  The biggest change I see in the combat system is that it's not Final Fantasy XI anymore but World of Warcraft.  I suppose this will make battle much faster.  I didn't get to play yet as I took an hour to create my character.  The textures might not be the best, but the game is aesthetically pleasing with highly immersive environments and colorful landscapes.  I guess I'll find out more when I try out the game today.  Have a good weekend everyone!

NewNews - Defiance Free Weekend on Steam

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/224600/
Source: Youtube Channel MMORPGcom

TV show/game tie-in Defiance has been mentioned and praised by many editorials for being, well, fun.  It's an MMORPG played like 3rd-person shooter which makes me think of Tabula Rasa (I wish I had the chance to play that game).  Hearing that SyFy channel was involved in this project really worried when it was first announced, but both the show and the game seems to be doing fairly well.  The game doesn't have the best scores though.  They're not terrible, but they also leave some questions that needs to be answered.  It seems that the game itself is fun, but is repetitive and lacks content.  The developers explain that they focused on the core gameplay first and will continue to put out more content down the road.  I'm not sure what to make of this and I'm sure it's like that for many people on the fence in purchasing the game.  So this free weekend will help some of us answer some of those questions and will also be able to get the game for $41.99 this weekend from its usual $59.99.

NewNews - Phantasy Star Online 2 NA Launch gets delayed

Official Site: http://www.pso2.com/us/

I knew this was going to happen when it was announced last year to have a spring launch in 2013 in North America.  Not only has no news been updated on the PSO2 website, but no hints of advertisements or trailers for the West has appeared.  I can only think that Sega is planning something big for PSO2 at E3.  I honestly don't need them to tell me how awesome it is, I already know from playing on the Japanese servers!  I just want to play it in English without having to consort to using patches.

As a tribute to Phantasy Star Online:
Source: Youtube Channel zirconst

Here's hoping it's only delayed till June or July.

Source:
Massively - Sega delays Phantasy Star Online 2's North American launch

VGCulture - Hatsune Miku in Mabinogi

Event Page: http://mabinogi.nexon.net/events/hatsune-miku
Source: Youtube Channel Jeff807725

Hatsune Miku shows up just about everywhere now.  Hatsune Miku is a vocal synthesizer developed by Crypton Future Media using Yamaha's Vocaloid synthesizing technology while giving that voice a look and persona.  Being a community driven collaboration, images, videos, songs, and other such media were produced to phenomenal proportions all around the world.  Now Hatsune Miku is making an appearance in the popular Korean Online Game "Mabinogi".  Events will be held for players to grab and outfit set to look like Miku, Kaito, Rin, or Len.  Prizes can be won and VIP status will be given to all players throughout the event.

Mabinogi is a casual online MMORPG where character growth is free although a choice of preferred class can be chosen now to give a easier start but can still learn skills at any time and any order to build a character that fits a player's playstyle.  Aside from combat and dungeon crawling, player's can also take on part-time jobs such as running errands, gathering items, farming, and such to earn a bit of extra money and earn new titles.  It's one of the few MMOs I've played for a while now and have continued to play due to its easy going nature, unique gameplay, catchy tunes, and colorful graphics.  It's a fun game to relax to.

NewNews - Register for Ragnarok Online 2

Landing Page: https://www.warpportal.com/landing/ragnarok2/index.aspx
Source: Youtube Channel GravityUS

Well, it's about time!  Ragnarok Online 2 has been talked about since 2004 and has changed quite a bit in development.  I tried the original RO2 back in 2005-2006 during its alpha/beta stages (I don't quite remember) and found it to be boring.  Apparently, so did the rest of the community in Korea and so the first version of Ragnarok was trashed as they worked on a 2nd version which has been out for a year now in Korea.  I played a bit of it on the English SEA servers and thought it was a little better, but the combat mechanics, graphics and gameplay felt like it was behind on times.  Despite that, a lot of people seem to be enjoying it so far and so the North American servers will soon be up and go into Open Beta Testing.  It's probably best to sign up for an account right now at WarpPortal before the actual launch to avoid registration crashes and such when everyone's trying to get in all at the same time.  Here's hoping for a great future for Ragnarok Online 2.

NewNews - TERA Online entirely free today

Official Site: http://tera.enmasse.com/
Source: Youtube Channel enmasseentertainment

Tera Online went free-to-play 2 months ago with lots of limitations as mentioned in an earlier post.  It might have been a way to test the waters or analyze player reactions before going entirely free, but that doesn't matter now as En Masse Entertainment has launched an entirely free Tera Rising today.  No more subscription fees, no monthly payment, just the game and of course a micro-transaction store.  The shop will include clothing, mounts and consumables, nothing too extravagant that would give PvP players an advantage as far as I know.

For those unfamiliar with Tera Online, it is an Action-MMORPG that utilizes combat mechanics found in action-games rather than the usual point-n-click/Tab-action combat found in most MMORPGs.  This means that players will have to actually aim their attacks in order to land hits on an enemy.  It's still an open-world experience with instance based dungeons and PvP.  I participated in the Beta and really enjoyed it.  If you're interested in Tera Rising, click on the top link, register for an account, download the game, and you'll be ready to play in no time.

NewNews - Wizardry Online on Steam

Official Site: https://www.wizardrythegame.com/index.vm
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/221360/
Source: Youtube Channel MachinimaTrailer

The brutal, unforgiving MMORPG that is Wizardry Online is now officially released.  This means deleting the Beta client version that anyone might have and downloading the new client.  If that sounds troublesome, then open up your Steam client from there as Steam now supports Wizardry Online.  The Wizardry series has been around since the cRPG days where players had to memorize spells, make their own maps of the dungeon, and had the possibility of losing their entire party due to a trap.  Wizardry Online brings those many devious aspects into a modern Action-MMORPG with open PvP and Perma-death.  With Wizardry Online on Steam, a special pack can be bought (Adventure Kit), downloading the client is a lot easier, and the access of Steam's overlay will allow players to talk to their friends while in-game.

I participated in the beta and have mixed feelings about the game.  The graphics are definitely outdated by many years.  The music feel very much like a JRPG (yes, it's a Japanese developed online game).  The overall look of the game has influences from Final Fantasy XI and Demon's Souls.  The game is certainly different from other MMORPGs, that's for sure.  Now that it's on Steam, I am definitely willing to give it another go and play around further into the game.

NewNews - TERA Online Free-to-Play Up To Level 28

Official Site: http://tera.enmasse.com/
Source: Youtube Channel onrpg

It's come to my attention that TERA Online is free-to-play up to level 28 now.  That's a little more than half the max level of 50.  TERA Online is an Action-MMORPG where it takes out the traditional Point-n-Click mechanics and turns it into more of a Action-game control schemes.  Players will have to actually aim at the enemy rather than click or Tab-action their targets.  I tried out the game during beta and really enjoyed the mechanics of the game as well as the beautiful graphics that really brought out the environment.  I liked the idea of being able to truly control your attacks and having to aim rather than click on an enemy and execute every skill I possess on my character as it brought more depth to the MMORPG genre and allowed players to fight more than one enemy at a time.  As long as you possess a En Masse Entertainment account, you can download TERA Online Discovery and start playing.  If you don't have an account, you can make one for free.  The player can also choose to switch from a free-to-play account to a subscribing account to play the full game which takes off all limitations.

Here are the limitations directly from the FAQs of the site:

You may only have 1 Discovery Edition on your En Masse account.

Max level 28
200g limit
Max gathering skill of 150
Max crafting skill of 100
2 characters per server

Chat restrictions:
/Say chat
Area chat
Global Chat
Trade Chat
Bargaining at the brokerage
Party search
Whispers (you will be able to whisper to players on your friends list)

Limits to:
Bank. You cannot deposit gold into your bank.
Parcel. You may not send parcel messages, but you may receive them.
Friends List. You may not add people to your friends list, but other may add you to their friends list. If someone adds you to their friends list they will show up on your friends list.
Whispers. You may only whisper your friends.
Guild. You may not apply to or create a guild, but if invited, you may accept a guild invite.
Trade Broker. You may not post items for sale, but you may purchase items.

Other restrictions:


No dueling, death matches, or battlegrounds.
No trading.
You may not transfer to another server.

You can start playing TERA Online free now by clicking on the top link and clicking "Discovery Edition - Play for Free" on the right of the page.

VGCulture - If only Dynasty Warriors had something like World vs World

Official Site: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel ZybakTV
WARNING: Contains profanity

Guild Wars 2 is officially released tonight at midnight, but those who pre-purchased the game got to start on Friday night last week.  I was able to play the entire weekend and try out the many aspects of the game (though I barely scratched the surface in terms of content).  I love how Player vs. Environment (PvE) felt a lot like The Elder Scrolls series where the player was free to roam where they wanted and curiosity takes over to keep the player interested enough to keep exploring.  Player vs Player (PvP) is fast-paced, short, and gratifying with a lot of aspects that remind me of Call of Duty (it might sound odd, but it makes sense in context).  What really blew my mind was World Vs. World (WvW).

In most MMOs, there are guilds vs. guilds and such which require players to be part of an organized group.  In order to stay on top of the list, guilds would have to stay active and take over points within a persistent world that is ever changing whether a player is logged on or not.  In Guild Wars 2, WvW is the new GvG where players join in war without having to be part of a Guild.  This allows a whole wave of players who generally aren't active guild players to join in a part of a larger battle without having to stay dedicated to a group.  It also gives a sense of pride to be fighting for the world the player has chosen.  So in WvW, players are pitted against players from 2 other worlds (servers, essentially).  Player can capture points, keeps, castles, and pivotal resources from the enemy in a huge map.  The experience is unlike anything other when fighting 50-100 players all in one area, raiding a keep, or doing small scale sabotage such as intercepting enemy supplies.  I think I like WvW even more than PvP because of how spontaneous and involving the mode feels.  You never know what is going to happen or what to expect when going out into the field.  It's the ultimate sandbox experience where you run around to kill other players, capture points for your "army" (World), explore around.

To go off on a tangent, I have always wished for a similar experience in Dynasty Warriors where it felt a bit more RPG-ish or involving.  Dynasty Warriors Online (DWO) captured a bit of that feel with allowing players to create their own character and train with various weapons as well as take on missions they want.  DWO allows players to choose a faction of their choice and fight for that leader.  What it lacks is a true persistent, on-going, large-scale battles where the player can freely roam and take on objectives with a whole army.  DWO does have a persistent world where areas are taken by having a battle won there, but players are focused on that one battle and one objective.  Not only Dynasty Warriors, but many other games would have an awesome persistent world battle between groups.  Global Agenda was able to fuse together elements of Action, third-person shooter, and MMORPGs into one game with a similar mode called AvA (Agency vs Agency).  Unfortunately, players of Globabl Agenda were not very dedicated and so the AvA idea fell through after a while (it is completely dead now).  Guild Wars 2 has created one of the most interesting and involving GvG mode I've played in the longest time, and I really hope more developers follow suit to continue to innovate and improve GvG in whatever games they make.

GameLight - Mabinogi Bard and Battle changes

Official Site: http://mabinogi.nexon.net/Default.aspx
Source: Youtube Channel coinoptv

Mabinogi has been around since 2004 in Korea and was launched in North America back in 2008 and still receives updates now.  I had stopped playing Mabinogi after one of the updates took away half of the entire back storage from my character and pretty much limited players to half the original size unless they pay for it.  It's typical for a free game to "add" new content and charge for specific ones, but to take away something that was already available and re-selling it just sickened me.  Still, Mabinogi was and still is a really fun casual MMORPG with light-hearted gameplay.

The latest update that launched last month that seemed to have slipped past me is a new "bard" class focus as well as changes to combat so that it's more fast paced.  The Bard focus allows the player to support their party in battle with buffs and assisting damage.  Combat has always been slower and strategic which made it feel less of a casual game in terms of fighting enemies.  It was really tough getting used to the timing and charges of certain abilities and attacks.  What they did is sped up charges and placed cool downs for abilities.  These changes, especially the new combat system, makes me want to pick up the game once more.  Mabinogi is free-to-play at Nexon.net with micro-transaction items available.

VGCulture - Guild Wars 2 in 2 days

Official Site: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel arenanetofficial

The official launch for Guild Wars 2 is actually on August 28th, but those who pre-purchased the game will have a 3 day head-start Friday at mid-night.  Guild Wars 2 is the newest MMORPG to the genre and is ready to change the way we play them like the first series of Guild Wars did.  Guild Wars 2 has been talked about for years now and have been in Beta testing for months.  I did sign up for beta but never got in.  When the game was announced, pre-purchases was available and offered a head-start, exclusive in-game items, and beta access if the player didn't have it already.  I pre-purchased the game and linked my account to my original Guild Wars account and had the chance to play about 3 hours of Guild Wars 2 yesterday during a stress test.  Here are some things to expect:
-Ability to jump!  Adds a new dynamic to exploring
-Spontaneous events happen at any given moment
-Quests are quick and don't require reading long passages
-PvP is available at any level (everyone is max level)
-Do last stands in PvP and take out enemies while down
-No such thing as "kill stealing" and don't have to worry about finding parties
-Tons of customizing in traits and skills
-Interchangeable weapon sets to fulfill combat needs in the middle of battle

PvE is quite different, but hasn't really won me over yet.  PvP definitely blew my mind though, and I can't wait to play some more this weekend.  Guild Wars 2 is available for pre-order and pre-purchase and is sold at $60.  The game's server officially launches on August 28th and those with the 3-day head start will begin on the mid-night of August 24th.

VGCulture - Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn

Official Site: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/
Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Finaly Fantasy XIV Online did not please its players when it first launched September 2010.  The graphics were beautiful and they even got Nobuo Uematsu to do some tracks for the game; however, the gameplay didn't change much from Final Fantasy XI and people weren't happy about buying a new game with monthly subscription to play the same game.  This caused Square-Enix to pull everything back and be re-worked.  From some of their preview screen shots, the game looks pretty cool.  Beyond that, it is up to each individual to decide whether it's worth it to pay for the monthly subscription.  In any case, here's a trailer for the upcoming re-release of FFXIV.

GameLight - The Secret World

Official Site: http://www.thesecretworld.com/
Source: Youtube Channel Funcom

The Secret World is an MMORPG portrayed in a gritty modern-world with fantasy-like themes embedded.  This past weekend was a free weekend that allowed all players to play "The Secret World" for free in celebration of one month of the game since its launch.  I actually had lost interest in the game ever since it showed its gameplay videos over a year ago; however, I am always willing to give games a try as they have surprised me in the past with some turning out to be some of my favorite games (Demon's Souls was one of them).  As to not drag this out, I'll get to the point and say that the game has long-winded cut-scenes and conversations with very little gameplay in the beginning of the game.  To give a gauge of how much:  I was on "The Secret World" for about 2.5 hours and only got to really play for about 15 minutes out of that entire time.  I had a friend describe to me that "they're trying too hard" and I see what he meant.

Essentially, the environment and story is very in-depth and the developers want very much for the player to be immersed into that world.  From the gritty streets of our modern day society to crazy world portals floating in mid-air, the game tries its very best to get the player interested in the world.  So the first few hours will mostly be cut-scenes of the characters explaining who you are, where you are, what you and the group you're in do, why you fight, but also tries not to tell you "how" to approach your goals.  The game boasts itself having freedom of choice and not being locked into a class.  You can switch between "class-types" by changing the weapons you wield, but you still fall into a certain "role".

Despite all the waiting I did hearing the characters jabber, the combat is actually pretty fun.  As an MMORPG, it still follows the point-n-click style combat where the player targets an enemy with a click or "tab" key and spams their attacks on them.  The difference is that the player's character will not auto-attack and must be able to cycle through their skills strategically based on their situation.  This means that the player will have to press keys 1~7 repeatedly in combat.  The player can also move while attack and can also do an action dodge with the "shift" key (this is implemented to upcoming MMORPG Guild Wars 2 as well).  With these little changes, players can no longer stand there and win by auto-attack like many MMORPGs have been designed to work in the past decade, but will have to move around a lot and avoid enemy attacks to survive.  Another fun aspect of combat is being able to take on multiple enemies right from the get go rather than being limited to fighting 1 enemy at a time.  I hated being static and taking forever on one enemy in a lot of the MMORPGs I've played in the past because it stayed that way throughout most of the game until you could participate in PvP, instances, boss fights and raids.  So it was fun running around, being able to effectively kite and dodge, and taking on multiple enemies.  After the 3rd large enemy, I started to realize the controls were a bit of a problem though.

Having to move, mash on the number row keys and pressing shift to dodge was actually not possible to do effectively in quick succession.  They should've made the game entirely "Action-RPG" rather than partial point-n-click/Action as it doesn't work very well with the combat mechanics they set up.  If the mouse were able to aim, the left-click to attack, the number row to switch to a different special attack, and the right-click to use that special attack, the player wouldn't have to keep leaving WASD (movement keys) to reach over for the number keys and having to keep mashing them.  The way it's set up now, the player has to juggle between using the mouse to look around, the WASD to move around, the number keys to attack, with a crazy left-hand dance between the number keys, shift, WASD, and spacebar for jumping up to higher places.  It just doesn't work very well right now and I can see a huge improvement to combat with a more action-orientated control scheme (though some may argue that it'd be too much like Vindictus, Dungeons and Dragons Online, or TERA Online).  Take note that I noticed this problem within the 15 minutes of combat I got to experience as the other 2.25 hours was spent watching cut-scenes and listening to conversations.

The graphics are pretty good, but the character creation did feel a bit limited compared to most MMORPGs nowadays.  The story as a whole is pretty interesting but the conversations and cut-scenes describing them were really boring.  The well engineered sound effects added a visceral impact to combat, but the controls kind of killed the combat in the long-run though.  And so in my opinion, the game as a whole doesn't seem to be worth the monthly-subscription unless you totally dig the game's mechanics and don't mind listening through a lot of yakking before smacking baddies.

NewNews - The Secret World Free Weekend

Official Site: http://www.thesecretworld.com/news/celebrate_the_first_live_month_of_the_secret_world
Source: Youtube Channel dievorezimas

The Secret World caused quite a buzz 3 years ago when it was announced.  When it finally started showing some gameplay footages, the whole MMORPG community suddenly lost interest.  The launched seemed kind of quiet and it seems that it's been a month since launch and the developers want to celebrate by allowing all players to try out the game for free this weekend from Friday, August 3rd at 4pm GMT until Monday, August 6th at 7am GMT.  The Secret World is a monthly subscription-based MMORPG set in a post-modern world with less emphasis on "class" and "role" and more on character progression.  Players will fall into a class of their own based on how they play and what skills they learn.  I'm not sure what to expect, but I'll give it a go since we can this weekend.

GameLight - Vindictus (Kai Release)

Official Site: http://www.nexon.net/games/#/vn
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/212160/
Source: Youtube Channel loadstart

Kai is the newest character added to the Action-RPG MMO "Vindictus".  Kai is a skill archer who can fire arrows while strafing, grapple enemies, volley large amounts of arrows down on enemies, and kick baddies in the face.  I've been waiting for the release of Kai for quite a while now and I was surprised to see him in the character creation when I logged onto Vindictus testing the launch from Steam.  That's right, Vindictus can now officially be downloaded and played off of Steam.  I like this method more since it was a real bother having to log in from the main website and go through all that clutter.  Now you can just start up the game from Steam, login and start playing.  Anyways, Kai is an excellent class for those who want to solo as he's able to stay a safe distance from enemy attacks, zone enemies from ever reaching the player, and later he'll be able to handle a large number of enemies at once.  He doesn't run as fast as the other classes, but being able to attack and move at the same time gives him a huge advantage in kiting compared to playing Evie, the spell caster.  I guess it's been a while since I've been on Vindictus (it hasn't been THAT long) and Nexon has generously given me a package with my newly created Kai which pimps him out like no other.  I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be downing enemies so quickly, but as long as I have all these nice gear, I'm going to play the game as much as possible and reach to high levels so I can finally experience a raid.  If you receive the same package, be warned that the items last for only 30 days before they disappear.  It has also been announced that there's a female version of Lann incoming (dual wield swords style class).  As of now, there are 5 character classes to choose from.  Vindictus is hosted and published by Nexon and is also free-to-play.  Check out either links at the top for more information on the game.

NewNews - Guild Wars 2 in 2 months

Official Site: http://www.guildwars2.com/en/
Source: Youtube Channel gameinformer

After months of testing and years of talk, ArenaNet has finally given us a release date of the very much anticipated MMORPG Guild Wars 2.  In two months, players will finally get to quest together and fight one another in glorious battles starting August 28th, 2012.  Those who pre-order the game will get to play 3 days earlier.  Those who haven't looked up on the game or even heard of it should check out some commentary videos and wiki pages as Guild Wars 2 is set to change the way MMORPGs are played once again with new mechanics for questing, combat, cooperative play, PvP, and class specific skills.  It's a completely different game from the original Guild Wars and is sure to break a few norms for MMORPGs if not a few dozen of them.  This will be the 2nd MMORPG I'm actually buying with Global Agenda being the first, and I'm very excited to finally get the chance to play this game in 2 months.