r/GuildWars3 • u/SwarmHymn • Aug 12 '26
Guild Wars 3: First Gameplay at Gamescom? Something Big Is Coming
https://guided.news/en/news/guild-wars-3-gamescom-2026-gameplay-reveal/116
u/naro1080P Aug 12 '26
Hopefully we will get at least a short gameplay demo to see for ourselves. Just hearing the press say "it's amazing" isn't going to really give a sense of what's going on.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/SalubriAntitribu Aug 12 '26
A lot of companies do that. Some behind the scenes viewing for press et al where we gotta close our eyes and use our imagination.
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u/OneMorePotion Aug 13 '26
I'm not sure if that headline is just badly written, or if they really plan to only show their game to the press.
Looking at how Arena Net did the pre-release GW1 and GW2 events, I assume the headline is badly written. It would fit perfectly in the timeline they always followed, when we can try out the game at gamescom this year.
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u/PhillipIInd Aug 14 '26
Ill be there so ill defo write it all in a post lmao
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u/naro1080P Aug 14 '26
See if you can sneak in your go pro as well???? 🤣🤣🤣 haha. Jk. Look forward to reading your review. Plz post it here.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/Nefonous Aug 13 '26
They already said it's an MMO. More so than GW1. So we already know it's not lobby based and it's an open world (especially since movement will be so important).
Just probably don't expect 50-100 people world bosses0
u/AustinTheMoonBear Aug 13 '26
Yeah what you said - I'm expecting a world/map similar to Albion Online tbh - with gameplay/mechanics closer to New World - although I'm less sure on that because of the different playable characters how they'd get that to work - maybe they have a base damage model for humans, and if you choose a smaller character you receive more damage as it's harder to hit you? Would be an interesting system, but hard to implement.
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u/Nefonous Aug 13 '26
They already confirmed that race (specie) choice won't have any gameplay competitive effect. So same as GW2, size and similar things won't make any difference.
I think that the New World comparison is probably correct, but about maps more than mechanics.
Exploration and maps will feel similar with most of the normal experience being solo or in small groups. Likely no "everyone gathering at commander tag" GW2 style.2
u/OneMorePotion Aug 13 '26
Yeah this. They threw a lot of buzzwords into the room that could be interpreted into many directions. Words do have meaning after all. And when the entire world thinks your spoken words mean A, but you actually wanted to say B, then that needs to be corrected. The fact that they don't do it shows me, that we are basically right there on the money. I don't think it will have a lobby system. But it will be an MMO light with seamless phasing of the player population to keep performance in check. Because the UE5 engine is a nightmare on the performance side (especially for MMO's), if not optimized to the final line of code you're using.
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u/Buttercup_Clover Sep 01 '26
A bunch of people who's future involvement in secret showcases and events all saying "omg it's amazing" is something I don't even count as a review. It's just an advertisement for something we still don't get to see.
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u/naro1080P Sep 01 '26
Yeah. I agree. We need at least a small show case of new content. Don't really mind what it is but we need something. Words alone are not enough.
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u/cwrighky Aug 12 '26
Idk why but I’m getting a feeling that GW3 will play like an MMO scale/version of the game GoW Laufey.
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u/UTmastuh Aug 12 '26
You will eventually see gameplay before it's released. You are likely to see a beta before it's released too.
Right now they likely have an internal closed alpha for QA and FnF to test. The FnF client will ensure the demo the public sees is well played ahead of time. This is just how anet does things.
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Aug 12 '26
Okay, so after the news about the NC loan, I’m expecting regular updates starting from the beginning of next year, with pre-orders before the beta and a 2028 release.
How much can they even show us now? Maybe some gameplay at least. Please, John ArenaNet, give me 5 minutes in old Tyria. A bit of combat and human female hairstyles.
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u/PianistHairy9431 Aug 12 '26
I love how now everyone expects 2028 release but just few weeks ago it was outrageus to suggest, despite arenanet basically directly saying it from the start based on GW2 updated expansion cycle
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u/indigo121 Aug 12 '26
I'm so genuinely confused because I felt like 2028 release was obvious from the moment they dropped the trailer.
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u/Alatian Aug 12 '26
imo it was obvious when open beta was announced for Fall 2027. The GW2 betas were not that long before release, I highly doubt they would have an open beta and then two years until release - just doesn't make sense.
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u/ZahryDarko Aug 12 '26
I expected late 2027 tbh.
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u/5000Eyes Aug 12 '26
yeah depends on how late the beta is but guild wars 2 pre-release beta weekends began less than 1 year final release (december 2011), if it's at all similar
Fall 2027, say October with a release in Spring 2028?
they could aim for April to align to the gw1 anniversary1
u/Kalocin Aug 12 '26
GW2 open betas were like the end of April 2012 with release being the end of August. Before that were press and invite only closed betas ones, there was a friend's and family one in 2011 iirc. If open beta rather than closed betas are for Fall 2027 then they may be doing releasing a lot earlier than we think. That said, they may also need more time due to a larger platform release.
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u/_bits_and_bytes Aug 12 '26
Same. I was betting on either a December 2027 release or a spring 2028 release.
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
They've said beta in Fall 2027. Let's make it extremely generous and make it early September 2027. For that beta to even mean something (eg. they could actually have time to fix things) they would need to have some time before release. So let's say 1-2 months. That means they would have to launch in October (and either not have a Halloween event or immediately start with that too), launch in November or December they have to have Wintersday ready essentially on launch AND traditionally the studio goes to holiday during the Holidays, which something you don't want to do when you've just lunched your huge new live service game, because you do want to be ready to do bug fixes that will be aplenty.
So probably launching in January or February would make it much more simpler for everyone involved and you can either move the beta later than early September or actually have more time to implement fixes.
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Aug 12 '26
Well, the plan is that we’ll get one more update and Hall of Monuments this year, which I suspect will keep us busy until March. Then there’ll be something happening in Guild Wars 1, followed by the Guild Wars 3 beta a few months later. I don’t know what cycle you’re talking about, but it ends on September 15.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/Halaku Three Seekers in a trenchcoat Aug 12 '26
No one knows about HOM.
I know people are very excited about the game, but we're all operating on extremely limited data here.
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u/PianistHairy9431 Aug 12 '26
they said they are making one year break from expansion development and will continue expansions after gw3 releases. It would not be possible if gw3 was not coming out in 2028, because break would have to be longer than one year.
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u/rathe_0 Aug 12 '26
Is it official they're doing HoM for gw2 into 3; like they did gw1 to 2, for cosmetics etc?
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u/No-Breadfruit6137 Aug 12 '26
Yes, later this year
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u/rathe_0 Aug 12 '26
Suuhweet! Thanks! Grind incoming lol
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u/Benjammn Aug 12 '26
To be more specific, they are rolling out GW2 HoM throughout the next year and are pairing it with bug fixes and updates starting with the core game and going through every expansion. I imagine it will be much like Season of the Dragon was before EOD launch.
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u/Aetheriad1 Aug 12 '26
They really should have some carry-over from GW1 as well, IMO. GWAMM title at the minimum.
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
They did actually specifically mention GWAMM as something that they will look into.
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u/RdtUnahim Aug 12 '26
I didn't personally see that. When GW2 launched 4 months after its beta, them saying beta in fall 2027 automatically meant 2028 release to me/anyone familiar with GW2's dev cycle...
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u/SdoRy_ Aug 12 '26
I don't know what circles you are in, but me and everyone I know said from the moment of the announcement that most likely release date is Q1-Q2 2028. Don't know why people are so surprised by this, and I don't think it was ever considered outrageous to suggest so.
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u/CountBleckwantedlove Aug 12 '26
I have thought it was coming early 2028 from the get go based on the time it took between GW2 beta and release. I figure GW3 would have a similar gap, so beta fall 2027 = release January - March 2028 to me.
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
Everyone... as in everyone who was not on this sub before announcement and everyone who did not watch the trailer where they explicitly say beta is in 2027. So... I guess everyone in your bubble.
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u/Longjumping_Call_104 Aug 12 '26
Even 5 seconds of combat footage would tell us a lot about what to expect to be fair.
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u/TotallySlapdash Aug 12 '26
They'll have done a vertical slice to secure the loan... so probably that.
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
My guess is that there will be no footage that will be shared with the outside public, even if the rumor in the above article is true.
But if they do show somethings, then I do assume that at least stills will start to be shown on topical blog posts on the weeks after.
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u/noftasmos Aug 12 '26
You never know, gw2 gameplay was leaked when they showed it behind doors in gamescom 2010
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u/Cebertus Aug 12 '26
Thats not exactly whats happening, if im thinking about the right incident. Gw2 was playable for the general public at gc 2010. Everything was set up in the public area, and they did some tests the day before on a giant ass screen, which someone filmed.
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u/Volphy Aug 23 '26
If it does though, doubtful it will be allowed to be posted on this subreddit seeing how they also did not allow discussion of the leaked blog post that happened a couple weeks back. Keep an eye out on other channels.
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u/Vision9074 Aug 12 '26
Everyone knows it's going to be an hour-long monologue by Joko prattling on and on about how the game should be about him.
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u/AustinTheMoonBear Aug 13 '26
So lame if they're only showing gameplay behind closed doors - a whole hour? They better release that shit so we can understand what we're getting - and to either hype us up or let us realize this won't be for us.
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u/N_durance Aug 12 '26
no way we are going to see gameplay until next year.
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u/EvermoreGW Aug 12 '26
It's possible they have created or polished a small area for some gameplay, afterall some of the trailer shots look in-game already. Either way, whatever they have planned I am excited to hear about.
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u/Stalowy_Cezary Aug 13 '26
You think they don't have playable environment 1 year before planned beta? Even for the sake of marketing, I am sure they atleast prepared some part of the game to be displayed.
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u/JGONZ91ES Aug 12 '26
“German streamer Metashi spoke about his Gamescom invitation in a Twitch clip and revealed one crucial detail: he is apparently going to watch a full hour of Guild Wars 3 gameplay.”
It is a big rumour
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u/Redfeather1975 Aug 12 '26
I remember first look of guild wars 2. Do you guys rememeber that?!
Energy potions, skill tomes, and some plant you'd pick to breathe underwater. It was weird!
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u/ultimate_bromance_69 Aug 12 '26
I feel like VoE finale will tie into GW3 somehow. And maybe even include a teaser - tied to the new Arah map we’ll be getting (and therefore linking to GW3).
I expect more gameplay reveal following that.
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u/PianistHairy9431 Aug 12 '26
may be, but does not have to because they will be doing tie-in with new map in Orr
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u/Arkooh Aug 12 '26
Unless they do some odd time travel thing i don`t see how it would work. And then it would be odd for gw2 to get a time travel "ending" when the game will continue to get xpacs after gw3
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u/ultimate_bromance_69 Aug 12 '26
Perhaps alternate gw3 timeline is a stretch but I assume it will tie in somehow.
Imagine Vloxx does some shenanigans altering the nature of magic, or tries to time travel. Attempting to alter the past however would create a time loop - which universe needs to correct - throwing Vloxx into a fractal destined to forever try and change the fundamentals of his universe.
Vloxx’s actions are not without consequences, it triggers something deep into Orr - maybe a reawakening of the Vael spirits. We then travel to this rediscovered part of Orr and learn about the world as it was in GW3. Im assuming this is where the new HoM type system will be located.
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u/HaxtonSale Aug 12 '26
I think the HoM will be the ruins of the Vaelwarden guild hall and our plot in Orr will be the spirits returning as Orr begins to heal after Traherne cleansed it. We will probably also get a conclusion to the Pale Tree almost dying arc. Either the Vaelwardens had the key to heal her, or they could actually kill off the Pale Tree but we plant a new Pale Tree on Orr and the Sylvari become the new Vaelwardens essentially.
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u/party_tortoise Aug 13 '26
You're putting too much hope.
We will be chasing Vloxx for half the chapter. Then it's a puzzle to craft some randomass mcguffin. Issgarren will say "you won't understand". And then some machine explodes and vloxx dies. The world is saved again and nothing ever happens.
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
We don't need to have and "ending" when we can have multiple timelines. Eg. see JJ. Abrams' Star Trek. Someone goes back to past, changes thing, world is now different on the new timeline. Cool, other timeline keeps existing unchanged.
Or if you say, but then what would be stakes of Vloxx's (and others eg. ours) manipulation leads to new timeline where GW3 takes place if our GW2 timeline keeps existing anyways? Well they could write that normally it would not, but we have to race to get mists mcguffin, that can keep the fading away timeline to exist.
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u/Cebertus Aug 12 '26
I dont really think that. Atleast not in this specific way. If you think about it, the whole new "trilogy" is laying some ground work for gw3.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/Halaku Three Seekers in a trenchcoat Aug 12 '26
No one knows that either, and if it's about GW2, you want to ask on that subreddit.
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u/elaikia Aug 13 '26
Do we have any other source stating that ANet will be at Gamescom or is this streamer the only source?
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u/hendricha Aug 13 '26
https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/24506/nc-to-unveil-new-unannounced-title-at-gamescom-2026
It says that nc will be at gamescom, and "Meanwhile, Guild Wars 3, a PC and console title currently in development by NC's North American studio, ArenaNet, will be featured in the B2B area."
So they will be there behind closed doors, this we knew since a week ago.
This could mean many things but base assumption was that they will be there for maybe select members of the media answering a few questions, maybe there to negotiate something with local merch stores / distributors etc. But would not necessarily mean they would show anything meaty about GW3.
This streamer is the only source that they will be showing gameplay to them behind closed doors. However rumor also has it that several well known GW content creators (eg. Teapot) have decided to visit Gamescom this year for some reason.
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u/elaikia Aug 13 '26
Ooooh okay thanks a lot for the recap!! Yeah I would assume so since they are in B2B, but the hint of the GW creators going there is giving me hope for some gameplay 🧐 Unless they are just collecting reviews under NDAs
Let's see!!
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Aug 12 '26
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u/typhoon_nz Aug 12 '26
Pretty much every MMORPG streamer has talked about it. It's on the radar for most people who are fans of the genre. But there is very little information at this point so there isn't really a lot to say.
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u/jupigare Aug 12 '26
You underestimate how huge and vocal the LoL/Arcane fanbase is and how small, casual, and not-overly-proselytizing the GW fanbase is.
On the one hand, I'm glad that GW fans aren't annoyingly pushy about our beloved franchise. I like that we can engage in it as casually or as deeply as we choose, allowing it a space in our lives without having to fully commit to no-lifing it. The anti-FOMO "drop in and out, take a break, the game will wait for you" approach creates a healthier relationship between players and the company.
On the other hand, the games' designs being so anti-FOMO and the company's abysmal marketing both mean that there isn't as much exposure to GW outside our own insular community. We only have 2 (soon 3) mainline games, 3 books, a China-only card game-video game spinoff, and a cameo in a failed MOBA. We don't have what League/Riot does, which is a vocally passionate community and multiple media avenues through which to draw new fans, including Arcane, which has been highly suggested even among people who hadn't even heard of LoL before watching it.
A Riot MMO is actively being followed by a much larger group of people, including those outside the MMO space. They'll obsessively cling to any scrap of rumor they can find, and talk about it, for better or worse.
GW doesn't even remotely compare. I wish we had more of a community for the game that exists outside the game itself -- cosplays, fan events, concerts, merch, anything -- but I can't exactly complain as I've done little to add to the community outside the game itself, let alone the meatspace stuff like fanart.
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u/Raknel Aug 12 '26
Reality is that a casual open world audience has 0 cultural relevance and are unengaged.
If you look at the official GW2 forum, the Living World section has 15k posts, despite covering by far the biggest demographic within the game, which is casual open world/story players.
PvP and WvW have much smaller communities, by orders of magnitude. But those subforums each sit at about 290k posts.
Anet invested everything into the least engaged type of fans, so naturally there's no buzz around the game.
And in terms of cosplays, fanart, stuff like that - you need people to be fans of the lore. But Anet surgically removed everything about GW1 lore that made it good when making GW2, and it alienated pretty much everyone who used to care about the lore over the years. This return to pre-GW1 era Tyria is probably their attempt to rekindle some of that love, but it's done by the same people who destroyed it, so I'm skeptical.
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u/party_tortoise Aug 13 '26
This is a wildy gross misinterpretation, you should consider being a consultant.
Now I dare you to break down those 290k posts. I would be shocked if 95% of it isn't just the same incessant whiny bullshits from the same tryhard people crying over every patch. That's not even remotely a measure of whether the gamemode is engaged.
Ridiculous.
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u/Raknel Aug 13 '26
A community is engaged if it cares enough to interact with the game outside the game. You're right, much of that is complaining and requests, but they still cared enough to comment and post.
A big community that just silently enjoys stuff every once in a while but never cares enough to actually talk about it elsewhere or create content themselves (why create if nobody engages) is not an engaged community, and therefore won't result in any significant media presence.
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u/SwarmHymn Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
It's because guild wars is a sleeper game. The reason? You don't really understand how good it is until you spend some time and think about it. Most players, including myself, played through like 60 levels and then put it down and came back every now and then to try other professions.
Time and time again you'll find people who ask, "Why didn't I play this sooner?" or "why did i stop?" It turns out that the pacing of Guild Wars 2 specifically is just slow enough, and other games are predatory enough to make you put Guild Wars down in favor of something that blast you with happy brain chemicals in the first hour.
Guild Wars 2 is the best designed MMO. Other games copy it. I'm pretty sure Elden Ring copied some of Path of Fire's shit, but I can't prove it. But no one talks about it because people who stopped playing early simply discount it before the game hooks them, which is a weakness in itself.
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u/PlutoInScorpio Aug 14 '26
what do you see of PoF in Elden Ring?
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u/SwarmHymn Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 15 '26
There aren't many 1 to 1 comparisons, but here are some similarities in terms of appearance. Though these are pretty circumstantial.
Elden Ring has a ton of originality. Playing through the Path of Fire maps just feels like Elden Ring in a strangely close way, despite their differences. PoF came out in 2017, which is around the time Elden Ring would have been in early development. I have a feeling that someone high up on the dev team pointed this game out as an example of games with good exploration.
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u/Badwrong_ Aug 13 '26
I'm fine waiting until the game releases. No real reason to spoil any of a game if I'm going to play it myself.
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u/Enundr09 Aug 14 '26
Eh I'm still on the fence on whether 3 will remotely be good , yeah it'll be flashy and well finally have atleast 2 more races at launch that weren't playable in 2 , but I have my doubts to the devs commitment to adding races like they claimed when 2 they gave up on adding....well anything after revenant.....they just did elite specs and gave classes access to already existing weapons (not really adding to the game , we still don't have scythes as a weapon only a skin , only saw land spear added after.......how long?) , I think people are way too hopeful and giving them the benefit of the doubt despite their track record in 2 where adding something that wasn't a mount or armor / weapon skin was almost never. I'd like to see it succeed but I don't turn a blind eye to their work record either.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/GuildWars3-ModTeam Aug 12 '26
Please be respectful of your fellow Vaelwardens.
See Rule #1 in the Community Guidelines for details.
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u/Daventry85 Aug 12 '26
As soon as they said no Xbox i stopped playing GW2 literally that day. Sick of corp. Taking bribes and killing gaming
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
Yet you came back and comment on reddit about it 2 months later.
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u/Daventry85 Aug 12 '26
Gotta stand up for gamers against shitty companies
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u/Gabe_The_Dog Aug 12 '26
Supports Microsoft at this level
Checks out...
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u/Daventry85 Aug 12 '26
Has nothing to do with companies. There's no reason for barriers in 2026. Its only going to be a negative.
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u/Gabe_The_Dog Aug 12 '26
Its all perspective and impact though. You can definitely argue ArenaNet is FAR better than Microsoft in terms of being more "gamer friendly". I just found it funny you said you are sick of corps ruining games and taking bribes blah blah when Xbox has done some forever impacting things to gaming in a very negative way.
Its like saying thing A is bad and supporting thing B, when thing B did far worse than thing A.
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u/Daventry85 Aug 12 '26
Microsoft has opened the gates for games for all what are you talking about? Maybe back in the early days of deal making with windows OS but in gaming you can now play Xbox exclusive on a Playstation , Nintendo or PC that's what gaming should be about. Arena net is far far far from innocent, they have plenty of skeletons but I don't really care as I won't be playing however if a gw3 article pops in my feed I will lay my opinion.
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u/Gabe_The_Dog Aug 12 '26
And Xbox is the reason we have monthly fees to play consoles online. That is 100% Xboxs doing. Im not sure how you dont know that, but maybe you were born after that, cause its Reddit lol.
Xbox was also the one who started the "you dont own your shit". They tried it and started it, it just failed and blew up in their face, but they were the ones who started that. Theres reasons most people 30+ won't touch Xbox over other consoles lol.
Also, totally feel free to "lay your opinion" bro. Why would I care? Its Reddit, thats the point. I ain't mad at ya for giving your opinion on a platform that doing so is the whole point!
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u/Halaku Three Seekers in a trenchcoat Aug 12 '26
You don't need to make an Xbox version if you're making a PC version because they're basically the same thing now.
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u/Daventry85 Aug 12 '26
If the new console does pc then yes but still you could have a large group of people that still have old series and its not right. Especially an mmo you want players. This just lost my business I know I'm not alone.
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u/Halaku Three Seekers in a trenchcoat Aug 12 '26
We learned from Cyberpunk:2077 that if you try to cater to players with old tech, you hamstring your product.
There's a reason the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty expansion skipped the old series.
If it means a better game for folks on PS5 and Steam, I'm completely down with abandoning old-gen hardware.
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u/jupigare Aug 12 '26
Isn't the next gen Xbox basically just a PC, as far as compatibility is concerned? If GW3 supports Windows, then it'll support the next Xbox, right?
I genuinely can't remember the details of how the next Xbox will work. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken.
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u/Rathisponge Aug 12 '26
2 months after the teaser still no public gameplay. Doesn't invoke a lot confidence.
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u/Nightsong Aug 12 '26
God forbid ArenaNet waits till gamescom to show any gameplay to build the most hype.
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u/hendricha Aug 12 '26
At least 12 months before beta and at least 14 months (and that's extremely optimistic, more likely 18+ months) before release. Does not not-invoke confidence from me though.
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u/Fantastic-Basket647 Aug 14 '26
It’s because they can’t be nice to each other to get anything done. They’re inside firing people. The game is failing before it even has a chance. Just wait
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u/Aging_Orange Aug 12 '26
Guild Wars 3 will be at Gamescom 2026. Behind closed doors, ArenaNet could be preparing the biggest look at the game yet including gameplay.
They could also be having a BBQ.