As announced on Tuesday, Guild Wars 2 is gearing up for a massive beta starting today to allow players to test out the new weaponmaster training system coming in Secrets of the Obscure. The weaponmaster training system allows base classes to use the weapons of their respective elite specs for the first time, meaning your old-school Ranger can equip and use a staff.
The event kicks off today at noon EDT and runs through 1 a.m. EDT on July 3rd, and no prepurchase is required – everyone can jump on in. Players will log in, click one of the newly appearing “beta” character slots, and create a new temporary toon for testing. Characters wil be deleted after July 2nd.
“Please note that the beta characters will disappear on July 2 at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) at the end of the event, and any gameplay progress earned while playing on them – including rewards and currency – will not be saved,” ArenaNet cautions.
And after that? Settle in until August 22nd when the expansion itself is set to launch.