Guild Wars 2 to Crown First Global PvP Champs this December

ArenaNet, developer of the acclaimed Guild Wars franchise, today announced the roadmap to the 2014 Guild Wars 2 World Tournament Series Championships. It’s the game’s first truly international competition bringing together top PvP teams from North America, Europe and China. The company made the announcement from Eurogamer Expo in London, where it’s partnered with Twitch to showcase Guild Wars 2 on the show floor and through daily livestreams being broadcast from Twitch’s booth.

Additionally, ArenaNet used its presence at Eurogamer Expo (EGX) to launch a weeklong trial, letting new players try Guild Wars 2 for free from 12:00 a.m. PDT on September 25 through 11:59 p.m. PDT on October 1. The game is also running a 50% off sale from the start of free trial until October 5. Guild Wars 2 is a one-time purchase PC MMO game with no subscription fee. Details of both the free trial and sale are available at www.guildwars2.com.

The details of the roadmap to the first World Tournament Series (WTS) finals comes as players finish competing in the opening round. The WTS  is a cash prize competition launched by ArenaNet and KongZhong, publisher of Guild Wars 2 in China. The two companies are organizing three global tournaments in the coming year that each culminate in WTS Championships. The championship events will be held in each region starting with China before moving on to North America and then Europe. Each event will pit four teams in a fight to become the world’s best Guild Wars 2 PvP players, with the top two teams from the host region facing off against two visiting teams.

The debut event is scheduled for December 4-5 in Beijing, where players will vie for a $50,000 (USD) prize pool and the title of first-ever Guild Wars 2 WTS Champion.

ArenaNet outlined the roadmap to the 2014 WTS Championships in a blog post published today. In it, ArenaNet Competitive Events Coordinator Joshua Davis writes:

“Before any teams can start making travel plans to Beijing, they will need to finish out the current open competition taking place in the Tournament of Glory.  The Tournament of Glory was an open invite to anyone who plays PvP in Guild Wars 2 to see if they have what it takes to become a world class competitor. In round after round of fierce fighting, these players have been fighting to survive.

Recently posted was an update on the TOG qualifying rounds pointing to some of the teams already making their mark on the WTS circuit. Whether these players can stick around remains to be seen. Those who do will earn a spot in the TOG Finals taking place October 11-12.

The winners of the TOG Finals move on to the WTS Invitational Qualifier, scheduled for October 25-26.

Next stop – China.

The teams who survive the invitational will then get their passports stamped – and travel covered – for an early December trip to Beijing. That’s where they compete for the title of inaugural Guild Wars 2 WTS Champion!”

Davis will be among ArenaNet team members at Eurogamer Expo showcasing Guild Wars 2 and highlighting the game’s fast-paced PvP and World vs. World competitive modes.  The livestreams take place on the Guild Wars 2 Twitch TV channel and are scheduled as follows:

Thursday, September 25, 1:00 p.m. GMT: What is Player vs. Player?
Thursday, September 25, 4:00 p.m. GMT: What is Guild Wars 2?

Friday, September 26, 1:00 p.m. GMT: Points of Interest
Friday, September 26, 4:00 p.m. GMT: What is World vs. World?

Saturday, September 27, 1:00 p.m. GMT: What is Living World?
Saturday, September 27, 4:00 p.m. GMT: Tequatl Boss Fight

Sunday, September 28, 2:00 p.m. GMT: PvP Exhibition Match

For more info, visit www.guildwars2.com.