Guild Wars 2

We rate Guild Wars 2 A tier (8.0 out of 10). It is 9/10 in solo play and 9/10 in combat but only 7/10 in fair pricing and 7/10 in population. We think late 2026 is the best moment in years to start it, for a reason that sounds like bad news: ArenaNet has stopped making expansions for now. The sixth, Visions of Eternity, ended its story on Sep 15, 2026, no seventh is announced, and since Oct 13, 2026 the Living World seasons that used to be sold apart come inside the expansions. A newcomer finally has a finish line. Steam's 2026 peak is 10,159 players at once, in June (read Nov 12, 2026), without anyone on ArenaNet's own launcher. TheLazyPeon called the game "solid A tier" in his MMORPG Tier List 2026, and we land on the same tier. Where we part with him is Guild Wars 3: he was let down that the sequel is built smaller, and we think that is the best news Guild Wars 2 could get, because nothing is coming to replace its map-wide battles.

We think the free open-world map set in Orr, which ArenaNet named in June 2026 as a first taste of the world of Guild Wars 3 (MeinMMO, Jun 7, 2026), opens in Guild Wars 2 before the Guild Wars 3 beta starts in fall 2027.

Confidence: Likely. Check by: Oct 2027.

2:55 On Nov 12, 2026 Guild Wars 2 sits between expansions. Visions of Eternity launched on Oct 28, 2025 and its last release, "Code of Creation", added a map, a raid encounter, a fractal and a Convergence. ArenaNet's roadmap for the rest of 2026 lists the Fractal Incursion event from Nov 10 to Dec 1, Wintersday from Dec 8 to Jan 5, and in December, on a day not yet given, the first Hall of Monuments update, which starts the earning of rewards for Guild Wars 3. A beta of a new World vs. World map runs until Dec 8. The base game is free on PC, and the expansions cost $134.95 bought apart on Steam, or $99.85 as the Complete Collection (US prices, read Nov 12, 2026). Laranity's Jan 20, 2026 clip shows the kind of MMORPG this is: no subscription, and an open world whose public events stay busy long after a zone is new.

Scores

Pros and cons

Pros

• The level cap is still 80 and the gear cap has never gone up, so good gear from years ago is still good gear today.
• No monthly fee, and since Oct 13, 2026 Living World Seasons 1 and 2 are free for every account.
• World vs. World: three servers fight over camps, towers and keeps on maps built to hold armies.
• Nine professions with four elite specializations each, and every profession can be built as a healer.
• Megaservers fold quiet copies of a map into one, so even the leveling zones stay populated.
• Mounts that each move differently: one leaps far, one jumps high, one flies like a jet, one drifts like a motorbike.

Cons

• No expansion is announced. MightyTeapot said on Aug 12, 2026 that he expects none before 2028.
• The whole game is five expansion purchases. A free account is a trial: 2 character slots, 3 bag slots, no map chat, no raids, no mailing gold or items.
• Each build wants its own gear set. TheLazyPeon put the cost of gearing one new build at 50 to 100 gold in Sep 2023.
• Storage is sold for gems, and Black Lion Chests are loot boxes with skins found nowhere else.
• Map completion is per character, not per account.
• It is a 2012 game and shows it. TheLazyPeon said it looked "quite outdated" in 2023.

PvP: 8/10

16:08 Guild Wars 2 has two PvP modes, and both are fair by design. Structured PvP is 5v5 over capture points with everyone's stats made equal. World vs. World is three servers at war, with sieges on keeps and skirmishes over supply camps. In TheLazyPeon's Sep 23, 2023 return, an arena match popped after a four-minute wait at peak European time, and he says in this clip that most of his hours in the game are in these two modes.

What changed in 2026 is that ArenaNet is spending on it. A gray-box map inspired by Ascalon went into beta on Nov 10, 2026, which ArenaNet calls the first new borderlands map in over a decade, and it is planned to replace the Green Alpine Borderlands. The same patch took the War Score system out of beta, with more points for kills, and released new skirmish and match rewards.

It is not a 9 because the arenas get none of this. No structured PvP item is on the roadmap through December, and TheLazyPeon's 2023 complaint that PvP had been "ignored by the devs for a long time" still fits that half. A new arena map would raise the score.

PvE: 8/10

10:29 Group content comes in three sizes: open-world meta events for a whole map, five-player fractals that climb through four tiers into challenge modes, and 10-player raids. "Code of Creation" added the raid encounter Nexus of Eternity, the fractal Solitary Throne and a Convergence, then challenge modes on Sep 29 and a raid Legendary Mode on Oct 13, 2026. In this clip from Jan 2026, Laranity shows the Quickplay button, then in beta for fractals, which matches a group without the party finder.

We stop at 8 because the supply is thin. One raid encounter per release is far less than a raid tier in Final Fantasy XIV or World of Warcraft, and MightyTeapot, who rated the Visions of Eternity raid "pretty solid", also called the endings of the two expansions before it "catastrophic". With no expansion in sight, nothing new for raids or fractals is dated after October.

Solo play: 9/10

This is the score the game is built for. Nothing a solo player earns expires: Laranity's point in her 2026 video is that ArenaNet never raises the level or gear cap, so someone who leaves for a year returns to gear that is still good, and no subscription ran while they were away. There are six expansions of story, masteries that unlock gliding and nine mount types, jumping puzzles and map completion. Other players never cost you anything: everyone who helps in a fight gets full credit and every gathering node is per player.

It misses 10 for two reasons from recorded play. TheLazyPeon, on a second character in 2023, found none of his map completion carried over. And he got bored of "following NPCs around": the story is long stretches of talk between fights, and MightyTeapot judged the finales of Secrets of the Obscure and Janthir Wilds as weak.

Combat: 9/10

5:13 We think this is the best-feeling hybrid of tab-target and action combat in the genre. Most skills cast while moving, there is no global cooldown, and a dodge roll on a stamina bar makes every big attack a timing test. Laranity says in this clip that it has made other MMORPGs feel slow to her. With Visions of Eternity adding one elite specialization for each of the nine professions, there are 36, and each changes how a profession plays.

The missing point is the top end. TheLazyPeon had to write himself a document to relearn a Catalyst rotation he counted at about 25 buttons, and he lists the game as hard for new players to get into because it plays so unlike other MMORPGs.

Fair pricing: 7/10

13:25 The base game is free and there is no subscription. On Steam in the US on Nov 12, 2026: Heart of Thorns with Path of Fire is $29.99, End of Dragons $29.99, and Secrets of the Obscure, Janthir Wilds and Visions of Eternity $24.99 each. That is $134.95, or $99.85 as the Complete Collection bundle. Seasons 3 and 4 now come with the first pair and Season 5 with End of Dragons.

Neither creator we watched found power for sale: TheLazyPeon lists a "non-pay to win business model" among his pros. The gem shop sells skins, account services and convenience, and that last word is why this is a 7 by our rule and not a 10. Laranity, who defends the shop in this clip, still calls extra bank space a must-buy and the Black Lion Chest loot box her least favorite part. Paying accounts can turn gold into gems; free accounts cannot.

Population: 7/10

Steam Charts' highest monthly peak for 2026 is 10,159 in June, the month Guild Wars 3 was announced (read Nov 12, 2026). By our rule 10,000 is a 6, and we add 1 because Steam only sees people who launch through Steam, while accounts made at ArenaNet's site use its own launcher. The trend since June is down: the October 2026 peak was 6,111, and the Steam record is 10,846, set in November 2025 after Visions of Eternity launched. ArenaNet publishes no total, so the true number online is unknown.

What creators say

8:26 TheLazyPeon, in his MMORPG Tier List 2026 (Dec 11, 2025): "definitely like solid A tier", "probably the best horizontal progression MMO", and "such an easy MMO to return to". We agree with all three. In 2023 he argued the game should delete gear and let players pick stats from a menu. We would not go that far, but his 50 to 100 gold per new build is a real wall.

11:10 In his Jun 26, 2026 video on Guild Wars 3, he reports game director Josh Davis saying there will be no new expansion for 18 months, with a World vs. World map, a year of updates to old content, a new Hall of Monuments and a free map set in Orr in its place. MeinMMO reported the same four plans on Jun 7, 2026. Later in that video he calls Guild Wars 3 "more of an MMO light" and says he "really just wanted a modern version of Guild Wars 2". We disagree on what that means. ArenaNet's Jun 16, 2026 post says the three games are meant to coexist, and a sequel without large-scale battles leaves Guild Wars 2 as the only place to get them.

8:07 MightyTeapot, a long-time Guild Wars 2 creator, said on Aug 12, 2026 that "there's no expansion until realistically 2028 at the earliest". The two read the pause differently: TheLazyPeon said the promise of continued support made him want to jump back in, while MightyTeapot called the finale patch one of the most important in the game's history and joked that a miss would mean maintenance mode. We side with the calmer reading: the finale shipped with everything it listed, beside a dated roadmap to December.

Who should play it, and who should not

Play it if you have a job and a family and want an MMORPG that waits for you, if you want large-scale PvP without a gear gap, or if exploring and collecting matter more to you than item level.

Skip it if you need your character to grow stronger every patch: Old School RuneScape gives a solo player a longer climb. Skip it too if you want a new raid tier every few months, which is what Final Fantasy XIV sells. Anyone waiting for Guild Wars 3 should know what is official: PC and PlayStation 5, a first beta in fall 2027, buy-to-play with no subscription, and no release date.

Sources

• Steam Charts: Guild Wars 2, read Nov 12, 2026
• Guild Wars 2 on Steam, US prices read Nov 12, 2026
• ArenaNet: Play the Finale of Visions of Eternity Today with "Code of Creation", Sep 15, 2026
• ArenaNet: "Code of Creation" Concludes Visions of Eternity on September 15, Sep 8, 2026
• ArenaNet: Living World Seasons Are Now Included with Guild Wars 2 Expansions, Oct 13, 2026
• ArenaNet: The New World vs. World Borderlands Map Beta Is Live!, Nov 10, 2026
• ArenaNet: Play the New World vs. World Borderlands Map Beta on November 10, Sep 22, 2026
• Guild Wars 2 Support: Account Types
• ArenaNet press release: Visions of Eternity launching October 28, 2025
• Guild Wars 3 official site
• Colin Johanson: Our Guild Wars Philosophy, Jun 16, 2026
• MeinMMO: What happens next with Guild Wars 2?, Jun 7, 2026
• TheLazyPeon: Guild Wars 2 in 2023, Sep 23, 2023
• TheLazyPeon: MMORPG Tier List 2026, Dec 11, 2025
• TheLazyPeon: Guild Wars 3 Could Be The Next BIG MMO...But, Jun 26, 2026
• Laranity: Why Play Guild Wars 2 in 2026?, Jan 20, 2026
• MightyTeapot: Could This Be The MOST IMPORTANT PATCH IN YEARS?, Aug 12, 2026