Taken from the post on the offical Guild Wars 2 Facebook page:

We will be conducting a stress test on Thursday, August 2 from 12:00 Noon PACIFIC Time to 4:00 PM PACIFIC Time.
Unlike previous stress tests, we will be actively working on the game during the event, so you might experience connectivity problems or discover features that are not working as designed. Any issues you experience are a result of the rigorous conditions of the stress test, and are in no way representative of the state of the game at launch. By participating in this stress test, you’re helping us make Guild Wars 2 a better game. Thanks for your cooperation—we’ll see you in-game! ~RB2

How do you plan to spend this precious last 4 hours or so in-game before launch? Myself I'll be messing around in the character creator getting the look just right for my first toon.

Edit: Characters have not been wiped.

Hmmm theres not much else to do now for me after 3 BWEs and with the game launching in less than one month :) Guess Ill also try to create my characters and get all the slides/faces right. Maybe check servers population too, queues, stuff like that. I know Ill be rolling a human thief/norn elementalist, maybe Ill try to decide on a 3rd profession fast.

I'm gonna prepurchase the game today and spend all my time in character creation tomorrow so come launch i can get in, make my dude, and get my name ASAP.

@Hupsel: I'd say that since it will be a stress test, server loads and queues (if any) wont be representative of their state at release. I'm most concerned about queues for WvW if I'm honest though, could hurt some more popular servers for sure.

@TheHT: I seem to remember to get into the last stress test (which followed BWE2) you had to have registered your pre purchase before BWE2. I'll see if I can find any more info.

edit: You should be ok according to this post

Yeah, character creation seems to be the best place to spend my time. I'm gonna take a while making my norn elementalist and try to figure out some way to save the slider settings so I can power through creation on launch.

Going to be at work, no play time for me.

@Maystack said:

Yeah, character creation seems to be the best place to spend my time. I'm gonna take a while making my norn elementalist and try to figure out some way to save the slider settings so I can power through creation on launch.

I'm just gonna take screenshots and probably alt+tab between them and the game. memorizing it seems just a bit too crazy for me, but i suppose i've done crazier things in anticipation of games.

I'll be doing some sPvP. Likely with the elementalist. Wanna check out if a Charr & Elementalist combination is something I can get with.

Few hours to burn? Sounds like a job for some dub vee dub. I totally wouldn't have known about this stress test had I not seen this, by the way.

OH. MY. GOD.

I HAVE JUST BEEN SHOUTING AT THE TOP OF MY VOICE AT DOURIN FOR LIKE 30 MINUTES.

Gonna play the FUCK out of some structured PvP - oh and unabashedly steal @TheHT 's idea of playing with character creation now.

I have no clue what time that is in europe, a shame.

I hope I don't forget about it tomorrow lol.

Anyway, I'll use it to test out new PvP builds.

Gonna recreate my character and try to join you guys in some World vs World craziness. Also, I was looking at the Guild Wars 2 art book, and dude, Orr looks crazy. They said that the largest scale battles occur in the city of Orr. I can't wait for the 25th!

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

I have no clue what time that is in europe, a shame.

I... don't even.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Final+GW2+Stress+Test&iso=20120802T12&p1=137&ah=4

(time/date for stress test in most major cities)

My CPU did not survive the pressure of the beta WE and died yesterday...RIP old crappy CPU!

I could not participate to the stress test...but no worries universe, I got the message you are sending me: I will get a nice PC for release ^_-

Anyone know how big the patch is? And is this 8pm or 7pm BST?

Hyped!

@Chavtheworld: I think it's 8pm bst. Why is it called Bst anyway?

@selfconfessedcynic: British Summer Time!

(Disclaimer: "British Summer" may or may not exist.)

EDIT: Also have you seen the Mesmer and Engineer desktop backgrounds? Not the ones with the words "Mesmer" on them which are really white, but the more colourful scenes? Cause they're bloody gorgeous:

The Guardian and Thief aren't half bad either.

@selfconfessedcynic: 8PM BST but I start spamming login an hour earlier since they usually open it up before then. I think it's BST because of daylight savings here (british summer time)?

I'll play some structured with y'all. Going to make a charr mesmer and hopefully the enormous clones will actually be an advantage.

1/5 LF More Warriors to run Rifle Spike in sPvP. PM me.

@shinboy630: I'll make an asura warrior to be a part of this hahaha

Hurm not quiet sure what I'll do maybe finally mess around with engineer

Playing the character creator sounds like a great idea though

@shinboy630 said:

1/5 LF More Warriors to run Rifle Spike in sPvP. PM me.

Count me in.

I'll join, but I kind of want to run a Captain Hammer. He will be named Corporate Tool.

@Tarkhein said:

I'll join, but I kind of want to run a Captain Hammer. He will be named Corporate Tool.

Brilliant. I love it.

@Tarkhein said:

I'll join, but I kind of want to run a Captain Hammer. He will be named Corporate Tool.

It woudn't be a rifle team if you played with a hammer : )

Then again, hammer offhand should be interesting. (note that captain hammer is hammer/mace+mace)

Oh, and I'm TOTES there for the rifle squad - though if we fill up, I'll concede my place so I can run around PUG sPvP with some of the other builds I'm interested in.

I know it won't be a rifle team, but Captain Hammer makes a great partner for anyone. Your idea is better though, Rifle/Hammer shout warrior.

Just remembered the basketball is on at pretty much the exact same time as the stress test. I guess I'll hop on for like 15 minutes between games though.

I'll be there with my indestructible Charr Minion Master.

Or I could really do with trying some other classes some more, I have no idea what class to make my Sylvari.

I just got a new Logitech G800 gaming mouse, so I'll be playing with setting up hotkeys and one-button macros so I jump right in on the 25th.

@BiG_Weasel: Bind the closest thumb button to your 1 skill (autoattack) I find it extremely useful.

I'll pass. I've already uninstalled the client. Have fun though!

@zyn: Have you bought the game?

@Benny said:

@zyn: Have you bought the game?

Nope.

@zyn: Ok, it's the same client they'll use at launch is all.

@Benny said:

@zyn: Ok, it's the same client they'll use at launch is all.

Yeah, I know. It's just... you know, reinstalling the client for a couple of hours is not worth it IMO.

I literally just picked up my new Naga (happy, @selfconfessedcynic ?), so I will be messing with keybinds the whole time and trying them out in sPvP.

I'll be there. Not sure how easy it'll be to actually play, though.

@Chavtheworld said:

@selfconfessedcynic: British Summer Time!

(Disclaimer: "British Summer" may or may not exist.)

British summer exsists... it's just that it only lasts for one two hour window on a random afternoon when the clouds part at the same time it's "warm".

@OldGuy: This is true. But don't forget it's probably raining during that window (despite the lack of clouds).

@Chavtheworld: Sure, complain about not having a summer while I sit here in muggy, 94 degree (F) heat.

Well that's that. I took 133 pictures of character creation for 3 characters.

Now to spend these next 3 weeks looking at them and deciding what I want to roll with. Then, come 3AM on the 25th, it's a race to get those names.

It's over... damn, those 4 hours went by quickly. And I was mostly whining and bitching at how underpowered the elementalist feels in sPvP. Nothing quite worked too well. Figured out a decent build in the end... and then the stress test was over. DPS definitely doesn't match the extreme squishiness. Thief's similarly squishy, only less so, and dishes out one million times more DPS. So I had to put everything into survivability, from traits, over gems, to the amulett of choice - together with the ice elemental (which now heals, because the glyph of elementals is an elite skill now), it's been enough survivability to get some use out of the elementlist's subpar DPS. Guess being underpowered is the cost of being so damn versatile and fun to play.

Only 22 more days 'til early access you guys! Gonna be great.

I was hoping they would extend it. :(

@Seppli: After stumbling around a bit to get back on my feet, I managed to get top player in the very last match with my dagger/focus ele, less than a minute before the test ended.

@Dark_Lord_Spam said:

@Seppli: After stumbling around a bit to get back on my feet, I managed to get top player in the very last match with my dagger/focus ele, less than a minute before the test ended.

I 'always' get top player in at least 3 categories, running PUG. You get those for almost everything you do. From getting the most kills/captures/defends/etc., to map specific stuff like killing the most NPCs/hitting the most people with the trebouchet/etc. Just getting spanked in 1 on 1 quite often, that's all - because the elementalist's dps does not offset his squishiness, like it should.

Didn't try daggers yet in PvP. Hate them for PvE. Guess dagger skills might do great DPS in PvP, with all the melee range fighting going on. I like the staff's skills the best. They're just so straightforward and versatile and go together wonderfully, sadly it's a bit lacking in the singletarget DPS department. Also tried some scepter and focus gameplay, which has awesome survivabilty options, but just doesn't deal enough DPS - even if specced and geared totally towards it.

I'll definitely need to get a steady sPvP group quickly, especially if I want to make use of the tournament tickets and get some sweet loot - because PUGs can be an aggrivating affair. Good god, some players tend to fight anywhere, but at the objective. Drives me nuts.

@Seppli: Ah, you're right. I forgot about the subtext on those awards. Although I did have 2 "xxx is on a rampage!"s going in that match, which is enough to get me pumped.

I don't know why, but I was kicked from the guild during the stress test. Anyway, I tried out the Razer Nostromo after listening to the podcast. After a bit of adjustment it felt pretty good paired with the Naga.