http://www.arena.net/blog/dragon

We recently finished our first closed beta test, and we’re now ready to hold progressively larger events. In February we’ll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we’ll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate. And of course, this all leads to the release of Guild Wars 2 later this year.

Great news!

Large beta tests in March/April? Hell yeah.

Looks like Guild Wars 2 will be releasing relatively soon, I just got way more excited. :)

It's definitely good news that we're getting it this year for sure, but was there any doubt of that?

The wording is still vague enough to make me think it's going to be a Q3/Q4 release, rather than something very soon.

Very cool.

Nice, @WinterSnowblind said:

It's definitely good news that we're getting it this year for sure, but was there any doubt of that?

The wording is still vague enough to make me think it's going to be a Q3/Q4 release, rather than something very soon.

I agree that it will propably be pretty late this year.

@Nentisys said:

Nice, @WinterSnowblind said:

It's definitely good news that we're getting it this year for sure, but was there any doubt of that?

The wording is still vague enough to make me think it's going to be a Q3/Q4 release, rather than something very soon.

I agree that it will propably be pretty late this year.

They said open beta will probably be pretty close to release, so while I agree it's gonna be later in the year, my guess is late Q2/early Q3 and I will actually pretty surprised if it slips into Q4.

I am really excited for this, hopefully the combat will be as awesome as it sounds.

I wonder if the 7th birthday present for gw1 accounts will be a guaranteed beta key :]?

@Adamsons: I doubt it, too many people have deleted their characters.. Maybe if it went by the age of your account, but I think they're aiming for a much wider audience than just people who've played GW1.

I could see pre-orders getting you in though, or if you purchase the CE through the official website.

Poor TOR.

I've been following this game for what seems like forever and it still blows my mind that there will be no quests.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo stoked for this game

@Adamsons: I doubt it, too many people have deleted their characters.. Maybe if it went by the age of your account, but I think they're aiming for a much wider audience than just people who've played GW1.

I could see pre-orders getting you in though, or if you purchase the CE through the official website.

The fact that their FAQ says that most of the game is soloable makes me excited for this game.

I'm ready.

Man...

Please come out at the beginning of summer.

@Doctorchimp said:

Man...

Please come out at the beginning of summer.

So much this. If it comes out in like September, I'm gonna fail Uni for sure.

Fuck Yeah!

Ahh, ya beat me to it. Regardless, time-frames for beta and release are simultaneously awesome (because GW2 is closing in) and terrifying (because I'm still stuck with a garbage PC).

The Secret World is going to rock too, probably coming this year. TOR will be forgotten quickly I think.

fuck. yes.

Here's a bit of additional info from Martin on the arrangement of the March/April betas. You may want to put it in the OP. 

Martin Kerstein said:

Ok, to clarify a couple of points:

We purposely didn’t use the term “Open Beta”, we mentioned Beta Events. To some people Open Beta means unlimited access to the game and everybody on the interwebs can play it. This is not what we will do.

We will do Beta Weekend Events. Those of you who played Guild Wars might already be familiar with the concept. It means that many of you (like the blogpost says) will get a chance to participate in specific Events, but access won’t be unlimited – there will be some kind of selection criteria and the beta period will usually start on a Friday and end on the following Sunday.

I hope this helps.

We might be picking up GW2 as early as May. I'm over the moon!

@shinboy630 said:

@Nentisys said:

Nice, @WinterSnowblind said:

It's definitely good news that we're getting it this year for sure, but was there any doubt of that?

The wording is still vague enough to make me think it's going to be a Q3/Q4 release, rather than something very soon.

I agree that it will propably be pretty late this year.

They said open beta will probably be pretty close to release, so while I agree it's gonna be later in the year, my guess is late Q2/early Q3 and I will actually pretty surprised if it slips into Q4.

Actually, ArenaNet stated there will never be such a thing as an 'Open Beta'. Just a couple of 'Beta and Preview Weekends'. Stress tests and General feedback mostly. Could be droppin' as early as May. I'm pumped!

Especially after SW:TOR reminded me how much I hate dedicated healers and their effect on PvP.

So. HYPED.

BETA GET!

@Seppli said:

We might be picking up GW2 as early as May. I'm over the moon!

As beyond awesome as that might be, my final exam grades would not like it very much :P

My tabby cat from gw hom can't wait to play gw2.

@Seppli: I was about to correct you and point out that these don't sound like the preview weekends they mentioned in the past.. but they actually sound exactly like that, so I retract my previous comments about it still looking like a Q3/4 release. Sounds like it could well be right around the corner, but I'm still not going to get my hopes up for it before June.

Good thing I will be done my undergrad.  Maybe I will take a semester off before I start my masters just for GW2, lol.

I hope like hell it's out early summer. If it hits during the fall semester I might be in for some trouble.

I predict GOTY 2012

Blue eyes white dragon?