ArenaNet and NCsoft are offering a 30% discount for Guild Wars 2. You can now purchase the digital standard edition for $39.99, and digital deluxe edition for $54.99. The price is only avaible at buy.guildwars2.com from 12pm PDT April 18, 2013 to 11:59pm PDT April 28, 2013.

Here is a bit of news for those that enjoys MMO's.

This weekend between April 19th-21st Guild Wars 2 will be free all weekend to those who can snag a code from various promotions around the interwebs. You have a good chance to get said codes by following them on Twitter or Facebook, where they will announce giveaways to the masses. If you already have a trial account from the last free weekend back in November, you can sit back and relax, as you can continue right where you left off.

Once you get a code go here to make your account, and download the client. It’s a big one so I wouldn’t put it off for too long. The free weekend starts at 12:01AM PDT on Friday, April 19th and ends at 11:59PDT on Sunday, April 21st.

An interview from PAX with Mike O'Brien, ArenaNet Studio Head and Co-foundercan be found at MMORPG.com.

"We've got some of the best artists we could find on our team," said Art Director, Daniel Dociu. "They are all incredibly talented. Some are young and others are veterans, but they are all passionate about what they do, and we encourage them and challenge them to test themselves and share their talent by entering these competitions."

Guild Wars 2 is the evolution of the aesthetic values of Guild Wars 1, as the technology is now available to take it to another level. A natural progression of the "Handcrafted Quality," said Daniel.

"Guild Wars 2 is the concept art come to life," he continued, pointing to the trailer playing that was the handiwork of Cinematic Lead, Horia Dociu's team.

Kill Ten Rats asked writer and world designer Jeff Grubb a few questions on Guild Wars 2.

Humans are an interesting wild card in the Guild Wars world.  What we know is they first appeared in Cantha, the Empire of the Dragon, and the now-called human gods were very relevant to all the lore built up in Guild Wars 1.  Now, with the awakening of the elder dragons and waning of the human race, the human gods are less involved in the world of Tyria.  Who or what created the human race and what is their point of origin?  Why do the other races seem to hold so little value in the human gods, who allegedly “created” Tyria as we know it?

The full story of the origin of the humans has yet to be revealed. They arrived in the Tyria (the continent) sometime after they first appeared on Tyria (the world). It seems, from their previous appearances, that they have come up from the south, so the “human homeland” may be further south than Elona and Cantha.  The idea of human gods “creating” Tyria is viewed by other races with mixed reactions. The charr think of it as theological propaganda (and that the human gods are not true gods, only more powerful, once-mortal, beings).  The asura are perfectly willing to accept the idea of gods as (rather large) gears in the Eternal Alchemy. Norn are perfectly willing to allow the idea of gods, but think of them as a different type of their own animal spirits. The sylvari consider them unproven, since the gods have not shown their presence directly to the sylvari.

Ten Ton Hammer talked with ArenaNet’s Jeff Grubb, Mike O’Brien and Daniel Dociu about the changes in Guild Wars 2.

Ten Ton Hammer: You have a new novel in the works titled Fall of Ascalon; Ascalon obviously played a major role in the original Guild Wars and had somewhat fallen to the Char early on, so how will this new novel fit into that aspect of the lore for GW2?

Jeff Grubb: The idea of Fall of Ascalon is a bridging story that happens between Guild Wars and 250 years later which is the time of Guild Wars 2. Ascalon experienced the Searing and was being overrun by the Char in Guild Wars 1, but what happened next was even worse.

Some of the populous escaped over the mountains to Kryta with Rurik, but a lot remained with Adelbern. When the Char made their final push into the city he unleashed a devastation that was worse than the Char itself. Its 250 years later and the humans and the Char have been fighting for 250 years, and now because of outside enemies or outside forces, they’re slowly coming together and we’re seeing the first signs of a tentative truce between the two warring sides.

The novel takes place a year before the start of Guild Wars 2, but within that story there is a lot of other stories as you’re hearing what happened between then and now, and what happened to some of the characters we know from GW2, what happened to the Ebon Vanguard, why do we see female Char now – we’ll be seeing female Char characters in the game but we didn’t see them before – so there’s a story behind that.

What about the coming of the dragons, and how did that effect Ascalon as well? So we’ve been seeing this progression all the way through, and part of the tale is to recover a Char artifact that would make this peace, this initial truce popular. So the Fall of Ascalon in many ways is basically the initial invasion of the Char, which they think of as basically a reclaiming of the lands that the humans drove them out of. Plus, what Adleburn did, what the dragons did and basically how did Ascalon get into the state that it is right now.

Eurogamer have a discussion on ArenaNet's sequal to the successful Guild Wars: Guild Wars 2.

As for whether it's the game that Guild Wars players will want it to be, O'Brien is confident. "Guild Wars was a very unique game. It takes a different approach to role-playing. Looking at our competitors, it has its genesis in the Magic the Gathering tradition rather than a straight Dungeons and Dragons tradition, and I think players really appreciate that breadth. Because it was so different, I think we got a lot right, but we also got stuff wrong. Guild Wars 2 is the ultimate game for Guild Wars players."

Guild Wars 2 won't be going into beta testing until much nearer its release; ArenaNet is keen to conduct most of the testing within its own, fast-growing team. The trailer, though, and the team's enthusiasm, have redirected our attention to this potentially landmark sequel after two years of silence. If it retains the accessible values of its predecessor across a bigger, persistent, more interactive world - without forcing us to pay a monthly fee for the privilege - it could really shake things up for MMOs.

Blue's News follows up on the recent announcement regarding GW2's release date.

A Letter to Our Fans on GuildWars.com follows up on recent reports of a Guild Wars 2 delay, as ArenaNet's Mike O'Brien accurately points out that because the game has never had a set release date, it can't really be delayed, and since he is correct, we apologize for helping cause confusion in that regard. When the online RPG sequel was announced there were plans for a beta test in the second half of last year before testing was delayed, so there does seem to be an acknowledgement of fan disappointment that Guild Wars 2 won't be released this year (which is what the investor materials he refers to seem to indicate), but he wants it to be clear that recent changes at NC West will be to the game's benefit:

There have been some published rumors over the past few days about Guild Wars 2 delays, and I'm writing you today to set the record straight.

You've all seen announcements about restructuring at NCsoft West, and it's natural to wonder whether that restructuring impacts ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 development. In fact, the reason NCsoft West is restructuring itself is so that the company can put all of its focus into its top-tier games like Guild Wars 2. Our team continues to grow, and has the strong support and financial backing we need to achieve our goal of making Guild Wars 2 the best online role-playing game ever created.

On Friday, NCsoft released investor materials that showed a very broad release window for Guild Wars 2, with the explanation that release timing is still "to be announced." ArenaNet has never given a release date for Guild Wars 2 other than "when it's done." NCsoft's investor materials are a reflection of that philosophy.

I know some fans had hoped for a smaller gap between the launch of Guild Wars: Eye of the North and the start of beta testing for Guild Wars 2, but we communicated last summer that it would be some time before we could commit to any beta or launch dates. Guild Wars 2 is a large and ambitious game, and we're going to take the time to do it right.

I'm immensely proud of what our team has accomplished and continues to accomplish with the development of Guild Wars 2. We'll have a lot more to say when we're closer to release. Until then, we thank you for your continued interest and ask you to stay tuned.

Kotaku highlight GW2's delay mixed in with NCsoft's financial announcement.

Gamasutra reported that while NCsoft's sales were up 5 percent year-over-year, including a strong December quarter-over-quarter profit increase of 60 percent. But overall, the delayed launch of Aion: The Tower of Eternity helped contribute to a yearlong slump for the Korean MMO publisher.

Guild Wars 2 was announced in 2007; a public beta planned for last year was scrapped and will be launched closer to the game's release. According to VE3D, that's 2010 to 2011 (although VE3D doesn't say where exactly it got this.)

As early as summer next year apparently, or winter maybe, speculated at Massively.

When it comes to Guild Wars 2, you could say the folks at Massively are a bit excited about the game. You could also say we're a bit of a MMORPG news and features site, as well. The problem is that there just hasn't been much information to discuss about the sequel. Well, as it turns out, Kill Ten Rats has a little bit of meat for us to chew on -- but only a little.

In a conference call held in early November, it turns out there was some discussion about Aion. How is this pertinent to Guild Wars 2? Well, it seems that NCsoft is quite pleased with the marketed generated through buzz and online viral videos for the game. As of right now, the game is having an enormously popular Korean beta. So, the reasoning goes then that they'd like to see this approach taken with Guild Wars 2, as it saves NCsoft money -- something they apparently need a lot of right now -- and created plenty of awareness.

As for a release date, after being pestered by an uninhibited analyst about said date, NCsoft was willing to admit their interest in a holiday 2009 launch. The intriguing part of this whole shebang is that there appear to be "options" for the game's release, and the analysts aren't too pleased with the inevitable decline in Guild Wars' business. So, could we see the game earlier than next winter? Maybe next summer? Possibly, just possibly.

 FAQ up on GW2 here.

Will there be a subscription fee for Guild Wars 2?

Nope. Like the original Guild Wars, there will be no subscription fee for Guild Wars 2. You just buy the game and play it online without paying a monthly fee.

Will Guild Wars 2 be an MMO?

Yes. Guild Wars 2 provides a massive, online persistent world.

How is Guild Wars 2 different from other MMOs?

While Guild Wars 2 adds a persistent world, it retains the unique nature of the original game including a strong narrative, extensive instanced gameplay, an anti-grind design philosophy, and strong support for competitive play.