Guild Wars 2 is coming. Its only a month away according to their Twitter page. The release date is set for 28th August 2012, but is this simply too late? It has been years of development, and when it was first announced, the hype was incredible. Everyone had the impression this would be the only game to stand a chance at overtaking World of Warcraft.

Too long ago?
This game was first announced back in 2007. I only know this because I was moderating a Gaming Community at the time, called vGaming Online, and this was something I was very interested in writing about. The hype at that point was amazing. The Gaming community I was on was going crazy about the game, along with all major gaming sites, forums and news sites. It was massive, with the hype meter maxxed out on MMORPG.com like never before. But that was then, what about now? Has it been too long, and have we begun to expect more than the game to offer? World of Warcraft has Mists of Pandaria coming, but that’s a separate entity. We expect different gameplay from Guild Wars 2, but can it stand up to new advancements in gaming that have been introduced since the announcement of the game?

Finance of Games
The way games are financed also comes into the equation. Guild Wars is a game like a console game. You purchase it once, and use the key in the case to register the game and use it for life. World of Warcraft demands a monthly fee, and RuneScape, the web alternative pretty much requires a paid Members’ account in order to really benefit from playing the game passed a certain level. Guild Wars has always been loved because of this, as it never ties people in. You do have to buy the expansions, but you have to do that with World of Warcraft too. It is a game where you can go a long time without playing, and then go back for free and continue right where you left off, something you can’t do in other MMORPGs.

The hype remains
Don’t get me wrong, the hype is still there. Everyone is really looking forward to it, and checking out pictures of the beta on a regular basis as more images and videos appear all over the web and on YouTube. It looks great, and going by the views, it does seem evident that this is one of the most hyped games of all time, meaning that people are constantly requiring news about the game’s updates and progress right up until the release.

All major Gaming Sites are ready
Of course there is also the fact that all major Gaming Sites like IGN and GameSpot are ready for the release of this amazing game, and will be covering every bit of it once it is officially released. The hype should remain once the game comes out, and hopefully we won’t be disappointed.