Guild Wars 2 Mac Beta Now Available

This was a huge surprise to wake up to this morning. Guild Wars 2 Mac Beta is now available, and ArenaNet has made it clear they are huge Mac fans with their announcement. It’s available now for anybody who purchased/purchases Guild Wars 2.

If you have not been keeping an eye on PC gaming, Guild Wars 2 is one of the largest game launches of the year, and probably the most anticipated MMORPG launch this year (Mists of Pandaria/World of Warcraft aside). As of today, Mac players now have a better selection of MMORPGs, – in addition to World of Warcraft, we have Guild Wars 2, and next year we will have The Elder Scrolls Online.

It’s a fantasy based massively multiplayer online role-playing game, but unlike traditional MMORPGs, it does not require a monthyly subscription. You will need to purchase the game, whether at a retailer like Amazon.com or a local retailer such as Best Buy, but after you purchase it and activate your account, you do not pay a monthly fee. It’s a massive game world, as you can see in the tour of one of the cities, Divinity’s Reach, at the bottom of this page.

The announcement:

Today we’re happy to announce another major milestone in the development of Guild Wars 2: going forward, ArenaNet will also be supporting the game on Apple’s Mac OS X. The Mac Beta client is available immediately for all Guild Wars 2 players. It shares the same features and connects to the same live game servers as the PC client. Anyone who purchases Guild Wars 2 can now play it on both PC and Mac.

Bringing Guild Wars 2 to the Mac is huge for us, because it introduces the game to an entire group of players who are often ignored by game developers. The ability to play together with your friends is one of the underlying principles of Guild Wars 2, and providing a Mac client means that friends and guildmates can play together regardless of what operating system they favor.

On top of it all, ArenaNet staffers are big fans of Macs. We offer them as part of our employee laptop subsidy program, and our president Mike O’Brien is rarely seen without his Mac laptop. We’re as excited as anyone to play Guild Wars 2 on OS X.

There are some details you should know, outlined in the Mac FAQ.

Guild wars 2 for Mac – Frequently Asked Questions
• Active Guild Wars 2 account required.
• Available to anybody who has purchased or will purchase Guild Wars 2, including Guild Wars 2 for Windows.
• Download through Account.GuildWars2.com
• Will be updated simultaneously with the PC/Windows versions.
• Uses Cider technology from TransGaming
• Windows and Mac beta players can play together
• Retail Mac version release date based upon testing
• No additional charge to play with both clients.
• See the Guild Wars 2 forums Mac Section for more details

Mac Beta Requirements
• Mac OS X 10.7.x or later
• Intel Core i5 or better
• 4GB of RAM or better
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M, ATI Radeon HD 6630M, Intel HD 3000 or better
• 25 GB of Hard Drive Space
• Broadband Internet Connection
• Keyboard and mouse/equivalent

Tested Macs
• iMac 21.5″, 27″ (Mid-2010)
• iMac 21.5″, 27″ (Mid-2011)
• MacBook Pro 15″, 17″ (Mid-2010)
• MacBook Pro 13″, 15″, 17″ (Early and Late-2011)
• MacBook Pro 13″, 15″, 17″ (Mid-2012)
• Mac Mini (Mid-2011)

Sales/Deals – Amazon.com
• Guild Wars 2 – Varies
• Guild Wars 2 Limited Edition Strategy Guide – $23.11 – 38% Off