Guild Wars 2 gets beta client for Mac OS X

Gamers who prefer playing their games on a Mac now have a good reason to rejoice. According to  Stick Twiddlers, Guild Wars 2 is making its way to the Mac OS X. As of now, there is only a beta version of the game available on the operating system, but the servers of the beta are actually connected to the live servers. This means that Mac gamers can jump right into the game to play alongside their PC gaming brethren.

The beta is available to anyone who has purchased the game. Players can access the beta version of the Mac client through the Guild Wars 2 account management page once their game code has been activated.

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Mac gamers can now enjoy one of the biggest releases this year

Earlier this month, ArenaNet – developers of Guild Wars 2 – had announced that the game had  sold over two million copies. In the announcement, President and Co-founder of ArenaNet, Mike O’Brien, said “Reactions from around the world justified the time and care we put into developing Guild Wars 2 and making it into the game it is today. And this is only the beginning. We’re continually fine-tuning the game to deliver the polished experience that our players expect, and we’re already working on new adventures and experiences to introduce into this truly dynamic online world.”

The game had launched on August 28, but pre-purchasers were given a three day headstart. During the headstart, the game had, at one point, more than 400,000 concurrent players. Whether it’s because of the vast and dynamic world that changes based on player actions, the engaging, customisable personal storyline, or the visceral, highly-mobile action, it’s clear that online gamers are eager for Guild Wars 2.

One of the biggest features of Guild Wars 2 is that unlike other major MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, the former has no monthly subscription fee. The game follows a one-time payment model that you usually get from other games. Another great feature is the inclusion of a personal story for your character, where your character goes through a story which is moulded by the choices you make for the character during the creation of the character and other quests. The game also aims for a more dynamic combat system than what players are used to from the likes of World of Warcraft, Everquest or Star Wars: The Old Republic, with mechanics such as spells which have to be aimed properly instead of being targeted abilities and the ability to dodge attacks.

Guild Wars 2 is the biggest competition that the current king of the MMORPG world, World of Warcraft, will have to face. World of Warcraft is all set to get its latest expansion pack this year, titled Mists of Pandaria. The highly anticipated expansion pack is set to release on September 25. Once the expansion pack is out, players belonging to both the Alliance and the Horde will be able to visit and explore the long-lost continent of Pandaria and see the mysteries the continent hides.

CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Mike Morhaime said, “Mists of Pandaria contains the biggest variety of new content we’ve ever created for a World of Warcraft expansion, with features that will appeal to new players, veterans, and everyone in between. We’ve received a lot of great feedback from players during our most extensive beta test yet, and we hope they enjoy exploring everything Pandaria has to offer when the expansion comes out in September.”