ArenaNet has announced the next free trial initiative for Guild Wars 2. As of tomorrow, 25 September, they'll be standing on street corners offering just a taste—enough to get you hooked. By which I mean you'll be able to register a trial account and play their non-subscription MMO for a full week, until 1 October.

The trial won't come without restrictions. Last year, the free access resulted in gold-farming spam all up in the map chat. This year, new restrictions have been put in place . Trial players will only be able to mail and whisper the players on their friends list, and won't be able to use map chat. In addition, trial players won't be allowed to access the Gem Store and Currency Exchange, and are barred from World-versus-World—the battleground of the current Fall Tournament .

Guild Wars 2 recently updated with the September Feature Pack—dramatically changing the "new player experience". Many of its changes proved controversial among the community, due to the gated progress on new characters. Since that release, ArenaNet have released a number of minor patches and hotfixes designed to dial back some of the original system's unintended level restrictions.

The Guild Wars 2 free trial will begin on 25 September, 12am PDT, and will run until 1 October, 11:59pm PDT. Need convincing that it's worth a try? Here's Chris's 94% review , and here's a happy video filled with catchy pop tunes .