We’re excited to announce that ESL has teamed up with ArenaNet to bring you the all-new ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League! Set to take place in Europe and North America with a total prize pool of US$400,000 to be paid out over the tournament’s planned two seasons, this is the largest ever seen in competitive Guild Wars 2 as well as one of the biggest cash prizes in ESL Pro League history!

Opening the doors to the qualifiers

In addition to offering the biggest potential prize pool in Guild Wars 2 history, the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League will also be open to more players than ever before. Together with ArenaNet, ESL will be lowering age and region restrictions in order to allow an even wider range of aspiring professional players to take part.

Open qualifiers will begin on November the 14th, with season one of the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League to officially kick off later in November and run until early 2016, when an epic LAN season finals event will wrap up the competition at the ESL studios.

ArenaNet game director Colin Johanson said of the tournament:

“We’re seeing massive growth in players joining Guild Wars 2 and competitive play is the fastest growing segment in the game. Working with ESL to develop this tournament is a natural next step for us, inviting more players from this growing community to come take their shot at being elite. Guild Wars 2 Pro League is the result of our vision to create a tournament system where the majority of our player community can participate and are given a clear path to improve their skills, form teams and qualify, giving them a real shot at fame, glory and big cash prizes.”

PvP Leagues, the Challenger Cup and beyond

The ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League will also incorporate the new in-game PvP Leagues, which introduced leaderboards for guild teams as part of a Guild Challenger League. These were created in order to help up-and-coming players develop their skills and earn in-game rewards as they fight their way up the rankings, and will act as a feeder system for the ESL Pro League.

At the end of each season, the bottom ranking teams in the PvP Leagues will face off against the top teams from the Guild Challenger League in a competition known as the Challenger Cup in order to defend their all-important position in the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League. The top Challenger Cup teams will then be promoted to the next season of the ESL Pro League, so there’s a lot to play for!

After both seasons of the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League are over, ArenaNet will host a World Championship event. When, where and the total prize pool will be announced in the coming months of the ESL Pro League, so be sure to stay tuned!

For more information about the ESL Guild Wars 2 Pro League including rules, format and more, please visit the main tournament portal, while you can learn more about Guild Wars 2 and play for free over at the official Guild Wars 2 website.

Be sure to follow ESL Guild Wars 2 on Facebook and Twitter for all the latest updates!

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