August 28th, 2012—the day Guild Wars 2 launches—is fast approaching. Everyone here at ArenaNet is anxiously counting the days right along with every Guild Wars 2 fan. In just a few weeks, the servers will go live and each of us will be setting out on our adventures in Tyria!

As you may have seen, we host a countdown timer on the front page of our official website. The information below will give you specific details about times and dates based on whether you pre-purchased, pre-ordered, or are picking up a copy of the game on release day.

Pre-Purchase with 3-Day Headstart: Everyone who pre-purchased Guild Wars 2 will enjoy three full days of Headstart Access. The three-day Headstart Access will officially begin at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 25th. However, please note that in order to ensure that we’re fully prepared for that fateful hour we may bring servers online up to 3 hours prior. If you’re a player committed to getting in first to grab that character name of your dreams you’ll want to be keeping an eye on things during that time period.

Pre-Order with 1-Day Headstart: Those who pre-ordered Guild Wars 2 will be able to participate in one day of Headstart Access. The one-day Headstart Access will begin at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 27th. NOTE – Pre-Order code registration is now enabled.

For those players who have not pre-purchased or pre-ordered the game, Guild Wars 2 will officially launch at 0:00 AM Pacific time (GMT -7:00) on August 28th.

Download the Client today: If you’ve registered your pre-purchase or pre-order and created your Guild Wars account you can go to account management today and download the client. Be sure to update the client periodically to minimize your download at launch.

We look forward to seeing you in-game very soon!