If you want to try out the Stronghold PvP mode from the upcoming Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, log into the game on Tuesday.
20:00 BST on Tuesday 14 April marks the beginning of a 24-hour period in which the Stronghold mode will be available for everyone to play. For those 24 hours, it’ll be the only mode available in Unranked Arena, while Conquest will still be available in Ranked Arena – but, alas, you won’t be able to try out Heart of Thorns‘ new Revenant class when battling through Stronghold.
The Stronghold map on offer will be the Battle of Champion’s Dusk, with knights and pirates battling it out to kill the opposing team’s lord. You can spend supply to hire NPCs for assistance in taking down enemy gates and defences, and hopefully open up some new tactical opportunities for you. If you want to get a proper look at how it works, ArenaNet will be streaming a “Stronghold boot camp” on their official Twitch channel on 10 April, at 20:00 BST, with more livestreams coming once the public beta actually launches.
If this sounds like your sort of thing but you don’t have Guild Wars 2, then you can get into the game pretty cheaply this weekend. From 10 April to 13 April, the Standard Edition of Guild Wars 2 will be down to £8.75 on the Guild Wars 2 store, and the Digital Deluxe Edition will be reduced to £12.49.
But the important thing is the public beta. Log into Guild Wars 2 anytime in the 24 hour period starting at 8pm BST on 14 April, and you can have a go at Stronghold for yourself.