Update: Guild Wars 2 officially coming in 2012, open beta to start in March

UPDATE: ArenaNet has clarified on Guild Wars 2 Guru, a fansite for the upcoming game, exactly what its March and April betas will be due to confusion over what is or is not considered an “open beta.”

“We purposely didn’t use the term ‘Open Beta’, we mentioned Beta Events,” wrote ArenaNet German Community Manager Martin Kerstein. “To some people Open Beta means unlimited access to the game and everybody on the interwebs can play it. This is not what we will do.”

Kerstein went on to describe the Guild Wars 2 beta events to be more similar to the weekend beta events done prior to the launch of the original Guild Wars. These events were open to the public, but only took place from Friday to Sunday. The Guild Wars 2 events, according to Kerstein, will follow this weekend format but be selective, making them sound familiar to what BioWare did last fall with the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta weekends.

“It means that many of you (like the blogpost says) will get a chance to participate in specific Events, but access won’t be unlimited – there will be some kind of selection criteria and the beta period will usually start on a Friday and end on the following Sunday,” he explained.

Original Story: Today marks the beginning of the Year of the Dragon in the Asian zodiac, and with such a heavy emphasis on the mythical creatures in the game, ArenaNet’s Founder and President Mike O’Brien has revealed that the developer is looking to make it the year of Guild Wars 2. The studio head has finally dropped the “when it’s ready” catchphrase and told the world that the game is coming in 2012.

“We recently finished our first closed beta test, and we’re now ready to hold progressively larger events,” O’Brien stated in a blog on the ArenaNet website. “In February we’ll invite select press to participate in beta testing, and in March and April we’ll aggressively ramp up the size of our beta test events so that many of you will have a chance to participate. And of course, this all leads to the release of Guild Wars 2 later this year.”

The announcement drops two long-awaited bombshells for those who have been following the game that has been in development since 2007: an open beta and retail release window. Guild Wars 2 had a heavy presence at trade shows in 2011, garnering a massive buzz from the media, MMO savants, and gamers everywhere.

This buzz, caused due to the several genre-changing innovations the game is looking to make (no more holy trinity, dynamic events, shared rewards, etc.), had thousands if not millions wondering just when the game would be released. Now they finally have their answer.

“It’s been an incredible adventure over the past five years, working with our community and our team of dedicated artists, designers, and programmers to realize this vision,” said O’Brien. “This year, the seeds of that work come to fruition. We can’t wait to play the game with you.

“So welcome to the Year of the Dragon – the year of Guild Wars 2.”

[ArenaNet]