UPDATE: It seems ArenaNet has heard the cries of many frustrated beta hopefuls and updated the beta landing page to make the less-than-obvious painfully obvious. But we hope our guide helped a few of you who were lost in limbo in the meantime.

So, you pre-purchased, and you've received your Guild Wars 2 beta invite. You figure that any minute you'll be downloading the beta client in preparation for the beta weekend event kickoff at noon Pacific time on Friday. You click the link in the invite email, accept the forum terms encouraging you to play nice, and then click the grayed-out "DOWNLOAD" link. Which doesn't do anything. Because it's grayed out.

What now?

You could cry, swear, email customer support, or spend several frustrating minutes trying to figure out where, exactly, you're supposed to get that beta client you've been told to download in advance to avoid the rush. Or you could let Ten Ton Hammer solve the problem for you. The problem is that, in your haste to download awesomeness, reading comprehension failed you and you missed ArenaNet's directive telling you where the actual download is cleverly hidden...under News & Announcements.

How to Download the GW2 Beta Client

• Start by clicking that unobtrusively marked link in your invite email that reads "here." Go ahead and sign in.
• You'll likely land on a page that asks you to accept the terms of the Guild Wars 2 beta forum. Go ahead and do that, because you're a nice person and you can promise not to be a jerk.
• Forget about the big "DOWNLOAD" button--it's a lie. For the moment, it doesn't do anything because Guild Wars 2 doesn't yet have an installer. Instead, click on the "News & Announcements" link. (We know it doesn't really make a lot of sense, and it was even grayed out when we first encountered it, but trust us.)
• Now, click "Getting Started." (Yay! That's an intuitive step!)
• Follow the download instructions very carefully. Don't skip the step that encourages you to create a folder on your PC in which to install Guild Wars 2. On most operating systems and setups, you're also going to probably want to right click the exe file and select "Run as administrator."
• Install. Patch. Check back for another patch before Friday, just in case. Then cheer, because the Guild Wars 2 beta client finally has a home on your PC.

That wasn't so tough, was it?

Okay, it was needlessly complex and a little aggravating, but you've done it. Treat yourself to a cookie and rest easy, comforted by the fact that ArenaNet specializes in making awesome games, not writing tutorials.

See you in the Guild Wars 2 beta on Friday, April 27 at noon Pacific time!