The first time I made the ascent through the Tower of Nightmare in Guild Wars 2, my gut reaction was that raids would be coming to the game at some point in the future. While not the only indication that this could be the case at that point, I can still recall quite clearly how well that particular Living World update provided the perfect testbed for how raids could work.

In fact, back in November 2013 I totally called that raids would eventually be hitting the game in an article titled The Inevitability of Raiding in Guild Wars 2.

While it took a bit longer than I had originally anticipated, today during the GW2 panel at PAX Prime it was officially confirmed that raids will be coming with the new expansion. Given the iterative development philosophy at ArenaNet, it’s entirely possible that the process of designing for raids did originate that far back if not much earlier, but regardless it will be interesting to see how things unfold once rolled into the game.

Information on raids is still rolling in, but we do know that they will be 10-player instances, and look to be a bit more challenging and complex than what we’ve seen so far with dungeons and fractals. If the official trailer (scroll down to view) is any indication, you’ll also want to make sure to work on your gliding skills to avoid the “oops, too slow” dirt nap moment showcased in the boss fight clips.

It remains to be seen how raids will impact the game overall, especially given that Guild Wars 2 has traditionally bucked the trends in MMOs of devolving into an endgame grind for gear. We’ll also be seeking to discover how closely linked raiding will be with certain Masteries, or other methods ArenaNet has in mind for incentivizing players to participate to help avoid some of the fire-and-forget nature of the original run of dungeons.

The Core Game is Now Also Free

Not to be overshadowed by the announcement of raids, it was also announced that the core game of Guild Wars 2 is now completely free. Previously the core game was being bundled with the purchase of Heart of Thorns – confirmed to officially launch on October 23 – but interested gamers can now jump into the game for free and get a head start on getting into the game before the expansion arrives.

In terms of “try before you buy” programs, this is pretty much the best deal in town at this point given that GW2 is also completely free-to-play and not a shifty hybrid subscription service masquerading as a proper free game.

We’ll be reaching out to the folks at ArenaNet to learn more on raids, so stay tuned for more details on that front. I’m sure you have just as many questions as we do at this point, so be sure to drop a comment below and let us know what you’re most interested in learning more about.

As a final quick note, a diminished moa also told me to let everyone know to keep your eyes peeled for a GW2 giveaway coming soon to your friendly neighborhood Ten Ton Hammer.