I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. On one hand, adding an event in game that leads to Beta access sounds fun. Making it entirely random as to who discovers such portals sounds a headache and an RNG nightmare. The brief blogpost states the following:

"For a limited time only, rare portals will drop from enemies in Dry Top and the Silverwastes. Portals can’t be traded between players, so bring your friends along to hunt for their very own! Don’t worry if your portal gets misplaced in a sandstorm or devoured by a passing ravager; beta access will be flagged upon looting the item, and it’s not required to claim participation."

Although the portals can be traded, the whole thing just sounds bizzare. I understand that as a buy to play game Guild Wars 2 needs players to log in so that (hopefully) they spend money on the gem store. What frustrates me is that RNG definitely isn't the answer when it comes to gaining beta access. I appreciate that any Beta invite is technically RNG, but I feel this sends the wrong message. It fundamentally gets the hopes of players up on the basis that they feel like they can improve their chances of getting into Beta by playing. As we all know with anything that's a gamble, the odds are sadly never in the favour of the player. 

I'm going to wait to see how this pans out later today. Hopefully ArenaNet have learnt their lesson when it comes to RNG and actually implemented odds that aren't eye wateringly small otherwise they're going to have a lot of pissed off players. We'll keep you posted.


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Last Updated: Mar 15, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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