Account

The term account refers to the authorized user account granted to a player by ArenaNet, usually by purchasing a Guild Wars Reforged product. Accounts are tied to individuals and are not transferable, as specified in the EULA.

Creation

An account can be created by:

• Purchasing Guild Wars Reforged (which includes the Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall campaigns) and choosing to create a new account. There is a 24-hour wait after creating an account before it can trade.
• Downloading the mobile client and creating a new account using a Mobile ID tied to your Apple or Google account. Mobile ID accounts are ad-supported and limited to the Prophecies campaign with restrictions (no chat, player-to-player trading, party invites, or PvP). A Mobile ID account can be linked to an email-based ArenaNet account to carry progress to PC or Steam Deck.

New accounts can be created using an email address via the standalone client, or linked to a Steam account via the Steam client. Note that accounts can only be linked to Guild Wars 2 accounts on the same platform (ArenaNet email accounts link to ArenaNet email accounts; Steam accounts link to Steam accounts).

Trial Accounts (historical)

Free trial accounts were previously available, but the creation pages are no longer accessible. The below information describes trial account limitations for when they existed.

• Trial codes were given out with boxed copies of the game.
• They could only be played for 14 days or 10 hours of playtime, whichever came first. The remaining time was displayed ingame.
• They could not create PvP-only characters nor travel to the Battle Isles.
• Characters could not use the all or trade chat channels, party search, trade with other characters (nor drop items/gold for other characters to pick up), pick up unassigned items nor access storage. They could not invite other characters to form a party, but they were able to be invited.

To turn a trial account into a permanently usable account without these restrictions, a full product had to be bought and added to the account.

Adding features

Guild Wars Reforged includes all three campaigns—Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall—in a single purchase. Individual campaigns are no longer sold separately.

The Eye of the North expansion and Bonus Mission Pack remain available as separate purchases and can be added to an existing account via an access key through the game client or the Guild Wars Online Store.

Further upgrades are available via the Guild Wars Online Store, including costumes, character slots, and skill unlock packs. These features are added directly to the account. Note that serial keys for content purchased from the Guild Wars Online Store cannot be redeemed on Steam accounts; Steam users must purchase DLC and items through the Steam client or Steam store.

Adding Eye of the North to an account increases the amount of character slots and storage panes available. Since Guild Wars Reforged already includes all three campaigns, all accounts have access to multi campaign content.

Players can continue to use any unlocked features (e.g. trading, global chat, or Embark Beach).

Name

An account can be given a unique name, which is used to allow the player to enter Automated Tournaments. By speaking to Tolkano you can set the name of the account to the name of one of your existing characters. This will reserve the name, preventing others from using it while it is linked to your account, so if you delete the character the account was named after, the name cannot be used by another person. This name may be changed every 30 days.

Account-wide aspects

Some aspects of Guild Wars gameplay are tied to the account. For instance, PvP skill and item unlocks are tied to a user's account instead of to the individual characters on that account. Titles related to PvP play are also tied to account, this includes Hero, Gladiator, Champion, Codex, Allegiance rank, Gamer and the Zaishen titles.

Security

If a malicious person gains access to your account, both your invested time and money may be lost. For that reason, ArenaNet recommends that players follow some basic security advice to protect their accounts against account theft.

• See Account Security Tips
• Along with Linking Your Guild Wars and ArenaNet Accounts.

Notes

• Although users may own multiple accounts, accounts cannot be merged.
• Guild Wars Reforged does not include bonus items (such as the Igneous Summoning Stone or bonus weapon bundle) for new purchases. Players who owned campaigns prior to Reforged retain access to any bonus items from their previously redeemed purchases via the "/bonus" command.
• The PvP Access Kit was removed and is no longer purchasable from the online store as of the December 3, 2025 game update.
• All existing Guild Wars accounts created prior to December 3, 2025 are considered ArenaNet accounts, even those originally purchased on Steam. These accounts can log in via the standalone client or the Steam client using the "Login with ArenaNet" option.
• Guild Wars Reforged accounts created on Steam after December 3, 2025 are linked directly to the Steam account and do not require a serial code. These accounts cannot log in via the standalone client.
• See the flowchart below the determine what type of account you currently have.

File:Account flowchart.png

Click to enlarge

Trivia

Restoring a compromised account

Since late 2012, the Guild Wars Account Restoration Tool is no longer functional, so account restoration is unavailable. "At first we believed that the tool could be repaired, but at this point we know that it would require a programmer to completely rebuild it from the ground up and that it would take many weeks of programmer time. At this point, we do not have plans to rebuild the tool".

When the Guild Wars Account Restoration Tool was functional, if your account got compromised (i.e. hacked), it could have sometimes been restored by ArenaNet under the following conditions:

• The hack must have taken place on or after 1 October 2011.
• You must have been able to verify ownership.
• The hack could not have involved a third-party tool that you used.
• Only the account could be restored and only to a specific point in time prior to the hack, e.g. you could not restore only a specific character or item(s).