Core Guild Wars 2 game is now free to download

The rumors turned out to be true – NCsoft and ArenaNet have just released the core Guild Wars 2 for free, so everyone is now able to download the game and play it without any costs. There are, however, a few limitations for the free accounts, as you can see here, but nothing too off-putting and won't certainly prevent you from enjoying the game.

The Heart of Thorns expansion pack, with a planned release for October 23, however, will cost you, but it will bring 10-player raids and there's plenty more free content in store for those who purchase it. Here's the official word from the studio:

“Today we’re making the core Guild Wars 2 game free for everyone. With Heart of Thorns coming, it was already a great time to invite friends and guild members into the game, and now it’s an even better one. We want to make it easy for new players to try the game because we believe that players who love Guild Wars 2 will buy Heart of Thorns”

To us, this is great news, as the Guild Wars 2 buy-to-play business model isn't affected by the addition of free accounts, or so it seems. Do you think this is beneficial to the game and will you try it?