Guild Wars 2

The “change your password” message on the game launcher represents a precautionary measure that we’re taking to help enhance players’ account security. That message is not a sign that your account is at risk and not an indication that the Guild Wars 2 servers are being attacked. Making the change is optional but strongly encouraged.

Back in mid-September, the developers added a huge list of known, vulnerable passwords to our game security system, in order to prevent the use of those passwords on a Guild Wars 2 account. This “password blacklist” came from sources throughout the Internet, from various sites, games, and forums that were breached, subsequently putting individual passwords in the hands of would-be account thieves.

If you have never changed your password for Guild Wars 2, or if you changed it before the blacklist came into effect, there is a chance that the password you are using is not as secure as it could be. Therefore, we’re asking that players who have not changed their passwords since we instituted the blacklist make a password change. We’ll run a check against the blacklist to prevent you using a password that is known to be vulnerable.

For information about security, and for tips on how to choose a secure password, please read this article about account security. If you have any questions, feel free to post here in the forums.