Guild Wars 2

A friend is wanting to try the free GW2 but says the installer is asking for a serial code.

“This is the code found inside the game box that you use to register your account. If you purchased digitally you can find it in your e-mail. "

What is the magic dance needed to install / play GW2 free?

Probably used the wrong download link, I think there was special link for the F2P version.
Have your friend reread the official announcement and download from the provided link.

Thanks. I’ll assume that if he logs into his newly-created Arena Net account, the correct download will be offered.

Make sure he created his account from this page, which is the free sign up page. At the bottom right of that page there is also the option to simply “Download the client” as well.

The installer doesn’t require a serial code. Are you sure they’re actually running the legitimate installer? Your serial is only asked for during registration and password recovery, which both are done through the website.

You install the game by downloading and executing Gw2Setup.exe. You may also rename it to Gw2.exe to convert it to the launcher, which will simply begin installing to its current folder.

Why would the installer want a serial? I’m sensing some shady kitten going on.

Once he makes an account the account page as the download links, win or mac.

Thanks for the replies and help. I think I’ve figured out what he’s doing. He’s probably clicking the “create account” link on the game start screen. That leads to a web page that wants a serial code.

Arena Net: You have 2, different sign-up pages and that’s going to confuse people. You’ll want to fix that.

Another Q: If a person has a GW1 account, will that registration bung-up creating a GW2 account? In other words, if their e-mail address has already been used for an Arena Net product, will they need to dig up that registration and / or reset their password?

GW1 and 2 uses the same account system, so if the GW1 account has the same email as what you want to use for GW2, then that email is already in use. You’ll need to known the password for that account in order to link it during the registration of the GW2 account.

Thank you. That’s probably what’s causing my friend trouble in trying to create a GW2 free account; he has a GW1 registration with the same e-mail address.