As someone who has been playing Guild Wars since the initial alpha testing event Arenanet (A-Net) conducted over 7 years ago, I’ve been hooked to the world of Tyria, Cantha, and Elona (the three main continents of the Guild Wars-verse). Guild Wars 2 looks to be an even greater game than the original, if the first two beta weekends I’ve taken part in are any indication. Plus, there’s an actual release date. The excitement level is sitting at around 10 out of 10 at this point.

Along with the announcement of the release date, Arenanet let it be known that the final beta weekend event would take place on July 20-22. Today, A-Net has made yet another announcement regarding BWE3, aptly named for being the third event, stating the two previously unplayable races, the sylvari and asura, will be added to the weekend. So if you’ve been looking forward to trying either of these races, you’ll be able to adventure through their starting areas, up to level 20.

The asura reside in a technical behemoth of a berg, called Rata Sum. While the sylvari’s home is a mystical area called ‘The Grove’.

They’re also adding a new conquest based PvP map, which should be a big announcement for those who played the structured PvP portion of the game during the previous two BWE’s.

Guild Wars 2 will release 08-28-2012; see you in Tyria.