Guild Wars 2 adding custom PvP arenas and spectator mode

Beginning April 16, ArenaNet is adding custom PvP arenas and spectator mode betas to Guild Wars 2 for testing, the company revealed today.

The custom arena beta will include 20 customizable options, ranging from respawn type to member guilds to lock skills. During the beta phase, the feature will be limited to the top 50 QP ladder players in North America and Europe.

Once the beta ends, players will be able to purchase arena kits from the gem store. According to Steve Bikun, server programmer, players can use custom arena time tokens to add rental time to their own arena or someone else's custom arena.

Gameplay programmer Evan "Bluxgore" Lesh explained on the post that spectator mode will be a great way for players to learn from experienced players, and for those experienced players to check each other out to refine their tactics.

"Another reason is to help foster the PvP shoutcasting community," Lesh wrote. "Later, down the road, select shoutcasters will be able to jump into high-level ladder games and spectate, which will allow them to cover all the action at the top of our leaderboards."

Players in a hot-join game or custom arena game with spectator mode enabled will be able to use the feature. Spectator mode will be disabled for games that affect the rankings to snub out any potential cheating.

Until the features are rolled out, players are invited to check out custom arenas Chaplan's Existential Enclave and Bluxgore's House of Paincakes.