Hoping to buy the game for a friend...

#1 - Jan. 22, 2014, 9:12 a.m.

I live in the USA. I have a friend who’s shown interest in the game, but she lives in the UK. I was hoping to surprise her with a gift, but I’m worried about this whole “region lock” business so I figured I might as well clarify before I try anything…

If I were to buy her the game, would she be unable to play/register it because it was purchased in my region? I’m just worried because it’d be a really cruddy gift if I were to try to make her buy it.

So, as someone in the Non-EU Region, how might I go about buying the game for someone in the EU Region? Or is it impossible?

(I tried using the Search function but it doesn’t seem to lead me to anything. Sorry if this has been asked a thousand times before.)

Gaile Gray

#2 - Jan. 23, 2014, 4:27 p.m.

I discussed this with our Billing Team, and here’s how things work:

Yes you can purchase an Non-European (also called North American, but it covers any region except Europe) code from buy.guildwars2.com for your friend in EU and she will be able to register and play the game with that code. However, if that happens, her account always will be a Non-European account and if she wants to add codes to it later — say, though Gem Store purchases — she would need to acquire Non-European codes for those purchases, as well. That would make it more difficult for her in the future.

Instead, we recommend that you purchase your friend a boxed copy of the game from one of our authorized retailers in her European region that can ship the game box directly to her address in Europe. This way, she will have a European game and adding codes in the future will be possible.

I hope this is helpful, and thank you again for sharing Guild Wars 2 with your friend!

Gaile Gray

#5 - Jan. 22, 2014, 7:24 p.m.

Let me double-check on this one and I’ll let you know ASAP. I do not want to write less than clearly about how this works, although I’m pretty sure I know.

Thanks for the generous thought of gifting the game to your friend!

Gaile Gray

#8 - Jan. 25, 2014, 12:08 a.m.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:
That’s an interesting update. According to the Knowledge Base, we can’t buy an NA version and register it in the EU.

‘For customers in the North American and European regions, upon registration our servers will perform a one-time check to ensure your serial code matches the region you are connecting from. Customers in North America must register the North American version of the game; customers in Europe must register the European version of the game;…’

Perhaps, someone could update the Knowledge Base with this new information. =)

I agree, that would be a good idea. I’ll ask our KB person to verify all the details in that article, and thanks for pointing it out.