Account

The term account refers to the authorized user account granted to a player by ArenaNet, usually by purchasing a Guild Wars product. Accounts are tied to individuals and are not transferable, as specified in the EULA.

Creating an account
An account can be created in two ways:
 * Buying a campaign (or a compilation containing several campaigns) and choosing to create a new account
 * Buying the PvP Access Kit and choosing to create a new account

Free trial accounts are also available, but are severely limited and can only be played for 14 days. To turn a trial account into a permanently usable account, one of the products mentioned above must be bought and added to the account.

Adding features to an account
Game boxes are available for the three campaigns and the Eye of the North expansion. The package contains an optional DVD to reduce download times and an access key, which can be added to an existing account. Several Compilations are available, containing only a single access key for all features.

Further upgrades are available via the Guild Wars In-Game Store or the NCSoft store. These features are added directly to the account. Usually, the account needs to meet certain requirements, e.g. expansions cannot be added unless the account contains a full campaign.

Adding multiple campaigns or Eye of the North to an account will increase the amount of character slots and storage panels available. Adding multiple campaigns to a single account is also required to access certain Multi campaign content.

Account Name
An account can be given a unique name, which is used to allow the player to enter Automated Tournaments. By speaking to Tolkano you can set the name of the account to the name of one of your existing characters. This will reserve the name, preventing others from using it while it is linked to your account, so if you delete the character the account was named after, the name cannot be used by another person. This name may be changed every 30 days.

Account-wide aspects
Some aspects of Guild Wars game play are tied to the account. For instance, PvP skill and item unlocks are tied to a user's account instead of to the individual characters on that account. Titles related to PvP play are also tied to account, this includes Hero, Gladiator, Champion, Codex, Allegiance rank, Gamer and the Zaishen titles.

Account Security
If a malicious person gains access to your account, both your invested time and money may be lost. For that reason, ArenaNet recommends that players follow some basic security advice to protect their accounts against account theft.

See Account Security tips.