There’s been a lot of speculation regarding when Guild Wars 2 would finally get released. The hype has been growing since it’s initial announcement back in 2007, and through two public Beta weekends and several closed events the game has been polished up considerably since its early days. But now the speculation and guesswork is over: Guild Wars 2 will launch on August 28th, 2012.

The news comes courtesy of ArenaNets official blog, where Mike O’ Brien made the announcement, stating:  “This is an incredibly momentous day for the studio and for me personally. This journey began in 2007 when we first announced that we were beginning work on Guild Wars 2 and that you wouldn’t be hearing from us for a while. Then in 2010 we unveiled our manifesto for Guild Wars 2: a living breathing online world that challenges convention, that’s designed for fun instead of grind, and that brings social interaction to a new level in an online world.”

Despite already having had two major public Beta weekends, several closed Betas and a stress test, O’ Brien is keen to assure everyone that they’re not finished working on the game just yet: “Now that we’re just two months away from launch, we’ll spend our remaining time optimizing, polishing, and balancing the game, to ensure that we provide you with the best launch-day experience we possibly can.”

To that end ArenaNet also announced plans for a final Beta weekend which will take place on July 20th to July 22nd.

Grab your swords, kids, it’s time to go play.