The next update for Guild Wars 2–set to go live January 28–is adding a new, highly requested Guesting feature to the game, and also signals the end of free server transfers.

The Guesting feature allows players to visit other servers and play with friends without the need to create a new character. The following restrictions will be placed on the feature:

• Because (different from a world transfer) we are not moving your character between data centers, you may only guest on worlds in the same region as your home world. Players on North American home worlds cannot guest on European worlds or vice versa.
• You may not participate in World vs. World on your guest world. If you choose to enter World vs. World on the world you are guesting on, you’ll be moved back to your home world. If you want to play World vs. World on the world you’re guesting on, you must perform a full world transfer to that world.
• You’re eligible to guest on only 2 different worlds at a time. Each time you guest on a world, that world becomes one of your eligible guest worlds for the next 24 hours. After 24 hours, you may choose to guest on a different world. You may log in to any world you are eligible to guest on as many times as you wish with no restriction.
• Guesting on worlds that are full or highly populated increases your risk of being put into an overflow map.

The patch is also set to remove free world transfers. Players will now have to pay an unknown amount of gems every time they wish to transfer–the amount depends on the population of the server.