Guild Wars 2 Adopting DirectX 11

According to ArenaNet’s studio update from 2022, last year was a fairly successful one for their PvP-focused MMORPG Guild Wars 2. On top of getting a new expansion and having some of its previously lost content restored, the game, originally released in 2012, managed to double its active player base.

And so, in order to future-proof the game, the developers will be switching it over to DirectX 11 over the next few months, which means certain older GPUs will no longer be supported. Though, this isn’t exactly a cause for concern, since most GPUs released after 2009 should still be sufficient to run the game.

Here are some additional details and a quick checklist that can help you figure out whether your PC supports DirectX 11:

Hello, all,

As many of you know, we have been working on implementing and improving support for DirectX 11 in Guild Wars 2. Completing this upgrade will allow us to utilize more modern rendering features, improving both the graphical fidelity and performance of Guild Wars 2. We’re happy to announce that we are now ready to remove the DirectX 9 renderer for Guild Wars 2 and migrate all players to the DirectX 11 renderer.

With this upgrade, we’ll begin adjusting our minimum system requirements to include a DirectX 11-compatible GPU on February 6. This upgrade will roll out to all players over an eight-week period. We expect the process to be completed and all players to be migrated to the DirectX 11 client by April 18.

After the rollout has been completed, you will no longer be able to launch the game with DirectX 9. Players with systems that are not compatible with DirectX 11 will need to either upgrade their hardware to include a DirectX 11-compatible GPU or use a cloud gaming service such as NVIDIA GeForce NOW to continue playing Guild Wars 2.

DirectX 11 was originally released in 2009, and nearly any GPU released since then should support it. However, if you’d like to double-check your system for compatibility, doing so is simple:

• In Windows, select Start and enter “dxdiag” into the search box on the taskbar.
• Then, select dxdiag from the results.
• Once the tool has opened, navigate to the “Display 1” section.
• On the right side of this panel, under the “Drivers” section, check the “Feature Levels” listed for your display.
• If your “Feature Levels” list contains “11_0” or higher, your GPU is DirectX 11-compatible.

Thank you,

—The Guild Wars 2 Team