ArenaNet says Guild Wars 3's ancient Orr setting will interest longtime lore fans and newcomersStudio head Colin Johanson says the game is "very much for our fans" who are invested in the game's loreHe adds that the game is also for new players, and they won't need to play the first two games to understand what's going onArenaNet has confirmed that Guild Wars 3 takes place 1000 years before the first Guild Wars game in the ancient land of Orr, which it believes will interest both hardcore fans and new players.Speaking at an exclusive preview TechRadar Gaming attended at Gamescom, where we saw a guided presentation exploring the game's new momentum system, studio head Colin Johanson shared additional details about the game's setting, where players are a Veil Warden.Johanson explained that much of Guild Wars' history and lore originates from ancient Orr, and he knows fans "care deeply" about it and have been asking ArenaNet for more, so it felt like a natural direction for the sequel."Some of the themes from Guild Wars 1 all tie back to moments in this timeline before the gods disappeared from the world," he said. "In Guild Wars 2, the ruins of Orr are raised from the bottom of the ocean by a giant undead dragon, and players get to visit the remains of what Orr was 1000 years in the future, and players have been asking us for over a decade to see what Orr was like before the gods left, before it was destroyed, and so this is very much for our fans to give them something to get excited about."However, while Guild Wars' setting might seem lore-heavy, the studio head confirmed that "it's also for new fans" and that newcomers won't need to play the first two games to understand what's going on."This period of time has about two pages of recorded history that we've ever released outside of the studio," Johanson said. "We have a lot more internally that we haven't shared, but our fans have only seen a tiny amount of info about what actually happened in this timeline and setting, which means it's the perfect time for new people to come join the Guild Wars franchise because you don't have to have played Guild Wars 1 or Guild Wars 2 to understand what's going on in the story."He continued: "Everyone's going to learn it all together, and if you're a big Guild Wars fan, you'll know what some of the species are and some of the characters or some of the locations. But for the most part, everybody is on equal footing."Guild Wars 3 doesn't have a release date yet, but a beta is scheduled for Fall 2027. The game is launching on PC and PlayStation 5.