How to prepare for launch
Own Reforged, pick the character you want to keep improving, learn the profession pool, decide on the pre-purchase and line up a party or henchmen.
There are 69 days between November 5, 2026 and Guild Wars Afterlife's January 13, 2027 launch, which is enough time to do three useful things: make sure you own the right base game, get a character you actually like to the point where it can enter the dungeon, and decide whether you are buying at the pre-purchase price. Everything else can wait for launch week.
This is a preparation page, not a walkthrough. Afterlife is not playable yet, so the work that can be done now is all on the Reforged side — the account, the character and the party.
Step one: confirm you own Guild Wars Reforged
The Afterlife store page is unambiguous: This content requires the base game Guild Wars Reforged on Steam in order to play. If you do not own it, nothing else on this page matters until you do.
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Reforged in your Steam library | The DLC will not attach without it |
| Same storefront for both purchases | Steam's DLC requires the Steam base game |
| Account login works on the platform you plan to play | Mobile and PC share the account, not the store |
| Reforged launches and patches | The DLC lands on top of a working install |
Reforged is $19.99 and includes Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall. If you buy it now, you have two months to play before Afterlife arrives, which is exactly the runway this page is about.
Step two: pick the character you will bring
The announcement says you adventure into Xotecha with your existing characters. Permanent rewards are usable outside Xotecha, on those characters. So the character you bring is the one you want to keep improving.
Three practical criteria:
- A character you enjoy playing, not the one with the best gear. Gear does not come with you into the Unformed.
- A character with a completed attribute spread. Drafted skills key off attributes, so a character with points already allocated gets more out of cross-profession picks.
- A character on the account where you applied the pre-purchase key. The costume is per-account and non-tradable.
If you have several characters, bring the one whose profession you understand best. Drafting rewards recognition of skills, and recognition comes from play.
Step three: learn the profession pool
Skill drafting pulls from all ten professions, not just your own. You do not need to play all ten, but you do need to recognise what their skills do when they appear in an offer.
| Profession | One thing worth knowing before you draft |
|---|---|
| Warrior | Shout and stance skills that do not need a weapon |
| Ranger | Nature rituals and preparations that work without a bow |
| Monk | Protection and healing prayers, the base game's safety net |
| Necromancer | Curses and minion skills that scale with corpses |
| Mesmer | Interrupts and hexes that punish enemy casting |
| Elementalist | Elemental damage with wide area coverage |
| Assassin | Dagger chains and shadow steps |
| Ritualist | Spirits and weapon spells that buff allies |
| Paragon | Shouts and chants that help the whole party |
| Dervish | Enchantment-driven melee with scythes |
The point is not to memorise every skill. It is to know, when a draft offers you something from a profession you have never played, whether it is a defensive tool, a damage tool or a utility tool.
Step four: decide on the pre-purchase
The discount ends on January 13, 2027, and the costume is attached to the pre-purchase package. Nothing else in the calendar matters.
| Option | Cost now | Cost on launch day |
|---|---|---|
| Buy Afterlife early | $23.99 | — |
| Buy Afterlife at launch | — | $29.99 |
| Buy both products early | $43.98 | $49.98 at launch |
| Wait and see | $0 | $29.99 plus $19.99 if you still need Reforged |
Unsure? The honest advice is to spend the next two months playing Reforged. If you are still playing in January, buy it. The $6.00 you save by deciding early is not worth buying something you will not use.
Step five: line up a party, or do not
Henchmen cover the solo case, so a party is optional. If you do want people, the run-up is the time to find them: a guild, a friend who also owns Reforged, or the Steam community hub for the base game.
One player is enough to change how drafting feels. Because each player receives their own offers, a second person gives you a second read on every choice, and the mode is built around choices.
What not to do before launch
Do not buy Reforged on a different storefront to the one you plan to buy Afterlife from, unless you are prepared to buy both again. Do not apply the pre-purchase key to an account you do not play — the costume cannot be moved. And do not plan a route through the Unformed: the dungeon is assembled per run, so there is no fixed route to learn.
The useful preparation is boring and cheap: own the base game, have a character ready, know the profession pool, and decide before the discount closes.
Checked 2026-11-05 against ArenaNet's announcement (Steam news, 2026-11-03), the Afterlife Steam store page (app 5149500) and the Guild Wars Wiki profession entries.
Next in the dossier
- Skill-drafting combat — The rule it breaks, and how picks work.
- The ten professions — The full roster, and the primary/secondary rules.
- Nightmares and Ancient Golems — Two enemy families and a returning adversary.