This is direct from a support email received today (unfortunately, not actually related to the support query itself at all though).

Login Issues:

Forum Issues

The forums are currently down. Attempting to log into the forums will cause an error to display advising that you do not have a Guild Wars 2 account. This error will continue to be displayed until the forums are repaired. We are working to get the forums back online as soon as possible. In the meantime please disregard this error message.

Error Messages

There are a variety of errors that can be displayed when you fail to log into the client. Please review the error below if you are receiving an error upon login. A full list of all error codes and what they mean can be found at http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8994.

The Most common error is Error 9 which indicates you do not have Headstart access and must wait until 00:00 PDT (12 am PDT), on August 28th to login. If you believe
this is an error and your code should have headstart, then please contact your retailer about your code and let them know your code does not include headstart access.

Client/Account Issues

If you’ve linked a Guild Wars account to your Guild Wars 2 account, it’s important to understand that Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 now use the same login information. Your Guild Wars 2 account will be your Guild Wars login details. Basically, both accounts now have the same login and password. This is intended.

Please check to ensure you are logging in with the registered login e-mail and that your password meets password requirements of being between 8-13 characters exactly and contains only numbers and letters.

If you’re having trouble verifying your email address, you can play without verifying your email address by clicking “Play” on the Guild Wars 2 Launcher if you already downloaded the client. We’re working to fix email verification, and you can verify your address once we do.

Accounts created with a Pre-purchase code will have access to the 3-day Headstart event as well as receive the Hero’s Band item in game.

Accounts created with a Pre-order code will only have access to a 1-day Headstart event.

Where you purchased your edition of the game, and how much was paid should determine whether you bought a Pre-purchase or Pre-order code:

• All players who pre-purchased their edition of Guild Wars 2 from our website (https://buy.guildwars2.com) and have registered their account will have access to the 3-day Headstart event.
• Players who bought their edition of the game from a vendor listed on the Retailer webpage (https://buy.guildwars2.com/en/retailers) and paid full price for the game should have received a Pre-purchase code to register their account.
• Players who bought their edition of the game from a vendor listed on the Retailers webpage (https://buy.guildwars2.com/en/retailers) and paid partial price for the game should have received a Pre-order code to register their account.
• Players who purchased from a vendor not listed on the on the Retailers webpage (https://buy.guildwars2.com/en/retailers) will most likely not have access to either of the Headstart events.

Please note that some vendors were incorrectly selling Pre-order codes for full price. If you were able to register a code prior to the Headstart events, but are not able to log in during the 3-day Headstart period, you most likely received a Pre-order code from your vendor. As only the vendor these items were purchased from can provide you with a code, you will need to contact their support teams for assistance.

Linking Guild Wars Accounts:

If you’d like to link an original Guild Wars account to a Guild Wars 2 account, this feature is now available! Please visit the following Knowledge Base article which will describe and cover all the steps needed to complete this: http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9028

Please note: Once you link a Guild Wars account to Guild Wars 2, you cannot unlink them. Choose wisely and type carefully!

If you are wondering if your Guild Wars 2 account is linked to a Guild Wars account, this can be verified by logging in with your Guild Wars 2 account at https://account.guildwars2.com and clicking Link Accounts on the left-hand side of the page. If the account is already linked, you will see the message “Your Guild Wars accounts are linked!”

Changing an Account Name:

You do have the ability to change the Guild Wars 2 account name at this time. To
do so, follow these steps:

1. Login using your Guild Wars 2 account information here: https://account.guildwars2.com/login
2. Click the Edit Profile link
3. Enter your new account name and login password and select Save Changes. You will then be able to log into Guild Wars with the new account name. Keep in mind, if you have linked Guild Wars 2 to an original Guild Wars account, you will also use this new account name to access both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2.

Display Name Issues:

We may allow players to change their own Display Names in the future, but it’s not possible right now. We don’t have an ETA for this just yet, but we are working getting it working as soon as possible

If your display name is showing up as long string of numbers and letters on your account management page, there is a good chance you logged into account management using an account that only has a Guild Wars 1 account on it. This will show your display name as numbers as the display name is meant to be used with a Guild Wars 2 account. Since you haven’t set up a GW2 account and linked your GW1 account to it yet, you don’t actually have a GW2 display name set. Luckily this is really easy to resolve. Once you purchase Guild Wars 2 just follow the directions at http://support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8982 to register and link your GW1 account with a GW2 code. When you do that you will be given the chance to select a display name. After you complete the registration process your display name will update from that number to the name you select.

Account Registration:

If you need assistance with creating/registering a Guild Wars 2 account, please review the following Knowledge Base article: Guild Wars 2 Registration URL: http://support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8982

Collector’s Edition/Deluxe Digital Edition In Game Items:

If you have inadvertently deleted any of your CE or DE items, or deleted a character holding those items, please reply again to this message with as much information as possible to where the items were and how you lost them. We are currently working on a solution to this matter, but there may be a wait to ensure we get this resolved in a satisfactory way.

Hall of Monuments:

We have received a number of reports of various issues with HoM rewards which we are investigating. In the meantime please review this page: http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9029/kw/hall as many of your questions can be resolved there.

Guilds:

We are aware of an issue that is causing guilds to “disappear” from time to time. When this issue occurs, you are not able to see your guild. Your guildmates may or may not still see you as a member of it. Your guild is still there, and it will show up permanently once we’ve fixed this issue. You may also notice it come and go as you move to different parts of Tyria. We are working to get this issue resolved as soon as possible. In the meantime, you should be able to play normally aside from the invisible guild.

There are some reports that Guild invites cannot be sent at this time. Additionally, some players who were in guilds have been kicked and cannot be re-invited. We’re investigating.

There are some reports of various players’ being unable to see influence being added properly to their Guild. We are currently investigating this issue however we do have reports that it may only be a display issue, and will resolve its self after a few hours.

At this time it is currently not possible to change the name of a Guild once it has been created. If you would like another name you will need to create another guild.

Trading Post/Black Lion Trading Company:

We are aware of the issues preventing access for the trading post. We are working on getting these issues resolved as soon as possible.

We had some reports of players having difficulty buying Gems and items from the Black Lion Trading Post. This issue should now be resolved and transactions mailed to your character via in game mail. If you think you are still missing something though please inform us of what seems to be missing.

Character Creation:

Once a character is created we have no way to alter it. We may add this feature in the future but for now, you will need to create a new character if you wish to change some aspect of your character.

Once you select your Homeworld all your characters will be created on that same server. In order to have characters on another Homeworld you must transfer to that world.

When a character is deleted its name will be reserved for a limited time on the account it was deleted from. We are unable to get into specifics right now about how long the name is reserved. However please be aware there will be some delay in the naming become available for use. [Melana’s note: they’ve said elsewhere that it’s reserved for 24 hours…I don’t know if they’re changing that policy, or just that the support FAQ is keeping the option to change that open]

If you wish to review the naming policy for character creation you can do so at: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-naming-policy/.

We had some reports of characters becoming stuck after creation or in the starting zone, this should now be resolved, but please let us know if you are still experiencing issues.

There were some reports of characters become stuck after transfers, this should now be resolved, please try logging into these characters again.