Every year, the Guild Wars 2 team is excited to celebrate the anniversary of your character's creation with a Birthday Gift from us to you. This gift arrives via your in-game mail based on the age of each character, and includes special items that can only be obtained on a character's anniversary!
More about what you can find in each anniversary gift is documented on the official Guild Wars 2 wiki.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do I receive a Birthday Gift?
Gifts arrive on the anniversary of each character—or every 365 days. The age of the account has no bearing on when each character receives a gift.
How do I tell the age of my character(s)?
You can type /age in the in-game chat window to see the number of days since your character was created, and just how far they are from their next birthday gift.
Where can I find my Birthday Gift?
Our gift arrives via the in-game mail system with "The Guild Wars 2 Team" as the sender. Any other gifts are likely from friends and admirers...
I should have received my Birthday Gift, but it's not in my messages. What's wrong?
Your in-game mailbox can only display up to 10 messages from other players, the Black Lion Trading Company, or from the Guild Wars 2 Team at any given time. As you open and delete some of your distribution mails (those with an envelope graphic), other mails that are queued up will begin to fill your mailbox.
If you are online when your character would receive their gift, you can also try changing maps or re-launching your client so the mail message can arrive.
What if I delete and re-create a character on my account?
When you delete and re-create a character, you are creating a brand-new character on the account—even if they end up using the same name or share all of the characteristics of the original character. This means that the new creation date is used as the anniversary for that character. Customer Support is not able to restore a deleted character, or provide a work-around for this issue, and recommends that you not transfer your birthday gift(s) to your bank as you will no longer be able to use these gifts.
I held my Birthday Gifts in the mail and now they're gone. Can I get them back?
Items should not be held in the Mailbox as it is not a storage system. You may contact Support to possibly restore missing Birthday Gifts, but it is not guaranteed that a restoration is possible.
Can I trade items from the Birthday Gift?
While the birthday gifts themselves are initially soulbound to the character who receives them, the items they contain are account bound and can be moved to any character on the same account. None of the items can be traded or sold to another player, including dyes obtained from the Dye Kits, or armor and weapon skins included in the gift.
Are the birthday buffs character bound or account bound?
Many birthday gifts include a Birthday Booster, which can be activated to gain boost your gains while playing. Like other boosters, these items are consumed to apply their buffs to a character, not to the whole account.