Guild Wars 2 plans weekend festivities for The Lost Shores

Killer crabs? In your Lion's Arch? It's more likely than you think in The Lost Shores update for Guild Wars 2, which will bring one-time events, new maps, a new dungeon, and a refer-a-friend trial program to the MMORPG this weekend.

Players will be able to invite up to three pals to join them in the world from November 15 to 18, marking the first (and very doubtfully last) free weekend for the game. You'll have plenty to do with your buddies, as the weekend's live events will see players defend and liberate Lion's Arch from said massive killer crab creatures. The festivities will conclude on Sunday as adventurers drive back the crustacean menace in an all-new zone called Southsun Cove.

Though the events will recede forever, like the tide (we're not very good at oceanic similes), the new content will remain. The Fractals of the Mists will call treasure hunters into one of nine randomized mini-dungeons, letting players delve into deeper levels for greater challenges and rewards (including a new type of infusible loot). Meanwhile, PvP fiends will find new views to a kill in the beta version of The Temple of the Silent Storm

If you need more convincing that these are at least the second-most killer crabs in video games, check out the event's trailer below.