The in-game mail system is a means of sending and receiving messages, items, and coin to and from other players. The mailbox is accessed via the UI (top left corner by default).
Mechanics[edit]
- Compose
Items or coin in your inventory may be attached to outgoing mail using "click and drag" or by right-click and selecting "Mail to". You may send mail to players on other worlds and even across regions, for example from a North American server to a European one. The maximum length of the subject line is 31 characters. Messages are limited to 511 characters. The system may attempt to auto-complete the recipient's name.
- Reading mail
When there are items or coin attached to incoming mail, press the Take All button to transfer them to your inventory. Players cannot delete messages if there are any items or coin attached, but may press Return to Sender, if it is not greyed-out. Received messages are marked to notify players of the sender's identity:
Indicates the message was sent by another player.
Indicates the message is for map completion and from the Tyrian Explorers Society.
Indicates the message is related to the story, rarely to Gem Store expeditions, and other announcements such as festivals.
Indicates the message is from a member of the ArenaNet support team, or an official giveaway or promotion.
Indicates the message is a Gem Store gift from another player.
Indicates the message with the gift has been opened.- To discourage misuse, other messages have the note at the bottom of the message: "This message was sent by another player. It was not sent by the Guild Wars 2 Team."
Indicates the message is a Gem Store purchase made by the player.
Indicates the message is related to dungeons.
Indicates the message is related to raids.
Indicates the player character has received a birthday gift.
Messages may be reported through the mail.
- Inbox full
Both read and unread mail may be automatically deleted when your inbox becomes full.
- You can only have 10 player- and support-generated messages in your mailbox at any given time. Your current volume is denoted as
Inbox n/10".- Once your mailbox has reached this limit, you will not receive any mails that have been sent; mail beyond the limit will be queued to a backlog and received after you delete items in your inbox.
- You can only have 51 mails in this queue. Any mail beyond this will be bounced back to the sender.
- A full inbox will also prevent deliveries of Gem Store purchases and certain other in-game messages. To prevent this from happening, keep your inbox as empty as possible.
- Once your mailbox has reached this limit, you will not receive any mails that have been sent; mail beyond the limit will be queued to a backlog and received after you delete items in your inbox.
- You can only have 15 non-player messages that do not count against the 10-message limit. Unlike the player messages, these will not be queued to wait for you to read. Instead, the oldest message is automatically deleted, even if you did not read it. Items in the deleted message will automatically be deposited in your inventory.
- Limitations
- You cannot send mail to your own characters; use the Account Vault to transfer items between them.
- New accounts cannot compose mail until the highest level character has reached level 6.
- Paid accounts (newly created or upgraded from Play4Free accounts) cannot send any mail attachments until 7 days (of real-world) time have passed.
- The amount of items and coin transferable is capped for newer accounts. The cap is gradually alleviated as you progress in the game.
- Free accounts can only send mail to a player who has added the free account holder to their friend list, but they still cannot send items or coin. They can receive items or coin from any player who can send them.
- You cannot send excessive messages in a short span of time. (Maximum of 2 messages over the span of 2 minutes)
- You cannot see your sent mails
- There is a weekly limit of 500 gold that you can accept through the mail system. The limit will weekly reset on Monday 07:30. If you exceed the limit, gold that was sent will be held in your inbox until it can be collected. This limit is the same as the Guild Bank withdrawal limit.
Game-generated mail[edit]
Certain events will trigger receiving mail from various NPCs:
- Getting 100% map completion of explorable zones will trigger a congratulatory letter from the Tyrian Explorers Society for the area.
- Announcement of special events.
- Reaching certain points in the living story and in your personal story.
- Reaching the minimum level to play in various dungeons.
- Most items purchased from the gem store are delivered via mail.
Mail Carriers[edit]
“Select how your mail is delivered in the Mail Carriers section of your Hero Panel.
— Level 71 rewards.
“Selects a random mail carrier each time you load into a map. (Only picks from your favorites if any have been selected.)
— Randomize Mail Carriers
Mail carriers are delivery couriers, they transport letters and trading goods. Customization is unlocked account-wide at level 70. Players can purchase different mail carriers to change the appearance of their carrier; the skins have only cosmetic effects, there are no gameplay advantages associated with them. Mail carriers can be changed at any time in the hero panel (default H).
Mail carriers are shown when:
- Sending a mail.
- Receiving a mail.
- Putting any good for sale on the Trading Post.
Add/Remove from Favorites: Mail carriers can be added to Favorites by placing the cursor on the top right corner and clicking on the 
heart icon.
Randomize Mail Carriers: Mail carriers can be also randomized by selecting the Randomize Mail Carriers option. If no skin has been added to Favorites, it will cycle through all unlocked skins upon map change.
List of mail carriers[edit]
Mail-Carrier Pigeon (default)
Anniversary Mail Carrier
Aviator Quaggan Mail Carrier
Confetti Mail Delivery
Exalted Mail Courier
Ghostly Mail Courier
Gifts Mail Delivery
Griffon Mail Carrier
Hounds of Balthazar Mail Carrier- Mail-Carrier Pigeon
Parrot Mail Carrier
Raven Mail Carrier
Red Envelope Mail Carrier
Revenant Mail Carrier
Snow Owl Mail Carrier
Super Bee Dog Mail Carrier
Sylvari Seed Pod Mail Carrier
Trivia[edit]
- Before September 2014 Feature Pack, reaching a full Inbox would count toward the Hint Completion achievement which has been retired with that patch.
Notes[edit]
- Mail is a common method used by scammers.[1] An example can be seen in the thumbnail to the right.
- Free accounts can only send to mutual friends and can’t send gold or items.
- The Favorite and Randomization options for Mail Carriers have been added with the February 14, 2023 game update.
