GUILD WARS 2 announces new story content releasing this month and more in the Studio Update

Guild Wars 2 he’s trying to shake things up! ArenaNet recently shared some of its plans for the future of the popular (and my favorite) MMORPG. This included a roadmap for Spring 2023, changes to how expansions will be released, and more. In all honesty, there’s a lot to unpack and I highly recommend you read the entire blog post yourself. I’ll try to share some of the big points and some videos of some of my favorite creators discussing them (keep in mind there’s a lot of overlap in the videos).

For one thing, ArenaNet admits that it has really lost its business in regards to some parts of Guild Wars 2. They share it in the past, “almost everything Guild Wars 2 development team” was working on the various expansions and content of Living World and this negatively impacted the regular content updates. They decided to make some changes to make things more balanced. These changes will allow for more PvP support, WvW support, new fractals, new quality of life improvements, and more.

It all boils down to the team’s new approach to the game’s expansions. Previously, a new expansion like Heart of thorns, Path of fireOR End of Dragons would be released every 2-4 years with some Living World content released in between. Now, smaller expansions will be released more frequently and at reduced prices. These expansions will get additional content via quarterly updates, so you know you can expect new content roughly every 3 months. This is truly amazing. They then further break down where the first part of an expansion will launch the new story arc and include the following:

• 2 new open-world maps

• 2 new attack missions

• New gameplay and combat features

• New Masteries

• New rewards

Then, in each quarterly update for that expansion, you will get the following:

• 1 new open world map

• Further chapters of the story

• Challenge mode for attack missions

• 1 New fractal and challenge mode

• New rewards

• Additions to new systems from the expansion

It sounds like a lot, but also quite manageable. I’m really curious what the new gameplay and combat features will be as well as the new masteries. I know some are speculating we are getting homes now and others are saying there will be no more new elite specializations released. I honestly have no idea, so let me know your theories in the comments below.

The team then shares the roadmap for Spring 2023 which includes the launch of the first new story content later this month!

• Feb 14th: Profession Balance Update, WvW Achievement Rewards Scaling, Chromium Embedded Framework Update

• February 28: Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons New Map and Story Content, Soo-Won Legendary Variant

• March 28: Super Adventure Festival

• April 18th: DX11 update completed

• May 2: Profession balance update

The new story was announced with this description:

With familiar allies like Detective Rama and his hat by your side, you’ll travel to a new location in Cantha and come face-to-face with a deadly enemy that dwells deep within the Jade Sea. That storyline will conclude a few months later with an update that introduces more playable space on the map, adds meta-events and boss encounters, and lays the groundwork for future adventures to be announced.

When I first read “additional playable space” my mind read it as a race or species and I almost missed it thinking we were becoming playable Kodan, Tengu and/or Quaggan. I still wish they would introduce new races, but I think overall this is a very welcome update Guild Wars 2. Since I finished End of Dragons I wondered where the story would go and I guess I have less than a month before I can figure it out. With the new balance from the dev team I hope we see a lot more love for the other game modes. I know WvW is getting a lot of love and maybe these changes will finally give me some fun. In short, this update has assured ArenaNet fans that the game is going nowhere. What is your great achievement from Guild Wars 2 update?