GUILD WARS 2: JANTHIR WILDS releases this August

ArenaNet and NCSOFT officially announced today Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds due out August 20, 2024. Janthir Wilds it’s the fifth expansion of my favorite MMORPG, Guild Wars 2and will bring a new story and tons of new features for players to enjoy. As with Secrets of the dark, Janthir Wilds it will cost $24.99 and will receive three major updates released quarterly. There’s a lot to get into, so let’s get to the fun stuff.

At launch, Guild Wars 2 Players will be able to experience two new maps, Lowland Shore and Janthir Syntri. These maps include deltas and islands that the Kodans of the plains call home, as well as “perilous rocky coasts, wandering titans, and mystical storms.”

Titans are new to Janthir Wilds, and the most we get from them is that they are mysterious magical entities capable of channeling energy from the earth. I imagine they will play a role in the story, meta events, maybe any new fractals, and maybe the new raid.

That’s right, it’s been five years but Guild Wars 2 players will receive a new raid and Challenge mode! Challenge Mode will arrive in one of the quarterly updates, but a new raid is still very exciting. I have yet to participate in raids, but I know people have been vying for a new one for a long time.

That’s another aspect Janthir Wilds is trying to copy from Secrets of the dark it’s the easiest way to get a mount. In Secrets of the darkthe team has made it a little easier to get the coveted sky ladder and enter Janthir Wilds players will be able to unlock the exclusive World vs. World warclaw.

I have some thoughts on this. First, I think it’s great that players can get the warclaw without going into WvW. WvW isn’t for everyone and I don’t think a mount should be locked behind it. That said, I didn’t like it as much Secrets of the dark it was focused on the sky scale for traversal and meta events and I hope the warclaw isn’t as central Janthir Wilds.

Why? Because frankly the Warclaw sucks. He is slow and simply underwhelming in skills. Every PvE mount is superior in virtually every way. That said, it appears the Warclaw is getting a revamp as he’s meant to help explore the mountains and river valleys we’ll experience using his double jump traversal ability. Confidently, Janthir Wilds It’ll help me love the Warclaw a little more.

But wait, there’s more. Remember that tease about the spear reaching the ground? Well, we have the facts about it. It’s not just a skin for staff. It is not the ability to carry aquatic weapons into land combat.

It is the first brand new weapon type to be added Guild Wars 2. Additionally, the two-handed spear is the first two-handed weapon (and second weapon overall) to be available for all nine professions! Some will use it ranged while others will use it melee.

Of course, with a new weapon it means players will have to cast and earn a new legendary spear. It should be noted that your current spears will work in the land weapon slot, but the same spear cannot occupy both the land and water slots. A Spear gameplay beta will be available June 27-30 for anyone interested.

Additionally, a new legendary backpack, new armor, and new weapon sets will also be released. Legendary gear and new sets will be released in future content releases. The third map for Janthir Wilds will also be released in future versions.

There’s another great feature announced Janthir Wilds and I know a lot of people will be excited about it: Homesteads. Right, Guild Wars 2 is getting a housing system.

We don’t know much about it, but it’s described as “the most player-friendly housing system in an MMORPG. With an all-new customization and decoration interface, heroes can create and adorn their own living space for their friends and guildmates.

According to the official post, they will also connect to domestic instances in some way. The images below are what I suspect are from Homesteads, but I have no confirmation of this at this time.

Speak about Janthir WildsGame Director Josh Davis She said:

From the beginning we wanted to bring together many of the items that have been on our and the community’s wish lists for years. Janthir Wilds is proof of our commitment to continue to surprise and delight, while enhancing the Guild Wars 2 gameplay experience in unexpected ways and supporting game modes for both the cooperative and competitive communities.

Before we wrap up with two more releases related news, I want to take a look at where Janthir Wilds appears to be taking place.

I’ve shared the section of the Tyria map where it looks like Janthir Wilds will take place. The circular city towards the south is Divinity’s Reach and I think we are looking at the area just to the north/northeast as Lowland Shores and a little further into the water is Janthir Syntri.

I think the little masses of brown and green will be the final map.

One piece of news that I wasn’t expecting at all was the announcement that this summer, Guild Wars 2 and all its contents will be released on the Epic Game Store.

This will create a window for even more players to enjoy this game that honestly has me excited. I expect it will be like Steam where you won’t be able to move your existing account to Epic’s startup version, but no official details have been released about that.

Finally, Janthir Wilds is now officially available for pre-purchase via the official site for $24.99. The base version includes a set of Serpent’s Wrath weapons, the Whispering Serpent’s Pauldrons shoulder armor, the Homesteader title, a shared inventory slot, and a level 80 character upgrade.

Meanwhile, the $49.99 Deluxe Edition adds the versatile Wayfinder table (I assume for your farm), a set of Eldritch harvesting tools (a new set of tools I guess?), an additional character slot, and a identity repair kit. Finally, the $74.99 Ultimate Edition of Janthir Wilds adds 4,000 gems (premium currency purchased with real money or converted from gold).