Guild Wars 2 Shines The Spotlight On End Of Dragons’ Strike Missions 2.0

Elite specs might be all the rage now in the Guild Wars 2 fandom but the Cantha-inspired advanced classes aren’t all that’s coming to the game when End of Dragons rolls out next year. The expansion will also improve on the existing Strike Missions which will come with a new Challenge Mode that Encounters Design Lead Cameron Rich describes as “Strike Missions 2.0” in a new dev blog.

According to Rich, normal difficulty Strike Missions serve as a gateway into Guild Wars 2’s 10-player content and are designed to slowly introduce players to raid mechanics, such as stacking, spreading, and kiting, while still being relevant to the overall storyline.

“These instances are designed to be something you can tackle alongside both close friends and new allies, pitting you and nine others against jazzed-up, remixed versions of epic, exciting bosses from the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons story.”

With the release of End of Dragons, Strike Missions will include a new Challenge Mode difficulty which will take the 10-player instance to the next level. “Challenge Mode takes the normal difficulty Strike Missions and further expands on their mechanics, remixing them further to create even greater challenges while introducing new surprises that keep players on their toes. Each Challenge Mode Strike Mission is designed with a specific level of challenge in mind, creating a clear difficulty ramp that will push you forward and continually test your coordination and mastery over the combat system,” Rich explained.

“You’ll need to work with your allies to form and execute a plan of action and be quick to react to overcome these toughened-up encounters. More succinctly, these encounters will feel like proper raid bosses,” he added.

The new Challenge Mode, however, will be released a few weeks after End of Dragons comes out to give players time to familiarize themselves with the expansion’s new Strike Missions and figure out the best builds for the new Elite Specializations. Strike Mission rewards will also be consolidated into a single currency to prevent any drastic effects on the in-game economy.

“Strike Missions in End of Dragons will award a single currency. Any End of Dragons Strike Missions you complete will reward currency to be spent on Strike Mission-specific rewards, including any unique drops from the Strike Missions. You won’t be beholden to the fickle fate of random number generation to get what you want,” Rich said.

“Additionally, we’ll be consolidating the Strike Mission currencies introduced in The Icebrood Saga into one currency with no weekly cycle. You’ll be able to trade in your End of Dragons Strike Mission currency for The Icebrood Saga Strike Mission currency, so you can easily go back for older rewards you may have missed while still being able to play the latest and greatest challenges,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the third End of Dragons Elite Specialization open beta is still in full swing if you want to kick the tires of the Specter, Untamed, and Mechanist elite specs. The playtest is open to anyone who wants to participate regardless if it’s a free account. Simply login and create a new beta character and you’re good to go.

You can also trudge over to the Guild Wars 2 official site to learn more about the new End of Dragons Strike Missions.