Guild Wars 2’s Summer Roadmap Teases Upcoming Updates And Its Fourth Expansion
ArenaNet, has unveiled its latest dev blog and roadmap, giving players a glimpse into the future of the Guild Wars 2. As the dev team previously announced, they’ve transitioned into smaller but more frequent expansion releases to ensure more regular content drops, which is great for those who breeze through new expansions as soon as they’re released.
“In this new model, the first release in an expansion cycle will introduce a new story arc and setting, two new open-world maps, two Strike Missions, new gameplay and combat features, new Masteries, and new rewards,” explained the devs.
“In the following quarterly updates, we’ll add story chapters, an additional open-world map, challenge modes for the Strike Missions, a new fractal dungeon and challenge mode, new rewards, additions to the new systems introduced in that expansion, and—depending on the release plan for that expansion—new gameplay and combat features.”
“Alongside these expansion content updates, we’re beefing up our support for the core game so we can iterate and improve on Guild Wars 2, even while releasing new expansion content on a more consistent schedule,” the studio added. “Once that expansion’s year-long cycle is complete, the next expansion will be just around the corner.”
In line with their new focus, ArenaNet has been continually making improvements to the core game following the release of the massive, game-changing End of Dragons expansion last year. These include the Living World Season 1 revamp and its permanent addition to the game, raid expansions, profession adjustments, the Super Adventure Box map, and other milestones that the team listed in the roadmap.
Elite specs have been a particular point of curiosity for players since the last roadmap, but ArenaNet reassures players that most of the playstyles they would like to see are already supported or should exist within their existing elite specialization options. With the next expansion, they plan to add new tools to each profession's arsenal and lift constraints to unlock an unprecedented number of playstyle customization options while keeping the feel of Guild Wars 2 combat true to its origins.
In the meantime, there's plenty to look forward to in May, including a small profession balance update arriving tomorrow and another update towards the end of the month. In June, players can expect the return of Dragon Bash on June 6th and a larger balance patch focusing on boon support builds, alternate playstyles for some specs, and more that’s set to arrive on June 27th.
Looking further ahead, ArenaNet is currently working on revamping an unnamed existing core reward system and updating the DirectX 11 port to improve performance and graphics as they continue to test more upcoming World vs. World restructuring changes.
As for the next expansion, ArenaNet says that they’re already making headway on its quarterly release content, despite the fourth expansion not being officially revealed yet. The studio has teased a whole lineup of fearsome baddies for players to fight now that the Elder Dragons are no longer the main villains.
You can check out the new roadmap on the Guild Wars 2 official site.
We've got your latest look at what's coming next in #GuildWars2! Read the studio update here: https://t.co/uPf4AaPNwm pic.twitter.com/ObqEyWfmWD
— Guild Wars 2 (@GuildWars2) May 1, 2023
