Hear that buzz? It’s Guild Wars 2 gearing up for its third season finale next week… and then, ultimately, pushing into uncharted territory with its second expansion. With the episode’s latest trailer fresh in our minds, let’s take a peek at what else is going on in the game this week.
It goes without saying, there’s gonna be speculation and spoilers.
First up? Let’s start with the teaser vid posted yesterday.
Where one path ends, new growth begins.~RB2 #GuildWars2 pic.twitter.com/YtlEMBiUf1
— Guild Wars 2 (@GuildWars2) July 19, 2017
A much better teaser than the fractal one, right?
The visuals all but outright confirm a return to a new Orr zone, in parts flush with greenery. In fact, one Redditor even thinks he knows where it’ll be, based on nothing but the video and knowledge of the game map.
In a video many times longer than the original trailer (<3), WoodenPotatoes dives in to discuss the return to Orr, anomalies in the Balthazar plotline, speculation about the elder dragons, how the Shiverpeaks and Braham factor in, the potential for the ghostly woman to be an Orrian noble, the lichy dude (who is totally not Palawa Joko, seriously), undead allies, and probably the best bit, the possible (really, likely) return of necromancer Livia and the undead-controlling Scepter of Orr. Yes, that Livia! Huge hints give it away, from her appearance to her prominence in the trailer to her voice actress to the camera seemingly lingering on what could be her namesake shipwreck, the Wreck of the Lady Livia.
If WP is right (and there’s so much evidence I can’t see how he’s not), then classic Guild Wars lore fiends are in for a huge treat! And let’s not forget the potential for this episode to dovetail straight into the expansion’s formal reveal and/or storyline, which wouldn’t be a first for the ANet devs — which might explain their unusual reticence to discuss it up to now. Speaking of…
Here’s a fluffier fun thing. Following an apparent tease of an expansion’s acronym by ArenaNet’s Linsey Murdock — “POF” — players have been trying to guess just what the letters stand for. It’s probably just an internal code name or working title (you should see some of our working titles here at MOP!), and Murdock is talking hypothetically about what could be the expansion after this next expansion, but for kicks, here’s a logo/name generator to play with. I like Papaya of Fun, personally.
Finally, there’s the new Black Lion Hunters Contract, which quietly slipped into the game with this week’s patch. “Assign your favorite material to our Black Lion hunters, and they’ll work all night to gather it for you. Then, just wait for your shipment to arrive in the mail the following day,” wrote ArenaNet. It’s not super clear until you actually examine the item (1200 gems in the cash shop) that it’s an object for your home instance, but instead of delivering ore and wood, it effectively spawns rarer, usually drop-only crafting components, which is a nice, if pricey, addition for those of you who’ve been decking out your instances with mat-generating nodes.
What’s the drop rate? Nobody knows just yet, but players are gathering data now, so if you bought it, pitch in!
