Not only did Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet just drop another preview of upcoming content, exactly what fans have been begging for, but it also just confirmed that it’s working on the game’s third expansion. And the teaser makes it look like it’s Cantha! Specifically, it looks like the architecture and flora of Shing Jea, the starter island for GW1’s Factions.
OK, deep breaths, Bree. So. We already know about Visions of the Past: Steel and Fire coming next week, but there’s a lot more, and the studio is actually talking about it. For starters, GW2 will see the return of Super Adventure Box this spring and Dragon Bash this summer.
But the big news is buried at the very end, along with a cryptic pic that the devs say is “early concept art so you can dream along with [them] about where [they’re] headed.”
“Development is underway on a third Guild Wars 2 expansion. The team is hard at work, and it’s much too soon to talk about any details right now, including features, story, release date, or development timeline. We’ll have to stick to that until we’re ready to reveal more information to the world. When we are ready, you’ll definitely know!”
MMO players will recall that ArenaNet was slammed with layoffs in 2019, followed by multiple departures from the company, including studio head Mike O’Brien, and a “Saga” content format that has made everyone super nervous. The promise of a real expansion, even as vague as this, is an injection of hope the game and its playerbase desperately needed. Moreover, Cantha has been something of a Shangri-la for the modern game; it was the location of Guild Wars 1’s Factions campaign and broadly loved by the playerbase, but the studio has been strangely reluctant to go there, even bypassing it in favor of Nightfall’s locations for Path of Fire. In spite of our jokes and heckling, most gamers never really expected the studio to do it, but this is welcome news indeed.
That’s not even all there is in the blog, as the team also promises the third full-fledged episode in the Icebrood Saga coming after the launch of SAB this spring, in addition to “bonus PvE events” from 2019.
“Bangar’s war machine has driven out of the Far Shiverpeaks and farther west, to the dense forests of the Woodland Cascades—an area inspired by the beautiful Pacific Northwest that ArenaNet calls home. The episode’s environment will focus on capturing and defending territories in a PvE map, using objectives similar to WvW to drive enemies back, defeat familiar foes, and maximize the potential for rewards. You’ll also tackle a new Strike Mission with a different spin on gameplay mechanics.”
Let the speculation begin!
