Guild Wars 2 has been in a bit of limbo this winter. Following mass layoffs at ArenaNet, the cancellation of two additional games, and the revelation that no expansion was planned for 2019, the studio suggested it was redoubling its efforts on Guild Wars 2. Today’s letter from Game Director Mike Zadorojny will come as a welcome relief, however, as he’s once again delivering quite a bit of information about where the game stands and where it’s going – something even we’ve remarked has been noticeably absent over the last two years.
While Zadorojny says the “core pillars” for Guild Wars 2 haven’t changed – including that focus on horizontal progression and the sub-free business model – the team is restructuring.
“We are taking the opportunity now to reorganize ourselves into four fully staffed content teams with additional teams dedicated to supporting the core game like Skills and Balance, Rewards, WvW, and sPvP. Content teams will have more flexibility to decide what makes sense for a given release—for example, we could focus on expanding the boundaries and content of an existing map if that would provide a better experience than creating a new one. Ultimately, this will mean a relatively steady release of new content that will allow us to continue telling the story of Tyria in exciting new ways.”
Right now, the game’s in the midst of its Super Adventure Festival, to be followed by the season 4 finale this spring. It’s been delayed, by the way, and won’t make the two-to-three-month cadence, but apparently we can expect a new raid after it’s out with “additional small-scale open world content so all of our players will have something to celebrate with the release of the raid.”
After that, it sounds like the team is still set on releasing living world season 5 as a formal season. Zadorojny says the team is considering legendary runs and sigils, build templates, expanded cooking and jewelcrafting skills, and improvements for both WvW and sPvP. Beyond that? We don’t know.
“This sort of discussion of projects that we’ve kept under wraps until now is a departure from how we’ve been communicating for a while,” Zadorojny admits. “It’s our hope that through posts like this we can help clarify for you what our priorities and goals are for the game. And while this isn’t everything we have planned for the game, it at least gives you better insight into its development. The team is passionate about not only supporting Guild Wars 2, but continuing to grow it alongside all of you.”
Want more GW2 to feast on? One of MOP’s Guild Wars 2 columnists, Colin Henry, penned a speculative article this morning exploring where Guild Wars 2’s story could go in the absence of dragons.
