Guild Wars 2’s 2023 expansion, Secrets of the Obscure, is officially rolling out this afternoon to folks who purchased it. As we’ve been covering, the expansion includes two explorable maps (Skywatch Archipelago and Amnytas), a pair of new strike missions, easier acquisition for the skyscale plus a new mastery tree for it, the Wizard’s Vault season-esque dailies system, relics, and weapon proliferation for elite specs.
MOP’s own Flameseeker Chronicles columnist Colin got his claws into the expansion during a press preview earlier this month, finding that earlier build a little buggy but overall solid in the content department.
“The expansion will continue to release additional content at no additional charge to expansion players throughout the next several months and into 2024, including additional weapon proficiencies, a third map, a new Fractal of Mists encounter, Strike Mission challenge modes, and other new rewards like the first ever legendary armor set attached to player-versus environment activities. The all-new story puts players into the shoes of both erstwhile defender and explorer of the unknown as they race to defend the world from a heretofore unseen threat. The adventure will begin with a climb through the floating islands of the Skywatch Archipelago which are under attack from the Kryptis, a demonic race of malevolent beings streaming through instabilities in the Mists and threatening the fragile peace of the world in the wake of the defeat of the elder dragons. What follows is an epic struggle into the Demon Realm, where the fate of the world rests in the hands of the player and their secretive new allies.”
ArenaNet posted a dev blog early this morning welcoming players to launch day and laying out the content cadence for the next three updates (roughly one per quarter), essentially leading to the 2024 expansion (presumably next summerish around this same time). Naturally, the arc spreads out another map, more storyline, strikes, weapon proficiencies, a new mastery line, new gear and relics, and of course, more Wizard’s Vault offerings.
Finally, veteran players will recall that August 28th marks Guild Wars 2’s 11th birthday, so players should be expecting cash-shop sales and birthday presents as early as the 24th, depending on which day of headstart they originally rolled their toons!
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure will be live in just a few minutes. Release notes are available here! https://t.co/puIb0xbAbM
— Guild Wars 2 (@GuildWars2) August 22, 2023
