Guild Wars 2 Outlines Summer Development Roadmap
ArenaNet has outlined its summer 2022 development roadmap for Guild Wars 2 and its chock full of new content and events for players to enjoy.
First up on the list is the return of the next episode of Living World Season 1, Episode 3: Clockwork Chaos. As with previous returning episodes, Episode 3 will be reworked to better tie in with game’s current episode structure and will be permanently available upon release. Players can also look forward to the release of Episode 4 on September 14th.
“Queen Jennah is preparing to wrap up her gala Jubilee with a momentous speech to her loyal subjects and visitors—but the nefarious villain Scarlet Briar has other plans!”
World bosses will also be tweaked and polished in preparation for the game’s launch on Steam. The focus will be on bringing older world bosses up to par with the team’s current design standards and more modern builds. These include adding skill telegraphs and defiance bars, rebalancing health pools, and improving the encounter mechanics and rewards. Several world bosses will also be getting visual makeovers and new rewards.
ArenaNet is also working on making raids more accessible and reducing the barriers to entry. “There’s a lot of opportunity to grow the endgame PvE community, and one of our goals this year has been to break down some of the barriers discouraging players from jumping into the content,” said the studio. We feel that it’s important for future Steam players to see that there’s a healthy PvE community waiting for them at the endgame.”
In line with this, the developers will be simplifying the currency rewards by retiring Gaeting Crystals and converting them to Magnetite Shards. The Magnetite Shard weekly cap, in turn, will be increased from 150 to 300. Legendary Divinations will also be converted to Legendary Insights, and Legendary Insights will be converted into a currency instead of an inventory item. New weekly bonus chests will also be awarded to players who complete any Challenge Mode raid encounter.
The team had also previously added new features and mechanics to make raiding easier for both new and veteran players, including the Emboldened Mode and making the Special Forces Training Area more accessible.
“These efforts are already paying off as a wave of new raiders have stepped into the content and cleared their first wing, and many have even chosen to charge forward into later wings without Emboldened to bolster them,” said ArenaNet.
Finally, Guild Wars 2 will be celebrating its 10th anniversary and will be bringing back the Festival of the Four Winds event in August. Details on those are coming later.
